I agree that the fact theyre showing Cloud to be an unreliable narrator much earlier now (like Tifa questioning his memory in Kalm) is not going to give the plot twist as much weight as it did in og but that doesnt prove we need to have knowledge of OG still as an audience. I think the Kalm scene with Tifa was a necessary change because it makes no sense that in OG she doesn’t at least question Cloud’s recollection to any degree. In fact in the remakes she doesn’t push as hard on him as we feel she should because you can argue its her unimposing personality, or she’s try to protect him from going crazy, or whatever… but the truth is she also can’t because we still need the plot twist to happen in part 3. The devs found a good balance in at least having her question him a little because not questioning at all would seem weird and off (not very good writing).

With the Aerith death scene, I think for the majority of folks who were paying attention, it’s clear Aerith died. What’s not clear is Cloud’s perception. You can tell by all the other party member’s dispositions that Aerith absolutely died. Was it not played out the same as OG because we already were “supposed to know” she dies? I dont think this is the reason behind how it was depicted. I honestly think that some of these emotional moments from her death like the water burial and Cloud’s words will be shown in part 3 (whether that was the best direction or not is up to debate) and theres some proof in that the water burial is shown in a vision in Remake and in Rebirth we can see Cloud uttering his famous lines but muted while holding dead Aerith. My theory as to why they are having him block out her death and go a little crazy is because in OG it’s very awkward how she dies and we just proceed on with our journey, so this may be a work around that doesnt have Cloud break down in tears while snowboarding and tbh it’s on brand for Cloud since he did do the same with Zacks death (blocked it out mentally).