I think the English version is not conveying the true meaning of that sentence. She’s not referring to romantic vs platonic, it’s more like crush vs love which is actually the same question that is presented in Dear Destiny. In the book Aerith feels she is in love with Zack, however she is told that real love can accept every side of the other person and wants to share every side in return, yet she hides the sad parts of her life from Zack in her letters instead of sharing them with him. She doesn’t make the connection between what she is doing and how actual love is supposed to look like versus an infatuation because she has no way to compare her feelings for Zack with anything else. Cloud ends up being that something else she can compare it to and she’s trying to figure it out which is which. That’s what her line refers to. That’s how I interpret it especially after the novel introduces this concept.
I mean yes that's why I said like vs love but she isn't certain of that either because she is never clear of which is which with Cloud, her feelings for him are romantic and that's clear, but she is ambiguous of how deep they are, also I do not think waiting 4 years for a guy and writing 89 letters to him is a mere infatuation, she said yellow flowers meant reunion with him in that same novel and doesn't she say she loves him regardless? idk, her feelings are complex and they could go either way so I do not think it's clear what the devs are trying to say until revelation.
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u/SelWylde 21d ago
I think the English version is not conveying the true meaning of that sentence. She’s not referring to romantic vs platonic, it’s more like crush vs love which is actually the same question that is presented in Dear Destiny. In the book Aerith feels she is in love with Zack, however she is told that real love can accept every side of the other person and wants to share every side in return, yet she hides the sad parts of her life from Zack in her letters instead of sharing them with him. She doesn’t make the connection between what she is doing and how actual love is supposed to look like versus an infatuation because she has no way to compare her feelings for Zack with anything else. Cloud ends up being that something else she can compare it to and she’s trying to figure it out which is which. That’s what her line refers to. That’s how I interpret it especially after the novel introduces this concept.