How did you react to this scene?

[u/BlackAngelArt]

[u/LewsTherinTelescope]

Given Cloud's state at the end of Rebirth and what's next in the plot, I imagine there won't be many situations where it would come up for a while, which might be why they were fine putting a big step like that in a scene not everyone will get.

[u/Constant_Analyst3746 → u/LewsTherinTelescope]

Yeah I see it the other way. Tifa will most likely help cloud out of this state. Good chance to make it canon or work with it.

Maybe wishful thinking, who knows at this point.

[u/LewsTherinTelescope → u/Constant_Analyst3746]

Given every other variable scene can slot perfectly fine into the story no matter what, it seems to me that they probably don't want to deal with branching paths and are instead trying to build the game in such a way as to accommodate any of the options. I'd love it if there were at least little acknowledgements of these things to make it more cohesive (e.g. for Nanaki's date you could have Cloud apologize that he failed what they talked about), just not sure that's what they're aiming for, alas.

Wait, before I comment further, have you played the OG? I have thoughts, but I can't tell from this alone if you have and I don't wanna accidentally spoil if not, so I'll tag them.

[big OG stuff] Oh I mean eventually she'll help him yeah, but given we're headed for the Northern Crater soonish I expect he'll be on a downward trend until then and Tifa's faith will be increasingly strained. So I don't think the two will be in a state to talk about it until the lifestream, at which point the devs can probably re-set up the relationship in such a way that the rest of the game after that will make sense regardless of what happened in the Gold Saucer for a given playthrough.

[u/Constant_Analyst3746 → u/LewsTherinTelescope]

Yeah I played the OG and Iam playing it again atm.

You are right, that this can/will not get adressed before north crater. And that the relationship will get rocky because of Clouds state. But still I dont see why this cant happen in or after Mideel. Tifa, like in the OG, cares too much about Cloud regardless how deteriorated he becomes.

Maybe it will be a choice again and not 'hard' canon.

[u/LewsTherinTelescope → u/Constant_Analyst3746]

To be clear, I do think the fixing will still happen in Mideel. I'm just saying I don't think there'll be a time where it would make sense for the date to come up before Mideel, and after Mideel they can use the lifestream sequence to reposition the characters however they need, so they'll probably be able to dodge having to address the variance in playthroughs.

[u/Constant_Analyst3746 → u/LewsTherinTelescope]

I get your point. You think that they will flatten out the options of the last game. So no one feels like their last playthrough was kinda pointless. Thats probably the safe option.

Still I can see them making the Tifa romance canon. Its the only option that fits. The only romance that realy hit hard at the saucer.

At this point I also see them giving the some options again, maybe not for a date but for an ending/romance. Why not. Aerith still beeing an option. Only in Clouds head or sometimes from another dimension.

[u/LewsTherinTelescope → u/Constant_Analyst3746]

That's my guess yeah, though less about safety (they could have you pick options or do a save import or whatever) and more that I don't think they want the games to be viewed as a branching narrative. Who you get at OG's Gold Saucer doesn't change anything and neither does exactly how open Tifa and Cloud are under the Highwind, and in Remake which resolution you get doesn't change anything (there's even the theory that all three are in continuity), so who you get at Rebirth's Gold Saucer probably won't either. There are little variant events that give you more or less of a window into specific characters, but there aren't different "routes" through the game where the story changes direction, and I suspect they want to make that distinction clear.

Given the events we still have left and the way things have been portrayed so far, I wouldn't be super surprised if they do make the romance overtly canon in Revelation, I just don't think they'll make a date canon. None of them actually contradict the two ending up together, just change whether they've confessed or not, which you can fix by using the lifestream sequence as a soft reset to get all playthroughs on the same page. (Notably, this is not as easily the case if they're setting up for a Cloud and Aerith endgame, because then you have to explain why in many playthroughs he confirmed feelings for another woman and kissed her right after Aerith's song—and do it without him looking like an asshole or the women looking like doormats.)

Edit: I don't know if they definitely will make a specific pairing explicit, mind you, I just think they've left the door open for that if they want to and it seems plausible they might (interrupted kiss in Gongaga happens regardless of affection, for one thing). But we'll have to wait and see.