If i were to answer the question based on Aerith's fate, the "Fact" is where Sephiroth successfully impaled Aerith, whereas "Fiction" is where Cloud saved Aerith from Sephiroth
Even in OF FF7 Cloud was suffering from PTSD from what he witnessed in Nibelheim. So he made up stuff in his head. Then Tifa was to worried or scared as to how Cloud would react to the truth. So in OG FF7 as in FF7 Rebirth what you are seeing is Cloud's full mental breakdown. Then in the 3rd game as in the later half of OG FF7. Tifa will pull Cloud out of it.
I think it was aerith who did it. Look at the ground, the same effect that was present at the end of the dream date. Sephiroth was beat, then Aerith took her own life.
Must be the opposite.. he merge the reality.. this rebirth universe was supposed to have aerith not die. But he merged it to other universe to make aerith death happen
It sad when you realize that there truly is that timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, where she continues her dedicated prayer peacefully, Sephiroth's blade still clean of blood feet away. Cloud got to see it for a brief second, the timeline where he succeeded, and Sephiroth made sure Cloud saw that, just to make it hurt more when he ripped that away and forced him to live in the "true" timeline. I'd like to believe that the timeline where Aerith lives could also be a timeline where they still save the world from the meteor, and she gets to continue life with her friends- but, we know Aerith is just glad that she's able to still help save everyone, by "returning to the planet". She's sad, it's very clear when she tells Cloud that she enjoyed their time together, but I think she always had that inkling that she would die young, she probably knew outright, honestly. The fact that the player doesn't actually have to press the reaction commands here, to me, shows that Cloud, regardless of Sephiroth's influence or other intervention, was still able to control himself enough to not harm Aerith. He's had his moments where he's shoved his friends, said something cold, he knocked Tifa into the lifestream, but he's never truly hurt anyone, and it's definitely a fear he has because he knows he's easily manipulated by Sephiroth. But here, regardless of us, regardless of which timeline, Cloud will never be the reason Aerith dies, it will always be Sephiroth. Cloud might feel guilty, that he couldn't save her, but in truth he is at no fault.
there is a possibility that Zack will be the key to the biggest change later... like at the end of the story where he says "but who's saying the can't unite again?" there is a theory that says Aerith already had a vision of the future of what would happen before the start of the game then this is related to the sentence that Marlene said to Zack and of course the words "emotional damage" to Zack 😅 but Marlene immediately continued with the sentence "That's because you weren't there". This is all a hint for the fans who are waiting for that day to come... haaa but no matter in any story be it anime or story films like time loop or multiverse or time travel things like this are very confusing 🤦♂️
@@pendora4182 I love time travelling concepts in media but it is so NERVE WRACKING, although it has taught me that if I ever get the chance to time travel, I am turning that shit DOWN xD
How do you know Aerith is actually dead? Think people should wait till 3rd game before jumping to conclusions of what is or is not reality in this series.
While the last scene is without voice...I could recite the whole monologue Cloud has over her. Aerith...This can't be real. Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry or get angry. What about us, what are we supposed to do? What about my pain? My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning.
yeah, i can imagine that scene with voiced lines will either be the opening of Part 3 or the scene where Cloud remembers everything that has happened and he has to face reality that Aerith indeed died
@@michaelrobosa146 Yessss, it would work so well for when he remembers- he lived in ignorance when he forgot, and when he remembers, it's truly a hit in the gut of "this can't be real".
@@synovelle right??? Cloud is suffering from PTSD, so I assume that he's just in-denial with Aerith's death, that's why her death was played differently here because they are saving the ACTUAL SCENE for Part 3
No you guys interpret it wrong. Cloud didn’t see illusion, he now lives in 2 worlds at same time. That’s why only him seeing rupture sky but Barret and others couldn’t see (explanation below) --- Sephiroth said after we defeated destiny in remake alternate worlds were created but since they all weak, unlike main world, they’ll all eventually face doom (indicated by ruptured sky) Like we saw it happened in several alternative worlds. In alternative world he DID SAVE Aerith but that world will be doomed like others, and Aerith knows that. So at the ending scene Aerith said “goodbye”
@@DarkMuu666lol shut up lol 80% of the ones we have in the rebith game are from the original game shit !? Go play the OG game and you will see it clearly.
@@981haremgood news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
good news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
I've always wondered if there are some specific events fated to happen. In Dr. Who, I recall them saying once the Tardis had some kind of paradox armor that shielded it from paradoxes/timeline changes that would make it not exist so that it would still exist in all timelines it traveled to. So my thinking has been, from time to time, that there are some "islands" in the ocean of time, specific spots that are stable and happen across all timelines, even if the events surrounding them can change. I have no idea if that's what's going on here or not, but there do seem to be some events that are completely faithful to the OG, some that are KIND of faithful to the OG, and some that happen completely differently.
@@Beigemage0621 @gabrielwilliams8809 Nothing was actually changed in Crisis Core. Cloud wasn't around to ever *see* Genesis during Nibelheim when it mattered for any of those scenes he was in. He was, however, there when it did matter to recreate the events from 7. He canonically killed Sephiroth. He then went on to save the world later down the line. The thing about Rebirth and Remake is they're fucking with a story already told. It doesn't need canon altering events. This is the problem with things that alter Canon or the story at large. I'll use an example of a story that works that DOES mess with canon. Shadow of War. Talion and Celebrimbor fight their war against Sauron. They forge a new ring of power to rival Saurons own, though it is pure, and loyal to Celebrimbor, rather than to Sauron. It isn't so much corruptive, as we see that Talion is NEVER corrupted by its influence. This combination of their power and collective skill, experience and knowledge allows them to fight and win against the Ringwraiths, and eventually kill and release one from eternal servitude (This is the big canon changing event, aside from the fact that Shelob is also displayed as a female humanoid wearing a black dress sometimes when she is not in her giant spider form.) The reason why it works in this media is because in the game, not only is the game TONS of fun to play, and the orc armies are extremely fun and charming to be around, use and build up and such... But also because immediately after releasing the Ringwraith, Celebrimbor see's it as a betrayal, since he wanted to 'Dominate' the will of the ringwraith and add him to his forces. They clashed, and Celebrimbor gave his ring, which was keeping Talion alive (Seeing as he was sacrificially killed in the first game with his family) to an elven wraith hunter that'd been helping the entire game. If it weren't for Saurons ring lying there, and a talk with Shelob, Talion would have given up his fight, but instead he took up the corrupting ring of one of the 9 Nazgul, knowing that he would damn himself in doing so in time, but for now he needed to hold the line and protect Middle Earth. *THAT* is what his war was all about. The Canon in that game only changes small things that *wouldn't* be noticed visually, and could be easily mistaken for other things, while still keeping other things true to the story. Sure, Shelob was never good, but the game also portrays memories of hers where Sauron, during his days of Deceiving people also deceiving her, betraying her. So it could be argued that what she did was out of spite (as in the books she IS described as an entity of the darkness.) The Ringwraiths? Yes, I will make no excuses about that. It is always said that the ringwraiths never changed from who they were to different peoples or ownerships after they fell to Saurons ultimate corruption. However, it all worked out with how they told the story and made the game.... And that game was a BLAST for it. In this? What are they doing? It's kinda the same game. They updated the graphics... I don't like that they FORCED the combat system to be more of a real time thing. I think it should've been an option to be like 'Yeah, you can go old combat system or new if you want. Retro, or new.' Like, make that an option, it'd be nifty. They're a rich enough company, they can afford it. If they wanted to make changes? Sure, go ahead, but make them... small. After all, it's supposed to be a retelling of the same story. I mean, damn, we didn't even HEAR clouds speech after Sephiroth stabbed her... That gave so much more IMPACT to this scene in the original. His own description of his feelings, sadness, anger and rage at what had just happened. You can picture it in your head. Feel it in your hands and eyes. This... It just shows you the images, sure, but you don't get the same thing. And on top of it? The materia was still just pure white. It didn't change to green. This should mean that her prayer went unheard and NOW the planet is completely FUCKED. The spell, HOLY? Yeah, that's not coming to stop METEOR anymore. So what's the deal? What gives? Look, I will say I never played this game because I never had faith in the remake on initially seeing the time ghosts performing bullshit timefuckery on the game and doing stupid shit with it, but really... Did they shove their heads up their own asses on this story? Cause that's what it looks like.
@rednova2212 I just meant in the opening cinematic of Crisis Core Sepiroth sliced up Sister Ray. As far as the story at large nothing has actually changed. The presence of the whispers honestly aren't intrusive to the main story at all. If anything if I knew I was playing a shot for shot remake with better graphics I'd be just as bored of it as I was watching the Lion King remake. Not knowing why the Sephiroth was attacking the Whispers at first then manipulating the leaves me with questions. Knowing meteor will come is one thing but seeing Zack in a world where Avalanche died makes me wonder even more. These scenes didn't stop what was happening in the main story either. Heck even all of those world Intel missions people gripe about actually drop a huge but subtle bombshell about chadleys true nature and where he fits in in the endgame once they are all completed. I can say with certainty that this game stayed true to its mission of being faithful to its source material. Unlike Kingdom Hearts the what the Whispers are is clear and kinda sad. They are an auto immune response of the planet to those who attempt to rewrite its memories and in effect reality. Sephiroth is a virus that is intent on destroying those memories and being at the center of the wound as it tries to heal. Much like the Meteor which will still be summoned. In my opinion it's like he's trying to make mother earth pull a gun on themselves by driving her insane first. He was evil before but listening to deathwails from the planets souls like its a symphony is next level. Those are not disposable heartless. They exist for the sole purpose of showing how virus like Sephiroth is that he can turn the planet's own immune system against it on a planetary scale. Then plan to spread it across the galaxy to world's unknown. That said I throughly enjoyed playing it and hope you give it a chance without a tarnished expectations.
I like to think that when cloud transitioned over to the other reality during the cetra temple incident that he ended up being able to "walk between worlds" aka exist and bounce back through timelines like aerith can thus the ending is cloud saving aerith in one but not being able to exist in both at the same time, thus in the other timeline he saves her, but in this timeline he doesn't. But he sees both overlapped onto each other, which is why when he sees the sky there is the same tear as the "doomed" timeline, but the others don't see it, because they exist in only one world, but he exists in two - which is why red xiii can sense when she touches him, because he can sense other timelines, but the rest cannot. The way I see it the realities, and the whispers actually represent the fandom - the one side that wants everything kept the way it was, and the other side that wanted all the dead characters to live. Cloud's mind isn't broken - its stretched across multiple timelines.
Only thing I disagree with here is the whispers. I think at this point the black whispers represent OG Sephiroth (or as i like to call it, NG+ Sephiroth) trying to create a world where he succeeds in dropping meteor, while the white whispers represet Aerith in the life stream (NG+ Aerith) combating Sephiroth.
Like the first time. Except it's ten times more exhausting. The first time I still remember the anger of my older brother who tried in every way to use key combinations to use objects, he went back to try to resurrect it with the items, in the end, frustrated, he first smashed one of the pads crashing it to the ground, then he went for ferocious grinding and in every fight with Sephy he was so strong that he beat him, brought him close to knockout, cured him and then beat him again... like that for a few evenings. He reloaded the game and beat Sephy again. A bitter victory. He didn't give a damn about Zack, he wanted Aerith :) for Cloud. I remember that he brought the memory card with him and also played at the house of a friend of his, so they managed to boost the party to the maximum. Never seen him so angry about a Final Fantasy chapter. Not even 10 pissed him off like that (and there would be very good reasons)
New fans won't realise why OGs feel so strongly about Aerith and Cloud's relationship. You had to be there. You had to see her die like that, and then she's just...gone. It's crazy how mad it made us, just a game. Not even a real person, but the YEARNING we had to save her, to undo it SOMEHOW.
It was an epic game if you played it when it first dropped in 1997. I cried when she died, honestly. It's was unexpected and the most fxcked up thing in gaming at the time. No Final Fantasy title has come close to it for me in terms of emotions. It was a great experience.
funny how some comments think cloud was hallucinating blocking sephiroth sword when the whole multiple timelines thing exist and aerith is actually alive in another timeline because of what he did
@@mattkugelman4369 Well Aerith death was always a part of the Story. I knew that would happen, but yes, even i thought maybe they let her live this time, because of this 7 seconds stuff from Part 1. SE played their cards right i guess.
Nah. Aerith is dead. You can literally see from Tifa's perspective that Aerith is covered with blood. Meanwhile from Cloud's POV, Aerith is not covered with blood. Cloud is suffering from PTSD, remember? He is in-denial from her death
@@michaelrobosa146 he means that while she's dead in main timeline she might be alive in some alternate timeline where Cloud did stop Sephrioth Hell blow
To clarify: he is making things up in his head. Sephiroth kills her but cloud can’t accept that… notice how the scenes keep switching to cloud crying with blood pooling on the floor and then he isn’t crying and there’s no blood. He literally cannot accept what just happened so he’s made up that he stopped the blade. That’s why he still sees her after… he thinks she’s alive. Then the last cutscene he gets on the plane without her and leaves he genuinely thinks she’s okay and is going back home. It’s the reason why the iconic burial scene where she is dropped into the water is skipped… why bury someone who isn’t dead? So cloud blocks it out. We are seeing this all entirely from his perspective and everything he gets the headaches that’s the reality seeping through. It is indeed VERY complicated and I don’t blame anyone for not understanding.
How could Cloud getting into position almost half a meter away, and directly blocking Sephiroths strike still somehow result in Aerith getting impaled clean through?
Timeline distortions. Cloud may have managed to prevent Sephiroth from impaling Aerith in the initial attempt, but Sephy uses his control over his personal Black Whispers to rewrite reality so that he successfully killed Aerith by stabbing her with his sword
If you try to hold the buttons down, the indicator doesn't show that you are holding them down. This video's title was just click bait the whole time. The moment I saw that R2 indicator filled up I knew it was definitely just bait.
This ending have their hood things, for example in your date with Aerith no matter what you pick, they always give you another option, Zack no matter what he picked, he will end up against hundred of Shinra soldiers, and Aerith death, sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can’t change fate.
good news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
@@tiensimon1263good news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
You know, I think I understand what they were going for. They wanted the player to feel like they had power. Like they could save Aerith. And then, for a moment it looks like you did, but then you didn't. They wanted to empower the player, and then take it away. But in the end, it just doesn't work. Everything is too confusing and convoluted. You're too busy being confused to be sad, especially when you see her weird force ghost thing. They should have kept this plot a lot simpler.
I made a video talking a bit about this ending and I can add to it that I think that Aerith is being used as the planet's champion so she is able to fight even while dead just like Sephiroth can as Jenova's champion. They're both dead, but they'll be able to try to influence others and participate in limited ways later on. Jenova still seems to use people besides Sephiroth, like Lodbrock... it seems like the life force of Sephiroth and Lodbrock were not able to resist being stolen by Jenova or whatever allows her to use their appearances but Aerith being a Cetra probably has no issue resisting Jenova. Cloud might be the son of Lodbrock which might be why Jenova thinks she can manipulate him.
2:16:51 To be fair, we go through the whole game with multiple scenes of Glenn Notbrok wondering what the deal is and they don't reveal that he's a Sephiroth copy until the end. However, I do think it's clear that we are not seeing a Sephiroth copy pretending to be Aerith in that scene, because no one else can see her. Sephiroth copies aren't invisible, and when they do shapeshift into someone, usually everyone in the vicinity sees the same thing. I think the possibilities are that Cloud is seeing a Lifestream ghost of Aerith (or Aerith "with memories closest to the future") or a hallucination caused by Jenova cells/Sephiroth's will (the same way that Sephiroth could appear as hallucinations in Remake). If there's a rainbow effect, then it's an Aerith from an alternate world/timeline/reality.
I didn't do anything for this initially, I knew it would be the same regardless. Especially when I chose NOT to pursue Aerith for the Black Materia and my only other options were to stay still or make it longer than it needed to be by trying to go backwards.
I wonder how the end is going to play out in the third one or was the end of this one also showing the end of the third since the final fight was him in his final form.
sephiroth would want cloud to alter the timeline. that blocking is probably what helped make the former white materia into another black materia that cloud ended up putting into his sword.
I think Cloud has the black materia at the end because he is now "in between worlds," and Sephiroth explicitly says during the end of The Temple of the Ancients is that the real black materia is "hidden between worlds."
So if i understand well this is split into 3 dims ? The one who cloud blocked sephiroth sword and aerith continue praying . The one we know where sephiroth kills aerith and the last one where aerith is injured but survive ?
It's Aerith's choice,to die...Remember that She's not the Aerith we used to know...She comes from beyond,and She knows the future(Remember how She acts in Remake?)..She knows that,for saving the future,She HAS to die,She HAS to complete the sacrifice...In the church,She thanks Cloud,then she pushes him away while Sephirith is coming....There are multiple realities,but She chooses the one more worthy for the future of the world,the One where She dies....Cloud Is able to see both versions of this sequence,Because he holds both Materia,the black One and the White One...he's not refusing to accept,he'sJust able to perceive both lines
Watching the black & white whisper around cloud has me confused, the black whispers are controlled by sephiroth right? While the white ones are either aerith’s whispers or are still trying to make sure og stays the same. But here at 0:32 it looks like they’re working together why is that? At 1:20 the white whispers are gone when cloud deflected them but the black whispers came back & tried to hold cloud in place holding his sword like he about to strike aerith, What was the point of that when sephiroth was gonna do the downward slash on her anyway? Why does it shift to sephiroth looking like he stabbed aerith like he was close enough at 3:19 but at 3:34 he was nowhere near her body “yes his sword his long” but at 5:14 he looks like far away enough. From the perspective of Barret & Tifa at 5:16 looking at sephiroth’s sword, it’s clean from any blood at all “yes sephiroth flung his sword at cloud that had aerith’s blood on it” but at that moment cloud was alone before they got there but his mind is still in a mess. Lastly from tifa’s perspective it switches from how she & the group sees the blood on her back & hand. Then switches to how cloud sees it. But the one thing that stands out “ I’m not sure if this is a mistake or maybe it’s intentional” but it only shows aerith’s face when it has blood on her hand but not how cloud sees it with no blood. I come to the conclusion that sephiroth never did the downward slash since I’m assuming this sephiroth knows that cloud would deflect his sword on Time “knows the future & all that” he knows cloud’s mind is screwed up so he made it look like cloud deflected his sword when it reality, cloud deflected the whispers trying to save aerith and he was the one who slashed at aerith killing her. 😳 Or maybe I’m reading too much into it….
What the devs did here is masterful. They give you all the timelines and even in one show Sephiroth hunting Aerith down across all the timelines. They have the Cetra say Jenova could mimic them and their loved dead. They show that multiple times Sephiroth said “you know I killed her”, which people misattribute it to talking about Tifa. And they very carefully in the last scene to all out…where Aerith is acting like the opposite of her normal character, repeating lines from the game out of mimicry, and acting just like Jenova would. And people are so caught up in wanting Aerith to be alive that they are playing the Cloud role themselves, not realizing the end Aerith is Jenova in his mind, as he does his usual cloud repression and refusal to accept reality “with clouded eyes” The devs have created a social experiment to see how many fans will understand what’s happening vs how many will IRL RP as Cloud Freakin 30 year cook of genius.
You make a good point. Im puzzled how so many people totally glanced over the fact that Aeriths dialogue with Cloud, after her supposed death, are only with words she used in their previous conversations in Remake and Rebirth. Not one new word was added in all those scenes. Which brings us to 2 conclusions. Cloud is making all of it up in his broken mind or Jenova is accessing his memories to manipulate him.
@@Cenkolino 100%. And people HATE what I think is going on. Like they’ve sent death threats to the “Jenova Theory” people including Max Dood. I get it. I’d love to save Aerith too. But all the scenes from the original…we are living the view from Cloud’s broken mind. Tifa is terrified of Cloud’s mental state right now. She feels like she’s completely lost him as well as her bestie. The thing absolutely hammered home in so many places is that Jenova mimics people. It’s never truly addressed in the whole game. Aetith at the end is a shell of herself, who goes from telling Cloud in the forest “Don’t worry, I can handle Sephiroth myself” to “OMG YOU PROMISE YOULL GO AFTER HIM?!”. It’s not Aerith lol. It is the deceiver. Or just his mind. But you get it. People want to think it was bad writing but…they have clouded eyes.
Holy sh*t. I didn’t even think Jenova was doing THAT to Cloud. Beat the game last night, and I thought Cloud was losing his mind in the ending because he can also see the rift in the sky (same one as over Zack’s Midgar). And seeing this, it makes me want to see what happens in Part 3 to bring it all home.
Yeah. Thing is we don’t really know what Jenova is capable of. Much of this is a new or expanded depth. And now we’ve seen that Sephiroth has the same flashes and headaches that Cloud does in that video from Ever Crisis. While everyone’s theory sucks right now, it’s fun to theorize. We have to wait for the truth
I think Cloud did save one version of "her". Sephiroth just brought him back to the originals timeline or one that resembles the one from the original. However, I noticed something during my second playthrough of the game. In the end Cloud looks at the sky because he can see that rift that opened up above the world thanks to Sephiroths re-union plans. If you play the game a second time you notice Aerith looking very worried at the Sky as well on multiple occasions during the cutscenes. And at one point she says something along the lines of "And when the time comes I'm counting on you. No, not you Cloud. My future self. I think you're gonna love her". I think that future self of her is still out there and that she knew more than she let on to. In the original she was aware of her coming death and I think she was aware of it here as well. Marlene was aware of it too by the way. So yeah, I think we save one version of her in part 3. And on another side note, I think "our Aerith" had the same ability Cloud gained at the end of the game. I think it's the same Marlene has in Remake/Rebirth.
@@nyx2903i have been wondering what she was talking about when she mentioned her "future self" , your theory make sense and i hope it is true. I will hold you to it
Did this myself because I was in tears, knowing what will could happen. As player of the OG game, I was 13 years old in 97, Aerith's death was a very powerful and sad scene. In the Rebirth is the moment I expected the most. When Cloud stops Sephirot's sword, I felt sometjing unique, a part of me wanted to save Aerith but another wanted to not change the real story. Aerith death in the og was very inportant part of the plot, it unleash the following events and creates a sense of vengeance and responsability in the player. Here..well I finished the game this week and don't know what to think really about Aerith's "death". One thing is sure, it has not done the impact I searched.
The first time I got to this part (unspoiled thankfully) I also didn't press L2 and R2. I was thinking of the original game and how when you pushed buttons Cloud prepped himself to kill Aerith, not resist. So I thought it was the same thing. Doesn't matter in the end. Cant change fate! :)
the sword appears stuck in the ground under two different angles if you look close. So does something go wrong with Aerith's arm... can't wait for third phase to reveal all the story 😤
People gunna hate me, but I would’ve made it so that Cloud(under Sephiroth) kills Aerith, and then he snaps back and realizes… for me that would make me more angry at Sephiroth,…. Also get rid of the harbinger things, wished they never returned, but I still enjoy the game.
the devs literally laced this game with foreshadowing that cloud would flip the script and become the bad guy and kill aerith; only to chicken out at the last minute for fear of alienating their customers. it's a shame because that would've made a much more powerful narrative.
@@leudast1215he already attempted to kill Tifa this game with his sword. We don’t need a second time. 🤣 No one on his team are ever going to travel with him again either if he killed Aerith either. You would see a clear difference between a cut from sephiroths sword and clouds 😂
Have the actual creators actually confirmed she is dead in Rebirth? I’m confused af like should we be sad or still have hope that Aerith can come back?
They have confirmed that her fate is unknown. She's likely dead in the main world yet alive in a different world. So yes there is a chance that she's coming back.
Here, time splits for a second time due to Cloud's interference. In the first game, Remake, Sephiroth lets himself get defeated and offers no resistance so that time would split once. Here, he does as he normally would, but by letting Cloud stop him, time splits for a second time. In one, Aerith dies horribly, in the other, Aerith survives and talks to Cloud about something. We've still not seen the consequence of this. Ultimately it seems like Sephiroth's goal is to split time as many times as possible, making scenarios that fate didn't decide so that it's spread thin. Eventually, he wants to combine all these times together into one world of chaos where there is no fate, and no 'rules' stopping him. Aerith seems to be fully aware of what's going on with it, and like Sephiroth, can sort of 'travel' between the times. Cloud can too, but unintentionally. I wouldn't be surprised if in the finale to this trilogy, we get a section to play as Sephiroth with all his evil powers to fight the party.
@MadarakiFran you have the exact opposite mindset as one of my friends. They wouldn't buy the game unless they knew for a fact that aerith died in this game
@@Stargazing_night_skyYour friend will be rather surprised if he goes into it thinking it will play out like her OG death. It doesn't. She has way more presence and talking scenes after her death than she did in the OG version, to the point it looks as if she's still alive and will have a role going into part 3.
Honestly those who have played the original game saw this coming. But in all honesty, what makes me upset about this scene is that they make it clear in ff7 remake the events of the original game will not happen if we beat the Arbiter of fate, which we do. It's like, if you aren't going to change aerith's fate why in the world would you introduce the multiverse in your game? In the multiverse there are literally infinite universes, where infinite possibilities happen. Aerith and cloud being together where she survives, another timeline sephiroth actually wins, in multiverse there is no such thing as fate anymore, anything that could happen, could've happened or would be happen, does happen in multiverse. It's like they had an original idea and once remake was released they forgot it or couldn't expand on that new idea. In all honesty I think the whispers of fate was a wasted plot line and potential. I mean Sephiroth during his confrontation with could in remake wants to defy Destiny together, why would sephiroth want to kill aerith if he knows he'll be defeated.
Sephiroth did absorb the Whispers and now they work on his behalf. On the flip side, Aerith has her own whispers as well. I hope they explain all this in part 3
@connormorgan6884 people easily missed it but Cloud actually saved Aerith in alternative world. In main world she died like original, they couldn’t change even they defeated destiny in remake. Sephiroth revealed in forgotten temple that he tricked us to kill destiny, since all alternative worlds will have ruptured sky and doomed eventually. Only main world with normal sky will exist. Now Cloud lives in 2 worlds, main world where he refuse to see it (cause Aerith died) and alternative world where Aerith survived. That’s why only Cloud can see ruptured sky but Barret and others can’t. We still don’t know Aerith successfully cast Holy in main world like Original or not. I guess she failed this time and Sephiroth got what he want from remake. At ending, Aerith said goodbye cause she knew her world will doomed soon like other alternative worlds. Part 3 will be about how to defeat Sephiroth without Holy and save alternative world from perishing to let Aerith live.
I didn't press anything beacuse I thought it was like Og where I was being forced to swing the sword Lmao didn't realize it was to resist it till after I watched some RUclips videos
Wait so most people actually pressed L2 and R2? I was under the impression that would make Cloud bring his sword down and strike, so I’m like “nope I’m not doing it” just like I wanted to in the original but was forced to press something to move the sequence forward.
Is Tifa also influenced by the jenova cells ? There are flashes and she sees blood on Aerith s arm, then we don t know for sure which scene is real. I think all of that is linked to jenova cells.
I interpreted as Tifa seeing and believing Cloud killed Aerith. You can also see briefly blood on Cloud’s hand during the quick flash scene. Part 3 will explain different versions of this event. Of course Cloud’s will be distorted due to his trauma and the cell degradation
just like in OG - to make you feel powerless regardless of your choice, just like Cloud. it builds Sephiroth and Jenova as threat that, gets the conflict personal and subconsciously makes you sympathetize with Cloud since you feel powerless before Sephiroth together. It is a smart creative way to get players invested in the plot and characters more (but it only works if you already liked characters at least a little bit in the first place)
it can be interpreted this way - What was shown: Cloud deflected Sephiroth, but somehow Aerith still appeared to be stabbed and died. - What was truly happening: there are two ways to explain it. Cloud has the desire to save Aerith which put him into a hallucination while he didn't actually do anything, OR Cloud did deflect the Masamune, pushed the situation toward a different possibility, hence a different outcome, but Sephiroth was too strong, he has learned the way of the Lifestream, controling the Black Whisper and poisoned the Lifestream to make the possibility he wants manifested into the reality. Cloud saved her, but Sephiroth altered the reality to kill her. - The final result: Aerith still got stabbed and died.
Same as when Zack chose between heading toward Hojo or Biggs. Both possibilities played out. What really matters is what version of Stamp is on those bags after this, so we have some reference of where we're at. 🤔😂
Press is not an option, it's for emotion when you went through it. Life is hard and fate can't be change, but sometime you still push hard in hope it will made a different, and then.. oh life. I thought with those Whispers, we player will have a chance to rest in peace at last, but not us, RIP Aerith, again!!!😭
so normally rainbows are alternate timelines being created. sephiroth cheated (kinda like how aerith did with the white materia swap) and rewrote the reality in which cloud saved her. they're still in the rainbow bubble, and he does pull the sword out of the ground but instead of her surviving she was stabbed instead.
Cloud did save Aerith in alternative world. In main world she died like original, they couldn’t change even they defeated destiny in remake. Sephiroth revealed in forgotten temple that he tricked us, since all alternative worlds will have ruptured sky and doomed. Only main world with normal sky will exist. Now Cloud lives in 2 worlds, main world where he refused to see it and alternative world where Aerith survives. That’s why only him can see ruptured sky but Barret and others can’t. Aerith said goodbye cause she knew her world will doom soon. Part 3 will be about how to save alternative world from perishing.
To your last point, Cloud will still have to find his true self. Part 3 will mostly focus on Cloud trying to make sense of his reality and his eventual breakdown from the manipulation of Sephiroth and mako. Then later on, once he finds his true self, then he can focus on saving the different worlds. Of course during all of this everything will seem hopeless . However, he can't do anything if he isn't free from Sephiroths control. Its already teased in rebirth his inner world where Tifa will have to put together his memories.
@@who4108 They made this part very well. By the end of this game I'm just annoyed with how hollow and empty Cloud is. He is not a hero, but a nothing, empty hollow man. I mean, he kind of was in the previous game as well, but it's not until the end of this game you really come to understand Cloud.. He will need to put in some major effort in the third part to make a comeback.. But, I think that's what Aerith meant when she said the world needed to be saved and Cloud.. That was the first time he ever showed any real emotion, when he cried there at the end, signifying a change of direction.
@@johnwayne-kd1pn Yea, I think they did rebirth very well. We are actually able to analyze these characters better than in the original. Also, yea Cloud is overall an annoying character but I hope they make his redemption arc massive. Part 3 is going to have some big arcs to fill. Can they tie all of this multidimensional space story together? Will they give Cloud the proper hero story he deserves? Will they add the closure that will satisfy most people?
@@who4108 I suppose they have already started working on it, but it might release on next gen hardware? Yeah, they have some monumental task ahead of them, you're right. Probably it will have to be bigger and better than Rebirth, which is already a tall order. Quite frankly I expected we would get much more revealed from this game after Remake, but it seems more like an interlude of some sort, a good one with much happening, but not much resolved or revealed in terms of the situation overall. After the last game, the world was ending and we were after Sephiroth. After this game we're at the exact same place/situation, although alot of things happened in between.
Hmmmmmm check the scene when it switches from having saved Aerith to the moment it changes. The colour around them is the same as it is when between worlds! I'm NOT 100% certain buuuuuut I think cloud DID save Aerith but then Sephiroth switched the reality. Its the same when Aerith pushes cloud between worlds in the church & for Zack... IT might be possible to save Aerith still but only when Sephiroth causes the REUNION of realities at the end of pt3.
You know I always wondered why in Final Fantasy VII the original one you got her Ultimate Weapon after she dies and her ultimate limit break great gospel.. 🤷 thank God for Game Genie back in those days
I wasn't sure if the buttons meant "resist" or "kill" since in the 1997 game, it meant "kill"
It meant both in the original. Some buttons resisted, some went to kill.
"Your relationship with aerith has change"
Too soon
"Masamune's placement has deepened"
Lmao
Aertith is KEBABED.
THIS IS DARK
"What is Fact and What is Fiction"
Remember this quote from the trailer.
If i were to answer the question based on Aerith's fate, the "Fact" is where Sephiroth successfully impaled Aerith, whereas "Fiction" is where Cloud saved Aerith from Sephiroth
Fact is the OG events, Fiction is where Sora swoops in from Quadratum and finally gets the runback with Sephiroth that we did not get in KH3
Even in OF FF7 Cloud was suffering from PTSD from what he witnessed in Nibelheim. So he made up stuff in his head. Then Tifa was to worried or scared as to how Cloud would react to the truth. So in OG FF7 as in FF7 Rebirth what you are seeing is Cloud's full mental breakdown. Then in the 3rd game as in the later half of OG FF7. Tifa will pull Cloud out of it.
Literally next comment below says about fiction of choice
You need alan wake to switch the plot for you 😂
Ah yes, the Illusion of Choice. Clever, Square-Enix, clever indeed.
I was thinking that lmfao 😭
like Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Maybe it was Sephiroth trying to stop Cloud from striking Aerith? 8)
No, this has characters and a story @zanok7796
Yeah the whole point of the Date with Aerith was the illusion of choice
Sephiroth is the ultimate cheater. He loses, what he does? Split reality in two.
Three.
Og FVII
Remake Timeline
Zack lives Timeline
When did he split into 2 ? I didn't see
I think it was aerith who did it. Look at the ground, the same effect that was present at the end of the dream date. Sephiroth was beat, then Aerith took her own life.
Must be the opposite.. he merge the reality.. this rebirth universe was supposed to have aerith not die. But he merged it to other universe to make aerith death happen
Ahh.. like the avengers in mcu.. thanos won so they cheated
It sad when you realize that there truly is that timeline where Cloud saved Aerith, where she continues her dedicated prayer peacefully, Sephiroth's blade still clean of blood feet away. Cloud got to see it for a brief second, the timeline where he succeeded, and Sephiroth made sure Cloud saw that, just to make it hurt more when he ripped that away and forced him to live in the "true" timeline. I'd like to believe that the timeline where Aerith lives could also be a timeline where they still save the world from the meteor, and she gets to continue life with her friends- but, we know Aerith is just glad that she's able to still help save everyone, by "returning to the planet". She's sad, it's very clear when she tells Cloud that she enjoyed their time together, but I think she always had that inkling that she would die young, she probably knew outright, honestly.
The fact that the player doesn't actually have to press the reaction commands here, to me, shows that Cloud, regardless of Sephiroth's influence or other intervention, was still able to control himself enough to not harm Aerith. He's had his moments where he's shoved his friends, said something cold, he knocked Tifa into the lifestream, but he's never truly hurt anyone, and it's definitely a fear he has because he knows he's easily manipulated by Sephiroth. But here, regardless of us, regardless of which timeline, Cloud will never be the reason Aerith dies, it will always be Sephiroth. Cloud might feel guilty, that he couldn't save her, but in truth he is at no fault.
The scene can also be interpreted as an illusion that Aerith creates so that Sephoroth doesn’t realize she is alive.
there is a possibility that Zack will be the key to the biggest change later... like at the end of the story where he says "but who's saying the can't unite again?"
there is a theory that says Aerith already had a vision of the future of what would happen before the start of the game then this is related to the sentence that Marlene said to Zack and of course the words "emotional damage" to Zack 😅 but Marlene immediately continued with the sentence "That's because you weren't there". This is all a hint for the fans who are waiting for that day to come...
haaa but no matter in any story be it anime or story films like time loop or multiverse or time travel things like this are very confusing 🤦♂️
@@michaelbarnard8529 I think that way too, illusion for everyone but Cloud, that why he doesn't even sad
@@pendora4182 I love time travelling concepts in media but it is so NERVE WRACKING, although it has taught me that if I ever get the chance to time travel, I am turning that shit DOWN xD
How do you know Aerith is actually dead? Think people should wait till 3rd game before jumping to conclusions of what is or is not reality in this series.
While the last scene is without voice...I could recite the whole monologue Cloud has over her.
Aerith...This can't be real. Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry or get angry. What about us, what are we supposed to do? What about my pain? My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning.
yeah, i can imagine that scene with voiced lines will either be the opening of Part 3 or the scene where Cloud remembers everything that has happened and he has to face reality that Aerith indeed died
@@michaelrobosa146 Yessss, it would work so well for when he remembers- he lived in ignorance when he forgot, and when he remembers, it's truly a hit in the gut of "this can't be real".
@@synovelle right??? Cloud is suffering from PTSD, so I assume that he's just in-denial with Aerith's death, that's why her death was played differently here because they are saving the ACTUAL SCENE for Part 3
That's they gayest thing I've ever heard.
No you guys interpret it wrong. Cloud didn’t see illusion, he now lives in 2 worlds at same time. That’s why only him seeing rupture sky but Barret and others couldn’t see (explanation below)
---
Sephiroth said after we defeated destiny in remake alternate worlds were created but since they all weak, unlike main world, they’ll all eventually face doom (indicated by ruptured sky) Like we saw it happened in several alternative worlds.
In alternative world he DID SAVE Aerith but that world will be doomed like others, and Aerith knows that.
So at the ending scene Aerith said “goodbye”
They did that in the OG too, could mash and get him to try and stop but he would always keep going.
A case of being a little too faithful as a remake.
@@aguywithgames3135 It's not faithful at all lmao
@@DarkMuu666lol shut up lol 80% of the ones we have in the rebith game are from the original game shit !?
Go play the OG game and you will see it clearly.
@@DarkMuu666 dudes be saying the most dumbest shit lmao
To be fair, the most mashing you probably do at that scene in the OG was to skip the dialogue.
Barret charging in and not just shooting at Sephiroth when he saw the scene, shows he wanted an up close and personal ass kicking.
"Your ending in part 3 has changed"
your right 👍i feel like aerith is alive in part 3
Should all be one game.
@@981haremgood news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
good news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
anybody else amazed at the scenery of the Forgotten Capital and the Sleeping Forest. I was blown away by the environments.
Ik, it was sooo good
He didn't forget his gloves this time
Underrated comment
"keep those gloves up", sure thing coach xd
That was another timeline, I guess.
@@hyhhylol I can just imagine Nomura saying that about that easter egg from the OG, that it acts as foreshadowing.
Hahahah
"It's a canon event, you can't change that."
Get out of here, miguel. This ain't spiderverse
If you've played Crisis Core you know what our boy does to cannons.
I've always wondered if there are some specific events fated to happen. In Dr. Who, I recall them saying once the Tardis had some kind of paradox armor that shielded it from paradoxes/timeline changes that would make it not exist so that it would still exist in all timelines it traveled to. So my thinking has been, from time to time, that there are some "islands" in the ocean of time, specific spots that are stable and happen across all timelines, even if the events surrounding them can change. I have no idea if that's what's going on here or not, but there do seem to be some events that are completely faithful to the OG, some that are KIND of faithful to the OG, and some that happen completely differently.
@@Beigemage0621 @gabrielwilliams8809 Nothing was actually changed in Crisis Core. Cloud wasn't around to ever *see* Genesis during Nibelheim when it mattered for any of those scenes he was in. He was, however, there when it did matter to recreate the events from 7. He canonically killed Sephiroth. He then went on to save the world later down the line.
The thing about Rebirth and Remake is they're fucking with a story already told. It doesn't need canon altering events.
This is the problem with things that alter Canon or the story at large.
I'll use an example of a story that works that DOES mess with canon.
Shadow of War. Talion and Celebrimbor fight their war against Sauron. They forge a new ring of power to rival Saurons own, though it is pure, and loyal to Celebrimbor, rather than to Sauron. It isn't so much corruptive, as we see that Talion is NEVER corrupted by its influence. This combination of their power and collective skill, experience and knowledge allows them to fight and win against the Ringwraiths, and eventually kill and release one from eternal servitude (This is the big canon changing event, aside from the fact that Shelob is also displayed as a female humanoid wearing a black dress sometimes when she is not in her giant spider form.)
The reason why it works in this media is because in the game, not only is the game TONS of fun to play, and the orc armies are extremely fun and charming to be around, use and build up and such... But also because immediately after releasing the Ringwraith, Celebrimbor see's it as a betrayal, since he wanted to 'Dominate' the will of the ringwraith and add him to his forces. They clashed, and Celebrimbor gave his ring, which was keeping Talion alive (Seeing as he was sacrificially killed in the first game with his family) to an elven wraith hunter that'd been helping the entire game. If it weren't for Saurons ring lying there, and a talk with Shelob, Talion would have given up his fight, but instead he took up the corrupting ring of one of the 9 Nazgul, knowing that he would damn himself in doing so in time, but for now he needed to hold the line and protect Middle Earth. *THAT* is what his war was all about.
The Canon in that game only changes small things that *wouldn't* be noticed visually, and could be easily mistaken for other things, while still keeping other things true to the story. Sure, Shelob was never good, but the game also portrays memories of hers where Sauron, during his days of Deceiving people also deceiving her, betraying her. So it could be argued that what she did was out of spite (as in the books she IS described as an entity of the darkness.) The Ringwraiths? Yes, I will make no excuses about that. It is always said that the ringwraiths never changed from who they were to different peoples or ownerships after they fell to Saurons ultimate corruption.
However, it all worked out with how they told the story and made the game.... And that game was a BLAST for it.
In this? What are they doing? It's kinda the same game. They updated the graphics... I don't like that they FORCED the combat system to be more of a real time thing. I think it should've been an option to be like 'Yeah, you can go old combat system or new if you want. Retro, or new.' Like, make that an option, it'd be nifty. They're a rich enough company, they can afford it.
If they wanted to make changes? Sure, go ahead, but make them... small. After all, it's supposed to be a retelling of the same story.
I mean, damn, we didn't even HEAR clouds speech after Sephiroth stabbed her... That gave so much more IMPACT to this scene in the original. His own description of his feelings, sadness, anger and rage at what had just happened. You can picture it in your head. Feel it in your hands and eyes. This... It just shows you the images, sure, but you don't get the same thing.
And on top of it? The materia was still just pure white. It didn't change to green. This should mean that her prayer went unheard and NOW the planet is completely FUCKED. The spell, HOLY? Yeah, that's not coming to stop METEOR anymore. So what's the deal? What gives?
Look, I will say I never played this game because I never had faith in the remake on initially seeing the time ghosts performing bullshit timefuckery on the game and doing stupid shit with it, but really... Did they shove their heads up their own asses on this story? Cause that's what it looks like.
@rednova2212 I just meant in the opening cinematic of Crisis Core Sepiroth sliced up Sister Ray.
As far as the story at large nothing has actually changed. The presence of the whispers honestly aren't intrusive to the main story at all. If anything if I knew I was playing a shot for shot remake with better graphics I'd be just as bored of it as I was watching the Lion King remake. Not knowing why the Sephiroth was attacking the Whispers at first then manipulating the leaves me with questions. Knowing meteor will come is one thing but seeing Zack in a world where Avalanche died makes me wonder even more. These scenes didn't stop what was happening in the main story either. Heck even all of those world Intel missions people gripe about actually drop a huge but subtle bombshell about chadleys true nature and where he fits in in the endgame once they are all completed.
I can say with certainty that this game stayed true to its mission of being faithful to its source material. Unlike Kingdom Hearts the what the Whispers are is clear and kinda sad. They are an auto immune response of the planet to those who attempt to rewrite its memories and in effect reality. Sephiroth is a virus that is intent on destroying those memories and being at the center of the wound as it tries to heal. Much like the Meteor which will still be summoned. In my opinion it's like he's trying to make mother earth pull a gun on themselves by driving her insane first. He was evil before but listening to deathwails from the planets souls like its a symphony is next level. Those are not disposable heartless. They exist for the sole purpose of showing how virus like Sephiroth is that he can turn the planet's own immune system against it on a planetary scale. Then plan to spread it across the galaxy to world's unknown.
That said I throughly enjoyed playing it and hope you give it a chance without a tarnished expectations.
I like to think that when cloud transitioned over to the other reality during the cetra temple incident that he ended up being able to "walk between worlds" aka exist and bounce back through timelines like aerith can
thus the ending is cloud saving aerith in one but not being able to exist in both at the same time, thus in the other timeline he saves her, but in this timeline he doesn't. But he sees both overlapped onto each other, which is why when he sees the sky there is the same tear as the "doomed" timeline, but the others don't see it, because they exist in only one world, but he exists in two - which is why red xiii can sense when she touches him, because he can sense other timelines, but the rest cannot.
The way I see it the realities, and the whispers actually represent the fandom - the one side that wants everything kept the way it was, and the other side that wanted all the dead characters to live.
Cloud's mind isn't broken - its stretched across multiple timelines.
Only thing I disagree with here is the whispers. I think at this point the black whispers represent OG Sephiroth (or as i like to call it, NG+ Sephiroth) trying to create a world where he succeeds in dropping meteor, while the white whispers represet Aerith in the life stream (NG+ Aerith) combating Sephiroth.
Cloud's mind is still broken though. Dude still thinks he lived Zack's life.
I find it fascinating and I will consider it an option, but Cloud's mind is definitely broken. XD Shattered like glass.
this is my conclusion as well
@@Kingdom850 he only has zacks memories from the point they were in pods together. Not like his whole life
Like the first time. Except it's ten times more exhausting.
The first time I still remember the anger of my older brother who tried in every way to use key combinations to use objects, he went back to try to resurrect it with the items, in the end, frustrated, he first smashed one of the pads crashing it to the ground, then he went for ferocious grinding and in every fight with Sephy he was so strong that he beat him, brought him close to knockout, cured him and then beat him again... like that for a few evenings. He reloaded the game and beat Sephy again.
A bitter victory. He didn't give a damn about Zack, he wanted Aerith :) for Cloud.
I remember that he brought the memory card with him and also played at the house of a friend of his, so they managed to boost the party to the maximum.
Never seen him so angry about a Final Fantasy chapter.
Not even 10 pissed him off like that (and there would be very good reasons)
New fans won't realise why OGs feel so strongly about Aerith and Cloud's relationship. You had to be there. You had to see her die like that, and then she's just...gone. It's crazy how mad it made us, just a game. Not even a real person, but the YEARNING we had to save her, to undo it SOMEHOW.
It was an epic game if you played it when it first dropped in 1997. I cried when she died, honestly. It's was unexpected and the most fxcked up thing in gaming at the time. No Final Fantasy title has come close to it for me in terms of emotions. It was a great experience.
in the end, square wants to make zack cry even more
Nah.
funny how some comments think cloud was hallucinating blocking sephiroth sword when the whole multiple timelines thing exist and aerith is actually alive in another timeline because of what he did
I don’t think they want to believe it, because it ruins the story for them
@@mattkugelman4369 Well Aerith death was always a part of the Story. I knew that would happen, but yes, even i thought maybe they let her live this time, because of this 7 seconds stuff from Part 1. SE played their cards right i guess.
Nah. Aerith is dead. You can literally see from Tifa's perspective that Aerith is covered with blood. Meanwhile from Cloud's POV, Aerith is not covered with blood. Cloud is suffering from PTSD, remember? He is in-denial from her death
@@michaelrobosa146 he means that while she's dead in main timeline she might be alive in some alternate timeline where Cloud did stop Sephrioth Hell blow
To clarify: he is making things up in his head. Sephiroth kills her but cloud can’t accept that… notice how the scenes keep switching to cloud crying with blood pooling on the floor and then he isn’t crying and there’s no blood. He literally cannot accept what just happened so he’s made up that he stopped the blade. That’s why he still sees her after… he thinks she’s alive. Then the last cutscene he gets on the plane without her and leaves he genuinely thinks she’s okay and is going back home. It’s the reason why the iconic burial scene where she is dropped into the water is skipped… why bury someone who isn’t dead? So cloud blocks it out. We are seeing this all entirely from his perspective and everything he gets the headaches that’s the reality seeping through.
It is indeed VERY complicated and I don’t blame anyone for not understanding.
3:13 ...king crimson?
Yeah: Giorno would clean this mess (that Square did) right away.
This is a test.
So it doesn't matter if you press it or not lmao
Yup lmao
Unfortunately I'm not surprised.
You ever see what happens if you run out of time up the Sector 7 pillar in Remake?
Wouldn’t that not decide whether Aerith shows as a ghost as they leave?
@@FazFaz I Would've Loved To See Aerith Survive Masamune But Ends Up Unable To Fight
@@FazFaz I Heard You Were Mentioned In This Game??????????
no difference in pressing and not pressing. i will keep that in mind
How could Cloud getting into position almost half a meter away, and directly blocking Sephiroths strike still somehow result in Aerith getting impaled clean through?
Judging by the lack of blood on the tip of the sword and all the blood around mid-blade, I’m guessing it was a slash instead of a stab.
Timeline distortions. Cloud may have managed to prevent Sephiroth from impaling Aerith in the initial attempt, but Sephy uses his control over his personal Black Whispers to rewrite reality so that he successfully killed Aerith by stabbing her with his sword
@@axceljulio5747 if that is the case, the team is fck man :)))
Sephiroth's sword is also long. An advantage of reach to finish off Aerith.
Well either Cloud saving Aerith was a hallucination or the whispers reversed it because Aerith had to die at that point.
I actually thought that pressing was sepi trying to convince me to kill her, so i just chilled
If you try to hold the buttons down, the indicator doesn't show that you are holding them down. This video's title was just click bait the whole time. The moment I saw that R2 indicator filled up I knew it was definitely just bait.
@@iNsOmNiAcAnDrEwbecause you have to mash them
This ending have their hood things, for example in your date with Aerith no matter what you pick, they always give you another option, Zack no matter what he picked, he will end up against hundred of Shinra soldiers, and Aerith death, sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can’t change fate.
Which means what sephiroth is doing is futile
good news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
@@tiensimon1263good news is one of the key points in part 3 is going to be Zack helping and cure Cloud of his sickness to save Aerith 2 with Marlene 2's advice earlier. Aerith 2 will definitely join the main crew and get her happy ending with everyone
@sixdegreesofgaming4719 one can hope, let's hope as its the final game they put their all into everyone's happy ending
Playing this game was like being high on a psychedelic shroom, lol.
“Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same.”
In the end it doesn't even matter.
tried so hard.got SO far
@@flygonkerel781to lose it allllll! 🎶
It does matter for part 3
@@flygonkerel781 I remember hearing this exact phrase just not in that order. xD
One thing, I don’t know why, it doesn’t even matter how hard you try
I didn't press anything when this scene happened either so I didn't know that doing so would be Cloud struggling to stop himself from striking her.
Just noticed how the holy meteria descends into water just like how Aerith did in the original game
That was always a thing.
although, i was waiting for Aerith to also descend into the water 🙃
The music they made for this is clearly for the OG fans who knew what was going to happen, it’s a very haunting and tragic tone
You know, I think I understand what they were going for. They wanted the player to feel like they had power. Like they could save Aerith. And then, for a moment it looks like you did, but then you didn't. They wanted to empower the player, and then take it away.
But in the end, it just doesn't work. Everything is too confusing and convoluted. You're too busy being confused to be sad, especially when you see her weird force ghost thing. They should have kept this plot a lot simpler.
Shut up
I made a video talking a bit about this ending and I can add to it that I think that Aerith is being used as the planet's champion so she is able to fight even while dead just like Sephiroth can as Jenova's champion. They're both dead, but they'll be able to try to influence others and participate in limited ways later on. Jenova still seems to use people besides Sephiroth, like Lodbrock... it seems like the life force of Sephiroth and Lodbrock were not able to resist being stolen by Jenova or whatever allows her to use their appearances but Aerith being a Cetra probably has no issue resisting Jenova. Cloud might be the son of Lodbrock which might be why Jenova thinks she can manipulate him.
FACTS
2:16:51 To be fair, we go through the whole game with multiple scenes of Glenn Notbrok wondering what the deal is and they don't reveal that he's a Sephiroth copy until the end.
However, I do think it's clear that we are not seeing a Sephiroth copy pretending to be Aerith in that scene, because no one else can see her. Sephiroth copies aren't invisible, and when they do shapeshift into someone, usually everyone in the vicinity sees the same thing.
I think the possibilities are that Cloud is seeing a Lifestream ghost of Aerith (or Aerith "with memories closest to the future") or a hallucination caused by Jenova cells/Sephiroth's will (the same way that Sephiroth could appear as hallucinations in Remake). If there's a rainbow effect, then it's an Aerith from an alternate world/timeline/reality.
I didn't press it because i refused, because it looked to me like if i pressed it he would stab her.
“I will save Aerith”
Sephiroth: “Nah, I’d win”
I didn't do anything for this initially, I knew it would be the same regardless. Especially when I chose NOT to pursue Aerith for the Black Materia and my only other options were to stay still or make it longer than it needed to be by trying to go backwards.
I wonder how the end is going to play out in the third one or was the end of this one also showing the end of the third since the final fight was him in his final form.
Wha-?
But-... NO!
THAT'S NOT FAIR!!!
THINGS WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME!!!
Welp, the story must go on -_-
Senator Palpatine to Cloud: "DO IT"
I did the same thing! Just hovering over Clouds shoulder whispering, “do it, keep the masamune clean.”
sephiroth would want cloud to alter the timeline. that blocking is probably what helped make the former white materia into another black materia that cloud ended up putting into his sword.
That not how that works.
Cloud already had the dark materia. It can be assumed he just carries it in his sword.
@@Kspice9000 if Cloud already has the dark materia, then why does he look surprised? make it make sense lmao
@@Kspice9000
In both OG story and Remake Cloud gave out Black Materia to Sephiroth, so it can't it be
I think Cloud has the black materia at the end because he is now "in between worlds," and Sephiroth explicitly says during the end of The Temple of the Ancients is that the real black materia is "hidden between worlds."
So it changes the scene slightly. Neat.
This and red getting dragged in chains are inconsequential button prompts
Like you're supposed to feel hopeless, I guess.
So if i understand well this is split into 3 dims ? The one who cloud blocked sephiroth sword and aerith continue praying . The one we know where sephiroth kills aerith and the last one where aerith is injured but survive ?
What if Aerith knows about her death, and prepared for it using a item that can substitute a fatal blow?
what a damn mess
It's Aerith's choice,to die...Remember that She's not the Aerith we used to know...She comes from beyond,and She knows the future(Remember how She acts in Remake?)..She knows that,for saving the future,She HAS to die,She HAS to complete the sacrifice...In the church,She thanks Cloud,then she pushes him away while Sephirith is coming....There are multiple realities,but She chooses the one more worthy for the future of the world,the One where She dies....Cloud Is able to see both versions of this sequence,Because he holds both Materia,the black One and the White One...he's not refusing to accept,he'sJust able to perceive both lines
Hey, there was a problem with the upload. It kept going after 2:46
Welp they sephrioth that up
Cloud saving Aerith is what I ( maybe we) wanted, but her death makes the story that much better
Chapter 14 gives us ALOT to unpack and speculate on, and its absolutely intentional to be unintelligible the first time round. It's incredible
Ain't no way they made us relive this in 4K 😭
I was low key hoping you could save her this time around...
Watching the black & white whisper around cloud has me confused, the black whispers are controlled by sephiroth right? While the white ones are either aerith’s whispers or are still trying to make sure og stays the same. But here at 0:32 it looks like they’re working together why is that?
At 1:20 the white whispers are gone when cloud deflected them but the black whispers came back & tried to hold cloud in place holding his sword like he about to strike aerith, What was the point of that when sephiroth was gonna do the downward slash on her anyway?
Why does it shift to sephiroth looking like he stabbed aerith like he was close enough at 3:19 but at 3:34 he was nowhere near her body “yes his sword his long” but at 5:14 he looks like far away enough.
From the perspective of Barret & Tifa at 5:16 looking at sephiroth’s sword, it’s clean from any blood at all “yes sephiroth flung his sword at cloud that had aerith’s blood on it” but at that moment cloud was alone before they got there but his mind is still in a mess.
Lastly from tifa’s perspective it switches from how she & the group sees the blood on her back & hand. Then switches to how cloud sees it. But the one thing that stands out “ I’m not sure if this is a mistake or maybe it’s intentional” but it only shows aerith’s face when it has blood on her hand but not how cloud sees it with no blood.
I come to the conclusion that sephiroth never did the downward slash since I’m assuming this sephiroth knows that cloud would deflect his sword on Time “knows the future & all that” he knows cloud’s mind is screwed up so he made it look like cloud deflected his sword when it reality, cloud deflected the whispers trying to save aerith and he was the one who slashed at aerith killing her. 😳
Or maybe I’m reading too much into it….
What the devs did here is masterful. They give you all the timelines and even in one show Sephiroth hunting Aerith down across all the timelines. They have the Cetra say Jenova could mimic them and their loved dead. They show that multiple times Sephiroth said “you know I killed her”, which people misattribute it to talking about Tifa. And they very carefully in the last scene to all out…where Aerith is acting like the opposite of her normal character, repeating lines from the game out of mimicry, and acting just like Jenova would. And people are so caught up in wanting Aerith to be alive that they are playing the Cloud role themselves, not realizing the end Aerith is Jenova in his mind, as he does his usual cloud repression and refusal to accept reality “with clouded eyes”
The devs have created a social experiment to see how many fans will understand what’s happening vs how many will IRL RP as Cloud
Freakin 30 year cook of genius.
You make a good point. Im puzzled how so many people totally glanced over the fact that Aeriths dialogue with Cloud, after her supposed death, are only with words she used in their previous conversations in Remake and Rebirth. Not one new word was added in all those scenes. Which brings us to 2 conclusions. Cloud is making all of it up in his broken mind or Jenova is accessing his memories to manipulate him.
@@Cenkolino 100%. And people HATE what I think is going on. Like they’ve sent death threats to the “Jenova Theory” people including Max Dood. I get it. I’d love to save Aerith too. But all the scenes from the original…we are living the view from Cloud’s broken mind. Tifa is terrified of Cloud’s mental state right now. She feels like she’s completely lost him as well as her bestie.
The thing absolutely hammered home in so many places is that Jenova mimics people. It’s never truly addressed in the whole game. Aetith at the end is a shell of herself, who goes from telling Cloud in the forest “Don’t worry, I can handle Sephiroth myself” to “OMG YOU PROMISE YOULL GO AFTER HIM?!”. It’s not Aerith lol. It is the deceiver. Or just his mind. But you get it. People want to think it was bad writing but…they have clouded eyes.
Holy sh*t.
I didn’t even think Jenova was doing THAT to Cloud.
Beat the game last night, and I thought Cloud was losing his mind in the ending because he can also see the rift in the sky (same one as over Zack’s Midgar).
And seeing this, it makes me want to see what happens in Part 3 to bring it all home.
Yeah. Thing is we don’t really know what Jenova is capable of. Much of this is a new or expanded depth. And now we’ve seen that Sephiroth has the same flashes and headaches that Cloud does in that video from Ever Crisis. While everyone’s theory sucks right now, it’s fun to theorize. We have to wait for the truth
You cant save her. You never could.
That's what you think now.
I think Cloud did save one version of "her". Sephiroth just brought him back to the originals timeline or one that resembles the one from the original.
However, I noticed something during my second playthrough of the game. In the end Cloud looks at the sky because he can see that rift that opened up above the world thanks to Sephiroths re-union plans. If you play the game a second time you notice Aerith looking very worried at the Sky as well on multiple occasions during the cutscenes. And at one point she says something along the lines of "And when the time comes I'm counting on you. No, not you Cloud. My future self. I think you're gonna love her".
I think that future self of her is still out there and that she knew more than she let on to. In the original she was aware of her coming death and I think she was aware of it here as well. Marlene was aware of it too by the way.
So yeah, I think we save one version of her in part 3. And on another side note, I think "our Aerith" had the same ability Cloud gained at the end of the game. I think it's the same Marlene has in Remake/Rebirth.
@@nyx2903i have been wondering what she was talking about when she mentioned her "future self" , your theory make sense and i hope it is true. I will hold you to it
Why put that in the pic for the video? Awful thing to do. Not even up to the end and this popped up in my feed.
It hurts me just as much as Zack's death. Whenever I hear the leitmotifs I begin crying, whenever it's Zack or Aerith 😭
*leitmotifs
@@Heymrk thx
Aerith death makes me so sad
Sephiroth: “Fine! I’ll do it myself!”
…….. Okay. This time. Her death doesn’t make sense.
Sephiroth actually swaps the timelines, what a cheater 😮
Sephiroth is a damn demon
DEMONS COWER BEFORE THIS...........THING! what sephiroth is may actually be akin to a force of nature that scares even gods!
I shouldn't be looking at this (turning off)...
I remember going back in the original to get that holy materia
You know if Cloud actually went through with it, It will be...messier than what Sepiroth did lol.
There wasn’t a single time L2R2 felt impactful in this game.
Just went I thought I was going to save her this time… 😢
I do not get it. Cloud deflect the sword but still. Is it just an illusion of him stabing Aerith while the real one just sneak behind and thrust ?
cloud's mind is f'd up and he thinks he saved her cuz he can't accept her death.
@@theanimeditor6400Either that, or yet another split in the timeline. (We're dealing with multiple timelines here, after all)
@iam4026 the Whispers are very deliberately shown all leaving before Aerith falls over, I doubt they were involved at all
@mariogirl8100 shut up idiot directors have said there is only 1 timeline.
@mariogirl8100 this is the most likely scenario
The beef with Sephiroth will now be eternal. It's on sight everytime.
Did this myself because I was in tears, knowing what will could happen.
As player of the OG game, I was 13 years old in 97, Aerith's death was a very powerful and sad scene. In the Rebirth is the moment I expected the most. When Cloud stops Sephirot's sword, I felt sometjing unique, a part of me wanted to save Aerith but another wanted to not change the real story. Aerith death in the og was very inportant part of the plot, it unleash the following events and creates a sense of vengeance and responsability in the player. Here..well I finished the game this week and don't know what to think really about Aerith's "death". One thing is sure, it has not done the impact I searched.
This comment section made me lose brain cells.
The first time I got to this part (unspoiled thankfully) I also didn't press L2 and R2. I was thinking of the original game and how when you pushed buttons Cloud prepped himself to kill Aerith, not resist. So I thought it was the same thing. Doesn't matter in the end. Cant change fate! :)
the sword appears stuck in the ground under two different angles if you look close. So does something go wrong with Aerith's arm... can't wait for third phase to reveal all the story 😤
I thought the triggers are to put the sword down bc he actually puts it down to the side ??
Would it be better to just drag aerith away?
I'm just glad they finally made Sephiroth's hands black.
People gunna hate me, but I would’ve made it so that Cloud(under Sephiroth) kills Aerith, and then he snaps back and realizes… for me that would make me more angry at Sephiroth,…. Also get rid of the harbinger things, wished they never returned, but I still enjoy the game.
the devs literally laced this game with foreshadowing that cloud would flip the script and become the bad guy and kill aerith; only to chicken out at the last minute for fear of alienating their customers. it's a shame because that would've made a much more powerful narrative.
@@leudast1215he already attempted to kill Tifa this game with his sword. We don’t need a second time. 🤣
No one on his team are ever going to travel with him again either if he killed Aerith either.
You would see a clear difference between a cut from sephiroths sword and clouds 😂
That would be a Greek tragedy, of good taste and we can't have that because multiverses and people in dark hoods.
@@elowei9919if you pause at the right moment, you see it was a Tonberry that killed Aerith, Sephiroth was simply taking his sword back 😂😂😂
@@AlbeyAirto Completely believable. Those slow, eerie little shitz are the devil.
Have the actual creators actually confirmed she is dead in Rebirth? I’m confused af like should we be sad or still have hope that Aerith can come back?
They have confirmed that her fate is unknown. She's likely dead in the main world yet alive in a different world. So yes there is a chance that she's coming back.
It wa so hard to leave the best scene of all game history untouched ?
Here, time splits for a second time due to Cloud's interference.
In the first game, Remake, Sephiroth lets himself get defeated and offers no resistance so that time would split once.
Here, he does as he normally would, but by letting Cloud stop him, time splits for a second time. In one, Aerith dies horribly, in the other, Aerith survives and talks to Cloud about something.
We've still not seen the consequence of this.
Ultimately it seems like Sephiroth's goal is to split time as many times as possible, making scenarios that fate didn't decide so that it's spread thin. Eventually, he wants to combine all these times together into one world of chaos where there is no fate, and no 'rules' stopping him. Aerith seems to be fully aware of what's going on with it, and like Sephiroth, can sort of 'travel' between the times. Cloud can too, but unintentionally.
I wouldn't be surprised if in the finale to this trilogy, we get a section to play as Sephiroth with all his evil powers to fight the party.
I just knew they were gonna kill aerith no matter what
Yeah that's why I waited for this before I buy it. Now I don't have to
@MadarakiFran you have the exact opposite mindset as one of my friends. They wouldn't buy the game unless they knew for a fact that aerith died in this game
@@Stargazing_night_skyYour friend will be rather surprised if he goes into it thinking it will play out like her OG death. It doesn't. She has way more presence and talking scenes after her death than she did in the OG version, to the point it looks as if she's still alive and will have a role going into part 3.
@AnbuPrincess oh yeah I know, they are just happy aerith dies because they hate aerith for...some reason
@@Stargazing_night_sky
Your friends are some kind of psycho ?
Honestly those who have played the original game saw this coming.
But in all honesty, what makes me upset about this scene is that they make it clear in ff7 remake the events of the original game will not happen if we beat the Arbiter of fate, which we do.
It's like, if you aren't going to change aerith's fate why in the world would you introduce the multiverse in your game?
In the multiverse there are literally infinite universes, where infinite possibilities happen. Aerith and cloud being together where she survives, another timeline sephiroth actually wins, in multiverse there is no such thing as fate anymore, anything that could happen, could've happened or would be happen, does happen in multiverse.
It's like they had an original idea and once remake was released they forgot it or couldn't expand on that new idea.
In all honesty I think the whispers of fate was a wasted plot line and potential.
I mean Sephiroth during his confrontation with could in remake wants to defy Destiny together, why would sephiroth want to kill aerith if he knows he'll be defeated.
Sephiroth did absorb the Whispers and now they work on his behalf. On the flip side, Aerith has her own whispers as well. I hope they explain all this in part 3
@connormorgan6884 people easily missed it but Cloud actually saved Aerith in alternative world. In main world she died like original, they couldn’t change even they defeated destiny in remake.
Sephiroth revealed in forgotten temple that he tricked us to kill destiny, since all alternative worlds will have ruptured sky and doomed eventually. Only main world with normal sky will exist.
Now Cloud lives in 2 worlds, main world where he refuse to see it (cause Aerith died) and alternative world where Aerith survived.
That’s why only Cloud can see ruptured sky but Barret and others can’t.
We still don’t know Aerith successfully cast Holy in main world like Original or not. I guess she failed this time and Sephiroth got what he want from remake.
At ending, Aerith said goodbye cause she knew her world will doomed soon like other alternative worlds.
Part 3 will be about how to defeat Sephiroth without Holy and save alternative world from perishing to let Aerith live.
I didn't press anything beacuse I thought it was like Og where I was being forced to swing the sword Lmao didn't realize it was to resist it till after I watched some RUclips videos
what was the point... i was hoping that you'll get the original scene to this.
I want to know what happens when you do press l2 r2
Same thing
Wait so most people actually pressed L2 and R2? I was under the impression that would make Cloud bring his sword down and strike, so I’m like “nope I’m not doing it” just like I wanted to in the original but was forced to press something to move the sequence forward.
Cloud tripping aerith is dead and will be searching for her. And the gang saw her actually die that’s why all their limits are full but clouds isn’t
We can still change and save her
Is Tifa also influenced by the jenova cells ? There are flashes and she sees blood on Aerith s arm, then we don t know for sure which scene is real. I think all of that is linked to jenova cells.
I think that may be due to her time in the Lifestream in the Gongaga chapter. She's having flashes but doesn't know it. I could be wrong though
I interpreted as Tifa seeing and believing Cloud killed Aerith. You can also see briefly blood on Cloud’s hand during the quick flash scene. Part 3 will explain different versions of this event. Of course Cloud’s will be distorted due to his trauma and the cell degradation
Villain a troll for this one
So why they even add the controlls for that 😂
just like in OG - to make you feel powerless regardless of your choice, just like Cloud.
it builds Sephiroth and Jenova as threat that, gets the conflict personal and subconsciously makes you sympathetize with Cloud since you feel powerless before Sephiroth together. It is a smart creative way to get players invested in the plot and characters more (but it only works if you already liked characters at least a little bit in the first place)
Wait, so IS there actually a difference? Because I can only find this version of the ending.
There’s no alternative endings
@@asfofficialchannel289Well that kinda sucks
I don’t get it. It didn’t stab her… yet it did???
it can be interpreted this way
- What was shown: Cloud deflected Sephiroth, but somehow Aerith still appeared to be stabbed and died.
- What was truly happening: there are two ways to explain it. Cloud has the desire to save Aerith which put him into a hallucination while he didn't actually do anything, OR Cloud did deflect the Masamune, pushed the situation toward a different possibility, hence a different outcome, but Sephiroth was too strong, he has learned the way of the Lifestream, controling the Black Whisper and poisoned the Lifestream to make the possibility he wants manifested into the reality. Cloud saved her, but Sephiroth altered the reality to kill her.
- The final result: Aerith still got stabbed and died.
@@NP-Channel .
Same as when Zack chose between heading toward Hojo or Biggs. Both possibilities played out.
What really matters is what version of Stamp is on those bags after this, so we have some reference of where we're at. 🤔😂
Press is not an option, it's for emotion when you went through it. Life is hard and fate can't be change, but sometime you still push hard in hope it will made a different, and then.. oh life. I thought with those Whispers, we player will have a chance to rest in peace at last, but not us, RIP Aerith, again!!!😭
so normally rainbows are alternate timelines being created. sephiroth cheated (kinda like how aerith did with the white materia swap) and rewrote the reality in which cloud saved her. they're still in the rainbow bubble, and he does pull the sword out of the ground but instead of her surviving she was stabbed instead.
When Sqeenix trolls people with that parry 😂
I just hope in part 3 we get to change her destiny as we all wanted in the original
Cloud did save Aerith in alternative world. In main world she died like original, they couldn’t change even they defeated destiny in remake.
Sephiroth revealed in forgotten temple that he tricked us, since all alternative worlds will have ruptured sky and doomed. Only main world with normal sky will exist.
Now Cloud lives in 2 worlds, main world where he refused to see it and alternative world where Aerith survives. That’s why only him can see ruptured sky but Barret and others can’t.
Aerith said goodbye cause she knew her world will doom soon. Part 3 will be about how to save alternative world from perishing.
To your last point, Cloud will still have to find his true self. Part 3 will mostly focus on Cloud trying to make sense of his reality and his eventual breakdown from the manipulation of Sephiroth and mako. Then later on, once he finds his true self, then he can focus on saving the different worlds. Of course during all of this everything will seem hopeless . However, he can't do anything if he isn't free from Sephiroths control. Its already teased in rebirth his inner world where Tifa will have to put together his memories.
@@who4108 They made this part very well. By the end of this game I'm just annoyed with how hollow and empty Cloud is. He is not a hero, but a nothing, empty hollow man.
I mean, he kind of was in the previous game as well, but it's not until the end of this game you really come to understand Cloud.. He will need to put in some major effort in the third part to make a comeback.. But, I think that's what Aerith meant when she said the world needed to be saved and Cloud.. That was the first time he ever showed any real emotion, when he cried there at the end, signifying a change of direction.
@@johnwayne-kd1pn Yea, I think they did rebirth very well. We are actually able to analyze these characters better than in the original.
Also, yea Cloud is overall an annoying character but I hope they make his redemption arc massive. Part 3 is going to have some big arcs to fill. Can they tie all of this multidimensional space story together? Will they give Cloud the proper hero story he deserves? Will they add the closure that will satisfy most people?
@@who4108 I suppose they have already started working on it, but it might release on next gen hardware?
Yeah, they have some monumental task ahead of them, you're right. Probably it will have to be bigger and better than Rebirth, which is already a tall order.
Quite frankly I expected we would get much more revealed from this game after Remake, but it seems more like an interlude of some sort, a good one with much happening, but not much resolved or revealed in terms of the situation overall.
After the last game, the world was ending and we were after Sephiroth. After this game we're at the exact same place/situation, although alot of things happened in between.
Why on earth did square ruin such a masterpiece of a scene. Hell it was so good I recorded it to vhs as a child. This? Is. Mockery
I don’t get why didn’t cloud just use a cure to heal her… so in cut scenes he can’t use materia??
Unconscious and dead are different like in Pokemon sadly 😞
@@tommylukegames Phoenix down then?? Raise?? Arise?? I feel like this is a plot 🕳
I didnt press it when I played, but wow so it didnt matter.
Tbh i am abit sad or mixed emotions about this. Then i remembered there is part 3. So Aerith may live. OR ELSE SHIT GONNA GO ADVENT CHILDREN AGAIN
I never seen ac, but is it skippable?
Hmmmmmm check the scene when it switches from having saved Aerith to the moment it changes. The colour around them is the same as it is when between worlds! I'm NOT 100% certain buuuuuut I think cloud DID save Aerith but then Sephiroth switched the reality. Its the same when Aerith pushes cloud between worlds in the church & for Zack... IT might be possible to save Aerith still but only when Sephiroth causes the REUNION of realities at the end of pt3.
You know I always wondered why in Final Fantasy VII the original one you got her Ultimate Weapon after she dies and her ultimate limit break great gospel.. 🤷 thank God for Game Genie back in those days