Final Fantasy Tactics: A Clerith Love Story

The aptly-named Final Fantasy Tactics is a tactical role-playing game, deviating from Final Fantasy‘s classic battle system but still retaining its epic storytelling and character-driven drama. Released in Japan in June 1997 and in the U.S. in January 1998, it was unleashed unto fans only half a year after the extraordinary success of Final Fantasy VII. Being simultaneously in development, then, it’s no surprise at all that FF7’s two leading characters make a cameo appearance: Cloud and Aeris.

Cloud appeared as a secret playable character, whom Ramza, the hero, could recruit and battle with as a member of his expansive army of unique units. If the player has the foresight to keep the character Mustadio alive, listen to a rumor about a cursed island, unlock a cutscene where Ramza meets Aeris and be sure to buy her flower for one gil, visit the Clockwork City of Goug, recruit Beowulf, save the dragon Rei, recruit Construct 8, go to Nelveska Temple, give a magical stone to Mustadio’s father Besrudio, whose restoration of an ancient technology will enable Cloud to be summoned from his world into the Tactics‘ world of Ivalice. Suffice to say, he might be missable to a casual player.

When Cloud appears in the game, he is confused – not just because of the whole being-summoned-from-an-alternate-dimension experience. He seems to have been plucked from FF7’s world during the time he was unconscious in the Lifestream. He mumbles about being a SOLDIER, and laments Aeris’s death. Lo and behold, he runs into a flower girl on the streets of Ivalice that looks just like her – and is even named Aeris (yes, Aeris – though this would be updated to “Aerith” in the game’s re-release, which featured a new translation.) Alas, being the Aeris from this universe and not Cloud’s own, she has no memories of him.

But when thugs threaten Aeris, and even suggest she sell her body to make good of a loan, Cloud furiously rushes to the rescue. Aeris escapes and a battle ensues. Upon winning, Cloud would be a permanent member of Ramza’s team.

Here are the scripts of Cloud and Aeris’s scenes, with a side-by-side comparison of the original 1998 translation and the 2007 War of the Lions translation. (Note that there are some name differences: in 1998’s version, our girl is called Aeris and Flower Girl respectively, whereas in the 2007 version, she is Aerith and Flower Peddler. Besrodio also changes to Besrudio, and a Knave is relabeled as a Ruffian.)

Ramza meeting Aeris

Cloud after being summoned through space-time portal

Cloud running into Aeris on the streets

After the battle:

Through this dialogue, there are a few lines worth pointing out:

• Aeris: When is my knight in shining armor going to take me away from here…?

Aeris’s line is rather cute. Though sadly there’s no scene of Cloud taking her away – this isn’t his world, after all, and sooner or later he has to go home – he does act as her “knight in shining armor” when he saves her from ruffians. The line certainly suggests a romantic, fairytale-esque context between her and Cloud’s relationship. Remember as well that in Cloud’s world, he did “take her away” from Midgar, where she might have had this same sentiment.

• Cloud: What…is this place? Who…who am I? I remember being swallowed by a current – a great stream, and then…

This line implies that Cloud was summoned to Ivalice while he was in the Lifestream after the Northern Crater events, or perhaps right afterwards while he is comatose with mako poisoning. It must occur before Tifa joins him to fish out the truth of his past, since he seems to believe he’s a former SOLDIER. There’s the very real suggestion that Cloud’s cameo in Tactics fits canonically within Final Fantasy VII‘s storyline.

• Cloud: What’s this? My fingers are tingling… My eyes… they’re burning… Stop… stop it … phiros

Cloud’s line about his fingers tingling and his eyes burning is a direct reference to his lines of shock directly after Sephiroth murders Aeris. He is feeling real physical pain from grief in his jumbled memories. This will contextualize the thesis of Cloud’s storyline in Tactics and his upcoming meeting with Aeris. (Of course, “…phiros” was mistransliterated, it should be “…phiroth”, as in, “Sephiroth.”)

• Flower Girl: Something wrong? Do I resemble someone?
• Cloud: No… it’s nothing.

Cloud meets this world’s incarnation of Aeris. Since she does not recognize him, he must realize that she is not his Aeris. He immediately walks away – presumably unable to handle a conversation with a woman who looks just like the one he lost.

• Cloud: Didn’t you hear me? Get your dirty hand off her!

Cloud rushing in to be Aeris’s knight in shining armor – or, shall we say, her bodyguard – is a heart-thumping moment. His unadulterated fury at the ruffians harassing her and even threatening sexual assault immediately changes his attitude from disconnecting from the pain by ignoring her, to risking his life to save her.

• Cloud: I’ve lost something…something very important.

In Japanese, Cloud uses the phrase 大切なもの – which is the exact phrase Cait Sith used during his fortune in Gold Saucer when he told Cloud that he would find what he was looking for (Sephiroth) but “lose something important” along the way. This, of course, refers to Aeris.

• Ramza: Cloud…there’s someone in your world waiting for you.
• Ramza: Cloud…There are people waiting for you back in your world, am I not right?

This is just an interesting difference in translation. The first quote suggests one person is waiting for Cloud. With the focus on Aeris here, perhaps the player is made to take the line as Aeris is waiting for Cloud – if not in the physical world, then as a spirit in the Lifestream. Alternatively, perhaps the player might think of Tifa, helplessly sitting at Cloud’s side. The re-translation changed this to “people” – whether Aeris, Tifa, or all of Cloud’s companions, there’s no need to guess. While perhaps less poignant, it’s more appropriate as Ramsa has no idea whether or not Cloud has one special person waiting for his return.

• Cloud: Let’s go, Ramza. I can’t be here. Must go…to the Promised Land.

In response, Cloud tells Ramza where he has to go, and the answer is the Promised Land – not “back to my friends” or “back to Midgar” or “back to my Planet.” The Promised Land – the place where Aeris will be – is where he wants to be.

As a character, Cloud has rather limited utility for the average player, as he joins the party at a meager level 1 and will take quite a lot of TLC to catch up to the others and equip his weapon, the Materia Blade. With enough work, though, he can be a great addition to Ramza’s traveling army.

Final Fantasy Tactics was acknowledged in the Final Fantasy Ultimania Omega, with page 560 dedicated to the game. The page describes Cloud’s appearance as a recruitable character, and Aeris’s presence as a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the Aeris of Final Fantasy VII but without any memory of Cloud. Check out the page here:

One interesting piece of trivia was that in the game’s original release, Cloud was the only male character able to equip a Ribbon – which, in Tactics, was an accessory reserved only for female characters. This may have been a reference to Cloud’s cross-dressing – or, perhaps, it is meant to recall the ribbon Aeris famously wears in her hair. (If that sounds like a stretch, remember that in Cloud’s the Yokai Watch: Wibble Wobble cameo, Cloud can “fuse” with the item Aerith’s Ribbon to get stronger.)

Another easter egg is that in Tactics, which utilizes character birthdays to determine their Zodiac signs, claims Cloud’s date of birth is January 31. Fans might know that his canon birthday is actually August 11 – but January 31 serves as an easter egg to the date of Final Fantasy VII’s release in Japan (which occurred just half a year before Tactics itself was released, as previously mentioned.)