yeah cloud is pretty bad ass when it comes to fighting and all, and probably the one FF character that leaves you amazed at his attacks heh. but yeah his personality is alright (theres better ones out there) but what really gets me is the fact that he never gets it on w/ any of his two bitches in the game (hell make that four if you get to date yuffie or barret(!!)). Maybe thats just his style.
As for badasses, squall is a depressed insecure (and probably bi-sexual) nomura creation, along with the opposite personality(but still bi-sexual) Tidus. So you can cross them off the list. It's amazing how Nomura can create cool manly looking characters (Cloud, Cid FFVII, Auron) and then balance it with gay (but probably cool in japanese culture) characters.
Well I guess that leaves me with Kain or Shadow for badasses. I'd probably go with Kain since he destroys Cecil when is under Golbez's control. Kills the little man with jumps, and then takes his bitch. You can't argue that.