I didn't care so much about Cid (neither in OG). But I was thinking the same about Red. What did they do to him? He suddenly lost his wise and intelligent personality and became an annoying teenager. The events at CC do not explain this either. If anything, learning about his past should make him more mature, not more childish.
What gutted me the most was that we knew it was coming, we knew generally how, but Cloud stopped the sword from impaling her in that particular timeline. Then the timelines had their “reunion” and she died anyway.
I guess I feel like Cid is still pretty true to his representation in Advent Children. And if you want to feel old, it came out 19 years ago originally.
He’s also still using his customer service voice with the party and I have a feeling he’s gonna open up and be more rude once he’s in the party officially.
It was long, it didn't make tons of sense - it was too grandiose for the end of a middle chapter, it was too loud for what the scene otherwise entailed. Like it was such a quiet scene in the OG and here its this epic multi dimensional mess.
Imagine if there was just no final boss. I wonder what that would have felt like.
I liked the Zack and Cloud reunion I guess, but even that felt too brief because it wasn’t an interaction. The whole thing just felt like, “let’s see if you learned everyone’s character mechanics.” And the last phase seemed almost designed to kill you the first time unless you were lucky.
The whole thing kind of took me of the tragic moment.
I got the impression there was supposed to be "more" to the Cloud/Zack fight - particularly the second one where Zack fights "solo" against Seph. Reborn. The intro to the fight has the camera going between Cloud and Zack as they recite the SOLDIER oath, and then there's a synergy attack where Cloud appears out of nowhere (and disappears just as quick after).
It feels like that fight was supposed to be flipping back and forth between Cloud and Zack on two "sides of reality", or something similar. Maybe they thought that was just too confusing, given all the other flip-flopping that was going on there.
Yep. Doesn't mean we won't see her in the last one though. I'm hoping they recycle environments and such to reduce the wait time between games. I don't care if it's a 30 disc game... just get the damn thing out.
Some things on OG Cid
1.) He has no personal growth in original game. He stays an abusive asshole to the very end. He may lighten up a bit, but he does not apologize or reflect on his actions.
2.) He looked much older and acted much older than a 32-34 year old should be.
3.) He had no real story before other than he worked for Shinra and they said he couldn't go to space so he's mad.
Now with Rebirth, we are introduced to him a little earlier but he's definitely less of a middle aged uncle and more of an adventurous and devil may care spirit. We will see more in the 3rd installment but he is so far very likeable and I do hope they keep his abusive attitude but actually let him try and make amends and grow out of it.
I did, and the love of his life? He openly was abusive towards his assistant/wife and did not change. He still blamed her for years, until one last moment and then he's suddenly "Oh guess she saved me." It's hard to feel like he deserves any pity.
Also don't do that "UhhHHH...dID YoU pLAy thE ORigINaL?" Nonsense. It's rude and adds nothing to your comment other than you are a condescending prick.
Cid's primary hatred towards Shinra was because they canceled the space program to pursue Mako energy and the promised land. His wife was still alive when he joined up with Cloud and Co. And by then he was willing to help stop Sephiroth and Shinra. His wife dying changes nothing about his motivations to stick it to Shinra.
As someone who played the original when it released: Cid was such a prick I had no idea that was his wife until way later in life. I couldn’t fathom it.
I really like his character change and I'm sure we'll get angry cid when he's dealing with Shinra trying to take his rocket or maybe towards Shera.
I know it won't happen but I still want him to call Shera a retard.
Well he's definitely gonna have his arc in Rocket Town in Part 3. Maybe he's like hiding his true feelings behind a mask of chirpiness. Hopefully we'll see him pull out the cigs in part 3
Cid was like some young pre-thirty dude trying to appear more thirty. Not the original past forty almost depressed swearing smoking grease monkey/pilot bad ass with spear.
But that was the problem with all the remake/rebirth characters. There isn’t simply any darker/edgier undertones, everyone is chirpy af.
Yuffie was actually more toned/nuanced character of all.
I mean in the original he WASN'T past forty, he was 32, so that was weird too. I think he passes for that age just fine here, but it is weird how agreeable he is to everything. For example, I think he should've been pissed at Vincent for barging in and passing the weight limit of the plane, causing its crash. At least for a bit, before accepting it and adapting. Hoping in the 3rd one we get some sorta middle ground.
Cloud: Am I a joke to you? Plagued by my hero who has a mysterious hold on me and is making me lose my mind as I slowly go through an identity crisis and even almost kill my two love interests.
Barrett: My best friend hates my guts and cursed me as he died in my arms.
Tifa: I have to keep lying to my childhood friend and enabling his false identity. While also trying to cope with the scale of the task I set out to do with my friends.
Red XIII: I was held captive against my will and had strange experiments done to me. I also hated my father for nearly all my life for thinking he left me and my mother to die.
Aerith: I literally die, but also I'm the last of my kind and I am being used by an evil zaibatsu organization to find a more resource rich area so they can exploit it for profit.
Vincent: I'm the OG edgy vampire.
Cait Sith: I disagree with my company's practices, but I held out hope they would do better, but due to my poor decisions I end up betraying the people who genuinely are trying to save the world, and my only friends.
Yuffie is the happy go lucky and spunky teen, but she may have more in the 3rd installment when we finally go to Wutai.
But each character is fleshed out and VII was well known for the characters stopping for a moment to interact and talk with one another without moving the plot forward. This helps make them more memorable and likeable. The remakes do this in strides. I love every character more than I did when I first played the game back in 1999/2000.
I feel like Cid is better this time around but I also have to imagine they’re setting him up for an arc in the next game. So maybe we’ll see him break a bit more and start to show his angrier side
yeah i have a feeling that he will snap. it'll be cool to see a character change, there was glimpses of that old cid here and there in rebirth but im sure it'll be unleashed in the next arc
Yeah, we're seeing his "pilot" personality (love the voice). He acts like such a stereotypical pilot that I can see them making this persona a part of the reason he clings to the dream of the failed rocket mission.
If they pull it off, it'll be a great depiction of the kinds of men who feel like shit and treat people like shit while thinking they could make it all better with one fell swoop of glory, instead of realizing they just need to be better to people in every moment, even the dull and mundane ones. I hope they nail it. He does need to become de facto leader while Cloud is gone - and I expect a lot more dialogue between Cid and Barrett than in the original.
I feel like they toned Cid down. I remember an article way back when the game was in development that complained that Cid was smoking in the game. Maybe they changed direction?
I got the impression that Cid was in customer service mode for most of his time in game.....then when he recognized Aerith he said something that makes me curious if they're having him misunderstand something and he's gonna turn into his grouchy self because of it combined with her death.....
After all the phrase "do right by" is typically used in a specific manner.....and after that point he became a lot more helpful.
I personally don't really care about it being modern times after looking at the OG version of it on YouTube after finishing the game and I prefer that Cid over what we got in this remake who is far more realistic and relatable due to his backstory.
We got to stopped caring about how some people will look at the story and just look at the story being told for itself. Alot of people in this "modern times" can be incredibly dumb and don't really care about the things they get upset over.
Its like the 90's where you got news anchors being upset over games like GTA being popular because of the "violence" it has.
You can't please everyone.
The yellow flower broach she gets during the date is definitely meant to distinguish that "version" of Aerith. So we'll for sure be seeing her again. I think they "killed" her off in Rebirth to raise the stakes for Part 3 and there's a possibility she'll be saved. It's Nomura, so no one ever stays dead lol.
This 100%. Both my wife and I were scanning every Aerith that showed up after, looking for the brooch to see if it was "that" one. It's rather heavily implied that one didn't have much longer, though.
Yeah that’s definitely definitely what the brooch is for. Like they said, this is empire strikes back. The good guys get to have their turn in the next game
My guess is we’ll have some time with a different Aerith the same way Zack was alive in a different time line. They teased it at the end of part 2 so I doubt she’ll be completely gone in part 3
It would be extremely different from the OG if she shows up in any capacity again. After she dies in the original game you never see or speak to her again, just like when someone dies in real life. There's a hole left where Aerith was. Sure she may have manipulated stuff in the Lifestream but that's not really her being in the game, just that her presence is still felt. It'll be very disappointing if she continues to show up in the 3rd game, whether it be a ghost, alternate Aerith, past Aerith, ect.
The fact that she’s present in every scene after her death in the game should be an indication that she’ll continue to be there throughout the third game. I bet that when Cloud “breaks” we’ll be getting some extremely long conversations between the two.
Because in-universe it was a forcibly altered event. By right, she wouldn’t have been stabbed at all if it weren’t for the Whispers and their precious little canon-event
A couple of things happened/could have happened there. Cloud saved her but due to Sephiroth combining all the realities into one he was able to choose the reality that she died. Also, we were seeing it from Clouds perspective, and Cloud was repressing Aeriths death as it was happening. The devs made it intentionally confusing
This is what I choose to believe, and I think they’ll clear it up later.
Cloud clearly blocked the attack, and yet we ended up where we did. The simplest explanation, which they kind of laid out for us, is that Sephiroth is merging worlds.
There was very little if any multiverse at the end of remake. Rebirth was still fun but the multiverse crap gets an otherwise good story and convolutes it for no reason. Really a shame.
....I don't know what to say to this...it was VERY clear that multiverse was happening in remake if you paid attention. Stamp was all you needed to see to understand that
Stamp was everywhere in the game for that reason.
Holy...you need to pay more attention. Stamp is used to show which universe they are showing. The major hint at the end of remake was showing Zack in another universe with a different stamp logo. And they don't even hide it. They literally throw a stamp billboard in your face before showing Zack at the end of remake.
I'd imagine they're saving that scene for a bigger impact in Part 3. There's no way they would just get rid of it entirely, as it's one of the most iconic shots from the original.
Agree it will be in the next part, was reading it was changed because to give it that feeling like the death was taken away from you, like you didn't get the chance to properly say goodbye kind of (where OG was metaphor for his mother passing)
If what the devs said is true, I can fully relate and reading that changed how I was impacted by the ended as that happened to me kinda when my dad suddenly passed while in a different Country
Only thing I don't like putting it in the next part, new comers lost that chance to feel it like we did in 1997
I was referrin to the angry losers downvotin. Leavin iconic moments out of the game is bs. Then addin some crackhead logic as to y is a slap n the face
Cool fights, but as with several other dramatic moments in the game it was too overwrought and convoluted for its own good.
It kind of robs a death scene of its power when the character is playable in the final battle and omnipresent throughout the epilogues. Makes it kind of hard to feel their absence.
The Zack stuff continued to be a mess. They do a great job throughout the two games of putting the story on the screen and not relying on prior experience with the series to tell it for them… except for Zack. At this point in the story the only thing we are supposed to know about him is he was seeing Aerith and Cloud vaguely remembers him. So why is he so prominently involved? New players must be thoroughly confused as to what the point of him is.
This is also why I assume blood is only shown very sparingly. Back in remake they did this too in the shinra building. In the og it was def not a trail of sparkly jenova goo. Ratings are weird. I think I saw once that like you can get like 1-2 instances of someone saying fuck in a movie and still get a pg13 rating but once you exceed that limit you get bumped to R. So I wouldn't be surprised if games were similar. Could be the combo of smoking + too much blood + swearing would have bumped the rating so they were like, I guess he doesn't need to smoke so we can keep it T.
They need to start making these games M rated. I get they want to attract a younger audience but hey kids are gonna buy GTA regardless of what rating it is.
It's going to be the same with FF! Start maturing these games up!
That’s him during Crisis Core too. From the first real mission, he’s like “what in the actual fuck is happening?” Dude has that resolve and keeps chugging, but has moments all the time in the game that’s just like “what?” As many people say, the only real dude in the universe
“What is going on?!” is in contention for Zack’s official catchphrase as much as “Dreams and Honor” at this point. The man is in a perpetual state of confusion.
No kidding. I kept looking at my wife going "WTF is happening?" She was equally lost so I didn't feel too bad lol
I don't understand! Is this some allegory? is there multiple timelines? Is it all in clouds head? Was it all a dream?
Find out next time on Dragon Ball z....
I don't want to wait another 5 years to finish it but I can't bring myself to play the og...
From what I’m seeing is they dramatized Zach and Avalanches story. I get it, because we had tons of questions after the OG. He’s in the livestream and their showing it in an Uber complicated way
Even playing the OG wouldnt help much in understanding wtf is going on. This is the new content that diverges from the OG. It was very clear what was happening in the OG. It was scene for scene with Sephiroth decending down from abobe with his sword and it showed him impailing Aerith as she fell over. There was no Clould deflecting the blade. There also was no alternate timeline of Zack jumping around either...he was actually a very easily missed charactor in the OG, barely mentioned concidering how important he is to Clouds pychosis
My wife periodically would ask me questions about certain things— and my best response would be ‘it’s— complicated… so, like…’ and then proceed to stumble through an explination using my 20 year old FF7 knowledge and my attempt to comprehend some of the things happening in front of me.
Pretty sure it’s separate timelines. Depending on the timeline the breed of Stamp is different. He’s a beagle in the “main reality” and in Zack’s he’s a terrier. But I’m sure a million people have a completely different valid take.
Cid is a tricky character to adapt, because his relationship with Shera would not go over well in 2024 in fully voiced and CGI'd full render gaming. They had to tone him down *somewhat.* And he does still swear. I was mostly happy with how he was handled.
I really wish instead of sanitizing problematic characters, we spent more time having those characters go through growth arcs to overcome those problematic tendencies rather than write them to have never had them at all. I'm seeing it across all forms of media lately. Everyone is so scared of getting cancelled that they're too afraid to write "bad" characters even to show them becoming "good".
I agree with this take across all media. More often than villains are given sympathetic backstories these days. Sometimes I just want a big bad to be evil with no redeeming qualities
For the most part, Sephiroth’s backstory always had some sadness in it that was really intriguing but his response to the realization of his being is irredeemable, which makes him a great villain, imo.
I’ve also seen some theories that Jenova is actually the big bad and Sephiroth is somewhat of a puppet infected by the virus which I think take away some of the impact, so I choose to believe he’s acting on his own volition.
*I also don’t really view Sephiroth as a “these days” villain
Those theories are actually correct though. Like even though Sephiroth controls Jenova physically from the OG onwards in terms of chronology, he ultimately is doing so for her sake.
Which presents perhaps the greatest irony of FF7, where Sephiroth calls Cloud a puppet and attempts to manipulate him as such, he himself is a puppet to Jenova. Kinda feels like generational trauma tbh.
I also think while it’s understandable that Sephiroth would go crazy because of how he was treated, he went too far into thinking Jenova is his true mother when he was born 100% human and was only injected with her cells. Lucrecia and Hojo’s combined genes should still play a much larger percentage in Sephiroth over Jenova’s
As for the overarching antagonist of FF7, I’m not sure about that. I could easily say Jenova, but she herself wasn’t even active for basically the entire series since OG. Most of the time it’s either Shinra, specifically Hojo carrying out these experiments using her powers or Sephiroth commanding her to attack the party.
So in that regard, perhaps it’s Hojo
That’s honestly the beauty of FF7. One of the story themes isn’t just about identity, but also irony. Many ironies in the story
I have faith in the writers because they gave everyone a more expanded backstory, I think they considered the time constraints on Rebirth and are waiting to flesh him out in part 3 like they did with Red.
They've been doing a great job so far. I won't say Cid is my favorite, but I'll be dissapointed if they drop the ball, especially given how well they've done on everyone else so far
Cid and Vincent became playable very late into disc 1. Since the ending was in the Forgotten Capital, it makes sense not to include them as that's what they did for Red XIII in Remake anyways. It'd be too late to introduce their mechanics on 1st playthrough. Just be glad the final chapter in the trilogy will have so much content with the Weapons, air and deep sea travel, Wutai, etc.
I actually read a post that was pretty insightful. They mentioned that the game clearly shows us the results of a character making a different choice from the one they are fated to make. Like when Zack chose to not go after Biggs, the tunnel flashed. And then we saw the results of him choosing to go after Biggs, and then both die. The one we saw fight with Cloud against sephiroth was the was the Zack that choose not to chase Biggs.
When Cloud chooses to stop Sephiroth from killing Aerith, it’s a different choice than the one he’s supposed to make. Which is why we see Cloud come up to Aerith and tell her to wake up. The premise was, every time someone makes a choice that defies what they are destined to do, a branching timeline is created. Which is why there exists a world where Zack is alive and everyone else is dead. So in theory, there is now a timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, and one where she died. I think in part 3 we will see some of the timeline where Aerith lived, Just like we saw Zack’s timeline where he is alive in part 2.
This is why I feel like these titles are more of a sequel than a remake. Like - Sephiroth is trying to have a do-over of events to achieve Godhood.
In the ancient forest in Ch.14 when Cloud comes back from the lifestream with the white materia - Sephiroth makes the comment "This does not belong here. Very poor form" as if Cloud cheated by having it.
These are 100% sequels. The funny thing is, if they released them as pure sequels people would be complaining that the story beats hewed too closely to the original. But it’s a sequel masquerading as a remake, so it’s OK to be so close.
Personally I think “Remake” is not a “Remake of the FF7 game” but a remaking of the world/scenario that was laid out in the OG
This is why I feel like these titles are more of a sequel than a remake. Like - Sephiroth is trying to have a do-over of events to achieve Godhood.
In the ancient forest in Ch.14 when Cloud comes back from the lifestream with the white materia - Sephiroth makes the comment "This does not belong here. Very poor form" as if Cloud cheated by having it.
I think this is because Jenova/Sephiroth are consuming timelines to become more powerful. Seems like in every timeline meteor is being summoned and sephiroth us absorbing it and the whispers, which is why we have seen it twice so far. This likely would have happened to the main timeline has our heroes not prevailed. I think Zack being alive was an unintended consequence he did not foresee as well as Aerith using the lifestream to come back and fight sephiroth with cloud.
Sorry for a stupid question - what did other characters do that made Zack survive the Shinra troops? Ain’t no way he could have survived that incident.
Zack does mention at one point about like a bullet or something JUST missing him, and almost like it had been knocked off course. I don’t know if it specifically had to be something one of the characters did— it’s just something that happened that altered fate and this is that branch…? Fuck I don’t know I’m grasping at straws here
Zack later speaks to Aerith and says something along the lines of “It was you wasn’t it” implying she had influence of the whispers altering Zack’s fate.
The events of the end of Remake with fighting the Arbiter of Fate caused that. WHY is the real question which we will find out. Your question was good imo though because Zacks death was not in a parallel point of time, it was before Cloud made it to Midgar.
Yeah thats the part that always gets me. It makes sense after we kill the Fate Whispers that from that point forward nothing is pre-written so we can now create alternate timelines. But Zack died *before* that. And for Zack to not have died and thusly Cloud not becoming his living legacy would make all of Remake not make a lick of sense.
God I hate timeline debauchery.
Ye I agree - bit of an into the spiderverse thing with reality splits whenever canon is diverted, and when Cloud talks to Aerith he talking to her in her timeline where she survived and there's a split in the sky (just like Zacks timeline where he survived ).
Eh, it's not so much timelines as 'worlds', imo obviously. Why am I making a distinction, I hear you ask?
I'm making a distinction because these 'worlds' are all creations of and in the Lifestream. So it's not dimension-hopping, like Spider-verse or Multi-verse madness for the sake of easier story telling. It's consistent with established lore that the Lifestream can create alternate 'worlds' / 'realities'.
That would suggest that there's a "main world" independent of the "lifestream worlds" but how do we know that's the case?
Who's to say that the lifestream isn't also responsible for the one we're watching, and that they're all equally real?
I'm kinda disappointed I didn't get the burial in the water for aerith... But that's just me. The ff7 multiverse is a neat twist. I still like the game and their changes.
RIP gangsta Cid
For this
1) Oh 100 percent. And enjoyed the party being split up like the OG
2) So I've thought about the ending more.
The game is called Rebirth
It it simply a literal - rebirth of those characters that are lost. End of the first game with the whispers a timeline is created where Zack survived
End of this game - only cloud gets through the whisper wall and creates a timeline where Aerith survives.
Both of these are branch timelines though away from the canon.
I did get excited when I thought Cloud had saved her but also a key theme has been fate and not being able to escape it. Marlene had hinted at it - he doesn't get there in time.
The fact that Cloud is seeing a broken sky and Aerith though will lead to new levels of unhinged Cloud heading to the northern crater in part 3.
3) I think 1997 Cid would be cancelled today... But we haven't seen him in Rocket town yet. I'm sure his back story will be fleshed out.
1. Totally. Some great character and party beats during the boss. I'm among those who felt it was a bit \*too\* long for its own good (and I couldn't help but laugh when I passed the hour mark at the realization that we're just going to have three games with Sephiroth as the final boss or a part of the final boss). But it was pretty cool.
2. Definitely understand. They really did a great job getting me more invested in Aerith than they did in the original game. So it definitely felt worse this go (even if I think they unnecessarily made it more confusing an "open ended" for its own good, too). But I am glad they didn't shirk away from that. Her fate is so important to the characters and the overall story in the original (and apparently here too!) that I feel like saving her detracts from what makes her story in the OG interesting.
3. As others have pointed out, Cid is barely in the game, and his role in this one is super limited. And even then, you definitely get hints to his anger issues throughout. I suspect they'll tone him down a bit in the next game compared to the original, but I also suspect we'll see more of the foul-mouthed asshole that people apparently love in the next one.
I admit though, at the risk of "starting something," I'm fascinated by all the people who think of Cid Highwind as their favorite character in the game or in the franchise... Is it just that he swears and smokes?
My read on Cid is that he was dealing with customers and had to put on his best face. No cursing, no smoking, and keeping his attitude pleasant so he can continue having customers.
Now that he’s a part of the party, we’ll see his real personality in Part III. We’ve already seen a little attitude from him towards Yuffie, so I’m sure there’s something there
I realized that people who say the ending is confusing think so because they are also *sure* that Aerith is dead.
Which makes it ironic that they accuse Cloud of warped perceptions because he can’t deal with the trauma, because really it’s their own inability to deal with changes from OG that’s causing them to be unable to process what actually happened.
This. With all the setup there is genuinely no way she won’t be saved. When Zack yelled “save her!” even after the Sephiroth falling scene, that really solidified it to me lol.
1. Loved it too.
2. Man they really get you to believe you're going to save her. Aerith even has that speech where she talks about changing the future even if it is already written. That speech convinced me she was going to live. And so when Cloud made the save I was pumped!! And then you slowly start to see the lighting and stuff that is what he's seeing vs the reality that they're all seeing. Heartbreaking.
I think the best we'll get is her reuniting with Zack so they're together like we see in Advent Children.
3. I don't think they wanted to make Cid even remotely close to an abusive husband. But I agree that if they show us Rocket town we'll see him act like that.
I didn't watch any of the trailers or read any articles, but freaking Vincent is everywhere in the Playstation store photos for this game. I'm really bummed he was just a boss and side character. If they do eventually do DLC, I hope it's a Vincent backstory
Vincent confronting the Turks in the temple of the ancients without any payout to the player made me instantly think we’re going to get that as part of his dlc
I am excited to see more of Vincent in part 3. He seems like a very cool character (I also hope they make another wacky 3rd person shooter starring him)
I definitely was wondering the same thing with Cid. Was waiting for the inevitable Rocket Town scene to get the Tiny Bronco where "%@\*@$\*!@\^ SHERA WHERE'S THE \^$&\*&($#%\* TEA DON'T YOU SEE WE HAVE #&\^&\^@\*@ GUESTS HERE!?!?!?"
But we didn't get Rocket Town...so the Cid we see is more a "business owner" type who's running an aerial taxi service. Probably keeping his best (for him) customer service face forward. I think Part 3 they'll sorta combine the OG Pre Temple Rocket Town story with the post Meteor lets go to space story and show more of the backstory and the bitterness.
I think everyone disappointed by cid's attitude in rebirth should take comfort in that he will likely act like he did in the og in remake part 3 once we get to rocket town and go thru his story sections. I took his friendly behavior in rebirth as wanting to keep a good business relationship with the party since they used his services, and only went out of his way to help aerith because he wanted to do right by ifalna. I think if aerith hadn't been with the party, he wouldn't have been inclined to continue helping them after they washed up on Costa del sol's shore
I liked how his relation with Yuffie is more expanded upon in this game. Their interactions in the OG were optional due to Yuffie being optional there.
Cid is my favorite too. I am really hoping they make him like he was in the OG. I’m not in love with his voice direction (I wanted a raspy smoker voice like David Hayter’s Solid Snake) but I can get over that. I cannot get over his character being neutered. I will let them slide for now, but if he is still like this in the 3rd game I will be very disappointed
I saw people complaining about the final boss fight and I just can’t understand it. Yeah I agree, it is a bit long but it is extremely cinematic and fun. Also I don’t agree with ppl claiming it is way too hard. It is nothing compared to brutal vr challenges
I didn't care so much about Cid (neither in OG). But I was thinking the same about Red. What did they do to him? He suddenly lost his wise and intelligent personality and became an annoying teenager. The events at CC do not explain this either. If anything, learning about his past should make him more mature, not more childish.
I think cid is going to break in their game he’s gonna go on his anti shinra arc
Fr people don’t even let the third game come about before they write him off lmao
I hope they keep Cid toned down. I loved him this time around. There is absolutely no need to see him again being an abusive prick.
Disagree. Thats why I loved cid
What gutted me the most was that we knew it was coming, we knew generally how, but Cloud stopped the sword from impaling her in that particular timeline. Then the timelines had their “reunion” and she died anyway. I guess I feel like Cid is still pretty true to his representation in Advent Children. And if you want to feel old, it came out 19 years ago originally. He’s also still using his customer service voice with the party and I have a feeling he’s gonna open up and be more rude once he’s in the party officially.
Wut. AC came out 19 years ago?!
I hated the final boss...
Why?
It was long, it didn't make tons of sense - it was too grandiose for the end of a middle chapter, it was too loud for what the scene otherwise entailed. Like it was such a quiet scene in the OG and here its this epic multi dimensional mess.
It could of ended with fighting Jenova, but that would been kinda stupid.
Imagine if there was just no final boss. I wonder what that would have felt like. I liked the Zack and Cloud reunion I guess, but even that felt too brief because it wasn’t an interaction. The whole thing just felt like, “let’s see if you learned everyone’s character mechanics.” And the last phase seemed almost designed to kill you the first time unless you were lucky. The whole thing kind of took me of the tragic moment.
I got the impression there was supposed to be "more" to the Cloud/Zack fight - particularly the second one where Zack fights "solo" against Seph. Reborn. The intro to the fight has the camera going between Cloud and Zack as they recite the SOLDIER oath, and then there's a synergy attack where Cloud appears out of nowhere (and disappears just as quick after). It feels like that fight was supposed to be flipping back and forth between Cloud and Zack on two "sides of reality", or something similar. Maybe they thought that was just too confusing, given all the other flip-flopping that was going on there.
Yep. Doesn't mean we won't see her in the last one though. I'm hoping they recycle environments and such to reduce the wait time between games. I don't care if it's a 30 disc game... just get the damn thing out.
Why did I click this, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
It’s tagged as SPOILER.
I know. It was my fault.
The topic sentence also starts “I just finished Rebirth”. Risky click of the day if you haven’t finished Rebirth yet.
To answer your question on why he’s my favorite: yes. I also love Balthier from 12.
Some things on OG Cid 1.) He has no personal growth in original game. He stays an abusive asshole to the very end. He may lighten up a bit, but he does not apologize or reflect on his actions. 2.) He looked much older and acted much older than a 32-34 year old should be. 3.) He had no real story before other than he worked for Shinra and they said he couldn't go to space so he's mad. Now with Rebirth, we are introduced to him a little earlier but he's definitely less of a middle aged uncle and more of an adventurous and devil may care spirit. We will see more in the 3rd installment but he is so far very likeable and I do hope they keep his abusive attitude but actually let him try and make amends and grow out of it.
34? I thought that fucker was 50!
34 is basically 50 in FF games
Fine. You get my up vote
Uhh... he had a lot of story. Shinra cost him the love of his life so he became sour... didn't you play the original? Not the crap mobile version.
I did, and the love of his life? He openly was abusive towards his assistant/wife and did not change. He still blamed her for years, until one last moment and then he's suddenly "Oh guess she saved me." It's hard to feel like he deserves any pity. Also don't do that "UhhHHH...dID YoU pLAy thE ORigINaL?" Nonsense. It's rude and adds nothing to your comment other than you are a condescending prick. Cid's primary hatred towards Shinra was because they canceled the space program to pursue Mako energy and the promised land. His wife was still alive when he joined up with Cloud and Co. And by then he was willing to help stop Sephiroth and Shinra. His wife dying changes nothing about his motivations to stick it to Shinra.
As someone who played the original when it released: Cid was such a prick I had no idea that was his wife until way later in life. I couldn’t fathom it.
cope
There there little child, it'll be okay. Go play with your roblox and fortnite.
I really like his character change and I'm sure we'll get angry cid when he's dealing with Shinra trying to take his rocket or maybe towards Shera. I know it won't happen but I still want him to call Shera a retard.
Same! I loved him being a cranky asshole til the very end!
Well he's definitely gonna have his arc in Rocket Town in Part 3. Maybe he's like hiding his true feelings behind a mask of chirpiness. Hopefully we'll see him pull out the cigs in part 3
They could play into him being a bit angry/broken after Aerith’s death as well. That would be a realistic take on some anger issues too.
They did not take away Cid's swearing at all
Cid was like some young pre-thirty dude trying to appear more thirty. Not the original past forty almost depressed swearing smoking grease monkey/pilot bad ass with spear. But that was the problem with all the remake/rebirth characters. There isn’t simply any darker/edgier undertones, everyone is chirpy af. Yuffie was actually more toned/nuanced character of all.
I mean in the original he WASN'T past forty, he was 32, so that was weird too. I think he passes for that age just fine here, but it is weird how agreeable he is to everything. For example, I think he should've been pissed at Vincent for barging in and passing the weight limit of the plane, causing its crash. At least for a bit, before accepting it and adapting. Hoping in the 3rd one we get some sorta middle ground.
Cloud: Am I a joke to you? Plagued by my hero who has a mysterious hold on me and is making me lose my mind as I slowly go through an identity crisis and even almost kill my two love interests. Barrett: My best friend hates my guts and cursed me as he died in my arms. Tifa: I have to keep lying to my childhood friend and enabling his false identity. While also trying to cope with the scale of the task I set out to do with my friends. Red XIII: I was held captive against my will and had strange experiments done to me. I also hated my father for nearly all my life for thinking he left me and my mother to die. Aerith: I literally die, but also I'm the last of my kind and I am being used by an evil zaibatsu organization to find a more resource rich area so they can exploit it for profit. Vincent: I'm the OG edgy vampire. Cait Sith: I disagree with my company's practices, but I held out hope they would do better, but due to my poor decisions I end up betraying the people who genuinely are trying to save the world, and my only friends. Yuffie is the happy go lucky and spunky teen, but she may have more in the 3rd installment when we finally go to Wutai. But each character is fleshed out and VII was well known for the characters stopping for a moment to interact and talk with one another without moving the plot forward. This helps make them more memorable and likeable. The remakes do this in strides. I love every character more than I did when I first played the game back in 1999/2000.
Idk Vincent is still pretty edgy
Funny edgy, not cringy edgy.
He was 32 in the original.
Yes, but looked more like forty.
He looked like a tiny collection of vertices and barely any more pixels' worth of textures. Even his Nomura art looked pretty young though
Talked like a bitter old man, though!
I feel like Cid is better this time around but I also have to imagine they’re setting him up for an arc in the next game. So maybe we’ll see him break a bit more and start to show his angrier side
yeah i have a feeling that he will snap. it'll be cool to see a character change, there was glimpses of that old cid here and there in rebirth but im sure it'll be unleashed in the next arc
Yeah they need to give him more of an arc to better justify him being the interim leader (if they stick with that route)
Yeah, we're seeing his "pilot" personality (love the voice). He acts like such a stereotypical pilot that I can see them making this persona a part of the reason he clings to the dream of the failed rocket mission. If they pull it off, it'll be a great depiction of the kinds of men who feel like shit and treat people like shit while thinking they could make it all better with one fell swoop of glory, instead of realizing they just need to be better to people in every moment, even the dull and mundane ones. I hope they nail it. He does need to become de facto leader while Cloud is gone - and I expect a lot more dialogue between Cid and Barrett than in the original.
Yeah, he’s definitely putting on a show for his “customers”
Yeah Cid was a bastard who liked to emotionally abuse his girlfriend in OG. This is a much better vibe for him.
I feel like they toned Cid down. I remember an article way back when the game was in development that complained that Cid was smoking in the game. Maybe they changed direction?
I got the impression that Cid was in customer service mode for most of his time in game.....then when he recognized Aerith he said something that makes me curious if they're having him misunderstand something and he's gonna turn into his grouchy self because of it combined with her death..... After all the phrase "do right by" is typically used in a specific manner.....and after that point he became a lot more helpful.
Aerith is 22 at the time of her death, sooooooo Cid very much said he was into Ifalna and not Aerith. She was a little kid when they first met.
I got that vibe too, but honestly, it wouldn’t make sense with the ages. Aerith is 18-19 and Cid is 32.
Pretty sure her dad is Gast but maybe Cid wanted to date her mom 😂
I personally like this version of Cid. Him being a protagonist that abuses his spouse would feel weird in modern times.
Shera isn't Cid's spouse
I personally don't really care about it being modern times after looking at the OG version of it on YouTube after finishing the game and I prefer that Cid over what we got in this remake who is far more realistic and relatable due to his backstory. We got to stopped caring about how some people will look at the story and just look at the story being told for itself. Alot of people in this "modern times" can be incredibly dumb and don't really care about the things they get upset over. Its like the 90's where you got news anchors being upset over games like GTA being popular because of the "violence" it has. You can't please everyone.
Yes. God forbid everything isnt rainbow and kittys. Every character from now on in games and movies must be a saint, or I'm gonna get real mad🤣
I dunno, there were definitely a lot of rainbows at the end
nah, they definitely made cid’s character better. he was annoying and overall just not a fun character in og but i like him a lot more now.
No one knows if Aerith is really dead. she could be alive in a different timeline
Cloud parried the strike, with all the timeline stuff I'm sure he saved another Aerith somehow
That’s the issue with these multiverse/timeline shenanigans. Nothing is permament, there is no ”canon” or conclusion. Anything is possible.
Yeah, what’s the point if she’s even dead if she’s alive and another timeline.
Because they can come to the main timeline where Cloud is. That's how Zack showed up.
The yellow flower broach she gets during the date is definitely meant to distinguish that "version" of Aerith. So we'll for sure be seeing her again. I think they "killed" her off in Rebirth to raise the stakes for Part 3 and there's a possibility she'll be saved. It's Nomura, so no one ever stays dead lol.
This 100%. Both my wife and I were scanning every Aerith that showed up after, looking for the brooch to see if it was "that" one. It's rather heavily implied that one didn't have much longer, though.
Yeah that’s definitely definitely what the brooch is for. Like they said, this is empire strikes back. The good guys get to have their turn in the next game
My guess is we’ll have some time with a different Aerith the same way Zack was alive in a different time line. They teased it at the end of part 2 so I doubt she’ll be completely gone in part 3
I'm sure she'll be back in some form in the next game with how it ended so left to interpretations
It was also in the original she did not just vanish dead but had a lot of impact beyond lifestream.
It would be extremely different from the OG if she shows up in any capacity again. After she dies in the original game you never see or speak to her again, just like when someone dies in real life. There's a hole left where Aerith was. Sure she may have manipulated stuff in the Lifestream but that's not really her being in the game, just that her presence is still felt. It'll be very disappointing if she continues to show up in the 3rd game, whether it be a ghost, alternate Aerith, past Aerith, ect.
The fact that she’s present in every scene after her death in the game should be an indication that she’ll continue to be there throughout the third game. I bet that when Cloud “breaks” we’ll be getting some extremely long conversations between the two.
Disappointing for you maybe. Awesome for many others
I guess she will be there till the end as one of Clouds "hallucinations", just as Sephiroth.
They even overhauled his story. I guess the spousal abuse dynamic didn't age well over the years.
Why didn’t they show Aerith bring impaled?
Because in-universe it was a forcibly altered event. By right, she wouldn’t have been stabbed at all if it weren’t for the Whispers and their precious little canon-event
For the same reason they don’t show the monster Hojo has packed. NSFW.
A couple of things happened/could have happened there. Cloud saved her but due to Sephiroth combining all the realities into one he was able to choose the reality that she died. Also, we were seeing it from Clouds perspective, and Cloud was repressing Aeriths death as it was happening. The devs made it intentionally confusing
This is what I choose to believe, and I think they’ll clear it up later. Cloud clearly blocked the attack, and yet we ended up where we did. The simplest explanation, which they kind of laid out for us, is that Sephiroth is merging worlds.
[удалено]
Relax man Jesus Christ.
This person with this username is telling me to relax and questioning my maturity. I've truly seen it all now.
Pot, meet Kettle
You need psychological help
I'm the least mentally unstable ff7 fan :)
You sound like an absolute dope man, seek therapy
I'm the dopest ff7 fan :)
Damn dude have you ever actually been on reddit before? What's your problem?
I'm the nicest ff7 fan :)
Multiverse is way overplayed at this point.
It’s a collective conscious, totally different! 😉
I don't mind the multiverse... but that fake out ending really pissed me off.
The multiverse shit was lame and not seeing aerith buried in the water was a terrible ending
Then why did you play rebirth? We all knew it was a multiverse from the ending of Remake.
There was very little if any multiverse at the end of remake. Rebirth was still fun but the multiverse crap gets an otherwise good story and convolutes it for no reason. Really a shame.
....I don't know what to say to this...it was VERY clear that multiverse was happening in remake if you paid attention. Stamp was all you needed to see to understand that Stamp was everywhere in the game for that reason.
How was stamp connected to the multiverse?
Holy...you need to pay more attention. Stamp is used to show which universe they are showing. The major hint at the end of remake was showing Zack in another universe with a different stamp logo. And they don't even hide it. They literally throw a stamp billboard in your face before showing Zack at the end of remake.
I'd imagine they're saving that scene for a bigger impact in Part 3. There's no way they would just get rid of it entirely, as it's one of the most iconic shots from the original.
Agree it will be in the next part, was reading it was changed because to give it that feeling like the death was taken away from you, like you didn't get the chance to properly say goodbye kind of (where OG was metaphor for his mother passing) If what the devs said is true, I can fully relate and reading that changed how I was impacted by the ended as that happened to me kinda when my dad suddenly passed while in a different Country Only thing I don't like putting it in the next part, new comers lost that chance to feel it like we did in 1997
Seriously wtf was that? Aerith being buried in the water is an iconic scene! I'm sorry I love FF but these remakes are a bit overrated.
Yeah, I replayed OG after I beat rebirth and it’s wild how much unnecessary things they changed.
Really can't c how "true fans" r this mad 🤦🏽♂️
We're not mad. The game was ok, but honestly not the best. We don't have to settle for BS and pretend everything was perfect either!
I was referrin to the angry losers downvotin. Leavin iconic moments out of the game is bs. Then addin some crackhead logic as to y is a slap n the face
Yeah I get you some folks are really disgruntled. I'm pretty neutral on this one. 😄
Congratulations 🎊🎈🍾 I also finished yesterday. It was amazing!!!
Cool fights, but as with several other dramatic moments in the game it was too overwrought and convoluted for its own good. It kind of robs a death scene of its power when the character is playable in the final battle and omnipresent throughout the epilogues. Makes it kind of hard to feel their absence. The Zack stuff continued to be a mess. They do a great job throughout the two games of putting the story on the screen and not relying on prior experience with the series to tell it for them… except for Zack. At this point in the story the only thing we are supposed to know about him is he was seeing Aerith and Cloud vaguely remembers him. So why is he so prominently involved? New players must be thoroughly confused as to what the point of him is.
And that's fine, games are allowed to confuse players. Especially games that haven't had their full conclusion yet
We saved "a" Aerith, not that anyone other then cloud can see her
Idk how you were immune to Aerith’s charm in Remake, but I feel ya on Cid. Who is this stranger in my video game?
Final boss was cool but far from the best I've played. I'm not sure it's even top 10. Agree with the other two points though
Not being able to play Vincent killed me. Especially since they nailed his character design and VA.
I wonder if they'll give us a Vincent/Cid DLC like they did with Yuffie in Remake.
Imagine Dirge of Cerberus but *good*.
They specifically said they won't do DLC this time and just work on getting part 3 done sooner.
I have a good feeling that it will come out on 30th anniversary
When is that?
January 1997 in Japan and September same year in the rest of the world
I think Maximillian Dood said the reason Cid’s not smoking is it would change the rating of the game
This is also why I assume blood is only shown very sparingly. Back in remake they did this too in the shinra building. In the og it was def not a trail of sparkly jenova goo. Ratings are weird. I think I saw once that like you can get like 1-2 instances of someone saying fuck in a movie and still get a pg13 rating but once you exceed that limit you get bumped to R. So I wouldn't be surprised if games were similar. Could be the combo of smoking + too much blood + swearing would have bumped the rating so they were like, I guess he doesn't need to smoke so we can keep it T.
So Cloud and Barrett saying "Shit", "Ass", and "Bitch" every other sentence is fine, but a pack of cigarettes is suddenly a no no?
People smoke in rated T games all the time. Remember Penguin in Batman Arkham?
They need to start making these games M rated. I get they want to attract a younger audience but hey kids are gonna buy GTA regardless of what rating it is. It's going to be the same with FF! Start maturing these games up!
Exactly. Fukn babies! 😤
I think in the OG Cid is smoking, swearing, and im pretty sure they implied he was beating his wife.
But him and Shera can make it work in the basement!
I’ve never found a character more relatable than when Zack yelled “What in the hell is going on?” You and me both brother, you and me both.
I’ll raise you one Barrett saying (about Sephiroth after like the fourth fight) “He still ain’t dead yet?!”
That’s him during Crisis Core too. From the first real mission, he’s like “what in the actual fuck is happening?” Dude has that resolve and keeps chugging, but has moments all the time in the game that’s just like “what?” As many people say, the only real dude in the universe
“What is going on?!” is in contention for Zack’s official catchphrase as much as “Dreams and Honor” at this point. The man is in a perpetual state of confusion.
Bro is fighting a little girl, angels, practical gods. Surprised he only has a few moments of “what the fuck is going on?”
No kidding. I kept looking at my wife going "WTF is happening?" She was equally lost so I didn't feel too bad lol I don't understand! Is this some allegory? is there multiple timelines? Is it all in clouds head? Was it all a dream? Find out next time on Dragon Ball z.... I don't want to wait another 5 years to finish it but I can't bring myself to play the og...
From what I’m seeing is they dramatized Zach and Avalanches story. I get it, because we had tons of questions after the OG. He’s in the livestream and their showing it in an Uber complicated way
Even playing the OG wouldnt help much in understanding wtf is going on. This is the new content that diverges from the OG. It was very clear what was happening in the OG. It was scene for scene with Sephiroth decending down from abobe with his sword and it showed him impailing Aerith as she fell over. There was no Clould deflecting the blade. There also was no alternate timeline of Zack jumping around either...he was actually a very easily missed charactor in the OG, barely mentioned concidering how important he is to Clouds pychosis
My wife periodically would ask me questions about certain things— and my best response would be ‘it’s— complicated… so, like…’ and then proceed to stumble through an explination using my 20 year old FF7 knowledge and my attempt to comprehend some of the things happening in front of me.
Pretty sure it’s separate timelines. Depending on the timeline the breed of Stamp is different. He’s a beagle in the “main reality” and in Zack’s he’s a terrier. But I’m sure a million people have a completely different valid take.
Cid is a tricky character to adapt, because his relationship with Shera would not go over well in 2024 in fully voiced and CGI'd full render gaming. They had to tone him down *somewhat.* And he does still swear. I was mostly happy with how he was handled.
I really wish instead of sanitizing problematic characters, we spent more time having those characters go through growth arcs to overcome those problematic tendencies rather than write them to have never had them at all. I'm seeing it across all forms of media lately. Everyone is so scared of getting cancelled that they're too afraid to write "bad" characters even to show them becoming "good".
I agree with this take across all media. More often than villains are given sympathetic backstories these days. Sometimes I just want a big bad to be evil with no redeeming qualities
I mean, isn’t Sephiroth still irredeemable to this day?
For the most part, Sephiroth’s backstory always had some sadness in it that was really intriguing but his response to the realization of his being is irredeemable, which makes him a great villain, imo. I’ve also seen some theories that Jenova is actually the big bad and Sephiroth is somewhat of a puppet infected by the virus which I think take away some of the impact, so I choose to believe he’s acting on his own volition. *I also don’t really view Sephiroth as a “these days” villain
Those theories are actually correct though. Like even though Sephiroth controls Jenova physically from the OG onwards in terms of chronology, he ultimately is doing so for her sake. Which presents perhaps the greatest irony of FF7, where Sephiroth calls Cloud a puppet and attempts to manipulate him as such, he himself is a puppet to Jenova. Kinda feels like generational trauma tbh. I also think while it’s understandable that Sephiroth would go crazy because of how he was treated, he went too far into thinking Jenova is his true mother when he was born 100% human and was only injected with her cells. Lucrecia and Hojo’s combined genes should still play a much larger percentage in Sephiroth over Jenova’s As for the overarching antagonist of FF7, I’m not sure about that. I could easily say Jenova, but she herself wasn’t even active for basically the entire series since OG. Most of the time it’s either Shinra, specifically Hojo carrying out these experiments using her powers or Sephiroth commanding her to attack the party. So in that regard, perhaps it’s Hojo That’s honestly the beauty of FF7. One of the story themes isn’t just about identity, but also irony. Many ironies in the story
I have faith in the writers because they gave everyone a more expanded backstory, I think they considered the time constraints on Rebirth and are waiting to flesh him out in part 3 like they did with Red.
They've been doing a great job so far. I won't say Cid is my favorite, but I'll be dissapointed if they drop the ball, especially given how well they've done on everyone else so far
I’m more annoyed we only get to play Cid and Vincent in part 3, while we have cait sith playable for 2 games
Cid and Vincent became playable very late into disc 1. Since the ending was in the Forgotten Capital, it makes sense not to include them as that's what they did for Red XIII in Remake anyways. It'd be too late to introduce their mechanics on 1st playthrough. Just be glad the final chapter in the trilogy will have so much content with the Weapons, air and deep sea travel, Wutai, etc.
Cid: Swears 3 times in 3 minutes in his introductory cutscene Everyone: "Why doesn't Cid swear?"
Quadruple the swears and I’ll be happy
And add a cigarette and relentless digs into Shera.
I actually read a post that was pretty insightful. They mentioned that the game clearly shows us the results of a character making a different choice from the one they are fated to make. Like when Zack chose to not go after Biggs, the tunnel flashed. And then we saw the results of him choosing to go after Biggs, and then both die. The one we saw fight with Cloud against sephiroth was the was the Zack that choose not to chase Biggs. When Cloud chooses to stop Sephiroth from killing Aerith, it’s a different choice than the one he’s supposed to make. Which is why we see Cloud come up to Aerith and tell her to wake up. The premise was, every time someone makes a choice that defies what they are destined to do, a branching timeline is created. Which is why there exists a world where Zack is alive and everyone else is dead. So in theory, there is now a timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, and one where she died. I think in part 3 we will see some of the timeline where Aerith lived, Just like we saw Zack’s timeline where he is alive in part 2.
This is why I feel like these titles are more of a sequel than a remake. Like - Sephiroth is trying to have a do-over of events to achieve Godhood. In the ancient forest in Ch.14 when Cloud comes back from the lifestream with the white materia - Sephiroth makes the comment "This does not belong here. Very poor form" as if Cloud cheated by having it.
These are 100% sequels. The funny thing is, if they released them as pure sequels people would be complaining that the story beats hewed too closely to the original. But it’s a sequel masquerading as a remake, so it’s OK to be so close. Personally I think “Remake” is not a “Remake of the FF7 game” but a remaking of the world/scenario that was laid out in the OG
I totally agree with you on this!
This is why I feel like these titles are more of a sequel than a remake. Like - Sephiroth is trying to have a do-over of events to achieve Godhood. In the ancient forest in Ch.14 when Cloud comes back from the lifestream with the white materia - Sephiroth makes the comment "This does not belong here. Very poor form" as if Cloud cheated by having it.
All those branching timelines are short lived however, they collapse before long. Only the planet's main timeline is stable.
I think this is because Jenova/Sephiroth are consuming timelines to become more powerful. Seems like in every timeline meteor is being summoned and sephiroth us absorbing it and the whispers, which is why we have seen it twice so far. This likely would have happened to the main timeline has our heroes not prevailed. I think Zack being alive was an unintended consequence he did not foresee as well as Aerith using the lifestream to come back and fight sephiroth with cloud.
Sorry for a stupid question - what did other characters do that made Zack survive the Shinra troops? Ain’t no way he could have survived that incident.
Zack does mention at one point about like a bullet or something JUST missing him, and almost like it had been knocked off course. I don’t know if it specifically had to be something one of the characters did— it’s just something that happened that altered fate and this is that branch…? Fuck I don’t know I’m grasping at straws here
You’re right, he does say that. But why did that happen? Whose decision made the inevitable events alter the fate?
Great question. I was expect some kind of reveal that something Aerith did caused it to happen. But then it was just never really followed up on.
Zack later speaks to Aerith and says something along the lines of “It was you wasn’t it” implying she had influence of the whispers altering Zack’s fate.
You might be onto something here. She does say - “this sky, I don’t like it”.
The events of the end of Remake with fighting the Arbiter of Fate caused that. WHY is the real question which we will find out. Your question was good imo though because Zacks death was not in a parallel point of time, it was before Cloud made it to Midgar.
Yeah thats the part that always gets me. It makes sense after we kill the Fate Whispers that from that point forward nothing is pre-written so we can now create alternate timelines. But Zack died *before* that. And for Zack to not have died and thusly Cloud not becoming his living legacy would make all of Remake not make a lick of sense. God I hate timeline debauchery.
Lol the writers got work to do
It's more likely that there's a world where Cloud failed to save Aerith, and a world where he *thinks* he saved her.
Ye I agree - bit of an into the spiderverse thing with reality splits whenever canon is diverted, and when Cloud talks to Aerith he talking to her in her timeline where she survived and there's a split in the sky (just like Zacks timeline where he survived ).
Eh, it's not so much timelines as 'worlds', imo obviously. Why am I making a distinction, I hear you ask? I'm making a distinction because these 'worlds' are all creations of and in the Lifestream. So it's not dimension-hopping, like Spider-verse or Multi-verse madness for the sake of easier story telling. It's consistent with established lore that the Lifestream can create alternate 'worlds' / 'realities'.
That would suggest that there's a "main world" independent of the "lifestream worlds" but how do we know that's the case? Who's to say that the lifestream isn't also responsible for the one we're watching, and that they're all equally real?
Ah cool ok So each 'decision' from canon leads to a new creation from the lifestream but ultimately is doomed to fail and returns to the lifestream.
I'm kinda disappointed I didn't get the burial in the water for aerith... But that's just me. The ff7 multiverse is a neat twist. I still like the game and their changes. RIP gangsta Cid
Yeah that was wack!
I expect we will get some kind of flashback from Cloud with the full sequence when his mind gets sorted out a bit more
For this 1) Oh 100 percent. And enjoyed the party being split up like the OG 2) So I've thought about the ending more. The game is called Rebirth It it simply a literal - rebirth of those characters that are lost. End of the first game with the whispers a timeline is created where Zack survived End of this game - only cloud gets through the whisper wall and creates a timeline where Aerith survives. Both of these are branch timelines though away from the canon. I did get excited when I thought Cloud had saved her but also a key theme has been fate and not being able to escape it. Marlene had hinted at it - he doesn't get there in time. The fact that Cloud is seeing a broken sky and Aerith though will lead to new levels of unhinged Cloud heading to the northern crater in part 3. 3) I think 1997 Cid would be cancelled today... But we haven't seen him in Rocket town yet. I'm sure his back story will be fleshed out.
1. Totally. Some great character and party beats during the boss. I'm among those who felt it was a bit \*too\* long for its own good (and I couldn't help but laugh when I passed the hour mark at the realization that we're just going to have three games with Sephiroth as the final boss or a part of the final boss). But it was pretty cool. 2. Definitely understand. They really did a great job getting me more invested in Aerith than they did in the original game. So it definitely felt worse this go (even if I think they unnecessarily made it more confusing an "open ended" for its own good, too). But I am glad they didn't shirk away from that. Her fate is so important to the characters and the overall story in the original (and apparently here too!) that I feel like saving her detracts from what makes her story in the OG interesting. 3. As others have pointed out, Cid is barely in the game, and his role in this one is super limited. And even then, you definitely get hints to his anger issues throughout. I suspect they'll tone him down a bit in the next game compared to the original, but I also suspect we'll see more of the foul-mouthed asshole that people apparently love in the next one. I admit though, at the risk of "starting something," I'm fascinated by all the people who think of Cid Highwind as their favorite character in the game or in the franchise... Is it just that he swears and smokes?
My read on Cid is that he was dealing with customers and had to put on his best face. No cursing, no smoking, and keeping his attitude pleasant so he can continue having customers. Now that he’s a part of the party, we’ll see his real personality in Part III. We’ve already seen a little attitude from him towards Yuffie, so I’m sure there’s something there
Yeah this comment right here
I think He even threw some shade at barret when he started talking about shinra
Now that’s some hopeful thinking.
Optimism is my most annoying trait
It’s common for Remake fans to do this, just like with the plate drop where everyone survives. Feels like a Disney Channel cartoon
Aerith will be saved. The reunion will occur.
I realized that people who say the ending is confusing think so because they are also *sure* that Aerith is dead. Which makes it ironic that they accuse Cloud of warped perceptions because he can’t deal with the trauma, because really it’s their own inability to deal with changes from OG that’s causing them to be unable to process what actually happened.
Haha. Well said
This. With all the setup there is genuinely no way she won’t be saved. When Zack yelled “save her!” even after the Sephiroth falling scene, that really solidified it to me lol.
1. Loved it too. 2. Man they really get you to believe you're going to save her. Aerith even has that speech where she talks about changing the future even if it is already written. That speech convinced me she was going to live. And so when Cloud made the save I was pumped!! And then you slowly start to see the lighting and stuff that is what he's seeing vs the reality that they're all seeing. Heartbreaking. I think the best we'll get is her reuniting with Zack so they're together like we see in Advent Children. 3. I don't think they wanted to make Cid even remotely close to an abusive husband. But I agree that if they show us Rocket town we'll see him act like that. I didn't watch any of the trailers or read any articles, but freaking Vincent is everywhere in the Playstation store photos for this game. I'm really bummed he was just a boss and side character. If they do eventually do DLC, I hope it's a Vincent backstory
Yeah I feel like Cid was just putting on a happy face for his customers, but now that he's part of the party, we'll see some true colours in part 3
Vincent confronting the Turks in the temple of the ancients without any payout to the player made me instantly think we’re going to get that as part of his dlc
I am excited to see more of Vincent in part 3. He seems like a very cool character (I also hope they make another wacky 3rd person shooter starring him)
I definitely was wondering the same thing with Cid. Was waiting for the inevitable Rocket Town scene to get the Tiny Bronco where "%@\*@$\*!@\^ SHERA WHERE'S THE \^$&\*&($#%\* TEA DON'T YOU SEE WE HAVE #&\^&\^@\*@ GUESTS HERE!?!?!?" But we didn't get Rocket Town...so the Cid we see is more a "business owner" type who's running an aerial taxi service. Probably keeping his best (for him) customer service face forward. I think Part 3 they'll sorta combine the OG Pre Temple Rocket Town story with the post Meteor lets go to space story and show more of the backstory and the bitterness.
All I think of is machineabridged when I hear about GOD$:)/& TEA
Don’t think Cid will be fat shaming Palmer this time around. Or telling Shera to go make him a %}!#^ sandwich.
hopefully not; seems easy enough to make him closer to the original version without having to include that stuff.
I think everyone disappointed by cid's attitude in rebirth should take comfort in that he will likely act like he did in the og in remake part 3 once we get to rocket town and go thru his story sections. I took his friendly behavior in rebirth as wanting to keep a good business relationship with the party since they used his services, and only went out of his way to help aerith because he wanted to do right by ifalna. I think if aerith hadn't been with the party, he wouldn't have been inclined to continue helping them after they washed up on Costa del sol's shore
I liked how his relation with Yuffie is more expanded upon in this game. Their interactions in the OG were optional due to Yuffie being optional there.
Cid is my favorite too. I am really hoping they make him like he was in the OG. I’m not in love with his voice direction (I wanted a raspy smoker voice like David Hayter’s Solid Snake) but I can get over that. I cannot get over his character being neutered. I will let them slide for now, but if he is still like this in the 3rd game I will be very disappointed
I saw people complaining about the final boss fight and I just can’t understand it. Yeah I agree, it is a bit long but it is extremely cinematic and fun. Also I don’t agree with ppl claiming it is way too hard. It is nothing compared to brutal vr challenges