Square Enix has finally explained the logic behind what many fans consider to be a plot hole in Final Fantasy 7 Remake, justifying it through Aerith having vague memories of future events.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s protagonist Cloud likes to keep to himself, so when he meets Aerith and she already knows he’s an ex-SOLDIER (a specific military group) and now a mercenary, there’s no obvious way for her to know that.
It’s been a hotly-contested moment for years, with players’ strongest theory being that a friend of Aerith called Zack was also a SOLDIER, so she’d recognise the look, but many others still didn’t buy it.
Square Enix has finally weighed in through a tweet translated by Siliconera, and spoilers for both versions of Final Fantasy 7 ahead, it’s just as weird as the other meta plotlines happening in Remake. Just as the new version is changing key story moments before strange ghost monsters called Whispers force them back into place, Aerith is hearing similar echoes of the multiverse.
Even though the pair hadn’t met until now, Aerith has vague memories of future events thanks to her multiverse self already knowing Cloud, Square Enix said. When Aerith calls him a mercenary, she’s apparently doing so unintentionally because she subconsciously already holds this information.
The Whispers are trying to undo and “correct” these plot changes from the original game though, as the tweet explains they sap some of Aerith’s future memories every time they touch her.
Only time well tell exactly how these future memories, Whispers, and multiverses play out in the rest of Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s story, which is now confirmed to be a trilogy.
Part two, officially called Rebirth, is due to release this winter and fans are already noticing references to the original game in its marketing. A lengthy trailer from Summer Game Fest gave fans their first proper look at the game in a year and came at the end of a week’s worth of sometimes insightful but more often bizarre Q&A posts from Square Enix.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
