The Let's Play Archive

Final Fantasy VII

by Elentor

Part 78: A Cloud to the Past

Chapter 77 - A Cloud to the Past








Last time, Cloud and Tifa sunk into the Lifestream.





This whole sequence reeks of Sleep Paralysis symptons.



Tifa starts to listen to the voices of the Lifestream. A creepy noise that goes straight into your head, almost like a static sound.



Only Aeris could understand it.



Finally, something. We suddenly find ourselves in a "Memory Hub".



As Tifa and Cloud drown in the Lifestream, their minds intertwine.



Tifa: "Searching... for yourself."



But where do we start?



And that's where it all begins.







And so we start our journey to finally understand what the hell is going on.





Tifa: "And that's Gramps' Inn, too."



Tifa: "This is the Nibelheim you remember, right?"





We're getting back to where things get fuzzy.



It's amusing how every problem in this game draws back to this scene.



We see it many times throughout the game, and every time we see it, we see it from a different perspective.



I also like how they convey Cloud's sense of self-worth with those few tiny polygons, just by tilting his head down.



So how does it feel?



Slowly rebuilding those memories, once again.



Until we can find what is wrong.



Somewhere, something is messed up. That's why we can't remember what happens after Cloud confronts Sephiroth.



Tifa shares our opinion.



The lights definitely aren't on upstairs.





Oh shit. IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING.



We knew it. Tifa is a bad liar. This is a big moment.



And this is why everything keeps coming back to this memory. It's wrong. Sephiroth told us so, and he wasn't lying.



Tifa was lying.



I really like this moment. Because even though you knew something was off, it's the first time in the game we get to confront it.



Something was off. Something IS off. And we still have to find what it is.



Or who it is.



The man with the black hair.



Tifa: "There's nothing... I can say..."



Tifa was dead scared of startling up Cloud. She saw how broken he was. They're two broken things, trying to fix each other.



Maybe it wasn't just fear of how he'd react.



Maybe it was fear he simply couldn't be fixed and by not telling him, she'd be delaying the inevitable.



"Don't hurry, Cloud."



Alright. Let's try further back.



There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Cloud.







The well scene. It's the first flashback in the game, way back there in the 7th Heaven.



The thematic concept of Heaven symbolizes this scene (and Tifa's relationship to a guy named Cloud) throughout the game.



The starry heaven is reminisced by Tifa in her bar's name (where she also reminds Cloud of this) and to a lesser extent, in her limit break.



Because this scene has a lot of emotional meaning to Tifa, it's their strongest link to the past.



"Sephiroth once said..."







Like I said, this memory has a lot of meaning to Tifa. Unlike the other women in this game, Tifa is filled with girlish fantasies.



There's a very tragic aspect to this, a sort of depressive reality. She dreams of being rescued by a hero - and yet she learns martial arts, as if a response to the realization that her dream would probably not come to pass.



And as a contrast to wanting to be protected by Cloud, Tifa ended up as the only member who had a stable life and a serious job.



She was an entrepreneur with financial independence. All things that were readily sacrificed in order to bring Cloud, the object of her fantasy, closer to her. Like her dreams, Tifa's bar is literally crushed in response to the pursuit of her fantasy.



Cloud on the other hand doesn't have that sort of motivation.



Even his mother pointed out he'd need an older girlfriend to take care of him, which is why Aeris fitted the bill as a motherly figure to the group.



What I like the most about this is that it showcases how everyone is fucked.



"That's why sometimes it can be mistaken."







We're going to explore new grounds then.







Well, that's honest.



Oh shit.



This is an interesting bit.



At some point Cloud had a crush on Tifa.



Before they friendzoned each other. Well, before Cloud friendzoned her.







This is new. I wonder what they're talking about?







And with that, we conclude this update!


NEXT TIME:

We further explore the bizarre world of Cloud and Tifa! More memories! Maybe the mysteries are finally solved!