Final Fantasy VII Remake, Part Three

[rynling]

I also appreciate the scene between Barret and Tifa after Shinra brings the Sector 7 plate down on the slums. Tifa is in shock and on the verge of a breakdown, and she says something like “this is all our fault.” Barret hugs her while at the same time talking good sense, saying, “You can’t let yourself think like that. Whatever may have come before, it’s Shinra who pulled the trigger.”

Barret and Tifa have their differences, and they butt heads regarding Avalanche's goals and methods in multiple scenes. Still, they support one another when it matters, and they never forget that they’re fighting the same enemy. I didn’t expect to encounter such a healthy model of a progressive resistance movement in a commercial video game, but here we are.

Tifa and Barret have great chemistry in the Final Fantasy VII Remake, by the way. I would happily play a prequel game (maybe along the lines of Teardown) where the two of them are ecoterrorist buddies who do crimes in Midgar.

Also, I think the English-language voice actress nailed Aerith’s personality in the Remake. She seems sweet on the surface, but she’s 100% set on getting her way, and she can be super passive-aggressive when she runs out of patience. She has goddess-tier powers, and she has an appropriate level of self-confidence to match. I feel like the original English translation struggled with her voice (which is surprisingly masculine-coded in Japanese), but she shines as a character in the Remake. I am so in love.

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

Barret and Tifa really do have fantastic chemistry, and I would absolutely play that prequel game! I pretty much ended up shipping Barret/Tifa/Aerith/Cloud in the Remakeverse, but I have a particular soft spot for Barret/Tifa.

Remake Aerith is a delight and I love her. I was thrilled when she swore early on; it instantly demolished my fears that she would be depicted as an innocent angel!

[rynling]

Aside from getting the impression that Cloud and Sephiroth have some sort of toxic yuri going on, I was always fairly agnostic about FFVII shipping, but I have seen the light. I now ship everyone with everyone else in this game.

I'm not an expert on FFVII by any means, but I seem to remember that the Advent Children novelization has Barret and Cid canonically riding off into the sunset together. I'm of the opinion that Cid should be married to the bottom of a rubbish bin (affectionate), but I'm still interested to learn how that dynamic plays out in the Remakeverse. If nothing else, it's nice to see Barret taken seriously as a character instead of being treated as a joke.

In any case, I wasn't going to play Rebirth until it eventually made its way to Steam, but I guess I'll have to break out the PS5. At this point I'm afraid I'll surely perish if I don't see more of Aerith immediately. I'm sure this emotional attachment won't have consequences,

[rynling]

I thought they were in a relationship too! Granted, I was very young when I played the original game, so the situation of "a man and woman living together while raising a child" led me to what seemed like an obvious conclusion.

Apparently, Square Enix has released an English translation of the "Traces of Two Pasts" novel about Aerith and Tifa. I'm curious about Tifa's early years in Midgar, and I might just read it.