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

[Hellenic]

I hope they'll have an affection system where you can get either a good or bad highwind sequence, and I hope that if you don't end up sleeping with Tifa, Sephiroth wins XD

You get a Game Over screen if you get the bad result and have to load and improve your affection with Tifa before you can proceed .

 

[Hellenic]

When Cloud fell to the Church she's strangely not that preoccupied. Never tried too hard to search for him.

I always found this really weird. Even in Remake she barely reacts to seeing Cloud again. After seeing him fall to his supposed death earlier in Sector 5, you'd think she would react a lot more strongly to seeing Cloud again instead of just saying "Cloud you're alright" in a fairly casual tone. This is partially i guess fixed with Intermission where she is shown wanting to find any leads to Cloud surviving, but i wish the actual scene was handled a bit different.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

I kinda get that, I mean, when Aerith sat on the water tower in Nibelheim I definitely felt some measure of "how dare you stand where she stood!", and I absolutely hate the whole "no promises to keep" thing, but Crisis Core also had Zack make a promise to Aerith underneath the water tower, and that never bothered me despite it essentially also copying something that's supposed to be between Cloud and Tifa.

But the reason being upset about it feels so hollow to me is simply that Cloud mimicking Zack, and Aerith seeing Zack in Cloud was always a canonical part of the OG, so when a prequel then shows it more explicitly it just makes me think "what did you expect".



Essentially this.
Yeah, I know it wasn't elaborated on too much in the OG....but nothing was. It's a pretty barebones game that you run through pretty quickly. The bond between Aerith and Zack might not have been elaborated on much, but neither was the bond between Cloud and Aerith. They meet, have a date, she gets kidnapped, talk in gongaga and cosmo canyon. Another date, asks about future, gets beaten up, dies.
The vast majority of this bond is what we imagined, inspired by things like what you said, her being a bubbly pink girl, him being the brooding MC, etc.

What we knew about Zack was that Aerith talked about him during her first date, was upset at her death in Gongaga, talked about him again during their second date and mentioning how she saw Zack again in Cloud. We then find out that the reason she saw him in Cloud was that Cloud was literally pretending to be, and we see Zack Saving Cloud and Talking about Aerith. That's more than enough to allow the player to imagine a bond between Aerith and Zack, especially considering that the implication that Clouds bond with Aerith was in some way a reflection of her bond with Zack already being there.

Again, I get why they're upset, I just think they have no one to blame but their own assumptions. Ultimately I just find it hard to sympathize with the complaint that the prequel about a game where Cloud acts like Zack, shows that the things Cloud did were similar to Zack.

I think the difference is even if it was brief and barebones we SEE Cloud interact with Aerith.

We grow attached as we go on the journey with them. But Zack was sidelined we barely see him we don't see him interact with Aerith even in a flashback. If you don't find the Shinra manor scene which again was not in the original release. You don't even really see him instead of a glimpse. You hear about him but it's not enough to form a connection.

The OG scene in Gonagaga is actually very short and gives the impression she isn't that upset because she's talking about him probably finding some other girl. Like yes we should catch on she was in denial but the game doesn't really give us an indication to actually think this. And the moment turns more into a CA moment where we get a dialogue option for Cloud to be "jealous."

It really wasn't super clear. And I think we've come to these conclusions about Aerith's arc because now we actually have a lot more information than we did in 1997. Where as I said in 1997 the company had no problem letting us think Aerith and Cloud were romantic. Even if they weren't. It looked like they were so of course CAs would think Aerith's love for Cloud was the main focus and not be paying attention to this other guy. The novel also talks about Aerith's feelings for Cloud. Zack is completely absent. So what did we conclude?
"Huh I think Aerith loves Cloud." And it was a logical conclusion that that was where our focus was.

Then when we get Zack on screen with Aerith finally he is sadly sidelined even in his own game for other stuff and doesnt get much screentime with her. I mean, at least the brief moments we see them. But a lot of them felt like copy and paste from CA not unique or special. And to add insult to injury he flirts with Aqua in KH2 instead of having some nice scene with Aerith like CA (WHY??) so our impression of him wasn't the best on top of his lack of screentime.

Also it was less that Cloud was copying Zack and more that they also made Aerith's arc tied to Zack so much it included her clothes, her one date catchphrase, her ribbon. Nothing in OG indicated these things weren't unique to her.

So yeah for me I think Rebirth is finally giving some justice to what they introduced in CC. The ending scene in CC was beautiful Zack thinking of Aerith as his last thought, him building her a wagon and several other sweet moments but Rebirth is picking up where they dropped the ball.

Edit: Elaborated for clarity but yeah

 

[Yoru]

he flirts with Aqua in KH2 (WHY??) so our impression of him wasn't the best on top of his lack of screentime.

Well, you can't blame him when it's a younger self that doesn't know Aerith yet. And it's kinda the whole point with Zack, he's a flirty guy that meet Aerith and she's becoming his only concern (love wise)

And again. KH are great games, but they fucking assassinated Cloud character for years. So... let's not bring it in the FF7 lore please. I'm begging you lol.

(but I understand what you're saying)

 

[thetriplerhyme]

Lmao has anyone seen this? I didnt do much of Aerith's side quest nor focus on them I guess this one either slip on my playthrough or I didnt bother reading ( sorry ) Goodness Aerith does belong in Gongaga #Zerith coded

 

[Hellenic]

The fact they cut a Tifa chapter that would have explained her thoughts and sadness after Cloud fell will always annoy me. there's a lot in remake that could have been removed that felt like filler but they removed a Tifa and avalanche focused chapter. It's so jarring to the player to next see Tifa in a carriage and react with cloud thought we lost you and then immediately move on. Intergrade showed a bit more of it but it was so weird the passive attitude especially after the lengths she goes in Rebirth and even at the end of Remake.

You beat me to the punch with this reply, but yeah it's a real damn shame they cut that Tifa chapter out.

 

[Sacky]

Well, you can't blame him when it's a younger self that doesn't know Aerith yet. And it's kinda the whole point with Zack, he's a flirty guy that meet Aerith and she's becoming his only concern (love wise)

And again. KH are great games, but they fucking assassinated Cloud character for years. So... let's not bring it in the FF7 lore please. I'm begging you lol.

(but I understand what you're saying)

Elena was eating Sea salt ice cream i fear its jenover

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

Well, you can't blame him when it's a younger self that doesn't know Aerith yet. And it's kinda the whole point with Zack, he's a flirty guy that meet Aerith and she's becoming his only concern (love wise)

And again. KH are great games, but they fucking assassinated Cloud character for years. So... let's not bring it in the FF7 lore please. I'm begging you lol.

(but I understand what you're saying)

Yeah the point being Aerith became that special girl to him. The one that made him serious and I love that but there is no indication of that scene because Aerith and him don't interact. It's another example how for years when it came to Aerith's appearances Zack was conspicuously absent.

And yeah it's not canon or related and I never use KH as evidence for anything because it is not. But it does present the characters to fans so we see them and enjoy them in a fun setting. And in comparison we have Aerith interacting with Cloud. That's what we see. So it still affects the impressions CAs got about where they should put their focus.

And it didn't help dispel the he's a flirt who wasn't serious about Aerith allegations.

Case in point though : for YEARS was Zack was sidelined and done dirty by SE.

I still think Rebirth is really doing justice in ways SE had not given him in the past. And I hope they continue to give him justice and don't mess this up.

And I think it terms of his relationship with Aerith I hope they get a satisfying conclusion which is a long time coming. If I can't have CA I don't mind Aerith being happy with Zack. But give them justice please.

 

[Yoru]

Elena was eating Sea salt ice cream i fear its jenover

Sephiroth is Hojo's Nobody.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

At the time, Cloud and Aerith were seen to have a lot of typical romantic tropes. The tough, cold merc and the gentle, playful woman who opens his heart. His fall through the church roof was a dramatic way to set up the possible start of a relationship. The US ad with the "love that can never be" line. Even the fact that she wore pink was brought up to assert that she was THE love interest. It was basically that people saw the tropes and just went with it without looking too close at it, nor realize how his comparatively quiet relationship with Tifa later revealed a very romantic core.

Eventually, lots of other people heard about FFVII as being the game where the main character's love interest dies and shockingly remains dead. So even newer players went into it with the idea that Aerith was the love interest and that CA were a doomed couple.



The loudest complaints I'd heard about Zack falling through the roof were from some CAs who felt that it was an example of Zack copying or taking things from CA, making it feel like their ship was less special and showing it to be just a clumsy copy & paste.

Similarly, some Cloud fans were also annoyed that the things that Cloud had been known to do in the OG, things that they had taken to be uniquely Cloud, were instead from Zack.

Thank you. I couldn't articulate it because it's just one of those things that doesn't require much thought to me.
It looked very romantic in the game to me and SE didn't do anything to stop me from thinking it was romantic and on the contrary the marketting encouraged me to buy in, CA fanservice was definitely a thing in spin offs and merchandise and etc.

And so I thought it was romantic lol.

And I don't think at the time before ACC before Ultimanias much was indicating that I should think otherwise, personally.

And I really don't blame someone who sees those tropes on the surface and sees romantic framing and thinks it's romantic. It's not surprising we would. In any other story we could have a similar conclusion if you put in CA story moments and tropes and it really wouldn't be so strange to think so.

 

[Stiggie]

I always found this really weird. Even in Remake she barely reacts to seeing Cloud again. After seeing him fall to his supposed death earlier in Sector 5, you'd think she would react a lot more strongly to seeing Cloud again instead of just saying "Cloud you're alright" in a fairly casual tone. This is partially i guess fixed with Intermission where she is shown wanting to find any leads to Cloud surviving, but i wish the actual scene was handled a bit different.

Honestly I just think she was already under the assumption that he was alive, maybe a broken bone or two, but not dead, partially because Cloud even says "this aint the end of the line for you, or me".

 

[Yoru]

Honestly I just think she was already under the assumption that he was alive, maybe a broken bone or two, but not dead, partially because Cloud even says "this aint the end of the line for you, or me".

The more reason to search for him... or sending someone if they're struggling with the Don situation. it's not as if they weren't aware of where he fell. Midgar geography is pretty simple lol.

But it was a minor comment to play along the "put yourself in the other person's shoes" when we were talking about CA/CT debates.

 

[Hellenic]

100% true. Kingdom Hearts 2 was insane for Tifa popularity. Never understood why to be honest, but a ton of people became fan of her with this game and discovered FF7 after.

Hey she kicked ass in the few scenes she did appear in that, so probably that.

 

[Stiggie]

I think the difference is even if it was brief and barebones we SEE Cloud interact with Aerith.

We grow attached as we go on the journey with them. But Zack was sidelined we barely see him we don't see him interact with Aerith even in a flashback. If you don't find the Shinra manor scene which again was not in the original release. You don't even really see him instead of a glimpse. You hear about him but it's not enough to form a connection.

The OG scene in Gonagaga is actually very short and gives the impression she isn't that upset because she's talking about him probably finding some other girl. Like yes we should catch on she was in denial but the game doesn't really give us an indication to actually think this. And the moment turns more into a CA moment where we get a dialogue option for Cloud to be "jealous."

It really wasn't super clear. And I think we've come to these conclusions about Aerith's arc because now we actually have a lot more information than we did in 1997. Where as I said in 1997 the company had no problem letting us think Aerith and Cloud were romantic. Even if they weren't. It looked like they were so of course CAs would think Aerith's love for Cloud was the main focus and not be paying attention to this other guy. The novel also talks about Aerith's feelings for Cloud. Zack is completely absent. So what did we conclude?
"Huh I think Aerith loves Cloud." And it was a logical conclusion that that was where our focus was.

Then when we get Zack on screen with Aerith finally he is sadly sidelined even in his own game for other stuff and doesnt get much screentime with her. I mean, at least the brief moments we see them. But a lot of them felt like copy and paste from CA not unique or special. And to add insult to injury he flirts with Aqua in KH2 instead of having some nice scene with Aerith like CA (WHY??) so our impression of him wasn't the best on top of his lack of screentime.

Also it was less that Cloud was copying Zack and more that they also made Aerith's arc tied to Zack so much it included her clothes, her one date catchphrase, her ribbon. Nothing in OG indicated these things weren't unique to her.

So yeah for me I think Rebirth is finally giving some justice to what they introduced in CC. The ending scene in CC was beautiful Zack thinking of Aerith as his last thought, him building her a wagon and several other sweet moments but Rebirth is picking up where they dropped the ball.

Edit: Elaborated for clarity but yeah

I wouldn't take kingdom hearts as meaning anything, there's a reason those aren't canon to FFVII. I do wish that the overall story of CC was better, but the parts between Zack and Aerith were my favorite part of it, and had much the same effect that you spoke of concerning the OG. It allowed me to fill in a lot of the other moments seeing as it supposedly takes place over the course of about 1.5 years I think. But what to me perhaps might be the strongest scene in the entirety, the thing that rang most recognizably true, is the scene where Zack is sitting in Aeriths church crying, and her just holding him.

The idea that Zack just went there to have her presence near as he mourned spoke volumes to me, it felt like the exactly the sort of thing many men would do, not necessarily voicing the specifics of what they're going through but just finding comfort in the proximity of the woman they love. And then when she held him like that, it just became one of my most telling romantic scenes in final fantasy period.

I never get the "now her clothes aren't her own anymore" line of thinking. It presupposes that people should come into existence fully formed, and that if something is the result of past experiences it somehow isn't "you" anymore. If the ribbon had been a gift to Aerith from Ifalna would anyone have gone "now her ribbon isn't unique to her anymore"? Why is Zack any different.

Honestly, the thing that bothered me most in Crisis Core concerning that sort of stuff is that it made the Buster sword effectively Angeals rather than Zacks, which is what I always believed.

 

[Yoru]

Hey she kicked ass in the few scenes she did appear in that, so probably that.

The Queen kicks asses in every medium she appears. That's why she's the best.

AC Church fight is renting free in my head for the past 19 years

 

[liuliuliu]

Aerith’s attachment to cloud doesn’t eqaul to Cloud’s attachment to Aerith automatically though. Aerith can love cloud not Zack, but the game never shows Cloud reciprocates her feeling?

 

[overheat28]

View attachment 15344

Lmao has anyone seen this? I didnt do much of Aerith's side quest nor focus on them I guess this one either slip on my playthrough or I didnt bother reading ( sorry ) Goodness Aerith does belong in Gongaga #Zerith coded

Yes, I noticed this too. Devs aren't being subtle at all, imo.

Anyone not blinkered by 27 years of headcanon can see this. They had her literally making soup with Cissnei for the Fairs in that sidequest. I mean, come on.....

 

[tenabrus]

Aerith’s attachment to cloud doesn’t eqaul to Cloud’s attachment to Aerith automatically though. Aerith can love cloud not Zack, but the game never shows Cloud reciprocates her feeling?

Maybe not love--I actually think Rebirth shies away from having even Aerith call it love on her part--but I believe he thinks romantically of her. I think, if you cut Tifa out of the remake games entirely, no one would fail to believe that Aerith was the love interest. You would look at the moments of him being dazzled by her, jealous, protective, sweet, etc, and say "That's an action hero acting cute towards his love interest".

But, would he if he had his mind back? That's always been the question to me. We know the "real" Cloud loves Tifa, but in the OG, we'll never know about Aerith.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

I wouldn't take kingdom hearts as meaning anything, there's a reason those aren't canon to FFVII. I do wish that the overall story of CC was better, but the parts between Zack and Aerith were my favorite part of it, and had much the same effect that you spoke of concerning the OG. It allowed me to fill in a lot of the other moments seeing as it supposedly takes place over the course of about 1.5 years I think. But what to me perhaps might be the strongest scene in the entirety, the thing that rang most recognizably true, is the scene where Zack is sitting in Aeriths church crying, and her just holding him.

The idea that Zack just went there to have her presence near as he mourned spoke volumes to me, it felt like the exactly the sort of thing many men would do, not necessarily voicing the specifics of what they're going through but just finding comfort in the proximity of the woman they love. And then when she held him like that, it just became one of my most telling romantic scenes in final fantasy period.

I never get the "now her clothes aren't her own anymore" line of thinking. It presupposes that people should come into existence fully formed, and that if something is the result of past experiences it somehow isn't "you" anymore. If the ribbon had been a gift to Aerith from Ifalna would anyone have gone "now her ribbon isn't unique to her anymore"? Why is Zack any different.

Honestly, the thing that bothered me most in Crisis Core concerning that sort of stuff is that it made the Buster sword effectively Angeals rather than Zacks, which is what I always believed.

I don't really take KH seriously but it wouldn't have killed them to have Zack and Aerith interact.

I'm not against the Zerith scenes in this game. They're very sweet as I said. Him going to church to mourn is beautiful. But then it cuts away to a two year timeskip afterwards. They gave great scenes but then he is seperated from her again. They have beautiful rare moments. But I don't know maybe it's too rare. Aerith felt like she was just kinda there in the background for most of it. I would have liked if maybe the game had let us visit her in her church and see extra cutscenes or something between missions or if she would call him throughout not just the end.

I think and not you, but CTs might see it as oh you should be happy Aerith has a love interest. Why can't you enjoy that?

I get it. But it's again just one of those things. Where this is not what we were invested in or attached to for ten years prior.

Aerith is a character that was considered her own independent sassy flirty confident woman and suddenly everything about her is about a man or so it seems. That is how it felt. She still has her sassy moments ordering him to build her a new wagon, good for her but then she is regulated to just waiting around for him. So on top of that making her clothes and ribbon and actions in OG also all about him....It's just very different than if it were from Ilfana. Suddenly it seemed everything she did was about Zack, as I said including her clothes. I saw a joke that she can't even have an umbrella to herself because Zack uses her joke weapon even. Nothing felt in CC like it was truly about her except maybe her flower wagon. I don't think she actually needed redeeming. It was nice to see a woman be confident about her feelings and living in the moment. They could have explained her behavior without making Zack her raisdon de etre.

Also I think it may be matter of taste but I'm happily married and I hate love stories where a woman is so into a man that's her entire personality. I'm very close to my husband but not every thing about me is about him and vice versa. In fiction this is more common and it drives me nuts. People are unique and seperate individuals even when in a relationship. Like Aerith even selling flowers was Zack's idea.

Aerith being influenced by Zack is totally fine. Him buying her a gift, also fine. It's sweet even that he was so impactful in her life.

But it gave the impression nothing was hers. She had very little to start with because she dies in disk 1 but in CC she has even less. And it's about a man. A man she is seperated from for most of the game no less. So we barely get the payoff of them being together.

Again if it had been Tifa in place of Aerith that had this spin off prequel and suddenly everything about her was about another man you would understand that line of thinking.

Again for clarity and everyone reading. I'm not trying to be anti Zerith because the Zerith parts were beautiful. The problem imo isn't Zerith at all...it's the execution of their story in the game itself and the handling of Zack prior to CC and Aerith in CC.

 

[Yoru]

Aerith is a character that was considered her own independent sassy flirty confident woman and suddenly everything about her is about a man. She still has her sassy moments ordering him to build her a new wagon, good for her but then she is regulated to just waiting around for him. So on top of that making her clothes and ribbon and actions in OG also all about him....It's just very different than if it were from Ilfana. Suddenly everything she did was about Zack, as I said including her clothes. I saw a joke that she can't even have an umbrella to herself because Zack uses her joke weapon even. Nothing felt in CC like it was truly about her except maybe her flower wagon. I don't think she actually needed redeeming. It was nice to see a woman be confident about her feelings and living in the moment. They could have explained her behavior without making Zack her raisdon de etre.

Also I think it may be matter of taste but I'm happily married and I hate love stories where a woman is so into a man that's her entire personality. People are unique and seperate individuals even when in a relationship. Like Aerith even selling flowers was Zack's idea.

Nothing was hers.

Again if it had been Tifa in place of Aerith that had this spin off prequel and suddenly everything about her was about another man you would understand that line of thinking.

I get what you're saying, but it's kinda what the extreme branch of CA wants. Aerith is kinda ultra focused on Cloud in OG and with Remake/Rebirth (let's not talk about NPTK) and some want/think she'll replace Tifa on the LS. I think it's a bit hypocritical to blame Zack for the end of Aerith independence when suddenly it's no longer a problem with Cloud.

Again, I'm not targeting you, just speaking in general.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

I get what you're saying, but it's kinda what the extreme branch of CA wants. Aerith is kinda ultra focused on Cloud in OG and with Remake/Rebirth (let's not talk about NPTK) and some want/think she'll replace Tifa on the LS. I think it's a bit hypocritical to blame Zack for the end of Aerith independence when suddenly it's no longer a problem with Cloud.

Again, I'm not targeting you, just speaking in general.

Yeah none of that is what I want. I hate the extremist interpretation of everything Aerith does must be about Cloud just as much.

But I need you to understand also it's not just the extremists that feel the way I just described about Aerith in Crisis Core. And regular fans vision of CA is not the same as extremists.

I think maybe CC haters exaggerate at points because her personality isn't completely ruined she still keeps some of her sass. As I said we get to see different sides to her. It's a good thing because it gives her depth. And it's not the end of the world that Zack buys her a ribbon. Zerith is not a bad thing desite them both being done dirty in terms of screentime.

But

It's just the culmination of everything being about just him. That's the issue. She doesn't do much in CC that isn't about him then she just waits in the background, sometimes she sells flowers..And I get why they'd be mad.

 

[cgnVirtue]

I always found this really weird. Even in Remake she barely reacts to seeing Cloud again. After seeing him fall to his supposed death earlier in Sector 5, you'd think she would react a lot more strongly to seeing Cloud again instead of just saying "Cloud you're alright" in a fairly casual tone. This is partially i guess fixed with Intermission where she is shown wanting to find any leads to Cloud surviving, but i wish the actual scene was handled a bit different.

I went back and rewatched the carriage scene and I retroactively was upset like “TIFA HE COULD HAVE DIED????”
But I guess, as I think was mentioned here before, Tifa just has that much faith in him at that point that I don’t think she truly believes that he’d die on her like that. I never finished Intergrade so I didn’t know she had scenes where she was looking for him even a little. But I think at that point too, Cloud has already told her that he’s staying in Midgar to keep his promise to her? Which probably just strengthens her faith in him, especially since he remembers after all those years apart. At this point she believes that he made it into SOLDIER and everything too. Not long before this he just stumbles into Midgar and they find each other again, like it was fate. So I guess I can’t blame her for having that much faith in him lol.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

Aerith’s attachment to cloud doesn’t eqaul to Cloud’s attachment to Aerith automatically though. Aerith can love cloud not Zack, but the game never shows Cloud reciprocates her feeling?

I never said it automatically did?

I said people grew attached to the bond between them. And so that's where their focus was. And it makes sense they'd be focusing on that instead of Zack at the time who was mostly just mentioned not explicitly shown and was absent from a lot of media until Last Order was added into ACC but wasn't there in AC prior and then we fully got to meet him in Crisis Core.

 

[Yoru]

Yeah none of that is what I want. I hate the extremist interpretation of everything Aerith does must be about Cloud just as much.

But I need you to understand also it's not just the extremists that feel the way I just described about Aerith in Crisis Core. And regular fans vision of CA is not the same as extremists.

I think maybe CC haters exaggerate at points because her personality isn't completely ruined she still keeps some of her sass. As I said we get to see different sides to her. It's a good thing because it gives her depth. And it's not the end of the world that Zack buys her a ribbon. Zerith is not a bad thing desite them both being done dirty in terms of screentime.

But

It's just the culmination of everything being about just him. That's the issue. She doesn't do much in CC that isn't about him then she just waits in the background, sometimes she sells flowers..And I get why they'd be mad.

Such a complicated situation.

That's precisely with the added context of Crisis Core that I learned to love Aerith when I couldn't stand her in OG.

I feel so sorry for the devs. Must be so hard to make every corner of the fandom happy. FF7 is such a big thing, with differents fans, so many wishes.

 

[LunarTarotGirl]

Maybe not love--I actually think Rebirth shies away from having even Aerith call it love on her part--but I believe he thinks romantically of her. I think, if you cut Tifa out of the remake games entirely, no one would fail to believe that Aerith was the love interest. You would look at the moments of him being dazzled by her, jealous, protective, sweet, etc, and say "That's an action hero acting cute towards his love interest".

But, would he if he had his mind back? That's always been the question to me. We know the "real" Cloud loves Tifa, but in the OG, we'll never know about Aerith.

Once again thank you. And this was basically my thoughts as well. Of course we aren't gonna cut out Tifa. But let's pretend this game didn't have her in it for one sec: no one would be questioning CA because yes it looks romantic.

The issue is not that CA doesn't look romantic. It's that the devs planned it so Tifa would stay with Cloud in the end after Aerith exits similar to a transfer student through their own words. And part 2 was all about a reveal of her arc with Cloud and their romantic story.

This doesn't suddenly make CA like siblings or make CAs delusional for reading romance in the first part. It's just about how the story goes and progresses and what gets revealed.

And we can't just disregard either of these bonds. We can't just pretend Tifa's arc doesn't exist at all, that her childhood promise with Cloud is a throwaway, we can't disregard his secret wish and their feelings for eachother, or put her down and pretend she is a bullly to reduce her importance. Which is my main problem with extremists.

And at the same time as we can't pretend Aerith and Cloud look completely platonic and siblingly. We can't sit there and call anyone crazy for reading them as romantic in the moment. We can't sit there and disregard Aerith's feelings or importance for him either that they have a special bond in the end regardless of if he reciprocates romantically.

Same with her feelings and story with Zack once it's revealed honestly.

If more people could just see that and discuss the story we are given instead of trying to disprove eachother all the time maybe the LTD would be less miserable.