"Cloud is the hero of Final Fantasy VII as you probably well know. I feel that it is only fitting that the Best Villain according to readers should be accompanied by the hero from the same game. Cloud starts out as an uncaring hard-ass with an ass-kicking sword and finishes the game as a caring, compassionate person with a kick-ass sword. Come on, any character that can take down what is arguably the most evil, deep, and believable villain in the history of gaming has to be amazing himself. It is quite obvious that Square puts an unbelievable amount of time into character creation and development." -James Marcoux

"Never has a hero more enigmatic and emotionally charged graced my monitor's pixels. Cloud was strong and in the end invincible, yet he was flawed and in many ways quite weak. Nearly being controlled by his nemesis, dropping to a vegetative state, and finally assuming somebody else's identity to make himself look better do not detract from his character but ultimately make it that more deep. In the end he turned out to be everything you want in a hero: cool, calm, strong, and best of all... he got the girl." -Torger Bjornrud

"Dear Sir, [Editor's Note: Actually, it's madam, but we'll let it slide this time] Cloud stands out from other heroes because of all that he's gone through. Look at his past. It's all jumbled up, and yet even when he does find the truth, nothing changes. He's still ready to save the world, even if it means his life. He loses one chic [Editor's Note: We're going to assume the word woman was meant here, not style or a name of jeans, or archaic slang] but gains another. He gains lifelong friends that deserve the respect that Cloud receives from fans, and that is also another reason for heroism. I was really expecting to see Cloud on this list, but was sadly disappointed." -Strife

"OK, look at this gaming hero. Cloud Strife was a great one. For half the game, he didn't even know what he was. And what do we find out? He was part evil. A bonding of jenova cells and human flesh, sprinkled with mako, and more than all that, he was a failure, we found out from Hojo. Just more successful than the successes. He had to deal with who and what he was throughout the game, and doesn't really find out until the very end. That makes for a very deep character, and hero." -Michael Ey

"Cloud is one of the most complex heroes that exist in a PC game. At the start, he cares about no one but himself. He takes on missions merely for the money and he is willing to change allegiances for the cash. However, as he progresses through the game, he has vivid flashbacks and he starts to realize something is truly wrong with himself and the world around him. Tormented by his true and horrifying past, he emerges as a true hero, accepting his losses and uniting his allies to save the world." -Sriram Sri

Guybrush Threepwood