darkSpyro

in chapter 14 cloud is sent to a dying universe where he meets up with aerith. we don't know why but aerith doesn't use this chance to give exposition to the player. and instead just goes on a simple date with cloud. this date however, is probably one of the best interactions in the game. calling back to a side quest in costa del sol where you go on a date with aerith to test out the perfect date for 3 women. in this side quest aerith asks cloud what his perfect date is. and cloud responds with "walking". if you didn't notice aerith and cloud walk together quite a bit. in remake with them going over rooftops (best chapter of the game btw), the beginning of rebirth in kalm, and of course in the town destined to die.

however, I love the subtleness of the last date. in the date you can choose an accessory for aerith to wear, a snack to eat, and a pose for the photographer to take a pic of. however, all your choices here don't matter. if you choose a stuffed dog the jewler will give you a pin. if you choose the dog chips the saleswoman will give you candy, and if you pick the dance pose the photographer will choose another couple to take a picture of. this is suppose to show cloud that no matter what choice he makes. he can never change whats gonna happen. and at the end of their date aerith tells cloud that "we don't have that many memories together". cloud will respond with "we should hang out more in the future". of course cloud does not know whats about to happen.

cut to the scene where aerith is praying to save the world or something. cloud walks up under sephiroths control ready to strike down aerith. but his urges doesn't allow this leading to the famous scene that changed gamers forever. but then it doesn't happen. cloud parries sephiroths attack and saves aeirth. he's done it he's saved the girl. the day is saved. the universe is saved. but wait a minute. time disorts itself. aerith falls with blood on her hand. her hair going down and her material falling bouncing off the ground. what happened? we saw cloud counter sephiroth. we saw cloud save aerith. we saw it with our own 2 eyes. however, we saw it as cloud. the same man who has been getting his mind corrupted and manipulated throughout the entire game. his actions and memories being corrupted by something. his memories of return to his hometown was told from a point of view where zack wasn't alive. tifa wasn't alive. why is she alive? how is this girl? she should be dead. i saw her being killed. sephiroth killed tifa. but why? why is she here?

its ironic because for a controllable character with unlimited possibilities. cloud can't control the future. hell he can't even control how he sees the past. this is why the final date with aerith is so important. because no matter what we do fate is kept unchanged. even after the continuity ghosts were killed off they still managed to come back. do our actions really change the future? which makes me wonder how the next game is gonna deal with this theme of fate and self identity. is cloud gonna accept aerith's death? or is he gonna change fate and bring her back?