This Changes EVERYTHING: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Ending Explained (SPOILERS)
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2024
- Following the footsteps of FF7 Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth had an ending that goes completely off the rails. But here's my explanation and thoughts of what really happened. (ENDING SPOILERS)
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#finalfantasyviirebirth #finalfantasyvii #ff7
Cloud's breakdown is going to be wild in Part 3
Yeah I'm going to breakdown with him cause I don't have a single clue as to what the hell is going on
@edyl7393There's at least another 100 hours of gaming for Part 3, if you go by pure original FF7, Aerith's death is like half way into the game.
I have a feeling he's going to be Sephiroth's Vessel at some point like full on
@edyl7393What, did you honestly think the story would end at Rebirth? Don't you pay attention?
@@Soutar3DG i dont wanna relive that i cried like a baby when she died
When cloud blocked sephiroths sword, I legitimately thought he was going to save Aerith and completely change everything
well he did actually saved her, but in a different timeline
@@Chadzter01 So our cloud did not then?
Timeline change happens at the event, so a different cloud deflected the sword, and exists in a different timeline, ours did not.
This is something people are missing out, if a different timeline exists there is a different successful cloud in it and that cloud is the one who saved her, not ours. This also damages the Theory that a different Aerith is talking to ur Cloud.....why would she when the Cloud who saved her exists in her own timeline?
@@rankcolour8780no, main timeline cloud saved her and by doing so he created an another timeline in which aerith didn’t die. he’s able to stay in both worlds.
@@mkklit4525 sadly not how it works.
When timeline splits it creates a counterpart. If our cloud saved Aerith our Aerith would be alive.
Instead our Aerith is dead, so our Cloud failed while another Cloud succeeded.
@@rankcolour8780or perhaps it’s one and the same. Our Cloud saved Aerith, but because of the universe convergence she is both dead and alive existing in the rift. Cloud at the end however appears to be in between realities, able to perceive the fragmented world around him. This explains a lot but still leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
On the black materia, if you go back and watch the cutscenes at the Temple of the Ancients, Areith commente that the black materia on the alter is a fake. Which is why when Cloud drops it an scrambles for it during the escape Barret picks it up and tells him, "werent you just listening?" Cloud begs for it and Barret tosses it at him and says "whatever, man," because its fake.
Cloud hands Sephiroth the fake black materia. In the OG, the Temple of the Ancients its self IS the black materia and Cait Sith stays behind to shrink it down for you.
If you watch the scene in Rebirth you can see the Temple shrink into a cloud of dust into a small sphere shape and drop quickly to the ground where the temple was. Then Sephiroth cuts the branch Aerith and Cloud were standing on sending them to the bottom which is where Im assuming Cloud probably grabbed the materia at some point or it was placed on him, either by a Wisper or Sephiroth since his goal still seams to be to Puppeteer Cloud.
That black materia we see at the end is more than likely the REAL one.
wow, def need to check that again thanks!
Agreed.
@bloodtotemz8899 Exactly. Just wouldn't make sense.
i was also confused by that. She says that it's a fake and in the original the black materia WAS the temple so the temple had to be destroyed in order to obtain it. However this time she seems to almost implicate that this 'black materia' was merely to key to obtaining the 'true black materia'. IDK what the heck was going on with that.
No, actually you see him use the false materia to summon the real one in the cut scene when he makes the tree and then he rolls it to cloud to force them to hand it over/ make him choose to fight
The trilogy is LITERALLY a sequel to advent children: from the first game you can clearly tell that Aerith and Sephiroth knew what was going to happen in the future and by challenging fate multiple timelines were created so there’s still a chance to see Aerith back in the third game in fact she’s alive in Zack’s timeline.
She's going to return. There are so many hints of that happening+ The devs promised us a happy ending while AC will remain canon
I have a theory that rainbow light or whatever you can call it is a new timeline which has been created by Cloud when clashing Sephiroth. When he walks into the rainbow portal after fighting him, he says: Aerith. Wake up." and she does which prob means she's alive in the new timeline. He's also probably capable of seeing hard because of him creating that timeline in the first place. She's not a ghost because she doesn't enter the bronco and follow Cloud everywhere he goes. Also Nanaki can feel her presence too.
She has to be alive in the reunion. There are too many hints of that happening. NPTK alone is enough.
I think Aerith will most definitely come back, I wonder if they will address the shipping wars as to which is canon definitively and put it to rest? I think part 3 will be even more grander than part 2 as if they plan on tying up all loose ends from the compilation as well, there will be many story threads to follow such as Evan's story which would involve Leslie and Kyrie, then Verdot's and Elfe's story from Before Crisis along with the other 11 playable Turks one being Elena's older sister Emma aka Gun. Then the Dirge of Cerebus characters which were introduced, Nero and Weiss. The other characters Shelke, Shalua, Rosso, Azul, then the characters from the DoC multiplayer Argento, Pummel, and Usher. Then finally the elephant in the room is Genesis. Hopefully we will see Angeal too and I kind of would like more closure for Lazard at least more info on his and Rufus's relationship.
I think the pug timeline is the timeline where Cloud saves Aerith from being killed.
@@Andrewweiland4509 Just how many timelines are there currently now?
@@TravaillesDuChanson I think there are 3 or 4 timelines.
Cloud actually managed to save Aerith in forgotten capital. When Cloud blocked Sephiroth's sword a bright rainbow colored light appeared out of nowhere and then Sephiroth's sword flies into the ground. Then the scene switches into main timeline where he kills Aerith. We see Aerith being covered in blood when Barret and the others arrive to the scene. When we see them crying around her body there is no rainbow light anywhere to be seen. Then after the final fight is over Cloud walks to check on Aerith, the scene changes and Barret and the others mysteriously disappear and Cloud is suddenly alone with Aerith and this bright rainbow colored light is surrounding the altar. We learned from Zack's actions that this light symbolizes the creation of parallel worlds. Also Sephiroth said that everytime the fate gets breached it leads into the creation of another parallel world. This is what we see when Cloud blocks Sephiroth's attack in forgotten capital. The scene goes back and forth implying that there are two parallel realities where Aerith died and survived. Main timeline Aerith is dead but Aerith from that timeline Cloud's actions created is alive and well. When this light is surrounding the altar we see that Aerith is uninjured. There is no blood to be seen around her body. Cloud asks Aerith to wake up and she opens her eyes and smiles at Cloud. Main world Aerith's spirit also thanked Cloud for saving her during the last fight
"I saw what you did back there Cloud, thank you."
and Cait Sith's first fortune reading heavily foreshadows this moment:
"Things are looking up so throw your caution to the wind. Place your trust in others and the last minute twist may pleasantly surprise you."
I love this ending. Cloud finally saved her. This is the ending i wanted to see. Even if it happens in parallel timeline i'll gladly take it.
YES! Finally someone else understands the ending.
It is so blatantly clear that Cloud breached the fate and created an altered timeline where he saved Aerith. I love it. Our boy finally managed to save her.
@@ursusarctos4511 Yeah. This is what i wanted to see. Cloud finally saving Aerith. Even if it happens in altered timeline i'll gladly take it.
Hah! Nordic, glad to see you fighting the good fight over here :)
@@Silverfish-qv8ig someone has to explain the ending. Many people have missed this completely and i can't blame them. It took me two playthroughs to notice this but now it is clear as day what happened in forgotten capital. It's unbelievable that i didn't notice this during my first playthrough. The answer is in these small details the game tells us before the scene happens.
@@NordicWiseguy Totally on board bro. I was one of the first on here pushing this as I clocked the rainbow effect straight away. That's the key, as you say. So glad there are others that see it.
Two points of reference with regards to Aerith being dead and alive at the same time:
When Cloud says, "I got this," keep in mind that Sephiroth revealed to Cloud the existence of multiple timelines / worlds before this moment. Also, the obvious fact that the scene keeps switching between blood and no blood. In another video, it was suggested in the comments that Cloud was buying some time for Aerith. Whether that be to find a possibility for her to be brought back to the main timeline or to activate Holy we don't know. Either way, he seems to be in an understanding that he created a parallel timeline for her to survive in.
When she shows up again during the fight, Sephiroth says "I'll admit, I underestimated you." Why would he say that to a ghost? Also, Aerith says to Cloud "I saw what you did back there... Thank you Cloud." What did he do? Save her by putting her into a parallel timeline. Also, to a lesser extent but rather pertinent, Sephiroth angrily say to Aerith "You've played your part. Begone." It's almost like she's a persistent fly he can't get rid of.
Aerith is dead she is “alive” in clouds mind since shes now part of the lifestream and cloud has severe mako poisoning
“I saw what you did back there ,thank you “ this is the real Aerith talking, the REAL one from og or rather her spirit one that lives in lifestream. One that we see on the date with Cloud in slums “this is where you’ve been hiding “ she refers that Cloud saved another version of her.
I get the feeling that the core of the remake trilogy is the revelation that the original 7 was but one universe in a multiverse that Aerith and Sephiroth have been playing 4D chess in with one another since the beginning of time.
They embody a sort of Yin and Yang regarding said multiverse and can never truly be rid of one another. Some universes likely favor one or the other but the overall average of their scores across them all is always a draw. Sephiroth seeks to unify everything and rush a win there, knowing he's won in individual universes, and perhaps prefers even the possibility/risk of a definitive loss to Aerith over the eternal chaos.
I get the feeling that Aerith isn't as confident as Sephiroth and feels that either the cycle/battle continues indefinitely or they both finally eternally die in some way, no situation where she simply exists while he doesn't. Even in the original game, they essentially had a draw that reflects her thinking. Sure, Aerith is killed. But Sephiroth also ends up getting himself killed shortly afterward. And was the planet saved? Yes, but humanity apparently wasn't, not for long. The flashforward at the end of the game shows nature having long overtaken old buildings and structures of humanity, hinting that meteor still did enough damage that civilization was sufficiently disrupted so as to never again stabilize and eventually somehow perish in turn.
So why is Cloud the main character? It's how he relates to the both of them.
• Aerith: She's in love with him. Simple as that. Cloud is her love interest. Regardless of who you ship between Tifa and her, or if her feelings for Zack never went away, there is no doubt that Aerith does have feelings for Cloud. Something she probably couldn't explain intrigues her about him and draws her to him, perhaps just sensing their shared heavy relationship with Sephiroth.
Sephiroth: Sephiroth does know what we know about Cloud but downplays outwardly, and he additionally knows far more that we don't, because he's seen countless timelines, some we've never even had a glimpse of. He's well aware that Cloud isn't a failed Sephiroth "clone"; he's a project that aimed at even surpassing him and only appeared to fail due to Cloud's unusual mental states stalling his development. In terms of power, Sephiroth might have always viewed himself as the smartest kid in school and indeed made the best grades by orders or magnitude, and he might view Cloud as the kid sleeping in class with terrible grades, but whom he has inside information regarding that he's actually supposedly the one kid in school with a just slightly higher IQ, regardless of how he's currently performing. This intrigues Sephiroth.
It also seems that Sephiroth doesn't want Cloud dead if it can be helped, and might have plans to use him in some way to help defeat Aerith. It's hinted at with lines like, "Burn your world to the ground, as I did mine."
One other possibility that I don’t see anyone talking about is the possibility that Sephiroth is actively trying to subvert Jenova by unifying all of its pieces across timelines and have Cloud destroy it once and for all at the edge of creation.
Sephiroth wants a full power Cloud at the edge of creation to do something that he cannot. Aerith mentions during the final fight that she knows what he wants to do but can’t understand why he wants to be so lonely.
We also know that Jenova consumes planets and then travels to the next.
Perhaps this is Sephiroth free from Jenova’s corruption and attempting to help rectify his misdeeds, but can’t do it directly without Jenova interfering- so he plays his part but leaves enough clues and puts everything in place for Cloud to finish it off.
I will take every bit of Copium I can find to convince myself that aerith is alive and will reunite with everyone
I think it's also interesting to mention that Biggs implies that he is actually from "Our World/Timeline" and the Whispers transported him from Cloud's World to the Zack's World.
And that Biggs knows Cloud as a complete badass which confused Zack completely. I don’t understand what the point of bringing Biggs over to the other timeline was for. It makes no sense to me.
@@Jakamoe87 It was probably just to get fans talking.
Maybe it's not a timeline but a dream weaved by Jenova/sephiroth from Biggs and Zack memories. Huge cope from me as I don't like the multiple to timeline shenanigans.
What's the point?
Yup, and it's honestly very weird for the Whispers to do that. Like, shouldn't saving Biggs be the exact opposite of what the Whispers want to do?
I am invested in this story no matter where it's going. The gameplay, the soundtrack and the open world content is so huge and so good, even if the storyline is confusing to me at times, I can deal
Yh who cares about coherent writing right?
100%. It will become clear in part 3 though. So the confusion doesn’t bother me. We also have excellent minds in the streamers who cover the game and are able to break it down. So, I am happy and love the journey of FF7:Re.
@@MakenshiCritiquesit’s not that complicated tbh
@@MakenshiCritiques I care but in this instance if the gameplay and the experience of the game is really good, I can give it a pass. Maybe some FF7 lore expert can piece it together and show us what we missed.
@@DavidZMHsimilar thoughts here. The gameplay, side content, and first 90% of the first 2 games have been great. I think they will make part 3 stick to the motions of the og with a multiversal reunion where cloud will realize he has to accept aerith is dead in the only timeline in which sephiroth can be defeated and then in the ending he will probably have to fight sephiroth across universes and say a final goodbye to the aerith that's alive in the other timeline. I also hope they give tifa the development she deserves when they fall into the lifestream
I think your wrong about the clear materia turning into the black cause you can heard a distinct tink sound when he puts the clear one away like 2 glass orbs hitting each other
True, but remember this guy was so wrong about everything for so long and now denies that. He often brings us good news and updates but his game analysis are worthless, often missing the in your face things completely lol.
@@Mutation80 lmao this dude does like to revise hisotry!
@@Mutation80what some people don’t understand is that the plot of Rebirth/Remake is told in a way that expands upon the original without making major changes the change the narrative of the main plot from said original. It’s told in a way that keeps OG fans on their toes whilst expanding on the original but at the same time remaining faithful. Square has been telling us this since the E3 reveal trailer. The whispers from the Remake are somewhat a testament to that. Some people just fail to read between the lines. Had this theory since part 1 and part 2 kinda made me more confident in it.
I may be wrong but it makes the most sense.
Cloud saved Aerith but he only created another timeline where she is alive. Cloud who asked Aerith to wake up clearly isn't the main timeline Cloud. We see this Cloud being happy and relieved that he made it in time to save her. This is the only time we see this parallel timeline Cloud because then the scene switches into Cloud who is clearly sad and doesn't understand what happened until he sees main world Aerith's spirit.
Notice that after the final fight main world Cloud walks towards Aerith's dead body and there is no rainbow light anywhere and the other party members are around her body and they are crying. When Cloud gets closer to her body the scene changes, the other party members magically disappear and now there is bright rainbow colored light surrounding the whole altar. This tells us that we are watching parallel timeline Cloud holding parallel timeline Aerith and he asks Aerith to wake up and she opens her eyes and smiles at him.
This rainbow light symbolizes the creation of another timeline. We see this when Zack makes decisions and his actions create the pug and shiba timelines and that very same rainbow colored light filled the tunnel when pug timeline got created.
YES and i love this twist!
@@ursusarctos4511 Me too!
Cloud saving Aerith was something i wanted to see and we got it, albeit only in another timeline but it still counts!
Part 3 is going to be *really* interesting.
To your point, there was that perimeter of white whispers around her body that sort of made the boundary between the two timelines. The fact that Red feels her in the field is more than coincidence too.
@@dalegleneagles5072 yep. Aerith is really alive in parallel world, but dead in main world.
Can't wait for part 3
@@SilverSisu haha, yeah, but if one of the alternate world Aeriths also has a working white materia, could she "push" herself through a hole in the church floor and go back into the main timeline like Cloud did? All a bit messy to me. One thing's for sure: they're going to use Cloud seeing Aerith as a new twist on his decaying mental state - at least with regard to the other party members thinking he's losing it.
I very much thought of your prediction from back then when you said “cloud and Zack will fight Sephiroth together with a sword made of Mako energy” which is literally what happened. Cloud even has the slipstream saber as his final weapon, which is a sword infused with Mako energy. Good prediction!!
Also important to note that Cloud is the only party member to go through Aerith's portal at "destiny's crossroads" at the capital. Thus when he deflected Sephiroth Cloud and Aerith branched off into their own timeline.
yea probably why he can perceive both timelines
Also worth noting that Cloud and Biggs weren't presumed dead in the terrier time line, we see at the start of rebirth that Red is still alive in that time line and is the only other party member to somewhat sense her presence at the end as well. Not sure how that all ties in but I suspect it's related in some way.
Good point. I wonder how they will reconcile Cloud seemingly being stuck between worlds. Schrodingers Aerith.
@@rtl6832 I think his body is on the main timeline (A dead) but he can still see, talk etc to Aerith from the new timeline. He's literally stuck.
Remember what Cait said "trust in others and you may get a pleasant surprise. Lucky color - black"
Cloud trusts Aerith more than anyone else by quite the margin too and he is carrying the true black materia.
Cloud may work with Aerith to find a way for her to come back using the black materia. We only know of one thing it can do but if it's truly that powerful, there may be other uses.
Am pretty shure they all went through because they where all there in the fight with the arbiter of fate
Pretty sure the clear white materia did not turn into the black materia at the end of the game. You can hear the clanging sound of the two materia touching each other as Cloud puts the clear materia in his back pocket, which surprises him as he was not expecting to feel the other materia there. Also, the black materia is much larger than the empty white materia. As some have already surmised, the black materia that Cloud finds in his pocket is most likely the real black materia that he somehow acquired while fighting with Sephiroth in-between realities. The clear white materia will likely play a role in part 3, maybe it will become whole once again some how. We will find out when the next game comes out.
In the OG, the real black materia is actually the whole temple. If I had to guess, it just "fell" into the hole that Cloud and Aerith fell. I may need to look again but I think on the CG of the temple shrinking we get a few miliseconds of it becoming a ball.
Who put it in Cloud's pocket is the main mystery here. Maybe Aerith did? Liking it or not, it seems like the more things deviate, the worse the World gets.
Sephiroth said "perhaps you need a little push" then we can see the black whispers create portal. cloud slashed through Sephiroth. At that MOMENT, Sephiroth said "I give you my blessing" , I think Sephiroth give him the black material there since sephiroth baited him and he said "give". @@Illusionaire1
@user-fx9mk5wj4g Hmm. I suppose that it is possible thay Sephiroth gave the Black Materia to Cloud at this point as you mentioned. But my interpretation of what Sephiroth meant about giving Cloud his blessing was about murdering Aerith and giving him despair. Sephiroth's primary focus with Cloud in the compilation had always been about breaking Cloud, causing him to fall into rage and vengeance. Even in ACC, Sephiroth asks Cloud what does Cloud cherish the most, so that Sephiroth can take it away and give him despair or his blessing. At least that's how I see it anyway.
@@libertyfreesom no, the black materia was with aerith and she hid it behind her head. Cloud STOLE it from her. She gave him the fake black materia first, which he gave to sephiroth. Then she falls down the branch and he hurries to catch her. While he was catching her with 1 arm, his other arm REACHES out and steals it from her in the back of her head. This is revealed in the flashback scene.
@@Illusionaire1 My impression is since Rebirth made an origin for the black materia (Gi created it) that they also removed "the temple IS the black materia" plot point since that doesn't make sense anymore.
When cloud was choosing gifts for aerith only to have the vendors choose for him, that seemed pretty symbolic of there being an illusion of choice in this game.
In my own opinion this game has deviated very little from the original, aside from the interdimensional stuff, but that stuff is just the excuse the devs use to give you additional character interactions
i've never seen a comment w/ relative so few words start to cook so hard just to completely fall off at the end. lol
The inter-demential stuff was an excuse to bring Zack into the story. The game starts with ff7 remake letting you know that Areith and sephoroth know about the future and this world is trying to keep it on track. So they set up multi worlds from the beginning
@@Bakaridge can't please everyone, especially when not trying to please anyone
15:40, unless I'm mistaken, is one of the only times we see Sephiroth visible agitated. Meaning that this Aerith is the real deal and a threat.
so party now sees OG timeline, but cloud continues to see the remake timeline where he saved aerith since he was the only one that walked through the destiny crossroads barrier.
OG timeline is a different timeline from the Remake timeline too I'm pretty sure. No Stamp at all in the OG timeline. Also, in the Remake timeline, Tifa confirmed that Zack was the soldier that didn't make it on the trek up to the Nibelheim reactor. This must be a separate timeline from the actual 1997 OG timeline.
This makes sense, sephiroth can go through multiverses through that black portal and brought Gilgamesh from ff5, it looks like the same portal he uses when he meets sora in kingdom hearts 2 along with child advent timeline
@@DJChambernot necessarily. She just agreed with Cloud because she knows he’s losing his mind and didn’t want him to get upset or confused and have his head start hurting again
@@soku330I want to know why and how sephiroth figures out how to move worlds
@@mediumrarepotato7385He spent 5 years in the lifestream so I figure a lot of his knowledge came from there
After listening to all this, I'm again thinking about that scene in FF7R where Cloud falls in to the church and is immersed in white light and some petals. I guess Remake Cloud was really talking to a future Cloud from a different world?
No. That scene is in the OG also. It's True Cloud talking to him. The repressed Cloud that only gets put together after the Lifestream sequence with Tifa. He talks about scraped knees, referencing where he and Tifa fell off the Nibelheim bridge. She hits her head so hard she goes into a coma. He only gets minor cuts and scrapes and where his guilt starts for being too weak.
You're overthinking it, Jesse.
@@J01789 true 😂
No cloud has mako poisoning so he is hallucinating things remember he never MADE SOLDIER in part 3 when tifa cures him he comes to the truth
I feel like one of a few who actually enjoyed the ending and all the speculation around it.
Personally I do feel like the writers are using Cloud’s broken mind as a way to make the audience ignore the possibility that Aerith survived in another timeline. I agree it also feels like Cloud could have been switched from a branched timeline into one where he didn’t save Aerith, but we’ll see!
My one question is, why does it seem like Aerith is alone in this second timeline? 🤔 awesome video man!
it may have to do with when cloud checks up on aerith the one that he saves is surrounded by white whispers that seem to block off the others and the rainbow effect that indicates a new timeline is only a small circle underneath aerith idk what this really means but just something i noticed
I love it as well. In remake I was skeptical as i was an OG player as a kid, but no this new story is great and I'm perfectly fine with 2 different FF7 stories as opposed to a direct recreation
@@abdullahhussein4252 Any time there is a deviation from the 'original world' there is that rainbow effect, I guess visually implying that light is sort of bending or diffracting around reality. You can kind of use it to identify the events that are not real
Connection to advent children when cloud speak to Zack and aerith
@@supertaco2896 yeah those effects branch off different timelines like when we see zack create 3 different ones whether saving biggs or cloud or just going to the church doesnt make the tl any less real
So two things.
#1: The Gi had created the black materia through having strong desires of hate and anger because they stuck on the planet, never to return to the lifestream. We know that sephiroth tells cloud to hold onto hate/anger during both games, so it seems the clear materia cloud once had turned into a black materia through holding onto negative emotion. Cloud has the real black materia now and sephiroth is calling him north so that he can deliver it.
#2: When cloud clashes with sepiroth's blade he defies fate, causing a new reality to be born (as seen by the special lighting created at the time, also explained by sephiroth, also used to show when zack chose who to go after inside the tunnel). Now 2 worlds exist, one where cloud is successful in deflecting the blade in turn saving Aerith vs where he fails so Aerith dies. Cloud alone seems to be in the reality where he saved Aerith and therefore can see and hear her, while the gang is in the reality where aerith is dead. We know that Aerith's death ( or prayer before dying/or prayers while in the lifesteam) is the main reason why the planet was saved (Proof is that the white wispers that Aerith control also helps in making sure cloud doesnt deflect the blade, Aeriths & her wispers wants the OG story which in turn means Aerith has to die in that scene to save the planet).The reason why only cloud sees a torn sky that spells the doom of the planet is because in his reality he saved Aerith, while the rest of the team sees a normal sky because they're inside the reality where Aerith is dead.
Interesting observations. So could Aerith actually have been saved in the timeline we played for most of the game then Cloud somehow stepped out into the one where she died? One thing that struck me as odd was how the Tiny Bronco was fixed all of a sudden (unless Cid carries extra wings and never used them...)
you hear the materia clink around his pocket tho, it doesn't turn into the black materia. as far as the two timelines thing, i like that theory just sucks we wont know for years smh
If Cloud saved Aerith, then that means there exists a reality where the team can see Aerith. In the scenes, the game is just focusing on the timeline where Aerith was not saved. Aerith seems to have the ability to jump timelines and is cognizant of the different outcomes as she's watching over the party members. What's confusing is that the team in the dead Aerith timeline does not question or react to Cloud talking to himself. Cloud also does not interact with Aerith as a team. Cloud knows that different timelines exist since Sephiroth explained to him that different ones exist, but why isn't he telling the team this information? Everything is open ended.
That Forgotten Capital theme music/song always gives me chills.
I love the ending, it gives me a whole different perspective on what's to come in the final game.
I would love (even though i know it won't happen) for them to create a multi-ending scenario we can choose based on the actions and choices in game.
Wishful thinking lol
On the one hand, I feel like they overcomplicated things.
On the other hand, PLAYABLE ZACK WITH A FULL MOVESET LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO!!!!!!!!
It's kinda make things more easily to understand actually since we know have enough information to know what the gimmick is.
And the Multiverse things is more easier to understand now and there will be "less theorizing about whether if it's multiple timelines, lifestream world etc. etc.)
At least people now so new theories will more so only focus on that from now.
Hope we can fully customize him in part 3
I don't think it's too complicated. It's Final Fantasy after all and I love how deep this game goes in terms of emotions.
Was so happy to see his limit break.
I just like to remind everyone, that Timelines and messing with Time itself, is NOT new to Final Fantasy. It's been in since 1987, so if you're upset, maybe you're playing the wrong franchise.
I wonder if the reason why the Whispers are used to prevent new worlds/timelines from being created is that the LifeStream can only exist in the main timeline, so these additional worlds/timelines end up dying regardless and the Planet has the Whispers as a safety measure to prevent this from happening. I wouldn't be surprised if Sephiroth went back in time to change things in his favor and Aerith went back to prevent it and both of them hijacked half of the Whispers each.
i rly feel as if sephiroth is trying to make as many changes as possible
and he is trying to get cloud to do it for him as often as possible
also
its funny how aerith is alive in one timeline and sephiroth didnt kill her in that one with an additional attack, which he could have done ( do note that he knows she isnt dead, she was simply faking it for the others so the scene plays out)
there is a chance that a timeline collapses when the change dies
so aerith dies that timeline dies cuz she was the difference
would explain zack being deleted every time bringing as we see it an end to that timeline
I don't see any logical reason as to why Zack taking a bullet to the face or not (and so forth for the other choices) would destroy the lifestream. It feels more likely the planet is deliberately activating Omega for any timeline that isn't its preferred one. So much for defeating those whispers.
@@gadrielvanorion9872 With Sephiroth trying to create as many timelines as possible, it could be that he is attempting to reduce Aerith's ability to summon enough lifestream to push the meteor back. In the OG Holy wasn't enough on it's own, and required Aerith channelling the lifestream to raise meteor to the point where it couldn't be repelled. If the lifestream is continually fragmented by the creation of additional timelines, it might become too weak to repel meteor.
The lifestream is not bound to a timeline its outside of time because its eternal and quantum
I think aerith was still saved by cloud and he effectively made a new timeline that she survived in, we can see both worlds phasing in and out of each other after sephiroth "killed" her and started talking about the convergence of worlds and emotions we also see that when cloud is holding her body the white whisper effect surrounded them and that effect only happens for when fate got changed just like when zack was in the train subway and was deciding to go save biggs or get the cure for cloud and the latter showed the same effect when he went for the cure , the only possible explanation for cloud seeing aerith is that he was probably given the ability by aerith or maybe through the clear materia? to view other timelines although partially which could probably explain why he only sees the rift that only happens to worlds that defied fate like the one zack was in and aerith who is seemingly alive and aware of the present and isn't a vision 💀
Aerith`s hairband changes color in the scene where sephiroth stabs her. This must mean that we are seeing two different realities. One where she is saved and one where she dies. The hairband is pink through the entire game, but in the one scene where we see her die, it is suddenly purple. In the scene where she steps out of the portal to help fight sephiroth, the camere also zooms in on her hairband to tell you that this is Aerith from the tilmelinge where you saved her.
Honestly both look pink to me tbh and it's due to the fucked up lighting the game does.
theres also sephirot saying to aerith he underestimated her. to me it feels like she might have glitched the timelines purposedly so to switch herself with another self from one of the world that will end with her death, tricking sephirot so that he will believe he killed the troublesome one. and then later she returns. but once she did that she cant come back by herself, and this is where part 3 will come into play.
You didn't mention that Cloud was able to get the whisper walls to go fown because he was controlling the black whispers. It's a quick moment, but that was him
I forgot about this while processing the entire ending that comes afterwards! This adds to my feeling that the ending is more messed up and darker than people realized
I interpreted that as Sephiroth speaking through Cloud as he did earlier in the game. Sephiroth ordered the black Whispers to part. He wanted Cloud to be there. But... I'm probably wildly wrong. I'm certainly not going to claim what is more "true" at this point.
Cloud wasn't controlling the Black whispers, Seph wanted Cloud to save Aerith so he could "defy destiny" again. He wanted Cloud to be there.
I'm curious about that. IMO i think the planet, now that it was no longer bound by destiny, was trying to keep Cloud from Aerith to prevent her death. Sephiorth wanted Cloud there because he wanted Aerith dead, hence why the black whispers encircle his sword when he gets there, but then at the last second Cloud deflects the strike, seemingly causing some crazy multiverse shenanigans to happen.
This makes sense, sephiroth can go through multiverses through that black portal and brought Gilgamesh from ff5, it looks like the same portal he uses when he meets sora in kingdom hearts 2 along with child advent timeline
Even though she’s probably alive in another time line I still cried man, this a culmination of all of their work and a big moment that we’ve hold onto for over 20 years. And to see it executed so well I was so emotional
At the end, Aerith is now like Sephiroth. She can appear where she wants and when she wants. She even has her own 'feather' like Sephiroth has his black feather when he is present. When Zack is in the white void, a flower petal from the church floats down and he grabs it, showing Aerith's presence.
Aerith gave Cloud the white materia and then pushed him into another dimension so Sephiroth couldn't get it when he walked in the church. Once Cloud is back in the 'correct' world, Aerith takes it back. She essentially used him as a messenger to take the white materia between worlds in a game of keep away from Sephiroth.
Something to point out - Tifa briefly also sees the timeline where Aerith wasn't stabbed and bloody. That has to mean something.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong but they fly off in a plane at the end. Their plane/boat didn't have wings when they went there. Maybe they fixed it but is it possible that indicates they are not in the same timeline where they just drove a boat. So the plane flying was a separate timeline to where Aerith opens her eyes when Cloud says wake up after fight with Zack/Sephiroth.
Also, Zack saying don't let her die is pretty anti-climatic if she just dies a minute later.
@@wilb6867 I think it was implied that they fixed the tiny Bronco up, I don't think it's intended to be a different timeline.
@@sonic4life Ok ya might be seemed so quick to have done it. Found a good article on the various universes if you're interested look up: explaining-analysing-what-happens-in-final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-ending. On rpgsite
We still in beagle universe be interesting to see in final part trilogy?
@@sonic4life Also, I've looked up a lot of data and there seem to be several main points on why Aerith alive if you're interested. Short point-like form is basically this, dogs indicating timelines, homecoming references by both Aerith and Sephiroth meaning reunion of timelines (essentially all timelines merging with lifestream to be one), Aerith pushing cloud to new timeline at Church and Sephiroth able to do same to Zack, Aerith guiding Zack to battle against Sephiroth, Aerith thanking Cloud after he "saved" her during sword clash with Sephiroth, Cloud and Aerith date and Sephiroth saying he found where she is hiding (a universe that's accepted it's fate), Aerith saying she'll be okay to come back at end scene to Cloud and her saying like a second home (parallel universe likely), Red senses her presence (indicates real Aerith) when she touches him by plane during end cutscene, Cloud seeing her and also seeing crack just like date universe indicating she hiding other universe once again, reunion meaning timelines merging by Sephiroth statement but also implies reunion of all characters (Zack, Biggs, Jessie, Aerith, etc.) which almost guaranteed third part title, rainbow colors (inidcates timeline shift) when she was saved and white whispers floating around her when Cloud approaches her body (white whispers work for planet/Aerith), her opening eyes/no blood/different body positions and raising hand, Zack saying the worlds could reunite again, Cloud passed whisper wall to enter Sanctuary where Aerith prayed and other comrades didn't so he created timeline change so he is able to see the saved Aerith but other's can't because they stayed behind to open passage for him (except Tifa who bathed in lifestream earlier and see's flash of Aeriths survival), Aerith likely staying down despite not being stabbed in "eye-open/saved" universe to transfer her consciousness to another world to help Cloud/change timeline to hide from Sephiroth like she did in date universe, Cloud crying and not crying between flashes after Aerith stabbed/not stabbed, Cloud talking in one moment while holding Aerith then not in another, black materia and clear pray materia ending up in his pocket at end (clear one was giving to him after transferring white materia one to from Aerith to another Aerith) director hoping to give happy ending with twist, etc....
All in all, timelines going to merge like Sephiroth plans and he will win up to that point likely but lifestream is going to fight back with Aeriths assistance and rest of alive/currently deceased cast to fight back against Sephiroth and save lifestream (this means likely everyone, Marlene's dad, Barrets wife, maybe even Tifas dad, etc.) Everyone will be alive for a time period, who stays alive we will see, hopefully the main ones at least. Hopefully multiple love endings for Cloud as option with one more lore-wise the favored one. Probably a Zack/Aerith ending and TIfa/Cloud one but hopefully Cloud/Aerith one occurs too. Maybe less concrete on relationship but happy at least I believe.
Note: The lifestream is creating a self-contained multiverse that depends on the lifestream but likely not a full on multiverse independent of lifestream, just one that is self-contained and may even be an effect of Sephiroths inability to merge with it after death of first game (since he aware of it) setting off the "Lifestream-multiverse" to begin with, all these different fates an attempt of Sephiroth to win and the lifestream to correct/fight against Sephiroth's tampering.
Long but kept as concise could. I am looking forward to Aerith coming back to cast pray like she said she would at end.
Nojima, Nomura, and Katise interview released for Ultimania confirms multiple universes and dog theory. Zack creating new timelines by decisions and confirms they put in Cloud deflecting sword attack as fans always wanted that (more or less confirming her survival in a new timeline and did happen). Even mentions the party fighting Sephiroth, Cloud fighting Sephiroth, and Zack fighting Sephiroth all occurred in different worlds indicating maybe Cloud ended up in the wrong timeline after saving Aerith (or some multiple world shenanigans) and she will come back as she says she will when talking Cloud. Kitase even says his desire to give fans a happy ending and wants all characters to be given a happy ending! More or less confirming Aerith coming back as he is saying this after nearly everything of the main story is written.
It's impossible not to understand why this ending is controversial, and I do think it gets more complicated than it needs to, however, if they're setting this up being Cloud denying Aerith's death and having to face the reality of what happened in the lifestream, it could be a very good setup. Cloud struggling more with losing Aerith, in my opinion, would be a worthwhile addition to the original
I think that is more or less definitely what they're setting up for, cloud (and by extension most players that love aerith) just cannot accept having lost her, and doing further damage to his mind than what was present in the original, where as back then it was almost like the first step to him truly waking up from his entire delusion and starting to feel again, now its like he's hit his lowest point imaginable, regardless of the fact that on the surface we see him smiling and thinking she's there, we know she's not, at least not in the main world we will experience. So really unless they just do some crazy shit and actually bring her back into the main world (which I dont think they will, her death and everything that follows is like literally the entire third act of the game and the point of it) its all just to set up to make the repairing of cloud's mind that much more impactful, he'll have to come to terms with it as the final straw.
That all being said, yes the other world is a thing, so aside from the main world and its story, I feel like this is all also just a way of allowing people to see a version of things on the side that DID play out differently, but with the reminder that these are dying worlds, its still a grim reminder that its just not meant to be...
@@SSlashyeah exactly this. They did not lie when they said the story would mostly stay the same. Sephitoths comments about the multiverse being “dying worlds” proved this even more so. Because if it means that eventually this alternate timeline Aerith disappears and withers away it’ll set it for something much more tragic imo.
Some people think that they should’ve done it 1:1 and I get that, but when it comes to this moment especially with aeriths death, no matter how well they do it they can’t recreate that impact that was created back in 1997. So them doing it this way is a way to make it more fresh for modern audiences
I definitely think you are right
@@jamrah8713 I mean honestly I've been 100% fine with all the additions and everything, and if the end result of this is somehow a version of aerith bleeding over and staying alive in the finale of the main timeline then that'll for sure be robbing the story of a lot of what it was, and I think they coulda played this ending very straight laced with no whispers involved and had it be way more dramatic if some of the old lines were intact and voiced, and if we had to watch him lower her into the pool, they coulda even kept all the phases of the boss intact except for the aerith one, maybe have Zack at the very end instead, idk it all depends on the payoff
I just beat it a few hours and am still digesting it, but the amount of battles was a bit absurd!
Tifa sees the other timeline for a brief moment. Maybe it's due to her falling in the life stream early. She seems to see the other side for a moment
When I saw the huge sephiroth Boss battle I thought i would hear Birth of a God boss battle. I took that personally.
This was really unecessary imo. I dont like it at all.
Same here, damn shame
😢yep
None of his boss themes were BoaG arrangements?? I’m sure they can’t have forgotten it, maybe it’ll appear in the next part.
@@yoseisovereign6728 yea that's what I figure it is but it was the one thing i thought when the boss appeared. Was excited to hear it. Can't wait to hear what they come up with in the next game.
NSP finally gets to say... "I TOLD YOU SO!"
All the people who did mental gymnastics to deny the obvious multiverse are looking pretty dumb right now.
Lol there are people still fucking denying it after this ending, some people can not be convinced.@@mysticmarbles
@@WaffleOnTheRun It’s sad because so much media now is dumbed down to the point where it feels like a count the shapes segment from Sesame Street. The devs are trying to trust the audience’s intelligence but a lot of these people don’t deserve it.
@mysticmarbles I saw someone trying to say it was all a dream... like bro
Cloud was mentally messed up in the original after this part, but man does it seem like he is going to be a whole other level of messed up in the part 3 remake
That scene with the whole party mourning and Cloud acting completely callous was just sickening to watch. That really hurt Tifa.
On the real, f Tifa and to an extent f Aerith and everyone else. Cloud is clearly not well and instead of telling him this, they pretend like nothing happened.
Aerith I'm willing to forgive because she probably knows what's going on due to her being an Ancient, but what's everyone else's excuse? Cloud slaughtered those Shinra soldiers at the reactor and then almost killed Tifa and no one says much about it afterwards?
@@Tripman06 this game rocks overall but there are definitely nitpicks
@winter8109 oh yeah, I love this game, but I felt myself getting frustrated at all of the uneasy stares from them whenever Cloud "glitched" out.
@@Tuningforks85 Cloud wasn't being callous, he actually believes that he saved Aerith and she is alive so why would he be mourning. Again, this is more Jenova/Sephiroth messing with Cloud's mind!
@@BTM8109basically the game rocks when it's faithful to the original period and it's got its nitpicks when it's refusing to obey the original story.
So Aerith is totally coming back in the third game near the end, right? I reckon all the timelines will merge and the final trio to take on Sephiroth will be Cloud, Zack and Aerith. But after Sephiroth’s final defeat, Zack and Aerith tell Cloud that the world has to go back to ‘how it should be’ and that they don’t have a place in it, as they both were destined to die. So they join the lifestream together, thereby maintaining the outcome of the original but ridding Cloud of his guilt- because he did save Aerith, and she chose to move on.
Either that or they all live happily ever after but I think they’ll go for a more bittersweet ending.
bookmarking this because I think you nailed it.
i'm sorta predicting that they'll be able to save all worlds after defeating Sephiroth for good (especially the one where Aerith and Zack are alive) but due to multiverse shenanigans Cloud can't be a part of that world (less it undo all of reality) and has to accept that "his" Zack and Aerith are dead so it's having your bittersweet cake and eating it too
I really you nailed it too. Well done. We shall see in 5 years
I wonder if there wil be multiple sephiroths,id like jenova to have a bigger role and possibly see a timeline sephiroth that stayed good
all in part 3 its all heading to a big battle with the help of all party members aerith zack an past members briggs and jessie are all of a sudden are back alive in the ultimate show down between seperothe and cloud fight it out cloud defeats soperothe in the fight cloud is wounded so badly he finally dies with all his friends gathered around him gets a true hero's send off Aerith and zack and tifa and friends grieve over him with his passing away Genova is finally defeated in many places through out the world memorial stones of the heros tribute to stopping the great evil from midger to the forgotten city and everywhere a tribute to a warrior and died a hero
When Aerith was saved/killed did you notice that the glow around them at the time was the same as it is when Aerith pushed Cloud through the portal to between worlds? Almost as if reality was changed the moment Cloud saved Aerith back to the OG FF7 timeline or something similar!? I suggest that reality was altered either by Sephiroth or by the planet itself because the white whispers are still circling around them afterwards almost protectively...
It was planned out by Aerith.
Sephiroth told her he underestimated her xD
@GiorgosAigio96 Yep! When she walked out of that portal with Holy still in her hair I was "LET'S FUCKING GOOOO!!!!" So hyped he saved her
I think it was simply an hallucination of Cloud caused by mall degeneration and Jenova/Sephiroth controlling him.
My theory is that Cloud has created a new timeline, where Aerith is alive.
@@LodyPolskieNarodoweand that aerith that is alive managed to help cloud out against Sephiroth which he wasn’t expecting at all (hence his line “I underestimated you”). People have predicted since the first game that Aerith has some sort of knowledge of the future or similar powers to Sephiroth in the sense of altering time shenanigans or travelling through multiple worlds. That fight with her against Sephiroth basically confirms it
i presumed that he has both the depleted white materia and the black materia, as you could hear a "clink" of materia orbs hitting one another as Cloud goes to put the white materia in his pocket. there is a noticeable size difference between the two.
When he gets up there’s only one
@@mediumrarepotato7385 so i take it that pockets aren't a thing then? don't think cloud and the group go about holding materia and items on one hand all the time =)
I am leaning your way, but thought it was odd that we got a whole gameplay segment from the Gi talking about taking a “pure materia” and infusing it with sorrow and grief to make it the black materia. Could be they just wanted to explain it, but feels like we have all the ingredients.
Yes we heard a clink. But then again, we hear biggs eating chips as well.
We heard zack drown in nibelheim as well.
His mind makes everything up, including sounds.
My theory is, he only has 1 materia, the black materia. He made everything else up.
sounded like two marbles hitting each other. i know what you mean.
Very well made video. Straightforward and clear explanations.
Sounds like there will be a lot for the Remake fan base to speculate on for another 2+ years haha.
I'm personally not a big fan of taking FFVII in a multiverse direction, but happy for those who have been enjoying the FF7R series so far. Hope they finish the series in a way that fans like.
Appreciate it! :)
I think after part 3, most of all of this will make sense. People gotta remember, it's a trilogy. You're not suppose to know everything after the first 2 parts. Hell, you should play through the game more than once to understand the story. I've played through the final 2 chapters twice now and it makes a lot of sense the second time around
Just to clarify the life stream worlds or purgatory theory could still be well valid, because they are memories told from the perspective of Zack, and in Zack memories different pathways play out that lead to certain characters existing in his world, it do not mean they are actually dead, I see no conflict of logic in that.
Well sephiroth does talk of aerith hiding in memories of dead worlds. But if you realize that the place she brought cloud, is before the sector 7 plate fell if iam not mistaken meaning all those people they were meeting were already dead and its implied they knew as they act like it's the last day of their life. The one candy Landy even says this was her final creation. So she literally pulled cloud into the memories of the dead.
Cloud & Zack fighting Sephiroth together... Take your money!! 🤣
Incredibly well made video, thank you for explaining it so well! This deserves lots of love! Great job!!
Thank you so much!! I appreciate it a ton!! :) Means a lot to me, friend!
@@TheNightSkyPrince Seriously insightful, as much as I'd enjoy a basic like for like 'remake' it has been an awesome experience, thoroughly enjoying the journey with these great characters and loving the discussions it has generated. Appreciated the story more after watching your video...You are up there with the best content creators! Glad SE recognised you for it :) 👍
@@TheNightSkyPrince Nice vid, could you share what song you're using in the background at 23min15sec in the vid? Thanks.
@@albertvu7787 song of the ancients (Popola)
Not sure how I feel about Bizarro appearing here but the design was absolutely amazing.
As a huge fan since 1997 all I can say is that I really love the breath of fresh air we get with the FF7R-Trilogy. I wasn't really into it at first but the more I replayed Remake and now this game the more I really admire it. Well done SquareEnix!
We deserved to see Cloud save Aerith and watch her live past the temple of Ancients.
No we don’t deserve that. That’s not the story , story she dies. It’s annoying that they found a way to keep her alive possibly at the end of the whole story hopefully she stays dead
@@Thegoat30000the future is now, old man. the better story is with aerith living
@@benbro4074🥱 is fan made not even the og creator ..
Remember that one Versus XIII plot leak that talked about Stella being dead at the beginning of the game and is only alive inside Noctis's mind? This plot point is brought back now. Nomura is having his Versus XIII made one way or another
Great analysis, the ending took me a while to understand so heres my notes and theories: (beagle is the main world that our party is in, terrier is the dying world zack and biggs got transported to)
A meta way of looking at zack and biggs' existence in the terrier world is about destiny and free will. In this dying world, people have accepted that they will die and dont even struggle to change this. However, zach is unique in that he encourages other to and continues to struggle no matter what, imposing his will as best he can. In this terrier world he choses to look for Hojo and runs into the troppers. Same thing happens when he chooses to go to the reactor to check on biggs (the rainbow effect also denotes that fate has been branched, in this case the creation of a new pug world). These branching paths of fate are what create new realities as sephiroth says, but they are doomed to be destroyed and absorbed into the singular connected lifestream. I dont think we would think this is a multiverse, but rather a bunch of realities that exist at the same time, sort of like in ff14. Also, the theme is inescapable fate is very present, the fatal encounter with the shinra troopers always catches up to zack in these worlds. Biggs also dies in the pug world too. What we can say this means is that for those who are "fated" to die, their existence is like a red flag in these worlds. I'll get back to this point later.
What i believe this all means in the ending: cloud is seeing Aerith from the world he created when he saved her from sephiroth. He also cannot cope with the idea that he couldnt save her in beagle world and that fact that aerith is dead, so this further deludes him into thinking all is fine. This is also why the funeral scene doesnt happen, it would contradict clouds demeanor. Why would he attend a funeral for someone who hasnt died? Cloud is both in denial but also confused here, and it seems in part 3 he will have a reckoning with this fact. As we know from the lake in the cave of the Gi, aerith was able to feel zack's hand from another world, so it isnt inconsistent from Red XIII to feel her prescence in the final cutscene. That just confirms that she is indeed alive in another world. However things are not looking good for this aerith. Since cloud is seeing events in both worlds he mistakes the sky tear being in beagle world when it is actually in the alive aerith's world.
Why am i so sure? As we mentioned before, doomed worlds (ones with the tear) have something in common: someone that shouldve died is alive (ex biggs and zack). Aerith's world is doomed and cloud hasnt pieced it together, and so I suspect that at the end of part 3 she and zack's world will be destroyed and their souls merged with the greater lifestream, but not before they play a part in stopping sephiroth's reality spanning plans. This gets us to advent children nicely, but leaves things open for zack and aerith to have a greater role in part 3.
Ok I disagree on a few things. Cloud DID deflect Sephiroth's Sword and save Aerith, and as a result he "shattered" Fate like they did in Remake and create multiple new Timelines, which explains why we see different scenes. Barret even comments that the Wall of Whispers Cloud goes through is like the one at the end of Remake, which also "shattered" Fate and created new Timelines. To further prove she was saved and the Aerith that we see show up to fight Sephiroth is alive, she says " I saw what you did back there, thank you", so it is her acknowledgment that Cloud saved her. Also Sephiroth acknowledged she was there obviously, so it wasnt in his head. Lastly in the final cutscene you notice that the Wind is blowing and Aeriths Dress is moving, and when she moves in the Grass, it moves as well. So this is my theory.
I believe the Timeline Rebirth started in Aerith DOES die. When Cloud saves Aerith from Sephiroth he makes a Version of OUR Aerith that doesnt die, and we see her in the final fight, as well as the one we see alive in the cutscenes. We see that Aerith is actually able to use Sephiroths Methods against him by pulling Pieces from multiple Timelines to create the Ideal Situation to Combat him, similar to how he is trying to use the Timelines to Piece Together his Victory. After beating Sephiroth Aerith asks Cloud if he is ready to" Go Back", this means back to the Original Rebirth Timeline to the Point of After her Death. The problem is in the Rebirth Timeline Cloud has a Body to back to, but Aerith doesnt. Both Aerith and Cloud are stuck "in-Between" Worlds which is why Cloud can now see Aerith as well as the Tear in the Sky. Aerith talks about "going home" which likely means she will go to the LifeStream since she is both Alive and Dead and can probably freely travel between the two. Dont forget that they have a Coma Aerith purposely in Zacks World, so I bet our Aerith will inhabit that Aerith and meet up with all of the Party in Part 3. There is no way they would have a Coma Aerith if they didnt plan on bring her back in some way. However due to the Arbiters of Fate, at the end of Part 3, Aerith and Zack will have to stay behind in a new Timeline since they cant exist in the Original 1997 Timeline without the Whispers trying to kill them.
Sorry for the ramble, but thas just how I see it. This is the dude who made Kingdom Hearts, and we all know how they refuse to kill of characters in that series................
You're not rambling you're honestly right. OG Aerith is dead and Rebirth/Remake Aerith is also dead, however, there's a new timeline that has Aerith alive (because Cloud saves her).
We're still missing (2) Zack's, (1) Aerith (the one that was in a coma), and (1) Cloud (the comatose Cloud in the wheelchair). They'll def play a part in the next game.
@@thisismobius Dude I see the final battle being a MASSIVE Army of Clouds descending on Sephiroth from all the Timelines Aerith has been collecting, because that is something Nomura would do. Or at least Two or Three Clouds. Remember how those Three Red, Yellow, and Blue Bosses in Remake represented Tifa, Barret, and Cloud? So I see them doing the same stuff but as allies and not mutants.
@@CrowFuuthe 3 minions in remake were Sephiroth remnants, not cloud Barrett and Tifa.
This is how I see the ending as well and it's unfortunate. I thought we could defy fate and have Aerith remain with Cloud. But it looks like overall the story really won't change at all. The remake trilogy is a long winded way of basically telling exactly the same story.
Or there could be 3 or 4 timelines
Is it just me, or does Sephiroth's plan in the Remake trilogy sound like Ultimecia's plan in FF8? The whole 'time compression' thing?
KOMPRESSION* 😂
Had the same exact thought. FF8 is my favorite :)
I definitely think the scene where Cloud lowers Aerith's body into the water is being intentionally obscured. The group sitting around the water suggests the scene *just* happened off screen, but Cloud, looking distraught, quickly starts to short circuit again before straightforwardly telling everyone they're going like nothing happened...and talking to an Aerith that no one can see (whether she's a ghost, an delusion, a projection, or maybe a bit of all of the above is up for debate.). I feel like this is insinuating that Cloud has intentionally suppressed the memory of laying her to rest.
The scene is one of the most, if not the most iconic image from the original game. It's even in Advent Children! Considering how much attention to detail they've displayed in this game, whether it's reimagining original scenes or recontextualizing them, I really doubt they forgot this scene. This version of Cloud is essentially in a mode of full denial about Aerith's status (and again, whether there's a legitimate reason for that....like he can actually see her ghost, or he's just crazy, or a bit of both is up for debate.) so it makes sense that he'd suppress that memory even if it were recent.
I bet you anything the scene will come up in either the dlc, from someone else' perspective (I'm predicting Vincent is going to be the central character of a dlc.), or will appear in game 3 when Cloud starts to get his sanity restored. He'll have to confront it.
Also on whether or not the clear white materia transforms into a new black materia, I do think that's the case and I feel like it was hinted at by a lot of Aerith's more heavier dialogue throughout the game, where she speaks about feeling angry and other such "ugly" thoughts she doesn't like, but nontheless has. While fleshing out her character for sure, I feel like those scenes serve a bigger purpose too because Sephiroth said that he wants the lifestream to feed upon negative emotions.
I promise I’m not just a FFVII Original Purist. I’m fine with the new stuff but I really didn’t like this ending.. it was just convoluted and took a lot of the emotion out of what was happening. I was left more confused than sad.. also it’s like why should I care about anything when every death just gets reverted in some alternate timeline. It really left a sour taste in my mouth from an otherwise amazing game. I hope some people can relate to how I feel.
I recommend playing the last game, because if I'm right about what I think they're going to do to resolve this trilogy, then the big sad moment of this story is yet to happen.
Given that the burial scene is intentionally removed, i feel that we can see it at Part 3. Honestly, my initial impression of the ending is i didn’t like the direction of it. The more i digest it, the more i like it. It grow on me.
I feel ya. I’m just waiting for the payoff in part three. Because this game still hasn’t given a clear picture imo about all the new additions like zack and biggs and this new sephiroth and aerith. It feels like it was pointless, even though i know it isn’t. I say this a zack fan.
@polodhtip6061 I see a different scenario playing out though, and it's one where Aerith sacrifices herself to stop Meteor by fusing with it so that Cloud and the party can destroy it with the Midgar Cannon at the end of the last part. Honestly, I don't know how else they would stop Meteor and prevent the Geostigma.
Unless they're going to let Meteor hit the Planet and do a World of Ruin scenario where there's a whole other half of the game afterward. But I don't know that there would be time to do that after the other storyline moments. Plus, there would basically be no character development during that part unless they're going to do something with the secondary cast.
It seems to make more sense that it ends with Aerith sacrificing herself, the Meteor being destroyed, and the final instance of Aerith in the multiverse being killed, which also prevents the Geostigma (the whole goal of this entire campaign).
I share this sentiment. Even if I take away any expectations of what happened in the OG and just viewed this as a new player, my own emotions would be just so dissonant with what was going on in the final scenes. First I'm going back and forth on the status of Aerith's health, then I'm in the Jenova fight and everyone's in a pretty good "let's do this!" mood, then Zack shows up and it's a hype moment, then Aerith shows up and it's like "oh....okay!" and then she fades away and it's like "aw...wait." but then she opens her eyes when Cloud tells her to wake up and I'm like "yay?" but then I'm also wondering why she was playing dead if she was never stabbed in the first place. Zack's gone again and I'm left wondering what was the point of him in the grand theme of the game. And so we cut to the party and everyone's sad, and I feel like I'm walking in on a funeral for someone I don't know. Cloud's like "sounds good!" with a straight face. Tifa looks real sad, so I feel sorry for her, but then Aerith's also later speaking with Cloud. The ending had me thinking a lot. And that's nice, but that's all it's doing. Even after deciphering everything and seeing all the sensible theories I still don't really feel much. I teared up seeing Ifalna's passing for the second time though. That felt like a really heartfelt story moment, whereas the ending feels more meta, in the sense that it was done for the purpose of engaging fan theories.
8:25 - it should be noted that the portal was not opened by a White Whispers. It was opened by three Black Whispers, who reacted to Cloud calling for Aerith (he's a Sephiroth's clone, it's possible that he was temporarily able to enforce his will upon them, without even realising it). Also, not just any portal. Destiny Crossroads, again. Where Cloud goes alone this time. The party only rejoins him after the Black Whispers barrier is removed.
9:43 - at first I thought about this being sort of "whisper retcon", or the result of the ongoing confluence of worlds. But now I think it may indicate that Sephiroth is unable to perceive (at least yet) the reality, where Cloud saved Aerith. Him laughing (at Cloud failing despite trying?) would fit that as well.
10:51 - the rest of the gang was not at the Destiny Crossroads, they are probably unaffected by the change of fate. Also, notice the "dimensional barrier" (bright, colorful light), and how it separates Cloud and Aerith from the rest of the gang, when she is shown to be alive. Sephiroth is shown both outside and inside, so I am not sure, what he is able to see.
Flashback's can have several explanations, and those are not mutually exclusive:
- Jenova influence
- with the confluence of worlds taking place, realities may overlap (this would explain, why Tifa seemingly was able to get a glimpse of Aerith without blood on her hand).
- the ones with Cloud doing what looks like his monologue from the OG are similar to him previously seeing visions of Aerith's death. He may be able to see the "uncut edition" now. It would explain his confusion, and how he is basically forced to shed tears, similar to how he was unable to hold them in Sector 5 back in the Remake, when he had a vision.
16:00 - the choice of words is interesting. Does he somehow interact with the version of Aerith in a coma in one of the doomed realities?
18:15 - one interesting quality Aerith displays, is the hints of her physical presence. She has to walk from site to site, she touches Red.
18:40 - probably different, and the "clear" White materia might have to do something with Cloud's ability to see both worlds. Notice, how Cloud rotates it, and sees the reflected version of the environment.
Had a thought that aerith’s dream timeline is that she wished for her and cloud to be together in sector 5. But she knew it wouldn’t be possible. But it’s nice to know in one timeline they were together. She felt more intimate in that timeline.
Here's my theory: Cloud intentionally calls out Aerith for acting 'weird' all day. Aerith is attempting to throw Sephiroth off the trail that she is the 'real' Aerith. I am thinking that all of these timelines each have a husk of each character but they aren't the true character. Aerith is trying to act like that timelines Aerith to throw Sephiroth off from finding her in this world, but he still does. Then Aerith uses Cloud as a messenger boy to get the white materia to the correct universe.
Just my theory because I thought it was odd that Cloud intentionally calls out Aerith's 'off' behavior multiple times so it made me think that she was attempting to act like that timelines Aerith.
Given how remake and even rebirth handles the main cast, I thought they would be able to hit emotional highs that surpassed og ff7 and I strongly believe it was still possible even if significant changes to the story were made. Barret is a strong example in rebirth of how the focus of the corel region really elevated that part of the game's story telling. However, what the remake trilogy seems to be juggling is having its cake and eating it too. They WANT to keep the og moments and improve upon them (ie previously mentioned barret) while also keeping the og fans on their toes with changes for the sake of change as opposed to changes that would elevate the core themes of ff7.
I loved how they showed Aerith and Tifa bonded throughout these 2 games and the part where Tifa is eaten by the weapon and has her memory trip reminiscent of repairing Cloud's fragmented mind is not only a very cool set up for when she inevitably does the same in the third game, but is a great moment for the character and player to reflect on Tifa's character and motivations (except the introduction of the white whispers).
TLDR: the remake trilogy's story has been at its best when they leverage and expand existing character motivations and themes as opposed to when they go full kingdom hearts.
It feels like the story in Remake lacks focus. There are so many plot threads to keep track of that I don't know what I'm supposed to care about.
@@christianlopez707 I think the team really lost sight of what made ff7 tick! What always resonated with me about 7 despite it not being my favorite ff is the beauty in the fragility of life coupled with it being ok to rely on friends and family for help and to be true to yourself. Sephiroth wasn't menacing because he has a grandmaster multiverse plan, but because he is also a broken soul that had no support and came to the wrong conclusions.
I want to highlight that Hamaguchi just some dayd ago said "we are only taking what is already there and making it richer and more detailed". So even though it might look confusing right now I assume the whole "different world" stuff is indeed a layer on top of og that is supposed to elevate the concepts of og. I agree though that the confusion often takes away from og when it goes into hyper mode
@@ydynahmikhan5399if you played the game they clearly didn't
3rd game should really swap Cloud's weapon now with the Fusion Sword if ever Zack becomes more playable in the next one.
I love this detail at the end of the sephiroths battles when Aerith joins Cloud for the final fight, Cloud takes on Zack’s sword stance that Zack did a moment before when they took on Seph together
In the scene where cloud saves Aeris, I believe the rest of the party (a little delay for tifa who sees Aeris saved) see the main timeline where the death occurs. It's interesting as I see that scene as the rest of the party falling victim to jenova with the static instead of cloud. Regardless I am really looking forward to the potential dlc and part 3. They have done a most excellent job keeping it unpredictable. Thanks for the amazing video.
6 characters had been shown to be able to have memories from different timelines - Sephiroth, Aerith, Red, Zack, Biggs and MARLENE. Now also Cloud is able to as well. If they don’t explain this in the 3rd part, it’s gonna be a complete mess.
The confusing part is that Biggs not only seen to have memories of different timelines, but we could assume he was "transported" from one timeline to the next.
gonna be? It already is a complete mess.
Going to be?
They are ruining this thing.
Nah the memory things make 0 sense to a point that I think they made a big oopsie
@@Illusionaire1The same happened with Zack and Cloud where he survived, because the OG party still had their adventure in Midgar and ended up in the road, which couldn't have happened without Cloud there.
Embrace your dreams and protect your honor
As a puppet
😂😂😂
My theory is that Cloud is currently on the main world, seeing things from another world.
There is something to note in the Zach solo battle with Sephiroth, It is possible to use a Synergy Attack with Cloud. I did it twice during my initial playthrough
Something I’m really excited for now that I’ve had time to digest the ending is that we have a trio. Cloud, Aerith, and Zack final fight against Sephrioth all as one party I’m convinced is going to happen in the final game (most likely named Reunion based off how much it’s thrown around). Happy endings aren’t always bad…
I kinda like how Cloud's mental state is rapidly going downhill the closer you get to the end of disc 1 (OG)
like, he starts to have more emotions and grows closer to the crew, then the closer you get to the temple, the more controlled he becomes and the more shattered his mental state becomes.
like when Sephiroth basically controlled him at the Gongaga reactor and he went super soldier on us and basically just dodged bullets and sliced at Tifa, even severely regretting his actions.
the same when we go from everyone rushing to Aerith's side, seeing her dead and are shocked and saddened, meanwhile Cloud smiles and acts like everything is normal.
then we skip to where Cloud normally would put Aerith's body, but we skip that part, it's likely that Sephiroth actively blocked that part out for now concidering this Cloud seems a lot less stable than the OG Cloud, this Cloud is at the point of no return, his mental state is at the brink of collapse, if he sees himself putting Aerith's corpse in the water to go down to the bottom, he would likely just shatted, concidering Sephiroth still needs to get the black materia from Cloud at the northern crater, wouldn't really work for him, since then that means someone else needs to deliver it to him, so Sephiroth is likely actively manipulating Clouds memory and perception to make sure he doesn't break too early.
since after the nothern crater part, Cloud basically becomes heavily mako poisoned and is completely shattered, which also made the actual weapons emerge to protect the planet, and later on Tifa falls with Cloud into the lifestream to repair Clouds fractured mind.
at this point it'll follow relatively closely to disc 2, they baited us in Rebirth that we could possibly defy fate, which to a certain extend we did, but at the same time, we defied it so hard that we basically realigned with fate.
Zack being alive and well right now is gonna be an interesting point, since he's likely back to his version of events again, since it's likely Zack will join for the final battle of Disc 3.
But in the next part, we'll likely see most events play out exactly as we originally know them, maybe minor differences here and there concidering that we never went to Rocket Town in Rebirth, so we don't know if Palmer actually has that Rocket sitting there and if Cid actually bailed on going to space with it, if it's there, we'll likely visit it for the 1st time in the remake trilogy since Shinra will try and destroy the meteor, which will prompt us to get the giant materia out of there.
So far, I really like how Cloud's mental decline has been shown, although I thought the final battle of Rebirth was a bit over the top and too long.
this is suppose to be a major emotional scene, you don't get the time to grief over it, to even think about it, it's just basically "ok, go and fight Jenova now!" "ok, fight Sephiroth now!" "ok, fight sephiroth ... again!"
rinse and repeat, this part could've finished with Jenova and that was fine, the Jenova fight was 100% fine and not too long, would then also give you time to freshly remember her death and ponder over it for a bit longer, going from fight to fight to fight to fight on repeat just pulls you out of it.
This is amazing thanks for the work. I watch all of your stuff
I loved the ending and was in for the ride since remake and there is no coming off this train!
I really liked the ending too. The planet they're on is obviously insanely powerful as it can create magic. So it only makes sense that the deeper Sephiroth goes into the Lifestream, the more he finds out new secrets of the planet. And he found out about the arbiters and the breaching of fate that forms new possible worlds. This is a sequel to the OG and I'm fine with what they did to the story.
The ending is honestly great. You can argue the whole multiverse things sucks, however, it doesn't get in the way of the main story yet, everything is the same atm.
As for Aerith's death and Cloud seeing her in his head arguably cuz he either saved her in a "different timeline" or just cuz he is going crazy, I think is fascinating. I'm not a big fan of the former interpretation, but the latter seems even more well-written than her death in the original game, which is the one im leaning on for now, until the third game releases.
Completely agree and it ain’t over yet the hype for part 3 is gonna be nuts.
Watch Aerith death scene again. She lives in a different timeline.
Aerith death scene
New world: Look at Cloud sword when he screams no, you see a rainbow of light going up his sword and it’s glows green and you can see a green mist coming from his sword, it reminds me of what Rosa did to Alphreid sword during his fight in the loveless play.
Watch as Cloud deflects Sephiroth sword you see rainbows like in the church and sleepy forest, remember the white whispers were with Aerith before her death. Watch how Sephiroth sword landed, it lands straight up. Cloud saves Aerith.
OG world: Aerith death scene, look at the position of Sephiroth sword, it’s sideways, I am not sure but does her hair tie look purple? Cloud runs and holds Aerith body, you see flashes back and forth to the OG world she dies, he has tears and muttering words and in the world he saves her no tears.
OG world. As the others run, Tifa stops in her tracks, not because Aerith death because she sees blood and no blood she doesn’t understand what is happening but she was in the lifestream.
New world: Cloud lays Aerith on her back and he tells her I got this, look at the others they are standing still not moving.
OG world, pay attention. As Tifa runs towards Aerith she is laying on her side, remember Cloud lays on her back in the new world. As soon as you see Cloud boots, pause, zoom in, you still see Aerith laying on her side.
New world: As Cloud approached Aerith is once again laying on her back, the whispers are flying around Cloud walks through the others disappear, he asks Aerith to wake up she does.
Why do you think Sephiroth told Aerith, I must admit I underestimated you.
It was Aerith destiny to die in the OG world and she did, creating a new world means she can change her destiny and she did.
Cloud isn’t crazy, remember he was injected with Jenova cells and mako when Hojo experimented on him, which is why he sees the rift in the sky, he sees both worlds and the others can’t because they can only see the OG world.
My theory is that the Cloud that ends this game is not the one we played up until that point. There's A LOT of things that suggest something is up with Cloud
1) Marlene in Zack's timeline still had her Aerith memories and straight up told Zack to help heal Cloud so he could save Aerith. I think Aerith planned for that to happen. She needed him to split the timelines at her death. I think that's also why, when she died, there was a version of her death playing that, as far as I could tell, was cloud giving his original speech.
2) during the final battle Cloud get separated from the rest of the party and is fighting him on a different plane of existence. It would be impossible for them to tell if the Cloud that came back was their original Cloud.
3) Cloud's attitude at the end of the game is way different than og. Him not thinking Aerith is dead will almost certainly have an impact on how things play out. Not to mention he can see her and a tear meaning he's from a world destined to end.
4) before they go into the dream, sephiroth drops Cloud and Aerith and we find out Cloud breaks her fall. This is speculation but it's possible Cloud died there and was replaced by the Zack timeline version.
There's so much going on with the alternate timelines but so much doesn't line up correctly. Cloud obviously made another timeline when he "saved" Aerith but nothing changed? I don't buy it. Also I could be remembering this wrong, but Cloud also remembers Zack incorrectly and thought he was the soldier who got swept away by the river in Nibleheim, and that's not right either. I know his memories are fucked up, by why remember Zack just to then remember him incorrectly.
There's just too much that juuuuust doesn't sit right
Zack's Cloud has different shoulderpads. Actual first-class shoulder pads like Zack's own.
When everyone is depressed about Aerith's death and Barret says they better leave, and Cloud is kind of upbeat in his reply since he just saw her alive - I felt like Tifa's reaction to his words were like how could you just move on so easily!!!
Does anyone else thinks the ending is a hint that the cloud we see is NOT our cloud.
Why does he need to NOT be our cloud if true? I can't believe yall are falling for nojimas pretentiousness
What makes you think this?
I think having aerith survive would have made part 3 more fun imo
Yeah she’s been my hard carry through the remake series I’m like wtf! xD
i think she will still play a big role part in part 3, at least more so than she did originally.
@@ugh5281 Yea but look at all the fun you get in these two games. The og is very different you barely connect with the character in like 15 hours and it sucks. Now we have had 80* with aerith and it won’t be the same in part 3
She’s dead and staying that way, per the devs words.
@@moonmoon2479 Where is that article, quote or whatever?
One important aspect to mention is the conversation between Zack and Marlene. Marlene says that Cloud has to wake up so that he can save Aerith and that Zack must help Cloud. This initially ptompts Zack to make the decision to go to the Shinra building to confront Hojo and then we see the troops attack him. It later jumps to another timeline where Zack goes to the reactor with a different Stamp. I believe Aerith will be saved by Cloud in some manner and aspect which in turn saves the Worlds or a main world. Maybe Zack has to save Cloud again which in turn will save Aerith in some aspect. Who knows but I feel this is an important part to mention as well.
Watch my theory about real world and clouds mind world.
Again, using mind world theory, this is easily solved.
Marlene says cloud has to "Wake up". She is right but she is not referring to him being physically awake from the wheelchair. She means waking up from the delusions and hallucinations he is suffering from and then he will be able to save her.
@@JaceWD I think the same. May be, zack’s cure will be in lifestream sequence together with tifa? And we still have coma cloud and coma aerith in zack’s world.
The way Zack kept looking down barrel the Sinra army reminded me of this line from "Legend of Kain"
"Drop a stone into a rushing river - the current simply courses around it and flows on as if the obstruction were never there. You and I are pebbles, Raziel, and have even less hope of disrupting the time-stream.
The continuum of history is simply too strong, too resilient."
Also... I am still of the mindset that Cloud will likely have to die. Hes the last bastion of Jenova Cells and if he were allowed to join the lifestream that still allows Jenova to enter. So my theory from 07, Cloud will have to die, i think instead Aerith is trying to find a way to save him... As per the line "Its about saving you! And the world of course!"
This doesn't change much per say...
Sephiroth's plan has not changed, not since the beginning of Remake. This is still the same Sephiroth whose come back in time post Advent Children to again try to attain god hood by initiating the Reunion. He had Cloud and co. defeat the Whisper Harbinger so destiny could be defied in the sense that now, Sephiroth is in control of a portion of the whispers and will now be able to amplify the power of the Reunion by absorbing the power of not just THE planet, but ALL of the new worlds within it. This is also our Aerith from OG, comeback through the Lifestream and having the knowledge of OG up until the whispers take her memories of the original game turning the Whtie Materia empty and clear. She was able to rectify this by utilizing a variant of herself to pass on that version's materia from a world that was doomed to die regardless. The Remake Trilogy has very much from the beginning been a 4D Chess Match between Sephiroth and Aerith. Sephiroth's been moving his pieces towards amplifying the powers of the Reunion while Aerith has been gathering pieces of her own. Zack survived at the end of Remake, now Aerith has survived the end of Rebirth. The third game will likely see the convergence of all of the FF7 cast battle Sephiroth once and for all, book ending the compilation.
Maximilian dood watched this video after finishing the game last night and I think he is super wrong with his analysis. I don’t think this aerith is just in his head. I think what they’re setting up is that cloud is now the point where the worlds are merging. He’s living in two different realities simultaneously. That’s why he can see the torn sky and aerith. I think the real red herring is that the game goes out of its way to show you cloud losing it through the game so you’d think that that’s what happened at the end. They even had him have weird flashbacks to the moment she died but instead of being the usual blue hue they were now pink. I don’t think the creators would randomly change the color of his false memories without a good reason. Also I think the creators are smart enough not to have Zack tell cloud to “save her” unless they intended on that being a goal in the next game. There’s misdirection and then there’s misleading and that would go too far in the misleading direction. I’m not just some aerith fanboy who wants aerith to live but I’m genuinely struggling to believe that the creators would take a bunch of the impact out of this scene just to make it a plot point about cloud being in denial. I could be wrong but that doesn’t seem to be the direction they’ve taken thus far and I don’t see them changing it now.
That torn in the sky can be seen back in the 97 game during his lifestream section with Tifa could be a red herring but if it's not then that could mean someone has been cooking for a long time
It would be way better if it IS all in his head. The multiverse stuff is ruining the story.
"cloud is now the point where the two worlds are merging".. he can see the tear in the sky, no one else can... He can see Aerith, and no one else can. Aerith has just died to everyone else, but Cloud clashed swords with Sepiroth and it appeared as if he saved her. You've definitely opened up an interesting can of worms here, lots to think about for sure. Thanks for sharing your thoughts
im personally on the max theory train, but i do like your theory alot. there are signs that support yours too, theres a terrier stamp poster in upper junon from the zack timeline, and also remember the radio broadcast as you walk down the inn in Kalm. its the same one fromzacks timeline, but those events didnt happen in our timeline. those could be early signs of the timelines merging. either way no one really knows whats going on, everything was left intentionally vague. nothing to do but wait :(
***(Spoilers)*** NSP, thank you for all of your videos on FF7, they are all really enjoyable. I have been a huge FF7 fan since I first played it in 98 and waited "forever" for a remake. When I first completed Remake, I was conflicted on my feelings towards this new direction. But upon replays of Remake I realized that the new story was much more ingrained in the plot from the start than I had originally thought. The ending for Rebirth holds the same feeling for me. I do wonder how others feel about Aeriths scene. I thought it was well done and had me believing that after decades, we would finally be able to save her. In my opinion, it has me so excited for the finale and was an incredible experience.
I've made this comment somewhere else, but will share it here as well. It also argues that Cloud defied fate and a fracture was created:
1. During the block there are the "timeline shenanigans" with the rainbow sparkles and then a rainbow colored flash when masamune gets blocked.
2. We see the camera panning down, no blood, and the sword is stuck between cobblestones right behind Aerith, in a pretty straight (closer to 90 degree) angle.
3. Then there is the flash, the ground loses it's cobblestones and the sword is positioned spatially at a different spot, it's darker blue and the angle of the sword changes more to like 45 degrees ish. Blood is visible.
4. The party runs up to Aerith and we see flashes of Tifa's pov with blood and no blood.
5. After all the fights the party runs up to Aerith again and she is laying on her side. Whilst Cloud laid Aerith on her back, when he walks to Aerith you see the party disappearing again and Aerith laying on her back.
Love the review of the ending! There is one very short, but crucial, scene where Cloud falls asleep at the Gold Saucer, only to ‘dream’ seeing Aerith in a comatose state. We know now that this was the Aerith from Zack’s timeline. If Cloud from the mainstream timeline were able to ‘wake’ in an alternate reality Cloud temporarily, what if the alternate reality Cloud actually awoke in mainstream Cloud to block the attack from Sephiroth? This too would also be temporary, as was the dream he had of seeing comatose Aerith. Also, while Cloud is an unreliable narrator due to his mental state and Jenova integration, he doesn’t typically create events out of thin air. These events have actually happened, either to him or to Zack. He simply changes who they happen to, not the actual event itself - in the case of the Nibelheim incident, if we go off of FF7 OG, he was actually there and did find Tifa. All of the other events from that incident that Zack experienced, Cloud placed himself in those scenarios, but they still did happen. In my view, the deflection of Sephiroth’s attack actually DID happen, but instead of it replacing the mainstream timeline, it created yet another timeline where Aerith survived. Some of this, I believe is a way for the DEVs to keep hold of our attention and imagination for the next several years while they create FF7 Reunion (yes, pretty certain that’s gonna be the title!) I know it would be a simple ending to just pick one - does she live or die? But I happen to love philosophy and this kind of stuff gets my mind racing! Would love to debate alternate viewpoints, and none of us are right until the third installment comes out.
Thank you NSP I’ve been needing this. Rebirth is a 10/10 game but man… idk about that ending
ending was lit AF
Cloud still seeing Aerith as a vision after her death is reminiscent of him seeing her in his visions/dreams in Advent Children. Showing that he still felt guilt and hadn't come to terms with her death. (Though I thought the ending arc of the the original game made it pretty clear he had come to terms with her death and his own insecurities by the end.)
There seems to be a lot of concepts from the Compilation that are being repackaged and added into the FF7R series, but people are enjoying them more this time because those ideas are being introduced alongside the original events/characters from the OG, rather than being layered on top through the supplemental material.
The black materia that appears at the end is also tied to Caith Sith's second fortune ticket which states "Watch your belongings. Lucky color: black". The empty materia was the black one all along perhaps.
THIS is a good catch.
I'm thinking the clear materia is an empty one that serves as a vessel for whatever energies make it into the black materia.
@@elpainto1that makes even more sense. Guess we’ll just have to see.
9:25 you could see the timeline splits with that rainbow effect, same with Zack decides to go save cloud.
Can someone explain to me why there isn't multiple clouds every time he goes into a different timeline?
3rd game better be called FFVII Reunion. Just makes sense.
Indeed. The fact Reunion was given to Crisis Core doesn't matter, part 3 should still be FFVII Reunion.
It will not be reunion
it will either be reunion or regenesis, but I think reunion is more fitting
Reclaim
or maybe Memory? The theory at the end of AC is Sep saying he would never be a memory
This makes you think, the line where Sephiroth says “As worlds unite, so do they part”. Think about the importance of what’s happening and what has happened.
1. Why did Sephiroth lead Cloud into defying fate? He is the one controlling the whispers now, whereas before it seemed as if they were controlled by fate.
Why would he want to create a bunch of tangent universes?
2. We know that it’s possible to unite the tangent universes, as we See the white materia given to Cloud from Aerith in another universe and also Zack crossing his universe into the main timeline.
Having these 2 facts outlined, it seems as if Sephiroth is planning something where he unites a different universe into the main world. What that is, I’m not sure of, but it would seem as if he knows how things play out and to avert him losing to the party again he’s going to pull some massive bullshit in the next game.
i can already feel the bullshit coming
I believe Zack will become the hero he was meant to be.
My theory is that the Aerith Cloud interacts with in the ending is her soul, directly from the lifestream. Which is why Red XIII can feel her when she pets his head. It's possible that her soul will merge with other Aerith(s) and that the events of Remake will happen once again, trying to save her in that "world". Cloud, in the third game, could be jumping from one world to the other until he finally saves her. This could be what the devs have planned from the get-go.
Regarding the black materia that Cloud had at the end, I personally don’t think that was originally the deactivated white materia. The reason (stupid as it may sound) is that unless materia as a whole can change size, the black materia is a tad larger than the deactivated white materia that he was holding a second prior
you also hear the materia clink around in his pocket. there are two in his pocket
Man, I came to a completely different conclusion than everyone else.
That golden colored rift in the sky was in the original game's Lifestream sequence in the background when you're in Cloud's mind. Seriously, go do a google image search of it. It's there and suprisingly no one seems to be noticing it. As soon as I saw that I just assumed that Zack is indeed dead but unable to fully return to the planet (honestly, his world also just feels like purgatory). Cloud's seeing it because his mind is swimming in Mako (he has one foot in the lifestream already) and when he's seeing Aerith open her eyes, he's seeing her wake up in the lifestream, with the rainbow effect denoting a window between the spiritual world and the physical one. With Cloud’s psyche being shattered, he is unable to discern what actually happened though. These dream worlds inevitably end because eventually, everyone returns to the planet.
Also, Cloud and Aerith's bodies are there as representations/symbols/manifestations of the unconscious memories that have been taken from them by the planet. Cloud from the Mako poisioning and Aerith from the Whispers. Once Cloud's mind is repaired in the next game, his presence will likely depart the Lifestream and Zack as the OG game had many "Clouds" coming together to form one, complete person once his mind was repaired.
I really feel like this is all gonna end up being lifestream stuff, spirits, minds, memories, dream worlds, etc "converging and diverging" (according to Bugenhagan) rather than literal timelines, with Aerith doing Cetra stuff that's explained in Lifestream Black & White. Lifestream stuff makes way more sense to me than timelines, is much simpler, and fits within the already established lore of the FF7 compilation.
In the end, I think this is gonna boil down to Aerith and Zack fighting Sephiroth's spiritual presence in the Lifestream with Cloud and the gang fighting his physical presence in the real world.... leading right into Advent Children like the devs said it would. (Edit: it might not lead straight into AC, see comments below)
...this is my copium right now anyway because if it really is literal timelines and a multiverse, then I'm probably REALLY not gonna like it. People are about to have to bust out flow charts and equations to keep up with all of it lol😮
God I hope so lol.
The problem though is Advent Children is the bad ending. The purpose of FFVIIR is to prevent the Geostigma, because otherwise humanity will go extinct.
@@SBaby just curious, but are you saying, the writers are trying to avoid the events of Advent Children? Also, I thought they cured the Geostigma in the movie, but there was that one scene with Red 13 running with his pups in world not populated by humans? Not sure what that meant.
Yes, I think you are right, this makes the most sense. I mean cloud sees zack and aerith in advent children multiple times.
@@D3ltaFreedom I don't think it's ever said that humans are extinct, midgar is just overgrown and it's far in the future
At this point we all know that Sephiroth end game is find Kingdom Hearts
It will be a Kingdom Hearts ending
You do know the og ff7 already had "kingdom heart" aspects to it right? For example tifa going into clouds mind to restore it..i find it hilarious how people are surprised by this stuff when there's already precedence for it in the og ff7 and in the ff franchise biggest example being ff8.
As an OG fan I played the OG game when I was 15 that’s when it came out in 1997 I’m 40 now. I loved everything about rebirth except chapter 14 because I’m sorry I don’t think that games ending should be so convoluted where you don’t know what the hell is real, what actually happened and what didn’t and what isn’t.
ive seen some explanations of this and you actually answered all questions.
9:55 Very crucial point there. Another "world" or timeline was created at that very moment Cloud deflected the Masamune saving Aerith. So the Cloud we saw at the ending scene exist in a "dying world" where Aerith died, white material deactivated while the black material is active and the world is depleted of Mako(Pug world Biggs mentioned it). Basically means that world is destined to be destroyed with no Holy to stop the meteors and Sepiroth wins.
This also explained why Cloud is seemingly less emotional compared to the others as he knew he saved Aerith and created a new world where she is alive. He saw the cracks in the sky and knew this world is done for and in Cloud's mind, the way he perceive a "dying world" is simply that "it ain't real and just an illusion". A bit creepy but it made sense because his ideal world exist elsewhere.
Now we all look forward to Final Fantasy 7 Relive
👏🏽 at how you ended this haha
Crisis on Infinite Gaeas
Crisis on infinite midgars
Flashpoint Paradox: FF7 Version
Wish they could make him uncapable of saying anything excluding one word: Loveless. Imagine he'd repeat it the whole time.
Rip Zack's mentallity.
I feel there is something more happening with Tifa at the end. I feel they are going to go the route that Tifa may suspect, that Cloud is the one to kill Aerith. Everyone is seeing Cloud lose it, and Tifa personally almost got killed by Cloud herself. She doesn't bring it up, but it's not something you forget. This is going to lead to Cloud and Tifa dividing more and Sephiroth using it to his advantage.
Tifa is the reason why the real Cloud could come back and not be manipulated by his Jenova Cells. It's probably why Sephiroth was so keen to drive Cloud and Tifa apart in Rebirth.
wouldnt surprise me at all, if in part 3 it is revealed that cloud struck the final blow and his mind blocks it out.
We will see.
It's a cool idea, but I'm not sure the partly would just kinda mope and be a little weird around cloud if they saw him do it. Now, if they didn't really see what happened in that moment, we're left with them only having Clouds account to go by which could be very interesting
@@elpainto1 if they do it like this, its very easy to fit in.
Becoz the party didnt know. They came when she was already dead and he was holding her in his arms.
I dunno if her being freaked out by the fact that cloud takes Aerith death so easily without saying anything should be confused with her thinking he killed her
So when Marlene says Aries will die when she wakes up, and that Cloud was so close to saving her, is she talking about the OG FF7?
I'm a believer in that Cloud is living/seeing two timelines at once, and it will have strong repercussions on his mental state. But I would like to talk about what these timelines are, at lest discuss that they seem more complex than we think. We know they are created when the boundaries of fate are pushed, and we also know they are all doomed to end. But something that hasn't been talked about is the Terrier timeline specifically. What doesn't make sense and merits some exploration, is that Biggs from Remake is there. The Terrier timeline was presumably created when Zack lived, that was the boundary that was pushed. So how did Biggs end up going to the same one? Zack says there was a great wind of some kind that he felt, and Biggs said the same thing, but how do they end up in the same place? Shouldn't Biggs surviving have created a different timeline? All I can conclude is that there's more going on than we know and i think the Terrier timeline is the most important one other than the main one we play.
The thing that makes everything easier to understand is the themes presented in the game and the OG which is loss. That’s what all the multiverse thing is setting up, Aeroth end of the day and everything will die with the other timelines. Her speech about loved ones and dying and living being the same coin is key. The choice of candy and gift at the end also symbolizes that you can plan for something but it won’t end that way sometimes. Cloud is aware of stuff and is even more mellowed out after he wakes up but he still doesn’t remember what really happened at Nibelheim, this with finally accepting to let Aerith go will be the push to finally push out the real him.
I hope she somehow comes back .....or or i'd be happy if she was able to be a timeline to be with Zack again. Remake and Rebirth def made me love Aerith even more and yup I cried. ALOT.
Yeah I still don't know if I can get behind this ending. I feel like they fumbled the execution and wrote themselves into a bit of a corner. There are things that I loved but unfortunately it was overshadowed by some baffling decisions.
I really don't know if the third game will be able to end on a satisfying note. I'll stick around but yeah I just have a feeling that after the third game comes out you won't be hearing about FF7 for a while.
Also I get this weird feeling that Part 3 will be stretched out over two games. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they did this.
They specifically said 3 titles. Them making a 4th game for a 3rd part makes no sense.
That aside, the majority of OG FF7's content was in this part of the story. The part after Aerith's death in the original game wasn't as content-rich; it was mostly cutscene-heavy. Pretty much 3 major things happen before the game's ending:
-they go to the northern crater where Cloud gives Sephiroth the Black Materia and becomes Mako-Poisoned
-Weapon Awakens (this already happened in Rebirth though)
-Huge Materia collectathon happens, Cloud gets his memories restored
-Optional character arc resolutions, then the ending sequence happens
An entire 3rd game for part 3 would be more than enough to cover the rest of the story as well as however many fanfiction elements that the CBU1 writers decide to add to it lol.
@@tbnwontpop8857 when you put it like this I believe you’re right. I just had a feeling they’d add an extra title for the sake of dragging this whole thing out. But yeah I do remember with the OG that after Aerith’s death the rest of the game wasn’t exactly that long. Just had some silly filler content haha.
@@tbnwontpop8857 As well as Wutai lol. The Third Game at least main story wise could be even longer than Rebirth lol.
I'd have to agree. I've been growing tired of multiverse stories as of late, so I'm not really a big fan of it here either.
Even after watching the video, I'm still confused and have a few questions. Such as are there 2 Zacks now? What's the difference between the black Whispers and white Whispers and what do they both do when it comes to fate? And what's with the black materia? How does he have it? (If someone can answer these, that'd be a huge help)
Honestly, I like the Remake trilogy mostly because it'll expand on the stories of characters like Vincent, Yuffie, and Red, who felt more sidelined in the original, which I understand why for Yuffie and Vincent's cases.
@@phantom-X2086 Multiverse shenanigans ruin stories and characters. Why should I bother caring about any character if they can be replaced with version C from timeline F?
Honestly it's best to just ignore all of the multiverse theorists and assume that every portion with Zack and the Singularity skyring is just some type of Lifestream purgatory/dream state.
The one question that I have yet to see anyone answer so far, it involves Marlene, she tells Zack that Aerith (she’ll die if she wakes up) said Marlene. My little guess on this is Aerith might be awake in Zacks timeline. i’m still a little confused, but that’s just my theory on that part. Thoughts?
The Devs stated that the Remake trilogy is a reimagining of the OG. That essentially this was the story they originally wanted to tell, however due to technology limitations could not. Ultimately, despite how twisted the plot may seem. It will line up with Advent Children. As it relates to other worlds. They’re destined to be destroyed, via meteor or no lifestream/mako.
This is probably the most accurate.
I think Cloud DOES know she is dead but can communicate with her via the lifestream or across worlds? He doesn't ask her to join them, yet doesn't question why she is staying behind. When he says "do you need he'll getting back" I think it's more about "back to thevkufestream" and not back ti the forgotten capital.
His last line "I will kill him" is what makes me think Cloud knows she is dead, but isn't as effected because maybe he is aware that she lives in other worlds. Zack told Cloud to "Save Her" but this was after she already died/lived. So I think Cloud is gonna want to merge the worlds to bring back Aerith.