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

[Ryeleigh]

I didn't mind the whole multiple Aeriths deal at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt like the devs either wrote themselves in a corner cause of conflicting approaches (mainly, highlighting CT and wanting to give CA closure for its fans) or wanting to have their cake and eat it, too. It could even very well be both.

Either way, it makes her feelings a bit harder to pinpoint for certain.

I just hope that they do ZA well in P3. I don't think there were that many scenes between them in Crisis Core, compared to the two whole games that she spent with Cloud. Even if a lot of those two games consisted of mutual pining but it still isn't quite the same as seeing ZA interact with each other, as adults. But I really want them to do justice to that quote "her first love is always by her side", though I think I'm paraphrasing that. So here's manifesting that from the universe too, lol.

This piece of her is a combination of memories, hopes/dreams, personality traits, all she associates with Sector 5, the time she spent with Zack, and what she deeply hoped she could experience for herself in reality.

This got me thinking that the dream date might also be about her putting that "what if" of Cloud to rest? It ended with Cloud telling her that they're friends and her unsure what kind of like it was after all, which I hope will get its definite answer when she reunites with Zack in P3.

Also, this is kind of unrelated to the current discussion but I've seen people mock Zack for this scene so I'll just add this here:

Spoiler

The scene where he thinks about going to Hojo to help Cloud. It's obvious that he's doing it to help Cloud and Aerith because who better to ask questions from than the dude who put Cloud in the condition he's in? It's also obvious that he doesn't really want to do it (the flashback of Hojo), but he resolves to do it anyway because he doesn't know what else to do. So I don't know, seeing the bad faith comments and arguments about that scene was annoying.

Spoilered just in case. Though, I'm sure everyone here has already at least seen a playthrough of Rebirth. xD

 

[pxl_pushr]

I just hope that they do ZA well in P3. I don't think there were that many scenes between them in Crisis Core, compared to the two whole games that she spent with Cloud. Even if a lot of those two games consisted of mutual pining but it still isn't quite the same as seeing ZA interact with each other, as adults. But I really want them to do justice to that quote "her first love is always by her side", though I think I'm paraphrasing that. So here's manifesting that from the universe too, lol.


This got me thinking that the dream date might also be about her putting that "what if" of Cloud to rest? It ended with Cloud telling her that they're friends and her unsure what kind of like it was after all, which I hope will get its definite answer when she reunites with Zack in P3.

Also, this is kind of unrelated to the current discussion but I've seen people mock Zack for this scene so I'll just add this here:

Spoiler

The scene where he thinks about going to Hojo to help Cloud. It's obvious that he's doing it to help Cloud and Aerith because who better to ask questions from than the dude who put Cloud in the condition he's in? It's also obvious that he doesn't really want to do it (the flashback of Hojo), but he resolves to do it anyway because he doesn't know what else to do. So I don't know, seeing the bad faith comments and arguments about that scene was annoying.

Spoilered just in case. Though, I'm sure everyone here has already at least seen a playthrough of Rebirth. xD

That’s what makes me think Zack’s sections are very much about aspects of himself even if he’s existing in a dreamworld based around Aerith. He’s the one being tested and prodded for a majority of it.

In terms of the DD, I think hearing Cloud’s feelings (or at least the feelings of Cloud who’s working half a full deck) was one of the goals. She didn’t want to feel uncertainty towards him like she did with Zack. WE know Zack loves her unflinchingly, but she doesn’t since he vanished on her after promising to come see her. We know why, but she doesn’t.

It’s almost like her mind/heart is asking questions: “did he cherish our time like I did?” “What kind of like do I feel?” “Was he a second chance at what I felt before?”

The reunion pin is an interesting callback to Remake, but my suspicions are more a theory than anything. Could help wrap some of this up in part 3 and still allow for the “koibito” line in CoLW

I think part 3 will close that loop, though I’m not sure when. It can’t take up too much time and I can’t imagine it coming up any earlier than the middle or the final act. I want ZA to get a strong moment, but both characters being dead should mean we don’t see them every other hour.

 

[Ryushikaze]

I’m still not entirely sure we’re dealing with multiple Aerith’s as in “this” Aerith is OG Aerith or “our” Aerith is a brand new Aerith etc

I think it’s all similar to what we’ll see with Cloud in the LSS. His ego is shown through multiple Clouds that represent the pieces of his subconscious that need to be aligned in order to remake Cloud as his true self.

When you shine white light through a prism, it splits into a spectrum of colors. I take this as a visual representation of how minds work in this setting. The Aerith of the DD is simply a fragment of her, whichever fragment needed to experience this in order to align herself with the rest of Aerith.

This piece of her is a combination of memories, hopes/dreams, personality traits, all she associates with Sector 5, the time she spent with Zack, and what she deeply hoped she could experience for herself in reality.

Simplest way I’ve looked at it for now is we’re seeing Aerith setting aside the part of her that’s “Aerith, the flower girl of Sector 5” and embracing “Aerith, the last living Cetra”. You could probably split her into the same pieces as Cloud, but this is simpler in my mind.

I can see the subtle part of her story in part 3 being her accepting that she’s actually both, and it was never a choice between them. One never had to come at the cost of the other.

I’d like to think you can apply the same thinking to Zack and his sections. Him coming to terms with the different desires he felt were left unfulfilled after getting gunned down. We cover them now so we can better understand why the LSS works with Cloud and Tifa later, and what will need to happen at the end of the story.

I do think seeing Dream Aerith as distinct from Forest Aerith is still important because even if both are born from the same mind, and rejoin, they are not the same at that moment. Sort of like- if I may bring up something else nerdy for a moment- how the character Multiple Man works.

For those not familiar, Multiple Man has the power to create duplicates of himself that are distinct, fully independent beings. They share his memories and opinions, but are not mentally linked to him. When his duplicates merge back with him he retains the memories of all of them, but if one of them dies before merging, the unique memories of that duplicate are lost.

 

[Skilganon]

Nonetheless i don't really like having to deal with multiple Aeriths with these scenes. Wish it was just one and the same Aerith who travelled with us instead of doing these weird meta things with OG Aeriths or whatever.

I didn't mind the whole multiple Aeriths deal at first, but the more I thought about it, the more it felt like the devs either wrote themselves in a corner cause of conflicting approaches (mainly, highlighting CT and wanting to give CA closure for its fans) or wanting to have their cake and eat it, too. It could even very well be both.

Either way, it makes her feelings a bit harder to pinpoint for certain.

100% The idea of multiple Aeriths casts a shadow over the entire CA relationship. The two versions we see act different. Cloud even points this out, "Why are you acting so weird? This isn't you." They might as well be different people. So when Dream Aerith confesses her feelings, it isn't relevant. It isn't really closure. Beagle-Aerith's feelings are what matter.

 

[Eerie]

This is not for CA though it gives a closure to it, it is for CoLW Aerith. I think Nojima regrets writing her too Cloud-centric and she needed to go, so he linked that scene to CoLW, but he also killed her. All her worlds died (she hid there behind a maze of worlds that we see Zack going through at some point later on), so it’s safe to assume she died. I am sure she wanted more power and knowledge so she sent her younger self that since she was a kid (visions of the future), because she felt really powerless towards Sephiroth in the Lifestream.

In a way think of CoLW happening before p3 of the trilogy.

 

[eleamaya]

The hate from loud CAs in Zerith tag on Twitter made me vent to ChatGPT. It makes me so relief. It's a long chat and I talk more about CA & ZA as pairings and Aerith's feelings for both guys (because they also attack ZAs not caring about Aerith, we do care!). I copy-paste it on gdrive and share it. Sometimes I mention Cloti but it's not the main focus of the talk. I also mention Seifer X Rinoa.

Venting about Zerith on ChatGPT

Can you help me prompting the ideas of Couple Event Week? The couple name is Zack x Aerith (Zerith). And they're star-crossed lovers, Zack died first and Aerith follows later on, both are being murdered though, not suicide like Romeo x Juliet. But when they're together, they're a happy couple wit...

docs.google.com

(Actually, it starts from me asking ChatGPT to make prompt suggestion for Zerith Week. But its answer is so beautiful that make me crying so I talk more and vent)