SPOILERS LTD Remake — It's like New Coke except ... no, it's exactly like New Coke

[Maidenofwar]

I'm just quietly enjoying the CA goodies including "the pleasure he felt at spending time with Aerith" and the time they spend with each other being so "precious" building between them (this because it's been a prevalent thing on social media for some CTs to go on about how annoyed Cloud is by Aerith, like he could barely stand her and couldn't wait to get away from her), and that Cloud's heart raced while with Aerith. Oh yeah and his emotional turmoil at the thought of Aerith on a similar date with someone else. Also their c14 translation. Good times.

The CT thing is -only- a "dunk" if you think of CT as an ideal, perfect and flawless. In game it's heart warming when Cloud finally hugs Tifa but the build up was still a bit awkward to some as Cloud took his time to comfort her. Look at it this way, if Tifa was comforted by the hug in the end it still culminates in heart warming.

Like I remember a while back the discourse over the "dysfunctional" thing. Well the whole point of CT (imo) is they have a lot of growing to do. That journey has ups and downs, there are sometimes breakdowns in communications or perhaps things are communicated more clumsily than wanted. Even in part 3 I expect a break down in communications and some distance between them for a while. It's not like CA is without tension.

 

[Eerie]

And I don't know if it's a translation issue or the original Japanese, but why would you compare it to a one-night stand? When they're hugging each other for comfort after having lost everything? Again? After Shinra did two massacres? Like??? Unless it's a reference to their "one-night stand" at the end of the world?

The Japanese indeed has a sexual subtext, but it's more that he felt he crossed a line.

We've known that since the beginning, the translation is terrible yeah but what makes me laugh is that it also straight up says he has feelings for Tifa lmao. TurquoiseHammer's translation of that bit is great BTW, I remember Peko praised it.

What it also shows is that line from 2K gils... where Cloud simply wants to become a special person to Tifa, her hero, and he felt he achieved that that night. And it's still something he wants to be entering Rebirth, as Nojima reminded us.

There is a lot of growth needed from the moment we meet Cloud in Remake until the end of p3, and he's growing up fast. It's good that he makes mistakes, because he learns from them: if you look at the reunion flower he offered to Tifa trying to impress her (it's his core character) to CoT where he brings her back rare vegetables she loves to cook, there are a lot of hints through Remake and Rebirth about this particular growth and it is extremely sweet.

 

[Ryeleigh]

The CT thing is -only- a "dunk" if you think of CT as an ideal, perfect and flawless. In game it's heart warming when Cloud finally hugs Tifa but the build up was still a bit awkward to some as Cloud took his time to comfort her. Look at it this way, if Tifa was comforted by the hug in the end it still culminates in heart warming.

It's not that, at least for me.

It's that the hug happens right after Shinra has massacred Sector Seven plates. Tifa and Cloud as well have lost everything again. She's crying her heart out and Cloud finally pulls himself together enough to comfort her (and himself, I imagine). Like, it's supposed to be about tragedy and comfort, not even necessarily romance, because I don't think there's anything inherently romantic about comforting a person in grief.

So I'm honestly just wondering what was the actual thought process of comparing that moment to a one-night stand of all things, lol?

The Japanese indeed has a sexual subtext, but it's more that he felt he crossed a line.

Right, I remember that. That makes more sense to me than outright comparing it to a one-night stand, lol.

 

[null]

I feel like the appropriate word is "tryst" not one-night stand.

Yeah, it's a dunk. The kiss was a dunk. The Highwind was a dunk. The Lifestream was a dunk. Koi_bito was a dunk. The NBA All-Star weekend ain't got nothing on Tifa.

IMO that's a realistic reaction for Cloud to have. According to Nojima that is Real Cloud, IIRC, and that moment is everything Real Cloud wanted in life. He's made it. He's the man Tifa can turn to in her time of need, not to mention having her in his arms in the middle of the night. Real Cloud is a teenager after all, even with noble intentions, I'd be more surprised if he didn't feel all that hitting him like a truck.

 

[Dr Frasier Crane]

To boil it down to its simplest elements, the hug scene in Remake is about one friend in emotional distress, being clumsily comforted physically by another friend who is not experienced in such matters.

Are Cloud and Tifa an item after the hug? Absolutely not. Have they closed some of the distance between each other? Absolutely yes. It’s as much progress as they can make at that point in time without deviating too much from the original story.

To be honest, if we weren’t already beyond part 2 of the trilogy at this point, then I might be a little dispirited by this Ultimania text. However, as we are now post the Gold Saucer dates, I’m not really sweating it.

This Ultimania text was produced in 2021, as I understand it. Well in 2024, the creative team deemed it appropriate to completely transform the Tifa Gold Saucer date from a moment of awkward mis-connection, to a moment romance, initiated by Cloud of all people. That is an unsubtle statement of intent from my perspective that is clearly setting up the direction of travel. Why escalate the romance between Cloud and Tifa this early in the story, if the writers are only going to clumsily pull back from it later? As far as I’m aware, they’re not going to heavily deviate from the text Lifestream sequence in part 3 - if anything, the writers have endeavoured to better foreshadow it across this multi part series.

(I should note that I am only at the beginning of chapter 13 after all these months and have been completely diverted by the Silent Hill 2 remake, so if there is material that sinks my confidence awaiting me in the final chapters, I’m not aware of it yet!)

 

[redoak77]

To boil it down to its simplest elements, the hug scene in Remake is about one friend in emotional distress, being clumsily comforted physically by another friend who is not experienced in such matters.

Are Cloud and Tifa an item after the hug? Absolutely not. Have they closed some of the distance between each other? Absolutely yes. It’s as much progress as they can make at that point in time without deviating too much from the original story.

To be honest, if we weren’t already beyond part 2 of the trilogy at this point, then I might be a little dispirited by this Ultimania text. However, as we are now post the Gold Saucer dates, I’m not really sweating it.

This Ultimania text was produced in 2021, as I understand it. Well in 2024, the creative team deemed it appropriate to completely transform the Tifa Gold Saucer date from a moment of awkward mis-connection, to a moment romance, initiated by Cloud of all people. That is an unsubtle statement of intent from my perspective that is clearly setting up the direction of travel. Why escalate the romance between Cloud and Tifa this early in the story, if the writers are only going to clumsily pull back from it later? As far as I’m aware, they’re not going to heavily deviate from the text Lifestream sequence in part 3 - if anything, the writers have endeavoured to better foreshadow it across this multi part series.

(I should note that I am only at the beginning of chapter 13 after all these months and have been completely diverted by the Silent Hill 2 remake, so if there is material that sinks my confidence awaiting me in the final chapters, I’m not aware of it yet!)

I see what you mean. I still think it would’ve been better to show it on screen than explain in on text, in a book, a good four years after the fact.