Barret In Costa Del Sol Mod

Marle's dog...??

Parallel #5

Selling flowers in Evergreen Park

[Previous]

A Glimpse into Cloud's Mentality in Advent Children

This is kind of meant to serve as a companion piece to my three-part series on Cloud's psychology in Final Fantasy VII. I haven't addressed Advent Children Cloud yet, who arguably has an entirely different set of psychological problems to deal with. While OG Cloud was certainly driven by trauma, trauma was not his primary demon. Yet I often hear people say that AC Cloud definitely has PTSD or disorder XYZ. So, I thought I'd use my clinical background to break down what happened in Cloud's head during AC. I will not be discussing disorders here, since I'm saving those for another post.

Trauma

I know I literally just said trauma wasn't OG Cloud's primary demon, but that's why I specified OG Cloud. AC Cloud is in an entirely new context with a new set of problems, part of which involves how trauma affects his life after the main conflict is over. So to start, let's first answer the question of "Why does trauma stay with a person even after the cause of the trauma is no longer there?"

Think of the traumatized brain as a brain stuck in survival mode. It learned from a past traumatic experience that you can't afford to turn off this survival mentality, that you need to constantly be on alert. This is part of the primitive fight, flight, or freeze response that humans have, and for someone who is in a traumatizing situation, that response is absolutely necessary for coping with it. But, when you are finally safe and no longer in a dangerous situation, the traumatized brain may not know how to turn survival mode off. Therefore, it continues to provide a trauma response even in the absence of danger. This kind of mentality exhausts you and is why traumatized people still struggle even after they've been removed from their traumatizing situation. It's not that they don't realize they're safe now, but it's that their brains are stuck in this pattern of survival.

Although I wouldn't necessarily describe Cloud this way, this is still a great framework to explain what happened to him. During the events of FFVII, Cloud was in a perpetual state of survival. Once the planet was saved and Cloud could finally settle down in a place to call home, he was no longer in a state where he needed to constantly fend for his life. Cloud might still travel the planet for his delivery job and defend himself from monsters on the road, but the difference post-Meteorfall is that he now has a safe and secure home to return to in Edge. On the Way to a Smile: Case of Tifa even clarifies that Cloud was hopeful for the future right after the OG ended, that he had optimism towards the prospect of starting his newly peaceful life. Yet, he becomes unsettled by this peace partly because he was too used to surviving for so long. His trauma mindset couldn't turn off properly even when he wanted to relax and enjoy the peace he's earned, setting Cloud down a path of cognitive distress.

Oftentimes, when someone who has experienced trauma finally has the opportunity to process it, he is prone to something called rumination. In clinical terms, rumination can be described as a maladaptive perseverative cognition, or in simpler terms, a repetitive focus on distress. It's typically connected to catastrophic thinking (pondering about the worst possible outcomes/scenarios) and a fixation on loss. The American Psychological Association describes it as "obsessional thinking involving excessive, repetitive thoughts or themes that interfere with other forms of mental activity." Another working definition of it from the National Center for Biotechnology Information describes it as "a detrimental psychological process characterized by perseverative thinking around negative content that generates emotional discomfort" (Sansone & Sansone, 2012). The key to rumination is that though it can be self-reflective, it more often resembles brooding. Rumination is a feature of many different disorders, but most commonly associated with anxiety and depressive disorders.

Part of what sent Cloud spiraling was a pattern of ruminative thoughts in the absence of immediate external threats. He's living a peaceful life, but his survival mentality can't shut down easily. He has the time to ruminate on his past failures to the point of interfering with his ability to enjoy his life. If Cloud had used this rumination to put more effort into his job and his family, then he would've been using self-reflection. However, what he's fixated on is his own regrets, which created a pattern of brooding and pessimism. This type of regretful thinking surrounding death even has its own term.

Survivor Guilt

Survivor guilt used to be a diagnosable disorder in the DSM-III, but the DSM-IV reconceptualized it as a symptom of PTSD and the DSM-5 removed it as a symptom entirely (Murray, Pethania, & Medin, 2021). I believe it's because survivor guilt isn't a well-defined or well-researched phenomenon, currently putting it in an undefined territory between a disorder and a symptom. Once there's more empirical research in the field exploring survivor guilt, it may be reintroduced into the DSM, but otherwise it's an open avenue of continuous exploration. Regardless, this doesn't make survivor guilt any less significant or valid in the field of mental health, especially since it is often a part of complex trauma and grief.

Despite the grayness surrounding survivor guilt as a term, I can't think of a better one to describe what Cloud went through. Definition debates aside, survivor guilt generally applies to people who "survived" a traumatic event when others did not. Even though guilt is already a common symptom of PTSD, people with survivor guilt usually feel responsible for another person's death or injury, even when they never really had any power or influence over the situation. Cloud ruminates over Zack and Aerith's deaths due to survivor guilt, and he explicitly states his survivor guilt over Aerith's death in AC. Though neither death was directly his fault, he feels responsible for them in different ways.

For Zack, he felt helpless about how his mako poisoning left him completely dependent on Zack. Zack didn't have to save Cloud. He didn't have to carry him across the world for a year, only to die when they nearly reached their destination. Cloud's guilt surrounding Zack's death is very much in the thought of "it should've been me." Cloud should've been the one to perish, or if Zack simply abandoned Cloud, perhaps he would've made it to Midgar alive.

For Aerith, Cloud feels a greater sense of responsibility for her wellbeing. Their dynamic was established with the notion of Cloud being her bodyguard, as someone whose job is to protect her. Yet, he hurt her at the Temple of the Ancients, and he almost struck her when the party finally reunites with her at the Forgotten City. He was doing the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do. To cap it off, Sephiroth impales Aerith right before Cloud's eyes. Was Jenova preventing him from moving forward to try and save her? Or was Cloud just too paralyzed in the moment to act? Cloud would probably never truly know the answer.

Even when Tifa urges him to think of the present, Cloud feels weighed down by the past. He also asks Vincent if sins can be forgiven, showing that he feels deeply responsible for the deaths he could not prevent. We know that neither Zack's nor Aerith's deaths were Cloud's responsibility, yet he shoulders them anyway as though the blood was on his own hands. Survivor guilt is tough because it always concerns something that happened in the past that can't be changed. It's a product of rumination, of thought patterns stuck on the what-ifs and should-haves.

Grieving and Healing

The reality is, Cloud will very likely continue to struggle with this guilt throughout his life. He will never be able to answer the what-ifs, and never know what the should-haves could've done to change the course of history. If Cloud's going through a particularly tough emotional patch, he might fall back a bit into his old pattern of rumination. The dual process model of grief, depicted above, portrays how healing from grief is not a linear, one-way process. Rather, it can be a lifelong process where Cloud must grow around his grief, rather than letting it become a fixture in his life.

So, how do we know that Cloud is truly on the way to healing at the end of the day? At the very end of AC, after all the credits have rolled, we hear one final exchange between Cloud and Denzel.

Denzel: Is this somebody’s grave? Cloud: No. This is where a hero began his journey.

If I'm not mistaken, this may be the first and only time we've seen Cloud truly acknowledge himself as a hero. While this line can also refer to Zack ("Would you say I [finally] became a hero?"), this also clearly refers to the moment that Cloud took on Zack's legacy, therefore his hero's journey by extension. This is a far cry from "I'm not fit to help anyone."

The other beautiful aspect of this final scene is that it visually shows up how Cloud dealt with his guilt and grief. Look at Zack's final resting place at the start of AC compared to after. Before, Zack's grave was more or less neglected. The buster sword was left to rust and the ground is completely barren. The wolf, meant to represent Cloud's guilt and regret, is present there. Afterwards, when Cloud took the buster sword away, flowers bloomed in its place. The wolf is also no longer present. I like to think of this as a representation of how Cloud made the transition from guilt over Zack's death to celebrating Zack's life. Celebrating the life of a loved one who passed is one of the key ways to work through grief over loss in a healthy way. Rather than fixating on the what-ifs and regrets, grief work focuses on how to honor the loved one and keep their memory close.

The final shot then, with the buster sword placed in the tranquil Sector 5 church, is nothing less than a memorial to Zack and Aerith. The buster sword is clean again and free of rust, now in a sheltered place surrounded by Aerith's healing rain. It is now surrounded by life, in the place where Cloud was welcomed back by his loved ones and resolved to move forward. He can now think of the beautiful parts of Zack and Aerith's lives and cherish their memories, rather than ruminate on them. I can't say that Cloud's journey is a pinnacle example of healing from guilt and grief, but it certainly has a beautifully symbolic depiction of what healing looks like.

listen i am obsessed with this single line of dialogue. it's a Final Fantasy game full of people named crazy shit like GENESIS RHAPSODOS and WEISS THE IMMACULATE and then there's this dude. some random ass guy from the in-game lore equivalent of rural Louisiana whose name may as well be Jim.

And Jim Has Seen It All. he fell 300 meters and crashed through the roof of a church and he walked it off like it was nothing. he's seen his mentor grow one single wing and take to the skies majestically like an albatross. he survived when an alien brain fungus consumed his coworker's consciousness spurring the guy to commit arson and a small genocide. fresh outta high school he's abducted by scientists and trapped in a large petri dish for four years. he escapes and then singlehandedly mows down an entire goddamn army of hundreds of troopers and gets shot like at least twenty times. he tears a metal tree out of the ground and chucks it at a helicopter like a toy shovel, acting cool about it. "ugh mondays am i right? haha"

the rapture is coming. the sky has ripped open like a wrestler's t-shirt and everyone is mourning their impending doom and Jim is just like "it'll be fine lol" but then SEPHIROTH arrives and shoves him into a wormhole. he wanders the empty backstage of reality, and only then does he start to slightly freak out just a tiny bit. no problem. hop in hop out, quick boss battle against the brain fungus coworker, easy peasy. he gets savewarped to another universe, kinda annoying but he can deal, he thinks.

But now there's a fucking meteor crashing down on top of him. And finally, finally— Jim cracks. He can't handle this. What the actual fuck is my life, he finally wonders. "What the hell is going on!?" he finally asks.

A Clinical Analysis of Cloud's Psychology, Part II - Identity, Self-Concept, and Mako

This is the second part to my analysis series on Cloud's psychology, originally posted on Reddit. Reading the first part isn't necessary to understand this post, but highly encouraged. To give some background, I'm currently training in clinical diagnosis and psychotherapy to become a psychologist. I want to apply what I know to break down our understanding of Cloud in a clinical context.

Here, I'll talk about Cloud's identity, breaking it down based on how he understands himself and how it became distorted. I'll also discuss the role of mako poisoning and Jenova cells in Cloud's mental world, since I think these elements are especially hard to understand. Part of me wonders what's the point of rationalizing Cloud's mind in the context of real world psychology when Jenova is probably enough of an explanation. Still, I find it helpful to think of Cloud's identity crisis this way, especially when thinking about how he ends up healing.

Part I - Trauma, Dissociation, and Psychosis Part II - Identity, Self-Concept, and Mako [you are here] Part III - Reintegration, Tifa, and Unconditional Love

In my previous post, I made the argument that Cloud shouldn't be pathologized as someone experiencing psychosis. He is a traumatized individual who experiences dissociation in order to uphold a false identity. If Cloud experiences dissociation as a function of his identity crisis, then unraveling Cloud's identity is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Losing your sense of self is a drastic experience, and if we want to understand how Cloud's identity fell apart, we need to understand how his self-concept and experiences set up his vulnerability.

Self-Concept

Although we typically think of Cloud's identity as split between his ex-SOLDIER persona and his true self, I'm going to discuss these things within the context of self-concept. Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers proposed that the self-concept is made up of three sub-components. Self-image is a person's mental picture of himself, which is prone to changing over time based on his self-esteem and understanding of his real self and ideal self. We know that Cloud's self-image is inaccurate at the beginning of the game due to his false ex-SOLDIER persona, which he wholeheartedly believes for a significant portion of the story.

Let's deconstruct Cloud's self-concept as it is when FFVII starts.

Ideal Self: Cloud is an ex-SOLDIER, a strong man capable of protecting those he cares about.

Real Self: Cloud is an ex-SOLDIER, a strong man capable of protecting those he cares about.

Self-Image: Cloud is an ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary. He is adept in combat and carries the pride and legacy of the First Class SOLDIER rank.

Why is Cloud's real self the same as his ideal self in this model? We know that Cloud experienced a lot of failures and was too weak to join SOLDIER. But, ex-SOLDIER Cloud is unaware of his true real self. As far as he's concerned, he achieved his goal of getting into SOLDIER and proved his strength. In this case, Cloud's real self and ideal self align, creating congruence with his self-image. The more congruent someone's self-concept is, the higher the self-esteem. Consequently, anything or anyone that reinforces this congruence will boost self-esteem. And, as we know very well, Cloud is proud of his ex-SOLDIER status from the start of FFVII and later internalizes pride from being Aerith's bodyguard, someone looked to as a protector. However, we know even Cloud's self-image here is inaccurate to his real self. The real Cloud never made it into SOLDIER and only wants to be acknowledged as strong. Neither his ideal self nor his self-image acknowledge this fact here. Back when Cloud was still aware of his real self, we saw that his self-esteem was poor.

Now, let's deconstruct Cloud's self-concept as it is prior to all of his traumatic experiences, which is right before the Nibelheim Incident.

Ideal Self: Cloud is a SOLDIER, a strong man capable of protecting those he cares about.

Real Self: Cloud is a Shinra grunt who was not strong enough to make it into SOLDIER.

Self-Image: Cloud is a Shinra grunt who never made it into SOLDIER because he was too weak. He is ashamed of his failure and does not want people in his hometown to know about it.

When Cloud failed to achieve his ideal self, he thought of himself as a failure, so much so that he couldn't bear to show his face when he returned to Nibelheim two years later. Self-esteem, which describes one's opinion of himself, relies on several components. A person's self-worth determines his perception of his individual value or worth. Self-worth is partly built by referencing how other people see you, a concept called the looking-glass self. We know that Cloud referenced other people's opinions of him during his childhood in Nibelheim. He wasn't friendly with the other children in the village, and in the OG, Tifa's father specifically didn't want Cloud near his daughter. This is also why he makes the flawed assumption that Tifa won't truly acknowledge him unless he proves his strength. We know that he aspired to become a SOLDIER was to get Tifa to notice him, so Cloud's concern over what she thinks of him shaped his ideal self. The other contributor to self-esteem is self-efficacy, or Cloud's belief in his own ability. Specifically, Cloud wants to prove his strength and capability as a protector. He equates SOLDIER to strength, so by failing to join SOLDIER and believing that he failed to protect his loved ones, Cloud's self-esteem took a turn for the worse.

With self-worth based on the negative opinions of the villagers and low self-efficacy based on his own perceived failures, Cloud's self-esteem is very low by default. Because Cloud's real self (Shinra grunt) didn't align with his ideal self (SOLDIER), he experienced incongruence, which further diminishes self-esteem and contributes to a negative self-concept. This is why he went to such drastic measures to hide his identity from Tifa and the rest of the villagers. One of the functions of the ex-SOLDIER persona, then, is to help Cloud maintain congruence within his self-concept. Not only that, but because Cloud's altered self-image was born from his ideal self, there is now a blurred line between his ideal self and real self. Rather than working to align his ideal self with his real self, he altered his beliefs about his real self to align with his ideal self. This is the reverse of what should happen; in therapy, you would be guided towards adjusting your ideal self to match more realistic expectations. Cloud needed to reject his real self in order to incorporate his ideal self as the real self, which is why the ex-SOLDIER persona looks like a delusion.

With this rejection of reality, Cloud was set up for a reckoning. When the truth of Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona was revealed, he still wasn't able to access his real self, leaving him vulnerable to Sephiroth's manipulation. Sephiroth broke Cloud's self-image not just by creating incongruence in Cloud's self-concept, but by essentially eliminating the notion of a real self entirely. This means that Cloud's breakdown goes beyond incongruence. As far as he was concerned, Cloud no longer had a real self, therefore he no longer had any true sense of self-concept. Cloud was made to believe he was not Cloud from Nibelheim, but a hollow shell and a puppet. And this is exactly what breaks his sense of self all over again.

Jenova Cells and Mako Poisoning

I also want to take a moment to discuss the (fictional) biological agents that impacted Cloud's identity, mainly because these concepts are unique to the FFVII world. One of the main physiological problems Cloud experienced is mako poisoning. Remember that mako is made up of the souls of people in the lifestream. It's not just a natural energy source, it is literally millions of souls that make up the lifeforce of the planet. Tifa in the OG said that she literally heard "screams of anguish" surrounding her when she first fell into the lifestream. SOLDIER candidates (and Hojo's test subjects) undergo mako exposure with the hopes of obtaining enhanced physical and magical abilities that result from being imbued with the memories and knowledge of the planet. But, not just anyone can become a SOLDIER, since tolerating this much mako requires mental fortitude. Essentially, mako overwhelms a person with the souls and memories of the lifestream, therefore you must have a strong understanding of your own identity in order to tolerate large amounts of it. This suggests that a person needs a strong self-concept that can remain stable during mako exposure.

As a side note, an interesting thing about mako is that it reads very similarly to substance use. Different people have different tolerance for mako, with some being able to enjoy its benefits. Others though, are prone to succumbing to mako "addiction" as it's referred to in Crisis Core, which most often seems to result in catatonia. It seems to resemble how people in the real world can "lose themselves" to substance abuse. Of course, there's also the caveat that overexposure to mako can mutate humans and animals into monsters, so there's arguably some radioactive properties present as well. This isn't surprising, since one of the focuses of FFVII is environmentalism and the consequences of tampering with nature. Mako is such a fascinating phenomena in how it combines recreational, radioactive, and terrestrial/spiritual elements into an energy source of all things.

Unfortunately for 16 year old Cloud, since he had poor self-esteem and incongruence between his real self and ideal self, he had a weakened self-concept at the time Hojo got his hands on him. It's likely that Cloud's inability to tolerate mako is part of the reason he couldn't become a SOLDIER or withstand Hojo's experimentation, metaphorically representing how SOLDIERs need mental strength as well as physical strength. Not only that, but Cloud experienced mako poisoning on two occasions: once after Zack broke him out of Hojo's laboratory, and once after he first emerged in Mideel from the lifestream. Each time Cloud experienced mako poisoning, he was rendered catatonic and unresponsive, with his sense of self left in a vulnerable state. If we work off of the premise that mako is literally made up of the souls of the planet, one of the reasons that Cloud's self of sense was shattered was because of the overwhelming amount of memories that he was subjected to during mako exposure. His sense of self was literally torn apart, becoming lost among millions of other souls. Mako poisoning helped set the stage for the ex-SOLDIER persona to take shape, since it left him in a highly vulnerable state that is easily subject to Jenova's influence. Plus, if we equate mako tolerance to mental fortitude, this explains why after Cloud emerges from the lifestream for the third and final time, he didn't become catatonic a third time. By this point, he has regained his identity and his self-concept is strong enough to remain intact.

The other factor in the mix is Jenova, the primary source of supernatural conflict in the world of FFVII. According to the Dirge of Cerberus Complete Guide, Jenova is capable of reading "the memories and feelings of the people on the surface." This primarily refers to how it can mimic other people and begins, but we also know that Jenova is extremely attuned to the mental worlds of humans. It is capable of looking at people's thoughts, which it uses to manipulate them. Additionally, the Crisis Core Complete Guide says that "mentally weak people are unable to withstand Jenova's will, and it sometimes brings about mental abnormalities." I believe this is the basis of the Jenova Reunion Theory. This explains why Jenova's will is so powerful, which in turn seems to explain the Reunion theory. Again, all of this supports the notion that becoming a SOLDIER requires a good deal of mental strength.

Jenova explains why Cloud specifically took on Zack's memories as his own. Jenova's powers revolve around illusion and manipulation. Presumably, between the time that Zack died and the time Tifa stumbles across Cloud, Jenova has been taking advantage of Cloud's mental fragility by warping his memories. Jenova took memories from the dying Zack to mess with Cloud, consistent with what Sephiroth said. However, the brilliant part of this manipulation is that Sephiroth was also able to convince Tifa that her memories helped fabricate ex-SOLDIER Cloud, which is not quite true, but also not quite a lie. Tifa's presence likely kicked Cloud's ideal self into gear and presented further motivation to take on the ex-SOLDIER persona. Her uncertainty of her memories is the final piece that shatters Cloud's certainty of his own identity. Sephiroth may have been the one to explicitly accuse Cloud of never being a real person, but Jenova figuratively opened the door for him.

The Birth of the Ex-SOLDIER

Between the moment that Cloud watched Zack take his final stand and the moment Tifa finds him at the Sector 7 train station, Cloud experienced a severe mental metamorphosis that was strong enough to distort his fundamental understanding of who he is. What's unique about Cloud's experience is how a cocktail of influences converged into the perfect storm to break down and chaotically rebuild him.

All of these elements come together to explain how Cloud's ex-SOLDIER persona came to be. Cloud's self-esteem has been continuously beaten down over his entire life by a pattern of perceived failures. By the time he returns to Nibelheim at sixteen years old, he has such a poor self-image that he can't even bear to show his face to Tifa. He then goes through three deeply traumatizing experiences that essentially occurred back to back, as far as his conscious memory is concerned. The combination of psychological trauma and insecurity is what primed Cloud's sense of self to fall apart to mako poisoning, opening the gateway for dissociation from his own identity. His final unraveling was Zack's death, which broke down his self-esteem since he was helpless to do anything but watch Zack's demise. The Jenova cells then used Cloud's ideal self and his memories of Zack to manifest a false self-image that Cloud's mind desperately grabbed onto. He was further inspired by his promise to protect Tifa and his promise to be Zack's living legacy, which is what brings us to the ex-SOLDIER story that could fulfill both promises at once.

The ex-SOLDIER persona is ultimately a coping mechanism designed to protect Cloud's real self, which needed to process the intense trauma he experienced and deal with overwhelming feelings of despair, grief, and failure. His real self dissociated from the conscience and became suppressed, marking a departure from reality. Because Cloud's sense of self was inaccurate and he could no longer consciously access his real self, it left him vulnerable to Jenova and Sephiroth's deception later on, allowing them to deceive and manipulate him.

Based on what we currently know about Rebirth, it's very possible that Cloud's identity crisis will no longer play out the same way. For one, it's unclear if Cloud learns about Zack earlier, and if his identity remains intact even after learning about him. It's also unclear if Tifa will react differently to Cloud's recollection of the Nibelheim Incident. I believe though that all that is needed to retain the same story progression is (1) a fragile self-concept and (2) Tifa's uncertainty. As long as those two elements are preserved, I think it's still possible to reach the same destination even with some variations in the plot.

Part III will cover Cloud's recovery from his breakdown and will focus on the process of reintegrating a shattered identity.

Marlene knows him well.

Marlene is a smart kid.

Trust Marlene.

Talk about a coincidence!

Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII Remake Parallels

A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION

Crisis Core:

During their first encounter, Zack and Aerith spend some time together at the market, but a kid steals Zack’s wallet. Local people and shopkeepers are reluctant to help him find the kid, but in the end the Accessory seller apologizes with Zack for having misjudged him...

Clerk: Hey, Aren't you...You are! The guy who was chasing that kid around! I heard about you from the neighborhood folks. I thought you were just some dumb outsider, but it turns out you're a pretty good guy. I'm sorry we misjudged you, this is just a small token of our appreciation.

...and he gives him some items (best reward consist in: 1 Soma, 1 Hi-Potion and 1 Remedy). Then Zack buys the pink ribbon for Aerith.

Remake: 

In Chapter 3 Tifa and Cloud go around the slums of Sector 7 to change water filters and collect money (Water filters - Water tower...am I overthinking? Anyway). At the end of the side quests they head back to Stargazer Heights (that water tower again!) and have a conversation with Marle. At first Marle is rather prejudiced against Cloud, but she seems to change her mind when she sees Tifa happy after spending some time with him:

Marle: Take care you two! ...Oh? You're looking pretty chipper!

Tifa: Uh...I don't feel that different.

Marle: Must be my imagination then. Anyway! Keep your wits about you, merc! A token of my appreciation. Be good to her.

At the end of the conversation she gives him a Crescent Moon Charm. This accessory is used to reduce damage when equipped by non-active characters (so from the perspective of Cloud, he can use it to protect the others).

The description of this charm is VERY interesting...

A charm imbued with the fervent desire to be by one’s side for eternity.

And...it is identical to the earring Tifa wears with her default dress at Wall Market!  🌙

Or better: the moon earring already existed in the OG as it was part of Tifa’s outfit to see Don Corneo. The devs created this new accessory and shaped it exactly like her earring, giving it a new significance since it represents a connection between Cloud and Tifa. 

The same exact thing that happened in Crisis Core with Aerith’s ribbon! 🎀

What a coincidence!   

Final Fantasy VII Illustration by:  魚與花雕 @Anu_yu on twitter 

Talk about a coincidence!

Crisis Core and Advent Children References

Second post about CloTi and ZeriTh hints in FFVII Remake!

Find the previous post here.

THE PERFECT OUTFIT

Be sure to pick an outfit that goes with mine, okay?

Leave it to me, Tifa!  😂

In order to sneak in Don Corneo’s palace, Aerith and Tifa wear nice elegant dresses, and Cloud has to disguise himself as a lady. It’s interesting how Cloud and Tifa’s outfits can match in colors, fabrics and details:

These are the OG canon outfits. To get this combination the player has to choose the Mature dress for Tifa in Chapter 3, and complete Chocobo Sam odd jobs in Chapter 9. The odd jobs depend on the answers given at Wall Market: if the player prefers Tifa probably Cloud will get this dress. The CANON dress. 

To get the satin outfits the player has to choose the Sporty dress for Tifa in Chapter 3, and complete Madam M odd jobs in Chapter 9. Same logic: if the player prefers Aerith, probably this will be Cloud’s dress.

For this last combination the player has to choose the Exotic dress for Tifa in Chapter 3, and skip the sidequests in Chapter 9.

It reminded me how Cloud and Tifa’s outfits perfectly match also in Adven Children.

The choice of Aerith’s dress depends on how many Odd Jobs in Chapter 8 were completed:

6 sidequests: red dress

3-5 sidequests: long pink dress

0-2 sidequests: short pink dress

They don’t match with Cloud or Tifa’s, but her two new dresses are pink and also the train of the OG red dress has a lighter shade...

Do you remember the promise she shared with Zack in Crisis Core?

(Yes, I edited the picture. No I didn’t alter the meaning. Link for the whole scene).

These details are AMAZING 💗

What a coincidence!