The love triangle problem
Lately, I've been writing bits and pieces of the post about my feelings on Trails beyond the Horizon I want to post soon.
I've also been listening to the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth soundtrack, that has been added to streaming services early this year.
Accidentally, I just realized that an aspect of those game provoked specific feelings inside my brain I think no other stories has done before. And it's not their cliffhanger endings, even if the fact that those endings are not the actual ending of their story is part of the issue, I think. It's how the love triangle is addressed.
Be warned that there's gonna be spoilers for both games and this is not a critique on the ships themselves, but more of a personal meditation on how my brain reacts to how they're written.
FF7, as we all know, has Tifa and Aerith. Trails Calvard arc has Agnés and Elaine. Most people like one or the other for whatever reason1. Despite the same tropes, however, the he situations feel a lot different. Yes, Aerith and Agnés are self sacrifice girls with a staff and a legacy that can change the world. Yes, Elaine and Tifa are the local childhood friends who are very popular and can kick your ass. But Cloud and Van couldn't be more different from each other and they deal with love affairs differently2.
I have preferences myself. For me it's Tifa and Elaine. I just vibe more with those pairings. However, I don't necessary despise Clerith and Van/Agnés3, I get why people might like them and I know friends who do. I'm not here to change their mind or say they're wrong.
What I dislike is when the game feels like it's patronizing me.
After a pretty balanced Remake, where Tifa and Aerith had almost equal space, Rebirth was kinda all over the place, mostly for the added scenes that weren't in the original. FF7 has always been about player interpretation and choice. And yet for the whole latter part of the game i felt like it was suggesting me that "actually, Cloud and Aerith might be canonically starcrossed lover". Not telling it out loud, just suggesting it. And, in my mind, a question rised "do they want to make Clerith canon?". It felt wrong and not because it's Aerith. The scene in Gongaga when Tifa and Cloud almost kiss, as well as the kiss itself on the ferris wheel felt kind of misplaced if I have to be honest.
On the other hand we got Van Arkride, a man who knows he's not in a good place to be in a relationship. Elaine and Agnés, however, are and they're very clear about that. Van's answer to Elaine is hesitant, neither positive or negative. His answer to Agnés is a very direct "No, I can't see you as a romantic partner". But the two scenes are VERY different in execution. Elaine's is an optional character event. Agnés's has an entire evening of buildup and a direction so emotional it rivals the majority of declarations of love in the series (except maybe Estelle and Joshua's). Like the game wants me to feel sorry for Agnés, to start root for her like other characters in the game do. And at the end, when she sacrifices for reasons we don't know yet, this feeling gets amplified. I could bet in the next game we're getting her back. Maybe a bit older so she can be with Van because they're starcrossed lovers. And, I don't know... I feel tricked.
It could be just because this choices go against my ship of preference, but I'm not sure. As I said I think I would be just as bothered if Tifa was given the preference treatment. As for Trails, I wouldn't be bothered if Elaine ends up with someone else4. Same for Van.
I know the situations are very different, but I think what drives me off in both cases is the feeling the writers are putting a hand on my shoulder and patronizingly telling me "They have equal chances on the surface, but look closely! Your ship is actually the wrong one, the other is so much better!".
I still consider Aerith and Agnés great characters, but I'm bothered so much by this feeling that I kind of distance myself even more from their ship with the protagonist, even if I wasn't necessary against them.
I'm not sure this feeling is common or not. Just writing this to kind of exorcise negativity and put it somewhere.
Or other characters, both Cloud and Van have many more people interested in them other than the "main" triangle.↩
And by this I mean: Van sort of deals with them, Cloud endures them.↩
I actually don't really like Van/Agnés much, but I feel like, if Agnés wasn't a schoolgirl, I'd be more inclined to like it. And as she reminds me everytime her mom and dad were the same age as her and Van when they got together makes it even worse. But I digress, that's beyond the point.↩
I have a theory regarding René's rivalry with Van, and it focuses on the fact that he allows only Elaine to call him by name. What if, in previous temporal loops, Van wasn't there and Elaine loved him instead? I'd honestly love this concept and I wouldn't mind if that would end up being true. I'd ship René and Elaine in this scenario.↩