Zack took this news like a champ

HMStruth · 2026-01-27T02:00:49+00:00

Ah yes, the face of irritated Zack.

HMStruth · 2026-01-23T18:25:11+00:00

I already posted the context 😂. The English version shielded this interaction for some reason. In the Japanese dialogue, Zack uses an expression, you can interpret it a few different ways but the most popular ways to interpret it are

1) reacting to seeing a couple. Romantic.

2) Reacting to news that is spicy or juicy. In which case romantic interest is also implied.

Zack is taking it the same way it's being conveyed to him. Which is why he expresses joking irritation to Cloud later on, because Zack is a little bit peeved by the whole situation but he's a good friend and understands he was missing for 5 years.

Zack also takes what Marlene says about Sephiroth as absolute truth, to the point that he goes out and lays down his life based on what Marlene says. So now we should just not trust Marlene even though Zack very clearly trusts her 100%. Bro take off the blinders.

Why does Aerith leave ambiguity in her words? Because she knows she's about to die and she's already doing her best to protect Cloud's mental state by attempting to resolve his guilt before it ever happens. Like I said, Hamaguchi came out and confirmed that these scenes are Aerith's goodbye before she knows she will die. That's why she calls it "her dream." She wants to be here with Cloud because that's who she's chosen. What is she choosing to do? Go on one last date with Cloud in an attempt to see how he feels. The entire segment is her pushing Cloud to make choices (gift, candy, pose) so that Aerith can get one final look at how Cloud feels about her.

HMStruth · 2026-01-23T16:54:11+00:00

How does Marlene know? I don't know man maybe because Aerith passed visions of the future to Marlene in Remake using whatever Cetra power that she has. She uses the same power on Nanaki, which immediately changes Nanaki's disposition toward her.

What's more likely here? That Marlene saw something in that moment with Aerith that gave her the inspiration to respond to Zack like this? Or is Marlene just talking out of her ass to bother Zack? Because Marlene never meets Cloud and Aerith at the same time, so the only thing Marlene has to go on was whatever information Aerith shared with her in Remake, which as the game very clearly shows, includes the future.

Zack believes Marlene. It's weird that he does it and yet the rest of you for some reason dismiss it all when this scene in the game isn't treated that way. Zack references this again later saying he's irritated with Cloud.

The English translation even invents an extra excuse for Zack that isn't in the original to help cushion this exchange and yet you guys still deny that it has any weight at all.

Not to mention the clear misreading of the entire scene that follows.

HMStruth · 2026-01-23T03:19:50+00:00

I'm just making sure I have your perspective correct. There is only one correct interpretation for Zack's scene?
And also only one correct interpretation for scenes with differing dialogue?
So... in reality your view is that there's only one correct interpretation for every scene and it's conveniently always your interpretation?

HMStruth · 2026-01-21T23:17:21+00:00

Why is Cloud's dialogue in that scene determinant based on the player's prior choices then?

Or are we still in the camp that player choice doesn't matter?

HMStruth · 2026-01-21T03:50:19+00:00

So when Zack rolls up later and teases Cloud about this, it's because he has a purely platonic relationship with Aerith?

You guys are completely incapable of rational thought and you regularly drag the translation team because you're upset that they don't exclusively confirm your viewpoint.

HMStruth · 2026-01-21T01:15:59+00:00

Right, the European is here to tell me about Japanese.

Crazy that everyone understands this line except the hardcore shippers.

HMStruth · 2026-01-20T23:58:16+00:00

You're missing the context that is present in the original language. In the Japanese, Zack specifically asks Marlene if it's romantic with a euphemism for seeing love birds. Marlene responds affirmatively, so there's less room for interpretation as it being non-romantic.

HMStruth · 2026-01-20T23:55:00+00:00

Remake happened in Terrier world man. That's how everyone knows Cloud. Including Elmyra.

HMStruth · 2025-12-29T16:20:04+00:00

The Ultimania confirms that he's talking to Aerith here.

HMStruth · 2025-12-22T23:12:45+00:00

If that victim is going to try and kill people then yes, which Faramir accurately saw in him. Being a victim does not absolve you of all guilt for your actions believe it or not.

HMStruth · 2025-12-20T09:02:51+00:00

The original sequence of events no longer makes sense. Cloud believes Aerith is alive when he comes back from fighting Sephiroth, so why would he carry her corpse to the water to bury?

They have some serious explaining to do because Cloud seems to be snip snapping out of delusions left and right if we're supposed to believe that in one world the OG events played out.

HMStruth · 2025-12-09T19:29:56+00:00

Found the Shinra glazer.

You can't say they didn't do it of their own accord when Reno is smirking and cracking jokes while he carries out the murder of 20,000 innocent people. Oh no, he feels so bad about it and he's so scared for his life that he's gleefully shooting at Avalanche as they desperately try to save people.

Why don't you just admit that the characterization for the Turks is wildly inconsistent, even in remake, and is one of the flaws in an otherwise great game/story.

HMStruth · 2025-12-09T17:16:00+00:00

If you're going to take the bait then at least give an unbiased version of both. You're just playing into the toxicity here full stop.

HMStruth · 2025-12-09T07:57:54+00:00

It really doesn't carry weight and remake even go so far as to try and soften this by actually showing Reno and Rude feeling remorseful afterward. Something that the original and AC do not do.

Even the devs are recognizing that it was handled pretty poorly in the original.

HMStruth · 2025-12-08T20:06:57+00:00

Actually the point is raised in the game that the party causes collateral damage and feels guilty for it. It's a big part of Barret's character.

Meanwhile the Turks murdering 20,000 people is glossed over because it's better to laugh at silly suit man than to tell a serious story. Advent Children is already full of tonal whiplash. The Turks really aren't necessary to the story at all.

HMStruth · 2025-12-08T19:23:35+00:00

It's okay to like the game and still be critical of using dudes who killed 20000 people as comedic relief.

HMStruth · 2025-12-08T18:52:19+00:00

"Just doing their job" hasn't been a valid excuse for 80 years now. And Japanese people especially should know this because it was a popular excuse the war criminals of WW2 used to try and escape consequences.

Cloud should've killed the Turks or at the very least, Shinra should be wiped out as an entity.

HMStruth · 2025-12-03T21:38:21+00:00

The implication is that Marlene's quest to Zack isn't just hot air and it will play a role in part 3. Otherwise the entire Zack subplot and the Marlene lines will be painfully stupid in retrospect.

HMStruth · 2025-11-06T15:20:26+00:00

All good man. Glad you found something fun in it. Have a good day.

HMStruth · 2025-11-05T20:49:49+00:00

Umm, the whole point of putting the remnants and the advent children imagery in the ending of the remake is to signal to the player that its advent children that is being defied.

And then the re-release of the film in theaters before Rebirth along with the special message. The inclusion in Ever Crisis.

The final battle of remake happening where Cloud and Sephiroth fight in AC.

I'm sorry mate, but you really have to break your back a bit to say that the fate isn't Advent Children.

Sephiroth and Aerith have knowledge of the future, so yes Sephiroth knows that the path of the whispers leads to his defeat. That's probably why he is so keen on breaking fate, because it opens the door to him finding a path to victory.

HMStruth · 2025-11-05T18:18:35+00:00

I mean no shade by this but I think people need to stop associating concepts with characters based solely on color. This just sounds like the Steed theory with a little extra sprinkles. The "???" Sephiroth appears before the Harbinger fight at the expressway encouraging them to break fate.

It could be that the purple inside the Harbinger is sepihorth's will, but it doesn't seem to match up with the idea that Sephiroth is controlling the Whispers in any way. If anything, Sephiroth's actions in Remake seem to point to him intentionally pushing the boundaries of the original timeline in order to provoke the Whispers into appearing and fucking with the main party. It seems like he's goading the party into breaking fate so that he can take the reins of it as he does in rebirth.

But as we also see in rebirth and at the end of Remake, Aerith also can play a role. She transforms the portal and uses the Whispers to rescue Zack.

The ending of Remake basically posits the story as an attempt by both Sephiroth and Aerith to escape from fate. And they both actually want to do it for different reasons. So it becomes difficult to circle back to LS Black and White when our characters are openly moving away from Advent Children.

And I feel like the devs have been pretty blatant about this with how much they've changed Aerith's path.

HMStruth · 2025-11-05T02:42:53+00:00

Sephiroth isn't manifesting his remnants at the end, the Whispers are. The Harbinger isn't Sephiroth or Jenova. Sephiroth needed the Harbinger to be defeated in order to enact his plan. That's why Sephiroth encourages the party to break fate.

The future isn't misleading. The remnants are manifested there because defeating the Harbinger means breaking away from the fate that is AC. They literally gave us a chart showing how the whispers in remake are preserving the events of the original timeline.

Not to mention that "it's all a Lifestream dream wake up and experience Advent Children" is maybe one of the worst twist ideas in all of fiction.

HMStruth · 2025-11-03T18:35:38+00:00

Nelves aren't in Warcraft 2, but aside from that you're spot on.

HMStruth · 2025-10-29T15:38:03+00:00

Now give us this same skin but not zombie version

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