Fans of FFVII have been arguing for years which couple they love more. Here, we obviously love CxA more than CxT. But people also wonder who the true canon couple was. This point has been brought up before, but I thought I'd elaborate. The tagline of FFVII (according to this at least) is "The story of a love that can never be, and a hate that always was." Considering the stories of CxA and CxT, doesn't it only make sense that the love that can never be is the one between Cloud and Aerith? And since that's the tagline of the game... doesn't that say who the canon couple is? Maybe it's just IMDb that thinks that's the tagline of the game. Maybe I got it wrong. Either way, I thought I'd share my thoughts on that.

Ah, but some Clotis like to argue against that tagline, as it was shown during the NA commercial for FF7. They say it wasn't fully compiled by SE and some say it's misleading for the game, like how some advertisements usually are. ;) Form of marketing? :unsure:

As yin-chan said, the line was featured in a commercial for FFVII as well, so thankfully, this wasn't one of IMDb's mistakes. :lol:

I believe that the line definitely fits CxA much more than CxT. There's little chance it's meant to refer to CxT, since it was uttered when the commercial showed the FMV screen of Cloud putting Aerith to rest in the lake. From what I've heard, what's usually argued by Clotis are:

1) The validity of that line (which yin-chan also brought up), since commercials are usually said to intentionally mislead consumers to sell the product. From what I understand, the Cloti argument here is that Squaresoft was trying to "mislead" people into thinking a tragic love story between Cloud and Aerith was in play (perhaps since it appealed more to traditional love story enthusiasts? Or maybe because Cloti never got a pretty FMV to itself? :giggle:), when the twist of Cloud and Tifa would be in the game itself.

Another argument is that the line is a creation of the people responsible for the commercial, and not from Squaresoft, therefore making it unofficial-- something I don't think anyone can prove either way, short of calling SE up and asking them directly. :lol: But I find it ludicrous that, even IF the line was made up by the commercial staff, that Squaresoft would've allowed it if they were against it.

I have just asked my friend, who is an intern at a local advertising firm that received a project to advertise a game for Nokia's N-Gage, on how exactly the process of creating advertisements for these games goes. Whatever her answer, though, I don't think it really matters in proving anything here, since different companies might go about briefing the company creating their commercial differently.

2) That it proves Cloud and Aerith as the canon couple. This is another argument I've only heard in passing, but apparently, it's argued that "a love that can never be" means a love that will not occur, meaning there is no romantic love between Cloud and Aerith!

I personally find this theory inexplicably asinine, as the first thought you attribute to such a line as "a love that can never be" is a tragic love story, which is exactly what Cloud and Aerith have. And people say WE like to rip things apart to prove Cleris. :rolleyes:

ALTCNB supports Cloud and Aeris more. It's a tragic love story. It didn't say an unrequited crush or the death of a comrade, it clearly said a love that couldn't be, meaning that their was a love between them. It's like saying a touching and tragic love story, which means their was love.

Egh... sometimes, people can be so blind. It's rather disappointing. :no:

Had that line been meant as something misleading, why isn't the second half of the tagline also misleading? And if Square's intentions in that line were to mislead, why wouldn't Square make the "love" between Cloud and Tifa more obvious by the end? The best evidence Clotis can come up with from FFVII that might suggest a reciprocated love between Cloud and Tifa is in a few vague lines during an optional version of the Highwind scene. Had they intended to mislead, shouldn't there have been some big twist where Cloud kisses Tifa in FMV or ANYTHING so as to surprise the player who was sure of a tragic love story as informed by the commercial?

Why on Earth would they example a love that'll never happen in the commercial for the game? In that case, why not have Cait Sith and Red XIII staring longingly into each others' eyes as "a love that can never be."

That line is so clearly meant as a tragic love story as you mentioned, Lynn. And it was tragic. Two people, a flower girl and a mercenary, begin to fall in love along their incredible quest to strike down the purest form of evil. Just as the mercenary comes to realize his love, he helplessly watches the flower girl be killed right in front of him by the cloaked villian. That's about as "tragic love story" as Romeo and Juliet. And if it wasn't love, why did Square have Cloud as the one who's right there to see Aerith die? Why wouldn't all the members of the party be there? If Cloud didn't love Aerith, her death would've meant as much to him as it did to the others. The others would've been that close to her, proximity-wise, when she died as well. They would've all laid her to rest together. But because it is a tragic love story, CLOUD is the one who was only a few feet away from her when she died. CLOUD was the one who caught her in his arms. CLOUD was the one that carried her to the water to rest.

But I'm just rambling now :rolleyes: .

If you think about it, the second half of it is misleading.

"A hate that always was..."

If this is refering to Cloud and Sephiroth, well, it's wrong. Cloud didn't always hate Sephiroth. He idolized him in the beginning.

:ermm:

That's true in a way. Cloud didn't always hate Sephiroth...well not the hero Sephiroth. We could also say that Cloud hated the Sephiroth that went mad, burned down his hometown, and killed or injured everyone he cared about, especially Aerith.

I think that we can say that the old Seph, and the Jenova Seph are two different people. Pre-Jenova Seph seemed to me to be sort of kind, asking things about Cloud's life, what it was like to be back home.

Anyway...*rambling* CloTi's just grasp straws, and they find ANYTHING to argue with us about the fandom, even if it's just one small line in a commercial.

Actually... "A love that could never be" isn't a line to be taken literally. It's a famous line that's actually a reference to star-crossed lovers. Hence, I don't think "A hatred that always was..." should be taken literally either. Personally, I think it's talking about a level of hatred so deep/strong...it's as if it's a hatred that has always been.

No double-standards, yes?
If we take it literally, "A love that could never be" has to be taken literally as well...which would make it rather incorrect.

In any case, "hate" was shown over Sephiroth while "love" was shown over Cloud and Aerith. If one's true, so is the other...unless you're strongly opposed to one of them, of course... :P

That's correct, HA. In the first place, the line was really, "A love that could never be". In the second place, it means that two people love one another. In the third place, it refers to a tragic love.

It does not mean that the love will never exist. Cloti's have tried to claim that for a long time, but any English teacher will tell you that they are wrong. :wink:

:D I found the website that had the commercial, and it had the scene of Cloud lowering Aerith into the water, with a screencap of "Love." and then the line..... :angel: Here's the link:

http://www.gaming-age.com/specials/csection3/final.mov

I heard some CloTis claim it was altered? I don't think it was....? :unsure:

No, that is an official FFVII commercial. Nothing about it was altered. ^_^ CloTis try to deny it, but it is hard to do when Cloud and Aerith are shown with the word "Love" above them. :giggle:

Yeah, i thought that kinda gave it away..... but i guess some people dont like to accept the truth (specifically Cloti fans).. lol! :lmao:
But, yeah i like that commercial alot. :)

Wahooo! That's what I thought. :dance:
Yeah, I think it MIGHT be capable of doing SOME damage to the CloTi's pErFiCTle lurve. :rolleyes:

It's beyond me how they can twist the "love that can never be" line. So they're saying that SE put Cloud and Aerith in the commercial, then put a sign that says "Hey look! This couple is NOT the official couple!" Wow, nice advertising technique :rolleyes:

<_< *sigh* It's about time I found a deceant forum to write about this... Okay! *clasps hands together* Though we all know that as much as those Cloti fans WANT that ending for them... sadly... this can not happen. As much as Cloud loves Tifa, it's ONLY love like a brother and sister share. You have to remember that this is a JAPANESE PRODUCT and you HAVE TO LOOK FOR THE SIGNS!!! Especially between Cloud and Aerith. I don't know HOW many times I've argued with my sister with this... she's a big Cloti fan and refuses to believe that Aerith can actually BE a deceant character to have and love, dispite her Fate in the end of the first disc. :sad: The NA commerical must've wanted us to be further drawn to the game because of Tifa and Cloud's past and how much she wants to be with him, but he never returned feelings for her, did he? And his last words to Tifa at the end of the game after fighting Sephiroth- "I think... I can meet her there." AHA!!! She is DEFEATED!!! When she drops her head, it's in UTTER defeat because SHE knows that Aerith will not get out of his head because- ta daaaaaa!- he loved Aerith. "If Cloud still had the feelings for Tifa that he used to have as a child back in Nibelheim, his words and actions would demonstrate it in dialogue not optional to the player during the current timeline of the game. However, an analysis comparing the amount of affection shown by Cloud to both women in the script of Final Fantasy VII indicates that he displays twice as much affection for Aerith during the course of the game."--- quote from Destiny Fullfilled Shrine for Aerith x Cloud.

Tifa is chasing a dream she can't reach for... not trying to sound mean, but it IS the truth...

I don't know anything about Japan, but I don't see how theirs can be a love that can never be. It seems like Cloud and Aerith are in love in the game--and that love continues in the movie.

Well, they call it a love that can never be because at the time, Nomura hadn't heard of my spiritlover Aerith theories.