Before anyone goes "But Cloud has been in many more games" Well here's the thing, I think personally VII was meh (To me, just didn't immersed in the plot like I should have) But it was SE's first game with 3D polygons, it was their pioneer into what has become of FF today. Before that happened, it was all sprites and whatnot. But what really made VII special, was the enormous plot that was welcomed, and it didn't focus on the same main character -all the time-.

VII was about Cloud and gang saving the world
VII Dirge of Cerberus: Vincent and a touch of Yuffie.
VII Crisis: Core: Zack with Cloud as a supporting character
VII Advent Children: Cloud but everyone had a hand in it.
VII Before Crisis: (I'm not sure, I didn't get to watch it yet, but I know it's about like the Turks)
Itadaki Street (Just put in for kicks since they were so popular)
Dissidia
Dissidia 012
Final Fantasy Tactics (I forgot which one but I remember Cloud was a selectable character to take into battle.)


All in all, I would rather accept Cloud more than Lightning. Why? Because unlike Lightning, Cloud shared the attention in the spinoffs, in fact he was only a minor character in some of them, such as DoC. I know he's all mopey, and his hair is in poor taste cuz of the spiky, but I'd rather have him than Lightning.

Shoot I'd rather have Wakka from FFX rather than Lightning, and I straight up hate FFX's ginger butt monkey.

(Give it a few years, Japan is all hyped up because of a Tsundere girl being the main character, give them some time and they'll drop her like a bad habit...)