Then I don't know how you square Zack walking away alive with an encounter we know for a fact he should've died in.
The way I see it right now, defeating the Whispers in the present caused the events of the past to change. At this point, we don’t know how Zack’s survival may have altered the events of Cloud’s story thus far because we still don’t know the exact events taking place between Zack bringing Cloud to Midgar and Cloud being hired by Avalanche other than what was already shown in the OG. Hypothetically, if something else were to happen to Zack on the way to Midgar and he ends up separated from Cloud anyways, the events of the first game could still play out the same way.
That Stamp bag of chips is specifically stated not to match the Stamp that exists in Cloud's world. And there are now two Cloud's existing separately in that time and space. How else does Zack walk by Cloud wielding the Buster Sword, yet they don't see each other or occupy the same exact area? They cannot because as stated explicitly there
it would be a contradiction. A paradox. But Zack did survive and he has an unconscious Cloud, which does not work with a Cloud who inherited the Buster Sword from a dead man.
Assuming what’s being stated is not lost in translation, I think there’s a couple of things to look out for. For one, the statement about Stamp simply points out the change in design, not that one Stamp exists in one world and that the other exists in a different world. At this point, we don’t know what the specifics are and it’s clear that we won’t know until at least the next game (maybe). As of now I think it’s possible that we haven’t shifted to another world entirely, but that we’ve merely rewritten the events of
this world.
Case in point, Cloud. The text describes two Clouds because that’s visually what’s being presented to the player. We don’t know if there are literally two Clouds that exist because the statement about “assuming that they should not exist in the same time and space” would also make sense if we were describing one Cloud at two different points in his life. Remember, Zack bringing Cloud to Midgar did not occur at the same time Cloud and the gang left, that took place weeks/months prior.
Based on that, I think the reason Zack walks by Cloud with the Buster Sword is that he didn’t literally do that, but it’s a visual cue to let us know something in the past has changed. So when they ask “how is it possible that two Clouds exist at the same time?” my response is maybe it’s not two Clouds, it’s one Cloud who we’re witnessing leave Midgar in the present, superimposed with a flashback of a newly rewritten history where Zack brings Cloud to Midgar.
Of course, I could be completely wrong but I’m trying to imagine a scenario that doesn’t turn the story into
Final Fantasy VII: Into the Cloudo-Verse. For all we know, it’s all a Jenova illusion anyways.
