I don’t have any knowledge on that lovers tie thing myself, but it’s clear Rebirth went to great pains to establish the close connections Cloud forges with both women. But regardless of what happens, there’s still a third game left to resolve a lot of unrevealed story beats, especially concerning Cloud’s identity crisis and Zack’s fate. It’s telling that in Rebirth Aerith and Zack don’t properly interact, yet, as they’re saving that all for the third game. Same for the Lifestream and Highwind scenes for Cloud and Tifa, scenes which have already had the groundwork laid down by a lot of what happens in Rebirth.
I ultimately think it’s fair that both women got those important moments. It means fans of both can’t say that the character was either neglected or done a disservice, either by the stuff that happens in the main narrative, and the added optional stuff.
The distinction I think to make however going forward is that, while there’s no issue with the discourse being around one moment or another, if it’s convincing people that it means the narrative is going to go in their favoured direction, then that’s when I think it’s important to remember a few important factors.
Aerith dies, and says her farewells at the end.
She is of course going to have a part to play in Part 3, but they would have to bring her back to life for her to be a full party member again, which I don’t think they’ll do, given what’s been said by the developers and the nature of her final scenes itself. If their interlocked handholding is to be their final romantic moment after defeating Sephiroth, and the church scene acting as a coda or resolution to the story of their relationship that has been developed thus far, then I say it’s a good one, and from the majority of response from fans of Cloud and Aerith, it’s been a well received one.
Aerith never had this closure in the original.
The other major factor is, of course, Zack. There’s still a lot left unanswered and unresolved. His last line about worlds uniting heavily implies that the build up to him properly reuniting with Aerith will pay off in Part 3. They wouldn’t have laid all that groundwork in Rebirth for their to be no reunion between the two of them, and in what form that takes I can’t say, all I will say is I’m confident the developers know that after having done right by the Cloud and Aerith relationship in Rebirth, it’s time for their to also be a suitable conclusion and resolution to the Zack and Aerith one as well.
Lastly, and despite Tifa getting a lot more development and screen time in Rebirth, the major important and iconic plot points of her story and the story of her and Cloud is yet to come in Part 3. I think the discourse around then will be different to how it is now, because as the middle point of the trilogy, where Aerith is the inevitable focus and driving force of the story, it’s natural for her to be discussed a lot at the moment, and that of her relationship with Cloud which also has focus.
It needed to be there otherwise her death scene would lack impact.
Discussion as to whether the intended impact of that scene was delivered or not I think varies person to person given the complicated nature of how the scene ultimately plays out, but Aerith being placed prominently in a lot of the major scenes and plot points of the game is so that when she does die, and she won’t be alongside us anymore going forward, we feel that absence as we are meant to feel what Cloud and the party feels by her being gone.
Personally I’m enjoying my time with Aerith knowing like in the original she won’t be with us in part 3. And yeah I’ll miss her.
I’ll have a lot more to talk about in regards to Aerith’s characterisation the more I play, but a lot of my initial impressions and concerns are waning simply because I’ve always liked Aerith overall, I thought her character in Remake was excellent and while I was disappointed her memories were taken away and thus a lot of what made her unique in Remake I actually think it serves Rebirth’s story better by her not being omnipotent anymore, and her dynamics with all the other party members and not just Cloud is making me really enjoy the game so far.