I also really appreciate that the Remake is able to develop the friendships/relationships among all the characters as opposed to just with Cloud.
That being said, there is something about Cloud's reaction (or lack thereof) at the Shinra Building that felt super anti-climactic to me, LTD aside. He's the one who's constantly reminding the other two that their mission is to rescue Aerith, but when they finally rescue her...there's no payoff. Everyone else - Tifa, Barret, even Red - gets a nice one-on-one moment with her. With Cloud, it looks like it's going to happen when he goes to talk to her in her room, but instead he's all '
Hello Ancient. We are now in the penultimate chapter of the game. Please give us some exposition.'
Could just be me, but again, it felt really weird. Like I don't want to read too far into the devs' intentions here, but especially compared to the OG version, it really felt like they went out of the way to make sure that the rescue wouldn't be construed by the average gamer as something explicitly romantic. (Which is still a valid interpretation, just not one I hold)
Yes! This was one of those moments I was trying to recall. In previous chapters too, like in the sewers, it was Tifa who caught Aerith. At the Train Graveyard, it was Tifa who reached out to Aerith and told her "we found you" (Cloud did get Aerith out of harms way before that). So many potential relationship moments were given to AerTi. I'm gonna stop here before I break the LTD rule.
But yes all of these as well. Really felt like they were going out of the way to avoid any one on one moments between them once Tifa is back on the scene.
Haha, I was just going to write something about Barret's relationship with Cloud, but yes, I agree, it makes for a meaningful contrast. You can argue there's nothing inherently romantic about Cloud saving Tifa so many times, but uhhh, I think there's a reason we don't see Cloud saving Barret all the time (size difference aside) even though he's in just as much danger.
I loved the way Cloud and Barret's friendship was developed in the Remake, especially w/r/t to their relationship with Tifa. Not that their entire friendship revolves around Tifa but it was very much a situation where they're two people have who absolutely nothing in common other than a good mutual friend and she's the only reason they're even willing to be in the same room together.
You can actually kind of track how Cloud & Barret's friendship develops based on how Barret brings up Tifa to Cloud:
-First reactor mission: Barret tells him to prove he's the man Tifa says he is. Cloud acts like he doesn't care. Barret clocks him as a total POS from then on.
-Sector 7 arrival/Train to Sector 5 Reactor: both times he tells Cloud to check up on/go to Tifa because she'll worry about him. Very much situations where he doesn't give a shit about how Cloud is doing, but knows that
Tifa cares for him, so he's doing it entirely for her sake.
-Post-Airbuster Fight: They're already liking each other much better during this mission, but it's only when Barret sees Cloud putting Tifa's safety above his own that he explicitly says that he was wrong about him
-Post-Plate drop: They have a quiet moment of understanding when Barret is able to physically comfort Tifa while Cloud still cannot. It felt like a way for Barret to include Cloud in the group. He might not have been in Sector 7 as long, but their loss is his too.
-Barret's Ch. 14 resolution: They're definitely bros at this point, and it felt like Barret brought up Tifa's Avalanche suitor at least in part to troll/get a reaction out of Cloud.
Another plus side of not having the time/technological limitations of the OG. Cloud and Tifa's relationship no longer feels like it exists in a vacuum, instead our understanding of it is deepened by how they each relate to others.
EDIT: Also want to add that Cloud-Tifa having any one-on-one time at all is a completely new addition to the Remake. Cloud/the player never gets to know Tifa on her on in the OG. They were always a Trio in the OG.