LTD, round 3: This time, we settle it with Jello Wrestling

[null]

IIRC Vincent and Yuffie weren't originally supposed to be playable, but were made so at the last minute.

So it's gonna be Vendel and I?
OK, FUCKERS, LET'S GO!

Aerith was never really an option

Oh, I think we can settle this on the football field.

 

[Madame Mayor]

That's another way I've looked at it too.

 

[Tennyo]

IIRC Vincent and Yuffie weren't originally supposed to be playable, but were made so at the last minute

From what I understand, Yuffie was created and had been decided upon being an optional character before Tifa was created. Do tell me if it says otherwise somewhere but I remember reading somethere where Nomura was talking about how they created Tifa because the realized once Aerith kicks the bucket the only other girl on the cast was an optional character, and they didn't want that.

 

[null]

I have no idea. You'd have to ask hito or someone else who knows the ancient lore. My head is filled up with Mass Effect shit right now (obviously).

 

[Vendel]

The only thing that could be said to be ambiguous about the LTD is if Cloud ended up with Tifa during the game or afterwords. He could never have ended up with Aertih. Ever.

At the end of the game Cloud has 3 possible outcomes with his affections.

1. He loved Aerith and was destined to be alone. Or just kill himself out of sheer need to be with her. Even though he was a headcase while she was alive he fell hard anyways. Red herring be damned.

2. Cloud loved neither girl. And went off to have gay sex somewhere.

3. Cloud loves Tifa. The woman who he had it bad for most of his life. Minus some Mako/jenova induced craziness. The woman who helped him piece back together his mind. The one who he spends his last night on earth with.

Now which seems most likely? Only with the compilation do we get the silly notions of spirit sex and the like.

Like I said earlier. Aerith was never a love interest of the real Cloud. Only Tifa was.

 

[OneWingedDemon]

I think the Lifestream sequence is enough in itself, tbh, but even if the staff wanted the LA version to be the alternative for those who chose Aeris over Tifa, then I don't understand why the outcomes are practically the same. Cloud and Tifa spend a night under the ship after letting us (and each other) know that they have only each other left no matter which version. Tifa's reaction the next morning is still the same. Still asking Cloud for more time and resting her head on his shoulder (the man who just lost his lover and who clearly does not return her affections). Then they are teased. And she's STILL embarrassed. If Cloud and Tifa shared nothign romantic under that ship why is it embarrassing? Just friends, right? Just platonic best buddies reaffirming their very platonic feelings for each other, because Cloud liked the skewered one. Not to mention the insensitivity of ze rest of the team, assuming we're operating under the assumption that Cloud had the hots for Aeris.

Taking place right after ze Lifestream sequence, I don't think it can be viewed as a reflection of the player choosing Aeris. Don't get me wrong, I think the LA version is there to reflect player choice, but it's only a toned down version of the HA. For those who perhaps didn't use her as much. They may not be all "let's fuck right now", but it is still an intimate moment that judging by what transpired before and their reaction after, cannot be viewed as anything OTHER than romantic. The game doesn't really hand over that much control to you. Also, how does Cloud saying he's happy to know Tifa loves him make sense if we assume LA version = no romance?

Hence the "WTF WERE YOU ASSFUCKS LISTENING?"

 

[Isabella]

Not arguing he could have ended up with Aerith. That's just shipping nonsense.

My only point is that the game let you choose whether he ended up with Tifa or not, just like it let you choose whether humanity survived or not. Then the compilation decided for you.

 

[OneWingedDemon]

I think that since the game confirms they both have feelings for each other, the logical assumption would be that Cee & Tee hook up, assuming the world survives.
Unless they were just like..

I love you
Ja, me too
....
......
.......
K, c ya

 

[Lily Ella]

@ Nomura being cagey: I thought that he seemed ok with it all, until he started getting death threats and the like. Dismantled (Dismantling? I don't remember what it's called), memorial book thingie have always been on the pro-cloti side, haven't they? Or maybe they weren't. Maybe I'm making shit up or assuming things. Anyway, since the good ol' days of "Let's kill Nomura," he finally grew a pair, and isn't afraid of getting lynched by otakus anymore.

@ low affection scene, and why it's there: for the hell of it. It was there for the hell of it. Like Joss Whedon once said about the cheese man, some things don't have an explanation or a ~deep~ reason.

Also, the final FMV doesn't change, no matter which HW scene you get. You still get the two holding each other / hanging off of a ledge, and the two still seem to stay joined-at-the-hip no matter what.

Also x 2, in one of the interviews, didn't the 3Ns say that they had an answer for everything, but just decided to let fans "think for themselves" or some baloney? So, there is a ~true canon~, if you want to call it that... but if you want to think it a different way, go ahead. No skin off of their noses.

 

[null]

I think that since the game confirms they both have feelings for each other, the logical assumption would be that Cee & Tee hook up, assuming the world survives.
Unless they were just like..

I love you
Ja, me too
....
......
.......
K, c ya

What kind of question is that? I've never thought about it. Honestly, I don't care who loves whom. I think you could imagine the scenerios that we don't mention however you want to. You could enjoy talking about that with friends. For example, I was frequently asked if there had been romantic relationship between Tifa and Cloud for two years, after FF7 ended, but I don't have any clue.

 

[OneWingedDemon]

Really, the only difference between the low/high versions = whether something PHYSICAL happened, versus something mostly VERBAL, imo.

EDIT: Don't you shifty-eye me.
Nomura saying you can choose your fantasy in no way invalidates the fact that Cloud very clearly says he is delighted to hear that Tifa loves him, or that they sleep together, or that the rest get to WATCH/HEAR everything.
So, did Cloud and Tifa get together and become an item after the game ended? Maybe not. What we do know is that Cloud loved Tifa and vice versa. The game proves this. The logical assumption would be that yes, they do. If you wanna dream that Cloud lets the audience know he loves Tifa, then changes his mind after the fade-out to go "hmmm....actually that pink one had a better ass", then Nomura doesn't give a shit. He's not gonna tell you what happened AFTER the game ended.

 

[Winter]

I don't give a shit.

fixed that for you.

 

[Lily Ella]

Nomura, at that point, either didn't have an answer, or was still being a pussy (i'm going with the latter). However, what of Kitase, Nojima, the other screenwriters, and the rest? What did they think? Yes, I know that Nomura is the main-main person behind FFVII, but he certainly wasn't the only main person behind FFVII.

 

[Loxetta]

Wasn't Nomura just a character designer in the original game, and didn't have a ton of bearing on how things turned out?

 

[Winter]

No, he did have some say in the story.

But at this point analyzing Nomura's words to death just isn't worth it, he's made it clear that in his mind the LTD has no conclusion. It never struck me as the sort of thing that really weighed on his mind much anyways.

Lily Ella is right, there are a lot of other people who had a huge hand in the creation and writing of various aspects of FFVII/the Compilation.

besides, Nomura is too busy drawing belts and zippers and improving his beautiful all-male leather wearing casts.

 

[null]

Wasn't Nomura just a character designer in the original game, and didn't have a ton of bearing on how things turned out?

Probably, but all the quote says is that he doesn't know how it turned out. At least not immediately following the game. And it's kind of silly to deflect that question if there's a straight answer to it.

Jem: if we had relevant quotes from anyone else, they'd have been discussed to a pulp years ago. You know that.

 

[null]

besides, Nomura is too busy drawing belts and zippers and improving his beautiful all-male leather wearing casts.

Ain't that the truth.

 

[OneWingedDemon]

I always thought he meant, "I ain't giving you an epilogue, bitches", ala JK Rowling style. We all know how shitty that turned out

 

[Loxetta]

@ LikeVines et all: So even if he was involved, he's still not the be-all-end-all and people are dumb to think so.

It could also be that, if the interview is old enough, he probably didn't know the rest of the story because they just hadn't come up with it yet.

besides, Nomura is too busy drawing belts and zippers and improving his beautiful all-male leather wearing casts.

I always said that if I were to be character designer for a new FF7 game, Cloud would be so anti-zipper that he'd even have button-fly jeans.

 

[Madame Mayor]

Wasn't that quote out before AC but after AC was announced? I thought it was more "I'm not going to spoil what we have planned. Maybe Cloud and Tifa are together, or maybe something else has happened and you'll just have to see."

 

[Lily Ella]

It never struck me as the sort of thing that really weighed on his mind much anyways.

Yeah, but some (not any of us here, but... erm, elsewhere) seem to think that the LT is teh most importantest thing in FFVII. I never thought that Nomura cared too much about the LT. Nojima seeems to have more of an opinion on it than Nomura does. Possible reasons for why he danced around the subject / for why he was being so-called ~vague~:

1-otakus (they can be pretty scary),

2-he was getting sick of getting asked such an inane question ("what? this again? oi. wtf is wrong with these peeps"), or

3-because he thought that he was being really clever and funny ("hee-hee~ look at me! i so funny, and i like getting attentionz").

I am going with the #2 and #3.

 

[Madame Mayor]

Though also remember that quote is initially about Sephiroth shippers who are getting on his nerves. Maybe it's meant to be more "You want to know who Sephy's in love with from me? Gezz you guys, I don't even know what's up with the actual couple of that game." XP

 

[null]

He's in love with Summoner Yuna. Duh. Everyone knows that.

Wait, maybe I have it backwards...

 

[Lily Ella]

He's in love with Summoner Yuna.

No, no, no. Sephiroth is already married. I forget her name, but what I remember is that she's not Summoner Yuna, and that she married him on the Ass-tral Plane. I remember her saying that she gets very upset and angry when those other wenches claim that Sephiroth is in love with them.

 

[null]

Uh, you mean Mrs. Sephiroth?