Eerie
Fire and Blood
I dunno if it’s to mean Cloud never loved her necessarily, but perhaps that the foundation of that love is a false assumption of identity.
In French, the translation is interesting because Aerith says that his feelings are an illusion, even if he believes it.
"Even if you believe they are real, they're an illusion"
To me, that's clearly a reference to his identity troubles, and what he feels right now isn't what he would feel if he were the real Cloud. It is exactly what she tells him, and it's really different from her GS date in the OG, even if it's a reminder of the identity crisis that Cloud goes through in both scenes. In her GS date she pursues him, in this scene, she pushes him away. That's why I wonder how her GS date will look like - but I'm sorry, if it's still there, I'll definitely get Tifa's. Tifa got robbed of her date with Cloud :hm:
The "Cloud's resolution" is driving me nuts tbh. It's not. He was already resolved to save her. Those "resolutions" scenes aren't resolutions scenes. They're hidden scenes where one character wants to share something with Cloud, to tell him something. Barret wanted to open up about Avalanche and they became closer. Tifa needed a shoulder to cry on because she's lost her life again, and they became closer. Aerith wanted to tell him to not fall in love with her - and their relationship took a step back after this. That's also why I'm intrigued by how they're going to become closer in the next game. And in all honestly, if we don't get a GS date system (big IF there) - which we might because this was the GS mechanism - then I'd bet on Tifa's date instead because Cloud and her need to bring their relationship a step forward, and their scene wasn't reminiscent at all of their GS date.
Also I should state that Brianna had to say "Zack" for the lip-syncing technology they're using over at SE. So that the character could form the word and we could read it on Aerith's lips. To me, Zack will have a larger role in that we might see more flashbacks of him. But in their reality anyway, he's dead. Aerith's face and lines told me about this at the end of Remake. This reminds me however that the French translation of the 10th Anniversary Ultimania kind of describes her love for Cloud as a rebound - at least at first. She fell for him because he had some Zack in him. I'd say it's less true since BC/CC where Zack's personality was fleshed out, but it was the idea anyway behind Aerith falling for Cloud. And then she tried to see the real Cloud but couldn't. And to me that's where it's all weird because, who does Aerith love? It's not the real Cloud, she's never met him. And she knew that the Cloud she knew had identity troubles. So let's say if in the Remake she knows that, wouldn't she guard herself from him? because yes, she does love "Cloud", but to me it's obscure whom she does love.
By contrast, one of the common complaints levied at the Compilation is how out-of-character some of our leads felt across instalments: Aerith in Crisis Core, and Cloud in Advent Children.
To be very fair to those characters, Aerith in CC was 15, compared to her 22 years old in FFVII. She was leagues *younger*, it's absolutely normal that she wasn't how she was in FFVIIOG. As for Cloud in AC/C, terrible depression and on the edge of dying, it'd be bizarre if he was himself - though I do prefer him as himself personally!