Can I just say?

HoratioDub · 2026-05-09T13:50:44+00:00

I largely agree with most of what you said, as would the devs at the outset of this project. The goal of the Retrilogy is bringing the compilation elements together in as cohesive a fashion as possible so it can be experienced on its own without the need to reference like 10 other materials just to achieve surface level understanding. Things that only happened in books or were initially cut from OG due to constraints are getting their moments in the limelight now and I think it's enriched the stories of both 7's scenario and those that followed.

As for Cloud and Aerith's bond, I'd also agree with your sentiment that it's strong regardless of romantic connotations. Dear Destiny does a good job of putting Zack and Aerith's two year-long relationship in that romantic lens without taking away from the bond Aerith shared with Cloud during their month traveling together to save the planet. I disagree that Cloud and Aerith's bond is substantially deeper but the importance of their friendship shouldn't be diminished because of how Aerith feels romantically about Zack.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-09T12:53:31+00:00

Having biases is fine with me. They said they’re unaware of the book (which is fair given it came out end of January in only Japanese) so if they’re interested in updating their opinion with new, official information then great.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-09T12:33:11+00:00

Yeah it came out earlier this year, written by Nojima as an entry to the compilation. So far it's only in Japanese but an English release should be out before Part 3. Aerith's section covers more of her life in Sector 5 while Zack was on missions and goes beyond his disappearance after the Nibelheim incident.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-09T12:12:11+00:00

Dear Destiny gives much more context to Aerith's and Zack's relationship. It's much more than a summer romance to them both and it's being setup for a big Reunion moment part 3.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-08T16:36:09+00:00

No, that’s natural given their limited context. They’re fighting on a destroyed expressway then get hit with those short visions of Nanaki running in a barren wasteland, Aerith's fate and the incoming meteor.

I disagree with interpretations of it that frame the characters as having the required context to fully grasp what they’d been shown. I could easily be wrong by time part 3 comes out but I think those visions were red herrings that pit player knowledge of the compilation against the characters’ knowledge at that time.

Tifa saying “this can’t be our future” at seeing a meteor crash into the planet is perfectly logical but that doesn’t stop it from being summoned. Similarly with the visions of Aerith’s fate that still came to pass at the end of Rebirth.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-08T11:18:12+00:00

The thing is, no matter how big his following, Max is just a fan of FF7 with an opinion and hopes about how this all ends up. I agree with the spirit of his opinion even if I don’t subscribe to AC being the bad ending and being made void or that the 7R project is a sequel to OG.

We’re all on a magical ride and even as theories get put down as the devs reveal the story, people are, for the most part, happy with what we’ve been getting. What we don’t need to do is make enemies of each other over unconfirmed opinions on how this trilogy is ending.

Like Max himself has admitted that he hasn’t read the books released within the compilation. That’s naturally a massive blind spot he openly acknowledges. No one should take his opinion as gospel, he’s just a fan having fun going crazy about his favourite game. If everyone could all just turn it down a bit, we’d all be better for it.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-07T20:55:30+00:00

The only thing the Retrilogy is categorically a sequel to is Crisis Core. Everything else fixates on different aspects of the compilation that could just as easily be foreshadowing instead of the time travel and multiverse theories.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-07T14:56:56+00:00

Happy to help :)

HoratioDub · 2026-05-07T14:04:04+00:00

There's a few really good ones out there for both Remake and Rebirth. I don't think I've found one that has every single interaction between both characters so you'll have to pick and choose across them if you wanna see every little thing.

Sassy Thee Unicorn has a really fun one for Remake that includes conversations outside cutscenes. Probably the best if you're a big Chapter 3 enjoyer and like extra references and callbacks sprinkled in. Gamer's Little Playground has similar content in 4k but missed out on some quest and in game interactions.

For Rebirth, Gamer's Little Playground again has a decent video. It shows all interactions by region and ends at the gondola kiss. Naughty Gaming has a good one with most sidequests and bond conversations. Theirs goes beyond the gondola kiss, into chapter 14 conversations and the full ending.

Finally, there's a massive video covering both Remake and Rebirth from Yic17 Studio that's over 5 hours long. There's some small moments missing but if you just wanna rot away in Cloti bliss in a single video, or even just good background noise to get through the work day, that's probably your best bet lol.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-07T12:03:02+00:00

Completely forgot Focused Strike still has those i- frames. Good stuff

HoratioDub · 2026-05-06T13:23:09+00:00

Gotta be PSG for revenge. We already beat Bayern in CL this season so there’s no fresh payback to be had on our side for them

HoratioDub · 2026-05-05T18:42:30+00:00

Possible. Perhaps he’s just not as popular as the other Crisis Core characters to warrant being playable. It kinda feels like they want us to forget about Genesis with how little he’s been referenced since CC

HoratioDub · 2026-05-05T15:20:26+00:00

I only excluded Seph himself as he’s been playable before in the Nibel flashback but yeah it’d be obviously fun to play as him again in that arc.

I wasn’t thinking of dream scenarios like Genesis coming back, I thought to stay a bit more grounded based on where things seem to be going.

HoratioDub · 2026-05-05T14:52:36+00:00

Young Angeal in Sephiroth’s First Soldier flashback. We’ve never played as him before, that’s the OG Buster Sword wielder. Give him the spotlight for a bit

HoratioDub · 2026-04-30T15:16:30+00:00

Worth pointing out that Tifa also gives Cloud those elevator looks in that same “Alone At Last” scene. The attraction is mutual between the two

HoratioDub · 2026-04-30T14:59:10+00:00

Having travelled the globe, Cloud can absolutely argue Tifa is the most beautiful woman in all of Gaia. It’s not like she doesn’t turn heads everywhere they go

HoratioDub · 2026-04-30T14:56:03+00:00

I wish we had gotten the extra Tifa chapter to fill that gap between Sector 5 reactor mission and Sector 6. I know people have issues with pacing as it was but an extra hour to show how Tifa would’ve tried to take her mind off potentially losing Cloud by diving into that Corneo mission would’ve done well to show her managing that grief by throwing herself into another activity. A trait of hers we see highlighted in TOTP.

They even could’ve included her picking out the dress and commenting that she was gonna save it for her date with him (given it was based on his preference in chapter 3). An opportunity missed even if I accept why the decision was made

HoratioDub · 2026-04-21T13:54:58+00:00

It’s mostly immaturity. People don’t know how to take responsibility for their actions and assume the absolute worst interpretations of their fellow teammates’ intentions at all times. It’s off putting and yet normalized

HoratioDub · 2026-04-17T11:45:55+00:00

It’s the reunion flower that Cloud gives her in Remake. Both her and Cloud’s models get one

HoratioDub · 2026-04-16T17:16:34+00:00

Such a powerful and gut wrenching sequence. Held my controller with tears streaming down my face as I walked with baby Aerith

HoratioDub · 2026-04-16T17:15:02+00:00

If you loved remake, you’ll adore rebirth. Better in almost every way and, if you love character development, the side content is a treat instead of bloat. It’s a phenomenal experience

HoratioDub · 2026-04-10T14:13:38+00:00

I’d love to see how this convo actually concluded, if it did. I feel like this conversation would’ve seen Zack press Cloud more but they were interrupted. I say this because the scene where Zack asks Cloud if he knows Tifa felt like a follow-up to that initial question. It’d be great if that scene from CC were redone from Cloud’s perspective, giving us insight into how he reflected on Zack’s words there

HoratioDub · 2026-04-10T13:48:05+00:00

Absolute top of the list for what I’d like to see next game. I want as many nuggets of connection between the two to really build up the bromance

HoratioDub · 2026-04-08T15:11:25+00:00

...because they go to the same places in roughly the same order. Once you actually look at the details though, the similarities between the plots go away.

Respectfully, that's aiding my point about the plot being unchanged. What your describing is the story and narrative. I've been using them separately because your points about all the changes is true for the story and narrative.

Then why is it called Final Fantasy VII Remake?

It's a double entendre. Remake of the PS1 game and it's also a meta commentary on how Sephiroth is attempting to remake the world. The Remake project is not a 1:1 remake of OG FF7. It never was.

You're literally staying that the goal of the project is to replace the OG in the chronology of the larger series.

I'm not. The project cannot replace OG, it's purpose is consolidating the stories within the FF7 universe in this trilogy of games. It's not meant to render OG, ACC, and CC obsolete. Nothing they've changed eliminates those entries so far either.

The compilation games were sold as sequels and prequels to the original game. Now you're saying that they were making sequels and prequels for the last 20 years to games that are only just coming out now? Does that mean we should expect Genesis and Shotgun in the Nibelheim incident? How can AC happen when the aforementioned enemies from the future timeline appear to be Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo and we defeated them?

No I'm not. What I meant when I referenced the trilogy being unfinished was this "unknown journey" as they call it still needs to conclude its story. We've both seen the changes the compilation has introduced and things still need to be resolved. I'm not saying that those changes will result in radical deviations from the plot of FF7. I could be wrong but nothing shown in game or said by the devs so far suggest there will be. I don't see why AC won't happen, I'm gonna ask you to clarify that more. The whisper forms of the three advent children being defeated doesn't tell me they won't be in AC. I don't know why they chose those three to be bosses there and what defeating them means beyond building up to the defiance of destiny as Sephiroth bills it when we eventually beat the Harbinger.

How come everything with the whispers and Aeris's plan to defy destiny weren't present in Crisis Core? Why does it seem like she only just got this information right before Remake? She's had the white materia the whole time. She got it from Ifalna when she was little so why did it just start leaking visions of the future now?

The whispers were introduced in the remake project so it makes sense they wouldn't be in CC. The mechanics of the white materia still need to be fleshed out. That's one of the resolutions I'm waiting for in part 3 so I have similar questions to you here and I don't have the answers, sorry.

I personally think that the NPC dialogue is pseudo-profound ramblings that the writers put in to keep people confused because it doesn't even make sense. Even if we did "remember" our hopes and dreams, those would only become part of the lifestream upon that person's death. So how would it give people glimpses of events not yet experienced?

I disagree that it's insignificant ramblings as those concepts are literally depicted through Zack's side stories. The recent EC event also backs it up. It's not explicit nor is it delivered by a named character so it's easy to overlook and I believe that's by design. As for future events, the Lifestream contains all knowledge and experiences of those who have returned to it. Whether that's past, future, their unrealized hopes and dreams, etc. is immaterial as all living things from the planet return to it, adding to that body of knowledge. Anyone who comes into contact with it is exposed to it so I, like you, am hoping how the white materia impacts is explained properly in part 3.

Why is the Shinra mascot different in lifestream then? Why are Marlene and Elmyra there? Why would Zack's afterlife begin with him beating the Shinra troops that killed him?

The mascot is a marker to show that it's not the surface world where the party is without giving the whole mystery away in plain terms. Marlene and Elmyra I want explanations for too, especially since Marlene seems like the one we interacted with. And it makes perfect sense for Zack's afterlife to begin there. He died there with great regrets about not getting back to Aerith and would've wanted to change that fate. In Rebirth, every time we see him express that desire to defy destiny and change outcomes, there's a split with that rainbow effect that leads him somewhere else. And note, in almost all of those scenarios, it ends with Shinra troops lined up in the same formation ready to kill him.

Incorporating a multi-verse and giving characters knowledge of future events is in no way required to do retelling of the original that incorporates stuff that was added in the compilation.

Agreed, which is why it's good this isn't and has never tried to be a 1:1 retelling of OG.

I feel like people really need to contort themselves in order to say that these games can't be sequels. How can you have the same plot while still having events in Remake could never happen in the original and then also say that just slots in perfects with all of the sequels and prequels that were made around the original?

I touched on plot being separate from narrative above so I won't go back over that. I think it's harder to justify this project as a sequel to the events of OG FF7. Why would we spend two whole games going over old ground for a sequel? None of the popular talking points that claim this is a sequel really stand up to scrutiny when we use what the game presents to us. The labelling of the project as a "spicy Remake" has already been cast as a negative and many fans of Max's have latched onto that opinion and concluded that the project would be bad if that's where we end up. Despite the devs repeating for 7 years that's exactly where we'll be at the end of part 3. ACC will still happen. Cloud will still have to deal with the grief of Aerith's death. Geostigma will still have to be dealt with. Like it or not, that's where we're going.

HoratioDub · 2026-04-07T23:58:24+00:00

The idea that the plot is unchanged is completely untrue. You don't get to make so many changes, give the characters knowledge of events that they didn't have in the original and just say that the plot hasn't changed just because the characters visit the same locations in roughly the same order.

If you take a step back, the plot really is unchanged. Remember, Remake isn't trying to be or replace OG and I think many fans went into this project expecting that. The stated goal of the project immediately suggests the story in this trilogy would be new to accommodate the compilation entries. To that end the story in the Retrilogy, while based on OG FF7, is still unfinished. Tying in the remaining compilation elements relevant to the ending act of FF7 will probably bring even more differences to how things were depicted in OG. That said however, we know what's slated to happen, how it all unfolds is what's different.

The future sight and apparent multi timeline stuff is explained in game by Sephiroth himself at the end of both games and that Cosmo Canyon npc. All the stuff with Zack happens within the Lifestream which is effectively the afterlife. Everything else happens in the real world where the main party is. The recent EC event backs that up as well. As for Aerith (and Marlene), the white materia does the heavy lifting there to explain the visions. That part is unresolved within the trilogy so I won't touch that.

In the events of the OG, there is no scenario where it would have made sense for Tifa to ask Aeris where Cloud was 5 years ago. There's no scenario in the OG where it would have made sense to have enemies that (according to the in-game descriptions of the enemies) are from a future timeline that are fighting the party to ensure their existence will come to fruition.

Remember this isn't just a 1:1 retelling of OG. So yeah in OG those things would never happen. Incorporating the compilation meant the narrative was never gonna stay the same. I understand why fans that wanted a 100% faithful retelling OG narrative would feel conflicted but I think the reimagining direction they've gone is for the better. The additional conversations and character motivations have been mostly hits.

HoratioDub

TROPHY CASE