Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth showed a scene that fans have wanted for 26 years
The only thing more evil than Sephiroth is pitting Tifa Lockhart and Aerith Gainsborough against each other.
Ever since the original Final Fantasy 7 came out in 1997, fans have debated which character Cloud should date. There’s Tifa, the childhood friend with a warm smile, or Aerith, a bright vision of hope for a dying world. The first game established a classic love triangle, and now — 26 years later — Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has revived the debate by showing a never-before-seen romantic side to its spiky-haired hero.
The original Final Fantasy 7 did little to stoke genuine love between Cloud and his love interests. Although he has various moments where he can express interest in either girl, choosing one over the other often resulted in jealousy or hurt feelings from the rejected party. The original framing created a bit of a competition between Tifa and Aerith, and it didn’t exactly age well. Fortunately for those of us who adore both of them, the developers left these parts out of Final Fantasy 7 Remake,and the young women get to share a loving and supportive friendship.
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Rebirth continues this general approach, and further develops the bonds between Tifa and Aerith. Still, even these two characters can’t escape the tendencies of the larger fandom. When Square Enix released Rebirth, fans flooded social media with with posts discussing which pairing they support and why they feel that way, given new developments in Rebirth. The game reignited the classic “Clerith” versus “Cloti” discourse, and it’s all because of one big scene. If you’re into the characters and the romance in the game, it’s a monumental event that came a surprise to fans.
[Ed. note: The post contains spoilers for the intimate Gold Saucer date in Chapter 12 of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.]
Now that we’ve got through the non-spoiler section of this post, I can just cut to the big thing that happened: Cloud and Tifa kiss… gasp!
To see the kiss, you need to get the “intimate” version of the
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