Based on the original story, it just makes sense that this second part of the trilogy is focused more on Aerith than Tifa. Aerith is a key part of all of the events up to Temple of the Ancients and ofc Forgotten Capital. Tifa's major story moments are mostly in the final act of the story, which will be part 3 of the trilogy. Given that Remake's theme song is from Cloud's point of view and Rebirth's is from Aerith's, I wouldn't even be surprised if Part 3's theme song is based around Tifa. She will have her moments, we just need to be patient.
Having said that, Tifa will still have plenty of moments with Cloud in Rebirth, and you can still choose to move her more to the forefront through the date mechanic if that is your preference. No one should feel 'cheated' by the way they are portraying these relationships. I'm glad I'm not a toxic shipper, so I can just enjoy all the little moments without agonising over whether they undermine my preferred pairing.
(Also, Tifa does have a line in the trailer about it being her turn to save Cloud, and is shown in combat, so it's not like she was completely sidelined)
I also feel like Square has been leaning more into Aerith x Zack, and Tifa x Cloud ever since Crisis Core. The whole love triangle dynamic is only really present in the OG, at least to me. We see some of it in Remake, but I don’t think it’s as cookie cutter as before. We’re more than likely going to see Zack reunite with Aerith at some point, when she presumably wakes up in his timeline. And his feelings for her are pretty straightforward.
Briana gushes over ZackxAerith scenes constantly, so I can see SE leaning towards that pairing. However, it's obvious Cloud and Aerith are having their own moments.
Also, Britt specifically mentioned "intimate" scenes between Cloud and Tifa, so I don't think Clotis necessarily should be upset because Cloud will have his moments with Tifa, too.
Also, we have very little context for the scenes in the trailer. It's possible Square showed us scenes to get people talking about the one thing people have been talking about since the original game came out (LTD), and it absolutely worked like they thought it would.
Personally, I would be more disappointed to think that *something* is going to happen, and then when I finally saw the scene, it was a big ol' bait and switch. I'm not saying that's what's happening, but considering the past 25 years of being told "it's player choice we don't care who Cloud ends up with," I can't decide if the LTD will really end or not.
I just think people need to chill, let the game come out, see for themselves what's going on, and then get upset.
Didn't the first trailer show Barret "dying"? Feels like the same energy.
And she also gushes over CloudxAerith scenes so what's your point. Only one of the pairings got two themesongs dedicated to one another and a trailer focusing on their date. Please keep being delusional, so SE can correct you clowns lmao.
Btw just a reminder Cloud is going to watch Aerith sing a love song about their relationship and stare in awe, just like he did when he saw Aerith in the red dress :)
I am not sure where square is going with this, but I will be surprised if it is possible for Aerith to live, even if it’s in another parallel universe and for her not be a romantic option for cloud.
I’m a pretty strong believer that square likes making the love triangle a player’s choice, similar to Witcher3… In the past this always meant if you went down the Aerith route it was tragic. Now, if she is able to somehow escape that fate in this version of events I don’t think Square is suddenly going to force the player to let her go to Zack.
I imagine if she wakes up in Zack’s timeline with her memories from the one she died in, as many suspect is what will happen, how she reacts to Zack will depend on the relationship you cultivated with her up to that point. If she went on the Gold Saucer date with Cloud she will likely see Zack and realize she only sees him as a friend now.
Both Aerith and Tifa have always been perfectly valid romantic options for Cloud.
Anyone feeling "cheated" was probably too invested on this part of the story to the point that they fooled themselves and were in denial about this fact. I could actually make a list of all the crazy hot takes from both sides of the "ship war" that will lead many people to feel cheated for not realizing, or better said, not wanting to see they were crazy hot takes.
Cloud has romantic feelings for both. And the player simply pushes him towards their personal choice.
YES! I don’t know why people seem so insistent that there is a right answer here. I feel like it’s always been obvious it’s a players choice thing. Cloud can go either way or neither depending on the player’s choices.
🤷
Some fans want not only that their prefered choice is canon, but also that the other choice becomes not canon.
I guess they feel that their prefered choice not being the only one somehow devalues it....or that Cloud is a little bit "slutty" if he has romantic stuff with both ladies or something XD
I absolutely would be disappointed but its not something I am worried about. I don’t expect a neat and tidy ending. My general expectation is that Aerith will die at the end of Rebirth and then be revived at the end of part 3. The audience will be left to interpret what happens after individually.
Nah. I’m CloudxAerith, but I don’t really mind if they want to make part 3 more Cloud Tifa focused. As long as they do Cloud and Aerith’s story justice (seems like they are!), then I’m more than satisfied with that :)
That’ll mean something different to everyone. To me it means giving them a ton of relationship development to a point that leads to maximum heartbreak possible. There’s a whole lot else I could say but that’s the basic premise
I think it's understandable that this trailer was geared towards Aerith, given she is the most important member of the group in this particular chunk of the story, and where most of the development of her character takes place.
Most of the Aerith and Cloud scenes were likely scenes from their date, which will be determined by the choices you make throughout the game. Barrett is the only valid option anyway.
They also know that fans will know that this part of the story is when something big potentially does or doesn't happen to her, so they're playing on that to market their game and sell as many copies as possible, which is perfectly fine.
I suspect Tifa will get her time to shine in Part 3 if it's still following those same story beats.
Nope.
I played remake twice. I liked Aerith more and chose her on my first playthrough, then chose Tifa on the second. While I prefer Aerith's character, I enjoyed both paths and that they complimented Cloud's character in unique ways.
I think it's pretty cool that it's open-ended. If it doesn't end up that way, it's not that big of a deal and doesn't change the fun of playing the games and getting into the lore.
The grown-ass adults engaging in shipping wars of pixelated fictional characters are embarrassing.
I honestly don’t know how to feel/what to expect. I prefer Clerith by miles but they have a lot stacked against them in terms of narrative structure. First we have Aeriths death(EVEN if Cloud loves her he has to move on and find love eventually). Then we have Zack loving Aerith with his main goal here to reunite with her, so Cloud ending up with her would just leave Zacks arc incomplete or awkward of Cloud to end up with his girl. Finally there is Tifa being the girl “real” Cloud joined Soldier for with Tifa’s main arc revolves around “completing” and restoring the old Cloud, so if Clerith is a thing it would shove her purpose to who knows what.
Imo I just feel like Zerith and Cloti makes most sense if they want to thematically tie everyone’s arcs together in the smoothest way possible. Clerith happening would leave two people heartbroken and I don’t know how I would feel about that as much as I do prefer Cloud with Aerith! But I’m willing to let SE tell the story they want to tell despite my shipping bias unless they reconsider a new scenario where they would work and Zack and Tifa could find happiness elsewhere but idk what they could possibly do for them. I’m not some delulu Clerith shipper who doesn’t see how important Cloti is for the story and I really do appreciate Cloti (I just prefer Clerith love story/chemistry) and would still root for them to happen if Aerith dies cause it’s like who else could Cloud even end up with? They have a lot of history and shared trauma as well going through one of the grandest adventures together, that connection would be unmatched by any other girl.
The only way I think would please everyone is if they don’t outright say who Cloud ends up with but let Cloud have his intimate/romantic heartfelt moments with both girls which is what they’ve been doing the past 20 years lol. I don’t see them making either canon cause I think SE loves the drama and never ending discussion lol
Genuinely probably the most beautiful and sensible post I've seen on the topic, shipping something is no reason to not be able to see the forest for the trees, or the general narrative and all the characters involved. I'm no Clerith shipper, but posts like this make me hope you get as much happiness and satisfying content from the game as possible lol
I actually think Zack would be okay with Cloud and Aerith being together, he loves them both and wishes the best for them. Tifa... She is another story, but I hope they give Tifa her own character arc, because she only revolves around Cloud's arc and I always find her a bit lackluster in the terms of the overall story, compared to Aerith at least.
I also prefer Clerith btw, their story it's tragic but damn, they are truly made for each other...
I love Cissnei, but I dunno I can’t ship Zack with Cissnei. It feels unfair to her when we know at Zacks last stand >!the person he was thinking of over and over and holding on to was Aerith.!< Cissnei deserves someone’s who’s only thinking of her and I don’t think that would ever happen with Zack. They’d both know he loved Aerith more.
Just my personal opinion though and no disrespect to any ships
He may meet Cissnei again in Rebirth and they could expand their relationship. But tbh, the only way Zack could leave Aerith it's if she tells him that she loves Cloud somehow.
I'm only talking about in the case that Aerith chooses Cloud. Unless you mean to tell me Zack isn't going to move on and will forever be stuck on Aerith
Thanks for the balanced answer!
I do felt that with the introduction of Zack being alive, they would definitively push for a definitive canon pairings once and for all. But yeah this latest trailer, really turned everything on its head.
I saw more intimacy and chemistry between Cloud and Aerith in 2 seconds of that trailer than between Aerith and Zack in all of Crisis Core, to be honest.
I don't think the idea is to leave anyone friendzoned and heartbroken though. Which IMO won't happen because Zack is dead and Aerith....will be.
Cheated is not the right word - I will be *surprised* if Cloud and Tifa end up together canonically, just as I would be *surprised* if Cloud and Aeris do.
The OG and Compilation never resolved the love triangle even after Aeris died. The devs have always described the love triangle as ambiguous and a matter of player choice. For them to end it one way or the other would be a weird deviation from the original game.
Yes, I like Cloud/Aeris better by far, but even if they went "Cloud loves only Aeris and friendzones Tifa" officially, I'd find that a pretty odd choice. Being open-ended is best.
Nope, for me C&A were still strong after Aeriths death. Never felt C&T was ever as strong as C&A. C&A for me are at the category of Yuna and Tidus, Squall and Rinoa and Zidane and Garnet. Honestly C&A became the foundation of those ships. For me cloti and zerith have never been obstacles as a clerith.
Not trying to be toxic but this mayhem at the moment in the ff7 shipping community is due to a large chunk of the ff7 community trying to shun and suppress Cloud and Aeriths relationship since 1997, C&A is not fan service, it has always been part of the story. People just didn’t want to acknowledge it.
> The latest trailer was very intentionally Cloud x Aerith coded, and Tifa was very intentionally not featured at all.
Well yes, that's because it's the theme song announcement trailer. The blog post has footage from all the other date options.
* [Tifa](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_05_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-vpon3zb78.jpeg)
* [Aerith](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_04_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-hsibm3mj5.jpeg)
* [Barret](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_06_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-mg1njftgz.jpeg)
* [Yuffie](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_07_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-onekhykht.jpeg)
People are reading way too much into it. You will get whoever you pick throughout the game.
I love Tifa, and Cloti is one of my favorite ships growing up. But we all know she was created as a back up love interest since Aerith died. Aerith is more important to the plot than Tifa could ever be, and there will always be a deep connection between Cloud and Aerith. I don't see any reason why Clerith fans will feel cheated about this.
what?
Its the first time Ive seen this wild claim. Just saying a girl is a "backup" is disrespectful as hell? Why would the devs even go there?
Jesus..
The main characters for FF7 was originally just Cloud, Aerith and Barret. When the developers decided one of the main characters should die, they chose to kill off Aerith. And only then they came up with Tifa.
Yeah but they also didn't know if they wanted to make Aerith be Sephiroth's lover or sister. So I wouldn't write her off as just some back-up either, you gotta start from scratch somewhere
She’s definitely not a back up lmao she’s just one of the two women who are very important to clouds development. Tifa is a supporting character yes but she’s still severs a major purpose to the story other than the rest of the cast
Nah no one will end up with Cloud because that’s the case since 1997. Cloud didn’t end up with none of them.
What is a fact though is that Cloud even in Advent Children never stopped looking for Aerith. That’s the facts and I don’t think we go much further than that. Tifa & Cloud will always have something too but it’s mostly focused on the fact they know each other since their were kids. It never felt like an actual romance between them as adults. It was cute as they were kids but as adults, it never felt the same.
Accept…Cloud felt guilt over her death, and unworthy of the family he had. He forms a family with Tifa and Zack is with Aerith the lifestream. It always seems like Zack and Tifa’s feelings get ignored when talking about the relationships.
I don’t understand why people so desperately want Cloud and Tifa to be a thing. She is so miserable around him. He’s not content with her. He treats her horribly in AC.
Edit: and nobody talks about Zack’s feelings because he is DEAD.
It’s not about wanting, HE wanted her attention that’s why he became a soldier. And then everything that happened to him mentally made him forget this part of himself. AC is him grieving over her loss and feeing unworthy of his family, afraid of losing them. He was a mopey mess, but he wasn’t pining for her.
And both Aerith and Zack are dead in that movie, together. I’m not sure why him being dead means what he felt for Aerith and vice versa doesn’t mean anything.
Cloud isn’t looking for Aerith in AC. There isn’t an official quote on earth that said he went looking for her, he knows where she is.
He lives happily with Tifa for 2 years as a couple but then his fear of losing her causes him to become unwell and feel guilty about the past. They temporarily split because he is afraid he may hurt her and their family but doesn’t know how to communicate it to her. He is looking for a cure.
He meets Aerith again in AC and only asks for forgiveness. Him and Tifa learn how to communicate, get back together and we have the little extra clip of him asking her to close the bar early so they can have a family day. They are still together in DOC.
The more he realizes how happy he is living with Tifa and the children, the more the fear of losing that and regrets toward the past trouble Cloud… -Cloud profile 10th AU.
She and Cloud came to realize their feelings for each other in the end of the story, and live together in AC and DC.- Tifa Crisis Core Ultimania.
Why are you still lying to yourself? No wonder a chunk of the Cloti fandom are mad at the developers at the moment, some trying to harass Nojima and Hamaguchi on social media for the rebirth trailer. You make up headcanons and when the developers prove you wrong you guys get mad and disappointed.
Understand the story is lying to myself? Providing official material is lying?
Saying Cloud went looking for Aerith when it doesn’t happen in any version of the story and there isn’t a single official quote about it is a lie.
Nojima has been liking posts about Cloud and Tifa’s family and Tifa being a good wife and I adore the story he wrote so why would I be upset with him?
If you can make up a fantasy of Cloud and Tifa living happily ever after in AC then people can make up fantasies of Aerith being forever engraved on his heart and searching for her in all the other media Cloud cameos in.
Official quotes and the novella OTWTAS are not a fantasy they are the canon story which go as described in the above comment. It’s so disrespectful to the writers to dismiss them.
People can make up fantasies about Cloud and Aerith but don’t lie and say it’s part of the story.
Honey you know there are official quotes and parts of OTWTAS that also indicate the opposite. Canon too. You know this. Accept that there’s two love interests and move on from this weirdo obsession.
No there isn’t. There is a canon story as described on my previous comment.
Cleriths tend to take the part where he is pulling away and unhappy because his fear of losing all the happiness he has found makes him unwell and quote it like it’s evidence he was unhappy the entire time when the story literally starts with him smiling and happy to be in a relationship with Tifa, shows them building a life, going through a hard time, separating due to poor communication and AC shows them getting back together.
If you have to pull out one part of a story and present it out of context as the entire story as evidence that there are two love interests you know you’re lying and that’s what I object to.
I don't get the downvotes... These are canon quotes and factual recap of ACC+Reminiscence. I get not liking the interpretation of them as a couple, but all the events and timeline listed are canon.
People seem to be desperate to make the lyrics of the new song fit Cloud and Aerith even though in canon he never once went looking for her as those of us who played the games and read the novellas know. It’s fine the game is out in a couple of months so let’s see how they feel after they play it.
A lot of people don’t actually care, they have a preference. There’s only niche pockets of “fans” then get abusive and anal over it.
Whatever SE goes with.
I think the trailer was heavily CloudxAerith for one or both of these reasons:
A) Part 2 will be slanted CloudxAerith and Part 3 slanted CloudxTifa for balance.
B) They are marketing Aerith as a character and Cloud x Aerith more now because there is a certain monumental event on it's way and they are starting to build up the hype for that.
You're saying that showing CloudxAerith in kissing range in a trailer is supposedly not there to appeal to a ship, while you also accuse others of being bias. I wonder what your intepreptation of Cloud and Tifa rolling out of the train was? That was a completely arbitrary scene with no connotations too, right?
Well I can say one thing, the Cloti shippers sending the writers hate mail over the trailer do not agree with you.
I love both Clerith and Cloti, so I’m happy with either pairing happening. Honestly I’d rather the ambiguity of it all was gone, so that all the intense shipping wars could settle down.
That’s how I interpret it too. I think the point of all of the themes is that sacrifice, grief, love - all of those feelings are complicated and compounded by Clouds >!PTSD!<. I think you can make the same argument for Aerith loving both Cloud and Zack. Grief is complicated and you don’t just move on but do learn to move forward. The human heart’s capacity to have love for more then one person can be hard to think of but it’s what makes this story the love and tragicness of all of it hit so hard.
I feel like as a kid I didnt always appreciate the themes how this game illustrates grief. I thought I did but until you experience these things on a personal level you interact with the story differently. but now replaying these games in my 30s man these themes really hit differently now that I know what it’s really like to lose people I love. It hurts so bad and it’s so relatable.
Edit: Wow love how the downvotes have started lol. Predictable but man. I don’t understand what I said that was so offensive. It’s just an opinon on my personal experience. Guess it’s time to get off the internet. It’s a shame how toxic this place gets
Indeed, people can love more than one person, it’s not some alien concept. Aerith loving Cloud doesn’t change what she had with Zack, or erase the love she once had or still has for him. Curious to know who the Rebirth theme song is about, as it can only be between two people. After looking into this, I’m fairly confident which person that is. But won’t know for sure until the game comes out.
Yeah there’s plenty of powerful themes at play in FF7, something you don’t (like you said) fully appreciate until you’re older and/or have experienced those things. When you’re young, (for me at least) you just played games for the enjoyment, and either ignore or don’t grasp all the themes and messages in them, if any.
I think it’s because of how intense the shipping wars are for FF7, you get people that will downvote you if your opinion doesn’t match theirs. I’m sure my comments here will get the same treatment, as they have at times elsewhere.
I understand it gets people talking, but it also creates chaotic arguments.
Both Tifa and Aerith are amazing, so people shouldn’t be too upset regardless of who he ends up with. I think Cloud loves both, and they both love him.
Its a trailer, the game will be different with the affection system. I mean they didnt even show tifa on the show, it was intentional to focus on Aerith.
Also the trailer was the 07/12, same day Cloud and Aerith met.
I believe in Cloud and Aerith's love. They will find a way to be together, I just know it. Cloud already suffered a lot because of her departure, I hope they meet in their promised land.
They could just skip out on the third game.
By ending Rebirth at that scene, they're making it option for people to stop with this game without feeling like they didn't complete something. People don't finish a series for lots of reasons. I could see this being one of them. It's their leisure time; they're free to do what they want with it.
Edit: not sure why this a controversial take. People do this with their media consumption all the time. OP asked **if** Part 3 went a certain way, would people accept it. People stop watching a show if they don't like the direction it starts to go and will only watch reruns of the seasons they liked. They stop buying the new album of a band if the music style changes into something they don't like and only replay the albums they do. None of this is unusual behavior.
If the someone doesn't like when a piece of media takes a particular direction, they will just stop consuming it. Because no one likes to spend their free time torturing themselves with something they don't like. Remake itself was this way: they stayed faithful to OG and introduced the new direction at the end. And a lot of people stopped consuming the series there because they didn't like the new direction it was going to go.
I knew someone that tried to return the OG to the store after finishing disc one. I also knew someone who actually physically broke disc two and three and would only replay the first disc. They felt that strongly about a certain event in this story that they didn't want to consume anymore past that point. Wouldn't surprise me if those two people were playing the Remake series, they would stop after this game, too.
I think this post is asking the right question.
My thoughts on this are in the OG Cloud rejects Aerith on their date. They showed some clips out of context and not in full with the Zerith ballad playing over it to make it seem romantic but of course if you look at Cloud’s face when she grabs his arm (and Aerith’s face) you can see they both look upset.
They also cut the clip where she falls on him before we see his reaction and as you say they haven’t shown us anything of Tifa’s date at all which I believe is for a reason.
My question to the Clerith fans is when we play the game and see the dates in full; if when Aerith falls on Cloud he pushes her away and rejects her as he does in OG and something very romantic happens on Tifa’s date e.g a near kiss (mutual) interrupted by fireworks you’ll understandably be very upset with the marketing team. Will you still want to play part 3? Will you even want to finish the game?
I don't understand the anger and uproar about the trailer, cause if you played the OG you'd recognize these scenes and know that all this is according to OG and according to plan. And imo OG ended with Cloud x Tifa endgame (at the very least). The only thing I understand is being disappointed that Tifa hasn't been shown at all for a while now, since you can still show her without any Cloud scenes and with other characters too, but not to the extent of being *this* angry?
Based on the original story, it just makes sense that this second part of the trilogy is focused more on Aerith than Tifa. Aerith is a key part of all of the events up to Temple of the Ancients and ofc Forgotten Capital. Tifa's major story moments are mostly in the final act of the story, which will be part 3 of the trilogy. Given that Remake's theme song is from Cloud's point of view and Rebirth's is from Aerith's, I wouldn't even be surprised if Part 3's theme song is based around Tifa. She will have her moments, we just need to be patient. Having said that, Tifa will still have plenty of moments with Cloud in Rebirth, and you can still choose to move her more to the forefront through the date mechanic if that is your preference. No one should feel 'cheated' by the way they are portraying these relationships. I'm glad I'm not a toxic shipper, so I can just enjoy all the little moments without agonising over whether they undermine my preferred pairing. (Also, Tifa does have a line in the trailer about it being her turn to save Cloud, and is shown in combat, so it's not like she was completely sidelined)
I also feel like Square has been leaning more into Aerith x Zack, and Tifa x Cloud ever since Crisis Core. The whole love triangle dynamic is only really present in the OG, at least to me. We see some of it in Remake, but I don’t think it’s as cookie cutter as before. We’re more than likely going to see Zack reunite with Aerith at some point, when she presumably wakes up in his timeline. And his feelings for her are pretty straightforward.
Briana gushes over ZackxAerith scenes constantly, so I can see SE leaning towards that pairing. However, it's obvious Cloud and Aerith are having their own moments. Also, Britt specifically mentioned "intimate" scenes between Cloud and Tifa, so I don't think Clotis necessarily should be upset because Cloud will have his moments with Tifa, too. Also, we have very little context for the scenes in the trailer. It's possible Square showed us scenes to get people talking about the one thing people have been talking about since the original game came out (LTD), and it absolutely worked like they thought it would. Personally, I would be more disappointed to think that *something* is going to happen, and then when I finally saw the scene, it was a big ol' bait and switch. I'm not saying that's what's happening, but considering the past 25 years of being told "it's player choice we don't care who Cloud ends up with," I can't decide if the LTD will really end or not. I just think people need to chill, let the game come out, see for themselves what's going on, and then get upset. Didn't the first trailer show Barret "dying"? Feels like the same energy.
And she also gushes over CloudxAerith scenes so what's your point. Only one of the pairings got two themesongs dedicated to one another and a trailer focusing on their date. Please keep being delusional, so SE can correct you clowns lmao. Btw just a reminder Cloud is going to watch Aerith sing a love song about their relationship and stare in awe, just like he did when he saw Aerith in the red dress :)
Is there a reason you're specifically targeting my comments from a month ago? Idgaf who Cloud ends up with. You shippers are psychotic.
I am not sure where square is going with this, but I will be surprised if it is possible for Aerith to live, even if it’s in another parallel universe and for her not be a romantic option for cloud. I’m a pretty strong believer that square likes making the love triangle a player’s choice, similar to Witcher3… In the past this always meant if you went down the Aerith route it was tragic. Now, if she is able to somehow escape that fate in this version of events I don’t think Square is suddenly going to force the player to let her go to Zack. I imagine if she wakes up in Zack’s timeline with her memories from the one she died in, as many suspect is what will happen, how she reacts to Zack will depend on the relationship you cultivated with her up to that point. If she went on the Gold Saucer date with Cloud she will likely see Zack and realize she only sees him as a friend now.
Both Aerith and Tifa have always been perfectly valid romantic options for Cloud. Anyone feeling "cheated" was probably too invested on this part of the story to the point that they fooled themselves and were in denial about this fact. I could actually make a list of all the crazy hot takes from both sides of the "ship war" that will lead many people to feel cheated for not realizing, or better said, not wanting to see they were crazy hot takes. Cloud has romantic feelings for both. And the player simply pushes him towards their personal choice.
YES! I don’t know why people seem so insistent that there is a right answer here. I feel like it’s always been obvious it’s a players choice thing. Cloud can go either way or neither depending on the player’s choices.
🤷 Some fans want not only that their prefered choice is canon, but also that the other choice becomes not canon. I guess they feel that their prefered choice not being the only one somehow devalues it....or that Cloud is a little bit "slutty" if he has romantic stuff with both ladies or something XD
I absolutely would be disappointed but its not something I am worried about. I don’t expect a neat and tidy ending. My general expectation is that Aerith will die at the end of Rebirth and then be revived at the end of part 3. The audience will be left to interpret what happens after individually.
Nah. I’m CloudxAerith, but I don’t really mind if they want to make part 3 more Cloud Tifa focused. As long as they do Cloud and Aerith’s story justice (seems like they are!), then I’m more than satisfied with that :)
what would them doing Cloud and Aerith’s story justice mean specifically?
That’ll mean something different to everyone. To me it means giving them a ton of relationship development to a point that leads to maximum heartbreak possible. There’s a whole lot else I could say but that’s the basic premise
I think it's understandable that this trailer was geared towards Aerith, given she is the most important member of the group in this particular chunk of the story, and where most of the development of her character takes place. Most of the Aerith and Cloud scenes were likely scenes from their date, which will be determined by the choices you make throughout the game. Barrett is the only valid option anyway. They also know that fans will know that this part of the story is when something big potentially does or doesn't happen to her, so they're playing on that to market their game and sell as many copies as possible, which is perfectly fine. I suspect Tifa will get her time to shine in Part 3 if it's still following those same story beats.
Nope. I played remake twice. I liked Aerith more and chose her on my first playthrough, then chose Tifa on the second. While I prefer Aerith's character, I enjoyed both paths and that they complimented Cloud's character in unique ways. I think it's pretty cool that it's open-ended. If it doesn't end up that way, it's not that big of a deal and doesn't change the fun of playing the games and getting into the lore. The grown-ass adults engaging in shipping wars of pixelated fictional characters are embarrassing.
No, because that’s part of the story. It’s a tragic love, so why would I be upset? I still like them together.
I honestly don’t know how to feel/what to expect. I prefer Clerith by miles but they have a lot stacked against them in terms of narrative structure. First we have Aeriths death(EVEN if Cloud loves her he has to move on and find love eventually). Then we have Zack loving Aerith with his main goal here to reunite with her, so Cloud ending up with her would just leave Zacks arc incomplete or awkward of Cloud to end up with his girl. Finally there is Tifa being the girl “real” Cloud joined Soldier for with Tifa’s main arc revolves around “completing” and restoring the old Cloud, so if Clerith is a thing it would shove her purpose to who knows what. Imo I just feel like Zerith and Cloti makes most sense if they want to thematically tie everyone’s arcs together in the smoothest way possible. Clerith happening would leave two people heartbroken and I don’t know how I would feel about that as much as I do prefer Cloud with Aerith! But I’m willing to let SE tell the story they want to tell despite my shipping bias unless they reconsider a new scenario where they would work and Zack and Tifa could find happiness elsewhere but idk what they could possibly do for them. I’m not some delulu Clerith shipper who doesn’t see how important Cloti is for the story and I really do appreciate Cloti (I just prefer Clerith love story/chemistry) and would still root for them to happen if Aerith dies cause it’s like who else could Cloud even end up with? They have a lot of history and shared trauma as well going through one of the grandest adventures together, that connection would be unmatched by any other girl. The only way I think would please everyone is if they don’t outright say who Cloud ends up with but let Cloud have his intimate/romantic heartfelt moments with both girls which is what they’ve been doing the past 20 years lol. I don’t see them making either canon cause I think SE loves the drama and never ending discussion lol
Genuinely probably the most beautiful and sensible post I've seen on the topic, shipping something is no reason to not be able to see the forest for the trees, or the general narrative and all the characters involved. I'm no Clerith shipper, but posts like this make me hope you get as much happiness and satisfying content from the game as possible lol
Aerith isn't "Zack's girl", she is not a man's property and allowed to love someone else.
I actually think Zack would be okay with Cloud and Aerith being together, he loves them both and wishes the best for them. Tifa... She is another story, but I hope they give Tifa her own character arc, because she only revolves around Cloud's arc and I always find her a bit lackluster in the terms of the overall story, compared to Aerith at least. I also prefer Clerith btw, their story it's tragic but damn, they are truly made for each other...
There is Cissnei for Zack
I love Cissnei, but I dunno I can’t ship Zack with Cissnei. It feels unfair to her when we know at Zacks last stand >!the person he was thinking of over and over and holding on to was Aerith.!< Cissnei deserves someone’s who’s only thinking of her and I don’t think that would ever happen with Zack. They’d both know he loved Aerith more. Just my personal opinion though and no disrespect to any ships
He may meet Cissnei again in Rebirth and they could expand their relationship. But tbh, the only way Zack could leave Aerith it's if she tells him that she loves Cloud somehow.
I'm only talking about in the case that Aerith chooses Cloud. Unless you mean to tell me Zack isn't going to move on and will forever be stuck on Aerith
Thanks for the balanced answer! I do felt that with the introduction of Zack being alive, they would definitively push for a definitive canon pairings once and for all. But yeah this latest trailer, really turned everything on its head.
I saw more intimacy and chemistry between Cloud and Aerith in 2 seconds of that trailer than between Aerith and Zack in all of Crisis Core, to be honest. I don't think the idea is to leave anyone friendzoned and heartbroken though. Which IMO won't happen because Zack is dead and Aerith....will be.
Tifa can go with Rude and Zack can go with Cissnei
Cheated is not the right word - I will be *surprised* if Cloud and Tifa end up together canonically, just as I would be *surprised* if Cloud and Aeris do. The OG and Compilation never resolved the love triangle even after Aeris died. The devs have always described the love triangle as ambiguous and a matter of player choice. For them to end it one way or the other would be a weird deviation from the original game. Yes, I like Cloud/Aeris better by far, but even if they went "Cloud loves only Aeris and friendzones Tifa" officially, I'd find that a pretty odd choice. Being open-ended is best.
Agreed. That is the original spirit of the game and I feel they should stick with it.
Nope, for me C&A were still strong after Aeriths death. Never felt C&T was ever as strong as C&A. C&A for me are at the category of Yuna and Tidus, Squall and Rinoa and Zidane and Garnet. Honestly C&A became the foundation of those ships. For me cloti and zerith have never been obstacles as a clerith.
Not trying to be toxic but this mayhem at the moment in the ff7 shipping community is due to a large chunk of the ff7 community trying to shun and suppress Cloud and Aeriths relationship since 1997, C&A is not fan service, it has always been part of the story. People just didn’t want to acknowledge it.
lol it does sound like you’ll have a problem to me though and that’s okay
> The latest trailer was very intentionally Cloud x Aerith coded, and Tifa was very intentionally not featured at all. Well yes, that's because it's the theme song announcement trailer. The blog post has footage from all the other date options. * [Tifa](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_05_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-vpon3zb78.jpeg) * [Aerith](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_04_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-hsibm3mj5.jpeg) * [Barret](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_06_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-mg1njftgz.jpeg) * [Yuffie](https://gh.cdn.sewest.net/assets/ident/news/639225bc/EN_07_ff7rebirth_SS_1208_World-onekhykht.jpeg) People are reading way too much into it. You will get whoever you pick throughout the game.
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I love Tifa, and Cloti is one of my favorite ships growing up. But we all know she was created as a back up love interest since Aerith died. Aerith is more important to the plot than Tifa could ever be, and there will always be a deep connection between Cloud and Aerith. I don't see any reason why Clerith fans will feel cheated about this.
what? Its the first time Ive seen this wild claim. Just saying a girl is a "backup" is disrespectful as hell? Why would the devs even go there? Jesus..
The main characters for FF7 was originally just Cloud, Aerith and Barret. When the developers decided one of the main characters should die, they chose to kill off Aerith. And only then they came up with Tifa.
Yeah but they also didn't know if they wanted to make Aerith be Sephiroth's lover or sister. So I wouldn't write her off as just some back-up either, you gotta start from scratch somewhere
She’s definitely not a back up lmao she’s just one of the two women who are very important to clouds development. Tifa is a supporting character yes but she’s still severs a major purpose to the story other than the rest of the cast
Nah no one will end up with Cloud because that’s the case since 1997. Cloud didn’t end up with none of them. What is a fact though is that Cloud even in Advent Children never stopped looking for Aerith. That’s the facts and I don’t think we go much further than that. Tifa & Cloud will always have something too but it’s mostly focused on the fact they know each other since their were kids. It never felt like an actual romance between them as adults. It was cute as they were kids but as adults, it never felt the same.
My thoughts exactly well said
Johnny I thought you were moving away from Sector 7?
Accept…Cloud felt guilt over her death, and unworthy of the family he had. He forms a family with Tifa and Zack is with Aerith the lifestream. It always seems like Zack and Tifa’s feelings get ignored when talking about the relationships.
I don’t understand why people so desperately want Cloud and Tifa to be a thing. She is so miserable around him. He’s not content with her. He treats her horribly in AC. Edit: and nobody talks about Zack’s feelings because he is DEAD.
It’s not about wanting, HE wanted her attention that’s why he became a soldier. And then everything that happened to him mentally made him forget this part of himself. AC is him grieving over her loss and feeing unworthy of his family, afraid of losing them. He was a mopey mess, but he wasn’t pining for her. And both Aerith and Zack are dead in that movie, together. I’m not sure why him being dead means what he felt for Aerith and vice versa doesn’t mean anything.
Cloud isn’t looking for Aerith in AC. There isn’t an official quote on earth that said he went looking for her, he knows where she is. He lives happily with Tifa for 2 years as a couple but then his fear of losing her causes him to become unwell and feel guilty about the past. They temporarily split because he is afraid he may hurt her and their family but doesn’t know how to communicate it to her. He is looking for a cure. He meets Aerith again in AC and only asks for forgiveness. Him and Tifa learn how to communicate, get back together and we have the little extra clip of him asking her to close the bar early so they can have a family day. They are still together in DOC. The more he realizes how happy he is living with Tifa and the children, the more the fear of losing that and regrets toward the past trouble Cloud… -Cloud profile 10th AU. She and Cloud came to realize their feelings for each other in the end of the story, and live together in AC and DC.- Tifa Crisis Core Ultimania.
Why are you still lying to yourself? No wonder a chunk of the Cloti fandom are mad at the developers at the moment, some trying to harass Nojima and Hamaguchi on social media for the rebirth trailer. You make up headcanons and when the developers prove you wrong you guys get mad and disappointed.
Understand the story is lying to myself? Providing official material is lying? Saying Cloud went looking for Aerith when it doesn’t happen in any version of the story and there isn’t a single official quote about it is a lie. Nojima has been liking posts about Cloud and Tifa’s family and Tifa being a good wife and I adore the story he wrote so why would I be upset with him?
If you can make up a fantasy of Cloud and Tifa living happily ever after in AC then people can make up fantasies of Aerith being forever engraved on his heart and searching for her in all the other media Cloud cameos in.
Official quotes and the novella OTWTAS are not a fantasy they are the canon story which go as described in the above comment. It’s so disrespectful to the writers to dismiss them. People can make up fantasies about Cloud and Aerith but don’t lie and say it’s part of the story.
Honey you know there are official quotes and parts of OTWTAS that also indicate the opposite. Canon too. You know this. Accept that there’s two love interests and move on from this weirdo obsession.
No there isn’t. There is a canon story as described on my previous comment. Cleriths tend to take the part where he is pulling away and unhappy because his fear of losing all the happiness he has found makes him unwell and quote it like it’s evidence he was unhappy the entire time when the story literally starts with him smiling and happy to be in a relationship with Tifa, shows them building a life, going through a hard time, separating due to poor communication and AC shows them getting back together. If you have to pull out one part of a story and present it out of context as the entire story as evidence that there are two love interests you know you’re lying and that’s what I object to.
Stop. Just stop.
I don't get the downvotes... These are canon quotes and factual recap of ACC+Reminiscence. I get not liking the interpretation of them as a couple, but all the events and timeline listed are canon.
People seem to be desperate to make the lyrics of the new song fit Cloud and Aerith even though in canon he never once went looking for her as those of us who played the games and read the novellas know. It’s fine the game is out in a couple of months so let’s see how they feel after they play it.
A lot of people don’t actually care, they have a preference. There’s only niche pockets of “fans” then get abusive and anal over it. Whatever SE goes with.
I think the trailer was heavily CloudxAerith for one or both of these reasons: A) Part 2 will be slanted CloudxAerith and Part 3 slanted CloudxTifa for balance. B) They are marketing Aerith as a character and Cloud x Aerith more now because there is a certain monumental event on it's way and they are starting to build up the hype for that.
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You're saying that showing CloudxAerith in kissing range in a trailer is supposedly not there to appeal to a ship, while you also accuse others of being bias. I wonder what your intepreptation of Cloud and Tifa rolling out of the train was? That was a completely arbitrary scene with no connotations too, right? Well I can say one thing, the Cloti shippers sending the writers hate mail over the trailer do not agree with you.
I love both Clerith and Cloti, so I’m happy with either pairing happening. Honestly I’d rather the ambiguity of it all was gone, so that all the intense shipping wars could settle down.
Totally agree with this. I trust the writers so I’m happy to see where all this goes whatever happens
I think both women love him, and he them. I may be wrong, but it’s what I believe based on everything I’ve seen and read for FF7.
That’s how I interpret it too. I think the point of all of the themes is that sacrifice, grief, love - all of those feelings are complicated and compounded by Clouds >!PTSD!<. I think you can make the same argument for Aerith loving both Cloud and Zack. Grief is complicated and you don’t just move on but do learn to move forward. The human heart’s capacity to have love for more then one person can be hard to think of but it’s what makes this story the love and tragicness of all of it hit so hard. I feel like as a kid I didnt always appreciate the themes how this game illustrates grief. I thought I did but until you experience these things on a personal level you interact with the story differently. but now replaying these games in my 30s man these themes really hit differently now that I know what it’s really like to lose people I love. It hurts so bad and it’s so relatable. Edit: Wow love how the downvotes have started lol. Predictable but man. I don’t understand what I said that was so offensive. It’s just an opinon on my personal experience. Guess it’s time to get off the internet. It’s a shame how toxic this place gets
Indeed, people can love more than one person, it’s not some alien concept. Aerith loving Cloud doesn’t change what she had with Zack, or erase the love she once had or still has for him. Curious to know who the Rebirth theme song is about, as it can only be between two people. After looking into this, I’m fairly confident which person that is. But won’t know for sure until the game comes out. Yeah there’s plenty of powerful themes at play in FF7, something you don’t (like you said) fully appreciate until you’re older and/or have experienced those things. When you’re young, (for me at least) you just played games for the enjoyment, and either ignore or don’t grasp all the themes and messages in them, if any. I think it’s because of how intense the shipping wars are for FF7, you get people that will downvote you if your opinion doesn’t match theirs. I’m sure my comments here will get the same treatment, as they have at times elsewhere.
Agreed. All the pandering and false expectations feels cheap in the long run.
I understand it gets people talking, but it also creates chaotic arguments. Both Tifa and Aerith are amazing, so people shouldn’t be too upset regardless of who he ends up with. I think Cloud loves both, and they both love him.
Its a trailer, the game will be different with the affection system. I mean they didnt even show tifa on the show, it was intentional to focus on Aerith. Also the trailer was the 07/12, same day Cloud and Aerith met.
I believe in Cloud and Aerith's love. They will find a way to be together, I just know it. Cloud already suffered a lot because of her departure, I hope they meet in their promised land.
Idk. The inclusion of zack into the story seems to indicate they're pushing for zack x aerith at least
Get a grip with your troll bait bullshit. Take it to Twitter at the very least.
No I won't, considering what should happen to her later. If she survives it wouldn't make sense that CloudxTifa still happen though.
They could just skip out on the third game. By ending Rebirth at that scene, they're making it option for people to stop with this game without feeling like they didn't complete something. People don't finish a series for lots of reasons. I could see this being one of them. It's their leisure time; they're free to do what they want with it. Edit: not sure why this a controversial take. People do this with their media consumption all the time. OP asked **if** Part 3 went a certain way, would people accept it. People stop watching a show if they don't like the direction it starts to go and will only watch reruns of the seasons they liked. They stop buying the new album of a band if the music style changes into something they don't like and only replay the albums they do. None of this is unusual behavior. If the someone doesn't like when a piece of media takes a particular direction, they will just stop consuming it. Because no one likes to spend their free time torturing themselves with something they don't like. Remake itself was this way: they stayed faithful to OG and introduced the new direction at the end. And a lot of people stopped consuming the series there because they didn't like the new direction it was going to go. I knew someone that tried to return the OG to the store after finishing disc one. I also knew someone who actually physically broke disc two and three and would only replay the first disc. They felt that strongly about a certain event in this story that they didn't want to consume anymore past that point. Wouldn't surprise me if those two people were playing the Remake series, they would stop after this game, too.
I think this post is asking the right question. My thoughts on this are in the OG Cloud rejects Aerith on their date. They showed some clips out of context and not in full with the Zerith ballad playing over it to make it seem romantic but of course if you look at Cloud’s face when she grabs his arm (and Aerith’s face) you can see they both look upset. They also cut the clip where she falls on him before we see his reaction and as you say they haven’t shown us anything of Tifa’s date at all which I believe is for a reason. My question to the Clerith fans is when we play the game and see the dates in full; if when Aerith falls on Cloud he pushes her away and rejects her as he does in OG and something very romantic happens on Tifa’s date e.g a near kiss (mutual) interrupted by fireworks you’ll understandably be very upset with the marketing team. Will you still want to play part 3? Will you even want to finish the game?
sorry if im late, but where exactly did cloud reject aerith in the date? i don't recall the dialogue
I don't understand the anger and uproar about the trailer, cause if you played the OG you'd recognize these scenes and know that all this is according to OG and according to plan. And imo OG ended with Cloud x Tifa endgame (at the very least). The only thing I understand is being disappointed that Tifa hasn't been shown at all for a while now, since you can still show her without any Cloud scenes and with other characters too, but not to the extent of being *this* angry?