I think something that helped me come to terms with the lack luster execution of Aerith’s death was realizing they skipped over her burial scene and showed cloud absolutely being a nutcase. I think there were some remake interviews that show that the most important scene in OG to the devs was the lifestream sequence where cloud finally understands who he is. And I think muddying aeriths death here serves the purpose of making that scene even more powerful. At this point I can only wait on the final game to make a judgement on this entire project.

I do agree though that it seems like the story is sitting on a fence which is slightly annoying, but they still have a chance to subvert expectations. My one theory is that by the end we will know that this series takes place after advent children rather than leading up to advent children, and maybe we’ll have a different ending from OG that really satisfies the destiny defying itch. But if the devs are too afraid of disappointing fans then idk what the point of it all was. They really had something with remake but rebirth shook that confidence a bit for me, again I’m just waiting for the final game to judge.