Aerith's Flanderization In The Compilation

[jazzflower92]

As anyone can remember in the OG although Aerith had the appearance of a girly girl,she was actually stubborn,cheeky,and really outgoing.I mean this girl was the one who suggested Cloud cross-dress and threatened to cut a gangster's privates off.This actually makes her an interesting character because she bucks the stereotype that is usually assigned to her type of character.

Unfortunately,the Compilation seems to take away all her spunk and make her into another generic pure innocent maiden archetype.Yes,she can be nice but on the other hand the developers seem to forget she had a lot spirit since she lived in the slums most of her life.

 

[Arianna]

I agree with you. (Though, I'm not sure if I'd say that the Compilation forgets this.)

I mean this girl was the one who suggested Cloud cross-dress and threatened to cut a gangster's privates off.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Well, I don't know. She was pretty cheeky to Zack in Crisis Core and bossed him around a lot (he loved it, though). In BC she's also pretty assertive of her values. She's much younger in both those incarnations than in the OG; she's a teenager in Crisis Core, a grown woman in the OG, so her character has matured - become stronger but also harder. Isn't she meant to be 23 in the OG? Older than Cloud, IIRC.

 

[Shademp]

I have not analyzed Crisis Core thoroughly enough to know for sure, but was there some element which implied that Zack helped Aerith overcome her fear of the skies? We know that Zack gave her the idea of selling flowers and eventually she decides to sell flowers on the upper plate, but does the plot in any way inform that Zack made Aerith into a more brave person?

Mostly curious, because even if that is the case I naturally do not support such a direction. Aerith is indeed driven and brave in the original game. She runs ahead of Cloud into Wall Market and almost runs into Corneo's mansion on her own. She knows what type of place Wall Market is so she most likely knew that the mansion wasn't a safe place.

All we really need to remember who Aerith is, is this quote from the torture chamber.

Aeris:
“I grew up in the slums…
I'm used to danger.”

That said, she is still a gentle being. In the scenario when she is chased by one of Corneo's lackeys, Kotch, and pushes him down the stairs she even says “I'm so sorry!!”. The guy was acting rape-y and still she feels the need to apologize. That's lego graphics comedy for ya!

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

She's seventeen years old and this big soldier boy is the most glamorous, glorious thing she's ever clapped eyes on. He literally dropped from the heavens. She's astute enough to realise that "protecting people" is his thing. Of course she plays up to that. It's clear she's no stranger to chat-up lines (when he offers her a date, she says, "Oh, what's up with that?" Cheesy or what?). The fear of the sky thing was maybe poorly thought out but not entirely unreasonable, since she's lived her entire life under the plate and it is the place where she found refuge from Shinra. Under the plate = hidden, safe; above the plate = exposure. I know this doesn't really make sense given that the Turks know where she is and she seems to know them (she and Tseng obviously have had more than one conversation with each other, a fact which she and Tseng both conceal from Zack), but oh well this is Square Ebix after all....

Aerith conceals a lot of herself from Zack because of her longing to be 'normal'. She just wants to be a normal teenager in a normal relationship. So what if she puts on the 'cute helpless girl' act - it wouldn't be the first time a girl has pretended to be innocent and weak in order to snare a guy. And it seems to work, since Zack's crazy about her.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

I'd like to think that was the reason behind it, but I can't imagine a girl going a whole two years pretending she was entiry spunkless if she is actually as spunky as OG Aerith. She would eventually get annoyed with herself, if not him as well for being the reason.

 

[jazzflower92]

I'd like to think that was the reason behind it, but I can't imagine a girl going a whole two years pretending she was entiry spunkless if she is actually as spunky as OG Aerith. She would eventually get annoyed with herself, if not him as well for being the reason.

Gotta agree with Hawk because eventually Aerith would have felt so silly putting up that innocent ingenue facade.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Put like that, I have to agree. It's just that I don't think she's that pathetic and spineless. She travels around the slums all on her own, and she insists that Zack listen to the thief kid's story. But I agree that her character could have been portrayed much more effectively. A spunkier, more assertive Aerith would have made a more plausible love interest for Zack, too.