If you were to ask fans what was the biggest difference between Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, its predecessor, and the original PlayStation 1 title that helped make this particular RPG famous, they wouldn’t tell you the graphics or the gameplay, though those were certainly overhauled. Instead, they would likely tell you that key elements of the story had been changed at points. Some were expanded to provide more details or context to all that was going on, and other parts were straight-up added into for one reason or another. While not every added story beat has been praised by fans, one scene in particular got a LOT of attention. Spoilers ahead!
In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, when players finally arrive at the Gold Saucer, and they have earned enough friendship points with their party, they can go on the Ferris Wheel and have a “special scene” with their “special someone,” even if it’s just a nice platonic scene. Cloud Strife has many of those scenes, except two. If he goes to the wheel with Aerith, they have a nice bonding scene that shows how Aerith views him and her former love in Zack Fair. However, with Tifa, the game took a big swing and gave fans something they’d been asking for since the original game’s arrival by having the two kiss in a truly meaningful way. It was intentional; it was an on-screen kiss, and fans have been going nuts about why Square Enix did it ever since.
At the PlayStation Partner Awards, as noted on Twitter, director Naoki Hamaguchi was asked about the kiss and what it was really all about in the developer’s minds. Here’s how he replied:
“That’s an extremely nerdy question (laughs). Yes, actually there was a clear intention behind it. In the first game, there is a branching event scene, during the final time heading to the Shinra Building, where Cloud hugs Tifa. So, when connecting Remake to Rebirth, we wanted to show growth in Cloud as well and the team discussed that if he hugged Tifa in the first game, wouldn’t it be better to do something more than that in the second game, and that’s how it ended up being expressed.”
For most fans, this was a joyous moment because while the two were technically a couple beforehand, official content never really had this intimate moment. Of course, now fans are wondering what will happen in the third and final game between these two…
