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

[Stiggie]

Christ, just finished going to the Nibelheim reactor and my lord, it honestly feels like this entire game revolves around Cloud and Tifas relationship, to the point where it feels like a deliberate FU to people who used to say that Tifa didn't really matter. I don't know if it's because of the low affection score but Aerith feels like almost a minor character in comparison, and it's in the game that I expected would be most about her.

I mean, I always felt that the heart of the game is everything related to Cloud, Tifa, and Nibelheim, and that it's actually the whole "cetra thing" that is kinda mostly a McGuffin to keep the plot going, but man.

 

[Rin]

Christ, just finished going to the Nibelheim reactor and my lord, it honestly feels like this entire game revolves around Cloud and Tifas relationship, to the point where it feels like a deliberate FU to people who used to say that Tifa didn't really matter. I don't know if it's because of the low affection score but Aerith feels like almost a minor character in comparison, and it's in the game that I expected would be most about her.

I mean, I always felt that the heart of the game is everything related to Cloud, Tifa, and Nibelheim, and that it's actually the whole "cetra thing" that is kinda mostly a McGuffin to keep the plot going, but man.

Yeaaah, I kinda hated how Aerith was treated by the narrative. The marketing was so bait-y, not even just LTD-wise, but in general. I expected so much more main-story Aerith content and she felt so minimal that not even the game reviewers brought her up in their write-ups.

 

[starcape91]

I'm really liking Aerith's stuff in The Temple of the Ancients so far though. I'm at the part with Aerith, Yuffie and Nanaki.

 

[Rin]

I'm really liking Aerith's stuff in The Temple of the Ancients so far though. I'm at the part with Aerith, Yuffie and Nanaki.

She definitely becomes highly relevant at the end of the game but it takes a long time to get there.

 

[starcape91]

I feel like she still gets a huge expansion on what was present in the OG though.

 

[Rin]

Oh 100% I just expected Tifa to take a backseat to her.

 

[Empyrea]

I feel like she still gets a huge expansion on what was present in the OG though.

She did. The thing is...what she had in OG by itself wasn't a lot, either ^^;
Almost everyone I knew who weren't shippers thought she was just a plot device. Hell, the guys who got me to play the game encouraged me to use her just so I'd have the handicap of having to build a 3rd character after disc 1.

 

[Rin]

Almost everyone I knew who weren't shippers thought she was just a plot device.

Unfortunately, she is. Even now. I specifically didn't want her to die this time because they've transformed her death into a plot device with more and more compilation materials.

 

[Empyrea]

Unfortunately, she is. Even now. I specifically didn't want her to die this time because they've transformed her death into a plot device with more and more compilation materials.

And then there's my sister, whose joke is always that 10-year-old her thought Aerith was a scammer

Edit to add: I was also hoping that they'd expand more on her Cetra heritage for exactly that reason.

 

[starcape91]

I have preferred Remake Aerith to Rebirth Aerith so far overall. I know some people didn't, but I liked her knowing smile when she saw the flower at Seventh Heaven, she seemed calmer and more introspective, but she still had the fun/silly side. However, if she had all of her memories then Rebirth wouldn't have followed the OG too much right? And I really wanted it to follow the OG mostly, so...can't have everything I want.

 

[Empyrea]

Seeing someone having to deal with the fact that meeting people who would be her friends and then dying shortly after was something that I thought was sooooo ripe for drama. I was excited for it! But no, she reverted back almost 1:1 to OG!Aerith....

 

[starcape91]

Seeing someone having to deal with the fact that meeting people who would be her friends and then dying shortly after was something that I thought was sooooo ripe for drama. I was excited for it! But no, she reverted back almost 1:1 to OG!Aerith....

In some ways, yeah, but I still think she's a step up from OG Aerith. And unlike in the OG, now they have to walk a fine line with facial expressions, body language and voice acting to make sure Cloud doesn't seem like he's either a: trying to have both Tifa and Aerith, or b: building things up with Tifa and then being super romantic with Aerith.

 

[Rin]

And then there's my sister, whose joke is always that 10-year-old her thought Aerith was a scammer

To be fair, so did Cloud LOL

EDIT: Honestly, I've seen a lot of complaints about her characterization for Rebirth but I don't get it. Most I've seen comes from shippers who keep comparing her to Jessie and saying she's a bad friend to Tifa/disrespectful to Cloud, etc. Personally, I don't see what the hell they're talking about but lol I let them have it.

 

[starcape91]

I don't have any huge complaints really. Just that maybe there was too much emphasis on the "date" stuff when it came to her. But nothing major.

 

[Empyrea]

To be fair, so did Cloud LOL

EDIT: Honestly, I've seen a lot of complaints about her characterization for Rebirth but I don't get it. Most I've seen comes from shippers who keep comparing her to Jessie and saying she's a bad friend to Tifa/disrespectful to Cloud, etc. Personally, I don't see what the hell they're talking about but lol I let them have it.

I also don't. I maybe not like Rebirth Aerith as much as the Remake one, but base behavior aside, she's still a vast improvement.

 

[Rin]

Yeah my complaints about Aerith aren't actually complaints about Aerith, but more complaints on how she's treated by the narrative. I didn't need a whole game about her trying to figure out how she feels about Cloud and tbh I would've just preferred the whole thing get cleared up at Gold Saucer vs. extending it to the dream date. We could've just done the whole "Nakama" thing sooner and had Aerith's arc move on from all that and focus on more important stuff but no!

My greatest worry was that they made her entire arc about a man (Zack or Cloud, doesn't matter) and while I'm grateful that didn't quite happen it was like 80% there.

 

[liuliuliu]

And here is the proof the only date you don’t need to see to get platinum is Aerith’s

I have only 1 date with Tifa and I got Aerith’s collectibles as well

EDIT: the date I have with Tifa is the HA version one. So it counted for both HA and LA in the playlog

 

[Rin]

I noticed when I finished Tifa's date that I got Aerith's stuff as well

 

[Someonesbunny]

EDIT: Honestly, I've seen a lot of complaints about her characterization for Rebirth but I don't get it. Most I've seen comes from shippers who keep comparing her to Jessie and saying she's a bad friend to Tifa/disrespectful to Cloud, etc. Personally, I don't see what the hell they're talking about but lol I let them have it.

I thought that this might have come from the disconnect from her characterization from Remake - with an extra magical, possibly clairvoyant version of herself - then what seems to be a behaviour change explained by the "whispers took my memories" exposition lol

 

[starcape91]

In interviews for both Remake and Rebirth the devs have said they were careful to give Aerith and Tifa equal attention. I wonder how that will work for Part 3.

 

[Rin]

I thought that this might have come from the disconnect from her characterization from Remake - with an extra magical, possibly clairvoyant version of herself - then what seems to be a behaviour change explained by the "whispers took my memories" exposition lol

Yeah, definitely. I also think some people are just determined to hate her. Like it's very obvious Tifa and Aerith have had long, in-depth talks about a lot of different things including the dreaded "love triangle." When Cloud says Aerith must still have feelings for Zack, Tifa says it's more complicated than that--which means she probably knows all about Aeriths confusion regarding Zack/Cloud's similarities. Even in Gongaga, Aerith says to Tifa, "Well, guess that proves he really doesn't know Zack after all..." and Tifa immediately rushes over to comfort her.

It's clear, at least to me, that Tifa is well aware of what's happening with Aerith on a deeper level, so it's silly to accuse Aerith of being catty or backstabby toward Tifa for simply trying to figure out how she feels about Cloud.

EDIT:

@starcape91 I'm gonna guess it'll be split between whatever Aerith is doing w/ Zack and then OG storyline, so a similar setup to Rebirth but with more time spent on the alternate world/scenes.

 

[liuliuliu]

Yeah, definitely. I also think some people are just determined to hate her. Like it's very obvious Tifa and Aerith have had long, in-depth talks about a lot of different things including the dreaded "love triangle." When Cloud says Aerith must still have feelings for Zack, Tifa says it's more complicated than that--which means she probably knows all about Aeriths confusion regarding Zack/Cloud's similarities. Even in Gongaga, Aerith says to Tifa, "Well, guess that proves he really doesn't know Zack after all..." and Tifa immediately rushes over to comfort her.

It's clear, at least to me, that Tifa is well aware of what's happening with Aerith on a deeper level, so it's silly to accuse Aerith of being catty or backstabby toward Tifa for simply trying to figure out how she feels about Cloud.

EDIT:

@starcape91 I'm gonna guess it'll be split between whatever Aerith is doing w/ Zack and then OG storyline, so a similar setup to Rebirth but with more time spent on the alternate world/scenes.

It feels like some people just hate the CA shippers too much and direct the anger to Aerith instead. You know, those kind of things to find the flaws in the character to prove CA is a nasty ship. Happened for Tifa as well
I never get it.

 

[Rin]

It feels like some people just hate the CA shippers too much and direct the anger to Aerith instead. You know, those kind of things to find the flaws in the character to prove CA is a nasty ship. Happened for Tifa as well
I never get it.

Exactly. It's so unnecessary. There are some characters I dislike bc their fans are insufferable but those types of characters are usually in minimal, supporting roles with no actual content to work against their annoying fan base lol which is unfortunate. But Aerith does not fall into that category, so idk why people let a bad bunch colour their entire perception of her.

 

[MelodicEnigma]

Ya idk their process completely, I just know that Square Enix has an in-house translation team that works out of HQ. The only thing SENA does is get the script into the hands of the VAs, and sometimes they will change the script if the actor points out something problematic. For example, SENA works closely with Barrets VA to relay any potential racial sensitivities in the script back to HQ so that Barret is coming across correctly to NA audiences. But the actual translation itself is done at their head office.

Only the NA one, though I do wonder if this time they didn't give some of the EN script to the FR (and apparently SP) teams to save money (since it's cheaper to hire EN translator than JP ones).

Nothing concerning LtD on my part, but yup. Though at times you will have translators at other offices, too, in addition to who is directly a part of the development team. Seemingly, very rarely will it just be translators somewhere else and not in-house. This is the case for most, if not all languages—FR and SP are in-house too and typically localize from the Japanese as well (unless we have retroactive instances where ENG localizers are the ones who actually are responsible for what exists across the board—they're often given this opportunity more than other languages supposedly).

 

[JaeKony]

In interviews for both Remake and Rebirth the devs have said they were careful to give Aerith and Tifa equal attention. I wonder how that will work for Part 3.

I’m honestly going to guess that Aerith will have a larger role to play in Part 3 than she did in OG. That being said, I do think they will keep her interactions with the main party to a minimum and she will be relegated to a role either similar to or in conjunction with Zack where the two of them will be working via the Lifestream and/or alternate timelines to foil Sephiroth’s plans.