This has been driftin around my mind since yesterday so i wanted to ask you guys... what would happen if SE made things a little different and made Squall ff7's hero while Cloud became ff8's lead?

Would the pairings work (SxA & CxR)? Would it have made any difference in the story? etc.

In my humble opinion:

for ff7
i dont think it would have made that big a difference. Squall and Cloud are very similar (the key word here is "SIMILAR", there not actually carbon copies of each other). Squall would still have broken down once aerith had died (he practically went nuts when rinoa got thrown into space)
although the LTD would probably be non-existent coz Squall would have cared less if Tifa noticed him or not.

for ff8
this i think is where the big question mark would be. First of, contrary to popoular belief, Cloud as a kid actually yearns for other people and growing up in an orphanage with Selphie, Zell and the others would have probably made him into a more social person (but then again thats just my opinion). Would he have made it as a member of seed? if you remember in ff7, Cloud in reality never actually passed soldier so would he have passed seed? that i dont know. Would his relationship with Rinoa work? Again another question mark. FF7 Cloud would have been annoyed at Rinoa for being so high maintenance (she does get captured a lot) and let's not forget Rinoa was born rich and even though she ended up as a member of a resistance faction... she does seem a bit bratty sometimes (Damn... am i becoming a rinoa hater now :( ) so for me a lot would have changed in the story line.

Would they work? No and no. Here is why

Squeris
- Aerith isn't nearly as pushy as Rinoa is thus she couldn't get Squall to budge from his shell
- He would annoy her with his semi-abusive/semi-neglectful treatment of his comrads
- She would annoy him with all her assumptions and perhaps her acting like she understands him
- Squall wants a damsel but that isn't Aerith at all! She gets captured ONCE while Rinoa was basically dependent on Squall for help 24/7.

Clinoa
- Both of them are too needy. Cloud always needs emotional support while Rinoa needs constant saving.
- Rinoa needs and wants a hero which Cloud can not be.
- Rinoa is not subtle enough to handle the fragile Cloud. She'd make him angry rather than feel better.
- Cloud's constant personal strife (no pun intended) might be tiring to Rinoa.

PS. I don't think this is in the right section since it's not about cleris love. It's about them swapping partners (swingers?) with squinoa.

Whoa, I haven't touched on FFVIII stuff in at least a decade, so apologies if I get anything wrong. XD

The fun/frustrating thing about these questions is that you don't know how much of the original character to transplant into the other game. >_< Oh well... here we go!

If Cloud grew up in that FFVIII orphanage, it's hard to say if he would've made friends. Wanting to make friends doesn't mean you will-- he could end up just as ostracised as in FFVII. (We never learn why he was excluded, only that he was.) And extroverted kids like Selphie and Zell can be very nice or very mean, almost arbitrarily. I don't imagine living in an orphanage to be very good for the soul. But I think he would have developed some attachment to Sis and... Matron, was it? (Edea?). That would have given him the support he didn't get in Nibelheim, and an emotionally-stronger Cloud could translate into successfully passing the SeeD exam.

As for Cloud/Rinoa-- man, typing that just feels weird :P -- Doesn't Cloud want to be a hero? I don't know if he would ever feel annoyed at having to help his friends/love interest. But I wonder if Rinoa's propensity for getting her ass in trouble will undermine Cloud's confidence. He'd be like, "I couldn't protect her... again... and again... and again! WTF! I suck! </emoslit>"

But I think this is where it breaks down-- I don't think Rinoa has the emotional maturity to support Cloud. Unfortunately for her, for a long time, Cloud wasn't your typical hero who could stand on his own. Someone said it aptly: Cloud saw Aerith as his personal heroine. Can Rinoa take on that mantel? I just can't see that happening, basically because Aerith's past was hellish compared to Rinoa's. (But then, would Cloud's "problems" have been as severe? After all, there were no Mako poisoning and human experiments in FFVIII to aggravate his condition. Hmm.)

(Funny thing is that I still see Squall as being capable of making it through SOLDIER. Maybe it's because I have this fanon? perception of him as being good at everything, except socialising. :lol: )

I can imagine Aerith being very intrigued by Squall, wanting to unravel what was behind his ice-blockiness. I don't know if she could have fallen in love with him, though. Cloud had his colder moments but there was always a warmth about him, especially when it came to Aerith. Similarly, Zack was full of spirit. Aerith's zest for life needs to be matched, otherwise her own fire will be strangled. I feel this is why Tseng never approached her, because he was ice and her fire would completely overwhelm him, as opposed to matching Zack's and supporting Cloud's (funny to talk about Aerith in terms of "fire" when she's being symbolised as "water" in AC...).

I do think Squall would grow fond of her... eventually. After he recovered from the pink and her frankness. XD But if I imagine a workable Squall/Aerith relationship, it pretty much only happens between Leon and Aerith in KH, when Squall has "grown up". Otherwise, I don't think Aerith would see Squall in a romantic light, but possibly more as a stubborn little brother that needs protecting.

Bravo!!!Nekodono!! :lmao: :lmao: I laugh loud for every point you listed~HHAHAHAHA! can't agree more!


Seriouly, i see no chemitry between those tow pairings. Rinoa is sweet, but kinda not mature enough to deal with a troubled Cloudy personality. Aerith is much more independent and knows Cloud too well. IMO, being a cute younger sister to Cloud may work. -_-
And SquallXAeirth!!!! This paring gives me a thrill. Although to some point Aerith might be capable of bringing Squall out of his emotional shell, they still don't quite fit in many ways(ex:Aerith is stout-minded, she won't change decisions easily and I dun think Squall would like this.) And talk about Aerith's cheerfulness, I think that's part of her natrual personality, SHE COULD CHEER ALL PPL AROUND HER, NOT ONLY CLOUD AND SQUALL, SO WHY SQUALL??

you can find thousands of AXS/LeonXC fanfictions on ff.net, anyway. some are nicely put and beautiful, I admit, but some scared me bad..... :puke:

How far back are we taking this swap? Like if Cloud was Laguna's child kind of swap? o.O;;

I would have to say that Cloud would have changed drastically. If he were to have made friends in the orphanage as a child(there's the whole forgetting your childhood thing with the GFs to make it that much more complicated), not lost like 5 years of his life in a tube, didn't have J-cells and mako injected into him, and recieved a gunblade instead of a buster sword, anything could happen.

The difference between Cloud and Squall lies in their experiences. Squall didn't go through the crazy times that Cloud did. Those traumatic experiences are what made Cloud into what he is. If not for those experiences he would have probably ended up a regular person imo. Squall on the other hand is alot more simple. He's acts the way he does because that's the way he is. Yes, his 'sis' did leave him, but he was the same way even before that. He didn't play with the other kids, he only accepts a handful of people and marks them as precious, and the rest can **** off. =) Well at least that's what I got from his personality after FFVIII.

So yeah... I doubt is they swapped it would have turned out with those pairings.

(I don't wanna get into Aeris and Rinoa =) I'm lazy like that.)

Not just the guys, but the girls would be different too.

1. Aerith have a good relationship with her mother, Rinoa doesn't with her father.
2. Aerith hears the voice of the Planet for all her life, Rinoa is found to be compatible with Sorceress powers.
3. While Rinoa rebels against her father and Galbania, Aerith manage to elude capture and want to live a normal life.
4. If Rinoa's a Cetra (however strange it sounds), she'll look very different.

I could go on, but I'll stop here.

As an amusing thought...do you think Squall would work better with Tifa?

Tifa's in KH2 as well, ya know...so Leon could take her...

I doubt Squall would be able to put up with Tifa's idea of a heroic knight in shining armor. (Which was what Tifa asked for in the childhood unromantic promise.) Also they are also two emos. Just like Squall and Quistis don't match and Cloud and Tifa don't work, Squall and Tifa...I love to see Squall saying whatever and Tifa repremanding him like a mother. Otherwise, Tifa's too clingy and needs a hero, which is why she should be with Zack. Squall also wouldn't care if Tifa liked him or not. In KM2 maybe he should take her cause Cloud sure isn't. :lmao:

Cloud and Rinoa isn't happening. Rinoa's a genuinely good-hearted person but she's needs some growing up to do. Aeris fits him perfectly because she's an independent person that isn't a damsel or weak person. Don't get me wrong, Rinoa's cool but she wouldn't know what to do with Cloud's problems, because she hasn't even figured out her own yet.

Oh, I dunno.

KHII Tifa is at least as willing to chase after a man as Rinoa was, and Squall is rather used to being a hero...he has to save Rinoa every other time he turns around, if she's having a good day, more often if she isn't.