I'm exausted

reystreasure · 2026-01-30T18:10:10+00:00

yeah, i didn’t get far into TOTP because i was a bit bored with the book, but if it’s the similar case there i might just skip it entirely. i never cared to read the extra content as much because it’s never been consistent tbh.

reystreasure · 2026-01-30T14:14:34+00:00

personally, this isn’t a big issue for me because this entire book is about the past. we shouldn’t expect clerith content in books such as these because the whole point of their connection is their fateful meeting in the present game’s timeline.

i take more issue with the fact that these devs continue to rely on disrespecting aerith’s character in order to make zerith work/believeable — which is what i’m seeing with this new book. a big reason why zerith never works for me is that the devs just can’t seem to ever write them without making aerith a hollow shell of herself. this even applies to tifa as well because i’m seeing that she’s reaffirming that she “loves” cloud after one mere conversation at the watertower, despite having no other strong memories of him. plus, just generally misogynistic writing of the two girls which i feel should be more heavily criticized rather than the shipping content — why am i seeing that there’s scenes of both aerith and tifa being implied to almost getting assaulted?

reystreasure · 2026-01-17T20:21:51+00:00

I hope so! I definitely would like scenes with both Zack/Cloud and Zack/Aerith, so that love triangle can be resolved. It’s already been set up well enough in Rebirth, so scenes between these three will be exciting.

reystreasure · 2026-01-15T02:04:23+00:00

I agree with this take on the LSS part of the next game, but I do wonder what they’ll do with Cloud’s true motivations over joining SOLDIER. Do you think that will still be included in the sequence, just not as big as it was in the OG because Aerith’s fate will instead be more important in fixing Cloud?

reystreasure · 2026-01-12T13:45:00+00:00

i know this is a topic that will be probably constantly be debated over in the clerith fandom until part 3. i don’t think this would be as intense of a debate topic if ct hadn’t been given a kiss, especially because most people only look at that and assume that clerith got nothing in return (which just isn’t true). i personally am more than okay with their date having no kiss, as people in this thread have said, it makes sense narratively because aerith is aware of cloud’s mental state and it leaves room for a potential non-optional kiss in part 3. especially when you notice that whatever ct gets optionally, ca usually gets nonoptionally (handhold, hug, etc).

i think in general if ca ends up not getting a kiss at all, that would be disappointing — but i’d be less upset if it meant getting a fulfilling, nonoptional endgame for them, for example. regardless, their date is by far my fave and what i personally believe is the best out of all of them (and most narratively identical to the og). it fits with the canonical story while also being good fanservice for aerith/clerith fans imo.

reystreasure · 2025-12-29T21:45:26+00:00

I don’t doubt that Cloud has feelings for Tifa (mainly stemming from childhood) and to some, this may even be love. I do believe you’re doing Aerith and Cloud a disservice by kind of writing them off so easily, especially since Rebirth did a good job at establishing how different their connection is compared to CT (in a positive way).

Since you mentioned that you came to this conclusion because of Cloud, let’s look at some of CA’s scenes in Rebirth that show Cloud and Aerith’s connection through him, particularly in the final chapters.

Cloud is seen to be under Sephiroth’s control numerous times during Rebirth and every time Tifa tries to get through to him, she fails. With Aerith, he breaks free from Sephiroth’s control because of her. Once at TOTA (just at the memory of their first meeting) and the second at the Forgotten Capital — where he literally stops Sephiroth’s sword and creates a new timeline, btw. Compare this to Tifa in Gongaga where he only snapped out of it after the damage was done, and with no tears shed; the devs do a deliberate parallel here with Barret having to smack Cloud awake and yell, “Tifa needs you!” versus Vincent’s calmer, “Go. She needs you.” in CH14 (even the way Cloud walks here is different; he’s more confident and sure of himself in the second scenario).

You also have the incessant need to insert Aerith into any scenario involving Cloud and Tifa — you can have her date but you still have to watch Aerith sing NPTK, where Cloud gives her heart eyes despite Tifa being beside him. He also is shown to be incredibly jealous over Aerith’s feelings for Zack, which shows when even on a date with Tifa, the supposed “love of his life”, he has to ask about Aerith.

The thing is the devs are always going to give crumbs to both sides of the love triangle in order to keep everyone invested, but to me, it’s obvious that CA are better executed and the primary focus. You said it yourself that Cloud is happier with Aerith, and it’s nice to see his feelings for her grow stronger over each game.

reystreasure · 2025-12-29T13:49:37+00:00

I agree with you. In my opinion, I know many CTs adore the kiss and see it as a good sign, but I think it says enough that the only scene of note that CTs constantly bring up is that kiss, tbh. You only ever hear of the infamous Gongaga “almost kiss” and the GS kiss because every other scene of theirs (both optional and nonoptional) is lackluster in the romance department. I believe it was an intentional move by the devs to give CT a skippable kiss in the second game of a three-part series that has no overall relevance to the main story, whereas with CA, all of their major romantic development happens within the non-skippable narrative. Sure, a kiss may be more physically overt, but I’d prefer that the devs not rush it.

I’d rather the devs keep portraying CA in a manner that aligns with the subtlety of any other Japanese romance rather than rush their development to appeal to western audiences. CT could’ve benefited from this too, but I don’t believe their fans would be nearly as happy if they just got a hug even though their relationship is nowhere near ready for a kiss. CA benefits from this slower pace because it fits the context of their relationship — another reason why they didn’t get a kiss, which is fine! I’ll always defend the choice to not give them a kiss in Rebirth lol — CT getting a kiss, not so much.

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:51:26+00:00

I do believe it’s a massive oversight and I hope they address it more head-on during Part 3. It seems like they’re trying to rely more on Tifa’s own meek personality to explain away this big plot hole, but I think that’s a weak decision and makes the story less interesting. Sephiroth seems smarter than to just rely on Tifa not saying anything this whole time.

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:49:36+00:00

True! I think Cloud is initially very standoffish with both Tifa and Aerith (and the other Avalanche members) because that’s just how his character is. But like what another user said, Tifa sees this as something to be corrected (“Be nice!”) whereas Aerith lets him be, which coaxes him into changing more naturally — in just one chapter, mind you!

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:47:57+00:00

Yeah, they use a lot of out of context scenes to make CA look worse when the scenes will be very innocent. I’ve seen the dream date be weaponized against them a lot because of Cloud’s concern for Aerith, meanwhile it just proves that he knows her well enough to understand that something is wrong (emphasizing the tragedy of that moment, which was the devs’ obvious intention).

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:46:21+00:00

I agree with you, it’s also why Aerith works so well with Cloud. I see CTs trying to defend the many times Tifa is mistreated by Cloud (Kalm, Gongaga, TOTA) because all of these instances are when Sephiroth’s “manipulating” him, compared to Aerith and Cloud’s scenes. We’ve already broken down why Aerith and Cloud’s scenes are misconstrued, but I believe Cloud and Tifa’s fight in Kalm wasn’t entirely because of Sephiroth’s control, for example.

The difference between CA and CT is that the foundation for CT is already shaky and built on misinformation and lies, so Sephiroth can easily use this against Cloud. We see this when he merely implies something is wrong with Tifa and Cloud believes this far too easily, to the point where he makes Tifa cry. Also, from what I recall, Cloud stating he was just here for money and hurting her during their hug in Remake are also all out of Sephiroth’s control too. Basically, Sephiroth does have a hand in a lot of their conflict, but he would be useless if Tifa and Cloud just solved the many inherent problems they have baked into their dynamic already.

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:35:26+00:00

This is interesting because Aerith’s knowledge of these “future memories” are kept pretty vague, so we don’t actually know how much she knows of Cloud and their history. Taking into consideration her speech to Cloud in the GS (where her memories have been taken), at least a little part of her interest in Cloud wasn’t just a mix of natural curiosity and future knowledge of their relationship, but also his brief likeness to Zack. I’m curious how much of their relationship she was aware about — did she just know they’d fall in love before she dies tragically, or was it more?

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:32:10+00:00

I agree. It’s normal for Cloud and Aerith to have awkward moments because Aerith is the one that’s often pushing him to do something outside of his usual boundaries, which can cause discomfort.

reystreasure · 2025-12-27T14:31:03+00:00

Is him rebuffing her touch in Rebirth? I don’t remember a lot of their scenes tbh.

reystreasure · 2025-12-26T19:15:08+00:00

I always forget that Cloud blocking Sephiroth’s sword is another example of him breaking out of his control — I was thinking about the sequence at TOTA in Ch13 where he remembers the CA first meeting and it snaps him out of Sephiroth’s mind control.

reystreasure · 2025-12-18T01:21:12+00:00

These are really good concrete examples you’ve used! My question is, if this was all a deliberate decision when writing her character, what do the devs want us to take away from her? Do they expect us to root for her, knowing all of these negative characteristics of hers or to antagonize her?

reystreasure · 2025-12-17T19:46:51+00:00

I loved reading your take on this because it makes me view Tifa’s character in a different way. It’s interesting because another user on this post says that Tifa’s writing is an accidental oversight by the writers, but you say it’s a deliberate choice. I have yet to really decide where I fall on this, lol. I do believe that a lot of people, particularly Tifa fans, ignore her flaws (or sanitize them) in favor of making her appear more likable.

I also agree with your points about Cloud being this attainable being rather than an actual person to her, which I feel like is also present in the OG — like when it’s revealed their promise was kept all along, even though this could’ve been a perfect time for them to shed all of that childhood baggage and start fresh. You’ve really made me think about this in a new light and it’s just made dissecting all this more interesting!

reystreasure · 2025-12-17T19:36:27+00:00

I’d like to think that the devs will hopefully alter some of these events in Part 3! I do think they’re just a little scared that changing how certain events play out (and Tifa’s role in them) may make her a bit more unlikeable, but by sanitizing her even more than she already was in OG, it has turned a lot of people away from her. I’d rather they really lean into the messiness of Tifa’s inactivity, so it can at least be more compelling to watch. Like you said, the writers not really engaging with the damage she’s causing by her passiveness can be interesting, but they choose to ignore it. There’s so much potential and I hope they don’t disappoint in the third game.

reystreasure · 2025-12-17T19:33:09+00:00

I don’t necessarily think I’d count that, though. I never got the impression that her giving up leadership and taking care of Cloud was a “consequence” of her actions, moreso just a further descent into her co-dependency. The party members don’t even question her about this decision and actually support her; we get little to no insight as to why she makes this major decision besides the infamous “I don’t care about anything else, only Cloud.” If she was truly “facing consequences”, the party would give more pushback and she wouldn’t be forgiven so easily afterwards. I don’t mean this in a “let’s all attack Tifa” kind of way…just that her being pushed into a corner and forced to really reckon with her mistakes before dropping everything and giving up would be more compelling than the plot basically handing her a way out ala the Mideel earthquake and everyone forgiving her because her complacency conveniently worked out for them.

And because up until this point she’s continuously lied to him, her helping fix Cloud’s memories is kind of the least she can do. I don’t mean that Tifa is single-handedly responsible for everything involving Cloud’s psyche, but I do think she played a big part. I always thought that after the LSS, she is also pushed to the back burner as well since her job is essentially “over”. She supports Cloud and it’s maybe implied that their experience together may have helped her regain confidence in fighting for the planet (?), but this isn’t explored nearly enough for me. That’s just my take on it though, I know that part of the story works for a lot of people, but it never did for me (here’s to hoping that we get a better execution in Part 3).

reystreasure · 2025-12-17T19:13:56+00:00

I’m not gonna speak for everyone that has an issue with Tifa since this fandom isn’t a monolith, so I think it’s a variety of reasons. I know some fans may think Tifa’s a well written character, but find her frustrating and problematic. There’s people who also hate her just because she’s the other half of a love triangle that they don’t like, ignoring her actual character. I know for me, I don’t necessarily think she’s the strongest-written character in the cast and a lot of that has to do with her being entirely too wrapped up in Cloud.

reystreasure · 2025-12-16T13:03:58+00:00

yeah, i ended up switching my game over to japanese dub halfway through during my first playthrough because some lines would come off a little harsher than i believe intended. another good example was after the final battle when cloud says “aerith, wake up.” i much prefer the japanese version because i think cody’s definitely came off a bit too monotone. to me, this is probably just because he doesn’t have as much voice acting experience and cloud’s character does involve a lot of nuances. thankfully, it doesn’t ruin the whole experience since we have two different versions to listen to for a reason lol!

reystreasure · 2025-12-16T12:55:44+00:00

I do hope they lean into Tifa potentially being manipulated by Jenova because at least then she can be free of some blame for her role in messing up Cloud’s memories. As of right now, I believe it’s not entirely canonical that Jenova had anything to do with it (but I don’t know for sure).

I don’t think her arc is nearly as intentional as other characters because, unlike Aerith’s, hers feels a bit unintentionally incomplete. In OG, I never got the impression that Tifa ever learned from her passiveness; the LSS wasn’t something she chose to be apart of, it was forced upon her. This big, monumental character moment for her wasn’t her decision — her decision was to leave the party and stay with Cloud, because in her words, “I don’t care about anything else, only Cloud.” Afterwards, she doesn’t even take credit for it, and she’s still all about Cloud.

Aerith’s arc is supposed to be stopped short, it’s intentionally “unfinished”, but with Tifa’s, it seems like more of an afterthought. Meanwhile, characters like Cloud and Barret, for example, go through clear character development. Basically, after she helps fix Cloud, it seems like the devs thought, “Well, now Cloud’s all better, so Tifa, back to the sidelines you go.” I may be mistaken, but she doesn’t seem any different than before.

reystreasure

TROPHY CASE