billy22
Pro Adventurer
Finished the game at last. NGL you'd think Tifa was the one who wanted to fuck Aerith the way it's portrayed in the final cutscene; camera is centered on her when she's leaning over Aerith's corpse and she's the last person to leave the pond with her face covered in tears. She cries more than anyone else over it.
General thoughts on stuff that may not have been brought up:
Thoughts on dialogue options/dates/side quests
So yeah, Cloud does hang out with Aerith a lot, but none of them felt any more 'shippy than the moments he's with Tifa, whether it's Gongaga or Nibelheim. Funnily enough I liked the Cosmo Canyon date with Aerith better than the GS one, which felt more bittersweet than romantic. What is amusing is that if you include the GS date, in half of them Tifa gets brought up in their conversation...
In any case, we can micro-analyze all the little stuff as much as we want. In the end I'm not especially fond trying to decipher eye movement or the way characters are centered on the screen, or the nanoseconds that Cloud spends looking at other characters. That crap is way to subjective for me, I rarely find it convincing and I doubt anyone else does either. I care about the hard, concrete stuff that can't be danced around with the good ol' "interpretation" excuse. Which would be the kiss.
My overall thoughts haven't changed much after playing the game then when I did when I read the spoilers. I keep coming back to the date kiss being the definitive thing that can't be danced around- if Square really wanted the romance to be "ambiguous" or "up to interpretation/player choice" they'd be giving the player the option to confess/kiss Aerith in the game she dies in, but Cloud- or rather, Square- has no interest in allowing Cloud to do so, with any girl other than Tifa.
General thoughts on stuff that may not have been brought up:
- Game did feel less fanservicey than it did in Remake towards Tifa. In Remake the game was finding all sorts of dumb reasons to throw her into Cloud's arms, this game didn't do that much at all. Most of the "touching" involved holding each other's hands, or shoulder, or back, when they reassure each other, such as Gongaga or Nibelheim.
- Actually, in general Rebirth felt like it had less fanservice than Remake- Cloud holding hands with Aerith felt sweet and symbolic to the nature of "gone but not forgotten" theme that AC plays with, but it didn't feel forced. Yuffie does grab onto Cloud's arm a lot when she gets scared which were kind of cute I suppose.
- A little disappointed that all dates have an equal chance, I feel like Tifa and Aerith should have gotten a significant advantage over the others. Everyone has the same number of quests and dialogue options that give the same number of affection points...
Thoughts on dialogue options/dates/side quests
- I noticed that you can make Cloud more an asshole towards Aerith in some dialogue options, but that doesn't appear to be the case with Tifa? For example in Cosmo Canyon if you choose "stop her" with Aerith's speech Cloud practically screams at her to shut up. My god I cringed so hard when he did that (I chose it by accident). Whereas with Tifa all you can really do is choose indifference in her options- for example, when she asks you what food you like "I'd like pot roast" is the best option but "Soup I guess" is the worst. I'm always skeptical about putting too much emphasis on these gameplay mechanics, because it's kind of faux argument, but...
- I noticed some people were claiming Cloud was being a dick to Aerith in their "dates," but I don't see it. Aerith is more upfront, Cloud has to be more direct with her as a result. Outside of dick-ish dialogue choices he was fine.
- None of the side quests with Tifa or Aerith felt especially 'shippy to me. He talks to both of them, and he acts fairly neutral to me, like he's still a bit of a stick in the mud. I guess I liked Aerith's CC quest a bit in that regard.
- Kalm- they walk up to the tower, Aerith points out where Midgar is. Aerith then asks if something happened between Cloud and Tifa. Tells Cloud not to take her for granted. Shinra immediately shows up after the question, "date" ends and the party has to leave town.
- Costa del Sol- Cloud takes Aerith around the shops/games and plays various mini-games. Regardless of whether you win or not the questgivers (a group of models) will make 'shippy comments about how Cloud is doing such a good job on the date. The end of the date is him and Aerith going to the beach on chocobos looking for shells. It was a fine date overall but Cloud was indifferent towards the whole experience, he barely talks and gives boring answers, which Aerith cutely points out and modestly grumbles at.
- Cosmo Canyon- This was my favorite one with Aerith. They go around photographing stars, it was really sweet. At one point you can even make Cloud sneak a picture of Aerith when she isn't looking. It was cute, even if not directly romantic I liked it. The quest as a whole was a pain to find the locations though.
- Nibelheim Tower- Cloud goes up to the tower, sits next to Aerith. He points out to her where all the houses were. Aerith asks if he was up there as a kid, hoping Tifa would wave from her window. This is a dialogue choice where you can again make Cloud give a dick reply, by saying "That's not funny" which really annoys Aerith. Alternatively you can agree with her for the highest affection gain. Nothing more romantic than talking about another woman on a date.
- Sector 5 dream- This one I got the friendzone convo, but I don't really care about that, what I found more bothersome was every shop I went to, the shop owners force Cloud to buy a specific item instead of what you choose. And then the picture pose...did I choose the wrong pose, or does the scene change based on affection level with Aerith? Because the photographer said Cloud/Aerith didn't look like they were on a date, it looked like they were heading to funeral, which was utterly depressing to think about.
So yeah, Cloud does hang out with Aerith a lot, but none of them felt any more 'shippy than the moments he's with Tifa, whether it's Gongaga or Nibelheim. Funnily enough I liked the Cosmo Canyon date with Aerith better than the GS one, which felt more bittersweet than romantic. What is amusing is that if you include the GS date, in half of them Tifa gets brought up in their conversation...
In any case, we can micro-analyze all the little stuff as much as we want. In the end I'm not especially fond trying to decipher eye movement or the way characters are centered on the screen, or the nanoseconds that Cloud spends looking at other characters. That crap is way to subjective for me, I rarely find it convincing and I doubt anyone else does either. I care about the hard, concrete stuff that can't be danced around with the good ol' "interpretation" excuse. Which would be the kiss.
My overall thoughts haven't changed much after playing the game then when I did when I read the spoilers. I keep coming back to the date kiss being the definitive thing that can't be danced around- if Square really wanted the romance to be "ambiguous" or "up to interpretation/player choice" they'd be giving the player the option to confess/kiss Aerith in the game she dies in, but Cloud- or rather, Square- has no interest in allowing Cloud to do so, with any girl other than Tifa.
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