They really nerfed Cloud in Smash Ultimate, but He's still gonna be a high tier character.

[ShadeStrider]

I main Cloud. I didn't in Smash 4 because of salty nerds and unfair advantages, but now I'm using him in Ultimate. I mean, he is the protagonist of my favorite JRPG of all time, so...

 

As if now, I'm trying to learn how to play the game competitively, and Cloud is easy to learn. Snake and Mewtwo are really tough characters to get the hang of, so I'll get to them later. 

 

Finishing touch kinda sucks in this game. The reduced Hitbox makes it very hard to land, and I always find myself going for a Limit Cross Slash, or a Climhazzard for Better Recovery/Braver if I get above the stage, rather than a Finishing touch.

 

His Aerial game is just as good as usual. I find myself throwing out a Down Air as an approach option more often than his other Aerials. His Reduced range hurts his Aerial game a lot, but he still retains his excellent frame data. If this is what it takes for Cloud to be balanced, then I'm fine with it. Just... don't extend his range and ruin his frame data. That would ruin the character.

 

Compared to Bayonetta, he definitely got the better end of the deal. Bayo... I think they over nerfed her. After what MKLeo did to Plup, I guess we should have seen this coming.

 

Overall, he's still a fun, usable character. Blond Zack is still my main in this game.

 

And I just realized: He doesn't have access to Meteorain in this game. Maybe they should have made that one of his moves. Also, Remember when he had to have limit fully charged in order to attempt Climhazzard, Braver, Cross-Slash, Blade Beam, and Omnislash? Seems like in this game, you only need full limit for Finishing Touch. Omnislash is justifiable, because It's a Final Smash.

 

I'm also, like most Final Fantasy VII fans, disappointed by the lackluster FFVII music selection present in this game. No J-E-N-O-V-A, No One Winged Angel, no Jenova Absolute, no theme of Cid Highwind, no "On that Day Five Years Ago", no Cosmo Canyon, no Prelude (And FFVII had the best version of it), and no Bombing Mission. And No Aerith's theme (If Calling to the Night from MGS Portable Ops can make it in, I'm pretty sure this can get in too). And not even some of the music from the spinoffs, like "The Price of Freedom" from Crisis Core. This may have been Square Enix's fault really, for failing to give permission to use these songs. When Konami of all companies is being less stingy with their licenses, you know you've screwed up.

 

This may change, if there is another Square Rep. But even if the Grinch Leak was fake, that isn't grounds for me to start believing in Vergeben.

 

 

[TeamPlayerSwampert]

I feel the same way, especially about how Dair is one of Cloud's most reliable approaches in neutral. The nerfs to limit break from Smash 4 were necessary so no complaints here, still a shame that normal Cross-Slash deals less knockback.

 

Nair still has decent enough range while Uair remains pretty excellent at juggling.

 

It'll be interesting to see what Cloud experts discover regarding combos, especially out of grab .

 

Fair spikes and off-stage Cross-Slash KO's are as satisfying as ever in terms of edge-guarding imo

 

Also, I adore FFVII on so many levels as well! I'm normally against using characters with terrible recoveries but I made an exception for Cloud because of how powerful that game was to me.  It would'e been dope if Barret or Tifa were assist trophies, as well as maybe giving Cloud a Sephiroth-themed skin with white/silver hair and more importantly a Zack-themed skin for obvious lore reasons.

 

He's probably going to be my 3rd best character for sure in Smash Ultimate for sure

[Godot]

The second Square Enix rep is rumored to be Erdrick.  Vergeben wasn't the only one saying that we were getting another SE rep.  There is another rumor going around heavily implying that Erdrick is Challenger 2.