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?
SPOILERS LTD Remake — It's like New Coke except ... no, it's exactly like New Coke
- Thread starter The Twilight Mexican
- Start date
thetriplerhyme
Pro Adventurer
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- thetriplerhyme
GamerSkull
Pro Adventurer
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.
Most will probably Lifestream or other universe stuff for her now.
Hix
Pro Adventurer
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
Pro Adventurer
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.
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
Pro Adventurer
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.
Sacky
Pro Adventurer
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- SackyBoy
This is going to be a long essay, so apologies, but after finishing Rebirth, I've been looking at theories, story points, and just thinking over everything about the characters and their writing. If you don't care about Aerith as a character, you won't care what I write here. I also majorly ship Cloti, but I don't want this to seem biased because, really, I care more about good writing in a story than shipping.
So first off, Rebirth has gotten every single character apart from Aerith perfect. Tifa's storyline is the star here. They have developed her character and Cloud's relationship better than most of us could have dreamed. This rant isn’t about shipping, though, but it does have to mention a lot about Cloti. Like it or not, a theme song for a game is meant to represent the overall themes of the whole game. With Hollow, this was done perfectly. They chose Aerith to have the theme song for Rebirth to represent the story as a whole, and this doesn't just play at the end credits; it plays right before the story shifts into its final gears. It's meant to be a grand, memorable, and emotional scene about Aerith and her thoughts during the story that we have been playing. But when we actually look at Aerith's story during this game, nothing said in this song makes any sense whatsoever. The developers wanted this song to be important; this isn’t anything about Clerith or Cloti; it's about an absolute failure in her storytelling.
The first half of the game, Aerith, has barely any relevance to the plot. One of the main plot points is all about Sephiroth trying to get Tifa and Cloud to doubt each other. This continues all the way up until the temple of the ancients, but only at the end of the temple. Yes, this is similar to OG with Aerith, but Rebirth has improved on every character's arc, including Aerith, so they should have given her something more to do. Aerith doesn't even bond with the party in this game.
Her and Barret barely interact, and I don't think they say more than a sentence to each other the rare times they do speak. Tifa has bonding moments with Aerith, a lot of friendship stuff. We also already had this in the remake, but at least it's there. With Yuffie, it's mentioned they bond off-screen, which doesn't mean anything to the player. But the real character she doesn't bond romantically with is Cloud throughout the main first half of the story, unless it's from side missions. Aerith doesn't have any important conversations with Cloud; it's all about call backs to Remake, or, strangely, it's all about Tifa. But even in the side missions, Cloud acts so differently with her.
He shuts down any form of romantic speech, deflecting it, and her conversations have nothing to do with anything but her teasing cloud. Basically, to sum it up, Clerith gets barely anything in the first half of the story, not even her side missions or main dialogue bonding moments, and this has to be intentional with the difference in animations and even voice tone from when Cloud is with Aerith or Tifa.
There are still some Clerith moments, but a lot has to do with Tifa. They have also retconned Aerith into forgetting everything in the remake apart from her apparent death. It's not until the first part of Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon that we get Aerith having an actual important story moment, and shocker, it's actually really good. It goes into her loneliness, which was also hinted at in the remake. Her pressure as the last Cetra. And her fears. But the thing to note here is that the reason it's good is because it has nothing to do with Cloud. You take Cloud away from Aerith, and you get good writing.
Throughout the story, we are also getting to see Zack and his dedication to helping Aerith, but not just that. On Aerith's side, we are seeing how much she actually misses Zack and is conflicted. She is trying to cope with getting over Zack, but she feels his hand in the lifestream. She sees his parents and can't help but ask questions, even though she knows it's wrong since she isn't perfect, and that's a good thing. We see she has talked with Tifa about Zack and what's going wrong with Cloud; they both know there's his real persona down there, and Tifa is seen comforting Aerith about Zack. In Gongaga, she sees how Tifa and Cloud are becoming closer and how much they mean to each other. A blind person can see it. In Nibelheim, she gets nothing but more evidence of how much Cloud cares about Tifa. and then we get to the song.
Throughout the story, they have decided whether I like it or not to make most of Aerith's story about her conflicted feelings between Cloud and Zack, even though at this point in rebirth it's more just full of Zack. So Aerith decides to write an emotional song, knowing she is about to die. So most people would expect that she's going to write a song about her conflicted feelings between what she feels for Cloud and her missing Zack. Aerith, however, straight up writes a 100 percent cloud-focused love ballad about meeting again and their street. Which makes zero sense unless you want me to believe Aerith is an idiot. Aerith comments on Cloud giving the flower to another girl. She saw that it was given to Tifa by Cloud. The Whispers may have taken away her memories of the future, but that doesn't mean they took away her feelings at the time. In the remake, she smiled when she saw the flower; now she's acting bratty. A lot of her dialogue throughout the game has been about Cloud and Tifa. The water tower being the biggest offender for her knowing how they feel about each other.
Yuffie joins the party late and notices it instantly.
But what's worse for Aerith's song here is that the game has been pushing players towards Tifa. Most players in this game are going to get Tifa's date whether from popularity alone or the game pushing Cloud and Tifa together making it even more obvious and what happens on Tifa's date? Aerith looks over while she's singing a love song to Cloud and sees him holding hands like a couple with another woman. Cloti win or not, this is one of the most disrespectful things you could do to Aerith, and being Cloti or not, I didn't want Aerith to be disrespected this way at all. They chose to make her sing a love song, and they chose to show Tifa and Cloud holding hands while downright telling the player to choose Tifa for the date. What do they want you to feel for Aerith here? Sadness? Pity?. She's already going to die. We don't need to kill her more?. So Aerith's song and the theme of the game are now about her pouring her heart out for a guy she knows she can’t get with. That she knows loves another woman with whom she is apparently best friends?. It makes more sense for Aerith to have written a love song about Tifa, if we are being honest. This is one of the worst character arcs I have ever seen in a popular franchise.
What's worse, most people know where this story is headed. Full on Cloti and Full on Zerith, however, now with this love confession from Aerith, Zack starts to feel like a rebound. Aerith, before she dies, doesn't write about her missing Zack or her pressure being a cetra. Instead she has written a song about how she feels destined to be with a guy she met two weeks ago. Cloud, debatable or not, hasn't really shown any romantic feelings towards her throughout that time, and she knows he loves another woman. This is what the developers wanted to be the theme of the game. That is now stated as "hoping becomes the standard for love songs". What in the ever-loving Fuck are they thinking with this?
But it gets worse for Aerith's character because in the Temples last part, they start to add the poison back to Aerith's character; that poison is Cloud. Side note: I normally don't have an issue with the voice acting for Aerith, but when she says cloud before getting pushed by whispers, it sounds like she's high. So now we get to the dream date, an exact copy of the crisis core Zack date, but everything starts to go wrong. During this time, the multiverse Aerith needs to give Cloud the white materia to save the world. Cloud is still in a coma pretty much during this time. Multiverse Aerith seems to have knowledge of Sephiroth and knows she has to give the other materia; for some reason, she doesn't know anything about Zack. The date pretty much confirms that Cloud isn't actually the person Aerith wants as a romantic partner and is very different from Zack, Cloud throughout it is basically just confused.
They go to what Aerith says it there special place and its here where she apparently realises Cloud doesn't feel the same way about her an ABSOLUTE SHOCKING REVELATION WITH HOW HE HAS ACTED THE WHOLE GAME. This right here should end the LTD, but low and behold, the dialogue changes depending on HA/LA. The response from Aerith doesn't change, though, saying, “Now I know where we stand." So what is the point in changing the start of this conversation, then??? Gongaga does not change if you have more favor with Aerith than Tifa, so having any form of change here makes no sense.
This brings us to Her Death in what should have been Aerith's moment as a character and make you feel sad for her death. However, it has now been turned into her getting fridged to be used as a plot device for Clouds character arc. You can't feel sad for Aerith's death since, when dead, she becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine. What should be the showdown between Sephiroth and Cloud? Aerith endgames herself into the fight through a portal and manages to defeat Sephiroth with Cloud. Aerith's death seems to be the best thing that happened to her in the game.
As another person I spoke with said, her being a Cetra had zero impact on the plot except a) giving Sephy a reason to off her and b) her deus ex machina Holy. Aerith's affections for Cloud make absolutely no difference to him or his character. Whether she was a friend or a romantic option, he would still mourn her and be traumatized by her death. He is still in love with Tifa, and Tifa is still clearly going to be his heroine and salvation.
So how do they end this game? with Aerith teasing and flirting with a cloud who is very mentally gone. This is Aerith's spirit. Aerith isn't gone with her death; in fact, she's more relevant than when she was alive. Her death is now just a plot device for Cloud to overcome. Aerith's character in the end isn't a character; she's a plot device. Then they play that song. A song that is a love ballad to Cloud that represents the theme song of the game. The song itself is actually a really nice song, but to make this the theme song of the game is confusing.
So in summary, Aerith's character arc in this game is,
To lose everything she had in the remake.
To talk about Tifa with Cloud
To feel conflicted over her feelings for Zack
To then try to romance a guy she knows her best friend has been in love with.
To write a song not about anything she said in Cosmo Canyon but about Cloud and her love for him.
To drag Cloud on a date and give him the materia while still trying to get him to love her (in which this is a different Aerith with the same memories, I think?).
To being killed and used as a plot device for Clouds trauma
To now being a spirit who has become even more powerful than before.
while also now saving Zack from beyond the grave potentially (why she doesn't show up to Zack but does to Cloud is still confusing to me).
In short, FF7 Rebirth completely butchers Aerith's character, instead of making her a tragic character who significantly affected the rest of the party with her death,Who has a heritage that gets her hunted and bullied? That gives her a role that she was not ready for. Instead, Aerith's character is about her trying to get a man to love her who is already in love with someone else. who can never be with her. Then being killed by Sephiroth. obviously there is more to her in the story but this does stand out.
The developers had all the opportunities to make Aerith's death matter and improve her character, but despite everything else, this game got right, like Yuffie who joins the party late and has more bonding with them all than Aerith. Rebirth has failed to make Aerith a good-written character with a satisfying arc in a game where it was their last opportunity to do so while she was alive. Most people aren't going to remember Aerith's character for being someone kind who made an impact on the whole party. Now she gets remembered as someone you pity for being obsessed with a guy who already loves another woman. The only hope for Aerith is her reunion with Zack, but the focus on Cloud and her love song being 100 percent about Cloud makes what should be a great emotional moment awkward. I guess we see in Part 3 what they do with her and Zack, but right now I feel Aerith's character was done wrong in Rebirth, and that's really sad.
So first off, Rebirth has gotten every single character apart from Aerith perfect. Tifa's storyline is the star here. They have developed her character and Cloud's relationship better than most of us could have dreamed. This rant isn’t about shipping, though, but it does have to mention a lot about Cloti. Like it or not, a theme song for a game is meant to represent the overall themes of the whole game. With Hollow, this was done perfectly. They chose Aerith to have the theme song for Rebirth to represent the story as a whole, and this doesn't just play at the end credits; it plays right before the story shifts into its final gears. It's meant to be a grand, memorable, and emotional scene about Aerith and her thoughts during the story that we have been playing. But when we actually look at Aerith's story during this game, nothing said in this song makes any sense whatsoever. The developers wanted this song to be important; this isn’t anything about Clerith or Cloti; it's about an absolute failure in her storytelling.
The first half of the game, Aerith, has barely any relevance to the plot. One of the main plot points is all about Sephiroth trying to get Tifa and Cloud to doubt each other. This continues all the way up until the temple of the ancients, but only at the end of the temple. Yes, this is similar to OG with Aerith, but Rebirth has improved on every character's arc, including Aerith, so they should have given her something more to do. Aerith doesn't even bond with the party in this game.
Her and Barret barely interact, and I don't think they say more than a sentence to each other the rare times they do speak. Tifa has bonding moments with Aerith, a lot of friendship stuff. We also already had this in the remake, but at least it's there. With Yuffie, it's mentioned they bond off-screen, which doesn't mean anything to the player. But the real character she doesn't bond romantically with is Cloud throughout the main first half of the story, unless it's from side missions. Aerith doesn't have any important conversations with Cloud; it's all about call backs to Remake, or, strangely, it's all about Tifa. But even in the side missions, Cloud acts so differently with her.
He shuts down any form of romantic speech, deflecting it, and her conversations have nothing to do with anything but her teasing cloud. Basically, to sum it up, Clerith gets barely anything in the first half of the story, not even her side missions or main dialogue bonding moments, and this has to be intentional with the difference in animations and even voice tone from when Cloud is with Aerith or Tifa.
There are still some Clerith moments, but a lot has to do with Tifa. They have also retconned Aerith into forgetting everything in the remake apart from her apparent death. It's not until the first part of Gongaga and Cosmo Canyon that we get Aerith having an actual important story moment, and shocker, it's actually really good. It goes into her loneliness, which was also hinted at in the remake. Her pressure as the last Cetra. And her fears. But the thing to note here is that the reason it's good is because it has nothing to do with Cloud. You take Cloud away from Aerith, and you get good writing.
Throughout the story, we are also getting to see Zack and his dedication to helping Aerith, but not just that. On Aerith's side, we are seeing how much she actually misses Zack and is conflicted. She is trying to cope with getting over Zack, but she feels his hand in the lifestream. She sees his parents and can't help but ask questions, even though she knows it's wrong since she isn't perfect, and that's a good thing. We see she has talked with Tifa about Zack and what's going wrong with Cloud; they both know there's his real persona down there, and Tifa is seen comforting Aerith about Zack. In Gongaga, she sees how Tifa and Cloud are becoming closer and how much they mean to each other. A blind person can see it. In Nibelheim, she gets nothing but more evidence of how much Cloud cares about Tifa. and then we get to the song.
Throughout the story, they have decided whether I like it or not to make most of Aerith's story about her conflicted feelings between Cloud and Zack, even though at this point in rebirth it's more just full of Zack. So Aerith decides to write an emotional song, knowing she is about to die. So most people would expect that she's going to write a song about her conflicted feelings between what she feels for Cloud and her missing Zack. Aerith, however, straight up writes a 100 percent cloud-focused love ballad about meeting again and their street. Which makes zero sense unless you want me to believe Aerith is an idiot. Aerith comments on Cloud giving the flower to another girl. She saw that it was given to Tifa by Cloud. The Whispers may have taken away her memories of the future, but that doesn't mean they took away her feelings at the time. In the remake, she smiled when she saw the flower; now she's acting bratty. A lot of her dialogue throughout the game has been about Cloud and Tifa. The water tower being the biggest offender for her knowing how they feel about each other.
Yuffie joins the party late and notices it instantly.
But what's worse for Aerith's song here is that the game has been pushing players towards Tifa. Most players in this game are going to get Tifa's date whether from popularity alone or the game pushing Cloud and Tifa together making it even more obvious and what happens on Tifa's date? Aerith looks over while she's singing a love song to Cloud and sees him holding hands like a couple with another woman. Cloti win or not, this is one of the most disrespectful things you could do to Aerith, and being Cloti or not, I didn't want Aerith to be disrespected this way at all. They chose to make her sing a love song, and they chose to show Tifa and Cloud holding hands while downright telling the player to choose Tifa for the date. What do they want you to feel for Aerith here? Sadness? Pity?. She's already going to die. We don't need to kill her more?. So Aerith's song and the theme of the game are now about her pouring her heart out for a guy she knows she can’t get with. That she knows loves another woman with whom she is apparently best friends?. It makes more sense for Aerith to have written a love song about Tifa, if we are being honest. This is one of the worst character arcs I have ever seen in a popular franchise.
What's worse, most people know where this story is headed. Full on Cloti and Full on Zerith, however, now with this love confession from Aerith, Zack starts to feel like a rebound. Aerith, before she dies, doesn't write about her missing Zack or her pressure being a cetra. Instead she has written a song about how she feels destined to be with a guy she met two weeks ago. Cloud, debatable or not, hasn't really shown any romantic feelings towards her throughout that time, and she knows he loves another woman. This is what the developers wanted to be the theme of the game. That is now stated as "hoping becomes the standard for love songs". What in the ever-loving Fuck are they thinking with this?
But it gets worse for Aerith's character because in the Temples last part, they start to add the poison back to Aerith's character; that poison is Cloud. Side note: I normally don't have an issue with the voice acting for Aerith, but when she says cloud before getting pushed by whispers, it sounds like she's high. So now we get to the dream date, an exact copy of the crisis core Zack date, but everything starts to go wrong. During this time, the multiverse Aerith needs to give Cloud the white materia to save the world. Cloud is still in a coma pretty much during this time. Multiverse Aerith seems to have knowledge of Sephiroth and knows she has to give the other materia; for some reason, she doesn't know anything about Zack. The date pretty much confirms that Cloud isn't actually the person Aerith wants as a romantic partner and is very different from Zack, Cloud throughout it is basically just confused.
They go to what Aerith says it there special place and its here where she apparently realises Cloud doesn't feel the same way about her an ABSOLUTE SHOCKING REVELATION WITH HOW HE HAS ACTED THE WHOLE GAME. This right here should end the LTD, but low and behold, the dialogue changes depending on HA/LA. The response from Aerith doesn't change, though, saying, “Now I know where we stand." So what is the point in changing the start of this conversation, then??? Gongaga does not change if you have more favor with Aerith than Tifa, so having any form of change here makes no sense.
This brings us to Her Death in what should have been Aerith's moment as a character and make you feel sad for her death. However, it has now been turned into her getting fridged to be used as a plot device for Clouds character arc. You can't feel sad for Aerith's death since, when dead, she becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine. What should be the showdown between Sephiroth and Cloud? Aerith endgames herself into the fight through a portal and manages to defeat Sephiroth with Cloud. Aerith's death seems to be the best thing that happened to her in the game.
As another person I spoke with said, her being a Cetra had zero impact on the plot except a) giving Sephy a reason to off her and b) her deus ex machina Holy. Aerith's affections for Cloud make absolutely no difference to him or his character. Whether she was a friend or a romantic option, he would still mourn her and be traumatized by her death. He is still in love with Tifa, and Tifa is still clearly going to be his heroine and salvation.
So how do they end this game? with Aerith teasing and flirting with a cloud who is very mentally gone. This is Aerith's spirit. Aerith isn't gone with her death; in fact, she's more relevant than when she was alive. Her death is now just a plot device for Cloud to overcome. Aerith's character in the end isn't a character; she's a plot device. Then they play that song. A song that is a love ballad to Cloud that represents the theme song of the game. The song itself is actually a really nice song, but to make this the theme song of the game is confusing.
So in summary, Aerith's character arc in this game is,
To lose everything she had in the remake.
To talk about Tifa with Cloud
To feel conflicted over her feelings for Zack
To then try to romance a guy she knows her best friend has been in love with.
To write a song not about anything she said in Cosmo Canyon but about Cloud and her love for him.
To drag Cloud on a date and give him the materia while still trying to get him to love her (in which this is a different Aerith with the same memories, I think?).
To being killed and used as a plot device for Clouds trauma
To now being a spirit who has become even more powerful than before.
while also now saving Zack from beyond the grave potentially (why she doesn't show up to Zack but does to Cloud is still confusing to me).
In short, FF7 Rebirth completely butchers Aerith's character, instead of making her a tragic character who significantly affected the rest of the party with her death,Who has a heritage that gets her hunted and bullied? That gives her a role that she was not ready for. Instead, Aerith's character is about her trying to get a man to love her who is already in love with someone else. who can never be with her. Then being killed by Sephiroth. obviously there is more to her in the story but this does stand out.
The developers had all the opportunities to make Aerith's death matter and improve her character, but despite everything else, this game got right, like Yuffie who joins the party late and has more bonding with them all than Aerith. Rebirth has failed to make Aerith a good-written character with a satisfying arc in a game where it was their last opportunity to do so while she was alive. Most people aren't going to remember Aerith's character for being someone kind who made an impact on the whole party. Now she gets remembered as someone you pity for being obsessed with a guy who already loves another woman. The only hope for Aerith is her reunion with Zack, but the focus on Cloud and her love song being 100 percent about Cloud makes what should be a great emotional moment awkward. I guess we see in Part 3 what they do with her and Zack, but right now I feel Aerith's character was done wrong in Rebirth, and that's really sad.
shady
Pro Adventurer
The interesting thing to me I thought was, I think people assume the Aerith date is going to have lore in it because that's how it was in the OG, and yet actually it doesn't it's pretty much like the OG, if anything they bumped Tifa's up massively to have the same plot relevence as Aerith's. Both including the Zack thing. They way I saw it after seeing both..
Tifa's date has narrative relevence to all of the chapters you've played before the date, I mean what happens in Gongaga leads directly into this moment
Aerith's date probably has a little relevence to the chapters after the date aka the ending
That's how I saw them anyway.
I haven't posted on TLS in years and haven't been interested in the LTD for decades AND I normally don't have the attention span for long essays, but you've written a gem here. It mirrors what I feel is wrong with Aerith's arc. I'd kinda discussed in convos with other gamer friends, but you've put it into words really well.
At this point, it's not even about a LTD anymore. It's about good writing and respecting the legacy of the characters.
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GamerSkull
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starcape91
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One thing to think about with No Promises to Keep: even though it’s performed and written in English - the Japanese subtitles for it are less romantic and more about the whole party. Those who wrote it also aren’t fluent in English. Just something to keep in mind. And, remember that Aerith meeting Cloud was the event that led to her meeting the whole party - it opened up the whole world to her, and she has friends now.
Sacky
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Whats the Japanese Lyrics?
starcape91
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When the TGA trailer came out, a streamer, Audrey, posted a translation of the Japanese. The lyrics are much simpler. It was written by Nojima in Japanese and then translated to English by Ben Sabin. So, it suffers a bit from the same issue that Remake did. Making things sound like Tifa is jealous of Aerith in the sewers or at the train graveyard - things that keep the LTD on life support.
Maidenofwar
They/Them
In JP version Aerith doesn't even say Cloud she says "Welcome back"
Most players I think are going to get either Red XIII date unless they rush through the story prioritising one girl or the other, a friend I've been following on Twitch is Yuffie main, but he wanted date with Tifa for Cloud. He's going all in though, 100% exploration, all mini games, combat simulator, side quests etc. He actually maxed Red XIII first but didn't notice it or think it of significance because he doesn't know about Red date, Aerith maxed next and there was salt because he wanted Tifa, then Tifa maxed, but he hasn't returned to Gold Saucer yet in Chapter 12, there's a chance he might still get Tifa but I'm expecting Red XIII. He's doing an organic run, no spoilers, and I've had to bite my tongue when he's picked "wrong" (i.e not max affection results) answers for the various characters.
Most players I think are going to get either Red XIII date unless they rush through the story prioritising one girl or the other, a friend I've been following on Twitch is Yuffie main, but he wanted date with Tifa for Cloud. He's going all in though, 100% exploration, all mini games, combat simulator, side quests etc. He actually maxed Red XIII first but didn't notice it or think it of significance because he doesn't know about Red date, Aerith maxed next and there was salt because he wanted Tifa, then Tifa maxed, but he hasn't returned to Gold Saucer yet in Chapter 12, there's a chance he might still get Tifa but I'm expecting Red XIII. He's doing an organic run, no spoilers, and I've had to bite my tongue when he's picked "wrong" (i.e not max affection results) answers for the various characters.
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Sacky
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I really just wanted to know more about Aerith and her role as a Cetra. But instead, they reverted her back to her OG personality, which seems against the point of the whole remake and even how she was portrayed in Remake. She feels all over the place during the game, sometimes childish, sometimes serious, sometimes giving great speeches, sometimes turning every conversation, like Jessies, for example, to be about romance when it does not need to be. But then sometimes she just doesn't speak at all, like the whole Dyne section; I just wanted them to do more with Aerith without Cloud
starcape91
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I’m with you there. I really liked Aerith in Remake. I think they had her future memories wiped so that things would remain closer to the OG - which in general is what I wanted. I just made it to Cosmo Canyon. I was figuring we’d get more Cetra stuff starting around here but it sounds like it’s lacking.
If we do get some screen time with Aerith and Zack in Part 3 - now she’ll have access to the knowledge of the Ancients in the Lifestream, so maybe we’ll get her figuring it out then.
Sacky
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i need to find this translation
it gives you a bit but there should have been more throughout the game
starcape91
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You can see some of it here. Maybe we’ll get full Japanese lyrics once the Ultimania comes out.
Sacky
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Interesting. i wonder what the full version will be like in Japanese. It is said to be a love song, though
Sacky
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i wonder what the stats will say if they release them, for what percentage of players got a date with each character?
starcape91
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- starcape91
Sure, but I think that Rebirth has shown that there is more than romantic love. There have been touching moments between Barret and Cloud for example.
It doesn’t take away the other things you mentioned, but I think that the song is not as clear cut CA as some people think it is. It can pertain to many different aspects of the game.
GamerSkull
Pro Adventurer
Once you get to Chapter Select (finish the game), the game actually gives you a setting menu where you can adjust various things like the date companion for both Saucer visits and also lets you pick whether you want to see the intimate or standard version.
LNK
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Nate
I really think they'll go the OG route. She'll be "around" half of the disc (game). Then she'll show up again in the last battle.
Empyrea
Pro Adventurer
I'm far from being the biggest Aerith fan (or a fan of her at all), but I agree with what you said. I liked where I thought Remake was going with her, but now I'm just confused with trying to sort out what I think are the devs' intentions with her portrayal and the fact that I personally find her character in Rebirth...a little distasteful, for lack of a better word, if I'm being honest.
starcape91
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- starcape91
I really do wonder if a lot of this is the English translation. I’ve heard a lot of lines are very different in Japanese and even some of the other languages - especially when it comes to Aerith.
For example:
In the church scene when Aerith hands the materia to Cloud she says “Here, take this. This isn’t about me anymore. It’s about saving the world…and you.” She makes it all about Cloud again. And whenever someone says “this isn’t about me” it always makes them sound like it actually is about them lol
In Japanese it apparently translated to: “Take this, with it you can save the world.”
For example:
In the church scene when Aerith hands the materia to Cloud she says “Here, take this. This isn’t about me anymore. It’s about saving the world…and you.” She makes it all about Cloud again. And whenever someone says “this isn’t about me” it always makes them sound like it actually is about them lol
In Japanese it apparently translated to: “Take this, with it you can save the world.”