Indeed.
It may be hard to realize nowadays, but FFVII was practically a deconstruction of the typical JRPG storyline that was popular during the 90s. Cloud himself I think is really intriguing because when you get right down to it, he's little more than just another joe-average soldier who got caught up in the wrong place at the right time (him actually beating Sephiroth on their first encounter, not Zack), had his memories tampered with, and when he was pushed to the breaking point, literally ended op role-playing as his hero to cover up his weaknesses.
When playing the game for the first time last year, having experienced many other games that have done similar twists and deconstructions of the media, I realized that Cloud predated characters like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 and Jack from Bioshock, yet his character covered very similar aspects and themes as those two. His attempt at "role-playing" a hero and not wanting to expose his true weaknesses, along with said twist being used to put a reflection on the player themselves, is very much not unlike how MGS2 would later do the same. And when I learned of how he was experimented on and was a tool to the main villain, complete with him having no control over their actions at certain points, that famous twist from Irrational Games' famous 2007 release instantly popped into my head:
FFVII really was ahead of its time in many aspects, and it's just one reason why I found myself enthralled by it, even decades after its release.
