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

[thetriplerhyme]

Yeah, i really dislike the idea of the Force ghost thing.

I second demotion the highlight of OG is people felt her lost because again there is noo way to return her back hence support can only be story wise.

Aerith's role in the story has largely passed, but her own personal character arc remains incomplete and for this reason I feel we'll see a lot of her in part 3 - even if she doesn't interact with the party or have a tangible influence on physical events.

Her own story has been building since Remake. At the beginning she's still going through the motions after 5 years, but feeling increasingly lost and confused. Then this guy appears who looks so much and acts so much like him.

Over time you can see - and I feel the devs enhanced this even further in Rebirth - the way Aerith relates to Cloud just as she once did with Zack. Re-enacting the same dates, making the same one-liners and jokes, trying to engage in the same playful flirting. This isn't the actions of a horny girl who forces herself on a man she barely knows, but a genuine and tragic attempt of a woman trying to recapture a lost love.

This culminates with

Spoiler

the Sector 5 dream date. This is just, man, it could not be any more on the nose. Everything about this, to the n'th degree, is a recreation of her date in Crisis Core but ending in a negative or disappointing manner. It finishes off with Aerith herself seemingly taking a moment to reflect, do I like-like him? Really?

Aerith's death is timely here, because she no longer has a leading place in Cloud's personal story (Tifa coming to prominence soon) but also it means she can find resolution in her own.

Zack/Aerith need to have their reunion, their reconciliation, their falling in love all over again and everything else leading up to Advent Children Complete - where they are together, now for eternity, punctuated by Aerith's flowers growing on Zack's grave and Zack's buster sword sitting in the church.

- I agree 3rd PART is now TIFA as Heroine saving Cloud sooo since Aerith is given the exact same importance in Rebirth I know they will do so in 3rd Installment for Tifa.

This pretty much demonstrates why the argument that 'it's optional' doesn't invalidate the kiss. The game gives the player the power to influence what date they're going to see, but not what Cloud does on each date. And that's precisely why it's irrelevant if the scene is optional or not because the way he acts with each character is completely different. It only highlights Cloud's actual feelings towards each one of them.

Plus, as many people have mentioned here, the goalposts have changed in relation to what we can consider as romantic coming from Cloud. Up until Rebirth, we had very little to compare since Cloud has never been presented in undeniably romantic situations outside of polygons and fade to black, and complementary material. So, any ambiguous interaction could be considered romantic as that was the standard for his characterisation. But things have changed now after Rebirth because, for the first time in 27 years, Cloud actually kissed one of the girls, and he was the one to initiate it.

- I also personally believe that all dates happened in the story same with Resolution scenes in Remake ( just different times) and it was players choice on whom to see them.

Spoiler: spoiler

Its all connected on Barret's date he told Cloud "he learned how to make first move which is exactly you gonna do" - hence he initiated kiss with Tifa.

Nanaki said to "protect Aerith since they can't remember future anymore hence is her date ' he supported her while realizing she's confused

 

[starcape91]

edit - oh god, this is the LTD thread not the general spoiler thread. Please forgive

We’ve sort of been talking about general Rebirth things here too. Less crowded than the other thread.

 

[thetriplerhyme]

Question!! I saw this in screenrant
What is the standard affinity for Aerith's Gondola date??

 

[GamerSkull]

I think I’ve only seen the intimate endings for all the dates, with the exception of the standard Tifa date because that’s what I got.

 

[starcape91]

Question!! I saw this in screenrant
What is the standard affinity for Aerith's Gondola date??


View attachment 14783

The main difference is Aerith leans on Cloud and says “just until the rides over” and then it fades out. He doesn’t hold her hand.

 

[Stiggie]

Don't think I'll ever get to the dates since I'm at the Junon parade and after requiring 50 attempts to get through the first of the three segments I realized I had to do them all perfect IN A FUCKING ROW! Which means I will be stuck here for about a week.

 

[GamerSkull]

Ah, so it seems a lot of the standard dates are just… shorter.

 

[thetriplerhyme]

The main difference is Aerith leans on Cloud and says “just until the rides over” and then it fades out. He doesn’t hold her hand.

-- aahhh and they're calling Tifa a fanservice and optional hahaha thaanks for the info~

 

[starcape91]

I think, as many have said, that the intimate versions of each date are canon to the story.

 

[Graymouse]

I think, as many have said, that the intimate versions of each date are canon to the story.

They all happen simultaneously.

 

[Legend45]

The main difference is Aerith leans on Cloud and says “just until the rides over” and then it fades out. He doesn’t hold her hand.

And yet Cloud still hugs Tifa in the standard date. Very interesting

 

[shady]

And yet Cloud still hugs Tifa in the standard date. Very interesting

And still says "Not One Bit©"

 

[thetriplerhyme]

And still says "Not One Bit©"

Are you team Not one bit or JP version " Hold on tightly"

 

[liuliuliu]

I think they will cut scope, which are what most game companies are doing anyway. I’m worried about pt3 sales. The ending of rebirth turned me off a lot. Cloud has an identity crisis is one thing, him having hallucinations is a whole new level…it actually feels creepy to me.
And I think they will go full Aerith in next games marketing to retain Aerith’s fan.

 

[Ryushikaze]

Don't think I'll ever get to the dates since I'm at the Junon parade and after requiring 50 attempts to get through the first of the three segments I realized I had to do them all perfect IN A FUCKING ROW! Which means I will be stuck here for about a week.

They don't have to be perfect. Just pretty good.
Piano pieces, those have to be fucking perfect.

 

[Empyrea]

And I think they will go full Aerith in next games marketing to retain Aerith’s fan.

The marketing is one thing, but I hope that doesn't affect the story. .hack G.U. has an implied romance sorta, and it remains unresolved because of Alkaid's fans (and unlike with Aerith, I really like Alkaid). Granted, the romance there isn't integral to the plot, so it doesn't matter, but Atoli's arc running alongside Haseo's make them a better fit, imo.

 

[Stiggie]

I hope Aerith is barely in part 3, or not at all, I think that would best convey the sense of "goneness" that you should want to convey with something like her death. That's how it was in the OG, and it worked splendidly. That having been said, I severely doubt they'll do that, it's honestly gonna be quite annoying, it will be like she's not even dead.

This is one of the reasons I disliked the whole "we made sure to give Aerith and Tifa equal attention!" nonsense, they've said that for two games straight so it's a damn near certainty they'll do it again in part 3. And honestly both solutions are kinda bad, either Aerith is gone, in which case Tifa got equal spotlight in 2 games, and the sole spotlight in game 3. Or They get equal spotlight in game three, in which case Aerith is as much around as a living main character, which....should not be the case.
I've said this a thousand times, rather than making them interchangeable they should have just focused on Aerith in part 1 and 2 so that focusing on Tifa in part 3 feel equal, and they should make the two of them distinct so that it doesn't even matter. But instead in part 2 they constantly try to show Tifa and Aerith sharing a single brain cell which makes them feel interchangeable as people and as characters and its just dumb.

 

[Stiggie]

Fuck it, made it to full combo with only 4 "goods" (one of which was bullshit but whatever), so I'm taking it, I'll perfect combo it after I finish the game.

 

[thetriplerhyme]

I hope Aerith is barely in part 3, or not at all, I think that would best convey the sense of "goneness" that you should want to convey with something like her death. That's how it was in the OG, and it worked splendidly. That having been said, I severely doubt they'll do that, it's honestly gonna be quite annoying, it will be like she's not even dead.

- I trust especially NOJIMA values each character hence they gave her a full game on part 2 to emphasize it. I trust Tifa will be given the same value given that part 3 is now saving CLOUD to finalize story. NO ONE CAN DO IT ASIDE FROM MY LADY TIFA.

- its not that I don't like there are fans who geniunely like her ( like @eleamaya) but I know her role now is mostly ON LS now and how to fix the other side to match the timeline. I also want to feel the " GONENESS" and reality that NO AERITH will be on game ( even on support when fighting ) as ghost or not..

I'm gonna feel even horrible for her if that's the case. If you know what I mean.. She has a lot to do in LS rather than hangout in the livin as ghost.

 

[Nal]

- I trust especially NOJIMA values each character hence they gave her a full game on part 2 to emphasize it. I trust Tifa will be given the same value given that part 3 is now saving CLOUD to finalize story. NO ONE CAN DO IT ASIDE FROM MY LADY TIFA.

- its not that I don't like there are fans who geniunely like her ( like @eleamaya) but I know her role now is mostly ON LS now and how to fix the other side to match the timeline. I also want to feel the " GONENESS" and reality that NO AERITH will be on game ( even on support when fighting ) as ghost or not..

I'm gonna feel even horrible for her if that's the case. If you know what I mean.. She has a lot to do in LS rather than hangout in the livin as ghost.

I think her saying goodbye at the end means she won't actually be around the living too much. Then again the last chapters she had like 4 goodbye scenes back to back so who knows?

 

[thetriplerhyme]

I think her saying goodbye at the end means she won't actually be around the living too much. Then again the last chapters she had like 4 goodbye scenes back to back so who knows?

- on Zack's timeline maybe?? that seems to be the LS now.. and people who communicate with them are either dead or can see them ( IDK ) eitherway I'm hoping she will be reunited with Zack and somehow fix the 'otherside' and then help the gang in the end.

 

[GamerSkull]

The way the “Goodbye” is framed at the end makes me think that if she appears in Part 3, she’ll probably have minimal interactions to the main party.

Most will probably Lifestream or other universe stuff for her now.

 

[Hix]

The way the “Goodbye” is framed at the end makes me think that if she appears in Part 3, she’ll probably have minimal interactions to the main party.

Most will probably Lifestream or other universe stuff for her now.

That's my read. Regardless of how you interpret Aerith's appearance with Cloud at the end, it was clearly a "goodbye" and not a "see you later".

This tracks, as the devs have been clear this will not stray too far from the FFVII formula and I think it's clear that Aerith will have limited or even no communication with the main party from this point on.

There is still plenty more story involving Aerith that we have yet to see though and I think limiting her appearances to the Lifestream alone doesn't negate the loss that can be felt (just as it didnt in Advent Children)

The remakes have built up the character arc of her trying to recreate a lost love, something already present in OG but very much amplified in part 2. Thinking she's found what she's looking for in Cloud, only to end unsure and perhaps even accepting it wasn't the same. That arc might well have finished with her death in a more tragic take, but we know it actually concludes with her together once again with her true love Zack. The happier ending they both deserve.

All the how's and why's are a story that needs to be told, even if it no longer involves Cloud and Co.

 

[Hix]

On another note, it's unsurprising but disheartening to see that the prevailing argument (read: cope) is that Tifa's GS date is somehow "non-canon", as if any material in the game could actually be classified as this.

Make no mistake, this is just glorified "ignoring" for the sake of convenience. It's no different than how some deal with things like the Lifestream sequence.

If CA relies on ignoring any part, let alone multiple parts, of the source material then I'd suggest that the LTD really is over.

 

[shady]

Are you team Not one bit or JP version " Hold on tightly"

View attachment 14784

I like both, the English version really conveys the weight behind Cloud's words of not only being steely in his determination but in lending his strength to Tifa to let her know she can be vulnerable emotionally, because as you can see from the previous shot she is clamming up and doubting herself.

The Japanese version -- in context, is just so damn poetic though.