If he ultimately loves and chooses Tifa in the end, the answer is a definite NO. They might not have been "super close" as kids, but she still genuinely loves and cares about him. They even make childhood promises on how she wants Cloud to save her, and she has kept herself available for him ever since.
If he chooses Aerith though, he may be a literal cuck. Back in 1997 (before Crisis Core & Advent Children came out), Cloud's relationship with Aerith was much more fleshed out than her relationship with Zack. While she was obviously very heartbroken upon learning of her boyfriend's death, the depth of their relationship was never really explored much. All we knew was that throughout the game, she was only ever interested in Cloud because he was very "Zack-like" in her eyes. This changes though if you take her on the Gold Saucer date. There, it could have been argued that she finally moved on and started loving Cloud as her true love.
Flash forward to Crisis Core, and we get to see how Aerith and Zack became romantically involved. PSP hardware is much more powerful than blocky PS1 polygons, and the better graphics and visual storytelling made her love for Zack all the more apparent. Much more realistic and fleshed out than the PS1 original could Ever portray for her bond with Cloud. And to add insult to injury, we learn that the reason why she sells flowers, the reason why she always wears a red ribbon, are both because of her feelings for Zack. All the more proof that her heart will always belongs to Zack. Never Cloud. And then you have the Advent Children movie, whose ending shows that ghosts can communicate with each other in the afterlife, with Aerith & Zack chilling and cracking jokes in the Lifestream. Effectively meaning that ever since her death, she's been reunited with her first true love again. Possibly rekindling and continuing their relationship where they left off, meanwhile still-alive Cloud (for duration of his time left alive in the world) isn't getting action or quality time with her. Not until he's dead, that is. [Which would make for an awkward reunion though. Or who knows? Maybe Aerith really is into polymorous triangles and getting DP'd.]
Aerith obviously still cares a lot for Cloud, no doubt. On many occasions, her dead spirit helped Cloud take down Sephiroth and Bahamut, or is seen comforting him when he's troubled. Helping someone from beyond the grave is a sure sign that you really truly do care about them. The real question is though, does she actually love him more than Zack as well? All signs point to no, and it seems like Cloud is getting cucked while his girl's spirit is getting it on with Zack's in the Lifestream.
In short, an Eternal Cuck.
Lincoln Rodriguez
having paragraphs is not reddit spacing. fuck off.
Zachary Cox
OP isn't reddit spacing, he broke up the paragraphs so the thing could be somewhat readable.
Anyway yeah cloud is 100% a cuck faggot, what kind of asshole doesn't got for Tifa
Joshua Hall
Cloud is ultimately a larping neet failure of a faggot who got PTSD and had to put on his ultimate and ideal persona ala Zack and destroyed his entire memory to keep himself sane, what a great fucking friend there. And no, I don't think he was in that intimate enough of a relationship with Aeris(I'm spiting FF7) to call it a cuckold relationship, though Aeris and Zack are eternal virgins.
Trying too hard on your first day and forgot that Walls of fucking text is also an eyesore? kill yourself tryhard faggot.
Leo Richardson
There are many ways to interpet their relationship
Aeris could've been like a mother to him, considering she was like a saint for him. In a world corrupted by corporate greed and human technology over mako, aerith is the first flower he ever saw in his life, metaphorically along with literally on the first scene
Mind you, this is FF7 story writing, prequels and what not don't count if he did see green grass before or not since writing varies per team. For FF7, Aerith was hope for cloud. a figure too pure. Someone caring is not new to him, but she did it selfessly while Tifa did it, at least when she was a child, for childlish selfish self-fulfillment
The substance lies that Tifa grows, and is no longer selfish, but rather caring and appreciative for their elationship, while Cloud does not see her that way until end of the game, as full grown woman. Hence he prefers Aerith as shown in deep mourning and putting her aside initially.
Cloud is a child, Aerith is the mother. Tifa is the OTP child figure that eventually grows. Tifa grew off-screen before they met, Cloud is growing right now. Cloud is less emotionally mature than the rest of the cast albeit being the most badass.
Tifa is a tragic character throghout the game and the fanservice favorite, which the public wants to eventually win the cloudbowl. Aerith saw cloud as hope too, as you learn later on, which adds another layer of substance because their relationship could've easily grown into romance if they had spent more time together.
FF7 had a good story because the character interaction has a lot of layers. Aerith was hope. a mother. Eventually, cloud would grow and see her as the woman she is. Tifa was ready but simply came late. Tifa was longing for him all this time but wasn't there. Tifa respects Cloud's mourning, and as cloud grows, realizes tifa is a flower too. Tifa is the "I will make sure to protect this one" trope.
As OP said. If Tifa x cloud is canon, then all is well. But I wouldn't call cloud a cuck, rather just a jrpg MC child growing up and facing his inner conflicts.
Jonathan Ward
paragraphs are not reddit spacing you fucking retard. however,
when your comment looks like this
and you have several lines that might as well be in the same sentence
then you have an argument
faggot
William Roberts
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Camden Jones
I enjoy the fact FF7 doesn't do the "main love interest" kind of general character which has a free plot highway to MC's dick.
Instead, FF7 makes it complicated, by adding a woman coming first who is equally just a character like the other female, and both are perceived different by MC.
If we wanted to transcend that trope, we could deconstruct how the audience views a character and then how a character truly is on top of it.
Cameron Anderson
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Brandon Stewart
Yuffie is best prove me wrong
Brandon Anderson
Yuffie is just fanservice cute Yuffie does the role of the child.
Justin Hughes
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Christopher Ortiz
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Nicholas Bennett
Even Tifa's panties and tits can't make that failure worth screencapping.
Nathaniel Richardson
Nah. Aries would be more "cuck" than Cloud. You see, she loved Zack, but even if he died she could still communicate/hear him in the lifestream. So he was always there in one way or another. Aries just drops the relationship after learning of Zack's death. But since feelings never really fade, she was only attached to Cloud since he was "like" Zack. She wanted to move on, but couldn't despite reality. Had Tifa not been in the picture, Cloud would've gone for her. But that didn't happen. However, SE knew how their "fans" would react if Cloud just dumped Aries like she did with Zack. This is why Could and Aries's relationship is more apparent/forced in the KH games; while in the "main" setting Cloud is with Tifa. Nothing else special or complex about it.
Kayden Foster
Cloud probably gets it on with Tifa, so he's probably not a cuck. Vincent, though, is the biggest cuck in the entire cast. His cuckoldry is the entire reason FF7's plot even happened.
Evan Bennett
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Levi James
lol
Robert Martinez
Aries represents Cloud's delusion that he is Zack. His attraction to her is fairly shallow and even a bit superficial, and it is later revealed that she is not fully human(i.e. fully real.) His failure to save her represents his failure keep up said delusion. Tifa represents Cloud's past(and true) identity. He is afraid to get too close to her even though they were friends growing up, just as he is afraid to face his true self. The way Tifa indulges his false memories of being in Zack's role, even though she knows they're not true, is just like how he allows himself to indulge in these same lies. The part where he embraces her at night beneath the Highwind, at the end of disc 2, represents his complete and final acceptance of his true identity and role. Yuffie represents teenage gook pussy.
Oliver Rivera
He can literally be cucked out of the game entirely too :^)
Cooper Foster
Only post you need to read. It's obvious they're intended as a pairing even if just watch Advent Children where they fucking adopted kids and she has so much relevance aside from jobbing.
Christopher Garcia
"Selling flowers" is actually just hiding the fact that Aerith is a prostitute in the PS1 game.
Jeremiah Fisher
A) He went with Tifa B) Didn't Zack and Aerith go on like one date? Never played Crisis Core, because I'm not a cuck
Caleb Edwards
He was a larping neet failure of a faggot. He ultimately surpasses Zack, which is the point. He didn't intentionally do it, he's literally poisoned with other people's memories. Even if he did do it intentionally, if your options are to go completely insane or have an incorrect memory of a friend, it's a difficult but obvious choice.
I liked this theory, but she sells flowers in a literal sense in Crisis Core at Zack's recommendation.
They spent a bit more time together than that, but basically, yes. Assuming Crisis Core shows everything there was to it, it wasn't really long enough to be considered a steady relationship.
Jackson Davis
To be honest…the only reason Aeris is attracted to Cloud in FF7 is because of how Cloud at the time was channeling Zack. Cloud has, and always will be with Tifa. Heck, it's seeing Tifa injured by Sephiroth is what drove Cloud to CHUCK SEPHIROTH INTO A CHASM while the Masamune was firmly embedded in Cloud's chest.
Nathan Powell
All the girls in ff7 have the best themes, makes me all nostalgic
Juan Rogers
These shitty, MIDI fart oboes shouldn't be able to conjure such deep emotion from a man's heart.
Asher Fisher
When will this meme die?
Levi Howard
(1) AND DONE OP REDDIT SPACING REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Aiden Bennett
Cloud's not a cuck. He's mentally unstable for sure, and he has the hots for two women, one of which had a previous relationship with (unbeknownst to him) the man he was pretending to be, but when she dies and he goes full mental and you actually get BEST CHARACTER CID to be party leader while Tifa nurses him back to health, you see the proper bond between Tifa and Cloud reform and they become committed to each other. And then of course AC comes along and turns Cloud in to a whiny emo bitch and retcons character growth because fangirls fell in love with the broken emo Cloud arc instead of the strong resilient soldier type he became in the end.
Owen Jackson
The shittiness of the quality only serves to make the music more endearing
Juan King
Goddamn Advent Children..
Sebastian Gray
AC is a step backwards from his emotional state at the end of VII, but it doesn't really retcon his development, since his issue in AC is survivor's guilt, rather than a broken identity. It's a logical next step after regaining his true self, considering what he went through in VII and CC. However, while it was deliberately written that way to bring back "familiar" Cloud, which is understandable it also means that every appearance of Cloud thereafter is bullshit, since he always winds up being the same mopey faggot over and over again, despite the resolution of his character arc. He worked through his past and present problems and is a whole, functioning human being again. Just let the sperg have his happy ending, Nomura.
Wyatt Wilson
Serious question: Is OP an actual faggot?
Gabriel Sanchez
What a fucking cunt. Cloud's resolution at the end is a great example of character developement, yet dem shekels demand that he return him to an emo. Fucking hell.
Brandon Allen
No, I heard for the brief time he cameos in that Dirge of Cerberus shit, he actually sounds more normal and even chuckles during a phone call to Vincent.
Joshua Jones
The kind of guy who want's a housewife raising their kid. Tifa doesn't seem like long term waifu material. A one night stand on the other hand…
Grayson Ramirez
Did Cloud date Aerith and let Zack fuck her while he masturbated to it? If not, then no, he isn't an ACTUAL cuck. What a retarded thread.
Thomas Phillips
Advent Spergs is fanfiction
Adam Sullivan
It's been awhile since I played 7 but I'm pretty sure Tifa is pure and loyal, even after cloud went with Aeris for a bit
Henry Peterson
Yeah..oddly enough, Aeris sounds like a one night stand material while Tifa's the loyal one.
Nathan Powell
either you're Zack or you're not, bro…. chad
oh man, I'd fucking like to see that!
oh so they jewed out the title with dlc, what did I miss?
Logan Carter
Did not the creators said that Cloud and Tifa did actually fucked each other the night before the showdown?
Sebastian Sanchez
Yup. They even sneak in that kind of reference into Dissidia when she uses her EX Burst on him.
Andrew Kelly
What a shitty thread. Go look up the definition of cuckold.
Justin King
Go play the Japanese version she is not selling flowers she is a bonafide prostitute, the selling flowers part at the time was censorship for the US port.
Easton Evans
You've made my case for Cloud/Yuffie for me, how can anyone hope to compete?
Jordan Parker
If you get enough of the hidden romance points with Tifa, Cloud literally fucks her on the grass under the airship at the end and gives 0 fucks when he finds out the rest of the team were watching them fuck. Who cares about Aeris? She dead.
Parker Edwards
I've played the Japanese version; she sells flowers. Hence why she has a garden full of flowers, a church full of flowers and on several occasions literally sells flowers.
Christopher Edwards
Of all the stupid shit to nitpick.
Hunter Bailey
But it's a GAYME THEORY from a retarded degenerate millennial
Austin Brown
They just read that one doujin where she is a prostitute. Their theory is based on nip smut!
Jordan Martin
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Dominic Bennett
According to this logic I suppose the HD remake of FFVII will swing it back again in Cloud's favor.
Logan Richardson
Sounds about right. Also Crisis Core is shit just like every FF game after 9.
Christopher Sullivan
You take that back.
Isaiah Collins
Niggers.
David Green
This can't be happening. How can anything compete with Tifa?
Cooper Hall
No, it's possible to deduce that Zack is Aerith's first boyfriend in VII, such as by talking to his parents and watching optional cutscenes. Pic related. He was added late in development specifically to tie Aerith and Cloud's plot threads together, and kill two birds with one stone, since it was already decided early on that Cloud's persona would be faked, and that Aerith would like Cloud because she saw her first boyfriend in him, which was previously going to be Sephiroth.
Ryan Wilson
Yeah, it's the romantic scenes like these that make Cloud/Tifa the perfect couple. In both versions, she clearly still loves you very much regardless. The only difference is, by how much? They have a heartfelt conversation in both versions, but the reason and (most importantly) Dialogue differs for why she gets embarassed by Barret and Cid. In the Low Affection scene, it was because they were "Listening" in on her intimate conversation with Cloud. In the High Affection scene, it was because they "Watching" her make love to Cloud all night. Making Barret and Cid actual cucks :^)
Sebastian Morris
I always imagined Tifa was especially embarrassed because it's a "last night alive" thing so they probably did all the freaky shit. Riding every possible position, sucking and fucking, fingers in the bum, tits out and fucking those big fun bags and making her gag on your cock with the spittle running down her enormous tits to be the perfect lube while you pin her down and fuck her while she frigs herself off at the thought of being used by you and getting showered repeatedly in your cum. And Cid saw it all.
Carter Gonzalez
It was probably hugely vanilla. Cloud probably didn't even grab Tifa's massive titties
Juan Bell
Not really..Cid does have his assistant. Barret though? His wife is dead (and possibly his kid too, with Marlene being Dyne's kid)
Like to believe that rock they did it on has a permanent indent now due to how rough Cloud and Tifa were at it. Finishing Touch isn't Cloud's Limit Break for nothing.
Easton Gomez
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Andrew Flores
I think that given the nature of who Aerith is and what she ultimately represents you shouldn't apply human metrics to her. I also don't think any relationship she had went beyond infatuation or 'puppy love', which wouldn't be incredibly distinct from how she treated everyone else anyway.
Cloud's railing Tifa anyway though so it's fine. Not a cuck.
Carson Gonzalez
That sounds gloriously autistic
Gabriel Lee
Case closed then, Aeris a shit Cloud is not a cuck unlike Squall.
Logan Bailey
Barret never had any kids.
Robert Walker
IX is shit and the first sign of Square's developing case of schizophrenic game design. It was called "A return to final fantasy's roots", while it has static job classes, fleshed out but ultimately boring characters, a boring plot, some of the faggiest music in the series, and it reinforced the notion that FFVI was somehow the definition of classic for the series since FFIX borrows quite a bit from it. What FFIX doesn't borrow from FFVI it borrows from FFVIII or VII, which is to say all the CG movies, high polygon models, ridiculously long summons, and other advances in technology.
A true return for the series to its roots would have taken more elements from the first three titles instead of from entries only immediately behind it. FFIII in particular would have been a formula to revisit, it could evenly be loosely linked since there were Dark Warriors that stopped a cataclysm in a parallel world to FFIII's. With the modernizations of the Job class system brought on by FFV and FFT, they could have really delivered a good classic formula FF, instead of the overrated boring FFIX so many faggots pretend wasn't the first symptom of Square's management going insane.
Zachary Nguyen
sounds about right
Angel Edwards
Way to go niggerbrain.
Isaiah Campbell
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Jayden Cooper
But seriously, this whole "Aeris is a prostitute" thing is like a Gayme theory-tier BUT YOU WERE IN A COMA THE WHOLE TIME WOAH speculation
Thomas Clark
Stale meme. Hunters and gatherers are both older than whores.
Blake Diaz
It doesn't even make sense economically. You can find a cheap hooker anywhere in the slums, vaginas are a dime a dozen. But she is the one and only source of flowers, which she can sell for virtually any price with no competition. She would have to be completely retarded to sell her body for a competitive low rate instead of exploiting the market she owns.
Gabriel Fisher
no i always twisted the plot to videogames in my mind so that all the girls worship the main character, i remember i set up events in the game and party organization so that Aries, Tifa, and Yuffie worshipped Cloud
Austin Russell
If you date any girl who has ever been romantically or sexually involved with another guy then you're a cuck tbh.
Hudson Rivera
The whole thing started because of Cloud and Aries' cameos in Final Fantasy Tactics, where one of the bad guys says that Aries should sell her body instead of flowers.
Kevin Lee
Trying to make people fap?
If a lover or even a rapist doesn't grab and suck big titties, they're a faggot by default.
Christian Bell
And Cloud's no faggot..sure, he was forced to cross dress..but no a faggot.
Jackson Harris
No they aren't. What do you think women traded for food and shelter?
Sebastian Morris
And where did that food and shelter come from in the first place?
Jace Morris
According to the Ultimania a year and a half passed between the time they started dating and Sephiroth burned down Nibelheim.
Mason Russell
Nigger the fact that you put this much thought and effort into a fictional vidya character makes you a cuck on principle alone. You're cucking your mind for pixels at this juncture.
Chase Garcia
Where do you think those Hunter-Gatherers came from in the first place?
Jaxson Smith
Where do you think first place even is?
Liam Morales
From regular women, not prostitutes. Whores can't trade their pussy for something if there's nothing to trade it for, and in the early days of humanity the only thing a whore would want is food, and a man could only get food by hunting or gathering.
Daniel Robinson
We must never speak of that thread
Juan Hughes
I actually used to write smut for fun, I'm tempted to return to it and make bank selling shitty fiction to lonely housewives on Amazon. I've considered writing thinly veiled fanfic and just barely changing trademarked terms and whatever to avoid copyright issues. I may get desperate enough to do it one day.
Ryan Green
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John Reed
Where do you think the first place even is?
Or warmth Or protection Or a baby (see: Sperm donor) Did you even think about this?