I’m a really late newcomer into the FF7 LTD scene. Like a decade behind. <.< Just been playing the game several times recently, so lots of the things are still fresh to me. Actually, I’m still playing around with it. Heck, I didn’t even know a thing about the date mechanism until I started reading in this forum. To me, it is a given that the date with Aeris is the default date. I mean, when I looked up tips for the game, I saw tips on how to get dates for Tifa, Barret, or Yuffie. We didn’t need one for Aeris. Plus, her point was highest from the start: Aeris (50), Tifa (30), Yuffie (10), Barret (0). Which means, of course, that Cloud was most fond of her from the very beginning. ;) I just checked out all of the dates, and the one with Aeris is the ONLY one in which Cloud has optional responses in the dialogue before the date and after the date. For the others, he was pretty much just thrown in there.

Well, I should get to my point. I was reading the thread at the Northern Crater about the date mechanism and found it a little odd that the Clotis assumed that Tifa was going to confess her feelings to Cloud during the date. That, “I....” might have been “I love you,” if she wasn’t “interrupted” by the fireworks. And that because she was the only one who was interrupted by the fireworks, and thus following along with the song title “Interrupted by Fireworks,” her date was the default one. Now, who said Aeris wasn’t interrupted by the fireworks as she was talking to Cloud? She was very much interrupted. In all of the dates, the fireworks started before the actual dialogue began, so everyone was interrupted by the firework. But the hint to what Tifa might have wanted to say was her reference to Aeris. She said Aeris would be able to just come out and say it, whereas she had trouble. Aeris was able to say what she wanted to Cloud during *her* date. She said she wanted to meet the real Cloud.

I would think this is what Tifa had wanted to say too, that she would like to get to know the real Cloud. I mean, she never really got to know the real Cloud. The only memory she had of him was the well scene and that was why she kept bringing it up. The Cloud she found wasn’t the Cloud she had remembered. She said that all the years they were together, she wanted to keep him close by to figure out what was going on with him and why he was walking, talking, and acting like he was Zack! And since this was what had been troubling her since the start, and she hadn’t really found out who he was (or even really knew the one from her past), why would she be telling him that she loves him? All she remembered about him was that he had made a promise to her that had yet to be fulfilled. The Cloud/Tifa line of the story really only concerns a past, and they couldn’t really move forward or develop anything more until it was settled and understood. So, if there really was going to be anything special between them, it could only begin after the lifestream scene, after they figured out if Cloud really was who Tifa thought he was.

The lifestream scene settled things between them: the past and the promise. They found out that Cloud NEVER made it into SOLDIER, so the promise needn’t apply. But he did come to save Tifa when she was in trouble. He had already fulfilled “their” promise, and Tifa just didn’t know it. Finding that out was enough for Tifa. So that was the end of that! No more harping on him about the promise. (Thank goodness!) He was free to be who he is, to do what he chooses. And of course, by that time Cloud already loved Aeris, and so nothing romantic developed between him and Tifa. Tifa knew that and respected it. She and Cloud were like old friends who finally understood each other after a long misunderstanding. And good friends they remained.

So, no. Tifa couldn’t have wanted to tell Cloud that she loves him during their date, because that wouldn’t be following the plot. She didn’t even know who the guy was, for heaven’s sake! The date (if you get the one with Tifa), like other things that involve Cloud and Tifa, works to further the plot leading up to the lifestream scene. But of course, Tifa’s reference to Aeris makes the date with Aeris more important than her own! But we all knew that. :D

Sorry, this is so lengthy. I’m so late into the scene, I’m sure this has already been said many times. Just wanted to give my two cents. To me, it was the date that was interrupted by the fireworks, not anybody’s lines. Also, why would the date with Tifa be default? Cloud’s been with Avalanche for years, and to me, he didn’t seem like he was interested in anyone other than himself until he met Aeris! I do like to joke about the things you need to do to get a date with Tifa, though. ;)

Tifa: Pst, Cloud!
Cloud: What?
Tifa: If you ignore Aeris and don’t talk or be nice to her, I’ll finally go out with you. :tifa:
Cloud: Now, who said I ever wanted to go out on a date with you????!!!! :blink:

:cleris:

I agree, she was interrupted, but unlike tifa, she still said what she wanted to say.

Ah, i thought she said "I want to meet you" nothing there said anything about the real cloud xD

But i love what you said about Tifa saying about meeting the real cloud too though <3 i mean, your right, she also herself, didn't know the real Cloud.

AHAHA! funniest line ever!

That's true. Aeris didn't say anything about meeting the "real Cloud." I must have gotten a little mixed up there. I've read stuff talking about her not knowing the "real" Cloud and I wanted to stress that Tifa never got to know the "real" Cloud, either. All that real Cloud stuff got my wording a little mixed up.

^ I do agree that whatever it is that Tifa was trying to say was most likely the same thing as what Aerith was able to say. It was stated in the Ultimania that during the date scene, Cloud wasn't aware of either Aerith's "active" method of affection or Tifa's "moderate" method. In other words, no matter what you think Aerith's words imply, Tifa was trying to say the same exact thing.

Yes, and I also believe it was the date that had been interrupted by the fireworks...not the line/words of a person. Tifa wasn't really interrupted either. Being the person that she is, she just wasn't able to come out and say what she'd wanted to. Ultimania pretty much confirmed that when they called her method the "moderate" one while Aerith's was referred to as the "active" one.

Aerith's "I want to meet...you" line seems to confuse many people because she emphasizes the word "you" and it's like she says she wants to meet the real Cloud.Bad translation(again) i guess. <_<

From the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania (Aerith's profile):

Even though Aerith perceived that Cloud had lost sight of his true self, she still has great affection for him.

Aerith, who was confirmed in the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania as being able to "see" inside the minds of others, knew that Cloud was hiding behind a facade. Nevertheless, she grew to love him anyways. And there were times that Aerith did catch a glimpse behind the mask Cloud presented to the world. From the FFVII Ultimania Omega:

"So you won't have a breakdown..." Aerith appears in Cloud's dream, she seems to console him with such advice. This line can infer that Aerith has seen through the essence of Cloud.

Also, in the official novella, Maiden of the Planet, Aerith is the one to guide Tifa into Cloud's subconscious mind. And Aerith is there the whole time watching Cloud reconstruct his true identity. Aerith was able to meet the "real" Cloud and admitted that she was happy. She also told Zack that she preferred Cloud's simplistic awkwardness to his [Zack's] flirtatiousness. So, apparently, getting to know the "real" Cloud didn't affect Aerith's feelings for him at all. I hardly expected anything different considering how Aerith also recalled Cloud's behaviors and mannerisms perfectly in MotP, behaviors and mannerisms that were strictly Cloud's, not Zack's. Truly, Aerith knew the "real" Cloud all along, she just knew he was hiding behind a false front, thus her statement "I want to meet... you".

Besides, if Aerith didn't know the "real" Cloud, Tifa sure didn't either. She and Cloud were little more than strangers as children. Tifa herself stated this. In fact, Tifa didn't really start getting to know Cloud until he joined AVALANCHE many years later, right about the time he met Aerith. So, what applies to Aerith applies to Tifa as well.

Yep,all that you analyze here is correct.It just seems to me that these dates seem to confuse people,or at least that's what i can figure out from my experience on youtube comments and thus debates.People just keep saying Aerith never met the real Cloud coz he regained himself after she died.Something completely wrong because Cloud didn't change at all after falling to the Lifestream.I think he became what Aerith meant by saying meeting HIM,which i consider as "Please just be yourself by taking-off your SOLDIER-mask" coz that is the only thing that changed on Cloud after regaining himself. :cloud: