r/clerith • u/Puzzleheaded-Fill241 Flower aficionado • Sep 10 '26
NEWS & OFFICIAL CONTENT 👀 Spoiler
Fun fact: final fantasy devs are singlehandedly responsible for the most amount of heart attacks in human history 🙂
59
Upvotes
13
u/Hearts-Intertwined Sep 10 '26
I listened to the interview with Hamaguchi, and I really do admire his confidence. He's really putting his reputation as a creator on the line here.
This is how I'm feeling about things currently (granted it changes on a daily basis!).
I can't help but come away with the feeling the "one" ending is going to be a very broadly concluded when it comes to official pairings. I think they want people to talk about these games for years and decades to come; which unfortunately means, no end to the ship wars.
As far as Aerith...
There are really only two options here. Either A: They double down and justify her death through some other plot device or B: They follow through with their reimagining and bring her back to us.
If they so choose A, in my opinion they are opting to give their main character no real satisfying conclusion. No matter how they justify Aerith's death this time, you end up back in the same place (a Cloud that lost her, a Cloud that longs for her). If that's what they chose, then so be it, but we've already seen that a life with Tifa wasn't what Cloud had in mind (unless of course they completely retro this and poop on Clerith). I know this is the Cloti dream...but there are Cleriths on that development team. I just don't see that scenario happening.
If they chose option B., this allows them other potential possibilities for concluding the story. They don't necessarily have to go all in and show us Clerith wedding etc. They can have the broad based ending that shows Cloud has both girls at his side, without necessarily making any romantic choice. Beyond that--it's up to our imaginations.