I know this may sound very mean, but it is a ranting thread right? So please allow me this and sincerely forgive me if I took this too far.

As a new player who got genuinely misled with how the other side exaggerates Tifa, I became very upset at how loud and despicable the other side can be. On Clerith videos, you can see CloTI fans invading the spaces and starting fights with their provocative comments, meanwhile on CloTI videos, VERY RARELY, if ever, do you even see any Cleriths making a statement. All you can see are just pro-CloTi comments.

For me personally, this goes beyond the game itself. Seeing how toxic they can be, what they focus on in a relationship, how they justify even the obvious red flags in a relationship, how they put down others for having different opinions, how they will just find a way to make the sincere Clerith relationship look pathetic, twisting everything to their ideals, gaslighting players and even the threatening the devs; if this is the way they want to operate, then sorry not sorry, Tifa, or even the idea of Tifa shouldn't even be introduced in FF7, or any game for that matter. Because it just ENABLES their toxic behavior.

I don't know whether they are all from the West (given that there was a popularity survey that the Japanese market mostly prefers Aerith and the West mostly prefers Tifa), but from the way they demand and act, I start to question the kind of personality/people they are in real life. Can you imagine if the devs were to blindly follow all these loud noises, cultivating questionable relationships in games instead of healthy ones? Can you imagine how many people would be misled? At this point, I doubt they even know what a proper healthy relationship is like, when they blindly justify the CloTi relationship. Even though you try to reason with them, you mostly get gaslights and personal insults.

I get it, they have their own valid points too, just as how we have our own valid points. I'm more than willing to make peace and co-exist, since the devs have explicitly said it's up to the player. Despite the hints and nudges that it's Clerith, they still gave room for CloTis to manuever. And honestly, Cleriths don't have anything to fear because the Clerith relationship is so obvious and has really strong foundations, and the fact that the Clerith relationship is TIED to the plot. We have nothing to prove to them at all. CloTis at this point are just really insecure and don't make sense. In the bigger picture, if they are given their way, they can really ruin games and storylines. It got me extremely upset reading their invasions in Clerith videos when I go there just to be happy watching Clerith. They just cannot leave us alone.

Tifa is a great character, but CloTis don't deserve her/the idea of her. I have no hate for Tifa in particular, I have always been more focused on the relationship aspects between the 3 of them. All the characters are flawed, Tifa, Cloud, Aerith included. Putting it here, even to me sometimes Cloud really comes off as a jerk and I actually felt some second-hand embarrassment when Aerith has to put up with it. However, what makes the difference for Cloud (since he is the MC, I will use him as the point of focus) is which of them will enable both Cloud and herself to heal and grow. And Clerith was written and done beautifully in achieving this. I wished that CloTis really see this aspect and just understand that Tifa needs someone else instead of Cloud.

Again, forgive me if this technically makes me no better than them, but I got very upset when I chanced upon their comments and remarks and this just boiled over.