Thanks for the warm welcome, guys! I'm a 99' liner, so I'd like to think I'm not
that young, and besides that I'm a girl possessing the heart of a middle-aged otaku, especially when it comes to FF7R, so hopefully I'll manage to fit in somehow. The original game moves so much faster, but there's less room for character development.
I will definitely check out other threads here as well.
Just a disclaimer though I played this game in Japanese. English voices are really good. I heard some of it, but since I understand Japanese, and well, it's the language of my heart, so I will be quoting Japanese dialogue. Feel free to let me know what the English version actually says.
I agree! I think the Remake is showing that much better than OG ever did. She's clearly not over Zack, but she is attracted to Cloud as well. And things get even more complicated because of how much Cloud resembles Zack.
This wasn't meant for me, but I felt like there is definitely an element of that this time around. I got no info on Zack from the original, except that based on what she said they weren't serious, and had to look him up. She was kind of messed up when we visited Gongaga Village. It just didn't sit right with me because that part played out so weird. But in Aerith's resolution's scene in CH.14, this is exactly the impression I got.
Her lines were very meaningful but a bit confusing because it came out of nowhere at first.
「でもね 好きにならないで」But don't fall in love with me.
「もしそうなっても 気のせいだよ」Even if you do, it's just your imagination.
Some people feel that this "resolution" scene is about Cloud's feelings because he responded to her by trying to grab her wrist when she walks away, and telling her he's going to get her anyway.
But I did not get that feeling at all. The hurt and pain I saw was in
her eyes, not Cloud's. I think he glimpsed that sadness, and that is why he responded to her the way he did, but he seems just as confused as I was. Like they just met! She's talking like this is good bye, au revoir forever, and like they've spent half their lives together. When they parted ways, he just barely started warm up to her enough to give her cute high-fives.
Hello?
So, for me, this scene is less about telling Cloud not to fall in love with her, but Aerith telling herself not to fall in love with Cloud. (Which I think will happen anyway cause, why not, he's too freaking cute!) I think that's the true resolution I took away from this scene.
I love that instead of aggressively pushing herself on Cloud, Remake Aerith is a simple and cheerful person at heart who just wants to fall in love like a normal girl, even though she probably has some inkling she's destined for bigger things.
I'm aware we have the LTD and with good reason, but I honestly can't even bring the love equation into this yet between Cloud and Aerith strictly because Part 1 is just a blooming friendship between the two, or a budding romance? The earlier part of their interactions was Cloud acting like a jerk to her, while she cheerfully worked to chip away at his cold exterior.
At the beginning, he's only really been nice to one person, and that's Tifa, and he's barely started warming up to the Avalanche members after spending quality time with them. They made him chuckle. Holy shit, Cloud actually chuckled!
Aerith is already working her magic on everyone, though, especially Cloud, and I'm sure they'll explore their relationship more in Part 2. But I just don't see it yet in Part 1.
My take on Cloud right now, based on seeing how he much he
talks like a badass but never goes into detail and trails off when pressed for intimate details on his "Soldier" life by Aerith and Tifa, and from the way he spouts cheesy lines when trying to rescue the girls, makes it feel more like he's
acting like a hero in an action film. I felt that way the moment he tried to keep Tifa "safe" by not letting her do the quests, like pretty lady, I can handle this on my own, you just wait for me to come after I slay all the monsters, but then she has to help him because he can't even find his way around town and doesn't even know anything about Midgar or the slums, even though he supposedly left their hometown to come to Midgar? He was just acting so damn weird (although I'm still a huge sucker for this guy and found him really cute even because of it!).