The Love Triangle Debate thread of KNEEL BEFORE ZOD OR SUFFER HIS WRATH (ignore the opening posts at your peril) (Round 6)

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Dashell

SMILE!
AKA
Sonique, Quexinos, Pinkie Pie, Derpy Hooves
That's too short for a genuine romance.
See now, I disagree very much here. I think it IS possible given, for example, Zack and Aerith who pretty much fell in love right away. I believe the creators even said it was like falling into a sudden crush. And Yuna didn't know Tidus that long before something began to happen between them. Why can't the same be true for Cloud and Aerith? I don't think Clerith is canon by any means obviously, but I don't think the "time" argument is really a good one to use given how often we see love at first sight in these kinds of things.


Okay, Ryu, Tres, Celes and the others:
COME AT ME BRO :awesome:
 

Elisa Maza

Whomst
Yeah, posting from phone again, since my laptop is for fixing.

An observation here: all those couples had pretty much meaningful ROMANTIC interaction with each other and a mutual interest towards each other.

Where did Cloud and Aerith have that in disk 1 exactly and I missed that? Aerith wanted to have with Cloud what she had with Zack until Gongaga, where she was forced to face reality and Cloud was "I'M A CHASE SEPHIROTH!" the whole time. Tidus and Yuna, despite their mission had more impactful scenes. Same goes about other couples that fell in love in a short time (or just a heavily edited sequence ala "strangers like me" - sue me I'm in a Tarzan mode :monster: )
 

Danseru-kun

Pro Adventurer
See now, I disagree very much here. I think it IS possible given, for example, Zack and Aerith who pretty much fell in love right away. I believe the creators even said it was like falling into a sudden crush. And Yuna didn't know Tidus that long before something began to happen between them. Why can't the same be true for Cloud and Aerith? I don't think Clerith is canon by any means obviously, but I don't think the "time" argument is really a good one to use given how often we see love at first sight in these kinds of things.

This:
An observation here: all those couples had pretty much meaningful ROMANTIC interaction with each other and a mutual interest towards each other.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe there's a quote that says that Cloud was oblivious to the feelings of anyone he dated with. (Again, correct me if I'm wrong.) So I think ZaCloud has no romantic interest with anyone. Yeah, the time argument might be weak in itself but we have to consider Cloud's mental condition and mutual interest.

Tidus and Yuna's case are different. Yuna is a girl who's shouldering a huge burden and it was really heavy for a 17 year old. Yuna's sacrificial attitude caused Tidus to support her, and his care for her grew until he himself is willing to sacrifice his life for her. Also, Tidus, being an outsider who knows nothing about Spira's issues provided Yuna a sense of escape from the pressures of her duty. Though it was short, Tidus and Yuna's emotional connection is very mutual.

In the Clerith case, they did not have that kind of connection. A deep connection yes, not it's not necessary emotional. Cloud have little idea on the pain Aerith carries after losing Zack, and even if he did, he never "comforted" her like what Tidus did to Yuna. Aerith on the other hand knows nothing about Cloud's past except saying that he's different from Zack.

Yeah it boils down again to the question; Did Aerith get to know the real Cloud? I don't want to discuss that since I'm no expert.
 

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
This:


Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe there's a quote that says that Cloud was oblivious to the feelings of anyone he dated with. (Again, correct me if I'm wrong.) So I think ZaCloud has no romantic interest with anyone. Yeah, the time argument might be weak in itself but we have to consider Cloud's mental condition and mutual interest.

Tidus and Yuna's case are different. Yuna is a girl who's shouldering a huge burden and it was really heavy for a 17 year old. Yuna's sacrificial attitude caused Tidus to support her, and his care for her grew until he himself is willing to sacrifice his life for her. Also, Tidus, being an outsider who knows nothing about Spira's issues provided Yuna a sense of escape from the pressures of her duty. Though it was short, Tidus and Yuna's emotional connection is very mutual.

In the Clerith case, they did not have that kind of connection. A deep connection yes, not it's not necessary emotional. Cloud have little idea on the pain Aerith carries after losing Zack, and even if he did, he never "comforted" her like what Tidus did to Yuna. Aerith on the other hand knows nothing about Cloud's past except saying that he's different from Zack.

Yeah it boils down again to the question; Did Aerith get to know the real Cloud? I don't want to discuss that since I'm no expert.

You're correct in that Cloud remained unaware/oblivious of the feelings of whoever he went on the Gold Saucer date with (and that there are quotes pertaining to it). As for whether Aerith got to know the real Cloud? I'd say aside from Tifa and Zack, she got closer than anyone else in the party did before she died.
 
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Celes Chere

Banned
AKA
Noctis
Okay, Ryu, Tres, Celes and the others:

Hey, I said it wasn't the time frame I disagreed with, just the back peddling and that raising a family and living together/starting a new life together is far more romantic than the events that happened during the two weeks Cloud had known Aerith. :monster: I think it is possible to love someone after two weeks. But that's not the point, point is the events that took place, and none of them seemed as romantic (if romantic at all) as what Cloud and Tifa shared.
 

Guts

The Black Swordsman
AKA
Aithex, Atom
I thought you meant the Rose and Jack of MGS2, who were named for those two. An ironic reminder, because MGS2 purposely censored Meryl's conclusion from the narrative as a way to obey the outcome of any MGS1 playthrough, then later on determined her canonical status when the story called her back into business.

I think, left alone, Cloud is more interesting purely because he funnels and conducts the player's immersion. When I got pissed off and trolled in defense over this earlier it isn't as I like Clerith, but Cloud being so skullfucked and having many choices I think makes him fit like a glove for any player.

Here's a good find - http://www.gamecritics.com/nerd-heroes

Scroll to FFVII. That dude or dudette's writings on this help explain why I think he works so well as a player proxy.

Edit: And huh, it's conspicuously CloTi, as in the writer passingly mentions that as the obvious pairing.

Final Fantasy VII proposes a vision of the nerd hero born of self-absorption, fear, and personal delusion. It introduces Cloud as it might a typical RPG protagonist, as a tough and confident male who seems well suited to win the girl and save the world. However, it then begins slowly peeling back layers of his psyche until he is revealed to be nothing more than an angst-ridden adolescent. People who think Cloud's flirting with Aeris in the first half of the game is in any way indication of his prowess as a desirable man have been taken in by a clever trick. It is eventually revealed that Cloud is only pretending to be a man Aeris used to be in love with, and that her attraction to him is based solely on this superficiality. Likewise, it proves Cloud's self-absorption and personal delusionment: He actually has convinced himself he is this man, and considers himself a capable hero because of the fact. Later, when this illusion is threatened it results in Cloud's total emotional collapse, catatonia, and regression into a childlike state within his own mind, which the other female lead, Tifa, then has to single-handedly untangle. She is actually the person who is attracted to him for who he is and not who he is pretending to be, and when she discovers the genesis of his delusion was his embarrassment at not being able to impress her by being a "hero," it reveals a pivotal irony that says as much about gaming archetypes as it does about double-standards of masculinity the (presumably male) players face in the everyday world. Cloud is clearly meant as a metaphor for the player in that he himself is "role-playing" a fantasy hero. So what happens when the fantasy hero you are role-playing for escapism is revealed to be escaping himself, and you realize youve been playing a role of someone playing a role? Final Fantasy VII squarely asks its players this question, and the answer is in the cathartic daydream of the nerd hero, the modern compromise between fact and fiction. Final Fantasy VII seeks only to do what its more modest anime counterparts have been doing for years: tailor a new, more recognizable fiction to fit its ever-changing audience.
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Hey, I said it wasn't the time frame I disagreed with, just the back peddling and that raising a family and living together/starting a new life together is far more romantic than the events that happened during the two weeks Cloud had known Aerith. :monster: I think it is possible to love someone after two weeks. But that's not the point, point is the events that took place, and none of them seemed as romantic (if romantic at all) as what Cloud and Tifa shared.

I also am not one who disagrees about the timeframe. FFVIII fan over here, after all. Earlier in the thread, I was the one who pointed out that the first disc of that game spanned, at most, 72 hours -- by the end of which Rinoa had fallen for Squall (when he saved her from the Iguions, and told her to stay close to him).
 

Guts

The Black Swordsman
AKA
Aithex, Atom
If you confess yourself as an FFVIII fan then what do you think of Squall? I feel he solely holds the game back and his rotten, hollow personality catalyzed nothing necessary for a good conclusion throughout the whole script.
 

Ryushikaze

Deus Admiral Parsimonious, PHD, DDS, MD, JD, OBE
AKA
Tim, Ryu
I also am not one who disagrees about the timeframe. FFVIII fan over here, after all. Earlier in the thread, I was the one who pointed out that the first disc of that game spanned, at most, 72 hours -- by the end of which Rinoa had fallen for Squall (when he saved her from the Iguions, and told her to stay close to him).

Interesting distinction here- fallen for vs 'love.' Not to say that Rinoa couldn't love Squall at that point for being her big damn hero, but it does make one wonder as to the nature and depth of the love.
Certainly, it was a much less fleshed out love than the love she had only a short time later after getting to know him better.
And for me, that's part of the issue in 7. Not the lack of time, but the lack of the right kind of time, the right kind of getting to know people better, and most importantly, the lack of things that are definitively romantic.

If you confess yourself as an FFVIII fan then what do you think of Squall? I feel he solely holds the game back and his rotten, hollow personality catalyzed nothing necessary for a good conclusion throughout the whole script.

Squall's rotten personality is entirely necessary for the script, for his having abandonment issues, and his refusing to form personal connections from a fear of being left once again.
Does that mean Squall's not a giant flaming asshat at the start? HELL NO. He's totally one.
But he does get better.
 

Guts

The Black Swordsman
AKA
Aithex, Atom
It's more that his rotten personality wasn't interesting and did nothing to further the plot. There's nothing... Cool about him. He's like Shinji but not nearly as hilarious.
 

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
I thought you meant the Rose and Jack of MGS2, who were named for those two. An ironic reminder, because MGS2 purposely censored Meryl's conclusion from the narrative as a way to obey the outcome of any MGS1 playthrough, then later on determined her canonical status when the story called her back into business.

I think, left alone, Cloud is more interesting purely because he funnels and conducts the player's immersion. When I got pissed off and trolled in defense over this earlier it isn't as I like Clerith, but Cloud being so skullfucked and having many choices I think makes him fit like a glove for any player.

Here's a good find - http://www.gamecritics.com/nerd-heroes

Scroll to FFVII. That dude or dudette's writings on this help explain why I think he works so well as a player proxy.

Edit: And huh, it's conspicuously CloTi, as in the writer passingly mentions that as the obvious pairing.

Hmmm, the degree of player control/immersion into the main character is a topic that has always interested me. Was not one of the criticisms/fan divisions of FFXIII was that the narrative was too linear for some, even though SE purposely made it more linear than usual?
 

Guts

The Black Swordsman
AKA
Aithex, Atom
It's that, but FFXIII also lacks many staples of what people enjoy about FF. I think people enjoy being immersed, feeling as part of the story as opposed to a bystander. A JRPG style story is totally fine, but when you're constantly shifting between leaders in a world you can't explore... Yeah you're sharp, if you're bringing up XIII out of the blue I take it that I described something about FF you liked a lot that XIII removed entirely?

Also, as an edited in aside, Squall was a contrast as I've mentioned before. You got to see what he was thinking, and he had a more defined and less indecisive character. I feel that might have unconsciously disassociated players from having fun, as Squall was not only King Prickingston III but left no room to reimagine him or pretend he didn't exist.

I also think Lightning as the face of XIII in Cloud's image would've worked excellently, assuming there was as much exploration as there at least typically is in FF. Yeah, even among straight guys. I have reasoning. Mostly, people project themselves into exotic, epic based story games and FF especially as a prolonged escape from reality. A female might have all but left a thin string dangling between the player's body and their absorbed mind, separated entirely from their physical existence while they play. I'm ashamed you never got to play as her like that.

She even had some identity issues. Shame that.
 
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Z

Zealkin

Guest
Just a general question, why can't characters make accurate observations about others again?
 

I Am Not Me

The Mean Clack
AKA
Mei, Koibito, Stalker, Little Dude, Nami
I know I'm late for the party, but this affection points discussion confuses me a bit.

It seems that to me and from what I understand from the affection points guide: The affection points measure how Tifa/Barret/Aerith/Yuffie feel TOWARDS Cloud.

But I noticed that Anastar talks about it as though it measures CLOUD'S feelings towards Tifa/Barret/Aerith/Yuffie.

If Cloud talks twice to Jessie, then he's starting to get interested in a relationship with Jessie, so it's -3 Tifa. That's a very good example of how Cloud's actions suggest how he feels toward Tifa. If he's getting interested in a relationship with Jessie, then he's less likely to be interested in a relationship with Tifa. So, Tifa gets -3 points to her affection level.

I think it's illogical for this to be so, because the system determines who comes TO Cloud during the date scene. It means the affection points system is a measure of who likes Cloud the most amongst everyone. That's why if you're mean to Aerith/Tifa, they lose affection points. Or if you bring them to the party a lot, they gain affection points. Basically, dating sim-wise, this is you (Cloud) being measured by your chosen romantic prospect (Barret) based on your actions towards them/various situations.

Again, the affection points doesn't measure how CLOUD feels for his dating prospects, but how THEY feel for him. That's why you have to do some work if you want Yuffie or Barret TO TAKE CLOUD on the Gold Saucer date--it's not that Cloud doesn't like them, it's just that they don't feel about Cloud that way, Cloud has to MAKE THEM feel that way.

So even if Cloud talks to Jessie 100+ times, it doesn't mean he's interested in having a relationship with Jessie, he's just talking to her. Tifa gets -3 affection points because she gets jealous. Easy as pie.

This is greatly supported by the fact that Aerith and Tifa have the most affection points out of the four at the beginning--they both like Cloud. As the Ultimania says (cba to quote, sorry), Cloud was none-the-wiser to how either girl felt. This would mean that through-out disc one, he didn't give a peeled banana on who liked him.

TL;DR: Affection Points affect who pushes you out of the room for the Gold Saucer date, not who Cloud asks out. :monster:

PS: Hello, LTD. :reptar:
 

Master Bates

Do you enjoy your life?
AKA
Mr. Koiwai
Okay I can't read Japanese perfectly but... I recently looked for LTD stuff in Japan and I couldn't find anything current. The most current was when CoLW came out and there was a topic with like 500 replies with like maybe at most 10 Clerith posts and most of the rest were Clotis. They were even discussing the meaning of koibito XD Someone was also angry at Nojima for saying "Cloud is Aerith's koibito" because it screwed up their view of the LTD :monster:

When I looked up the phrase "Cloti is official" I got a lot of people saying it without saying why ("Since Cloti is canon" "We know Cloti is canon" etc..., others used koibito and others used the "feelings" quote and one even used the FTOIL page. When I looked up "Clerith is official" some of the responses had a negative afterward (so it was saying Clerith is NOT official) some of them were saying "IF Clerith is official" and a few people used CoLW to say it was official. But honestly, I don't know if I"m the best person to ask on the matter, but that's what I noticed. I plan to do more research on this later, but safe to say, it's pretty dead in Japan. Even more so than here.

Nah, I trust your judgment Q. So we're all beating a dead horse, apparently. :awesome:

And why are we discussing Squall again? :huh: Hello, Mei~
 

Ryushikaze

Deus Admiral Parsimonious, PHD, DDS, MD, JD, OBE
AKA
Tim, Ryu
I know I'm late for the party, but this affection points discussion confuses me a bit.

It seems that to me and from what I understand from the affection points guide: The affection points measure how Tifa/Barret/Aerith/Yuffie feel TOWARDS Cloud.

But I noticed that Anastar talks about it as though it measures CLOUD'S feelings towards Tifa/Barret/Aerith/Yuffie.



I think it's illogical for this to be so, because the system determines who comes TO Cloud during the date scene. It means the affection points system is a measure of who likes Cloud the most amongst everyone. That's why if you're mean to Aerith/Tifa, they lose affection points. Or if you bring them to the party a lot, they gain affection points. Basically, dating sim-wise, this is you (Cloud) being measured by your chosen romantic prospect (Barret) based on your actions towards them/various situations.

Again, the affection points doesn't measure how CLOUD feels for his dating prospects, but how THEY feel for him. That's why you have to do some work if you want Yuffie or Barret TO TAKE CLOUD on the Gold Saucer date--it's not that Cloud doesn't like them, it's just that they don't feel about Cloud that way, Cloud has to MAKE THEM feel that way.

So even if Cloud talks to Jessie 100+ times, it doesn't mean he's interested in having a relationship with Jessie, he's just talking to her. Tifa gets -3 affection points because she gets jealous. Easy as pie.

It's worse than that. Tifa's nowhere near either of them when this conversation happens and Cloud gets the chance to say 'He's looking forward to it' so it's not even jealousy. It's PSYCHIC jealousy.
She gets peeved about shit she's not even there for.
Barret likes Cloud more for shit he'll never hear.

This is greatly supported by the fact that Aerith and Tifa have the most affection points out of the four at the beginning--they both like Cloud. As the Ultimania says (cba to quote, sorry), Cloud was none-the-wiser to how either girl felt. This would mean that through-out disc one, he didn't give a peeled banana on who liked him.

TL;DR: Affection Points affect who pushes you out of the room for the Gold Saucer date, not who Cloud asks out. :monster:

This is quite true.
It also determines which Highwind scene is scene in a given playthrough, but through a different mechanism than the date scene.

PS: Hello, LTD. :reptar:

Hey there, Shortstack. Welcome back. Been studying hard and applying yourself in school?
 

I Am Not Me

The Mean Clack
AKA
Mei, Koibito, Stalker, Little Dude, Nami
It's worse than that. Tifa's nowhere near either of them when this conversation happens and Cloud gets the chance to say 'He's looking forward to it' so it's not even jealousy. It's PSYCHIC jealousy.
She gets peeved about shit she's not even there for.
Barret likes Cloud more for shit he'll never hear.

Well, Tifa is a huge creeper anyway, so psychic jealousy is just normal for her. :monster:

Same goes with Yuffie, really. And it's even scarier. She may not have even joined the troop and she's already gaining and losing affection points toward Cloud. Since she's optional, she might never have been in the party at all.

If the affection points system is Cloud -> Yuffie, then this would mean Cloud became interested in Yuffie before he even meets her. It's psychic attraction, baby. :awesome:

This is quite true.
It also determines which Highwind scene is scene in a given playthrough, but through a different mechanism than the date scene.

:monster:

Hey there, Shortstack. Welcome back. Been studying hard and applying yourself in school?

I'm an honor student, father dearest. :monster: Not being online a lot helps with studies, for sure. :awesome:

I HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE :reptar: trophy wife
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
Interesting distinction here- fallen for vs 'love.' Not to say that Rinoa couldn't love Squall at that point for being her big damn hero, but it does make one wonder as to the nature and depth of the love.
Certainly, it was a much less fleshed out love than the love she had only a short time later after getting to know him better.

Of course it was. The fact remains, though, that she loved him within three days.

Unfortunately, we can't be sure quite how long it took him to return her affections, as Disc 2 could have lasted anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Ryu said:
And for me, that's part of the issue in 7. Not the lack of time, but the lack of the right kind of time, the right kind of getting to know people better, and most importantly, the lack of things that are definitively romantic.

I'm not so sure about that. While AVALANCHE didn't get quite the same amount and same kind of downtime that Yuna and her guardians did, they still had a lot of narratively "cozy" moments in which we, the players, certainly got to know them very well and love them.

If we can build such strong connections to them in the relatively short amount of time we spent with them, what kind of bonds must they have forged?

If you confess yourself as an FFVIII fan then what do you think of Squall? I feel he solely holds the game back and his rotten, hollow personality catalyzed nothing necessary for a good conclusion throughout the whole script.

Yeah, Ryu pretty much answered this for me. The plot really becomes inexorably linked to Squall's development.

It's because his love for Rinoa changed him that everything after Disc 2 happens. That's the cause of going to Esthar, and then the space station. And, sure, while Ultimecia's connection to the past could have been severed by simply locking Rinoa away, how fair would that have been to him?

One of the things I like about Squall is that he isn't a hero and doesn't pretend to be. Everything he does for the second half of the game is motivated by the desire to have Rinoa back. He even risks the safety of the entire time continuum by freeing Rinoa and allowing Ultimecia to cast Time Compression.

That mission to go to the future wasn't necessary to stop Ulty. They could have stuck Rinoa in the Sorceress Memorial and been done with the matter. She was the last witch once Adel was killed, so Ulty would have had no further conduits to the past. But that wasn't good enough for Squall.

He came to life in a lot of ways because of Rinoa, only to fear that he's lost her. And what he does as a result of that realization basically says that, to him, a world without Rinoa wasn't a world worth existing.

I think his personality is what it is in part because he alone out of the party could have probably understood Ultimecia. Both of them were preoccupied with thoughts of how fleeting time was and the inevitability of loss. Both were frustrated with the notion that their fate was pre-ordained and that they were powerless to do anything about it. Both rejected allowing the world to go on without consideration for their own wishes.

Ultimecia casts Time Compression to change her foretold destiny and set herself above not only those who persecuted her for something she could not control, but above time itself -- that which is the greatest enemy of one who legend says will die. Squall allows her to cast the spell because it's the only way he can save Rinoa. With the casting of that spell, both declared their contempt for a world that was indifferent to their needs.

Added to the tragedy of Ulty sealing her fate by trying to change it is that these two enemies would have understood each other very well if they ever discussed things, and it still wouldn't have changed anything. Their needs were in conflict, and war between them inevitable.

Squall mentions early in the game that there aren't good and bad sides in war, just opposing sides with different views. That pretty much encapsulates what was going on with these two.

So, Cloud CAN love Tifa, according to the HA version - optionally. But, in the LA version, Cloud's still in love with Aerith - optionally.

Something else I meant to ask Anastar about her claims concerning the low affection Highwind scene when I replied last night:

How is it that a discussion in which Cloud talks about being in love with Aerith and Tifa tells him that she doesn't want anything with him as long as he is in love with Aerith not qualify as having "deep subject matter," as the "Deviation" from pg. 232 of the U20 Scenario says the high affection version has?

For that matter, any conversation about Cloud and Tifa's feelings for one another would have been deep subject matter.

That Deviation blurb is telling us that there wasn't deep subject matter discussed in the low affection version:

2 versions of the conversation before the final battle
Prior to the final battle, the contents of the conversation between Cloud and Tifa can change depending on the degree of Tifa's affection. If the degree of affection is high, the contents of the two's conversation will involve deep subject matter and strong feelings for each other. As well, the sight of the two seen by their companions the next morning will lead to an embarrassing scene for Tifa, and she blushes greatly.




And I still want to know how it makes sense for a scene described as ending "rather short" (pg. 198 of the FFVII UO) to have a longer conversation after the fade-to-black than the one prior to the fade. I've asked you this question before and not gotten an answer.
 

Master Bates

Do you enjoy your life?
AKA
Mr. Koiwai
Actually, I am more curious how the LA version somehow translates to Cloud is still in love with Aerith when the latter isn't even included nor mentioned in that scene. There wasn't even any reference to her so how does that make getting the LA scene means Cloud loving Aerith?

On the subject of immersion, yes I agree Cloud (among all FF protagonists, not that I played all FF games) is a very effective player proxy. When there wasn't still any compilation, he was a great character to theorize. The fact that we lack insight on his thoughts gives more room for speculation and I think it's interesting. But despite that, the illusion the player has of being Cloud, the illusion of controlling his emotions, was only limited on the first (and a half of the second) disc. Once the lifestream event happens, we can no longer control his feelings --- that he loves, still loves, and has always loved Tifa. Even if you got the LA HW version, his romantic feelings for her were there. And thus, the illusion of the player as the "hero" also ends just as Cloud's illusion of being one has ended.
 

Anastar

undercover Clerith evangelist
Sorry I didn't get to these last night, Tres. I was tied up with some other stuff.

Tres
(You were asking me some questions about the Date Mechanics)

Why does who accompanies you to Barret's fight with Dyne affect anything at all? In terms of the narrative, shouldn't everyone have gone along?
I think that one's rather obvious. Cloud picks the person he likes best to go with him. Once again, it's a matter of who Cloud likes - Cloud's actions towards those people affect their affection levels for him.

Given that Cloud's a SOLDIER (or thinks he is at that time), Cloud wants someone along who can back him up in combat. Remember that it's Cloud who picks who to go with he and Barret. I always pick Aerith to go, since I like mages - I like using Aerith in combat. (I would guess that a lot of people here pick Tifa to go - I usually don't.) So, that's me as Cloud showing a preference for Aerith. That not only increases Aerith's affection level for Cloud, but it also means that Cloud likes Aerith better than Tifa.

Why treat an inherently illogical, completely arbitrary game mechanic as related to the narrative?
Because it IS related to the narrative. The Date Mechanics determine who Cloud loves in the story. Who Cloud loves is up to player control. There is no canon love interest.

Anastar said:
Yes, it is neutral - because neither of them are giving a definite answer here. I interpreted what they said to fit the situation I had described. Neither creator ever said that my interpretation is correct. If they ever say that my interpretation is correct, then you can say they're not being neutral.
Well, we do agree that you're conforming their quotes to fit the scenario you described (those quotes had nothing to do with Tifa's romantic feelings for Cloud), but how does applying their quotes that way make your position neutral either?
Because I'm not saying that my interpretation is the only possible way to see it. I been saying all along that who Cloud loves is up to the interpretation of the player, which means that I think either interpretation is valid. That's neutral.

To me, the interpretation that Cloud loves Aerith makes much more sense. But if you want to think Cloud loves Tifa, go right ahead. What I object to is the idea that there is only one possible answer to the Love Triangle.

Anastar said:
Well, you're the one deciding that interpretation makes her weak. I never said it made her weak. If she's waiting around hoping that Cloud will get over Aerith someday, then it actually does make her strong. And it certainly doesn't make her clingy, either.
That's not really a subjective thing. That's objectively weak. And clingy.

Hell, if Tifa's creeping into Cloud's room in the middle of the night to ask him if he loves her, that's, like, stalker-level clingy. I mean, does this not come across as creepy and clingy?
That's how you see the scene. It could just as easily be that Cloud fell asleep on the sofa while reading the newspaper with the light on, and Tifa came into the room, looked at him, then whispered that. Quite different from what you described.

Besides, all I said about that scene was that Tifa hoping that Cloud's feelings would change would explain that scene:

So [Tifa] may be hoping that things change, and that Cloud will fall in love with her someday. When and IF Cloud falls in love with her someday, then she'd be willing to give a relationship with him a try. But not until that happens.

That would also explain why she asks if Cloud loves her in CoT. ~Anastar, Nov. 5

I was talking there about WHY Tifa asks Cloud if he loves her in CoT. She's wondering because Cloud never said he loved her during the HW scene, and Tifa's still hoping that Cloud will fall for her someday. That coincides with the LA version. I said something very different about Tifa being weak and/or clingy:

Well, you're the one deciding that interpretation makes her weak. I never said it made her weak. If she's waiting around hoping that Cloud will get over Aerith someday, then it actually does make her strong. And it certainly doesn't make her clingy, either. ~Anastar, Nov. 5

I said that the idea of Tifa waiting for Cloud to get over Aerith doesn't make her weak. If anything, it's very much the same as Tifa waiting around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER when he left Nibelheim. She wanted a hero, and Cloud was her best chance of finding one since he was going to try and join SOLDIER like Sephiroth. She watched the newspapers for an article about a SOLDIER who was a hero like Sephiroth.

That wasn't who Cloud was at the time. She wanted Cloud only if he became a hero. SE even said so:

In those days, Tifa didn't take much notice to Cloud. The reason why she said to him "To be saved by a hero" was only to satisfy her childish princess desire. ~Cloud's profile, FFVII Ultimania Omega

Even though Cloud was holding feelings for Tifa from some time ago, Tifa's interest in Cloud did not start until the time when the Promise was exchanged. It might have been her loneliness due to her surrounding friends leaving one after another, but more than that, it seems largely in part to him making the promise to become her hero. ~Cloud's profile, FFVII Ultimania Omega

If she can wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER and a hero, then it's in character for Tifa to wait around for Cloud to get over Aerith. It seems Tifa's always wanting Cloud to be something different than what he really is.

Anastar said:
Actually, yes, it does IF you can see how much emotional strength it takes to do that. I don't see it as weak.
It is weak, though. Strength is moving forward rather than choosing to stay in an emotionally self-destructive rut.
Then why did she wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER?

If you think that makes Tifa weak, then Cloud is weak for waiting around for Tifa to notice him in Nibelheim as a kid. That also makes Yuna weak in FFX-2. It also makes Vincent weak for continuing to love Lucrecia.

Anastar said:
Can you substantiate that the feelings from the Lifestream scene aren't current feelings with a quote from an Ultimania, FFVII movie, game or novel(la)?Yes - in fact, I already did. I'm talking about this quote that Quex brought up before, and I answered her about it:

Even though Cloud was holding feelings for Tifa from some time ago, Tifa's interest in Cloud did not start until the time when the promised was exchanged. It might have been her loneliness due to her surrounding friends leaving one after another, but more than that, it seems largely in part to him making the promise to become her hero.

By the way, Tifa did not realize that Cloud was holding feelings for her until he informed her in the Lifestream. Even though she was called and it was just the two of them, she can be quite clueless.

Okay, first of all... look at the last sentence:

Even though she was called and it was just the two of them, she can be quite clueless.

Tifa was called out to the well by Cloud. Tifa called out to Cloud at the beginning of the Lifestream event. He did not call out to Tifa. Therefore, the last sentence is talking about Tifa being clueless about Cloud's feelings at the well at the time of the Promise.

Now, the sentence before that:

By the way, Tifa did not realize that Cloud was holding feelings for her until he informed her in the Lifestream. Even though she was called and it was just the two of them, she can be quite clueless.

The last sentence says that Tifa was clueless about Cloud's feelings at the well at the time of the Promise. Therefore, the sentence before that is talking about Cloud informing her during the Lifestream event about his feelings for her at the well at the time of the Promise.
That last sentence only says that Tifa can be a bit clueless because she didn't put two and two together.
Then why insert a phrase of thirteen words that clearly refers to the Promise if it has no basis? "Even though she was called and it was just the two of them" makes it clear that this is about the Promise because she wasn't called at the time of the Lifestream event.

The first sentence says Cloud has been holding feelings for her from long ago until now: クラウドが前からティファに好意を抱いていたのに --

クラウド = Cloud
が (ga; identifies subject, or person performing action)
前 (mae; "before")
から (kara; "since")
ティファ = Tifa
に (ni; "toward" or "for")
好意 (koui; "favor")
を (wo; direct object identifier)
抱いていたのに (daiteita; past progressive form of "to hold" or "to embrace"; more on this below)
のに (noni; "even though")

"Even though Cloud has been holding favor/feelings for Tifa since before/the past/some time ago ..."

Alright, so more about "daiteita": as said above, the "iteita" portion means that this is past progressive. In other words, that which is being held or embraced still is being held or embraced. It's an ongoing tense, as in the title of the manga "Haru wo Daiteita" (it was localized into English with the title "Embracing Love," but it actually means "Embracing Springtime"):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embracing_Love
But what feelings did they talk about during the Lifestream event? They didn't talk about how Cloud currently feels for Tifa. They talked about Cloud's past crush on Tifa as a kid, how he used to look up at her window from outside, how he wanted her to notice him, and how he decided to join SOLDIER to get her to notice him. None of that is about how Cloud currently feels about Tifa today - it's all about his crush on her when he was a kid.

Anastar said:
Now, Lifestream Cloud says that Current Cloud will PROBABLY be happy to know the Tifa looked for pictures of him in the newspapers. If this statement is supposed to mean that current Cloud is in love with Tifa, then why does it say probably?
It doesn't say "probably" there, though; it actually says "kitto" (きっと), which means "undoubtedly," "surely" and "certainly." Here's the line in Japanese, starting at "Thanks, Tifa":

「ありがとう、ティファ♯。後で、こいつに言ってやって。きっと喜ぶよ」

Sony's English localization: "Thanks, Tifa. Tell him what you told me, later. He'll probably be so happy."

A more accurate translation of the line: "Thanks, Tifa. Later, tell him. He'll be delighted for sure."
I realize that Sony's English translations can suck, but it's beginning to sound like you're saying that we can only figure out a major part of the plot if we know Japanese. Does SE care only about it's JP audience or something? :lol:

At any rate, "He'll be delighted for sure" doesn't necessarily mean that he's in love with her now. It could also mean that he's glad his strategy worked for getting her to notice him.

Anastar said:
Also, can you -- in terms of narrative value -- explain why, at this late stage of the game, it would be revealed that Tifa was both a major factor in Cloud's wish to become a SOLDIER and that he has had romantic feelings toward her at any point in his life if the feelings lacked any present-day actualization?
Because Cloud getting his memory back hinged on Cloud believing that he really grew up in Nibelheim. Cloud believing that he really grew up in Nibelheim was proven to Cloud by both he and Tifa remembering things from their childhood - such as his crush on her, such as Cloud wanting to be part of her group of friends, and such as Cloud getting blamed for letting Tifa fall from the bridge. Remembering all that helped Cloud remember what really happened during the Nibelheim event.
But those things didn't have to be part of Cloud's past, nor be elements of his past to be revealed then. Cloud failing to protect a childhood friend from falling into a gorge, followed by him being blamed for the accident, followed by him feeling weak and inadequate would have been sufficient cause for him to want to join SOLDIER.

Those memories could have served the purpose just as well.

It was specifically decided, though, to reveal that he had romantic feelings for her. Why do that?
In the first place, SE did not reveal that Cloud had romantic feelings for Tifa when he was a kid. SE revealed that Cloud had a crush on her from afar when they weren't even friends. This is talking about BEFORE Cloud decided to join SOLDIER at the age of 12, so the feelings of wanting to be part of her group of friends, etc., could be happening when he was 9 or 10 or earlier. That's a crush, not love - no romantic feelings for Tifa were disclosed at that time.

In the second place, it's a love triangle. Kitase said that Cloud's supposed to waver between the two girls:

Kitase: When I first read Nojima’s scenario, I felt strongly that his image of a heroine was fresh. The hero didn’t have a typical personality, single-minded or righteous, and Aerith lived in the slums. Those things were really fresh. And having two heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. ~Interview with the creators, pg. 8-13, 10th Anniversary Ultimania

Up to that point in the game, there's been no real good reason to think that Cloud might be interested in Tifa. There's been a few suggestions, but nothing all that definite. Why not establish at this time that Cloud used to have a crush on her as a kid? It's possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid to continue, but it's also possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid NOT to continue. That leads up well to the optional HA and LA versions of the HW scene.

SE needed a memory that no one else knew about since they need to establish his identity, and Cloud kept the crush to himself when he was a kid. The idea of a crush is a personal memory that would help establish Cloud's identity. Obviously, Cloud is male and Tifa female, so the idea of a crush is made easy by that.

Anastar said:
Also, the Lifestream event did NOT reveal that Cloud had romantic feelings for Tifa as a kid. It only revealed that Cloud was a kid with a crush on Tifa, same as other boys in town. Childhood crushes are not love.
That's open to difference of opinion, to be fair.
So is the whole LTD, to be fair.

For that matter, Cloud's "childhood crush" continued at least until he was 16, at which point someone's plenty old enough to have romantic feelings.
Again, that's a matter of opinion. Sure, it's possible for someone to have romantic feelings at that time, but it depends largely on the individual. What one person feels at the age of 16 with a crush isn't necessarily the exact same way another person feels at the age of 16 with a crush.

For that matter, from Cloud's perspective, 16 was only a few weeks before FFVII began. Don't forget that he lost five years.

Physically, he's 21 during FFVII. In actual years of life experience, he's still 16. The kid who was in love with Tifa, who witnessed his hometown be burned to ash, and who fought and miraculously killed Sephiroth was only a few short weeks in Cloud's past.
Now, once again, you're saying "in love" - that's only your opinion. It's a crush, and you cannot say that definitely means love.

In the second place, it's been 4 years since Cloud saw Tifa. He left town when he was 12, and he's 16 at the time of the Nibelheim fire. Cloud and Tifa weren't writing to one another, so they hadn't been in contact. They didn't even know one another that well, according to Tifa. So what exactly would this crush be based on?

Was Cloud's crush, in the first place, based on anything since he hardly knew her? Would Cloud's crush be all that significant in the first place, since he barely knew her? How much did Cloud even think of Tifa over those 4 years between the ages of 12-16 when he never saw her or wrote to her? We have no idea. It's totally up to interpretation.

The evidence that Cloud still has a crush on her at the age of 16 is that he puts his helmet on to hide from her. Cloud only said that he put his helmet on because he was embarrassed that he didn't make it into SOLDIER.
 

Celes Chere

Banned
AKA
Noctis
That's neutral.

To me, the interpretation that Cloud loves Aerith makes much more sense.

You just contradicted yourself right here. You're not neutral if you prefer one pairing over the other. You might not believe either is entirely canon, but you believe Cloud and Aerith have more solid proof than Cloud and Tifa. That means you are NOT neutral.

Then why did she wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER?
Because she loves him? =/ And she didn't just stand around, she learned to fight for herself. That didn't stop her from caring, though.

But what feelings did they talk about during the Lifestream event? They didn't talk about how Cloud currently feels for Tifa.

Untrue. Cloud stated that nothing had changed since they were kids (after the LS event had occurred). However during the event, Cloud and Tifa find out what their past really is, confirm the importance of the promise, find out that Cloud's 'tender memories' and 'secret' are all about Tifa, find out that Cloud will be happy to know Tifa cared about him enough to search for info about him in the newspapers, etc. It may have been in the past, but these are the memories that are currently broken up in Cloud's mind. The fact that his mind basically revolves around Tifa, is why it's such a big deal. We also find that Cloud wanted to get Tifa to notice, that he wanted to become a SOLDIER partly because of Tifa, and what it all really means to him. Tifa is important to him, there's no denying that.

It could also mean that he's glad his strategy worked for getting her to notice him.

If he didn't love her then he wouldn't care about that anymore, especially since it's in the past. If he moved on to Aerith, I can imagine that his memories wouldn't contain such concern for Tifa.

SE did not reveal that Cloud had romantic feelings for Tifa when he was a kid. SE revealed that Cloud had a crush on her from afar when they weren't even friends.

When were they not friends? SE states that they are childhood friends whether you agree or not. They weren't as close as they thought initially, but they still were friends. Also, Cloud did not just crush on Tifa when he was twelve. When he goes back to Nibelheim with Zack he still liked her. Then after that he gets locked in a tube for four years. There was no time for him to 'get over' Tifa. Unless he fell asleep, woke up and decided "Meh I don't like Tifa anymore" to which there is no proof.

Obviously, Cloud is male and Tifa female, so the idea of a crush is made easy by that.

I can't even with this statement. Just, really?

We have no idea

Not true, play Crisis Core. Even Zack can tell there is something between Cloud and Tifa. Also Tifa is referenced in Cloud's DMW sequences. There's one of Cloud staring at the water tower.
Cloud: Just thinking about the past.
Zack: The past... You want to talk about it?

Obviously Cloud still has Tifa on his mind.
Also during the reactor scene we see Cloud holding Tifa and then he strokes her cheek. Why would he do that? He was embarrassed to be seen by Tifa, Zack points that out later too.
 

Octo

KULT OF KERMITU
AKA
Octo, Octorawk, Clarky Cat, Kissmammal2000
Now, once again, you're saying "in love" - that's only your opinion. It's a crush, and you cannot say that definitely means love.

Whether or not it's a crush or love, whatever it is, there is still more definitive evidence that it existed than for any crush/love supposedly expressed for Aerith.
 

Gym Leader Devil

True Master of the Dark-type (suck it Piers)
AKA
So many names
Tres
(You were asking me some questions about the Date Mechanics)

I think that one's rather obvious. Cloud picks the person he likes best to go with him. Once again, it's a matter of who Cloud likes - Cloud's actions towards those people affect their affection levels for him.

Cloud's actions do affect the affection values for the four people in the party who have such values to measure, yes. You are flat making up reasons why Cloud picks who he picks to accompany him and Barret to see Dyne, however.

Given that Cloud's a SOLDIER (or thinks he is at that time), Cloud wants someone along who can back him up in combat. Remember that it's Cloud who picks who to go with he and Barret.

If Cloud himself chose who to take along, this would be a decent argument. But its the player who chooses this, and it genuinely is optional who you take. My first time playing, Cait Sith was still new to me and I didn't know I despised using him in combat yet, so I took him. Does that mean Cloud, under the impression that he is a badass Ex-SOLIDER, thinks the furry robot is his best backup?

I always pick Aerith to go, since I like mages - I like using Aerith in combat. (I would guess that a lot of people here pick Tifa to go - I usually don't.) So, that's me as Cloud showing a preference for Aerith. That not only increases Aerith's affection level for Cloud, but it also means that Cloud likes Aerith better than Tifa.

And again if Aerith was the only person the game would let you take there might be something to that argument. But that is not the case, you can take any of the people in your party. That's not Cloud showing preference for Aerith, that's you showing said preference. Who you chose to take to the Dyne encounter has absolutely no bearing on the LTD Annie.

Because it IS related to the narrative. The Date Mechanics determine who Cloud loves in the story.

No they don't and why the fuck are you still pretending they do? The affection values do not measure nor indicate Cloud's feelings at all. They measure Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie and Barret's level of affection for Cloud, not the other way around.

Who Cloud loves is up to player control.

Control of Cloud's preferences and feelings is entirely illusory, and that illusion disappears once he gets over his mental issues during the LS event. You can pick and choose for MentalCase!Cloud, not Real!Cloud.

There is no canon love interest.

So you say, but you're doing a poor job of proving this position. Which is no surprise, since said position is untrue. It matters not what you had Cloud do when he was convinced he was an ex-SOLDIER, what matters is what CLOUD HIMSELF chooses once he is himself again.

Because I'm not saying that my interpretation is the only possible way to see it. I been saying all along that who Cloud loves is up to the interpretation of the player, which means that I think either interpretation is valid. That's neutral.

I see how you would consider your position neutral, you are claiming that neither Cloti nor Clerith is canon. Since that is still in opposition to the claim that Cloti is the official outcome of the love triangle, its still not "neutral" really. Just less directly opposing the position you're arguing against.

However, that's neither here nor there for what Tres asked you. He pointed out that you were conforming creator quotes to match your interpretation, rather than conforming your interpretation to fit the quotes. Applying their quotes that way is not something a neutral party would do. A neutral party would look at the quotes, then make an interpretation based on them. Not the other way around. So considering how you're applying them, the question remains: how is that neutral?

To me, the interpretation that Cloud loves Aerith makes much more sense. But if you want to think Cloud loves Tifa, go right ahead. What I object to is the idea that there is only one possible answer to the Love Triangle.

There are many many ways to view this or any other love triangle. Some of them really are open ended. Some go with the harem solution. Some end with just two points of the triangle together and the third... not. You can see it however you want, see what makes sense to you any way you like, really you can. But that doesn't prevent the official outcome from happening.

That's how you see the scene. It could just as easily be that Cloud fell asleep on the sofa while reading the newspaper with the light on, and Tifa came into the room, looked at him, then whispered that. Quite different from what you described.

With the minimal description in that scene concerning the surroundings, one would presume that the simplest solution is the correct. Typically people sleep in a bed. If Cloud had been passed out on the sofa (do they have a sofa? We've never seen one, or even a living room of any kind, so going by the "Cloud's room/office" argument we cannot presume that they do) that would be out of the norm for what is normally expected and would warrant a mention of such. Ergo, its more likely that he is sleeping in bed, and unless Tifa is a creepy bitch then it is more likely that she habitually sleeps in the same room as him.

Either way, this is yet another example of your inability to support your arguments without "If," "Maybe," "Possibly" and other synonyms for such being involved. Turning that habit back on you, I can reasonably say that IF Cloud is asleep on the hypothetical sofa and Tifa stands over him watching him sleep after asking him personal questions in the middle of the night, that's still stalker level clingy unless they habitually share sleeping space/are in a relationship.

Besides, all I said about that scene was that Tifa hoping that Cloud's feelings would change would explain that scene:

I'll hold off on saying anything until after the quotes themselves so my words make more sense, but first... why are you needlessly adding the blue formatting to the quotes? It's been pointed out that this is needless and irritating before and makes responding to you slightly more of a pain. Its extra effort on your part (albeit not much effort) and it generally gets removed anyway. Just the : at the end of your introduction for said quotes is enough to differentiate them, that should be good enough.

So [Tifa] may be hoping that things change, and that Cloud will fall in love with her someday. When and IF Cloud falls in love with her someday, then she'd be willing to give a relationship with him a try. But not until that happens.

That would also explain why she asks if Cloud loves her in CoT. ~Anastar, Nov. 5

I know you just posted this quote of yourself from the 5th to give context to your next paragraph, but I still must say: When Cloud DID reveal his feelings for her (or rather, confirmed them, since she was aware of them from the LS event), Tifa DID start a relationship with him.

I was talking there about WHY Tifa asks Cloud if he loves her in CoT. She's wondering because Cloud never said he loved her during the HW scene, and Tifa's still hoping that Cloud will fall for her someday. That coincides with the LA version. I said something very different about Tifa being weak and/or clingy:

And if the LA version were official, that would make somewhat more sense. It'd still come off as clingy and stalker-like on Tifa's part for the delivery, but the feelings themselves would match up. Too bad for your arguments that HA is what happened, innit?

Well, you're the one deciding that interpretation makes her weak. I never said it made her weak. If she's waiting around hoping that Cloud will get over Aerith someday, then it actually does make her strong. And it certainly doesn't make her clingy, either. ~Anastar, Nov. 5

I said that the idea of Tifa waiting for Cloud to get over Aerith doesn't make her weak. If anything, it's very much the same as Tifa waiting around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER when he left Nibelheim. She wanted a hero, and Cloud was her best chance of finding one since he was going to try and join SOLDIER like Sephiroth. She watched the newspapers for an article about a SOLDIER who was a hero like Sephiroth.

Yeah, ok. Tifa living with and clinging to an unloving Cloud, hoping against hope that he'll come around and love her someday, is equivalent to her watching the newspaper looking for mention of him to see if he managed to pull off his desire to become a great SOLDIER when he is gone.

Also, how is it that you can liken feelings from when they were kids to their feelings as adults when you can hammer them into a shape that fits into your own position, but not when it supports ours?

That wasn't who Cloud was at the time. She wanted Cloud only if he became a hero. SE even said so:

In those days, Tifa didn't take much notice to Cloud. The reason why she said to him "To be saved by a hero" was only to satisfy her childish princess desire.[/COLOR] ~Cloud's profile, FFVII Ultimania Omega

Do take note that, unlike the examples you like to make concerning the Lifestream event, SE actually specified this as a childish desire. When speaking of their (Cloud and Tifa's) current feelings about The Promise, and each other in general, childish princess desires never come up.

Either way, this is when Cloud succeeded in getting Tifa's attention. And I should point out that CLOUD is the one who says "I'm gonna be an awesome SOLDIER, all strong and badass and stuff!" Had he just called Tifa out to the well and talked to her, without proclaiming this as his plan for the future, would she have ever had this childish desire?

Even though Cloud was holding feelings for Tifa from some time ago, Tifa's interest in Cloud did not start until the time when the Promise was exchanged. It might have been her loneliness due to her surrounding friends leaving one after another, but more than that, it seems largely in part to him making the promise to become her hero.[/COLOR] ~Cloud's profile, FFVII Ultimania Omega

Like I said, this is when Tifa took notice of Cloud. Dude's plan to get the girl to pay attention worked. Good for him.

Also, look at that first line. "Even though Cloud was holding feelings for Tifa from some time ago" it says. And you seem cognizant that these feelings were still present at least up to the point in time the paragraph references. So, that said... why do you argue so stridently that their feelings during the LS sequence are entirely in the past? Aside from being bad for your position, how do these quotes differ?

If she can wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER and a hero, then it's in character for Tifa to wait around for Cloud to get over Aerith. It seems Tifa's always wanting Cloud to be something different than what he really is.

Again, living with a man who you love but does not love you back, creeping on him while he is asleep and STAYING PUT until dawn (regardless of where he is sleeping, that IS creepy if they're not together), and pining after him is NOT THE SAME as waiting for news about him after he LEFT TOWN to become a SOLDIER. They do not equate. One is entirely normal and expected. The other is clingy, weak, and entirely against Tifa's stated character.

Love how you're back to claiming Tifa only wants Cloud if he's something other than what he is. Not like she took an active role in putting him back together and letting him, y'know, be himself or anything. Tis not like she chooses to live with and start a family with him, and want to be loved by him, or be said to have a future with him AS HIMSELF.

Then why did she wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER?

Because he said he was going to, she seemingly supported his desire, and was hoping for news about him either way?

If you think that makes Tifa weak, then Cloud is weak for waiting around for Tifa to notice him in Nibelheim as a kid.

I agree with this. Cloud waiting around, hoping to be noticed without doing anything about it, was weak. And hey, when he stops doing that and DOES SOMETHING to get her attention, IT WORKED.

That also makes Yuna weak in FFX-2.

How so? Yuna is still hung up on Tidus, yes, and she is actively doing something about it. She throws herself into Sphere Hunting as a member of the Gullwings rather than sit around Besaid moping. When a possibility of Tidus still existing comes up, she looks into it. She moves forward, she does things. She doesn't just pull up a chair and wait.

It also makes Vincent weak for continuing to love Lucrecia.

I almost put "Lucrecia isn't dead" by pure reflex here before noticing you didn't mention that at all. And I agree, to an extent, that Vince needs to either do something more than daydream about visiting her cavern or move on. Shit or get off the pot, as it were. Of course, depending on your thoughts concerning the end of DoC, he might have DONE that now.

Then why insert a phrase of thirteen words that clearly refers to the Promise if it has no basis? "Even though she was called and it was just the two of them" makes it clear that this is about the Promise because she wasn't called at the time of the Lifestream event.

She was, actually. Cloud's heart called out to her in the Lifestream, and hers to him.

But what feelings did they talk about during the Lifestream event? They didn't talk about how Cloud currently feels for Tifa. They talked about Cloud's past crush on Tifa as a kid, how he used to look up at her window from outside, how he wanted her to notice him, and how he decided to join SOLDIER to get her to notice him. None of that is about how Cloud currently feels about Tifa today - it's all about his crush on her when he was a kid.

See, this is what I was talking about earlier. You're entirely able to understand the past progressive tense when it is used to talk about the promise scene. The moment that tense is used to describe Cloud's feelings for Tifa as an adult ,suddenly it MUST be talking about the past and the past ONLY. Its hypocritical as all hell.

I realize that Sony's English translations can suck, but it's beginning to sound like you're saying that we can only figure out a major part of the plot if we know Japanese. Does SE care only about it's JP audience or something? :lol:

They certainly care more about their Japanese audience than they do their English speaking audience :monster: Otherwise we'd have gotten the Ultimanias and ALL of the OtWtaS by now.

As for the translation failures, yes we can trust SOME of the English translations. The translators and localizers didn't fuck them ALL up. But when something is fucked up, its fucked up and we should go with the Japanese above all else. I'm no translator, but that's my feeling on the matter.

At any rate, "He'll be delighted for sure" doesn't necessarily mean that he's in love with her now. It could also mean that he's glad his strategy worked for getting her to notice him.

If he doesn't love her as of the time he says this, why does he still care that his strategy worked again? He must have some motive for wanting to be noticed right up to the LS event. Now, we could make up a bunch of motives not indicated by the text but STOP! OCCAM TIME! The motive we already know about, the one that has been spelled out by the narrative, is simplest and most likely.

Put simply, Cloud's subconscious clearly IS delighted to know Tifa looked for news of him. Ergo, Cloud loves and wants notice from Tifa subconsciously at the very least. Add to this that the subconscious says the rest of Cloud will ALSO be delighted FOR SURE. It adds up very well.

In the first place, SE did not reveal that Cloud had romantic feelings for Tifa when he was a kid. SE revealed that Cloud had a crush on her from afar when they weren't even friends.

You know that crushes are romantic feelings right? Since you love throwing in definitions, here's one for ya right now:

Webster's Dictionary said:
3. crush - temporary love of an adolescent
Synonyms: calf love, puppy love, infatuation

Now before you focus in on the "temporary" part, look at the rest of it. "love of an adolescent" it says. That's romantic feelings of an adolescent. As for the "temporary" bit, if it grows into a more adult love, then the crush was temporary without actually ending.

And before you get stuck on me not giving definitions 1 and 2, they were about literally crushing things, like "Cloud crushed the enemy with the flat of his giant sword" and therefore do not need a mention in this conversation.


This is talking about BEFORE Cloud decided to join SOLDIER at the age of 12, so the feelings of wanting to be part of her group of friends, etc., could be happening when he was 9 or 10 or earlier. That's a crush, not love - no romantic feelings for Tifa were disclosed at that time.

See above about "no romantic feelings" not fitting a discussion of a bloody crush. SE DID reveal Cloud had a crush on Tifa. A crush IS a romantic feeling, defined as temporary adolescent love. Tres' question stands, they specifically decided to reveal that Cloud had romantic feelings for Tifa rather than stick with, in his words: "failing to protect a childhood friend from falling into a gorge, followed by him being blamed for the accident, followed by him feeling weak and inadequate" which as he said, would have been sufficient cause for him to want to join SOLDIER. So, why did they do that?

In the second place, it's a love triangle.

Why do people keep feeling the need to point this out? Its in the title of the thread. We know it was a love triangle, otherwise there would be no LTD. The presence of a love triangle is not an argument in and of itself for anything, not for one side or the other OR for there being no canon.

Kitase said that Cloud's supposed to waver between the two girls:

Kitase: When I first read Nojima’s scenario, I felt strongly that his image of a heroine was fresh. The hero didn’t have a typical personality, single-minded or righteous, and Aerith lived in the slums. Those things were really fresh. And having two heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. ~Interview with the creators, pg. 8-13, 10th Anniversary Ultimania

Ok, that's all well and good. But Cloud wavering does not preclude him choosing one or the other later. Say for instance when one girl is dead and the other has put his mind back together and he is thus himself again rather than a mind-fucked crazy man.

Up to that point in the game, there's been no real good reason to think that Cloud might be interested in Tifa.

There is NEVER a "real good" reason to think Cloud might be interested in Aerith. Ever.

There's been a few suggestions, but nothing all that definite. Why not establish at this time that Cloud used to have a crush on her as a kid?

This WAS established in the game. What are you even asking now?

It's possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid to continue, but it's also possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid NOT to continue.

And we know which of those possibilities happened. We are told they are still holding these feelings right up to the Lifestream event, for one.

That leads up well to the optional HA and LA versions of the HW scene.

The deviations of that scene are only optional for individual palythroughs. The narrative has an official version. Do not point at page 232 please. It does not say what you want it to.

SE needed a memory that no one else knew about since they need to establish his identity, and Cloud kept the crush to himself when he was a kid. The idea of a crush is a personal memory that would help establish Cloud's identity. Obviously, Cloud is male and Tifa female, so the idea of a crush is made easy by that.

So are you admitting that he definitely had a crush on her now? A crush which is, by definition, romantic in nature? Yes, the memory does serve a narrative purpose regarding the rebuilding of Cloud's fractured mind, but that doesn't change its romantic implications one whit (I'm not saying you think it does, but otherwise what are you trying to claim here?). Cloud had adolescent love for Tifa when he was an adolescent. Dialogue with his subconscious and past progressive statements about the incident show that these feelings are still being held DURING the LS event. This ties in with Tifa being the ONLY ONE Cloud will allow into his secret heart, because in a manner of speaking SHE'S ALREADY IN THERE. It ties in with their hearts calling out to each other in the LS.

Again, that's a matter of opinion. Sure, it's possible for someone to have romantic feelings at that time, but it depends largely on the individual. What one person feels at the age of 16 with a crush isn't necessarily the exact same way another person feels at the age of 16 with a crush.

We're not talking about "another person" here. We're talking about Cloud. Cloud's crush on Tifa is still on display at age 16 in every appearance made by Cloud at that age throughout the Compilation.

Now, once again, you're saying "in love" - that's only your opinion. It's a crush, and you cannot say that definitely means love.

Refer to definition above. Yes we can.

In the second place, it's been 4 years since Cloud saw Tifa. He left town when he was 12, and he's 16 at the time of the Nibelheim fire. Cloud and Tifa weren't writing to one another, so they hadn't been in contact. They didn't even know one another that well, according to Tifa. So what exactly would this crush be based on?

You don't have to know someone super well to crush on them Annie. This is where the temporary part of the definition really comes in. Sometimes you don't get to know the person any better than you do, and the crush fades away. Sometimes you learn more, don't like the person as much due to this new information, and the crush fades away. Sometimes, like for Cloud, you love the person even more when you get to know them better and the crush transforms into even stronger love.

Was Cloud's crush, in the first place, based on anything since he hardly knew her?

If nothing else, she was very pretty :monster: That's enough to start a crush, and them not knowing each other "that well" does not equate to "knows nothing about her." Clearly he knew enough about her to have a crush, since y'know... he had a freaking crush.

Would Cloud's crush be all that significant in the first place, since he barely knew her?

How would him not knowing her as well as he could make his crush less relevant? If he had hated her instead of wanting romance, would said hate be less relevant because he didn't know her all that well?

For that matter, Cloud doesn't know Aerith very well in the time between meeting her and her dying. By your own logic, IF he had feelings of any kind for her how significant could they be?

How much did Cloud even think of Tifa over those 4 years between the ages of 12-16 when he never saw her or wrote to her? We have no idea. It's totally up to interpretation.

I seem to recall Cloud displaying his crush on Tifa during events that show him at this age, but I could be wrong to some extent since I have not seen CC in some time and never was able to play it or BC personally.

Edit: Tiff remembers for sure, and I thank her for it.

If nothing else, we know he freaks out when Sephiroth cuts her, and makes mention of The Promise when he moves her to the side/comforts her. So no, its not totally up to interpretation, as you tend to use that word (when you say "interpretation" you seem to mean "imagination" a lot of the time). We have SOMETHING factual to go on, that much is for certain. We don't have to imagine everything

The evidence that Cloud still has a crush on her at the age of 16 is that he puts his helmet on to hide from her. Cloud only said that he put his helmet on because he was embarrassed that he didn't make it into SOLDIER.

At the very least, he was ok with his mom seeing his face and visiting her. But not Tifa. He was ashamed that he didn't manage to do what he promised her he would do, which is, at least in his own mind, the only thing that got her attention. If he has ceased to care about her attentions due to his crush fading out... why would be be so embarrassed again?

Now, you could claim he feels just as embarrassed about everyone else in town seeing his failure. And I could claim he just doesn't want them telling Tifa he is in town, and you couldn't refute me. See how infuriating things that only "could be" or are "possible" without any real backing can be? :monster:
 
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Ryushikaze

Deus Admiral Parsimonious, PHD, DDS, MD, JD, OBE
AKA
Tim, Ryu
And we know Harry/Ginny is canon because they married. Not sure if they told each other they loved each other but probably they did that too. :lol:

And this doesn't stop H/H shippers. There's something of a moral in all this.

Yes, that's what I believe - they don't have to be a couple to raise kids.

It is, however, the narrative presumption that two people raising kids together will be a couple, especially a grown man and woman. It adds expectations in the audience that SE does nothing to dispel and many things to enhance.

It seems like it would be relevant, if it's on the page. The whole page is about love developing between protagonists, and Cloud is shown with both girls. It wasn't there for no reason at all.

You're right. It's not. It's there because Aerith, Tifa, Yuffie, and in a different sense Barret all confess, make a display towards Cloud.
The whole page is actually about CONFESSIONS to, by, and between protaganists.
This is why couples like Yang and his Wife, Cid and Sierra, Laguna and Raine, Cid and Edea, Irvine and Selphie, Zell and Library Girl, Amarant and Lani, Freya and Fratley, and Wakka and Lulu are not on the page. They lack big confession moments.
But Steiner and Beatrix, for example, ARE on the page. They do have a big damn confession moment.
Hell, Cecil and Rosa are on the page, and they were already an item by the time the game started- we just got a big damn display between them in the tower of Zot.


So it literally had to be directly in the description that it's optional? Having a page number isn't enough?


Yes, because it's explained on page 232.


Page 232.

P232 lists a deviation and tells us what actually happened in the narrative, and that 'what happened' matches what is on the FTOIL page. That's not saying it is optional. That's saying there are other pathways apart from the 'correct' one, just as- to return to SW- the Holocron entry for KOTOR mentioning what happens if you go dark side while telling us that you go lightside doesn't make the lightside ending optional.


Yeah, I tend to say what I don't really mean. :lol:
I didn't mean it like that. I was talking about what I heard on a different thread here that you guys were trying to get us mad - and yes, I already know it isn't true now, that you guys are serious, but I didn't then.

As a rule, we will be more trustworthy sources of information about ourselves than people who are angry at us for some reason.

Where did it end? I don't remember Cloud and Tifa getting together.

From a purely narrative sense, it ended on disc 1. You do not forcibly remove a component of a love triangle with death if you want it to continue. Hell, one corner of a triangle dying or killing themselves was a staple of solving love triangles in Japanese literature for quite some time.

But the page is about mutual development. I take it to mean he can develop feelings with either, or both.

But he can't mutually develop with someone he's not aware has feelings for him. And if the page means he can develop feelings for who goes on the date with him, then we must include Yuffie and Barret as well.
They too are part of the dating sequence and AV game.

erm, yes, my jokes are bad. Was trying to be friends..

Never mind then, I can see that SHIP has sailed....... :awesome:

Now that's just an out and out case of assault and battery on the funny bone.

It can. He basically says the same thing that he's thinking in Dismantled after the LA version - he isn't alone, Tifa is at his side. He ends up living with her and raising two kids that they love after it. Sounds fitting, unless you see Cloud and Tifa in a "romantic" light - then of course the HAHWS would fit better for you.

The problem is that the LA scene is apathetic and short. Learning anything from that scene doesn't fit.

Thank you! Not everybody sees that. :lol:

No, we all understand Aerith is more than just guilt to Cloud, but what we are saying is that the guilt IS overriding all other aspects until it is lifted.

Because there is no concrete "Cloud and Tifa are together/Cloud and Tifa have romantic feelings like this" in the story. I think its hinted at, clearly. The subtlety exists for both sides.

But we look out of story, just as you look out of story to confirm Revan and the Exile's genders for the official narrative of Kotor and 2.

And yes, I will argue until SE says Cloud and Tifa are definitely together (no hinting, beating around the bush, blah blah) because of what Nomura said. When he was talking directly about the romantic relationships in FFVII, he started talking about fans imagining as they like. Really... He didn't flat out say "The LT is player interpreted" but he seemed to have.

Are we discussing the 'As for the two year gap' quote or the 'We have our own answers, come up with your own' quote?

The thing is, the young Cloud that was there didn't even seem aware of his present feelings. If I remember right, he said something like he'll probably be so happy to hear that Tifa cares. But personally, I don't think it really signifies that Cloud is presently feeling those exact feelings because it's coming from a younger Cloud who did.

That wasn't a snapshot of Cloud in the past. It was Cloud's subconscious in the form of young Cloud, but one who knew about things from when he was older than the age he appeared to be.
In any case, the Japanese line uses a specific word which means 'with near perfect certainty', which is encompassed by our more general word 'probably' (And even with just that word, you've got a 51%-100% chance. Better than even odds)

It's specified once that, in one version, there are feelings of desire. In everything else, it just says feelings. So I'm taking that to meaning they do so in both.

You're looking at it from the wrong angle.
The quotes say Feelings are shared. That's what happened.
One quote says that the low highwind is apathetic and short- it lacks feelings, it lacks interest. Nothing is shared.
The other version, in which things are shared, must be the one that occurs.
Anyways, ON P232, we are again told the confirmation happens. Yes, on the page with the deviation.
We know the outcome. We don't need to concern ourselves with the other possibilities.


I agree so much. :lol:
That's why I don't think either date or Highwind scene is canon. The story just leaves them behind for imagination, technically.

Except we are shown a particular version of the highwind scene in a story summary, and as one of the most impressive scenes in the game.

I've made of the other proof something different than you have. We've just come to different conclusions of what their relationship is. It's never been definitely said what their relationship is outside of friends/comrades.

They've said quite a lot, actually. Cloud sees Tifa as mother of the family she and Cloud were forming in Edge. She sees him as the father. The kid they adopted sees them as his parents.

But he has a love for her, same as them. I'm saying it could be romantic. The possibility is there.

But the love and the undying feelings are distinct from each other. Everyone else has love and feelings. Cloud also has his own feelings.
And possibility is not the same as probability.

Darth Vader would be proud.

Join the dark side, we have cookies and an excellent medical plan.

I guess. What emotion did you have in mind? I really don't see it right now. :lol:

Envy, Lust, Not getting a high score on Pac Man...

I meant its picture in the summary, like the Aerith date.

Again, since when does a mere placeholder get selected as one of the most memorable scenes. And the text coupling its use in the story summary fits- without mentioning version or 'if' what the text says about the photo. Aerith's date is a placeholder because the text just says 'One of four people join Cloud on a date'
Heck, Tifa's date in Cloud's profile is probably similar, since it's talking about Cloud's cluelessness towards both women on their dates.

Technically speaking, they had a future that would now be considered the past. Didn't mean this as like a shipping thing.

They've never been SAID to have a future together like C/T have. A future that extends past AC

Well, it seems like people here are quite serious and I'm not so it's my fault.

Are you familiar with the phrase 'Poe's law?'
You need to be more overt with indications of humor otherwise you will be mistaken for being genuine as the most ludicrous things have been claimed in all seriousness before.

That's true. But at a time when he was referring to the relationships, he said fans should imagine and enjoy talking about it.

Which is a bit different from there not being an answer. Hell, he did the same in KH2. There's a concrete explanation of Tifa, her past, what she is, etc, that didn't get into the game because Nomura wanted you to think about it.

And they don't have to be in a relationship to take care of these kids and live together

It helps, and it's the common sense interpretation.

with Barret.

Who is not, never has been, and never intended to be part of their family or household. He helped Cloud and Tifa make THEIR home and left Marlene in the care of the two of them.

It couldn't have been too important if it was never mentioned again. ;)

It's been mentioned again at least once, oftentimes multiple times in each subsequent sourcebook, including the PREQUEL sourcebook, and as the most impressive scene in the game. Shit's been mentioned A LOT. Shit's important.
Hell, Cloud's fight with Sephiroth in AC wasn't mentioned in DoC. Guess that wasn't important.

Is it candid now or...?
And anyway, Cloud still says they are no longer alone in the end of both versions, so maybe "apathetic" is not their best description - or maybe it meant that it's just more apathetic than the other version? That kind of made more sense.

The conversation is itself apathetic. Confirmation of feelings, any feelings, would not be apathy. That's the problem with ascribing anything to the low version. We've been told no feelings are contained within its conversation.

Nomura: *drawing in a corner at his desk* "Lulu... FFX... boots... gunswords... zipperbelts..."

Nojima: "Wtf are you doing?"

Close enough. I swear, Lulu is like the Culmination of all his fetishes. Long, dark hair, large brests, and more belts and zippers than a pants factory.

I changed my stance years ago, when I realized it was never said that Cloud loved Aerith in that way and the whole interpretation thing.

That's good, at least.

As for everybody else, I'm not sure, but I gave this more thought and I think it's that C/A people believe it's canon but hasn't been outright confirmed. Like, they/we saw it as "obvious" that Cloud loved her the way we think it did (similar to how you guys think it's obvious he loved Tifa) and doesn't really need to be proven, but as far as the LT stands officially, we believe it's about interpretation. Sorry if I'm not making any sense.

The thing is, we think it's obvious because we can point to actions and quotations taken by Cloud, said by Cloud, and said by the creators that repeatedly and inexorably link Cloud and Tifa, time and time again. From the very first thoughts of Advent Children which were Tifa using children to send Cloud a message right up to the short description of the Turks novella where C/T are again included together, SE's been giving us loads and loads of 'they're together, they're family, they have a future together, Cloud belongs there, he's happy there.'

I didn't know you wrote it.

My name was on the Article.

It links pretty well with what he says after both scenes, though, and the line that says he and Tifa become aware of their feelings by the end of the story.

Which doesn't say when Cloud LEARNS it. Cloud can learn it prior to and affirm it after the LA scene

Woah, look at those caps.

Like GLD said, they are justified, in that people are than me are being referenced to try and talk for me instead of my own words.

Can I ask why you glossed over the
He treats her better than most other people, and even in his addled state, singles her out as the only person whose opinion matters.

First off, the quote says Held. Not withheld. Secondly, for something to be withheld, it must still be present. Either way, this argument winds up with those feelings being present and active in the present.


and

They come to realize the feelings regardless. The expression is what can be different in different playthroughs. All the evidence points to one version of the scene being the one that happened in the narrative.

bits?

I read it somewhere in an Ultimania or Dismantled, not sure. I only remember Aerith coming with me at that part when her affection was higher so it seemed right?

If you did, then it is wrong. It's entirely player choice. You can also bring Red 13 along with you.
Unless you mean if you ignore the choice, then yes, the highest AV person (Or Red, if Barret's highest) is foisted on you.

It has to happen if she's female - there's no other option.

Does his joining you actively affect the story conclusion? Because I'm still not seeing why the gender choices in KOTOR count for extranarrative confirmation but the narratives in FF games do not.


Do you have anything more to add here? Can I just move on knowing you accept Tifa is his light and were just laughing at the 'yes, virginia?'

So you would know that your interpretation isn't the only one that can be right.

But mine is still by far the one with the greatest chance of being right, because it is molded around supporting evidence. You should do the same for your own intepretation.

Hey, I'm not trying to say you guys are wrong, and remember this. This "interpretation" thing Nomura talks about, I defend it. :)

You seem to take it a lot further than he does, though, since he's been going right along with slowly doling out concrete answers to things.

I don't accept it, but I felt like I was being a douche so I figured I'd just leave it.

You don't accept it, even though that's explicitly what's stated to be the case.

Well, he was always by himself. A friend would have stuck with him, in my opinion.

Would Cloud have indicated he wanted someone with him? Would he have acted like he wanted someone to stick by him? Cloud's picking fights, here. He's the town bully.

Because they're part of a family, and the story kind of revolves around that family while they're taking care of Marlene and Denzel, who notice when they aren't getting along.

So why would Tifa's worry that Cloud loved her come into a platonic story? Why would thoughts on love and marriage go into a story about a platonic family?


In order, U10, Tifa's Profile, Case of Tifa, when Cloud's sitting with the children, and U10, Denzel's profile.

Didn't say that.

I didn't say you did. I was sporking the the idea that Aerith would hand Cloud over to someone with known romantic feelings for him and expect her never to act on those.

Did it say it was talking about that scene?

It did indeed. Tres provided the full quote not too long ago.

I went to two different places and they said that. Sorry.

Did the two places have 'Clerith' or 'Destiny' in their name?

Undying means forever. If his guilt is gone, that isn't forever. At the end of AC, it was being lifted. Cloud was like, gtfo guilt.

Undying means not worn down or destroyed by time. Even the undying immortals Highlander die permanently if you chop their head off. As do the undying endless if you have the right sword. Like I said last post. Undying is not immutable.

And right before, Nomura was talking about peoples loves for her. Guilt isn't love.[/quote]

But guilt IS a feeling, and Nomura said people had their own loves AND FEELINGS For Aerith. And a feeling is what Cloud was stated to have.

Well, she does get peevish feelings in reaction to Cloud and Aerith together, when Aerith wasn't saying her feelings. But yeah, you could definitely be right.

But Aerith was being forward with Cloud when she had the peevish feelings.
And that assumes they're not frustration for her unbridled lust for Aerith who's interested in the wrong person, damnit.

Okay. Sorry. :)

By the way, Star Wars > Star Trek. In every way.

No argument on that front.

Because they're living a different life now, without Sephiroth and all the hell he brought.

But how will her being by his side be different. It's not the life that's different. It's the by his side that's in a different way before.

My bad. I really don't remember.

Well, try using the quote function and replying that way.

What's wrong with them letting us have our own interpretations? It makes the story more personal for everybody, honestly. It's nice.

Because Shakespeare was not speaking about dehumanization as a result of overindustrialization in the late 1800s, to give an egregious example of the form.
There are many possible correct answers. Not all possible answers are possibly correct.

It's only really been hinted that Cloud and Tifa could have a relationship. Possibility is there, of course, because it's been left off, but they're officially regarded as friends.

It's definitely been more than hinted at that they can. Even if we do simply take FTOIL as 'optional', that's a lot more than a hint.

It is not this black and white.

Well, Why not?

Who Cloud loves is not hugely relevant to the story, so what are we contradicting? He did say there are answers, not just one answer, right?

'Who made the Angel statue' and 'Where exactly did Vendel live during his time in the scavenger crew'are questions. There are answers to these questions. But only one 'correct' answer per question.
And what you are contradictiong is the other possible answers for 'who Cloud loves' which is my point. They can't stand together. They mutually exclude.

"I think I'm beginning to understand. An answer from the planet. The Promised Land. I think I can meet her...there."

That is my answer and I stick with it. We'll take from it whatever we see but no one said that we're wrong? What does it affect, which girl he likes? What is it contradicting?

Your answer is a quote where he's talking to Tifa about what can be done, in which Tifa responds with what they should do. Your answer has a perfectly parsimonious explanation completely irrelevant to the question of who Cloud does and doesn't love.
Your answer also doesn't prevent Cloud loving Tifa.

It said it's information given from the staff so maybe he was misinformed.

Regardless, Battle affects AV not at all. Maybe it did in early builds, but not in the finished product.

Sorry I didn't get to these last night, Tres. I was tied up with some other stuff.

Tres
(You were asking me some questions about the Date Mechanics)

I think that one's rather obvious. Cloud picks the person he likes best to go with him. Once again, it's a matter of who Cloud likes - Cloud's actions towards those people affect their affection levels for him.

Except that is not how the affections work AT ALL. Yuffie likes you more than Barret before she even joins the party. She likes you more for being a dick to her.
Pushing barrels the wrong way in the church is because Cloud doesn't like Aerith.
And Cloud doesn't pick. Someone ELSE shows up and TAKES Cloud out. He doesn't go ask them, they ask him.

Given that Cloud's a SOLDIER (or thinks he is at that time), Cloud wants someone along who can back him up in combat. Remember that it's Cloud who picks who to go with he and Barret. I always pick Aerith to go, since I like mages - I like using Aerith in combat. (I would guess that a lot of people here pick Tifa to go - I usually don't.) So, that's me as Cloud showing a preference for Aerith. That not only increases Aerith's affection level for Cloud, but it also means that Cloud likes Aerith better than Tifa.

So, if I choose Red 13 to join me there, I like furry animals better than any of the women? Or does he not count because he doesn't have a point value even though he's a valid choice?
And given the absurd difference in point values, you'd argue- I don't doubt- that when he chooses Aerith, he starts liking her a LOT MORE than when he chooses Tifa or Yuffie?

Because it IS related to the narrative. The Date Mechanics determine who Cloud loves in the story. Who Cloud loves is up to player control. There is no canon love interest.

You have absolutely no evidence, no justification for this baseless assertion other than your own say-so, Anastar.
None at all.

Because I'm not saying that my interpretation is the only possible way to see it. I been saying all along that who Cloud loves is up to the interpretation of the player, which means that I think either interpretation is valid. That's neutral.

Your words in this paragraph and your words, oh, everywhere else tell a different tale.

To me, the interpretation that Cloud loves Aerith makes much more sense. But if you want to think Cloud loves Tifa, go right ahead. What I object to is the idea that there is only one possible answer to the Love Triangle.

Yes, but you flat out reject the idea of a canon narrative for this choice, something that in your case, is a brand new development.

That's how you see the scene. It could just as easily be that Cloud fell asleep on the sofa while reading the newspaper with the light on, and Tifa came into the room, looked at him, then whispered that. Quite different from what you described.

"Tifa made sure Cloud was asleep."
That's creeper if she's not already there when he falls asleep.

Besides, all I said about that scene was that Tifa hoping that Cloud's feelings would change would explain that scene:

So [Tifa] may be hoping that things change, and that Cloud will fall in love with her someday. When and IF Cloud falls in love with her someday, then she'd be willing to give a relationship with him a try. But not until that happens. That would also explain why she asks if Cloud loves her in CoT. ~Anastar, Nov. 5

I was talking there about WHY Tifa asks Cloud if he loves her in CoT. She's wondering because Cloud never said he loved her during the HW scene, and Tifa's still hoping that Cloud will fall for her someday. That coincides with the LA version. I said something very different about Tifa being weak and/or clingy:

I note, once again, you're suggesting for your version of events here, that one particular event actually happened, in contrast to your statement above.
Also, why would she ask NOW of all times, when he's asleep, after he's begun growing distant? Your Tifa does not make sense.

Well, you're the one deciding that interpretation makes her weak. I never said it made her weak. If she's waiting around hoping that Cloud will get over Aerith someday, then it actually does make her strong. And it certainly doesn't make her clingy, either. ~Anastar, Nov. 5

Pretty much everyone here, man and woman alike, and many others beside have disagreed with you.

I said that the idea of Tifa waiting for Cloud to get over Aerith doesn't make her weak. If anything, it's very much the same as Tifa waiting around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER when he left Nibelheim.

She wanted a hero, and Cloud was her best chance of finding one since he was going to try and join SOLDIER like Sephiroth. She watched the newspapers for an article about a SOLDIER who was a hero like Sephiroth.

No, she watched the newspapers for Articles about CLOUD. Not for a SOLDIER who was a hero, any mention of Cloud, period.
Tifa was waiting around in her hometown, getting on with her life apart from not dating anyone else.
In CoT and beyond, she's hanging around with a man she knows doesn't love her in the hopes that he will in your view. How is that STRONG?

That wasn't who Cloud was at the time. She wanted Cloud only if he became a hero. SE even said so:

In those days, Tifa didn't take much notice to Cloud. The reason why she said to him "To be saved by a hero" was only to satisfy her childish princess desire. ~Cloud's profile, FFVII Ultimania Omega

Even though Cloud was holding feelings for Tifa from some time ago, Tifa's interest in Cloud did not start until the time when the Promise was exchanged. It might have been her loneliness due to her surrounding friends leaving one after another, but more than that, it seems largely in part to him making the promise to become her hero. ~Cloud's profile, FFVII Ultimania Omega

If she can wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER and a hero, then it's in character for Tifa to wait around for Cloud to get over Aerith. It seems Tifa's always wanting Cloud to be something different than what he really is.

Don't know about you, but from where I sit, Cloud's a motherfucking hero. In fact, he's a motherfucking hero on a horse who comes and Saves Tifa time and time again.
Cloud never got into SOLDIER, but Tifa didn't have to hold out for a Hero. He was one. And she believed in him, too. Yeah, she said 'if,' but she did have every confidence that Clould would return, excellent.

Then why did she wait around for Cloud to become a SOLDIER?

Not leaving her hometown and starting a tour guide business is 'waiting around' now?

If you think that makes Tifa weak, then Cloud is weak for waiting around for Tifa to notice him in Nibelheim as a kid. That also makes Yuna weak in FFX-2. It also makes Vincent weak for continuing to love Lucrecia.

Actually, yeah, I'd agree, Cloud was totally weak until he took action, Yuna was weak in 10-2 until she started DOING shit instead of WAITING, and Vincent would be the first to agree he's a weakass fuck for being Hung up on Lucrecia who I will remind you is not dead in the hopes that you will finally realize this and stop using her as an argument. Waiting for shit to change and not acting when it comes to love is entirely weak.

Then why insert a phrase of thirteen words that clearly refers to the Promise if it has no basis?

"Even though she was called and it was just the two of them" makes it clear that this is about the Promise because she wasn't called at the time of the Lifestream event.

Yes, she's clueless because she was called then and didn't realize. But she was informed in the lifestream. That's when 'was holding feelings' is present to, not just in this quote, but in the other quote that says 'Cloud and Tifa became aware of the feelings the other was holding in the lifestream' as well.

But what feelings did they talk about during the Lifestream event? They didn't talk about how Cloud currently feels for Tifa. They talked about Cloud's past crush on Tifa as a kid, how he used to look up at her window from outside, how he wanted her to notice him, and how he decided to join SOLDIER to get her to notice him. None of that is about how Cloud currently feels about Tifa today - it's all about his crush on her when he was a kid.

And so he was still holding that crush. QED.

I realize that Sony's English translations can suck, but it's beginning to sound like you're saying that we can only figure out a major part of the plot if we know Japanese. Does SE care only about it's JP audience or something? :lol:

Does Sony care so little about the story? Signs point to yes.
Is it only possible to understand a vague translation by looking at the source language? Signs also point to yes. Quite often. Because here the distinction is between a 51-100% certainty and a say 95-100% certainty rating.

At any rate, "He'll be delighted for sure" doesn't necessarily mean that he's in love with her now. It could also mean that he's glad his strategy worked for getting her to notice him.

Once again, that would make Cloud a dick and the revelation of his past feelings completely irrelevant.

In the first place, SE did not reveal that Cloud had romantic feelings for Tifa when he was a kid. SE revealed that Cloud had a crush on her from afar when they weren't even friends.

I don't know what planet you're from, but on earth, a crush is a romantic feeling.

This is talking about BEFORE Cloud decided to join SOLDIER at the age of 12, so the feelings of wanting to be part of her group of friends, etc., could be happening when he was 9 or 10 or earlier.

Cloud was 14 when he told Tifa he was joining SOLDIER. Cloud also specifically wanted to be noticed by Tifa, not be part of her group. That's something you made up.

That's a crush, not love - no romantic feelings for Tifa were disclosed at that time.

You're really actually trying to argue that a crush is not a romantic feeling?
I have a feeling things will only get sillier from this point on.

In the second place, it's a love triangle. Kitase said that Cloud's supposed to waver between the two girls:

Kitase: When I first read Nojima’s scenario, I felt strongly that his image of a heroine was fresh. The hero didn’t have a typical personality, single-minded or righteous, and Aerith lived in the slums. Those things were really fresh. And having two heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. ~Interview with the creators, pg. 8-13, 10th Anniversary Ultimania

wa·ver1   [wey-ver] Show IPA
verb (used without object)
1. to sway to and fro; flutter: Foliage wavers in the breeze.
2. to flicker or quiver, as light: A distant beam wavered and then disappeared.
3. become unsteady; begin to fail or give way: When she heard the news her courage wavered.
4. to shake or tremble, as the hands or voice: Her voice wavered.
5. to feel or show doubt, indecision, etc.; vacillate: He wavered in his determination.


5 is the most likely. So Cloud doesn't decide either way. He wavers at the start, because he's... wait for it... Oblivious!

Up to that point in the game, there's been no real good reason to think that Cloud might be interested in Tifa. There's been a few suggestions, but nothing all that definite. Why not establish at this time that Cloud used to have a crush on her as a kid? It's possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid to continue, but it's also possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid NOT to continue. That leads up well to the optional HA and LA versions of the HW scene.

But why make a note of informing us of this when Cloud is regaining his true self if it can turn out to have no bearing? The HA/LA variation (your version, where Low means he loves Aerith, even if you get the Yuffie or Barret date and the low version) actually makes more sense without the crush being present.

SE needed a memory that no one else knew about since they need to establish his identity, and Cloud kept the crush to himself when he was a kid. The idea of a crush is a personal memory that would help establish Cloud's identity. Obviously, Cloud is male and Tifa female, so the idea of a crush is made easy by that.

Except that the crush is not something that Cloud can remember that Tifa can confirm, which would defeat the point of bringing it up to restore Cloud's faith in his own existence. It must serve another narrative purpose.

So is the whole LTD, to be fair.

Which is a bitchy response to Tres's rather magnanimous disagreement that a crush cannot be love or romantic.

Again, that's a matter of opinion. Sure, it's possible for someone to have romantic feelings at that time, but it depends largely on the individual. What one person feels at the age of 16 with a crush isn't necessarily the exact same way another person feels at the age of 16 with a crush.

The fact that you're trying to tell me that Crushes are unrelated to romantic feelings tells me we've entered the 'IT SIMPLY CANNOT BE' phase of this discussion.

Now, once again, you're saying "in love" - that's only your opinion. It's a crush, and you cannot say that definitely means love.

He can say it means romantic feelings for, however. That's part and parcel of a crush. It's a romantic infatuation.

In the second place, it's been 4 years since Cloud saw Tifa. He left town when he was 12, and he's 16 at the time of the Nibelheim fire. Cloud and Tifa weren't writing to one another, so they hadn't been in contact. They didn't even know one another that well, according to Tifa. So what exactly would this crush be based on?

Knowing each other well enough.
It was two years, by the way. You're not good at this whole 'accurate information' thing, Anastar.

[ μ ] – εуλ 1986
8/11

· Cloud Strife is born in Nibelheim.

-SPAN OF TIME-

[ μ ] – εуλ 0000
December
· Tifa meets with Cloud at the Water Tower he had called her out to. She received the promise that he would “save her when she was in a pinch” from Cloud, who had said that he wanted to become a SOLDIER.


cloti.jpg


14 years when the promise was made. 16 Into the tube. Actually less than two years pass between these two points.

Was Cloud's crush, in the first place, based on anything since he hardly knew her? Would Cloud's crush be all that significant in the first place, since he barely knew her? How much did Cloud even think of Tifa over those 4 years between the ages of 12-16 when he never saw her or wrote to her? We have no idea. It's totally up to interpretation.

Two, and no, actually, it's not. We know that protecting people becomes an obsession of Cloud's, we know the promise is engraved in his heart, and- should Cloud fall in battle, he apologizes for not being able to fulfill the promise- all in BC.

The evidence that Cloud still has a crush on her at the age of 16 is that he puts his helmet on to hide from her. Cloud only said that he put his helmet on because he was embarrassed that he didn't make it into SOLDIER.

And that he didn't want Tifa seeing him as a failure.

BTW, once again, thank you for stabbing Clerith in the heart with your anti-C/T arguments.
Because if how well you know someone counts, goodbye Cloud loving Aerith.
If never being explicitly called love prevent Cloud from loving Tifa when they were younger, than what chance does Aerith have?

At least Tifa IS someone's beloved. And knows Cloud all too well. And supports the mentally weak side of Cloud. And was the only person Cloud opened his heart to. And is the person Cloud lives with, formed a family with together, and has a future together with.
But no, we can't POSSIBLY tell who the person that loves Tifa might be.

Once again, I ask, BTW,
If we cannot know who Tifa is beloved by, who her 'beloved-er' is because their name is never stated, how can we know who Man and Woman of COLB and COLW are? Their names are never stated either.
 
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Alessa Gillespie

a letter to my future self
AKA
Sansa Stark, Sweet Bro, Feferi, tentacleTherapist, Nin, Aki, Catwoman, Shinjiro Aragaki, Terezi, Princess Bubblegum
I realize that Sony's English translations can suck, but it's beginning to sound like you're saying that we can only figure out a major part of the plot if we know Japanese. Does SE care only about it's JP audience or something?
I think it's basically the same thing as arguing Chrona's gender in Soul Eater from an English translation. Japanese doesn't have gendered pronouns, whereas English does. Therefore you can't say that the author of Soul Eater intended that people interpret Chrona was female/male based on the quirks of the language it was translated into alone.

Up to that point in the game, there's been no real good reason to think that Cloud might be interested in Tifa. There's been a few suggestions, but nothing all that definite. Why not establish at this time that Cloud used to have a crush on her as a kid? It's possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid to continue, but it's also possible for a crush on Tifa as a kid NOT to continue. That leads up well to the optional HA and LA versions of the HW scene.
there's not really a good reason to believe cloud was in love with aerith, either. there's no reason to believe cloud liked anyone other than lifestream!cloud indicating that he'd like it if tifa told him she liked him.

for all we know ff7 could have been a very long story about how difficult it is being an asexual aromantic

The evidence that Cloud still has a crush on her at the age of 16 is that he puts his helmet on to hide from her. Cloud only said that he put his helmet on because he was embarrassed that he didn't make it into SOLDIER.
or cc which sort of rubs ZERITHCLOTI in your face like its poo and you happened to be a naughty dog who didn't wait for someone to open the door
 
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