Air Buster fight is chapter 7, so if the story progresses normally, Chapter 8 is a good assumption.I heard that Aerith gets in the game around chapter 8; is that true?
I won't lie. I'm here for ALL the spoilers. Won't be buying this for the forseeable but can't wait to see all the gory details.
The demo just left me wanting more but don't have the time to commit to the full shabang.
I can hear the yaoi artists sharpening their pencils, lmfao
Yea right? Already seen people complain that it's "too much foreshadowing".If I had any criticism thus far, it's that they may confuse fans with the approach they're taking with Sephiroth and him filling Cloud's head with images of his intended course. There's a scene that plays with the experienced player's knowledge of the OG by combining close up images of the character, their significant item, and it falling.
Like, seeing it at first is pretty damn trippy because. Well, it'll be obvious
If I had any criticism thus far, it's that they may confuse fans with the approach they're taking with Sephiroth and him filling Cloud's head with images of his intended course. There's a scene that plays with the experienced player's knowledge of the OG by combining close up images of the character, their significant item, and it falling.
Like, seeing it at first is pretty damn trippy because. Well, it'll be obvious
There has been a lot of stuff in this thread, so I think it might be useful to recap all we know for sure so far:
- The biggest new thing in the remake are the Whispers. They are described as "arbiters of fate" (Barret), "voices of the planet (...) those born into this world. Who live and who died. Who returned. They're howling in pain" (Aerith), and as "entities from a future timeline that fight to protect that future that gave shape to them" (Bestiary);
- They intercede whenever events threaten to deviate from the OG. It doesn't matter who causes the deviation (Cloud when he almost kills Reno, Hojo when he almost tells Cloud about his past, Sephiroth when he kills Barret and so on). However, Aerith clearly states that they are howling in pain because of Sephiroth;
- Near the end of the game, a massive amount of Whispers comes together and forms the portal through which the party goes through. They arrive at an alternate version of Midgar. Things that happen there don't impact the "actual" Midgar (the whole city is destroyed in "alternate Midgar", but remains intact in the "actual one");
- Events happening within "alternate Midgar" are visible to people outside of it in multiple points in time (Zack sees what is going on from a distance, even though he is in the past). Thus, "alternate Midgar" might be a "singularity;"
- Inside "alternate Midgar", the party fights a massive monster created form an agglomeration of Whispers, as well as three smaller ones. The smaller ones fight with "a sword", a "bare hands", and "guns;"
- During the fight, they see a number of visions of events that happened in the OG but at a future point in relation to the remake (Meteorfall, Red XIII running through a deserted landscape, the moments before Aerith's death) and so on. They interpret those events negatively (saying things like “this can’t be our future,” “this would be the result of us failing today”).
- The party defeats the Whispers. However, what happens to the Whispers is unclear. We latter see Sephiroth controlling them (which he hadn’t done until then). This, in conjunction with the cutscene that plays right after the Whisper fight, have led some to interpret as Sephiroth having absorbed Whispers.
- Even after the party defeated the Whispers, Sephiroth still invites Cloud to join him in “defying fate”. Cloud refuses. In what is possibly the most cryptic scene so far, Sephiroth talks about the “edge of creation” and declares that Cloud has “7 seconds until the end”;
- After the talk with Sephiroth, the party finds themselves outside of “actual Midgar” (which remains undestroyed) and leave to pursue Sephiroth.
Now, I’m not quite sure how to interpret this, but I’ll give it a try.
It seems to me that the three Whispers at the end (who fight with a sword, bare hands and guns) might be Cloud, Tifa and Barret from a future timeline. Like the other Whispers, they have already “died and returned”. Going from the visions the party had, they come from a future where a sequence of events like that of the OG has already happened. Aerith and Red XIII might not be among the Whispers because their future selves are respectively in the Lifestream and alive.
Sephiroth is acting to stop the chain of events that the Whispers are trying to maintain. This implies that he has somehow acquired knowledge that the actions of the Whispers are against his best interests. The party, however, sees only specific glimpses of the future – all of which, lacking context, look terrible (a meteor falling, Midgar abandoned, Aerith about to die). Thus, they misinterpret this future as bad, and act against fate (as Aerith put it, “the future is always a blank page”).
I think that, in the end, Sephiroth got what he wanted from that confrontation. The party defeated the Whispers, and Sephy is later seen (possibly) absorbing and (definitively) controlling them. I don’t think he was thwarted at all, since he appeared to be in control the entire time. But I’m not sure that Sephy got all he needs. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for him to ask Cloud for help in defying destiny. In other words, taming the Whispers might be a necessary, but still insufficient, condition in achieving his plans.
Now, I have no clue where the devs are going with this, and whether it implies that they won’t follow the OG anymore. We’ll probably just have to wait for an interview to shed light on that. I also have no idea what the deal with the “7 seconds” thing was.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EU-rOapWAAAZOaQ?format=jpg&name=large
and now the connection between FFX and FFVII is reconfirmed... madmans
Oh, what's this? A theory about the ending and the whole Remake project before even the first game is released?
Well, don't mind if I do.
Cheers.I'm still going to maintain the belief that Remake is actually the memories of Cloud and co., who are now dead (simply because of old age) entering the Lifestream and pouring their memories in it; Remake = Memories of the OG that the characters have. The OG has become the Planet’s memory with their passing.
That explains the small differences from the OG. Our minds embellish and forget. We never remember the things exactly as they happened. The Remake having some minor differences is the characters remembering the OG actions slightly wrongly. Take the flower, for example. In the OG, you have the option not to take it; here you take it no matter what. You had the option who to give it to; here Cloud gives it to Tifa and it suddenly means Lovers’ Reunion. The OG is the real deal; the Remake is how one character (possibly Cloud himself?) remembers it. That doesn’t harm the Lifestream flow; it’s natural we forget details of the past as we go. It’s the big events, the skeleton, the outline that remains.
This helps with the Remake and the OG co-existing, not deleting each other and allowing SE to get money from both; they’re not replacing anything, that’d be financial stupidity and harm.
The bigger differences exist because Sephiroth is messing with the Lifestream itself, since he continues to linger in it. Now that the characters’ memories have entered the Lifestream and “no one’s dead if we remember them” well, of course when entering the land of the dead, the Lifestream, Sephiroth will be powerful. He’s remembered very strongly by the characters and the Meteor he summoned is remembered by all. It burns eternal in our hearts. Not just as himself, but the memory of him is now in the Lifestream, adding to his power. Especially from Cloud’s memories. Adding the JENOVA cells that cannot be dissolved since they’re the alien element and you get Sephiroth in the Remake.
With all this power coming to him, Sephiroth is able to fulfill his words in ACC: he will never be just a memory. He’ll mess up with the memories of the OG characters. Messing up with the characters means messing up with the Lifestream and its natural flow. And messing up with the natural flow of the Lifestream… well, it kills the Planet. Sephiroth wants to enter the cycle while also keeping his personality intact and he has found his “home” in Cloud and co.’s memories of him. He messes up and touches everything while also being untouched by them, looking for the beginning of creation, the source of the Lifestream, in order to harm it. Harming it will kill the Planet and allow him and JENOVA to use it to travel into the cosmos to invade other planets.
But, Aerith exists as long Sephiroth exists. They’re Yin and Yang, Black and White. She’s a native of the Planet, so she follows the cycle and she has an… expiration date, let’s call it. She’s weakening, but still existing. She realized what Sephiroth’s plan is and sent her friends’ remnants of spirits to try and put things back as they were, fix the BIG alteration of the memories. They’re the whispers, the people from after the events of the OG, maybe even the versions of the OG characters who went on to live. They fight to remain versions of themselves that happened after the OG. If the memory of the Planet about them changes too much, they will die. Not just dissolve into the Lifestream; they’ll disappear. They’re Aerith’s allies, the ones who understand what her death and all the OG events lead up to; a living Planet, a happy ending, a life going on.
Sephiroth hates them, but he has realized that he can use them. He fools Remake!Cloud to get rid of them in order to alter their “fate”. He’s not lying; he’s telling Cloud the truth. He can alter the memories too much by getting rid of the Whispers, the ones who correct the bigger changes. He just calls it “destiny” instead of “memory”. But Remake!Cloud is a memory himself, he’s Cloud as he remembers himself in the OG and he’s completely unaware of it. All he sees is the people he cares for dying, being in danger… he’s unaware that they HAVE to die in order for the cycle to continue, for life to go on. He’s unaware of his happy ending. All he sees around him is death and suffering (the OG was NOT a happy little story, wasn’t it?) and those whispers sometimes adding to it. So, that young, unwise, trigger-happy Cloud attacks what Aerith sent to help and gets rid of them. Did he kill a version of himself? Did he kill ACC Tifa in that final battle? Probably.
And then, Sephiroth gets powerful. So powerful that he steals Aerith’s Whispers and uses them, in order for Remake!Cloud to get rid of them. And he’s successful. “The future is not yet written.” Finally, he’s free of the Whispers and he can alter the memories as much as he wants. Alter them enough for everyone to want Aerith to live. After all, nobody in the Remake world wants Aerith dead, right? That’s a bad thing that happens. They’re unaware that her death leads to the Lifestream defeating Meteor and allowing life to continue.
That’s when dream!Aerith enters. She comes to Remake!Cloud and talks to him and all her words are of the one who knows the truth: you made me happy, don’t fall in love with me; it’s fake. It’s essentially “Thanks for remembering me fondly, but I have to die. Don’t get too attached to this version of myself, because if you change my death in your memories and start truly believing that I lived, things will get distorted too much and the distortion will spread.” Remake!Aerith says that whenever the Whispers touch her, she loses a part of herself. It’s because she’s fading herself; she’s a Cetra, but she IS of the Planet and the cycle caught her, too. She cannot be ACC Aerith; knowledgeable and wise. She’s far too gone for that. And she has to play her part and not alter the memories too much herself, otherwise the same harm will come. So, we got Remake!Aerith. A mixture of ACC Aerith and OG Aerith, or at least, as Cloud and co. remember OG Aerith.
Yes, there are a LOT of faults in this theory. But I’m sticking to it, because I haaaaate time travel and paradoxes and different realities.
At least this way, there’s no sudden new element that we’ve never heard of before entering the lore; aka time travel. There’s only the Lifestream and memories; something that were already there from the OG. This way, we also have the final battle against Sephiroth. Fucker continues to mess up with the Planet for only after his death, but after everybody else’s death. By defeating him and JENOVA in death, that’s it. The story ends. We can have Nanaki and his cubs 500 years later, without any concerns, as the absolute finale of the Compilation.
I've come across some fun discussion about if Aerith is actually from the future:
"So did anyone consider that Aerith is from the future?
AC established that Aerith can do what Sephiroth can do. Sephiroth created avatars to interact with Cloud in AC (Kadaj and so on) and in Case of Lifestream, Aerith said she can do that too but chose not to.
If Sephiroth really came from the future it's possible Aerith went back too. So her consciousness is in the past Alt timeline Aerith's consciousness. But then she'd know that the Time Janitors are there to keep everything the same. So she's not really any better than Sephiroth - she also wants a second chance. Except she wants a second chance at a happy ending even if it means the planet might not survive this new timeline....
I'm saying this because of the scene Aerith picks up Marlene from the bar. Marlene seems to have some kind of vision and Aerith puts her finger to her lips to say 'don't say anything'. Like don't spill the beans. So she definitely knows what her fate will be and she's willing to risk the planet's eventual happy ending so she can have a chance to live again..." -- ShawnandAngela
"As someone who has read the script I’ve been thinking this theory for months and just waiting for someone else to bring it up. Yes, I 100% believe the Aerith we see in the remake is one who has chased/followed Sephiroth from the future and is there to stop him in every sense of the word.
There are other scenes that imply it, too. Like, when Aerith asks Cloud to be her bodyguard she says something like, “It’s not too different from being a mercenary.” Except.... he didn’t say a word about being a mercenary. She realizes she’s slipped up and goes, “uh... I guessed! From the sword!” There’s another moment where Cloud tells her to stop acting like she knows him but.... my theory is: she DOES know him!!
There’s other hints too. Lots of them.
Edit: my only thing is—I don’t think she’s there to get a happy ending. I think she’s fully prepared to die again." -- Ribunn
"I feel her looking for a second chance at happiness would be inconsistent with the part where she says Cloud can't fall in love with her. Too much uncertainty at this stage to be sure I guess, but interesting theory nonetheless.
Also LOL at Time Janitors" -- Calaroth
"I actually do believe Aerith is from the future and she’s Sephiroth’s foil. I don’t believe she is doing this for a second chance. There’s a scene, when after they fall into the sewers, Tifa says she can’t believe they would ever really drop the plate but if it will happen they need to stop them. Aerith hesitates, as if she knows they cannot stop that from happening because things need to play out as they should in order for Sephiroth to lose this battle. Tifa immediately picks up on the fact that Aerith is hiding something and says, 'Aerith... what aren’t you telling me?'" -- Ribunn
Since I'm not sure where this takes place, here is the secret boss that someone beat on reddit, and what he drops.
That necklace is going to make people talk even more now, I'm out (still reading though, a lot of theories are great and I'm having a lot of fun reading :') thanks guys!).