(CONTAINS INFORMATION REGARDING THE TRAILERS! ) -For those who may not have wanted to hear anything about the game until they play it. :)


When playing FF7 and making your way to the playground in Midgar where Aeris and Cloud sit to talk- you soon find out that Aeris once had a boyfriend who we later find out is Zack. Anyone being a Cleris fan like myself would be curious to know just what happened, and whether it was truly serious. As was Cloud- he asked her if it was serious and she replied after shaking her head something along the lines of: "no. But I liked him for a while." (Unsure of the actual quote as I haven't played FF7 in a long while~)

Now Crisis Core is soon to be released. What we will be able to see is Aeris' and Zack's relationship during that time. I believe Nomura stated we would see just how their relationship really was.

I've watched from the trailers Zack flirting with Aeris- saying he would do something for her for "one date!" ~Sounds familliar hmm? XP
Aeris actually laughs and asks him what he's saying- and that it's lame!
Though she later does a similar thing to Cloud in FF7~~ (Suggesting maybe Aeris picks up a few influences from Zack~)

Other parts in the trailers includes:

*-Zack falling through the roof- suggesting he must have fell from the very same part as Cloud from the reactor above. (During this time the Shinra reactors and such are still in process of being built.)
*- Zack cries within Aeris' church and she hugs him to comfort him.
*- Aeris seems to keep in contact with Zack through the game, using mobiles. Zack also enjoys visiting her in the church, and at one point (at least) they run through the slums of Midgar together.

It's no wonder Cloud reminds her a lot of Zack- but we all know Cloud is different from Zack- and Aeris knew eventhough noone else did. Though, perhaps she could tell he was trying to be too much like the man she once knew.
I think in CC we will see that Zack is more like a good/ close friend. Even with them somewhat flirting:

But it seems more like a childish/ close friend/ small crush kinda relationship. And, that Aeris knew by the time Cloud came that Zack was more or less a close friend- afterall, she even admitted he was a ladies man. Even when falling through Aeris' church he asked as he woke up "An angel?" He seems to be quite a sweet talker. And also, as mentioned before- in Maiden who travels the planet- she admits that she really likes Cloud- and Zack seems quite relaxed about it.

But, Aeris became upset in FF7 when visiting Gongaga because she missed him dearly. Aeris says to Cloud that he 'went missing' I think she knew he had left the world though- as she tends to talk with the planet and can sense when people have passed over. But I THINK she did mention that he was "probably dead." ?

Unfortunately, CC gives some Cloti fans the justification to say 'Aeris loves Zack because you can see it in Crisis Core! So Tifa SHOULD be with Cloud!'
Though, I find this unbelievable as I do believe Zack and Aeris were more friends than lovers- especially with the way they joke with eachother.

I guess we will have to wait to see in CC-! What do you all think of how the relationship may be portraid? (And feel free to correct parts I got wrong. :gift: )



~YnA

Well, it doesn't really matter how romantic or intense things get between Zack and Aeris in CC because it's still all in the past, and still confirmed that however much she may have cared for Zack, during the events of FFVII she loved Cloud more. ^_^

I usually take stuff like this with a pinch of salt. I like to keep the original game as the ultimate authority (vague as it is). All of the compliation so far (AC, BC, DoC, the novellas, Last Order, etc) has basically been a series of retcons. I doubt it's a case of "stuff the creators wanted to put into FFVII but weren't able to" as much as it is "let's rethink FFVII years later and try to fill some of the gaps because it'll make us money". So I doubt that the Z/A relationship in CC is exactly how it was meant to be or intended in FFVII, but reinterpreted in the light of Zack and Aeris' presentation/characterisation in AC and the novellas and all the rest.

I haven't liked how a lot of the details of the C/A relationship have been transplanted onto the A/Z relationship in CC, but I do think that this is really sweet. I like the idea of Aeris being influenced by Zack a bit and using the "for one date" line afterwards.

I also like how their romance seems to be a slow-building one. In FFVII, Aeris was drawn to Cloud from the start and liked him straight away, and it makes me happy to see how different both relationships are. :fangirl:

Yeah, I like what we've seen of the dynamic of their relationship so far, and I hope that this news of how they get along in CC is true. It seems very sweet. And it's good to see them being all flirty and fun...with Aeris catching him off guard now and then! :lol:

I think it'll probably be a full-blown romance by the game's conclusion, but it still strikes me very much as what a "first love" type of relationship should be.

Five years later, they've both changed and matured, and I don't think it could work out, even if both of them had lived somehow. The thing about first love is that you can't really regain its charm after it's gone. However much Zack meant to Aeris when they were involved, she still moved on after he vanished, and fell in love with Cloud. She's not pining for him in FFVII - she's curious about the connection between him and Cloud. But I really agree with you that they have the potential to be very good friends. Some close friends never have what it takes to transform the relationship into a romance, whereas some former lovers find that they're actually much better as friends.

Actually, she said that he probably found someone else. :( And I think she was so upset because talking to his parents really brought home that he'd vanished off the face of the earth, and she was worried about him. I think the conversation just brought a lot of unhappy memories back to her.

Silliness. We all know that Zack and Aeris were a canon couple, that they used to go out until fate got in the way, but that has no bearing on what happens afterwards. Who's to say that if fate hadn't split them apart that they wouldn't have eventually broken-up anyway?

And most importantly, whether or not Aeris still loves Zack (the original game strongly implies that she doesn't and MOTP blatantly confirms that she's over him and in love with Cloud) doesn't make ANY difference to Cloud's feelings. Just because Aeris may still love Zack, it doesn't mean that Cloud can't or didn't love Aeris.

Well, you can be in love and still be good friends and able to have fun with each other. It's easy to imagine them as being like that together because they're both such vibrant and positive people. But I think that - like Cloud and Tifa - they're both too alike, and the romance would've waned eventually. I can definitely see them as remaining close friends, though, and I like how they just banter on like always in MOTP as if nothing's happened, but very much more as friends than lovers. ^_^

Yes, Zack and Aerith happened. We never said it didn't.

But...
Rinoa dated Seifer for a year in FFVIII.
Yuna married Seymour in FFX.
Lucrecia married Hojo and carried his child in DoC.

Did those canon events put a dent on the real relationship of the games? No (well, maybe for Vincent, he practically angst in the whole game about Lucrecia's honor in that).

Anywhos, Aerith confirmed that she loves Cloud more than Zack. Even when she met the latter in the Lifestream.

So I'm not really worried.

Ironic...it sounds like me and...uhm, never mind...

Anyway, I think SE also wants to give emphasis to C/A through Z/A...it's not impossible, since some Z/A events in CC are reflecting on C/A events. It's also very interesting how SE would adjust the connection between characters- that Cloud is Zack's best friend, and Aerith as Zack's (ex)girlfriend, while later on, Cloud and Aerith meets...it can't be a coincidence. o_O; I hope you get my point.

Where's the siggy that I made a while ago? Let me see... it said, "Cloti, Zerith, Seinoa... because you're not allowed to move on from your first love." :rolleyes: Living in the past is such a blissful diversion for some people. ^_^ Makes me want to join them sometimes, such a happy place to be, being away from reality.

Here xD

Hey, that's not mine! :lol: I think we all had a few go's on making them... mine's not as purty as that, though. :lol:

*doesn't like the Cloti in that sig*
There's nothing solid to say kiddy Cloud and kiddy Tifa ever had anything romantic going on. :whistle:

Aerith loves Cloud more than her first love.
That's all that matters to me. ^^

Yeah, I worry about Clotis using CC as more proof myself, that's why Sqaure enix just needs to milk the cow even more and make the game about Aeris and Tseng

They're childhood friends! They must be meant to be! :o NOT trying to start any wars with AerisXTseng people that might be here though. Pair on people, pair on.

and it's even said that...

and the Johnny and Tifa game...does anyone have the part of the game script where he and Tifa "catch up" at the hotel at Costa Del Sol? The obvious Cloti who wrote the www.gamefaqs.com script happened to leave that part out.

Anyways, my closing point, is that people have relationships and crushes, Zack and Aeris was in the past and if Clotis use that as proof, then yeah, just :crazy: yeah, that guy right there! :lol:

I'm sorry but how is that adjusting the connection from what it is in the original game? :unsure: While it wasn't stated that Zack was Cloud's best friend, he was probably the first real friend Cloud ever had and was certainly a very good and true friend, (helping Cloud escape, not leaving him behind, including him in his plans for the future, dying to save him, etc) and we know how highly Cloud thought of him, and the effect his death had on him. So I'd easily call them best friends. And we know that Zack and Aeris used to date. So how is the connection being adjusted for CC?

As an Aeris/Tseng fan, I declare war on you for doubting my pairing! :guns: Just kidding, just kidding! :lol:

Actually, the line "I've known him since we were little" is well-known as a mistranslation (the line should actually be "I've known him since I was little", apparently). This is backed-up by the game in Elmyra's flashback - Tseng appears as a Turk when Aeris is still a little girl and tries to convince her to co-operate with Shinra, so they couldn't have been childhood friends. They've just known each other for a long time and developed a "not-quite-antagonistic-but-not-quite-friendly" relationship.

So unless it turns out that Square changes their history in CC (and I don't know how they could pull that off with him appearing as an adult in her past), the childhood friends thing won't float.

And besides, I think the rabid CloTis will be much more interested in all the Zack/Aeris action. It's already known that Tseng cared for Aeris, but she didn't return his feelings. But she did love Zack, so that's where their main ammo in debates will come from, with them probably arguing that she still loves him in FFVII.

Wait, do you mean there's going to be a Tifa & Johnny game? *dares to hope*

Rabid CloTis like to forget that moment because Tifa is pretty blatantly flirting with Johnny (and remember how flirting is the highest mark of evil!), and I think trying to make Cloud a little jealous. :lol: I don't have the script, but I think it was basically a lot of lines like "Oh and remember the time when..." "Oh yeah! Do you remember when...?" "Of course! But what about...?" "Oh yeah!". SO CUTE. And she asks Cloud if she can spend the whole day catching up with Johnny, so they must have a lot to talk about, having been genuinely close friends as children. ^_^

But yeah, to repeat everyone's point, it's just silly to argue that a relationship Aeris had five years before she even met Cloud somehow devalues her connection with him, or what they had together in the game.

I think that the parallels drawn in CC are used to show why Aerith was so "quick in her ways" when she first met Cloud. My idea is that she was really into Zack; she really liked/loved him (In all seriousness, he's the type of guy most girls would fall for.), and that's why she became attached to Cloud that easily (Thing that up until now, whilst it wasn't a big mystery, it never had a proper explanation either.).

Anyway, as for the whole Clerith/Zerith deal, Aerith indeed loved Zack, and, most likely, that attachment/feeling was what called her attention when she first met Cloud, and why she got to like him that quickly. Even though, eventually, she ended falling in love with Cloud (after getting to know some of his real personality), as she said in the date, and as she told Zack in her novel.

I definitely agree with most opinions here! Especially over the point that Zack and Aeris' relationship more or less helped her become quickly attached to Cloud~

I didn't mean for it to seem as if I was saying Zack and Aeris never cared for eachother at all. More or less that perhaps it was just like a first crush thing, but in the end were more like very close friends. It's unsure to say whether Zack could ever be totally in a 'serious' relationship by the way Aeris makes him out to be a 'ladies man' (Perhaps like Irvine from FF8?) But Zack is a wonderful person and someone you can't help but be friends with! ^_^

I'm not against people liking Zack x Aeris and they ofcourse do have their reasons~ :)

Oh! Thank you Hyper-Ballad~ I'd forgotten the part in Gongaga but I've remembered now~ XP Aeris always seems to know so much more than she lets on. I think that's a good quality to Aeris though- she always considers others feelings before saying anything. It was very funny however in Gold Saucer when Aeris made Barret run off~ but, perhaps it was for the best. :lol:

CC definitely links nicely with the game in many aspects- but I can't help but wonder if it could've been quite a different storyline really. Afterall, Tetsuya Nomura is not the original writter of FF7 and so could not possibly know the 'true' storyline behind it, if indeed there was one all planned out. Afterall, we ALL know Genesis was not originally intended.. Just Nomura kissing butt? :P
(Btw- I am also a big fan of Tetsuya Nomura and Gackt- but you have to admit it is a bit like Nomura is Kissing up to Gackt.. XD)



~YnA

Ahh, yes, that would make more sence! :lol: I hope they do make a FFVII remake, with hopefully, better translation!

There should be a TifaXJohnny game! :lol: Like tell the story of how they had a relationship at some point when they were young so we can have incredibly lame ammo about past relationships too! :guns: I mean, seriously, did Tifa never have a boyfriend in her earlier 20 years of life?

Clerith-son:

How do you know he's the type of guy most girls would fall for? Personally, I would think that he's the type a girl with a good, solid head on her shoulders might not take seriously. :P

Anyhow, judging from the fact that Aerith appears to have known all along what kind of a guy Zack is around women, there's a part of me that doesn't believe her feelings for him had been all that serious or deep. From what we've seen of their relationship so far, much of it is flirting. While it's obvious she does flirt with him, Aerith isn't naive. Doesn't appear to me like she is completely in awe with all the pretty things he's spouting at her. She seems to be looking at things in a very light-hearted fashion. Looks like much of his flirting is seen as "baka" or "silly". ^_^

I do believe Zack was the reason why she was initially drawn to Cloud, but I think it might have been curiousity more than anything though, really. She saw similarities, but almost right away, she also noticed there were differences between them (as stated by her to Cloud while they were sitting in the playground). Just because she was worried about Zack and still cared about his whereabouts doesn't mean she must have been pining for him. Actually, seeing just how quickly she became genuinely interested in Cloud, I really can't imagine how her previous relationship with Zack could have been all that serious. Also, they meet up in the lifestream like they're casual friends. I imagine that meeting would have gone differently if they were long-lost lovers who'd been separated by tragedy.

Well, I suppose we've yet to really see what Aerith and Zack's relationship was like. As of right now, I still stand by Aerith's words, that she liked him for a while, but that their relationship wasn't all that serious. It's possible CC might completely change all that, but there's a part of me that doubts it. Aerith isn't the type to linger on what might have been.

FF7sam:

*turns on rabid mode*
Wut? Tifa is 20 and has never had a boyfriend before?! XD

I'd completely fall for him. Not only he is good looking, but he also has charisma. I think he is the type of man a woman wouldn't get bored easily, and would have a good time with. He is also determined, motivated and hard-working, look how much he worked to achieve the position he achieved in SOLDIER. Zack is also good-hearted, and has noble ideals. His motivation to enter SOLDIER was to be able to help people, to become a hero.

To be honest, I think it would be Cloud the type of man most women wouldn't like. He may be good looking, but he doesn't have that much charisma, actually, he is not even really social. He is quite determined, but not really motivated. I wouldn't know how determined he may have been and how hard he may have tried to become a SOLDIER, but given the capabilities he displayed in the game (he showed a really high potential) it would seem that he did not work too hard for it. His motivation (in the game) was a personal vendetta, other than that, he did not have any - Revenge may be a really good motivation to harm or kill people, but other than those things, it is quite useless, in my opinion.

Aerith said that Zack was a ladies man, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a committed man. My opinion is that he probably liked to flirt around, but that doesn't mean that he cheated with every single woman he was in a relationship with. Also, about him and Aerith flirting, what has been shown is the initial stages of a relationship, at those stages, flirting is really common, isn't it?

Well, obviously! :angry:

Naw...not saying Zack would definitely cheat or that he's someone who'll never commit himself to a woman. Just saying that because Aerith pointed out what a ladies' man he is, she might have been somewhat wary of him and the idea that perhaps he's just having fun with her or not being serious. If so, I just can't really imagine her turning around and having extremely deep and serious feelings for him. Maybe I'm just biased because if I were in her shoes, I would have been just slightly on the cautious side with Zack. :P

Well, sure. As I was saying, we don't really know until we've actually played the game. My current opinion is simply based off of what we know through FFVII and MoTP. Zack didn't appear to be that upset or surprised when she, in a sense, rejected him in MoTP. Also, he didn't appear to be too jealous of her fondness for Cloud. To me, that behavior doesn't seem to fit the idea that they'd been serious and deeply involved. :/

...I couldn't help squeeing. :lol:
I was so seriously tempted to edit the title of this post to CloudXClerith-sonXZack.

Maybe, but we're talking about Aerith though, right?
She stated in MoTP that she's actually attracted to his awkwardness. Cloud would probably annoy many girls (Tifa, for example), but not me...er...the flowergirl.

Aerith is 15 or so in CC, isn't she? I don't think she'll be as worldly as her FFVII self, so I can definitely see her falling for Zack's charm and such. To go back to the OP's question, I think Zeris may end up being shown as a kinda big deal in CC (but you just KNOW the yaoi will completely overshadow it :giggle: I wouldn't be surprised if we're drowning from the Zephiroth instead!), bordering on tru luv sort of thing-- because lots of puppy love are seen in that light by young couples.

Though I think what's cool about FFVII is that "true love" doesn't come to the characters when they're in their teens (unlike, say, a bazillion other anime/games), but to young adults who've gone through first love(s) themselves.

^ Anything is possible, really. ^^
Just saying that the evidences we have so far from MoTP and FFVII doesn't really support that idea, but hey, I'm sure SE is quite capable of working around all of that if need be. Also, if their relationship had been serious (bordering on true love, as you say), Aerith would have been lying about the whole thing then when she told Cloud about it in FFVII. Not sure why she would hide that. I suppose she could have been in denial, but even by the end of the game, the impression I got was that the Zeris relationship wasn't that big of a deal. Anyhow, whatever that relationship may be, SE promised us we would see the true nature of it. I'm holding them to their words and just hoping they'll keep things nice and clear.

...or the Clack. :whistle:
*drowns in the awesome number of FFVII LTs*

Exactly.

CC - teenage "first love" romance between Zack and Aerith
FFVII - Cloud: "You were... serious?" / Aerith: "No. But I liked him for a while."

Right on spot, HD!

Post-FFVII - Zack: "Man, you know Aerith. Out of all the girls I've gotten along with, you truly are the best. After that mission, we could have stayed the way we were and might have been able to continue to go out with each other after I returned home." / Aerith: "Someone who's gotten along with so many girls can never become a lover." (MotP)

Ouch, much?

I agree with Clerith-son, and picture Zack very much as the type a girl would fall for (being a ladies man and all), especially when you're 16. After all he's brave, charming, fun, genuinely heroic, loyal to true friends, and seems to have a really magnetic and vibrant personality. Whenever I thought of what he must be as a person (before the compilation came out with its confirmations) I always imagined him as very similar to FFIX's Zidane. I can easily imagine any girl falling head over heels for him.

However, in FFVII Aeris gives off this "been there, done that" vibe concerning her relationship with Zack, and I think that indicates that she's not looking for that kind of guy or that kind of relationship any more.

I don't know, I tend to think that her feelings for him were deeper than she let on. She called him her first love and Elmyra indicated that she'd been very hurt when he "left" her. As for Zack's feelings, again I imagine him as close to Zidane - he knows how to talk to the ladies and likes being around them, but is just as capable of falling in love and being deeply serious about That Girl. I don't think the relationship was true love, but I do think it was young love, and that they were both very special to each other.

I think that Aeris' writing off her feelings as not serious is more her reassuring Cloud that she's emotionally available than anything else (if she was really interested in Zack, she would've tried to get more information about his whereabouts out of Cloud during that conversation). The way I see it is that she loved him (or believed she did) as a teenager, was upset when he never came back to her, but got over it and as an adult recognised that looking back, maybe it wasn't as serious between them as she thought.

Perhaps it's just the nature of the relationship. ^_^ Aeris at any age doesn't seem the type to be taken in by a pretty line (and maybe that's what draws Zack to her), but she seems unimpressed by him in a very fond and affectionate way. His flirting is silly because she already likes him.

Absolutely. This giant mystery practically fell right into her lap and she's supposed to not respond to that? :lol: I think it was curiosity, to see what the connection was, where Zack ended and Cloud began, but all along it was a very real interest in who Cloud was and what had happened to Cloud to make him take on so many of Zack's mannerisms. And also, on their date, she said that the link between Cloud and Zack bothered her, not attracted. So she certainly wasn't drawn to the "Zack-in-Cloud", but disturbed by it.

Well, you have to consider that she's had five years to get over Zack, and that's a very long time. And considering Aeris' life, she wasn't the kind of girl who had the luxury to sit around moping and writing angsty poetry. She had to get up and get on with life and not let her emotional state cause her to let her guard down or forget the danger she was in.

Again, I think it's just the nature of the relationship and how they've always interacted. And there's some seriousness under the surface - Zack tells her (in his own way) that he cared more for her than any other girl he knew and had wanted to have a future with her. And Aeris, also in her own unique way, tells him that it can't be.

So true. No matter what was between her and Zack, it belongs to the past. And Aeris has always been the kind of woman who looks to the future.

Before Nibelheim being burned? I can definitely see her having fun fighting off the offers. Afterwards? Well...I can kinda see it... I can see Tifa as starting a relationship for the sake of being normal and trying to get on with life and to give some guy a chance, but then ending it realising that she just wasn't ready for that. She has so many problems, especially straight after arriving in Midgar, and is so shy and slow when it comes to romance. I can see her as just not being interested in a boyfriend and focusing instead on getting back at Shinra (which is maybe why she falls so hard for Cloud when he comes back into her life). But she definitely seems like a traditional wait-for-true-love girl to me. :P

I think he put his all into getting into SOLDIER which is why he was so crushed and ashamed of his failure. Why be too ashamed to show your face in your hometown because of your low rank if you never bothered putting the work in for a better position? Remember, before the game begins he's been exposed to high Mako levels, had Jenova cells injected into him, and all kinds of enhancing experiments done on him (for five years), intending to make him a Sephiroth clone. That's why his skills are so extreme in the game. He didn't always have them, he was given them. The one thing he's always had is his will, but back when he tried to get into SOLDIER, it just wasn't enough. Cloud said so himself that he was too weak for SOLDIER.

I totally agree with this. If anything, Aeris is teasing him over his bad habit in their MOTP conversation and I don't think she would have accepted him cheating on her.

I agree with you that, from what we've seen so far, she's a bit wary of him (and she does assume that he left her for someone else, or so she tells Cloud). But that still doesn't mean that she can't fall for him in spite of herself. After all, Aeris isn't above humanity and can't control her emotions. Like I said earlier, it looks like this is going to be a slow-burning romance with Aeris growing to love him over time. I can imagine her as knowing all the reasons why it might not work out (he's associated with Shinra, after all) and why she shouldn't let her feelings for him get too strong...but then finding herself loving him in spite of her better judgement. And who knows how he might prove himself to her over the course of the game?

There better not be a rescue from Shinra HQ, though... <_<

Again, here's someone who's had five years (of experimentation and torture) to get over Aeris. He's had much more important things on his mind over than romance. Like Aeris, he seems the type to leave the past where it belongs, but he does dwell on what might have been concerning her. And about his attitude in MOTP, I think that in spite of his laid-back attitude, he's wise enough to understand that both he and Aeris have changed and grown-up lot over the years apart (and considering both their lives, who wouldn't?) and that, if he hasn't contacted her for five years, it's only natural that she would get over him and move on with her life. I think it would have saddened him had she not been strong enough to do that.

Exactly! She's in the process of becoming the woman she is in FFVII and I definitely see her first love for Zack as playing a role in maturing her. But also, I don't see her as having had anyone her own age that she was close to as a child and young teen, despite her charming personality, so I think it'd be difficult to resist falling for Zack if you take that into account.

*sits back and waits for fanfiction.net to explode* :whistle:

So true. It's good to see mature (if a little screwed-up) and experienced adults as heroes rather than fresh-faced teens for a change. :lol: But on another level, I think it's about grabbing your chances at love while you can. Zack chooses to go on a mission for Shinra, and loses Aeris. Aeris doesn't protest to him leaving her for this dangerous mission, and loses Zack. Tifa never pays attention to Cloud when he most longed for it, and loses all hope of a romance with him. Cloud and Aeris meet and there's a strong spark there, but they don't say anything, and are seperated by death. I think there's a message there that love is too important to waste or play games with. The thing about love is that it makes you want everything to stay the same but is also the time when it's most dangerous to assume that they will.

I don't think you have to interpret her as a liar for not telling a guy she's just met the full history of her relationship with her ex (especially if she likes him). After all, she didn't tell him the real reason why the Turks were after her, she just joked it off. Again, I think in FFVII, she's speaking with hindsight. Yes, he was her first love, but looking back it wasn't that serious from an adult perspective, and she is not still in love with him. After all, she only modifies "first love" into "not serious" after Cloud shows an interest in her and tests the waters by asking how serious the relationship was. She's basically reassuring him that it's definitely over, not devaluing her past feelings for Zack.

HB:

I suppose it depends what type of girl one is and what qualities in a man one is attracted to. Aerith might have been head-over-heels in love with all those things about Zack, but on the other hand, those very same qualities might have been what made her a bit wary of him. She certainly sounded like she had never really given all her heart to him when she was comparing Zack's and Cloud's personalities in MoTP.

I didn't mean that she'd said that in a negative way or that it's saying she didn't like him. Just that she appeared to have absorbed his pretty words very light-heartedly. I mean, after Zack told her she was an angel, she probably wasn't thinking she'd just found the one she'd been waiting for. It was probably more less one of those "Silly, you probably say this to all the ladies you've met" kind of thing.

Well, maybe this is where our differences in opinion really come in. If their relationship had been serious, I don't think it would really matter how many years go by. If you seriously love someone, not sure how time would be a factor at all. For one thing, Zack mysteriously dissapeared on her, and her thoughts were that maybe he'd gone and found someone else. I'm not sure that's saying she really believed Zack had been taking their relationship seriously. As I was saying, if that's how she'd felt, then I don't see how her feelings in return could have been all that deep or serious either.

I'm not saying she didn't like Zack or have any feelings for him. I do believe she had liked Zack (as she said), but I think their relationship was more puppy love rather than something that had been bordering on true love (where you've really given your heart to someone). Regardless of how serious a relationship is, anyone would be hurt when they feel they've been left behind, but for her to have moved on and fall for Cloud without ever even knowing what had truly happened to her first love...well, I just don't see how it could have been a relationship that the two of them had taken all that seriously. For all we know, maybe the love they were starting to share just never had the time to properly develop into anything serious.

Hmm, well, Aerith didn't need to tell us about why the Turks were after her. The game eventually revealed it. Aerith said her relationship with Zack wasn't all that serious, and by the end of the game, to me, that seemed to stay true. There wasn't any enlightening event that told us otherwise...unless I'm forgetting something, of course.

In other words, while Aerith may have thought it'd been serious at the time, she no longer feels that way about it?

I've yet to see anything that indicates she had first thought that way about the Zeris relationship, but I suppose that's very possible too. I guess we'll have to wait and see what CC reveals.

1. I agree with the part that Aerith's affection to Zack is her "light taste of love". Serious? maybe. we need more backup proof from CC. I can't stop repeating playground scene again for this point cuz it's funny to see Cloud, like us, is also curious about this Q: :fangirl:
Aerith:(lowers her head) My first boyfriend.
Cloud:(looks away and raises his head) Are you....serious?
Aerith:NO , but I liked him for a while.
For me, no matter how deep ZXA's relationship might go, in FFG it ends in friendship by Aerith's own words. :whistle:

2. And about the tough part discussing if Aerith keeps loving Cloud because of Zack's part in Cloud....most essays are beautifully illustrated here/somewhere else. i simply want to back you up by a quotation from the script.

Gold Saucer:
Aerith:".........first off , it bothered me how you looked exactly alike."
"Two completely different people, but look exactly the same."
"The way you walk, gesture ..."
"I think I must have seen him again, in you..."
(shakes her head)"But you're different."

Notice how she emphasizes it's outward appearance that draws her attention in the beginning. Considering Cloud never shows Zack-like personality throughout the game, I would assume that it's mostly curiosity that drives Aerith to know Cloud more. IF Aerith falls in love with Cloud for that reason, Aerith might have loved all men wearing 1th calss SOLDIER uniform, carring a big sword with awesome fighting training(well, that reminds me of Angeal in CC :sweat: ). Also, in MotP, Zack's final line to Aerith is to tease her whether Cloud's final fighting posture makes her love him again. Zack realises that Aerith knows the difference(personalities) between him and that question seems more like a joke.


3. My idea about ZXAXC in CC:
Since SE never openly gives credit to any possible parings in CXAXT's LT, I wouldn't suspect that ZXA's relationship in CC will destroy Clerith fans' fantasy(or they could have done that earlier in AC). I think CC's function in FF comliation would be much more like an explanation to FFG's story. For example, It will explain why the sign of LOVELESS is so important to FF series. And in ZXA's part, I think it'll explain some plots in FFG with clearer hints. Let me show you what I find:

From Aerith's part:
1).The one-date scene in the church : Aerith could very possibly notice the similarities in the first place because the way Cloud falls from the roof and the sword he's taking(BTW, we didn't know whether Aerith recognizes the sword or not..cuz that sword belongs to Angeal in CC. But let's presume she knows already here.) and the SOLDIER uniform....So when she says "how about a date?" is actually repeating Zack's line in CC. I would not take it as totally flirting; it's much more like testing. Again, if Cloud's personality/memories being totally merged with Zack, he'll be the one who says:"how about one date?" instead of "sorry" for ruining her fowerfeild and he'll do another blank flashback while hearing this request. To sum up, CC couldl explain why Aerith exchanges the promise with a date for a complete stranger; could be flirting, but I think she may think more about this parallel.

2.) The Marko-blue eyes:

Aerith: "It's beautiful..."
Zack: "My face?"
Aerith: No, your eyes.-----sorry I forget who post this :blush:

WOW I don't know Aerith used to praise Zack's eyes! :D Well, it reminds me of C&A's conversation after escaped from the turk:
Aerith: "Hey.... Cloud. Were you ever in SOLDIER?"
Cloud: "...I used to be. How did you guess?"
Aerith: "...Your eyes. They have a strange glow..."
Before Aerith points out the glow in Cloud's eyes, we know nothing about Marko-infusion stuff. Even Tifa, Barret did not mention this when they first met Cloud. IMO, Aerith's loving Zack's eyes in CC simply explains why she happens to notice "the mark of SOLDIERS" so fast.

3.) In the playground scene:
Remember Aerith says: "I can't believe it's still here.." while they enters the playground in the slum. I highly doubt that this place involves Zack and Aerith's memory too(my proof comes from this pic:Watch the last pic on the first row) So that could explain why Aerith suddenly starts the conversation of Cloud's rank.

4.) Aerith's selling flowers in the begining of FFG:
I've translated two pieces of press into Eng in another board before....and I found this description interesting:
"Before long, those two who encounter in the church start to figure out ways to make best use of flowers. You can see Aerith's figure as the Flowergirl in the beginning of original FF7 game".
I remember it's been confirmed true that Aerith's not poor and Elymra has a fine house. Then what makes her wanna sell flowers in such a low price? I think maybe Zack and Aerith has figured out some flexible way to "make best use of flowers" in CC.

From Zack's part:
1.) Cloud's confession of being a 1th class SOLDIER:
Cloud:"I was so ashamed of being so weak; then I heard this story from
my friend Zack..."
"And I created an illusion of myself made up of what I had seen
in my life....."
"And I continued to play the charade as if it were true."
Well, we really don't know exactly what "this story" is all about and have no idea how much does this story involve in his created illusion. If this part could be well depicted in CC, it'll help understanding Cloud's true personality, too.

2.) Difference between Zack and Cloud:
IMO, ZXA's story could possibly flourish Zerith fans and nurture some Clotis' funny Zerith theory, but it could be used as an opposite view here. I mean, the more ZXA's story/relationship we learned, the more differences we could tell between CXA v.s. ZXA. Aerith says Zack's a "lady's man", so Aerith DO know Zack's behaviors in getting along with other girls. I think if we get to know the detailed story, we can realize why Aerith prefers Cloud's "awkwardness" in MotP.



Of course all those thoeries about CC's explaination are my personal surmise, I could be over-optimistic for all these stuff....but I still hold the belief that SE's not gonna reduce both Cleriths' and Clotis' faith by CC. :gift:
I'll work on more proof later~~

(*off the topic*) Do you think there's any possibiity for Tifa to show up in CC?