Play Arts Kai Final Fantasy VII Remake Cloud Strife V2 Review! (2023)

!!WARNING PICTURE HEAVY!!

Greetings MFC and Final Fantasy VII fans! I'm delighted to be sharing with you in this review a figure that I honestly didn't think I'd ever buy let alone own! I am referring to a Play Arts Kai, you see I've always admired these figures from afar but after playing FFVII Remake I decided that I should have a section dedicated to one of my fav gaming series and so I picked up Cloud Version 2 by Square Enix!

Our journey begins....

MOOD MUSIC

A SMALL STORYA SMALL STORY

I've always loved the Final Fantasy series and VII is a game that resonated with me when I first played it. It has a special place in my heart, as I actually played this when I was on holiday in a caravan! I went with my family and being the unsociable person I am (lol) I wasn't bothered about going to the beach or the club house, I was more interested in gaming and so I took my PS1 with me along with games I'd been dying to play and the first on my list was FFVII! I can still remember the feeling of trepidation as the opening played and the iconic music burst into life sucking me into the world of Cloud and his adventures with AVALANCHE and fighting the evil company Shinra! Of course one of the biggest things for me was being introduced to the spine tingling theme One Winged Angel and meeting the notorious Sephiroth! (DA! DA! DA! DA!) I was just utterly blown away by this game the story telling was gripping and exciting, the game play was fantastic and the characters were lovable and endearing, not to forget the OST was (and still is) one of the greatest game OST I've ever heard! Fast forward to 2014......

November 2014, After having a huge amount of transport issues (don't ask! lol) I managed to get myself to my most anticipated concert at the Royal Albert Hall, yes I was going to Final Fantasy Distant Worlds! This was my first game music concert and my first concert with a live orchestra and I was just bouncing with excitement at what pieces they would play! I remember this night so well (not just for what I've mentioned above) but more so for the fact that Nobuo Uematsu was in attendance and we were treated with him playing some pieces including Dancing Mad from FFVI. Anyway Arnie Roth who conducts DW stopped the concert and started talking about the fact some employees from Square Enix were in the audience and the crowd cheered. He said to the employees "can I tell them?" they responded with a "yes" and he started to talk about the FFX remastered version and how fans would love to see a remake of other FF games. He then announced with a lot of excitement in his voice that Square Enix were working on a new project for a remake and then after a hush in the crowd and before we could let the news settle in the orchestra exploded into One Winged Angel! Of course this wasn't an official announcement for the FFVII Remake but the fact Arnie waited until One Winged Angel got people buzzing with excitement at the prospect of it, it wasn't until 2015 that our dreams were confirmed when SE unveiled the trailer at E3.

ABOUT FINAL FANTASY VIIABOUT FINAL FANTASY VII

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the seventh main installment in the Final Fantasy series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertainment and is the first in the main series with a PAL release. The game's story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organization to stop a world-controlling megacorporation from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. Events send Cloud and his allies in pursuit of Sephiroth, a former member of the corporation who seeks to destroy the planet. During the journey, Cloud builds close friendships with his party members, including Aerith Gainsborough, who holds the secret to saving their world.

Development began in 1994, originally for the Super Famicom. After delays and technical difficulties from experimenting on several real-time rendering platforms, Square moved production to pre-rendered video, necessitating the huge capacity of the CD-ROM format and therefore departing Nintendo for the PlayStation. Veteran Final Fantasy staff returned, including series creator and producer Hironobu Sakaguchi, director Yoshinori Kitase, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The game is the first in the series to use full motion video and 3D computer graphics, superimposing 3D character models over 2D pre-rendered backgrounds. Final Fantasy VII introduced more widespread science fiction elements and a more realistic presentation, while the gameplay systems remained largely similar to previous entries, with the addition of new elements such as Materia, Limit Breaks, and new minigames. The staff of more than 100 had a combined development and marketing budget of around $80 million.

Assisted by a large promotional campaign, Final Fantasy VII was a commercial success and received widespread critical acclaim, selling over 12.8 million units worldwide. It remains widely regarded as a landmark game, and as one of the most influential and greatest video games ever made. It won numerous Game of the Year awards, and was acknowledged for boosting sales of the PlayStation and popularizing console role-playing games worldwide. Critics praised its graphics, gameplay, music, and story, although its original English localization received criticism. Its success has led to enhanced ports on various platforms, a multimedia sub-series called the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and the ongoing multipart high-definition Final Fantasy VII Remake, the first installment of which was released in 2020.
(taken from Wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.or...

No one knew just how much FFVII would change the gaming world back in 1997 but it was clear those who played it felt something special. The game was beyond enchanting and it easily became one of the most popular games of all time, it cemented itself deep into the hearts of gamers worldwide and is still wowing new gamers to this day!

Being as huge as it was it was inevitable that FFVII would get merchandise, companies have produced plushies, key holders, badges, rubber straps, special console versions and even cutlery!

Sadly the series didn't get as much figure love as it deserved at first with companies only producing model kits, gashapon figures and trading figures. However in 1998 Kotobukiya released a pre-painted scale statue of Cloud with his Hardy Daytona and in 1999 Square put out 3 resin statues. 2007 saw the first FFVII Play Arts by SE and the first Play Arts Kai of Cloud was from Dissidia Final Fantasy and that was released in 2011. Strangely the first Play Arts Kai from FFVII came out in 2013 of Rufus Shinra from the movie Advent Children! Since then there have been more figures produced including a Static Arts Bust of Sephiroth.

FINAL FANTASY VII ADVENT CHILDREN

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is a 2005 Japanese computer-animated film directed by Tetsuya Nomura, written by Kazushige Nojima, and produced by Yoshinori Kitase and Shinji Hashimoto. Developed by Visual Works and Square Enix, Advent Children is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series of media, which is based in the world and continuity of the highly successful 1997 role-playing video game Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released on DVD and Universal Media Discs with Japanese voice acting in Japan on September 14, 2005, and on April 25, 2006, with English voice acting in North America and the UK.

Advent Children takes place two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII and focuses on a trio's appearance that kidnaps children infected with an unexplained disease. Final Fantasy VII hero Cloud Strife, suffering from the same disease, goes to rescue the children. He discovers that the trio plan to resurrect the villain Sephiroth using the remains of the extraterrestrial villain Jenova, and he and his compatriots from the game fight to stop them. The film's voice acting cast includes Takahiro Sakurai, Ayumi Ito, and Toshiyuki Morikawa in Japanese, and Steve Burton, Rachael Leigh Cook, and George Newbern in English.

The film has been released in multiple versions; Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete, released on Blu-ray Disc in 2009, is the last version and adds 26 minutes of new and expanded scenes to the 101-minute original. The film has received mixed reviews. Critics have praised its animation and CGI work. Still, the plot has been criticized as incomprehensible to viewers who did not play Final Fantasy VII and as a thin connection between action scenes. It received the "Maria Award" at the Sitges Film Festival in 2005 and the "Best Anime Feature" at the 2007 American Anime Awards. The original release was one of the best-selling animated movies in its release year in Japan and the United States. The Complete release was noted as driving a large increase in sales of the PlayStation 3 console in its release week. By May 2009, the DVD and Universal Media Disc releases had sold over 4.1 million copies worldwide.
(Taken from Wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.or...

Fans were overjoyed at the prospect of revisiting Midgar and FFVII Advent Children became a favorite as it added to the world with stunning visuals and a new and improved OST. The film became an overnight hit and spawned a lot of merch including tapestries, rubber straps, watches and neck ties!

Just like the merch there was also a handful of figures including trading figures, Play Arts, Play Arts Kai and Kotobukiya produced a replica of Cids iconic air ship as well!

ABOUT FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKEABOUT FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE

Final Fantasy VII Remake is a 2020 action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix. It is the first in a planned series of games remaking the 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. Set in the dystopian cyberpunk metropolis of Midgar, players control mercenary Cloud Strife. He joins AVALANCHE, an eco-terrorist group trying to stop the powerful megacorporation Shinra from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. The gameplay combines real-time action with strategic and role-playing elements.

Remake was announced in 2015 following years of speculation. Several key staff members returned, including character designer Tetsuya Nomura as director, director Yoshinori Kitase as producer, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima as story and scenario writer, event planner Motomu Toriyama as a co-director, and composer Nobuo Uematsu who returned to write the game's main theme. The staff redesigned the characters to balance realism and stylization. While the veteran Japanese Final Fantasy VII voice cast returned, the English voices were recast.

The game was released for the PlayStation 4 in April 2020. It received positive reviews, with praise for its graphics, gameplay, narrative, and music. Critics applauded how faithful the story and lore was to the original game from 1997 while expanding on it. The updated battle system was praised for its strategic elements and visual flourishes. However, reception was more mixed toward the game's linearity and the repetitive nature of its sidequests. Final Fantasy VII Remake became one of the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 games, selling over 3.5 million copies within three days and five million by August. An enhanced version for the PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, was released on June 10, 2021.
(Taken from Wikipedia)
en.wikipedia.or...

One of the most anticipated remakes on the planet, Square Enix blew critics and fans minds when they unveiled the trailer for the game at E3 in 2015. Fans had to wait until 2020 to get their hands on the game but with so much weight on it's shoulders to live up to the original it was a resounding gaming triumph! Staying true to the essence of the original with enhanced gameplay and visuals and even new scenes thrown in, the game took the world by storm and instantly became one of the most popular of 2020, the only drawback was this was the first part and fans are now waiting with baited breath for the 2nd installment.......

Of course FFVII is huge and so with the remake came a whole new lot of merchandise including plushies, umbrellas, badges, music boxes, clocks, tapestries, acrylic stand figures and more!

With the Remakes release it was obvious figures would soon follow but there haven't been as many as fans anticipated, so far only Play Arts Kai have been released along with three prize figures and some trading figures.

It's no secret Square Enix have a tight rein on the Final Fantasy merch licence and it's unlikely we'll see any other merch/figures from other companies, however they have released their grip on Kingdom Hearts and have allowed GSC to make Nendoroids of the characters, so there's still hope that they will loosen that grip and maybe one day we could see scale figures from companies like Kotobukiya, GSC, MegaHouse, Alter etc from the Remake.

ABOUT CLOUD STRIFEABOUT CLOUD STRIFE

Appearing to be arrogant and hard headed Cloud seems to be self centered and one track minded, as his main focus is the mission and earning money. A proud swordsman, he left the military group known as Soldier to pursue a life as a mercenary. It is through this he lands a mission with Avalanche, a group of ragtag activists who want to change the world for the better. Upon working with this group Cloud realizes that there're more important things in life than just money....

Category: Action/Dolls browse.v4.php?c...
Classification: Play Arts Kai

Origin: Final Fantasy VII Remake

Character: Cloud Strife

Manufacturer: Square Enix

Character Designer: Nomura Tetsuya

Character Designer: Roberto Ferrari

Version: Version 2
Materials: ABS/PVC
Dimensions: W=3.9 inches L=1.87 inches H=10.45 inches
Release Date: 26/09/2020
Price: £65.97 from AmiAmi

THE BOX

The box is a simple affair, the color scheme is somber but reminiscent of the game with floating Mako energy and a faded effect to add ambiance to Cloud as he stands with his piercing eyes holding the buster sword. It is also adorned with the Remake logo and a foil effect Play Arts Kai logo complete with the all important sticker of authenticity on the front. The sides/top/bottom continue the atmosphere with the logo with dashes of black added to the color scheme. The back features some screenshots of display options along with more logos and manufacturing info. A small magnetic clasp is used to open the front of the box to reveal a giant window and a game screenshot along with info about the world and the main man himself! The window also features a faded looking buster sword to make it that more eye catching. All in all it's not a massively striking box in visuals but the color scheme and added effects do stay true to the game and the FFVII world. Not bad SE, I especially like the info panel next to the window, I wish more companies would do something similar to this. Not really worth talking much about the box inlay as it's just all black and not good for figure photography as it's too reflective sadly.

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7/10

ACCESSORIES

Cloud doesn't have a massive amount of accessories, upon opening the box you'll find:

• 1 set of instructions
  
• Buster Sword
  
• 3 pairs of hands
  
• 1 small screw piece to connect Buster Sword to his back
  
• 1 stand
  
• 1 small pincer grip
  
• 1 big pincer grip
  

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To fit the Buster Sword on his back you have to remove a screw, which is simple to do then you use the other piece to go through the hole of the sword and into his back.

BASE

Well Cloud doesn't really have a base as such just your usual type stand you'd expect to see for an action figure. You can use the 2 pincer pieces to grip around his body to keep him secure although if you have somewhere that is safe from vibrations, he can stand without it. Something to look out for is removing the pieces from the box, I cannot for the life of me get the second pincer out, hence the picture inside the blister packaging!

3/10

SCULPT

Nomura Tetsuya has mainly worked with SE on Play Arts Kai but before that he did work with Kotobukiya producing other FF series figures:

So he is no stranger to the industry. Roberto Ferrari has only worked with SE on PAK.

Having two character designers you'd think this would help in producing a highly detailed realistic figure, so lets see what Clouds sculpt is like....

Clouds face is determined, as you can see the seriousness in his eyes and bone structure of his face where he is tensing his jaw ready for combat! Other points to note are:

His spiky hair which has details of individual strands, the jumper which has a look of real material, the damage on his armor shoulder pad with cracks to show wear and tear, the creases in his buckles and trousers, the embossed effect of his belt, the little notches for his belt, the seams of his trousers, the wrinkles and indents of his boots and screws of his armor.

The Buster Sword looks sharp and dangerous with a good bit of detail around the Materia slots. It's well made and does have a bit of weight to it which makes it feel more authentic.

Overall Clouds sculpt isn't massively impressive compared to a scale figure but it is impressive for an action figure, yes you can see the joints for articulation but they don't deject away from the figure itself, as the little added details and Clouds striking face are more than enough to draw the eye.
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8/10

PAINT

Paint quality isn't too bad, there is shading in his hair and his eyes look fierce, other points to note are:

The contrast of his armor color, the rusty effect of the screws, the patchy blue on his trousers making them look worn in, the shading of the chest straps which give them a slight brown tint, the skin tone shading highlighting his muscles and the metallic look of his gloves. The Buster Sword has a steel effect with paint missing on the edge to show the damage through battles and there's a look of rust showing the swords age which is a nice touch.

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8/10

FAULTS

Not too many faults to name here, on closer look of his hair there're gaps which can look jarring. The main thing is the joints, like all figures like this hearing that crack! noise each time you move one is panic inducing as you think you're breaking the figure. Another thing to note is putting his hands on can be annoying as the joint will move about a lot and can become frustrating, so bear that in mind.

DID YOU KNOW?DID YOU KNOW?

Cloud Strife has appeared in over 36 games!

These range from other FF games including Dissidia,

Tactics,

Theater Rhythm

and more!
He even has made an appearances in the Kingdom Hearts series

and has thought some of Nintendo's greatest characters in Super Smash Bros!

He and other FFVII characters showed up as DLC for Little Big Planet 2 and

he was also a candidate to be in Soul Calibur II but got replaced by Heihachi Mishima!
He isn't in FFXIII Lightning Returns but players can pick up his iconic outfit and the Buster Sword!

Cloud remains one of the most popular video game characters of all time and is likely to continue making appearances in many more games to come!

DISPLAY OPTIONS

Being a PAK Cloud does have quite a few display options to choose from which include, holding his sword, carrying his sword and preparing to battle! Of course he's not limited to just these, as he can be posed in many other ways to help recreate scenes from the game.

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SIZE COMPARISON

Cloud is pretty big for an action figure, as you can see here next to SkyTube's 1/6 Ayame

and MegaHouse's Monkey D Luffy SA Version

who is 1/8 he stands in the middle. Obviously if he was using the stand he can be slightly taller. What makes him more awkward is this pose with the Buster Sword as it does takes up a considerable amount of space in both height and width on a shelf.
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AVAILABILITY AT CURRENT TIME OF WRITING

After the release of version 1 Cloud, fans predicted that version 2 would be better and hence after release his price would go up in the aftermarket but it hasn't jumped as much as anticipated. He does pop up on AmiAmi and other sites for a decent price, so if you want him he is still very much obtainable.

Square Enix Store: store.na.square...
AmiAmi: www.amiami.com/...
Mandarake: order.mandarake...
Solaris: solarisjapan.co...
Nin Nin Game: www.nin-nin-gam...
Ninoma: ninoma.com/page...

FINAL VERDICT

This is a pretty decent figure of Cloud, a reasonable paint job and some attention to detail does make him feel like he was worth the money. Yes the cracking sound on moving the joints is heart beat raising but if you can get into your mind that it's meant to do that you'l be fine. He looks awesome on the shelf especially with other PAK and his poses are relatively easy to do, the downside really is his limit of accessories. I would have loved to have seen SE give him more for display options especially Materia for his sword. That screw that goes into his back through the sword could have been bright green and another smaller purple one could have been placed in the other hole to make it look like he has the Materia equipped. Other negative for me is the fact he only has one face plate. Barret V2 has an extra and so does Tifa and Aerith has two! So I think this was a missed opportunity here to add at least one more expression for display. Overall though this is a great representation of Cloud from the Remake and I'm glad I got him!

Before I disappear I want to say that I wasn't entirely happy with the photo's for this review, as I thought it would be cool to do a shoot with the actual game in the background but it didn't quite turn out how I envisioned so here is a better set:
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Well that's it for another review! Our journey with FFVII PAK has only just begun! As next up we'll be looking at a lady who packs one hell of a punch! As we'll be reviewing Tifa Lockhart! So until then I will say play the Final Fantasy VII Remake! It's a brilliant spectacularly phenomenal game! I love it so much that I actually attempted to get the Platinum trophy and to my shock I actually did! Seriously as I write this now, listening to the Remake OST it makes me want to go back and experience it all, all over again! So if you haven't played it yet I urge you to check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for dropping by and reading MFC!

RGI

Check out my other reviews/showcases on the right! (*^V^*)
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Oh and for a look at version 1 VS 2 check out this great article done by

here:

BONUS!BONUS!
Flashback Cloud

Bokeh Cloud

Observing Shinra

Entering Wallmarket