Those 2 characters being in the roles they are make this whole thing abundantly clear, yet people somehow ignore it. I just don't get what they expect for these 2 characters otherwise.
Something I never got was how Cleriths think that when Aerith/Tifa were split into two characters that it was a completely uneven split of roles in the narrative, that one heroine got SO much more than the other when that is just ludicrous to believe. I doubt the devs split them into two characters to make it 95:5, because going with the Clerith view of Final Fantasy 7:
Aerith is:
-The last of her kind, descendant of the Ancients.
-The kind of girl who, even though you've been pining for a woman your whole life, and you vowed to become a "special existence" to her, you fall out of love with said woman in favor of Aerith in only a matter of days.
-Mother/guardian of the planet
-The main heroine of Final Fantasy 7, Tifa is not important at all, and in fact could be removed from the story and nothing would change.
-The person who is soulmates with the main character, because even in death Cloud's love for her never falters, and that she lives on in his heart romantically forever, and that he lives the rest of his life miserably raising children with Tifa, putting up a nice guy facade because he can't break the news to Tifa that he loves another, only awaiting death so he can reunite with Aerith. (Great message to send to a target demographic of teenagers btw!)
-The kind of girl who can see everyones true colours, and has the emotional intelligence to instantly click with anyone and everyone.
-Just an all-around flawless person, much better than that whore who was only made to please men.
and Tifa is:
-A character made solely for fanservice, made only for men to gawk at.
-Just a bartender who knows martial arts who, alongside her group of friends, purposefully mentally scarred Cloud as a child, and continues to pull him deeper into the depths of depression during the rest of the compilation with her all of her lying, obliviousness, jealousy, and clinginess. She doesn't understand Cloud or his feelings at all, not in the slightest. Tifa could never be there for him in the way that Aerith could.
-The only person who could save Cloud from his mental anguish (only as friends, of course, not because Cloud would only come out of his head after Tifa, the woman who he vowed to become a "special existence" to, accepts him for who he is, no, only because she grew up with him, no other reason. It's not like Tifa's role is to be the heroine of the sub-plot in bittersweet irony because Cloud wanted to be loved and accepted by her, right?)
-Projected her desire to have a hero save her onto Cloud, and never matured past that immature fantasy made by a 13 year old.
After typing this it definitely feels like venting/ranting, and due to that I've probably left stuff out that I can't think of at the minute (both good and bad attributes given to each character by Cleriths), but I'm just so tired of people seeing the story this way! That Aerith is the only character who ever mattered in the story besides Cloud and Sephiroth, that Tifa isn't more important to making Final Fantasy 7 a gripping emotional tale than Aerith is. Sure, Aerith and her death is impactful, and represents the games themes aswell, but it's only because Tifa exists in the narrative that Cloud can represent most of the emotional conflict found in the game, because if your main character is some bland hero in a fairytale romance, you might as well give up on making it a good story before you even start writing it.
The belief that the developers split the two characters only to spit in the face of Tifa, despite them claiming she is a heroine in the game, is simply not a viable view of this game, its characters, or of the developers who made them in the first place.
Again, really sorry for the rant and or any inaccuracies I made.
Heya Eveyrone!
I've recently finished Rebirth, and now I'm at the stage of desperately needing to talk about the game, so hopefully I've come to the right place. :-)
I don't know if it's my place to say this since I've only been here for about a week, but welcome back!