Does Cloud really like Tifa?

[FullmetalHeart20]

Now, I know that they get along great and genuinely love each other. However, I can't seem to recall any actual romance. It just seems like a conventional assumption made just because Clould's a guy and Tifa's a girl. Word of god may have stated otherwise, but so far I've heard nothing.
In childhood, he was the shy loner who just wanted a friend. They didn't even hit puberty yet. It could have been any child in his village so long as long as they captured his interest. A guy probably could have done the entire thing the same way.
in the present game, I honestly see no difference between how he acts with Tifa and how he acts with all of his other friends. Yes, there's the Gold Saucer date, but he really wasn't romantic about the whole thing. The only time he even kisses her, ever, is when he's performing in a play. I honestly believe he didn't even view it as a date.
As for them living together in Advent Children, that makes sense. When there are children that need to be cared for, older, mature people can work and live together to provide a stable environment. They aren't romantically involved just because they're taking care of Marlene and Denzel.
As it stands, I don't remember Cloud acting romantic period. Of course, this doesn't validate yaoi theories in the slightest, but I can still hope.
Just to clarify, I know this is probably full of holes, and I have reasonable doubt in this.

 

[Sephiy]

FullmetalHeart20[/URL]]I don't remember Cloud acting romantic period.

This all you need to stand by. In all honesty, regardless of the ultimanias, novellas, games, etc. Cloud doesn't show whom he loves really. We never hear any "I love you!" outta anyone to him. Until Cloud gets married or shows some form of romantic love to Tifa or Aerith or whoever eventually, then to me the LTD is just the LTD!

I will admit, I like Cloud and Aerith more, but I really am starting to think people should just start playing games for games and not who is with who. Because the creators don't seem to care who people like more!

 

[Steve-O]

We never hear any "I love you!"

now, I always said that there are more than one way to say "I Love You" apart from saying it. From what I remember from my brother playing FFVII in the summer last year, there was a scene where tifa and clousd have a huge heart to heart 'it near the end' and spend the night together under the star. I personally call that something romantic, and also, I think cloud knows that aerith always (view spoiler)

Spoiler

truly loved zack, and she still misses him

 

[Sephiy]

I'm sorry if I'm sounding immature here or off, but to me, regardless if Cloud and Tifa are the intent couple of FF7, I still think Zerith is over. Aerith has stated it many times she is over Zack! I really hate it when people say that just because Cloud is with Tifa that Aerith must be with Zack. Not entirely how I like to picure a win-win!

 

[Styx]

now, I always said that there are more than one way to say "I Love You" apart from saying it. From what I remember from my brother playing FFVII in the summer last year, there was a scene where tifa and clousd have a huge heart to heart 'it near the end' and spend the night together under the star. I personally call that something romantic,

I call that one-night-stand! lol But yeah, they get a little more intimate at that part. I think it was Nomura who wanted to have an actual sex scene in that part and even if it was not graphical (lego sex scene would be gross anyway) it would be further implied that it happened. Unfortunately it didn't happen. You still get Tifa though acting up all embarrassed when aboard the Highwind in the next scene, like she had done sth "naughty".

Spoiler

truly loved zack, and she still misses him

Aeris herself tells Cloud that she just liked Zack for a while. I don't think it matters though as neither of her relationships managed to actually flourish to the point of talking about love.

SPOILER (kind of)

The reason why he joined soldier in the first place is because he had a crush on her when young. It is mentioned when they fall on the lifestream together with Tifa.

 

[Climhazzard]

I think the outcome between Cloud x Tifa are left to the players imagination in all honesty. But one particular line is pretty suggestive.

Statements made in the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania about the scene where Cloud and Tifa spend the night under the Highwind:

Kitase: "The event on the airship the night before the final battle was done Katou as well, wasn't it?"

Nojima: "Oh, the bit with that RISQUÉ/suggestive dialogue? I wasn't the one who wrote that, that was Katou too."

The actual dialogue:

Cloud "Hey, Tifa...... I...... There are a lot of things I wanted to talk to you about."

(He shakes his head slowly.)

Cloud "But now that we're together like this, I don't know what I really wanted to say..."

"I guess nothing's changed at all... Kind of makes you want to laugh..."

(Tifa shakes her head)

Tifa "Cloud... Words aren't the only thing that tell people what you're thinking..."

(Cloud looks at her. She continues to stare past the player, into space. She straightens her hair again with one hand.)

Cloud "............"

(She closes her eyes. The camera pans up, past her, to the sky, as the scene fades to black.)

---

That line right there suggests they both love each other without having to tell the other imo. You're also left once again to your own imagination as to what happened next after the scene fades to black. What else did they talk about or do for the remainder of that night? It's all left for you to decide.

That in a sense is one of the things I love about the Japanese with their games/animes/etc. They like to leave the player/watcher thinking alot about the "what happened next" thing.

 

[FullmetalHeart20]

Yah. When Nomura is being ambiguous like that, I don't know if he thinks he's doing fans a favor or trolling them.

 

[Starships]

I believe that he does like Tifa. Though as a friend and nothing more and his true love is for Aeris.

 

[Dionysos]

This depends.

Does YOUR Cloud love Tifa? If so, he does.

Does YOUR Cloud love Aerith? If so, he does.

Etc etc. Insert Barrett and such also.

It depends upon how you read it, view it, and also the choices that you personally have made.

There are multiple options for conversation at certain parts of the story. It is possible early on in the game to make Cloud boast about sleeping next to Tifa, and how comfortable the night was. You do not need to select this, however. Similarly there are also choices that can be made for other characters such as Aerith.

People are right in this thread by stating that Cloud doesn't vocalise his feelings. He is introverted. He can also act as a void which can be filled by the player's own personal interpretation and reactions to the other characters. They give us choice.

-

I personally took Cloud to love Tifa. I selected the Tifa-centric responses. I hoped it would all work out and he'd end up with her, because I thought it made greater sense, to me. Plus I really liked Tifa also, which probably had a lot to do with it. But if I did not do this, and if that wasn't my take on it, I do not think I could really make a strong claim about how Cloud actually feels. For the majority of the game it is likely that Cloud has other things (forgive me) clouding his mind. The player has met Cloud at a very strange time in his life.

It makes sense for him to love Tifa, in my opinion, as they knew each other in childhood, he cares deeply for her in at least some sense, and also they have been trekking through fields and mountains together for the entirety of the game at least. I can't claim other than that that he cared for her on a romantic level, but that reading / viewing is possible if people wanted to read it / view it as I did.

It's up to us.

 

[A_D_Seifert]

In my opinion Tifa was deeply in love with cloud, but still had small feelings for him in Advent Children. But cloud lost his feelings for tifa after he joined shinra and witnessed zack's death

 

[Wras]

I was always of the impression they spent that night together. In AC they seem to have a pretty important focus on having this little family. One of the focuses was on Cloud being a responsible adult, and Tifa clearly thought of them as some kind of family unit. Cloud's guilt in not bringing that to fruition is his big struggle of the movie.

 

[Blackmore]

Nah. Tis' was but a loveless game all in all. There's barely implications, and most of it is fan-made contrived interpretation of things.

It's a bit like One Piece, relationship are all about caring and friendship, no "love" in the lexicon.

 

[Busta]

It seemed to me that Cloud was mission-based only in the game. He wanted to put an end to the evil and wrong-doing in the world at the hand of Sephiroth and that was his focus first and foremost. His desires for a romantic journey were not going to be focused on until the task of justice was completed.

Even with that being said, I still don't think Cloud's heart was intended for Aeris, Tufa, Yuffie, etc... Sure he felt emotional when the tragedy to Aeris took place, but I think he would have shwon heart had it happened to any other character in that party as well. I think it was a one-way street. Cloud was not looking for the puppy-love of any of the ladies, but the girls obviously wanted a slice of the spikey-haired wonder boy.

 

[Stockgenius]

I dont think so. He does not like Tifa, if you played through the Gold Saucer date with Tifa, you will know.

 

[Roshidon]

For sure this game wasn't huge on romance like other games but it has it's fair share of romance. I mean on how many games do you actually have a date scenario that you have to run through? Here is the script where Aeris dies:


Cloud "...Aerith." (He gently shakes her body.)
Cloud "This can't be real!"
Sephiroth "Do not worry. Soon the girl will become part of the Planet's energy." "All that is left is to go North. The 'Promised Land' waits for me over the snowy fields." "There I will become a new being by uniting with the planet. As will this girl...
Cloud "...Shut up." (He bows his head closer to Aerith, trembling. He abruptly looks up to Sephiroth.)
Cloud "The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing."
(He slowly turns his head back to Aerith's sleeping face.)
Cloud "Aerith is gone." "Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...... or get angry......"
(He holds her body closer to his and bows his head forward.)
Cloud "What about us...... what are WE supposed to do?"
(He gently rests her on the floor.)
Cloud "What about my pain?"
(He trembles.)
Cloud "My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!"

If that isn't love...I don't know what is.

 

[The Witch]

No. I think it was all replay value. Cloud did like Tifa when he was a child, just like all of the boys did in his hometown. But by the time he got to Midgar, that crush was wayyy over with. We already know that Cloud wasn't "Zack" when he met Aerith (Cloud just had Zack's occupational legacy) so IF Cloud "loved" Tifa then he wouldn't have accepted two dates from another woman (Aerith). I actually agree with Dragon Mage, though.

Cloud is an introvert and I agree that small shows of affection or adoration means so much to Cloud... like when he thought to himself how amazing meeting Aerith was or how he thought Aerith's eyes were impressive and that her smile was a good purchase, or like when he told Aerith that HE was there for her, or like how he didn't care if the world was destroyed after Aerith was taken from him, or how he said he thought about Aerith a lot and that he wanted to be with HER in his promised land.... That's why I think Cloud loves Aerith and doesn't love Tifa. It's all the small things Cloud does that means SO much.

Anyway, no I do not think Cloud "really loves" Tifa--never has and probably never will. Nomura said years ago that Cloud's crush on Tifa was "dim" and for his crush to be dim that mean's it's not "true" love. But now I know for a fact Cloud doesn't love her. In the official FF 25th Anniversary ultimania there's a quote that says Cloud's crush was "fleeting" and "immature".

“The True Wish Revealed: When Cloud was very young, he had no friends from others around his age, so he tried to believe himself special, he was an alienated child. Such as, when regarding him Tifa was important—-the FLEETING AND ALSO IMMATURE LOVE was divulged in the spirit world.” — FF7 25th AU


Fleeting implies that his feelings came and went, which ultimately means that Cloud's feelings for Tifa ended. If his crush ended and was described as fleeting and immature, that means Cloud can't have future feelings for her in present tense. Any future feelings Cloud COULD have for Tifa would need his "crush" to be the foundation of said feelings, but when that crush is labeled as "dim" or "fleeting" or "immature" that means the crush ceased to exist, and if the foundation didn't even last then the chances of future feelings is very slim.

So no, this quote proves Cloud has no feelings for Tifa in VII. I saw no proof (other then optional choices) that could be interpreted as "romantic" interest either. All I saw in VII was Cloud showing interest in Aerith, non-optional, too. When he first met Aerith he showed adoration for her smile and eyes--something he's NEVER done for ANYONE, not even Tifa. He then accepted two dates from Aerith, told Aerith that he wanted to be there for her (when he's never done that for anyone), he straight up told Sephiroth that his plan to kill the planet (which had Tifa in it) didn't mean a thing to him now that Aerith was gone. Then he was all like "I wanna be with Aerith in my promised land".... so yeah, Cloud showed interest in Aerith, not Tifa.

Besides, Square Enix made it very clear who they pair Cloud with.

^That's Cloud and Aerith's official DLC costumes for Brigade. As you can see Cloud is Emperor and Aerith is his Empress, which is Square enix practically showing Cloud and Aerith as husband and wife since that's what Emperor and Empress are.

 

[Dragon Mage]

Alex Mason

Really.

You were the first person I truly expected to immediately insist this be taken to the LTD thread here.

When you get down to it, this is pretty subjective, especially depending on what game you played first and who you talk to. Jesus have mercy.

 

[Shaissa]

If you take into account Clouds life (even leaving out the part of the date option in FFVII) I feel like Cloud does love Tifa, but if you are asking if they are romantically involved or not? Well no secret that Cloud had a crush on Tifa when he was younger. Later during the games events Tifa spends time with him, also tries to help him find "his true self" (when he is in the Mako Coma thing...) Which Cloud lets her help him do. After the game events Cloud and Tifa move in together and "start a family" with Barret Marlene and eventually Denzel. Also in the end of it all his depression, his isolation, Tifa is the one that is there for him in the end, and he seemed to let Tifa back in to his life.

Really I feel like Cloud is in love with Tifa, but since there is no Sequel to the series after Advent Children we can only guess how things go from there.

 

[The Witch]

@Alex Mason

Really.

You were the first person I truly expected to immediately insist this be taken to the LTD thread here.

So you can make your opinion known in the thread but I can't? That's... fair.
And that thread hasn't been posted in ages, which explains why the person started this thread. They probably thought it was dead... like I did. Why are you acting like I was the one who started this thread anyway? I just posted in it, like you and the others did. I'm not a mod, so you and Kira liking that post or whatever makes no sense... I'm not gonna mod a thread I have no power over. One of the mods should have moved this into the already existing thread if something was wrong, it's not my job so don't get on my case about it. Besides, why does it matter what thread it is or isn't in? What's your deal with it? It's not that important, right? But if you really wanna know, I saw that you already did the whole "post this in this thread" thing and didn't feel like being a mini-mom and modding the thread when someone already did.

Okay, is that good enough?

 

[Six]

Dear god, guys. I didn't like any comment for the sake of anyone "modding around", just let that be clear. I liked a comment due to it relating to the thread. All up to the FF mods, but please, let's stay on topic, and keep likes/dislikes out, they have nothing to do with the topic.

For those of you caring if this stays it's own separate thread - I also advice staying on topic, due to, as already mentioned, it "not" starting out as an LTD thread.


Thanks. =]