Final Fantasy VII writer vowed to portray Aerith and Tifa as true friends in remake
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s story and scenario writer Kazushige Nojima made an interesting comment about character relationships in a recent blog post. He apparently regrets that there was a “perceived coldness” between Tifa and Aerith in the original Final Fantasy VII, leading him to focus on portraying their friendship properly in the remake trilogy.
In the March 9 developer comments on Square Enix’s English language blog, Nojima recalls that after they had finished making the original Final Fantasy VII, a senior programmer commented, “It sure seems like Aerith and Tifa don’t like each other, don’t you think?” The writer recounts that he was shocked to hear this as he had thought that the characters had obviously formed a friendship after the long journey they had been through.
However, upon thinking the matter over, Nojima realized that there hadn’t been enough specific scenes or dialogue to convey Aerith and Tifa’s friendship well. Nojima stated that he has regretted the perceived unfriendliness between the two female characters for a long time, and that the remake trilogy was a chance to put this right.
He describes portraying their friendship as one of the challenges he set for himself when working on the trilogy, with the “connectedness” between each of the characters and the Planet being vital to the story.
Tifa and Aerith are both very important people to the protagonist Cloud. They are both very different in terms of appearance and personality. As both characters are fond of the protagonist, many of their interactions in the original game center on him, which made it natural for players at the time to assume that Tifa and Aerith are simply rivals for Cloud’s affections and therefore dislike each other.
The story in the original Final Fantasy VII unfolds in a rushed manner compared to the Remake trilogy, which is taking its time to flesh out characters and episodes over the course of three games instead of three PlayStation 1 discs. Conversely, the 1997 game had less time to delve deep into each character and there were also very few scenes where Aerith and Tifa talked directly to each other. Extra information was later given about their friendship in guidebooks and other publications; however, it is understandable that those who only played the 1997 game would perceive a coldness between the two.
In Final Fantasy Remake, Tifa and Aerith get to know each other quite quickly. Even the scenes where they appear to be arguing over Cloud are quite comical and it sometimes seems like they are just teasing him as a kind of joke between friends. Scenes of Aerith and Tifa talking to each other and working together were also inserted throughout the game. In Rebirth, the second part of the trilogy, their bond is further strengthened. The friendship between Aerith and Tifa is portrayed as one where opposites attract- they discuss each other’s pasts and share secrets.
It seems that Nojima has achieved his goal to portray Aerith and Tifa’s friendship properly in the remake trilogy. Nojima also released a novel in 2021 that goes into Aerith and Tifa’s upbringing and expands on their relationship. Some of these scenes can be found in Rebirth, but if you really want to become an expert on these two iconic characters, then you should probably check out the English translation of Final Fantasy VII Traces of Two Pasts.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is available now on PS5.
Written by. Verity Townsend based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2024-03-11 18:17 JST)
Ayuo Kawase
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