Begs to question why would they even care about the ship to begin with? If they just want to self insert as Aerith then why would anyone want to be in a ship with Cloud to begin with?
Yet again, the LTD isn't ambiguous, you just have to work for the answer. The devs have always been like that.
This is how I feel. Instead being like ‘oh clerith this or oh clotis that.’ It should be just ‘this extremist shipper believes this thing.’ Healthy debates and discussing differencing opinions should be encouraged.
Respectfully, the narrative is not ambiguous. The man has been harboring feelings for one woman his entire life, admits those feelings, confirms those feelings with that woman the night before the possible end of the world, begins his new life with her the morning after averting the end of the world, moves in with her, adopts a child with her, is happy with her, so happy he feels guilty about it (Because why did his friends have to die for him to have his happiness), and then yes, he becomes consumed with depression and guilt when he contracts a fatal wasting disease and removes himself from her, but as a form of penance, and even then he's still looking for a cure for his new son and himself. And the moment that he's cured, he moves back in with the woman, and when another crisis happens a year later he proactively takes steps to protect his family from it and then rides into battle with that woman to protect and reclaim their new home.
Of course they have. And I have in the past ripped those arguments to shreds as well. Just not here.
I don't hate Clerith fans in general. I hate the Clerith fans that try to make the characters out to be the worst written characters in existence with how they see the game being portrayed instead of what the game is actually doing.
Here a problem … you are assuming by me saying it’s ambiguous narrative that I’m talking about Advent Children and the novels. Kind of seems you are thinking I’m a Clerith shipper who doesn’t view that Tifa and Cloud are living under on house together in separate rooms. Which I wasn’t. I more thinking about Rebirth and Cloud’s and Aerith’s interactions. That whole ‘like-like’ speech I have read shippers dissecting that scene to no end. Also the ‘dream date’ being hotly debated as a Zack dream date when we know that Nojima loves to reference previous written scenes, like a lot and there really isn’t any hidden meaning to it. I hope we can all agree that the dream date was mostly a set up to display how choices don’t matter against fate.
This right here. The game isn't necessarily a romance game persay, but the romantic sub-plot exists and is a key element to Clouds character and it's specifically there with Tifas character.
Before you say this.
Most people here don't hate Clerith fans at all but not many Clerith fans want to engage in a healthy, respectful "debate" that actually takes the entire game narrative into account. A lot of the time their evidence is just cherry-picked quotes, taking scenarios out of context, or providing bad faith arguments.
This, I find a little disingenuous. The dream date is considered a "Zack date" because at every stall you go to there's Zack AND Cloud coded merchandise. If you choose any of the Cloud coded stuff, Aerith will immediately choose the Zack coded stuff. But a lot of people here don't think it's a 1:1 recreation of Aeriths date with Zack while others do.
I’m sorry I’m not understanding.
The dream date being laced with references to Zack isn't pointless, this is an important moment, not some random sidequest. Any writer worth their salt doesn't just put things in a story "just because," especially when it's in a scene this important.
See here's the thing though, it actually kinda is.
It was only one scene folks.
This just tells me you're not here to have an actual conversation about anything. So, you're welcome bestie!
-Date is laced with references to Zack-
Why are you responding as if that this is somehow an offense when it isn't? Yes the cut away to Zack in the church does mean something. There are also Stamp dogs around the area which are there for a reason.
That's what i basically implied with pointing out it's a key element to Clouds character.
I did not assume you meant those, but they are part of the overall narrative. But even before getting to those the narrative is fairly clear cut.
I wasn't assuming you had any particular shipping druthers. You just said the narrative was ambiguous and this is the thread where we discuss the question of Cloud's feelings of romance as it relates to the narrative. So I addressed Cloud's romance as it relates to the narrative.
The dream date is literally classed as part of Zack's story in the game's internal logic. Setting the game to skip his segments skips that date. It contains references to Zack's date with Aerith, and she has slipups like referring to the church as "Our place" which was what it was for Zack and Aeirht, but not Cloud and Aerith. Yes, it's very much about inevitability, but it's also about Aerith sorting out her feelings and if I may be so bold, saying she can't fight hers for Zack any more than she can fight fate, no matter how much she might want to be try and move on.
Yeah the quests definitely have canonity to them, as we clearly saw with the likes of all the side characters that continue their arcs here like for example Kyrie, Leslie, Jules and the flower talk followup with Aerith.