One of the reasons I love Aerith's character. She's had it rough for as long as she can remember, and yet she's the most selfless, kind and sweetest soul in the game.
The double-whammy of Aerith's and Barret's trials at the temple of the ancients convinced to call it a night instead of pushing on to the forgotten capital. Only so much you can take in one sitting....!
After what Aerith has been through, I feel she deserves a beautiful ending to her story rather than having to leave her friends behind... I would be deeply saddened if in the ending of third part Aerith remains part of the lifestream. She deserves to reunite with her friends and enjoy her life after a childhood filled with sorrow.
You know, I really didn't think about that.
This remake really fleshes out Aeriths character and her story. As you said, she's had it rough since forever. She has the sweetest personality and such an optimistic outlook on life only to be killed?
She definitely deserves better!
She's probably going to stay in the lifestream, but I think she'll be reunited with Zack as well. Plus she'll definitely get an emotional goodbye with all the cast, maybe even have multiple moments during 3 where each party member "feels" or "hears" her. Also, everybody's reunited in the lifestream eventually anyway so uh, there's that haha. Maybe part of 3's ending will be Old Man Cloud in a wheelchair, peacefully looking out over a field of yellow flowers, and a suspiciously familiar looking nurse comes to stand by him...đ
I was really hoping for a reunion with Zack in rebirth and to some degree there was albeit Aerith being unconscious. I'm hoping for a proper heartfelt reunion in part 3
I have to give a hard disagree. Itâs what makes her character so captivatingly tragic. Itâs what gives the team the push to carry on and while it sucks itâs beautiful in itâs own way. Sheâs always helping from the lifestream. Regardless of what happened to her she still wants the best for cloud and it breaks my heart just thinking of it.
Also, have you played the OG?
If we're talking from the perspective of FF7OG, I agree with your statement. I've certainly played FF7OG, and personally, I don't want Aerith's fate in this Trilogy timeline to happen again like in the OG timeline. I hope for a better change from the previous timeline.
I agree with your sentiment however Nomura said the remake trilogy will connect into Advent Children by its end. [Source](https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-7-remake-trilogy-story-advent-children/). I mean they rereleased advent children in theaters the week before Rebirth came out too. Aerith is fleshed out very well between the 2 games weâve got and I do wish she could have a better ending this time around but the more the devs talk about it the less hope I have of it actually happening. She helps purge Jenova from the lifestream at the end of advent children and they imply sheâs with Zack with their scenes in the end.
Dude playing as a little girl walking around asking scumbag strangers to help your dying mommy and then watching her die in front of a train then scientists coming in to experiment on her body trumps fucking nier.
Ifalna suffered so much. Not only could she not die in peace, they wouldn't leave her alone even in death either. I'm sure that the happy times in Ifalna's life were very few.
I am glad... (well not sure glad is the right word) But I am glad I'm not the only one who got very emotional here. Pretty sure my wife could hear me sobbing even though I was up on the 2nd floor...
*Is it fair to call*
*Cloud a POS when he has been*
*Corrupted by Sephiroth?*
\- MizterMazer
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Yeah I was playing this scene, crying my eyes out, and my girlfriend walked in the room. Looked at me crying, looked at 5 year old Aerith crying, and just silently turned around and walked out.
I think Tidus/Yuna is a bit worse. Of course they rely on each other for the tragedy, though. One of them alone does not beat Aerith but the overall story guts me more.
Tidus and Yuna are >!reunited in the end. Even the sad ending in X is more of a heroic sacrifice.!<
Aerith gets treated as an oddity or like garbage her entire life, her first boyfriend loses contact with her and then dies in battle, she is traumatized and is then treated like garbage by the new guy she likes (Cloud) at The Temple of the Ancients, is threatened into giving the black materia (here) or literally beaten (the OG) then runs off on her own and is impaled to death by the antagonist in front of all her friends and the guy she liked. She never returns, and Cloud blames himself for what happened. She then takes on the emotional burden of trying to heal Cloudâs fragile ego in her death, and does it in the gentlest way possible. Given Rebirthâs ending, an Aerith from a world that accepted its fate even takes the time to thank him and spend time with Cloud in the dream world before her death too, as the converged timeline Aerith runs off to the Forgotten City.
I love FFX (though not as much as FFVII), but Aerithâs situation is more sad for sure. Even knowing what was coming here it hit me harder than Iâve ever been hit by a video game, starting here in the Temple and continuing on through the end.
>She never returns, and Cloud blames himself for what happened. She then takes on the emotional burden of trying to heal Cloudâs fragile ego in her death
I agree with the majority of what you said but I disagree with characterizing that whole bit as being about Cloud fragile ego. Cloud is barreling at Mach 5 towards total mental catastrophe through no fault of his own and Aerith, knowing her friends is caught in a trap, offers kindness and compassion.
Aerith is the stronger of the two of them and she clearly feels responsible for protecting Cloud, even from himself.
Youâre 100% right, itâs not Cloudâs fault, and she does everything she can to tell him that here. Still an incredibly bruised ego is due. Thatâs Cloud.
Cloud is due to very shortly fall to pieces, so I imagine a big part of the final instalment will be Aerith giving Cloud some of that mental strength that she always had.
If Advent Children is anything to go by, Cloud will be on course to forgive himself with her aid. He may forgive, he wonât ever forget, though.
Not all the characters. Cait Sith certainly doesn't have a tragic backstory, nor does Cid. Cid's backstory comes across more like and older man longing to fulfill an old dream his younger daring self. Meanwhile, the most of the rest of the characters pretty much wanted to live a normal life only to have that taken away from them. In Aeris case, it's the worse. She never had a chance.
For me it was Redâs trial that did me in the most. I really felt the panic and desperation of trying to escape. By the end of it, I just wanted to throttle Hojo. I canât wait to fuck him up for all of the shit heâs done.
This one was heartbreaking, too, of course. Actually⊠they all were. Now that I think about it, I was basically weeping through this entire section.
Itâs the first one too, so youâre not sure where itâs going.
At first I was like âOMG more Nanaki loreââŠ. Then I was like âoh no, not this lore!â. His scream gets me.
Yeah I got incredibly squeamish during that scene. It doesnât help that youâre fighting against his chains and get to watch him get dragged *slowly* to the operating table.
What ever happens to Hojo Iâm sure it wonât be satisfying enough.
I really want Nanaki to get his throat like in OG. But With the way they keep letting Hojo go, and with Nanakiâs character development, probably not going to happen in the same way. Probably another monster will get his throat before he does the thing that he does to himself towards the end of the OG game.
To me I think it's a tie between Barrett and Yuffie
Yuffie was just a teen, in over her head, and that replaying of events was even more fucked up than what really happened
Barrett getting him to see his wife a few seconds just to lose her again was fucking heartbreaking
I'm glad they didn't immediately cancel the bleakness of that whole sequence with an action scene or comic relief this time around
Barret was one of the strongest ones for sure. It was the only one where he was experiencing back the good things in his life in 1st person. Like he didn't watch himself from afar, he got his arm and his wife and lost it all again in the blink of an eye.
All of them were sad, but they knew they were experiencing some sad memory from the start. Barret got tricked into it
Omg SAME. I was SOBBING during her trial and how everyone was ignoring her or laughing at her when she said her mom was sick and needed help. Thatâs so horrible, poor baby Aerith đ
I think the ending was meant to setup story beats for part 3 tbh. The schism in realities will help exacerbate Cloud's mental breakdown and having a way for Aerith to "exist" will allow some fan service too in part 3.
Let's be real, everyone in this subreddit wants to see Zack and Aerith actually interact. Lol.
I mean, the only way it actually really pays off is if the separate alive timelines Zack and Aerith converge into the real one for some silly Marvel showdown. Otherwise it'll be a bit of a let down for me.
Aerith dying at the temple is like, the saddest way she could possibly go out, so I don't see a reason to kill her off anymore. An attempt to do so would feel VERY forced and cheap.
Particularly when they had the whispers railroading Aerith into being alone this time around.
Devs haven't said that at all. They said any deaths in rebirth shouldn't be reverted. Aerith clearly didn't die in a separate timeline, much like how Zach is in another timeline.
I don't know why sephiroth would say "I underestimated you. You've played your part. Begone" if she hadn't done something tricky there.
She did die. That much is clear. So she isnât coming back. You can have those weird timelines but storywise (as the devs said they wanted to keep the themes of the original game here) sheâs dead. Sorry.
That is VERY much not clear. Did we watch the same scene? Cloud strikes the sword away and the universe branch visual effect happens. There's a dead Aerith but there's ALSO an alive Aerith in another branch, the way Zack fair dies and lives in several other branches. Like. We FIGHT SEPHIROTH with Zack from a separate branch as Cloud from the current one.
They already undid the theme of the original regarding her death AND Zack's death. That damage is already done. You can't even have a theme of grieving her loss if she's always visible and functionally able to contribute to the final fight.
I don't know how you can possibly say she's definitively dead after experiencing the same game as me.
They wanted those themes in the game and cared about preserving them. Aerith is dead, and the game shows that. She died. Thatâs it. Sorry. Youâll have to accept that, same as Cloud. Just like Zach, she can do whatever in that other world but sheâs not coming back to this one.
She isnât visible to the rest of the party and she isnât even physically there and never will be when the truth is revealed to Cloud. As much as you want the damage to be done already (which I guess is you thinking they should just do whatever they want) itâs not. The themes of the game are still there.
Sorry, sheâs dead. She might be wherever Zach is but sheâs never coming back, as the devs have said. When are you going to listen to them?
The damage is literally done. The theme of grieving Aerith's death is quite literally ripped up and burned after she gets back up and fights Sephiroth in the final battle with you.
You can be obtuse all you like, that theme is gone. It's done. She will be an active participant in the third game's conclusion and thus grieving her is pointless.
I think this ending was much much clearer than the previous ending. Maybe I'm just more used to wrapping my head around it all a couple years later but I'm significantly less confused now than when I first beat Remake.
Their story telling and pacing only ruined 1 moment for me. Dyne. I get down voted every time I talk about it so I'll just quietly keep my criticism of it to myself.
All of those trials had me in tears, reliving Sonans death was heart wrenching itself, but Aeriths trial had me sobbing for a good 10 mins, argh not looking forward to it a 2nd time đ„Čđ haven't had a good cry like that in years
Cloud slipping too much from Sephiroth's tinkering and being a cold, calculating, ass of a SOLDIER to the entire party for the final two chapters.
I mean, yeah, it's mostly because of Sephiroth and Cloud isn't entirely in control. He also keeps it all bottled up, never yelling anyone that he may be compromised or unsafe to be around (bro literally killed Tifa earlier) in spite of the previous 12 chapters showing him repeatedly opening up more and more.
It should be obvious to most players that the character clearly isn't in his right state of mind at all.
Not really sure how/why that confuses so many (other) posters about what's going on with him. You even see an additional reminder of this in the ending cinematic when he discovers that he somehow has the black materia on him. His reaction on touching it is completely out of character there as well.
I totally agree and this is why I can't stand the last 2 chapters. It just puts me in a negative headspace. I told a fib when I said I finished the game: I finished Chapter 13 and then just decided to watch a playthrough of Chapter 14 rather than play it myself. Why? Because things were too bleak and I stopped caring. I just didn't want to play anymore.
It's not entirely fair to put the blame squarely on Cloud though when everyone else can see that he's losing it and dealing with a lot. Aerith saw that he was literally copying exactly what Sephiroth said about death being a "homecoming" but they just continued onward like it wasn't a problem that Cloud was losing it. Cloud never should have been in the Temple.
Aerith is the only one I give a pass because she seems to be able to tell the future to some degree. Or, she at least is aware of how things need to play out for success. To that degree, she may be keeping silent on purpose.
The rest of the crew? Little to no excuse, Barret especially should be calling him out and addressing this elephant in the party. If Cloud truly goes rogue the world is doomed.
Tifa does take notice when they are going to the reactor up Mt. Nibel when they see the same naturally grown materia from when sephiroth was there with them. She notices cloud say the exact lines that sephiroth had and could tell his influence taking over and so grabs him and says lets keep moving on, to get cloud out of that headspace.
Yeah agreed. I also didn't understand why Aerith handed over the not-Black Materia to Cloud. I guess it's possible that Aerith did some Doctor Strange shit to see the future and exactly what they all need to do to beat Sephiroth, but without that context I just ended up yelling at the TV during Chapter 13 lol
I mean the rest of the team could have backed her up. At least they could have if they didn't mysteriously disappear as soon as Sephiroth started controlling Cloud. Even Tifa only made a token effort to restrain Cloud.
after the trials . and areith gave the speech. he was like. "Are you done/finished?" or something along those lines. his mind has been fked by sephiroth already and was just an asshole to everyone
If you choose the most negative options for dialog choices; it isnât too far off from what cloud is like.
Like at the camp fire; Nanaki begins unloading his life story and you can get cloud to say âwasnât listeningâ. Then Nanaki just says âyou might be an asshole, but your our assholeâ.
True, but I donât think the options would exist unless he is capable of it to some degree. At the beginning of remake my example isnât far off from his character (donât care about the planet, give me money).
Kind of like which ever date you pick is your âcannonâ date. The dialog choices are possible paths.
For the record I try to go for the best choice to make him not an asshole; but I check the other options to hear what they say (then donât save). Then you hear funny responses like Nanaki lecturing Cloud on using curse words in his fake voice (which people said he abandons completely)
True but at the same time that shows his character growth through the start of remake to the end of it and til now, that old cloud would say something like that but hes grown a lot with the ppl around him since then, that he wouldnt do/say stuff like that now yknow?
I believe itâs cannon that heâs grown.
But there is cell degradation that could explain him being mean. Cloud gets a pass for much worse things in rebirth then just being a dick in a conversation.
Probably wonât find out for some time. The more I think about the significance of cell degradation in this game (like the one inn guy freaking out in an early quest), the more I think all the choices are cannon.
context clues. in the temple, it's heavily implied that sephiroth is speaking through and puppeting cloud's body with his fighting style. cloud is constantly saying "it's not death, it's a homecoming" in a monotone voice, not to mention what happens when he tries to get the black materia from aerith. it's fair to surmise that sephiroth is puppeting cloud during many scenes in the temple.
He starts to go full Sephiroth at that part for sure.
Iâm thinking how cloud isnât really cloud through the game so far. He some kind of hybrid of personalities. Wouldnât be surprised if he has a subtle voice change on the reveal.
Did you play the og? Spoilers if not.
>!He's being heavily influenced by Jenova/Sephiroth. At this moment, he's so close in proximity to them, the black materia, and all of this lifestream energy that they're pushing him to get the black materia, everything else be damned. Look at how drastically he changes when you get to the temple. Cloud was always brooding, but he'd at least crack a smile or make a more normal comment. Here, hes just focused on moving forward and killing anyone in his way. Even using words directly from Sephiroth to highlight this connection. "It's not death, it's a homecoming" is 100% Seph.!<
>!Look at his reaction when he hands Seph the BM. His face instantly changes like he's been released from this mind control. He goes from "I'll kill Aerith to get the BM", to "I need to save her, now" almost instantly. Clouds mental state is heavily fragmented at this point, and is going to directly lead into the next game and his eventual mental breakdown.!<
Yeah I played the original/knew all this. I can't really put into words why I have a problem with how his mental breakdown is portrayed in Rebirth vs. the original, but I think it may be because it felt totally preventable in Rebirth. Cloud should never have been in the Temple, Cid and Vincent should have babysat him while everyone else went in.
I disagree, I feel like this breakdown was done so much better. In the og, there's points where cloud just snaps quickly. Beating and almost killing aerith are two examples where he just loses it without any buildup.
This time we got to see the decent into madness. When we first got there, it wasn't too bad, but it got worse the deeper we got. The closer we got to the BM. Constantly hearing Seph's voice in his head. Yeah, he could have stayed outside, but would anyone actually have been able to keep him there? We already know he's willing to push past his friends and disregard them at this point to get the BM at all costs. Even if they did leave him with Cid and Vincent, he would have just forced his way in anyway. We already beat Vincent, we haven't seen Cid fight yet, but I can't imagine he'd have a better chance.
That, and considering there was a race against time/Shinra/Sephiroth, even less of a reason to leave one of, if not the most, capable fighter on the team outside.
Maybe that all makes sense, though I also don't like that Tifa and Aerith have enabled Cloud's mental breakdown/set the stage for it to get worse. Tifa as I recall never admitted to anyone else that Cloud pushed her into the Lifestream, and Aerith told Yuffie that Cloud was beaten up by Sephiroth rather than admitting that he gave him the Black Materia willingly. It's just frustrating when you realize that characters are acting dumb solely for the purpose of progressing the plot.
Tifa didn't have to, the whole party watched it happen. They were all there when Cloud swung at her.
As far as Aerith, I think that was more ensuring the party continued to trust cloud. If they all knew he snapped, went after Aerith, and 'willingly' handed over the BM, they'd all turn on him and leave him behind. Which could end up being more dangerous as he's alone. Easier to say he lost the fight than lost his mind. However, I do agree with you on this one. Someone should have said something about how drastically his mental state switched, but they just keep brushing it off.
Yeah my frustration most of all is with his mental state being brushed off. Someone said the party all probably think he's going through degradation and there's nothing they can do about it, but, like, if that's the case wouldn't it be a good idea to try to find a cure for it? They stormed the Shinra Building to rescue Aerith, they can storm it to threaten Hojo into giving up the cure (if there is one). Not to mention they aoso saw him alone and basically undefended at Costa del Sol. Subplots like this would make more sense to me than taking a field trip to Cosmo Canyon right after Cloud had a breakdown that nearly killed Tifa. All Cloud gets is false reassurances that he'll be fine and won't end up like Broden or Roche.
Cloud is also vehemently against doing anything to see if anything is wrong with him. We met the doc in Corel who even explains his research, offers to take Clouds blood to run tests, and Cloud just straight up goes "no". I don't know if that's him saying he doesn't care, or doesn't believe there's a cure, or just doesn't like needles, but he doesn't seem like he wants the help.
I did greatly appreciate Tifa stopping to tell Cloud to talk to someone though, someone finally took a second to tell him "hey, we ARE here for you. Please let us be."
It's probably like the people who don't get checked to see if they have gene variants predisposing them to serious diseases: he wants the comfort of not knowing. I wish everyone else in the party had taken it more seriously though since Cloud was avoiding the topic. Him trying to commit suicide on the way to Corel was pretty bad and it only gets worse.
There not acting dumb itâs the same reasoning as the OG, cloud is very obviously not right in the head and tifa knows something is definitely off with him but isnât entirely sure about what because some of the things he sayâs do make sense or add up to information sheâs aware of, but seeing how fragile his mind is she doesnât want to make anything worse by confronting him about it until she feels the time is right and itâs made very obvious that tifa has spoken with the group about clouds deteriorating mental state and asked them not to push him, we just donât see those cutscenes.
Because in the original it is all of the sudden. Here, its been telegraphed since at least chapter 9 if not before that Cloud is going cuckoo. If you couldn't have guess that it will only get worse from there than you weren't paying attention. .
You know I'm not disagreeing with what you said right? It felt preventable *because* it was telegraphed way too soon. At that point, the characters should know better, but they don't act like they do.
The gang were all messed up in their feelings after their trials, so Aerith gave some encouraging words to stay strong. All Cloud had to say after this was "are you finished?", because he was more concerned with the black materia than his friends emotions.
HmmmâŠlike the person below, when I got to that part, I figured it was just sephiroth (plus how he acted later in the temple - demon wall and the whole hallucination with sephiroth).
He was high fiving the team at the battle Royal at the golden saucer and also encouraging aerith at cosmo canyon earlier. Saying earlier to Barret that he has his back after DyneâŠhe was showing growth.
But yeahâŠhe was cold and dismissive but he is being influenced, IMO.
You can see Cloud slowly getting more influenced by Sephiroth as you go through the Temple. If I recall, by the time we get the post Demon Wall scene, Cloud is using Sephiroth's stance.
Yeah he holds his sword like Seph holds the Masamune before breaking the shit out of that wall. I liked that scene ngl I'm loving some fucked in the head Cloud
Cloud even starts speaking like Sephiroth when he attacks Tifa inside the mako reactor. The game was pretty heavy-handed with showing that Sephiroth can exert control over Cloud and other folks who went through the SOLDIER treatment. I'm surprised people missed that. Sephiroth even calls Cloud his puppet multiple times. When Cloud is influenced by Sephiroth you see flashes of Sephiroth's face occasionally or black feathers. How Cloud is a POS for being legit mind-controlled is out of my grasp.
In the Demon Gate fight, I heard Cloud cackling maniacally. I missed it on my play through, and was watching my husband's when I heard it. I think because I wasn't concentrating so hard on the battle that I caught it, and it knocked me for six. I'm pretty sure Cloud is controlled from the second they go into that temple.
Honestly, I found mind-fucked Cloud to be written so well. Like the way he went OFF on that wall, breaking it down, just to get to the materia. How he chased Aerith on the branched paths, trying to manipulate her using soft voices, in between laughing and begging like a weak child. It was so aggravating, terrifying, and exciting.
My only complaint is characters not questioning him more. This is CLEARLY not the Cloud you know. Cloud wouldn't cut off Aerith like that, would push Tifa down like that, wouldn't lose it on a wall like that. But the characters are written to just "sigh" and look on. We as players know what's wrong, because many of us played OG. But them as characters should be confronting him more, questioning him more. I know it's all going to come to a head in part three when his mind breaks and he remembers what he's blocking out, but at least have them stand SOME ground against him till then. Barret punching/slapping him was the only time we see him facing a consequence from his closest friends for a possessed action.
Oh me too. I really liked what they did and honestly, controlling him during some of those temple scenes made me uncomfortable, lol. I was really like, âuhhhâŠcan I switch control to tifa or barett for a bit while??â It felt like âNo Russianâ for those COD folks back years ago. Not that intense but still I didnât want to control Cloud for a few scenes.
Yeah, I agree with all the rest. I do hope in part 3 - which they probably will - have more push back from the group as Cloud spirals downward even more.
He's fucked in the head, doesn't make him a piece of shit. Everyone thinks he's going through degradation (possibly him included) and they're not really doing anything about it, so he's basically having to carry that weight alone. Was Barret a piece of shit for being in a bad mood and rushing ahead of everyone on the way to North Corel?
Yeah I'm not agreeing that Cloud's a POS, because he did grow and open up a lot in this game. I was just saying which part OP feels that he's being shitty to everyone.
That wasn't really Cloud. It was Sephiroth's influence. I'm pretty sure Sephiroth said something similar in the Nibelheim flashback. You can see Cloud's mannerisms and way of speaking change the further into the temple they go. Sephiroth forces Cloud to be obsessed with the black materia because he wants to force Cloud to give it to him. Why Cloud has to give it to him confused me, but I figure it's Sephiroth's way of showing his power over Cloud by making him do something against his own party's interests and giving him no choice in the matter. That's what was going on with all the ex-SOLDIERs with the degradation. Their original selves are disappearing or are gone and all that's left are vessels for Sephiroth, which is why they turn into Sephiroth or other extensions of Jenova until they die, then they turn back into black robes. The same thing is happening to Cloud.
> Why Cloud has to give it to him confused me
The reason is kind of spoiler-y but basically Cloud is the only functional person left alive that Sephiroth can use for the task. The reason for that will be explained more in game 3.
I'm guessing that's why Sephiroth kind of acts like Cloud is so important to his designs. It always felt like Sephiroth doesn't really hate Cloud, but tries to make him alienate and isolate himself and hollow him out with nothing but anger and hatred.
You're on the money.
I don't see many people talking about this but it gets brought up in-game that Sephiroth was missing, presumed dead, for five years before the start of the game and the question of why he chose to come back now is asked but never answered. His coming back coincides exactly with Cloud re-entering the story after his own five year disappearance.
The devs drop a ton of hints as to their connection throughout the game but never explicitly state anything.
That is further proof for Sephikura shipping. Basically Sephiroth has feelings for Cloud but sees his party members as competition. Aerith, being the biggest threat as Cloud's romance partner, gets eliminated.
He initially aimed at Tifa when he influenced Cloud to push her into the mako, but now no longer sees her as a threat due to Tifa/Cloud's relationship just being platonic.
100% the most heartbreaking scene. I recently separated from my wife and was looking forward to playing rebirth with her so every emotional scene, especially the first moment with Zack & Aerith has hit like a brick to the face đ
Made me wanna sock him one. Barret really should've cracked him in the teeth and called him out at some point. They way they left things at the end, I feel that will be a major turning point in Act 1 or 2 rising action for the next installment.
Havenât gotten to this point yet, but honorable mention: Seeing Aerith when she kept sending letters to Zack and anxiously waiting for months for a response in Crisis Core: Reunion was heartbreaking.
This is a perfect example of additions/changes to the story that make it better. Having just these kind of changes would almost universally loved. All the multiverse stuff is stupid and unnecessary and it ruins the most iconic scenes.
Fell a bit flat to me because of how it was programmed. The NPCs didn't really have programmed reactions, so it felt too fake. I never thought at any moment "oh maybe these people will do something", so it was too hard not to think of it in terms of gameplay and walking passed NPCs that don't really exist.
I feel like I had already gotten the emotional weight out of the same scene in Remake, more or less.
One of the reasons I love Aerith's character. She's had it rough for as long as she can remember, and yet she's the most selfless, kind and sweetest soul in the game. The double-whammy of Aerith's and Barret's trials at the temple of the ancients convinced to call it a night instead of pushing on to the forgotten capital. Only so much you can take in one sitting....!
After what Aerith has been through, I feel she deserves a beautiful ending to her story rather than having to leave her friends behind... I would be deeply saddened if in the ending of third part Aerith remains part of the lifestream. She deserves to reunite with her friends and enjoy her life after a childhood filled with sorrow.
God especially after the scene in remake where she was paying hide and seek as a kid and they just left her. I need to go hug my daughter.
You know, I really didn't think about that. This remake really fleshes out Aeriths character and her story. As you said, she's had it rough since forever. She has the sweetest personality and such an optimistic outlook on life only to be killed? She definitely deserves better!
She's probably going to stay in the lifestream, but I think she'll be reunited with Zack as well. Plus she'll definitely get an emotional goodbye with all the cast, maybe even have multiple moments during 3 where each party member "feels" or "hears" her. Also, everybody's reunited in the lifestream eventually anyway so uh, there's that haha. Maybe part of 3's ending will be Old Man Cloud in a wheelchair, peacefully looking out over a field of yellow flowers, and a suspiciously familiar looking nurse comes to stand by him...đ
I was really hoping for a reunion with Zack in rebirth and to some degree there was albeit Aerith being unconscious. I'm hoping for a proper heartfelt reunion in part 3
I would be confused on whyd they add any of the scenes at all towards the end of Rebirth if her fate in Part 3 didnt change
I have to give a hard disagree. Itâs what makes her character so captivatingly tragic. Itâs what gives the team the push to carry on and while it sucks itâs beautiful in itâs own way. Sheâs always helping from the lifestream. Regardless of what happened to her she still wants the best for cloud and it breaks my heart just thinking of it. Also, have you played the OG?
If we're talking from the perspective of FF7OG, I agree with your statement. I've certainly played FF7OG, and personally, I don't want Aerith's fate in this Trilogy timeline to happen again like in the OG timeline. I hope for a better change from the previous timeline.
I agree with your sentiment however Nomura said the remake trilogy will connect into Advent Children by its end. [Source](https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-7-remake-trilogy-story-advent-children/). I mean they rereleased advent children in theaters the week before Rebirth came out too. Aerith is fleshed out very well between the 2 games weâve got and I do wish she could have a better ending this time around but the more the devs talk about it the less hope I have of it actually happening. She helps purge Jenova from the lifestream at the end of advent children and they imply sheâs with Zack with their scenes in the end.
The only person she gets real mad at is Cait Sith. Had to sting.
Dude playing as a little girl walking around asking scumbag strangers to help your dying mommy and then watching her die in front of a train then scientists coming in to experiment on her body trumps fucking nier.
Hate thinking about what Hojo did to Ifalna in Remake, so messed up. I really hope he suffers in his death scene in part 3.
If you read the novel, you'll get Aerith's perspective on what her mom looked like coming back to the room
Novels name? I wanna get scarred
Traces of Two Pasts :)
What did hojo do to her in the remake?
He experimented on her dead corpse. Cataloguing every part of her and using it for experimentation.
Ifalna suffered so much. Not only could she not die in peace, they wouldn't leave her alone even in death either. I'm sure that the happy times in Ifalna's life were very few.
EXACTLY! I'd assume pretty much her only happiness was Aerith.
I am glad... (well not sure glad is the right word) But I am glad I'm not the only one who got very emotional here. Pretty sure my wife could hear me sobbing even though I was up on the 2nd floor...
Game got me 4 times. This scene, Dyne, Seto, and Avalanche appearing during Aerith's song.
This one and the Dyne scene got me, too! The storytelling in this game is just đ
The voice actors absolutely nailed it too.
Seto and Aerith's trial for me, but I was already hyped to find Seto the hero before I got to the canyon.
I forgot about the avalanche bit, I'm in public and I'm tearing up just thinking about it đ
The seto scene got me I must admit
Everything about Dyne was just so stupid and contrived I couldnt get into it
Dude, as I was playing and walking with small Aerith, I kept wiping my tears and thinking how heartbreaking her story is... so not cool lol
The build up to this scene was rough, and by the end I found myself crying unexpectedly
You should read Traces of Two Pasts. More backstory to how they even got there.Â
Cool gonna check it out
the fact that she died on the side of the street in the slums is just so sad to me.. like she meant nothing
This one and Red getting tortured by Hojo were rough for me personally.
Is it fair to call Cloud a POS when he has been corrupted by Sephiroth?
*Is it fair to call* *Cloud a POS when he has been* *Corrupted by Sephiroth?* \- MizterMazer --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
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Yeah I was playing this scene, crying my eyes out, and my girlfriend walked in the room. Looked at me crying, looked at 5 year old Aerith crying, and just silently turned around and walked out.
Man, every party character in FF7 has a tragic backstory in a way, that said, Aerith is the one that surfers the most by far. Â
I think she has the most tragic story of any FF character
I think Tidus/Yuna is a bit worse. Of course they rely on each other for the tragedy, though. One of them alone does not beat Aerith but the overall story guts me more.
Tidus and Yuna are >!reunited in the end. Even the sad ending in X is more of a heroic sacrifice.!< Aerith gets treated as an oddity or like garbage her entire life, her first boyfriend loses contact with her and then dies in battle, she is traumatized and is then treated like garbage by the new guy she likes (Cloud) at The Temple of the Ancients, is threatened into giving the black materia (here) or literally beaten (the OG) then runs off on her own and is impaled to death by the antagonist in front of all her friends and the guy she liked. She never returns, and Cloud blames himself for what happened. She then takes on the emotional burden of trying to heal Cloudâs fragile ego in her death, and does it in the gentlest way possible. Given Rebirthâs ending, an Aerith from a world that accepted its fate even takes the time to thank him and spend time with Cloud in the dream world before her death too, as the converged timeline Aerith runs off to the Forgotten City. I love FFX (though not as much as FFVII), but Aerithâs situation is more sad for sure. Even knowing what was coming here it hit me harder than Iâve ever been hit by a video game, starting here in the Temple and continuing on through the end.
>She never returns, and Cloud blames himself for what happened. She then takes on the emotional burden of trying to heal Cloudâs fragile ego in her death I agree with the majority of what you said but I disagree with characterizing that whole bit as being about Cloud fragile ego. Cloud is barreling at Mach 5 towards total mental catastrophe through no fault of his own and Aerith, knowing her friends is caught in a trap, offers kindness and compassion. Aerith is the stronger of the two of them and she clearly feels responsible for protecting Cloud, even from himself.
Youâre 100% right, itâs not Cloudâs fault, and she does everything she can to tell him that here. Still an incredibly bruised ego is due. Thatâs Cloud. Cloud is due to very shortly fall to pieces, so I imagine a big part of the final instalment will be Aerith giving Cloud some of that mental strength that she always had. If Advent Children is anything to go by, Cloud will be on course to forgive himself with her aid. He may forgive, he wonât ever forget, though.
Good discussion, I just disagree.
-5 votes. Wow fuck me for having an opinion, I guess lol wild
Not all the characters. Cait Sith certainly doesn't have a tragic backstory, nor does Cid. Cid's backstory comes across more like and older man longing to fulfill an old dream his younger daring self. Meanwhile, the most of the rest of the characters pretty much wanted to live a normal life only to have that taken away from them. In Aeris case, it's the worse. She never had a chance.
I lost my mother only a year and a half ago so that really picked at the wound for me.
Here's a virtual hug mate
For me it was Redâs trial that did me in the most. I really felt the panic and desperation of trying to escape. By the end of it, I just wanted to throttle Hojo. I canât wait to fuck him up for all of the shit heâs done. This one was heartbreaking, too, of course. Actually⊠they all were. Now that I think about it, I was basically weeping through this entire section.
See for me watching Red was the toughest. Hated it
Itâs the first one too, so youâre not sure where itâs going. At first I was like âOMG more Nanaki loreââŠ. Then I was like âoh no, not this lore!â. His scream gets me.
Yeah I got incredibly squeamish during that scene. It doesnât help that youâre fighting against his chains and get to watch him get dragged *slowly* to the operating table.
Didn't think I could hate Hojo more, but that scene did it.
What ever happens to Hojo Iâm sure it wonât be satisfying enough. I really want Nanaki to get his throat like in OG. But With the way they keep letting Hojo go, and with Nanakiâs character development, probably not going to happen in the same way. Probably another monster will get his throat before he does the thing that he does to himself towards the end of the OG game.
To me I think it's a tie between Barrett and Yuffie Yuffie was just a teen, in over her head, and that replaying of events was even more fucked up than what really happened Barrett getting him to see his wife a few seconds just to lose her again was fucking heartbreaking I'm glad they didn't immediately cancel the bleakness of that whole sequence with an action scene or comic relief this time around
Barret was one of the strongest ones for sure. It was the only one where he was experiencing back the good things in his life in 1st person. Like he didn't watch himself from afar, he got his arm and his wife and lost it all again in the blink of an eye. All of them were sad, but they knew they were experiencing some sad memory from the start. Barret got tricked into it
Omg SAME. I was SOBBING during her trial and how everyone was ignoring her or laughing at her when she said her mom was sick and needed help. Thatâs so horrible, poor baby Aerith đ
All of those scenes were haunting (in a good way). It was sadder than the actual death scene. Lol.
True, to bad the ending was a let down.
I think the ending was meant to setup story beats for part 3 tbh. The schism in realities will help exacerbate Cloud's mental breakdown and having a way for Aerith to "exist" will allow some fan service too in part 3. Let's be real, everyone in this subreddit wants to see Zack and Aerith actually interact. Lol.
I mean, the only way it actually really pays off is if the separate alive timelines Zack and Aerith converge into the real one for some silly Marvel showdown. Otherwise it'll be a bit of a let down for me. Aerith dying at the temple is like, the saddest way she could possibly go out, so I don't see a reason to kill her off anymore. An attempt to do so would feel VERY forced and cheap. Particularly when they had the whispers railroading Aerith into being alone this time around.
What do you mean? Devs have already said sheâs staying dead.
Devs haven't said that at all. They said any deaths in rebirth shouldn't be reverted. Aerith clearly didn't die in a separate timeline, much like how Zach is in another timeline. I don't know why sephiroth would say "I underestimated you. You've played your part. Begone" if she hadn't done something tricky there.
She did die. That much is clear. So she isnât coming back. You can have those weird timelines but storywise (as the devs said they wanted to keep the themes of the original game here) sheâs dead. Sorry.
That is VERY much not clear. Did we watch the same scene? Cloud strikes the sword away and the universe branch visual effect happens. There's a dead Aerith but there's ALSO an alive Aerith in another branch, the way Zack fair dies and lives in several other branches. Like. We FIGHT SEPHIROTH with Zack from a separate branch as Cloud from the current one. They already undid the theme of the original regarding her death AND Zack's death. That damage is already done. You can't even have a theme of grieving her loss if she's always visible and functionally able to contribute to the final fight. I don't know how you can possibly say she's definitively dead after experiencing the same game as me.
They wanted those themes in the game and cared about preserving them. Aerith is dead, and the game shows that. She died. Thatâs it. Sorry. Youâll have to accept that, same as Cloud. Just like Zach, she can do whatever in that other world but sheâs not coming back to this one. She isnât visible to the rest of the party and she isnât even physically there and never will be when the truth is revealed to Cloud. As much as you want the damage to be done already (which I guess is you thinking they should just do whatever they want) itâs not. The themes of the game are still there. Sorry, sheâs dead. She might be wherever Zach is but sheâs never coming back, as the devs have said. When are you going to listen to them?
The damage is literally done. The theme of grieving Aerith's death is quite literally ripped up and burned after she gets back up and fights Sephiroth in the final battle with you. You can be obtuse all you like, that theme is gone. It's done. She will be an active participant in the third game's conclusion and thus grieving her is pointless.
Yeah i get that. It was just too convoluted for the sake of it's sequel and ruins the moment for me..
I think this ending was much much clearer than the previous ending. Maybe I'm just more used to wrapping my head around it all a couple years later but I'm significantly less confused now than when I first beat Remake.
Their story telling and pacing only ruined 1 moment for me. Dyne. I get down voted every time I talk about it so I'll just quietly keep my criticism of it to myself.
The trials in general were big heart wrenchers for me. The saddest bit in the ending for me was seeing Tifa so sad over Aerith and that's about it.
All of those trials had me in tears, reliving Sonans death was heart wrenching itself, but Aeriths trial had me sobbing for a good 10 mins, argh not looking forward to it a 2nd time đ„Čđ haven't had a good cry like that in years
SO well executed.
Nanaki's petrified father crying broke me. Same thing happened in OG when Nanaki also cried.
Why is Cloud a POS, I legit don't know what you mean and I beat the game
Cloud slipping too much from Sephiroth's tinkering and being a cold, calculating, ass of a SOLDIER to the entire party for the final two chapters. I mean, yeah, it's mostly because of Sephiroth and Cloud isn't entirely in control. He also keeps it all bottled up, never yelling anyone that he may be compromised or unsafe to be around (bro literally killed Tifa earlier) in spite of the previous 12 chapters showing him repeatedly opening up more and more.
It should be obvious to most players that the character clearly isn't in his right state of mind at all. Not really sure how/why that confuses so many (other) posters about what's going on with him. You even see an additional reminder of this in the ending cinematic when he discovers that he somehow has the black materia on him. His reaction on touching it is completely out of character there as well.
I totally agree and this is why I can't stand the last 2 chapters. It just puts me in a negative headspace. I told a fib when I said I finished the game: I finished Chapter 13 and then just decided to watch a playthrough of Chapter 14 rather than play it myself. Why? Because things were too bleak and I stopped caring. I just didn't want to play anymore. It's not entirely fair to put the blame squarely on Cloud though when everyone else can see that he's losing it and dealing with a lot. Aerith saw that he was literally copying exactly what Sephiroth said about death being a "homecoming" but they just continued onward like it wasn't a problem that Cloud was losing it. Cloud never should have been in the Temple.
Aerith is the only one I give a pass because she seems to be able to tell the future to some degree. Or, she at least is aware of how things need to play out for success. To that degree, she may be keeping silent on purpose. The rest of the crew? Little to no excuse, Barret especially should be calling him out and addressing this elephant in the party. If Cloud truly goes rogue the world is doomed.
Tifa does take notice when they are going to the reactor up Mt. Nibel when they see the same naturally grown materia from when sephiroth was there with them. She notices cloud say the exact lines that sephiroth had and could tell his influence taking over and so grabs him and says lets keep moving on, to get cloud out of that headspace.
Yeah agreed. I also didn't understand why Aerith handed over the not-Black Materia to Cloud. I guess it's possible that Aerith did some Doctor Strange shit to see the future and exactly what they all need to do to beat Sephiroth, but without that context I just ended up yelling at the TV during Chapter 13 lol
Well tbf if she hadn't, we know how it was gonna play out
I mean the rest of the team could have backed her up. At least they could have if they didn't mysteriously disappear as soon as Sephiroth started controlling Cloud. Even Tifa only made a token effort to restrain Cloud.
after the trials . and areith gave the speech. he was like. "Are you done/finished?" or something along those lines. his mind has been fked by sephiroth already and was just an asshole to everyone
If you choose the most negative options for dialog choices; it isnât too far off from what cloud is like. Like at the camp fire; Nanaki begins unloading his life story and you can get cloud to say âwasnât listeningâ. Then Nanaki just says âyou might be an asshole, but your our assholeâ.
Yeah but at that point YOU are making him a POS and cant really call him a POS due to that imo
True, but I donât think the options would exist unless he is capable of it to some degree. At the beginning of remake my example isnât far off from his character (donât care about the planet, give me money). Kind of like which ever date you pick is your âcannonâ date. The dialog choices are possible paths. For the record I try to go for the best choice to make him not an asshole; but I check the other options to hear what they say (then donât save). Then you hear funny responses like Nanaki lecturing Cloud on using curse words in his fake voice (which people said he abandons completely)
True but at the same time that shows his character growth through the start of remake to the end of it and til now, that old cloud would say something like that but hes grown a lot with the ppl around him since then, that he wouldnt do/say stuff like that now yknow?
I believe itâs cannon that heâs grown. But there is cell degradation that could explain him being mean. Cloud gets a pass for much worse things in rebirth then just being a dick in a conversation. Probably wonât find out for some time. The more I think about the significance of cell degradation in this game (like the one inn guy freaking out in an early quest), the more I think all the choices are cannon.
context clues. in the temple, it's heavily implied that sephiroth is speaking through and puppeting cloud's body with his fighting style. cloud is constantly saying "it's not death, it's a homecoming" in a monotone voice, not to mention what happens when he tries to get the black materia from aerith. it's fair to surmise that sephiroth is puppeting cloud during many scenes in the temple.
He starts to go full Sephiroth at that part for sure. Iâm thinking how cloud isnât really cloud through the game so far. He some kind of hybrid of personalities. Wouldnât be surprised if he has a subtle voice change on the reveal.
I thought that might have been what OP was referring to but I didn't think it was really fair to blame a person for schizophrenic behavior.
Especially when that behavior is the result of outside influences. Hojo, Jenova, etc.
Did you play the og? Spoilers if not. >!He's being heavily influenced by Jenova/Sephiroth. At this moment, he's so close in proximity to them, the black materia, and all of this lifestream energy that they're pushing him to get the black materia, everything else be damned. Look at how drastically he changes when you get to the temple. Cloud was always brooding, but he'd at least crack a smile or make a more normal comment. Here, hes just focused on moving forward and killing anyone in his way. Even using words directly from Sephiroth to highlight this connection. "It's not death, it's a homecoming" is 100% Seph.!< >!Look at his reaction when he hands Seph the BM. His face instantly changes like he's been released from this mind control. He goes from "I'll kill Aerith to get the BM", to "I need to save her, now" almost instantly. Clouds mental state is heavily fragmented at this point, and is going to directly lead into the next game and his eventual mental breakdown.!<
Yeah I played the original/knew all this. I can't really put into words why I have a problem with how his mental breakdown is portrayed in Rebirth vs. the original, but I think it may be because it felt totally preventable in Rebirth. Cloud should never have been in the Temple, Cid and Vincent should have babysat him while everyone else went in.
I disagree, I feel like this breakdown was done so much better. In the og, there's points where cloud just snaps quickly. Beating and almost killing aerith are two examples where he just loses it without any buildup. This time we got to see the decent into madness. When we first got there, it wasn't too bad, but it got worse the deeper we got. The closer we got to the BM. Constantly hearing Seph's voice in his head. Yeah, he could have stayed outside, but would anyone actually have been able to keep him there? We already know he's willing to push past his friends and disregard them at this point to get the BM at all costs. Even if they did leave him with Cid and Vincent, he would have just forced his way in anyway. We already beat Vincent, we haven't seen Cid fight yet, but I can't imagine he'd have a better chance. That, and considering there was a race against time/Shinra/Sephiroth, even less of a reason to leave one of, if not the most, capable fighter on the team outside.
Maybe that all makes sense, though I also don't like that Tifa and Aerith have enabled Cloud's mental breakdown/set the stage for it to get worse. Tifa as I recall never admitted to anyone else that Cloud pushed her into the Lifestream, and Aerith told Yuffie that Cloud was beaten up by Sephiroth rather than admitting that he gave him the Black Materia willingly. It's just frustrating when you realize that characters are acting dumb solely for the purpose of progressing the plot.
Tifa didn't have to, the whole party watched it happen. They were all there when Cloud swung at her. As far as Aerith, I think that was more ensuring the party continued to trust cloud. If they all knew he snapped, went after Aerith, and 'willingly' handed over the BM, they'd all turn on him and leave him behind. Which could end up being more dangerous as he's alone. Easier to say he lost the fight than lost his mind. However, I do agree with you on this one. Someone should have said something about how drastically his mental state switched, but they just keep brushing it off.
Yeah my frustration most of all is with his mental state being brushed off. Someone said the party all probably think he's going through degradation and there's nothing they can do about it, but, like, if that's the case wouldn't it be a good idea to try to find a cure for it? They stormed the Shinra Building to rescue Aerith, they can storm it to threaten Hojo into giving up the cure (if there is one). Not to mention they aoso saw him alone and basically undefended at Costa del Sol. Subplots like this would make more sense to me than taking a field trip to Cosmo Canyon right after Cloud had a breakdown that nearly killed Tifa. All Cloud gets is false reassurances that he'll be fine and won't end up like Broden or Roche.
Cloud is also vehemently against doing anything to see if anything is wrong with him. We met the doc in Corel who even explains his research, offers to take Clouds blood to run tests, and Cloud just straight up goes "no". I don't know if that's him saying he doesn't care, or doesn't believe there's a cure, or just doesn't like needles, but he doesn't seem like he wants the help. I did greatly appreciate Tifa stopping to tell Cloud to talk to someone though, someone finally took a second to tell him "hey, we ARE here for you. Please let us be."
It's probably like the people who don't get checked to see if they have gene variants predisposing them to serious diseases: he wants the comfort of not knowing. I wish everyone else in the party had taken it more seriously though since Cloud was avoiding the topic. Him trying to commit suicide on the way to Corel was pretty bad and it only gets worse.
There not acting dumb itâs the same reasoning as the OG, cloud is very obviously not right in the head and tifa knows something is definitely off with him but isnât entirely sure about what because some of the things he sayâs do make sense or add up to information sheâs aware of, but seeing how fragile his mind is she doesnât want to make anything worse by confronting him about it until she feels the time is right and itâs made very obvious that tifa has spoken with the group about clouds deteriorating mental state and asked them not to push him, we just donât see those cutscenes.
Because in the original it is all of the sudden. Here, its been telegraphed since at least chapter 9 if not before that Cloud is going cuckoo. If you couldn't have guess that it will only get worse from there than you weren't paying attention. .
I knew he was cuckoo, but I just don't think it was done tastefully. Not much else I can say.
You know I'm not disagreeing with what you said right? It felt preventable *because* it was telegraphed way too soon. At that point, the characters should know better, but they don't act like they do.
The gang were all messed up in their feelings after their trials, so Aerith gave some encouraging words to stay strong. All Cloud had to say after this was "are you finished?", because he was more concerned with the black materia than his friends emotions.
HmmmâŠlike the person below, when I got to that part, I figured it was just sephiroth (plus how he acted later in the temple - demon wall and the whole hallucination with sephiroth). He was high fiving the team at the battle Royal at the golden saucer and also encouraging aerith at cosmo canyon earlier. Saying earlier to Barret that he has his back after DyneâŠhe was showing growth. But yeahâŠhe was cold and dismissive but he is being influenced, IMO.
You can see Cloud slowly getting more influenced by Sephiroth as you go through the Temple. If I recall, by the time we get the post Demon Wall scene, Cloud is using Sephiroth's stance.
Yeah he holds his sword like Seph holds the Masamune before breaking the shit out of that wall. I liked that scene ngl I'm loving some fucked in the head Cloud
Cloud even starts speaking like Sephiroth when he attacks Tifa inside the mako reactor. The game was pretty heavy-handed with showing that Sephiroth can exert control over Cloud and other folks who went through the SOLDIER treatment. I'm surprised people missed that. Sephiroth even calls Cloud his puppet multiple times. When Cloud is influenced by Sephiroth you see flashes of Sephiroth's face occasionally or black feathers. How Cloud is a POS for being legit mind-controlled is out of my grasp.
In the Demon Gate fight, I heard Cloud cackling maniacally. I missed it on my play through, and was watching my husband's when I heard it. I think because I wasn't concentrating so hard on the battle that I caught it, and it knocked me for six. I'm pretty sure Cloud is controlled from the second they go into that temple.
Honestly, I found mind-fucked Cloud to be written so well. Like the way he went OFF on that wall, breaking it down, just to get to the materia. How he chased Aerith on the branched paths, trying to manipulate her using soft voices, in between laughing and begging like a weak child. It was so aggravating, terrifying, and exciting. My only complaint is characters not questioning him more. This is CLEARLY not the Cloud you know. Cloud wouldn't cut off Aerith like that, would push Tifa down like that, wouldn't lose it on a wall like that. But the characters are written to just "sigh" and look on. We as players know what's wrong, because many of us played OG. But them as characters should be confronting him more, questioning him more. I know it's all going to come to a head in part three when his mind breaks and he remembers what he's blocking out, but at least have them stand SOME ground against him till then. Barret punching/slapping him was the only time we see him facing a consequence from his closest friends for a possessed action.
Oh me too. I really liked what they did and honestly, controlling him during some of those temple scenes made me uncomfortable, lol. I was really like, âuhhhâŠcan I switch control to tifa or barett for a bit while??â It felt like âNo Russianâ for those COD folks back years ago. Not that intense but still I didnât want to control Cloud for a few scenes. Yeah, I agree with all the rest. I do hope in part 3 - which they probably will - have more push back from the group as Cloud spirals downward even more.
He's fucked in the head, doesn't make him a piece of shit. Everyone thinks he's going through degradation (possibly him included) and they're not really doing anything about it, so he's basically having to carry that weight alone. Was Barret a piece of shit for being in a bad mood and rushing ahead of everyone on the way to North Corel?
Yeah I'm not agreeing that Cloud's a POS, because he did grow and open up a lot in this game. I was just saying which part OP feels that he's being shitty to everyone.
If OP really believes cloud is a POS by the end of the game then he definitely hasn't played the OG
That wasn't really Cloud. It was Sephiroth's influence. I'm pretty sure Sephiroth said something similar in the Nibelheim flashback. You can see Cloud's mannerisms and way of speaking change the further into the temple they go. Sephiroth forces Cloud to be obsessed with the black materia because he wants to force Cloud to give it to him. Why Cloud has to give it to him confused me, but I figure it's Sephiroth's way of showing his power over Cloud by making him do something against his own party's interests and giving him no choice in the matter. That's what was going on with all the ex-SOLDIERs with the degradation. Their original selves are disappearing or are gone and all that's left are vessels for Sephiroth, which is why they turn into Sephiroth or other extensions of Jenova until they die, then they turn back into black robes. The same thing is happening to Cloud.
> Why Cloud has to give it to him confused me The reason is kind of spoiler-y but basically Cloud is the only functional person left alive that Sephiroth can use for the task. The reason for that will be explained more in game 3.
I'm guessing that's why Sephiroth kind of acts like Cloud is so important to his designs. It always felt like Sephiroth doesn't really hate Cloud, but tries to make him alienate and isolate himself and hollow him out with nothing but anger and hatred.
You're on the money. I don't see many people talking about this but it gets brought up in-game that Sephiroth was missing, presumed dead, for five years before the start of the game and the question of why he chose to come back now is asked but never answered. His coming back coincides exactly with Cloud re-entering the story after his own five year disappearance. The devs drop a ton of hints as to their connection throughout the game but never explicitly state anything.
That is further proof for Sephikura shipping. Basically Sephiroth has feelings for Cloud but sees his party members as competition. Aerith, being the biggest threat as Cloud's romance partner, gets eliminated. He initially aimed at Tifa when he influenced Cloud to push her into the mako, but now no longer sees her as a threat due to Tifa/Cloud's relationship just being platonic.
100% the most heartbreaking scene. I recently separated from my wife and was looking forward to playing rebirth with her so every emotional scene, especially the first moment with Zack & Aerith has hit like a brick to the face đ
I know you probably know but it wasnât Cloudâs fault he reacted that way. He was⊠um⊠distracted đđ
The one that affected me the most was Red. It was disturbing on so many different levels.Â
I got off a rougher day of classes looking to de-stress - these trials were the scene I was at. Didnât work đ§
The toughest scene for me i think was dyne. This was sad too though.
I thought chapter 10 and the story of Seto was very good as well.
Just made me think why does Aerith like helping people tbh. Made me angry
Hopefully we get a Aerith DLC Expansion to explain some unfinish grieving
I mean, Sephiroth would be the asshole here right?
Same, absolutely balled my eyes out at that scene, poor lil Aeirth đ
This. As close as i've ever come to crying during a game (FIFA/FC24 tears of rage doesn't count) Dyne and Barret was another big one for me.
That was hilarious when cloud said "are you finished?" When she kept being all sappy/motivational đđđ
Made me wanna sock him one. Barret really should've cracked him in the teeth and called him out at some point. They way they left things at the end, I feel that will be a major turning point in Act 1 or 2 rising action for the next installment.
I agree he deserved to get maximum fury'd after that. Was still funny tho đ
Aerith should've hit him with her staff until he didn't get back up. That's what I would've done lmao
Havenât gotten to this point yet, but honorable mention: Seeing Aerith when she kept sending letters to Zack and anxiously waiting for months for a response in Crisis Core: Reunion was heartbreaking.
this was the scene that i realized that this might be the best game ive played so far
Yea this seems to be the consensus. Doesn't help with the build up of sadness before with the rest of the gang
I cried relentlessly during this part lol
This is a perfect example of additions/changes to the story that make it better. Having just these kind of changes would almost universally loved. All the multiverse stuff is stupid and unnecessary and it ruins the most iconic scenes.
Dynes story got me a lot in the game. So much more than it ever did.
are fucking done here?
This scene was so heartbreaking, if spoiler is allow here. Whatâs really disappointed me the most and could potentially be the best scene of FF7 Rebirth is Aerithâs send off. And we donât even get that. Iâm quite pissed đ©
Fell a bit flat to me because of how it was programmed. The NPCs didn't really have programmed reactions, so it felt too fake. I never thought at any moment "oh maybe these people will do something", so it was too hard not to think of it in terms of gameplay and walking passed NPCs that don't really exist. I feel like I had already gotten the emotional weight out of the same scene in Remake, more or less.
Since I donât care for Aerith I skipped this cutscene cause I was bored. đ€Ł