Why is everyone on the ending? Cid not being playable is the REAL travesty here. Game is garbage. Lol

The problem for me is I didn't not like it I just missed the moment, I was waiting to be like is she dead or alive, the switch made me go is this a multiverse, by the time I got she was dead , the moment had passed. I was gutted she's not alive , but also not sure if she is in a multiverse. I've really enjoyed the game, but the ending is not good or bad it's confusing. I watched the cut scene twice and was like dunno what's going on watched cloud save and then didn't see aerith die I was like what

also after hearing the creators say the planet itself is a "character," i absolutely think the lifestream is still relevant to the multiple worlds thing. if they're interconnected in that way, and every "alternate" path is just something that exists in the lifestream, it'll be a lot more digestible since the concept is already part of the original game

Is it possible Cloud hasn’t lived through these scenes? Like he doesn’t remember them? There’s also that weird fact where he never acknowledges giving Sephiroth the Black Materia, instead we have Yuffie asking him while they’re walking in the sleeping forest that Sephiroth beat the crap out of him and took it and he agrees/lies why would he do that? My guess is he either doesn’t remember or it is that we are following a Cloud from different timeline. Thoughts?

@@furrylifephotography oh i think he knows or it at least happened, it's just the same as his existing situation where he feels ashamed of what happened and doesn't want to tell the truth, or is mentally blocking it out

Yeah I agree. We didn't see certain scenes this time because Cloud isn't in the mental state to accept what happened. He layed her to rest, but he fractured mind isn't acknowledging that she's gone so anything to do with Aerith being dead is locked away in his mind. That's why some stuff is missing to us. Even the recap in the end credits has all the scenes related to Aerith being dead missing. He's not ready yet

100% my thoughts

That moment really is tough to watch. You can sort of tell that when she's saying goodbye to Cloud, she's saying goodbye to Zack as well. Cloud is just serving as a representation to all the people important to her.

I hear you, but think how would it have been if they had showed Sephiroth drive his blade into her back in the church while Cloud falls through the portal? You get a different scene than the OG and yet a very strong emotional hit. Now that would have had people crying their eyes out. This is what I believe people mean when they say the ending missed/fumbled and didn’t hit as hard as it could have or the OG. It had all the pieces to do it but fell a bit short. It seems almost as if they wanted to censor the violent aspect of Aerith’s death but that’s what made it so iconic. It felt more like a punt for the 3rd game instead of a touchdown to end the game

@@Trippincozy69 this ending Is created purpously to leave us with many question...it's also a way to keep us emotionally Active while we're waiting the third part of the trilogy,and to make us think to what Is really happening,what Jenova Is trying to achieve in in what way....But probably thay'll give us again this part of the story,this time the full sequence,once Cloud regains totally the continuity of his Memories,in the third part

SPOILER ALERT NEWS = Just say I had some good networking on Japan that produce this game. He told Me 1 thing, don't confuse with the Timeline or Multiverse. In the end it's doesn't matter. You know why? Because On Part 3 a.k.a. FF7 Reunion, All of it will become One World. All Timeline. All Multiverse gonna be 1. Sephiroth will succeed his mission. That the Point. After It's become 1 World, all timeline will combine for each other. Aerith and zack will comeback to Live, even Biggs, Jessie and other too (Because there a LOT of timeline that every one of them is still Live not died like biggs and zack, even Aerith when cloud succeed to deflect Sephiroth Blade). That why the part 3 call "Reunion". And afterthat, Everyone beat Sephiroth and everyone can Meet each other once again and live on Same Timeline together. In the End, everyone got happy ending because no one died after the Timeline has become 1. Hope you all Understand. Oh yeah, 1 more thing. About Love Storyline = In the end Cloud and Tifa will be together, and Aerith comeback with Zack. Thank you.

🙏

My thoughts exactly

I think everyone who would have disliked the ending never even got rebirth because they dropped the series after the first game when they found out Sqeenix lied about it being a remake when it's actually a funky timey wimey sequel.

​@@jackthompson7125how can you not understand the legitimate criticism of this ending?

Didn't realize people that thinks the ending is good exist until I run in this comment section

same. i can't wait for the finale to put my theories to rest!

I Felt the same, i told my RL Wife about it. Couldnt save someone even in video game is just...

​@@ferdyxu9847 My wife could not fathom the feeling i had. I finally complete the game and 'freely' delve into the comments because I was afraid of spoilers. Now that I did - I realise the community is feeling the same way and I'm glad I'm not only the one feeling this way. To briefly sum up the experience I had during the OG period, I glanced upon my seniors playing the OG and he immediately broke the entirety of Aerith's death to the crowd (I was 7 at that time). Years later I chanced upon the game by borrowing the it from a friend (11 years old) and I did not shed a single tear during that pivotal moment maybe because I was spoilt by it years before. However, that scene propagates and highly contribute to his thereafter failure and his victorious speech after tifa saved him from the life stream. Back to now that I 'thought' we could save aerith, the feeling of heart broken NOW is what I would say SQEnix did a freaking good job to let me first lived what I could not have felt many years ago. Now I am looking much forward to cloud's big point of failure where he disappoints the party and how he would bounceback from it.

Same. Never thought I’d react to a video game like that again. Haven’t felt that effect in many years. Rebirth is a classic.

Dude i know, really excited for part 3

Felt this exactly!!

Yeap. I was disappointed until i sat there and think of the theme . We can all say that cloud will be totally destroy in the 3rd game when all of his memories come together. He will realize he didnt actually save aerith. Also it wasnt the same game it is a sequel.

I actually said something similar in another video. I don't think they messed up with the timeliness elements as long as by the third game. They at least tie everything together in part 3

Same

So is basically shit.

So much this !

And that's good is it?

​That's actually part of the original game. She resists the lifestream much like Sephiroth and aids the player at the end of the game saving midgar/the planet. ​@@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher

@@ChrisG_90 oh boy you should warm up before stretching like that, you'll pull something

By sleeping with Tifa? No, man - sorry. If the girl is your soulmate, you don't recover by fucking her best friend. It was a dick move 25 years ago, and it will be a dick move in three years, too.

Glad to hear it!

Thank you! I knew it was somewhere else I just couldn't remember where.

Almost as is Sephiroth has put the Rebirth gang on a path that has no set destiny. As is they were defying destiny or something. Its almost as if Sephiroth has a plan to use an alternate timeline/world to fulfil his goals. ;)

Dont even need max relationship.

Why was it removed? What’s the current theory?

@@zacatkinson3926 They ended up defeating the whispers, so they "beat" fate.... So the foreknowledge they used to have of the future is now gone, since the future is no longer written is my guess

Like this ending would be “fine” if it wasn’t for the wait over the next 3-4 years. Hoping the final, final ending has better closure.

If yoy pay attention it makes sense

It all makes sense people just don't have the patience to do research anymore

It won't

Definatly, if the third game does tie up all the lose ends then people will not mind at all. I think they either will open with Aerits burial in the third game or they'll save it for another important moment in the story. But i honestly was 100% certain the game would end with her burial, just as i figured that the first game would end after the highway chase.

Sort of, yeah. Definitely wants to blur the lines between life and death, in a lot of ways because Cloud at this point in the story has no real grasp on what's real anyway

Sure he merged them to dominate Cloud and show him he can't save Aerith. But what's merged can be separated again. It's literally what Sephiroth tells Zach. So buckle up, questions are fun and hopefully part 3 beings some answers.

The whole white/black materia stuff was definitely the most confusing aspect of the story to me, I'm sure it'll make sense in part 3 but I don't even wanna TRY to sift through it

I’m pretty sure the white materia fell into the water like in the original game. How Cloud got the black materia will probably be answered in Part 3 though. Orrrrr maybe Sephiroth is just fucking with Cloud again lol

I think that Aerith is dead and also what Cloud sees isn't Jenova. Our boy is just straight-up crazy in a way that will be untangled in the lifestream with Tifa.

Is Nanaki crazy too for feeling dead Aerith?

@@metastase895 He's feeling Aerith's lifestream presence but he's not repressing/denying her death or seeing her walk around like Cloud is.

Probably they Will be,and we'll have to prepare to some nice surprises

Thanks for watching! Weirdly enough, I don't think it's going to be Reunion because that was the subtitle for the Crisis Core Remaster that came out a few years back. My personal guess is "Return" to tie on with the "it's not a death, it's a homecoming" line.

​@@Ianbitsi think its interesting that they have aerith alive alive in another timeline.

That's because they are always just winging it. Unlike Matsuno or Tetsuya Takahashi, they don't know how to plan ahead with finances and schedule in mind.

That is precisely what we call bad writing and bad pacing, which is what this game has.

Sounds like a skill issue 😂

Except if you choose the top option to continue, it starts you over at the phase you game over'd on, not phase one.

@@Kanriel I did the final phase of the final boss for over an hour, and I still couldn't beat him. You could say it's a skill issue, but it's still an extremely frustrating fight after already doing a gauntlet of phases for like 2 hours before that. I watched the ending online, and I actually really do like the ending. I just didn't like how frustrating the final phase was. His final attack was just super annoying to deal with, and it takes so long to get back to that point and I die too quickly to learn how to deal with it.

@@ShallBePurified If you mean the whisper wave thing that's just a "better beat me fast" check, you need to burn the final 15-20% fast, cause you're gonna take hits from that move.

What's clever about it

Many things....if you consider the direction they are taking,it's pretty obvious that they cannot lead the story in the same exact way of the OG,Because this Trilogy Is not a remastered,but a continuation of the OG,or,Better,an alternative exit that Jenova Is trying to create to change the end....Giving this,the devs must create situations in which we can see that this Is happening,but,at the same time,that this Is happening inside a situation that we all know very we'll....Every player has it's own way to see a story and it's own way to Wish to see It finish the way he wants,but every change brings consequences....so,what Is Better???I think that,in the end,the devs will give us a multiple ending,and let the players choose Among them..but they'll also show us that often a different choice could mean terribile consequences.As It happens here,in this sequence of Aerith's death....Because She Is dead,and,despite the Wish of many players,of Cloud,of her Friends,She makes us clear that Is necessary for her to die,for the salvation of the future.....To create such sequence it's surely been not Easy...but they did It,and they did It really well

Yeah that's a great perspective. Both we and the original creators of the game have changed a lot, that's why Kitase, Nomura, Nojima all decided to go in this direction rather than remake their original work.

I'd have preferred if they cut like 50% of Temple of the Ancients and made a City of the Ancients dungeon instead. I really wanted to explore it.

Reading these comments made me realize what I thought was obvious, clearly isn't obvious. The post-Aerith death scenes, like Cloud's speech and the water burial, are CLEARLY going to be shown properly in the third game. Like you said. Those scenes are pivotal for the emotional hit of her death, and choosing not to include them + showing Aerith (in whatever form she's in) at the end takes that away. They're saving the impact for the third game.

​@@NokoFace That's what i thought initially. They could have kept this iconic scene and the exploration of ancients city for part 3, but it's very unlikely as you see the characters at the end of the game flying away to a new destination with the Tiny Bronco. However, it's very likely that the exploration of the city is left for the part of the OG game where you meet Bugenhagen there and need to retrieve the ancients key.

I really love your comment. This is absolutely true. I loved the ending as it gave life to new possibilities with the multiverse and I’ve seen it so many times now on KZfaq and twitch streams and some people be confused and some people just balling their eyes out and the chat trying to comfort them. Ultimately the conclusion being:we just need to make a Time Machine so we can get part 3 right now lol.

If they kept it the same as the original, fewer people would have complained, but I don't think it would be talked about nearly as much. Controversy creates attention.

@@CrowsofAcheron True, but i think alot of the questions fans are arguing about steams from the fact that it's one game that is now split into three and the devs are both trying to make each game "one" story while still keeping all three as part of one story. Like shoehorning in a boss fight with Sephiroth in the first game. Thematically for the entire FF7 story, it doesn't make sense, but when you think of Remake as a self contained game, then it does. It would have been bold of them to just cut to credits after the highway chase in Midgar and Aeriths death.

People only would have complained because of the nonsense at the end of remake. If they had played it all straight there wouldn't have been a reason to complain. And also even if they wanted to do things differently. The way they did differently still sucked ;)

I think its 90% that we see those scenes while Cloud has his realisation moments. There is a reason they didn't show them.

Oh it is happening in part 3

I mean.. The cutscene is there. You even do see it on the first part, towards the ending. There is no way, S-E did all that for nothing, specially when they added flashbacks from the first part in Rebirth.

There is a 100% chance we get a Cloud dropping Aerith's body scene in part 3. I would imagine it'll be the very last part of Cloud getting his mind put together. Once he deals with all his trauma, he'll see the "truth" of what happened in the forgotten capital, so we'll get the scene.

Thank you!

Face it. It's not shocking anymore when you expect the expected. I like where this remake trilogy is going.

​@@handsomeDRACthe only issue I take with that line of thought is there isn't any question about whether the story works, only that it's different. If we open the third part and Aerith buries Cloud and takes up the infinity gauntlet to summon Optimus Prime to officiate her marriage to Sephiroth does it become good? After all, you don't want to bore the audience by making part 3 a continuation of part 2. That's not shocking, it would be expected and therefore bad.

@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher this is the cliffhanger. I trust part 3 will satisfy expectations with just enough fresh new takes that it will retroactively make the end of rebirth make more sense but make it better, too. They are saving that definitive moment for Clouds' lifestream moment. He is confused at the end of rebirth. We experienced the story through Clouds eyes. He will be confronted with truth in the next game, and it will be all the more powerful for it. Trust me. I believe that's where it's going.

@@handsomeDRAC i hope you get the ending you want, I think it's been pretty much sunk since part 1. Roche was where I checked out of the remake having any potential, the original one is dated and needs updating narratively and graphically but it was never embarrassing to play.

@EdgarFriendlysCivicsTeacher I didn't play the game to see how it would end. I played it because I enjoyed the journey and took my time to rake everything in. Spent 200 hrs on the first normal playthrough before getting to the end of rebirth. Trying to ace everything I do including mingames, queen's blood, side missions, combat challenges, chocobo races. I didn't want it to end, having a good time in this world along with exploring it.

Dude they already went full Kingdom Hearts. It's over.

@@metastase895 nah, not yet. Kingdom hearts was crazy.

Thank you!

Wouldn't be surprised, he'll end up there at some point. Can't imagine they actually had him fight with Cloud in Rebirth just to leave him on his own in part 3

Yep, maybe "rebirth" means Zack has rebirth on this timeline.

It's because the flowers are alive. My suspicion is that he'll be the main playable dude while Cloud is out of commission in part 3 as opposed to Cid.

@@angelbloodshinraI was thinking the same thing, With Cloud gone for a majority of part 3 it would leave a big hole in the party which Zack could fill for a time.

@@marcussanchez6005Zack on the Highwind would be insane!!

Thank you as always whale friend

Not at all? Part 3 is part3. Being it good or bad, It won't retroactively improve part2. Not to mention this multiverse thing Is everything but promising. The guy in the video sounds like he's trying to convince himself more than us, trying to still have hope for the next installment. I'm sorry, but this is called being delusional...

@@marinomele4575 When you read a mystery novel, and everything is revealed in the conclusion, it technically "improves" the middle of the story since you see where it was going, and the point of all the stuff causing confusion. The problem is looking at Rebirth as if it's the end of the story, rather than the middle of it. Basically, one isn't judging it fairly if one is judging it now. If they don't bring it all home with part 3, then, by all means, have at it then.

Thank you! Can't wait for Daybreak. It's awesome seeing that other people got hit as hard emotionally as I did. It felt weird getting so depressed about the ending of a video game but making this and seeing other people say the same thing has been really therapeutic.

Most other youtubers have been interpreting the interview quote of "things will link to advent children" and taking that as the trilogy will end with Advent Children, but maybe it's linked because it's actually a sequel and AC is the prologue of Remake trilogy

@@user-ds7sn4ss6c precisely, finally someone that gets it. It will connect/link, not be the same.

no, its really not.

@@user-ds7sn4ss6c i would take it as say said - it will tie into ac. there is not much deviation from the og as it is. Especially if you take AC into consideration.

So what? A sequel to a bad product nobody wanted. They might as well put emphasis on Genesis and Dirge of Cerberus during part 3.

She is alive in another timeline

I don't know-- given how much is going on with each party member from an abilities and gameplay perspective, if anything it felt like they had too many different party members in Rebirth already. I think it's a very good thing that they held off on playing as Cid and Vincent. With Cid and Vincent being new playable characters in part 3, it's going to feel like even more of an overload. (I mean, if you have three different presets again to swap through between battles, you still won't be able to have everyone included between them all.) So, not having Aerith as well is probably for the best. That all said, she might be in it a lot still, akin to The Joker in Arkham Knight... and, even if she isn't, she'll still be involved in the ending as she was originally anyway. And there are plenty of sidequests with her in _this_ game anyway, so you can still get your fill of Aerith.

​@AnthonyJayCee they'll probably up the amount of presets to 5 for part 3. Hopefully.

It feels cheap because bad writing is cheap. Like, literally. They were juggling too many developments in FF7R so the cracks and cut corners show.

Gonna need a source on that one, just doesn't sound right

@@Ianbits Fate Stay Night lol

Advent children was a terrible movie. I agree with him. I love ff7 and its world but advent children was lame as all hell and boring.

Can't wait for Daybreak!

@@Ianbits YEAH BOIIIIIIIIIIII

If there are no more timelines then feel free to explain: 1-) Where is Zack; 2-) Why does Zack says worlds can be united AGAIN; 3-) Why does Cloud see a tear in the sky; 4-) Where did the Black Materia came from in Cloud's pocket;

@@metastase895 there are worlds for sure, just no timelines, those worlds are the life stream, their own personal paradise or... Promise land, that's why Aerith say "my dream". Now the Zack part is tricky, cuz we don't know in what world he is now, could be his own or perhaps Aerith move him to another one. The white rainbow thing is Aerith power to travel through the life stream, when Cloud and Aerith fall from the temple we see Zack making a choice and after that we see the white rainbow thing going the other way, and what do we see exactly after that scene?... A white screen and Aerith waking up Cloud in the same spot as Zack left them, Zack was on Aerith world, she took him there to protect her in case Sephiroth found her. They didn't merge worlds, Aerith and Zack fought along Cloud in the edge of creation, a place were there's no time and space, a place between worlds, were le living can connect with the dead, just like the white space that is like a limbo between the life stream and the living, were Cloud can hear Aerith and Zack in the OG and Advent Children. So Zack says that they can connect again, cuz the can literally do it. Aerith tried to save Cloud from Sephiroth control, she help him more that was shown, Sephiroth wanted him to save Aerith just to use the power of the whispers to unalive her again, so as he says "moments of joy becomes suffering" he wanted Cloud to enrage, hi gets stronger with those feelings, Cloud was crying in that scene until... Aerith filled with life stream lights touches Cloud, then the tears end, they maybe 2 reasons there, 1 he was calm down by that touch, and all the sadness was swipe away so he could be free from Sephiroth, or, Aerith give Clouds memories back, "the real Cloud" she says, then he says "Aerith..." Like he has just woken up and he is seen his friend again, the "I got this" and Aerith smiles, he is back! No longer controles by Sephiroth, no longer sad, no longer anger, this is post Advent Children Cloud and is ready to defeat Sephiroth, the tear in the sky means Sephiroth is succeeding in his plan to merge the living with the life stream to destroy them both, Cloud now has a connection with the life stream, like a cetra would, so he can see Aerith and the tear Now the black materia I dunno, but! What does Sephiroth says when he take the black materia? "The true counterpart within worlds" so maybe that black materia was created in the edge of creation, I believe the black materia is still a mystery to be solved

That's why people are asking: who is the target audience for this trilogy? They screwed up with OG fans and now Rebirth removed the emotional impact as well. It is too convoluted for new fans. It is no wonder Rebirth sales are worrying.

Some people are on copium. They invested so much into FF7R project that they feel the need to justify it when it devolved into cheap Kingdom Hearts nonsense. It's a shame really.

Kingdom Hearts and Smash.

Maybe there's only one Sephiroth, and he's multiuniversal?

Nomura is only co-director this time around, by all accounts most of the directorial duties were handled by Naoki Hamaguchi this time around. And perhaps more crucially, unlike Kingdom Hearts, he is not the writer.

@@Ianbits ... I mean it's _better,_ but it's hardly a guarantee.

That was one of my thoughts when I played remake, like the Whispers were representative of the weight of expectations the team felt when revisiting the game.

exactly. Ever since the moment they meet in the church and get a flash of "that scene" they are punking us with the possibility she could be saved.

She's dead, but it's more like how Jesus is dead today, Holy Saturday. She'll be back on the equivalent of Easter... but she'll be different, since she'll be transcendent. Pretty much the same thing as a forceghost, yeah, but only if there's really only the one forceghost, her, rather than many of them. I think the timelines need to converge into one where she's dead... at most I guess they could keep a small side timeline where she and Zack are both alive just so that there's a way for people to play as her in part 3, but it'd have to be something that the story could basically ignore. In Metal Gear Solid V, there's a way to get Quiet back after she's canonically left your team during the story, which is nice due to the gameplay and the eye candy. So, they could bring her back in that sense and come closer to pleasing everybody at the same time.

Truly

I did see that interview, I think it's possible but everything the devs say should definitely come with a grain of salt haha