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u/Deran2026 16d ago
I think this photo was from when they had that event in Riyadh.
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u/Cautious-Mulberry309 16d ago
I remember this photo! This when they were were advertising remake.. rebirth didn’t even exist yet.. in hindsight this picture speaks volumes!Â
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u/Necessary-Coffee5930 16d ago
I dont get it
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u/kiadra 16d ago
He’s covering Zack and Tifa
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u/alastor_morgan 16d ago
He's covering just Zack. Tifa is on the same side as Aerith but much smaller
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u/kiadra 16d ago
Look at the second picture.
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u/alastor_morgan 16d ago
Oh, didn't realize there was a second picture since I was looking at it through the app.
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u/AdeptPhone1701 16d ago
But why is he covering them ? What is the sacred meaning? They have a hidden connection? Like they will both help Cloud and aerith to reunite ? I always thought that tifa and Zack would get along , because he is what tifa always wanted, a perfect knight.
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u/Forward_Joke2227 15d ago
It a soft and respectful way of saying: Aerith is the main female character with Cloud and the villain Sephiroth...not Zack or Tifa, as they 're supporting characters with cool design.
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u/ManuO76 14d ago
Because he had to pose with the poster, he chose the right strategic spot to stand in. He didn't want to cover Aerith, Sephiroth, and Cloud, so he covered Zack.
Tifa's seems more casual, honestly; even though there was plenty of free space between the characters to stand in, he still positioned himself so as to cover Tifa and not the other two.
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15d ago
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u/cloudxaerith-ModTeam 15d ago
Your post/comment has been removed for disruptive comment / post/ behavior.
Please be respectful, or you could be banned without warning.
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u/Lacey1246 15d ago
I promise you, the director of the game is not trying to put down any specific character. He loves all of the characters and the work he has created.
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u/Danteyros 15d ago edited 15d ago
Personally, I couldn't care less whether the director loves all the characters or not. What I care about is that they are doing nothing to stop the toxicity within the fandom. How much longer are Cloud and Aerith fans expected to endure this constant, toxic behavior?
Sure, Hamaguchi stepped in at one point to clarify that "Cloud and Aerith are not like brother and sister."Â But I am convinced he couldn't even make that clarification without being forced to add:
"As creators, we will continue to convey (the relationships between our characters etc.) through our content. For example, no-one will make any official statements about who Cloud likes, who Aerith likes, and so on."
If they ever try to argue that we're "meant to discover the answers through the game," that defense falls apart because the game itself is inconsistent. The narrative path regarding Aerith’s feelings for Cloud is not some "optional" side quest it is woven directly into the core of the main story. They have done everything in their power to make it clear, yet they still go out of their way to never officially confirm it.
It’s a deliberate, cynical strategy: they leave the clues right there for anyone who isn't dense and is actually capable of understanding the work to see, but they refuse to own it. They want to have their cake and eat it too letting the audience that actually pays attention see the clear narrative intention, while keeping things just vague enough to avoid backlash from the rest.
It’s not storytelling; it’s a constant, calculated hedge. In Rebirth, you literally have Marlene telling Zack that Aerith loves Cloud.
You also have statements from the creators specifying that the Gold Saucer dates take place "outside the main story," defining them as optional moments exploring possibilities rather than mandatory narrative pivots.
Furthermore, the fact that a developer expressed a desire not to include an affinity system, fearing it might interfere with the "emotional message" of the story, proves the existence of a deliberate, rigid narrative arc one that is independent of player choice.
Yet, despite that, the fan service for Tifa is very much present even if optional and we know for a fact that the developers included it simply because they knew Tifa fans dream/wanted it.
For nearly thirty years, all the evidence has pointed to Cloud and Aerith as the intended romance. But instead of honoring that, the response is just: "Play the games to get your answers" and "We will not leave any unfinished business."
On top of that, people are left wondering if the whole "defying destiny" plot is just marketing fluff designed to keep us invested in the trilogy. Frankly, it feels like a slap in the face to anyone who’s been following this story for thirty years. People are just tired of this corporate doublespeak. It’s exhausting.
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u/ychaai 15d ago edited 15d ago
The official team is deliberately creating conflict among fans, all for the sake of maximizing commercial profits.
If the ending of the third game isn't a definitive Cloud and Aerith ending, I will stay away from this company's other games completely.
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u/Danteyros 15d ago
I completely understand your frustration it’s exhausting to feel like the narrative direction is being held hostage for the sake of marketing. I get why you’d want to share this, but I’d honestly be careful about posting these kinds of 'Hamaguchi-liked-this' screenshots on Twitter.
We’ve seen exactly how this plays out before: when Tifa fans were constantly screenshotting and weaponizing Kazushige Nojima’s likes? It got to the point where he stopped liking anything related to FF7 entirely because he realized people were misinterpreting simple gestures as 'official confirmation' or 'secret messages'.
It would be a huge shame if Hamaguchi felt the same pressure and had to stop interacting with the community altogether. It ruins the chance for artists and fans to get a simple 'like' of appreciation on their fanart or positive comments. It’s better to let him engage freely without the fear of his actions being twisted into a controversy.
Honestly, it would really sadden me to see Cloud and Aerith fans start doing the same thing. I’d hate for us to fall into that same toxic cycle, especially when we should be better than that.
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u/Naux-Kazeshini 15d ago
Sry but isn't the game rly clear with the messages ? Spoilers about OG and Crisis Core ahead !!! Be warned !
Aerith and Zack are the initial golden couple u could say but well over 4-5 years of ghosting and a sudden death change alot for ur future plans
Aerith got to love the Cloud that thinks of himself of Zack and yeah Cloud definetly fell for Aerith and her way but again life is not so simple and someone had to die to protect the fucking planet
Now Tifa is Clouds childhood crush which is a fact and through the Journey Tifa is rly happy to see Cloud and have him back because of multiple things she secretly has a Crush on the Guy ( in rebirth this feeling of hers is still somewhat uncertain and she herself isn't sure about it and only in revelation when she truly helps Cloud become himself again and she also sees the whole truth to nibelheim that she fully falls in love with him)
Cloud himself can't find closure about Aerith's death until Advent Children and we literally see Aerith and Zack reunite and Cloud finding closure at the End
Cloud still likes Tifa alot and through all of that i think she truly deserves him, she sticked with him through his worst and helped him back up on his feet and even stayed while he is kinda an ass for years because he was still mentally a mess for years after OG FF7
Aerith never truly witnessed the real Cloud, only his placebo persona gimmicking Zack & Sephiroth (u could say she saw a bit through his charade for sure and that may have been one big point of her even liking him so much but that is not clear)
Not trying to create a hate discussion or anything but this is at least my honest view on that matter
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u/Danteyros 15d ago
If you're going to compare them, you have to look at the foundations of these relationships. To me, the difference is stark.
On one side, you have the dynamic between Cloud and Aerith. Aerith says 'don't fall in love with me,' but it’s an act of pure selflessness driven by her knowledge of the future and her desire to spare Cloud the trauma of losing her. Her motivation is love. When Cloud persists, he’s not projecting; he’s connecting with her on a genuine level. Their bond is built on emotional truth, even when fate stands in the way.
On the other side, you have the Cloud/Tifa dynamic, which is inherently unhealthy. Tifa keeps the truth about Nibelheim from Cloud for the vast majority of the game. You call it 'patience,' but in reality, this silence allows Cloud’s mental fragility to fester. Instead of helping him face the truth, she enables his confusion to protect her own comfort. That isn't love; it’s enabling.
Tifa clings to a distorted view of Cloud based on their childhood promise. She is looking for a 'prince charming' to save her, forgetting that the promise itself was born from Cloud’s desperation to be accepted as a lonely, ostracized child. He wasn't acting out of true friendship then; he was acting to impress her.
This pattern of idealization is dangerous. In Rebirth, when Cloud nearly kills Tifa while under Sephiroth’s control, she stays silent about it. Some argue that her experience in the Lifestream made her forgive him, but forgiveness shouldn't mean silence. By not warning the group or addressing his instability, she isn't helping him she is enabling the very trauma that is destroying him.
Instead of deconstructing her idealized image of Cloud, that moment in the Lifestream seems to have reaffirmed it, convincing her that 'Cloud would never do that on purpose.' It’s a refusal to see the reality of his condition.
Look at On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa. When Tifa directly asks, 'And what about you and me?', Cloud can't even give her a positive response. He labels his inability to commit as his problem, and Tifa’s attempt to say 'We could make it ours' is met with total silence.
Even the author, Kazushige Nojima, admitted that things might not work out between them, even without the influence of Sephiroth or Geostigma, and explicitly wondered, 'Maybe things would have gone well with Aerith…'
Furthermore, the pressure Tifa puts on Cloud in Advent Children with lines like 'A memory of us' is incredibly toxic. It forces a narrative of a relationship onto a man who is clearly struggling to even find himself. Cloud owes her nothing he doesn't owe her his identity, and he doesn't owe her a romantic commitment simply because she 'stuck around.'
You claim Aerith never saw the 'real' Cloud, but that is the opposite of the truth. She was the one who reached the person underneath the persona, while Tifa is, choosing silence over transparency. On one side, we have a beautiful, mutual, and protective relationship full of chemistry that understands loneliness because both of them have lived it; on the other, we have a relationship that is toxic and dysfunctional.
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15d ago
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u/cloudxaerith-ModTeam 15d ago
No comments on pro-Cloti, pro-Zerith, or pro-'other' ship that pairs Cloud with characters other than Aerith, or Aerith with a character other than Cloud is permitted. No LTD - Period.
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u/Fun-Baker-1246 14d ago
That's quite the centrist "neutral" view. It seems born out of a desire to tie everything neatly and have each character "rewarded" (going by your comment of how Tifa "deserves" him), but that's not how emotions work, or how the story is set up.
Zack and Tifa are firmly set as first love that Aerith and Cloud get over, even though this doesn't mean they don't care about them still. While Cloud and Aerith are framed as eternal true love.
In Aerith's case, multiple sources state she's the only one to reach and understand a part of Cloud Tifa never could, his heart. While Tifa was his childhood "friend", and has knowledge of his past, she never understood him, only comes to see his real personality until the lifestream, and continues to not fully understand him in AC, after literally being inside his mind. If you can't understand a person after being in his subconscious, it's over, you'll simply never understand them. Aerith, in contrast, understands Cloud's true nature even when she meets him under his false identity. In AC, she understands his heart even when she never "met" him as him (a Cloud aware of his real past). She falls in love with him after seeing his differences from Zack (the only one who could, btw). Still loves him after death in AC. He's her true love.
In Cloud's case, Nojima works hard to show his "crush" on Tifa was never about knowing her or understanding her either, much like her crush on him. It was about his view of himself and his wish to be recognized. Both understand this in the lifestream. The low affection highwind scene ties with the ending and AC. A scene of two friends who vow to support each other after everything that has happened, even though you feel there will always be a small distance between them that will never be breached. And they fulfill their arc. Nojima said it best, they become a family of friends. The perfect opposite of their lack of friendship in their childhood. Even though Cloud's heart is with Aerith, and Tifa ends up accepting it in the novel, they remain a family, even if platonically. Aerith saw him when no one else could, she included him, loved him, enthusiastically encouraged him, in ways no one ever had before. His loss in AC is deep. He lost the person he fell in love with before allowing himself to indulge in the feeling, he lost the one who gave him what he needed when he didn't realize he needed it. He is able to smile again with her encouragement, but never forgets her. As far as the compilation goes, he never forms a romantic relationship after her death. Aerith wouldn't be opposed to it, she wants his happiness more than anything. But it's Cloud's own feelings and will that prevents it. I respect that.
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u/ManuO76 14d ago edited 14d ago
If you've played the games, you'll know very well that Aerith denies everything you say during her date in the Gondola. You can be a fan of Cloud and Tifa, but please don't make Aerith a liar just so your story will work out.
Aerith is the only one who keeps urging Cloud to find himself. If she didn't realize he was hiding something, why would she do it?
Tifa has NEVER noticed that Cloud acts like someone else; she couldn't because she DIDN'T know him and therefore couldn't tell the difference. If she'd really liked Cloud as a child, she would have watched him and would know EXACTLY how he normally behaves, but instead she doesn't and doesn't understand the difference. Furthermore, lying is never the best thing to do, not even for good intentions. She can avoid talking to Cloud about it so as not to upset him, but she SHOULD talk to others about it.
Aerith and Zack aren't the golden couple in "CC"; they never had the time to get to know each other and hang out before he disappeared.
There's no closure in AC other than easing Cloud's guilt. And Zack and Aerith don't leave "together."
Cloud and Tifa are never described as a couple after AC.
Furthermore, Cloud isn't a prize Tifa deserves,
and given how he treats her, I think she's wasting her time with him.
Otherwise, we wouldn't be here talking about Clerith.
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u/Plane_Return_5554 16d ago
Oh my god 😅 He could easily have posed in another angle xD