I think this might be the last post of mine here for a while.
I have no problem with others choosing to share some of the more questionable, or outright ridiculous takes, that come from Twitter and various other sources.
But one of the reasons I myself, personally chose to leave Twitter, was to avoid having to see takes like those.
Because they are simply not worth the time of day, nor the wasted effort trying to argue them.
There’s nothing to argue. If there ever really was a “debate” so to speak, they’ve lost. End of story. Let them live in an illusionary world of their own making.
But because I get the sense maybe folks are sharing those takes here in order to have everyone in this thread provide suitable and appropriate counterpoints to whatever new stupid claim is being made, that speaks to there still being concern or anxiety about where things will go in Part 3. That there might still be doubt among some of you that they might reverse gears and make Clerith suddenly endgame, as those who make these takes would have and want you to start believing.
So the last thing I’ll say on the matter, and contribute towards this discussion, is that ultimately, when it comes to brand recognition, and the cultural awareness and acceptance of certain iconic video game figures from Final Fantasy such as Cloud Strife, who is one of the few if not only Final Fantasy protagonists to have broken out into the wider pop cultural consciousness beyond video games, Square Enix is not stupid.
They are not going to, nor are the developers and writers, going to do anything that would ultimately damage the appeal and reputation of the character, the protagonist of the story.
What’s my point with this?
Well Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth kisses Tifa Lockhart.
The developers could come out today and say all Gold Saucer dates are optional, non-canon bits of fluffery fan service (they likely won’t, despite what Cleriths of Twitter TM would have you believe)
But even if they did decide to be neutral and say they were non-optional or whatever, it DOESN’T matter.
In the game, Cloud still kisses Tifa. It was one of the very first things from the game that was leaked.
It’s been widely shared and is widely known that Cloud kisses Tifa.
It’s significant for all the reasons that have already been talked about.
So for Part 3 to backtrack from this, and somehow manage to make Cloud and Aerith work, and end the game with them as the canon couple and love interests of Final Fantasy VII for now and for evermore, would be to canonise Cloud Strife, arguably Final Fantasy’s most popular and recognisable protagonist and hero, as a guy who kisses a girl, but then decides to be with another at the end of the final game in the remade trilogy.
Not only undoing how the original ended, but undoing what Remake and Rebirth had already established in respect to the development of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship.
They would, as Clerith’s want them to, make Cloud a jerk. Who ditched Tifa to be with Aerith. Like, other FF’s protags have done bad, morally questionable things in their journeys. But never anything as petty nor pathetic as this.
And this ending would also make Aerith someone who would let Zack go and/or fade away into the Lifestream by himself.
Not only would they absolutely not have the trilogy end like this, they would not do this to Cloud Strife.
Shipping and loyal fans aside, casual audiences would see this happening if they did this, and Final Fantasy VII would be an absolute laughing stock. It would be a sad joke.
“Zack got cucked”, “wow they really let Cloud two-time lol” “he really did straight up steal Zack’s girl” “poor Tifa” etc etc you can just imagine the sorts of responses, and these are just my mild estimates of what sort of comments you’d get to this sort of ending.
While the Cleriths of Twitter would celebrate this as a triumphant victory that Clerith came true, they are at the end of the day a very very loud minority.
They are not indicative nor are they representative of the wider Final Fantasy VII fan base. Both casuals, general audiences, and shippers even.
Because all of those people would likely be forever turned off the story of Final Fantasy VII if they did this to Cloud, and to Aerith, the heroine of FFVII, whose story of heroism and sacrifice is abandoned so she can be with the guy who reminds her of her ex, who she barely knows the real persona of, and only interacted with for less than a month.
So if any of this has helped reassure anyone with any lingering doubts, that this simply will NOT happen, then my work here is done.
If you go with the same premise than FFVII, CA can never work. The reason why Cloud never wakes up in Zack's world is because there is no Tifa to wake him up. So you'd have to have him being not mako poisoned, Zack and Tifa can't exist, etc. It's just not the same universe, you'd have to find a reason for Cloud to join the military in the first place (since his reason is Tifa), etc. At this point it could be a nice AU fanfic, but the plausability in this existing in the FFVII world is very thin, mostly because Cloud's character is built the way it is... because of Tifa.
