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

[thetriplerhyme]

Question! I'm still yet to play rebirth a week from now. ( I dont mind spoilers)

I'm gonna post it here since it concerns Cloud and Aerith.

Spoiler: Spoiler possible here

I saw Cait Sith predictions on Cloud fate

"Seek and you will sure to find but alas you shall forever lose what you cherish most"

But the Cloud and Aerith prediction in OG where Aerith herself ask it to Cait Sith

- i wish SE remove this actually this is one of main reasons i dislike OG Aerith its a bit insensitive

I appreciate if someone will answer i'm just really curious

 

[AncientGrimoire]

Question! I'm still yet to play rebirth a week from now. ( I dont mind spoilers)

I'm gonna post it here since it concerns Cloud and Aerith.

Spoiler: Spoiler possible here

I saw Cait Sith predictions on Cloud fate

"Seek and you will sure to find but alas you shall forever lose what you cherish most"

But the Cloud and Aerith prediction in OG where Aerith herself ask it to Cait Sith

- i wish SE remove this actually this is one of main reasons i dislike OG Aerith its a bit insensitive

I appreciate if someone will answer i'm just really curious

Another reference to Advent Children

Spoiler

I haven’t seen the Cait Sith prediction yet, but the line about Cloud losing what he cherishes most is a reference to this exchange between Cloud and Sephiroth in Advent Children

Sephiroth: “Tell me what you cherish most. Give me the pleasure of taking it away.”

Cloud: “I pity you. You just don't get it at all. There's not a thing I don't cherish!”

Of course I don’t need to be a fortune telling robotic cat toy to be able to predict which subset of the fandom is going to take the Cait Sith prediction in Rebirth as evidence Cloud and Aerith are canon/Cloud loves Aerith and she is what he cherishes most

 

[thetriplerhyme]

Another reference to Advent Children

Spoiler

I haven’t seen the Cait Sith prediction yet, but the line about Cloud losing what he cherishes most is a reference to this exchange between Cloud and Sephiroth in Advent Children

Sephiroth: “Tell me what you cherish most. Give me the pleasure of taking it away.”

Cloud: “I pity you. You just don't get it at all. There's not a thing I don't cherish!”

Of course I don’t need to be a fortune telling robotic cat toy to be able to predict which subset of the fandom is going to take the Cait Sith prediction in Rebirth as evidence Cloud and Aerith are canon/Cloud loves Aerith and she is what he cherishes most

I can argue ( for a while ) on any claim by CA as hardcore cloti but not cait sith prediction as evidence

COME ON~ a shinra spy and literal fraud - if this confirmed remove ( the CA PREDICTION)

THAAAANK YOU!

I dont wanna look Aerith horrible hearing briana say those words

Btw Cait Sith predictions in OG is CA has bright future and perfect for each other - if you didn't feel how ominous that is an obvious lie by a robotic cat / shinra spy

- because two days after that Aerith literally dies.

 

[AncientGrimoire]

Spoiler

Saw this bit in Costa del Sol

Aerith “You’re no fun at all today. Well, for the record, I am treating this as a date!”

Cloud “I wish you wouldn’t…”

Kind of sad that the only one going on dates is Aerith. Cloud just isn’t dating her.

And this is early in the game, before all the Sector 5 stuff.

Maybe the devs saw all the copium from a lot of very extreme Cloud and Aerith shippers and thought let’s make Aerith huff the most copium of all jk

Not sure how I feel about them having leaned so hard into this for Aerith. I know she lost her memories so she’s essentially reverted back to OG Aerith. But even OG Aerith didn’t act quite like how Rebirth Aerith is. It’ll be interesting to see how the general audience reacts to it all and what the overall consensus on it is.

 

[Yumelinh]

Spoiler

Saw this bit in Costa del Sol

Aerith “You’re no fun at all today. Well, for the record, I am treating this as a date!”

Cloud “I wish you wouldn’t…”

Kind of sad that the only one going on dates is Aerith. Cloud just isn’t dating her.

And this is early in the game, before all the Sector 5 stuff.

Maybe the devs saw all the copium from a lot of very extreme Cloud and Aerith shippers and thought let’s make Aerith huff the most copium of all jk

Not sure how I feel about them having leaned so hard into this for Aerith. I know she lost her memories so she’s essentially reverted back to OG Aerith. But even OG Aerith didn’t act quite like how Rebirth Aerith is. It’ll be interesting to see how the general audience reacts to it all and what the overall consensus on it is.

Personally, I always interpret these moments as cute banter between them. Aerith is just obnoxiously flirtatious at times, it's part of her character. She even calls her and Tifa's quest a 'date,' so it's pretty much her just being herself. Honestly, that makes the Sector 5 dream date even more bittersweet because even though Cloud is fairly used to her dragging him around for 'dates,' he was able to notice that something was off in that particular one.

 

[Ruri]

Spoiler

Saw this bit in Costa del Sol

Aerith “You’re no fun at all today. Well, for the record, I am treating this as a date!”

Cloud “I wish you wouldn’t…”

Kind of sad that the only one going on dates is Aerith. Cloud just isn’t dating her.

And this is early in the game, before all the Sector 5 stuff.

Maybe the devs saw all the copium from a lot of very extreme Cloud and Aerith shippers and thought let’s make Aerith huff the most copium of all jk

Not sure how I feel about them having leaned so hard into this for Aerith. I know she lost her memories so she’s essentially reverted back to OG Aerith. But even OG Aerith didn’t act quite like how Rebirth Aerith is. It’ll be interesting to see how the general audience reacts to it all and what the overall consensus on it is.

I enjoy this for the health of the argument that states "He would have picked Aerith if she was alive!" well, according to Rebirth, Aerith has handed Cloud multiple dates for him to get struck by lightning over this and I don't think Cloud held up his end of that argument and I'm so glad for it to die now. The cherry on top is the Tifa date where she backs off in contrast, as she is akin to do with Cloud, and as someone so eloquently stated in this thread, quite far back, "simp jumps her"

 

[AncientGrimoire]

I enjoy this for the health of the argument that states "He would have picked Aerith if she was alive!" well, according to Rebirth, Aerith has handed Cloud multiple dates for him to get struck by lightning over this and I don't think Cloud help up his end of that argument and I'm so glad for it to die now. The cherry on top is the Tifa date where she backs off in contrast, as she is akin to do with Cloud, and as someone so eloquently stated in this thread, quite far back, "simp jumps her"

Yeah Aerith does nearly all the pushing, and just doesn’t get anything back from Cloud. Nothing anyway that expresses interest or intent. Concern maybe, more over her emotional state regarding Zack. But Aerith is always the one to grab Cloud by the arm to drag him along for stuff. Contrast that with Tifa’s first Gold Saucer date where she takes Cloud’s hand. They both just seem more on the same page, respectively.

And yes aside from that one small moment I mentioned with Tifa, the other times where she very tentatively pushes things with Cloud, even though true to her name of Lockhart she nearly always retreats back, Cloud will step forward, very boldly in this case. He pushes things forward too.

He just doesn’t do that with Aerith.

They have that emotional connectivity. There is very real care and concern. But there just isn’t that physical connection or closeness, not from Cloud anyway. I believe the one time he initiates anything, is to remove Aerith’s hand from his arm to instead hold her hand.

He removes the whole “shoulder to lean on” aspect, to instead convey an expression that while yes can be read romantically, to me suggest more Cloud is trying to say that he is there for Aerith. Holding her hand here, and repeated again later on when Aerith takes his hand in a way that finally shows they’re on the same page about where they stand conveys the development of their relationship really beautifully.

 

[Hix]

Personally, I always interpret these moments as cute banter between them. Aerith is just obnoxiously flirtatious at times, it's part of her character.

Yeah that was my take from this too, just Aerith doing Aerith things, I think she's mostly teasing.

I'd suggest it's more overt than OG this time round because they are emphasizing the differences between Cloud/Aerith's relationship and Zack/Aerith's.

In Crisis Core you see Zack and Aerith flirting and teasing continuously, back and forward, throughout the game. It starts within a few minutes of them meeting and becomes the spark of their relationship, from which blossoms love and support for each other.

On the other hand we have Cloud who isn't really interested in flirting - note that his "beautiful" remark to Tifa in Remake stands out all the moreso for this reason - or teasing or dates etc. It's just not the same.

I think that the Devs did this intentionally as part of the build up to the Sector 5 date when Aerith gets closure on her feelings, as discussed before.

 

[JaeKony]

Looks like the JP version of Aerith’s line to Cloud about liking and liking someone is more ambiguous. She says: この好きは どの好さなんだろう

Which translates to “I wonder what kind of like/love this is?“ So the intention of the original line is left more ambiguous as to whether or not Aerith likes Cloud romantically.

I was wrong to base my interpretation on SENA’s translation. I still think this is a solid conclusion to satiate both Zerith/Clerith shippers since people who favor Cloud and Aerith can argue that they could have gotten together if they had more time while Zack and Aerith shippers can say that Aerith couldn’t replace Zack with Cloud.

 

[JaeKony]

So the lines for Aerith and Cloud’s church scene for HA are as follows in JP (tried my best to translate but I’m not a native speaker so please correct me if theres another interpretation):

Spoiler

A: 思い出 少ないからね (We don’t have many memories [together])

C: これから 作ればいい (From now on, we can make more)

A: それ 本心? (Is that true?)

C: ああ もちろん (Yea, of course)

A: クラウドの気持ち 聞けてよかった (I’m glad to hear about Cloud’s feelings)

A: わたしは クラウドが好き (I like Cloud)

A: でも 好きにも 色々あるよね (But, “like” can mean a lot of things)

A: この好きは どの好さなんだろう (I wonder what kind of like this is)

C: エアリス 変だそ (Aerith, you’re being weird)

 

[starcape91]

So the lines for Aerith and Cloud’s church scene for HA are as follows in JP (tried my best to translate but I’m not a native speaker so please correct me if theres another interpretation):

Spoiler

A: 思い出 少ないからね (We don’t have many memories [together])

C: これから 作ればいい (From now on, we can make more)

A: それ 本心? (Is that true?)

C: ああ もちろん (Yea, of course)

A: クラウドの気持ち 聞けてよかった (I’m glad to hear about Cloud’s feelings)

A: わたしは クラウドが好き (I like Cloud)

A: でも 好きにも 色々あるよね (But, “like” can mean a lot of things)

A: この好きは どの好さなんだろう (I wonder what kind of like this is)

C: エアリス 変だそ (Aerith, you’re being weird)

Sounds like Cloud is clueless and Aerith is confused.

Also: I’m finally getting to play and I’m still in Chapter 2. Even if Aerith isn’t in my party she did 90% of the talking at the Chocobo Ranch. Is this true for every location you visit? Is she the only one who gets special outings at each location? It’s a bit jarring because she isn’t in my party and then when I talk to someone BAM she just appears.

 

[JaeKony]

Sounds like Cloud is clueless and Aerith is confused.

Also: I’m finally getting to play and I’m still in Chapter 2. Even if Aerith isn’t in my party she did 90% of the talking at the Chocobo Ranch. Is this true for every location you visit? Is she the only one who gets special outings at each location? It’s a bit jarring because she isn’t in my party and then when I talk to someone BAM she just appears.

I believe that, for every character, if you start a side quest that’s related to them, they appear next to you and talk with the Clients. It’s the same for all the other side quests. Like if Red XIII isn’t in my party but I start a side quest that has him as the main companio, he appears next to me in the cutscenes. Every character has side questions or side convos related to them at each location.

 

[AncientGrimoire]

Has the whole high or low affinity for that scene actually been shown or proven yet because everywhere it’s been shown it’s the exact same dialogue each time.

 

[starcape91]

I believe that, for every character, if you start a side quest that’s related to them, they appear next to you and talk with the Clients. It’s the same for all the other side quests. Like if Red XIII isn’t in my party but I start a side quest that has him as the main companio, he appears next to me in the cutscenes. Every character has side questions or side convos related to them at each location.

Gotcha. Thanks!

 

[JaeKony]

Has the whole high or low affinity for that scene actually been shown or proven yet because everywhere it’s been shown it’s the exact same dialogue each time.

It has been. I’m not sure of the exact mechanics but when Aerith asks to clarify what he means by “next time,” Cloud either says in English “Yea, why not” or “Yeah. Next time” depending on your affinity with Aerith. Depending in the line, Aerith either becomes immediately dejected or momentarily happy then dejected.

In JP the lines are either: “Yea because we are Nakama” vs “Yea of course.”

 

[GamerSkull]

I’ll be honest, Zack’s return throws a huge wrench into Clerith… despite what Marlene says.

From an out of game, meta perspective, bringing Zack back and making it obvious how much he wants to reunite with Aerith is going to have a payoff. The writers would not go through this trouble only to make his fans be disappointed.

It would be like doing a Final Fantasy X-3 game but not having Tidus and Yuna interact at all.

 

[JaeKony]

I’ll be honest, Zack’s return throws a huge wrench into Clerith… despite what Marlene says.

From an out of game, meta perspective, bringing Zack back and making it obvious how much he wants to reunite with Aerith is going to have a payoff. The writers would not go through this trouble only to make his fans be disappointed.

It would be like doing a Final Fantasy X-3 game but not having Tidus and Yuna interact at all.

Agreed. Like I wrote,
I really hope the Cloud and Aerith church scene serves as a bookend to their relationship since it satiates both Zerith/Clerith shippers. If Zack and Aerith have a romantic reunion in Part 3, people who favor Cloud and Aerith can argue that they could have fallen in love if they had more time while Zack and Aerith shippers can say that Aerith could never replace Zack with Cloud since her “confession” to Cloud, even with MAX Affection, is her telling him that she’s confused about her feelings.

 

[Empyrea]

That would indeed be a nice way to appease both sides. It should be fine as long as it all makes sense, imo.
That said, it continues to confuse me why some people need their ships to be canon. Fanon exists, and barring that, AUs aren't that wild of a concept, either.
Just write your fanfic or look for someone who did xP I know I've done both before, but maybe that's just me.

Edit: Some elaborations.

 

[Maidenofwar]

It would be like doing a Final Fantasy X-3 game but not having Tidus and Yuna interact at all.

About that ...

 

[JaeKony]

About that ...

Oh @Maidenofwar did you ever figure out why everyone was talking about a “ribbon” in Cloud and Aerith’s final date?

Isn’t it because people were saying that their outing is a mirror of her date with Zack in Crisis Core? And so, just like how Zack gave her a ribbon, she wants Cloud to give her something which ended up being the pin.

 

[AncientGrimoire]

I’ll be honest, Zack’s return throws a huge wrench into Clerith… despite what Marlene says.

From an out of game, meta perspective, bringing Zack back and making it obvious how much he wants to reunite with Aerith is going to have a payoff. The writers would not go through this trouble only to make his fans be disappointed.

It would be like doing a Final Fantasy X-3 game but not having Tidus and Yuna interact at all.

It’s one thing for Zack to, true to his character, be pretty chill upon discovering that Aerith developed feelings for Cloud because of his absence, it’s another thing completely for Zack to be brought back only to give Cloud and Aerith his blessing and for him to just, I dunno, die again? Given that the devs have kind of hinted that they’ve rearranged story elements but are still thinking of following through with them. To that end, Aerith and Zack are surely going to have whatever reunion scene they have be in the Lifestream, or a similar context.

 

[AncientGrimoire]

Agreed. Like I wrote,
I really hope the Cloud and Aerith church scene serves as a bookend to their relationship since it satiates both Zerith/Clerith shippers. If Zack and Aerith have a romantic reunion in Part 3, people who favor Cloud and Aerith can argue that they could have fallen in love if they had more time while Zack and Aerith shippers can say that Aerith could never replace Zack with Cloud since her “confession” to Cloud, even with MAX Affection, is her telling him that she’s confused about her feelings.

After watching both the LA and HA for their church scene, I think this is the sort of resolution to Cloud and Aerith’s relationship as a whole.

They never got that in the original, so I think here the devs have given Cloud and Aerith their equivalent Under the Highwind scene, with different versions for LA or HA.

Much as the Under the Highwind was the climax of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship, I think the date and church scene is the same for Cloud and Aerith’s.

Obviously both pairings will have scenes together again after their respective resolutions, but both serve as a neat way of tying things up, and I like that Aerith had this resolution.

 

[JaeKony]

After watching both the LA and HA for their church scene, I think this is the sort of resolution to Cloud and Aerith’s relationship as a whole.

They never got that in the original, so I think here the devs have given Cloud and Aerith their equivalent Under the Highwind scene, with different versions for LA or HA.

Much as the Under the Highwind was the climax of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship, I think the date and church scene is the same for Cloud and Aerith’s.

Obviously both pairings will have scenes together again after their respective resolutions, but both serve as a neat way of tying things up, and I like that Aerith had this resolution.

I think that’s a good way to put it. I do think that Aerith will play a role in some large way in Part 3, but that will be predominantly showcased in the other world/with Zack. Her role as a party member we control alongside the other OG characters has definitely ended. We might get scenes of her “spirit” interacting with them but that remains to be seen.

 

[Maidenofwar]

I think from my PoV Cloud wanted to take the comb for Aerith and got a bit salty when the merchant wouldn't give him the thing he picked xD Just my interpretation of course. In context I've thought maybe both sides were taking that small part too seriously and it was meant to be more lighthearted. Perhaps Ultimania will put a light upon if there is meant to be more relevance to the pin instead of Aerith being like ooh shiny I wants.

I admit I previously thought it would be more of a big thing but after some thought and trying to be more objective these are my current thoughts.

 

[Suffi]

Agreed. Like I wrote,
I really hope the Cloud and Aerith church scene serves as a bookend to their relationship since it satiates both Zerith/Clerith shippers. If Zack and Aerith have a romantic reunion in Part 3, people who favor Cloud and Aerith can argue that they could have fallen in love if they had more time while Zack and Aerith shippers can say that Aerith could never replace Zack with Cloud since her “confession” to Cloud, even with MAX Affection, is her telling him that she’s confused about her feelings.

I was really confused about the confession at the church scene. One reason I keep popping in here is to see other people’s interpretations of it. As much as I am a fan of cloud and Aerith due to my original play through, it does seem that over time and reworking the script the writers are pushing for end game of cloud and tifa and Zack and Aerith. Which is fine and makes sense. Well kinda since Zack and Aerith are dead and I thought the lifestream absorbs people back to the planet.

But yes. It does seem even with that statement at the church, to me, it kind of seems it really doesn’t 100% answer things. It seemed open ended.

I don’t know if Nourma’s views has changed since 2005. But Noumra’s preference for each viewer forming their own literary interpretation.