How Cloud Strife From FF7 Almost Made It Into Soulcalibur 2

How Cloud Strife From FF7 Almost Made It Into Soulcalibur 2

Contents

Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 was almost the PS2-exclusive character in Soulcalibur 2, but the deal fell through at the last second.

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

How Cloud Strife From FF7 Almost Made It Into Soulcalibur 2

There are few games with version-exclusives as unbalanced as Soulcalibur 2, but things could have been very different, as Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 almost made it into the game as the PS2-exclusive character. The original Soulcalibur was one of the most beloved fighting games of its era, to the point where the Dreamcast port was the second game to receive a perfect score in Famitsu magazine.

The problem with Soulcalibur was that it was shackled to the dying Dreamcast. Developer Namco decided to make Soulcalibur 2 a multi-platform release, with versions coming to Nintendo GameCube, Sony’s PlayStation 2, and Microsoft’s Xbox. Each version of the game had its own exclusive character, and it was clear from the start that one was far superior to the others. The PS2 version received Heihachi from the Tekken franchise, the Xbox version received Spawn from the comic book series of the same name, and the GameCube version received Link from The Legend of Zelda series. It wasn’t even close. Link was easily the most impressive character among the version exclusives. Soulcalibur and Tekken were already connected through Yoshimitsu, and Spawn wasn’t an interesting choice for a weapon-based fighting game.

Link almost had a run for his money, as another company could have provided the PS2 version of Soulcalibur 2 with an incredible character. According to Localization Producer Nao Higo on the 8-4 Play podcast (via Event Hubs), Soulcalibur 2 almost received Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 as the PS2-exclusive character. The exact reasoning for the deal falling through wasn’t given, but Higo claims it was a last-minute decision. It’s likely that Namco couldn’t come to terms over money with Squaresoft, as such an iconic character wouldn’t have come cheap.

See also  Glee 10 Sue Sylvester Quotes That Are Still Hilarious Today

FF7’s Cloud Would Have Been Great In Soulcalibur

Cloud had already appeared in fighting games at this point, as he was a playable character in Ehrgeiz on the PS1. Ehrgeiz was rather poorly-received, so there would have been a lot of excitement from fans in seeing FF7’s Cloud in a more polished fighting game. He would have been a far better fit for a weapon-based fighting game than Heihachi, and he already has a selection of awesome swords on offer from the equipment in Final Fantasy 7. Cloud would later be a playable fighter in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series, as well as appearing as a DLC character in Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U in 2015. The only positive from Cloud not appearing in Soulcalibur 2 is that the developers were spared a decade of fans begging for an edition that had both Cloud and Link together.

The third-party characters became the main gimmick of the Soulcalibur series, with Star Wars fighters appearing in Soulcalibur 4, Kratos from God of War appearing in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, Ezio from Assassin’s Creed appearing in Soulcalibur 5, and Geralt from The Witcher in Soulcalibur 6. The series finally managed to receive a Square Enix character in 2018, when 2B from Nier: Automata made it into Soulcalibur 6. Link’s presence in Soulcalibur 2 made it the best version of the game by a mile, but things would have gone differently if Cloud had appeared as well. The Ps2 had a far bigger player base than the GameCube, and the presence of Cloud Final Fantasy 7 could easily have made it the more popular version of the game.

See also  Is Crystal Dynamics Teasing a New Legacy of Kain Game

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/ff7-cloud-guest-appearance-cameo-soulcaliber-ps2-exclusive/

Movies -