LogFAQs > #980012883

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Main Character 5
Tifa Lockhart

Beauty and brawn, all in one complete package! Rebirth does a lot of really interesting stuff with Tifa, that moves her beyond just being pure eye candy. However, the game also puts her in some situations where she underwhelms.

Rebirth features Tifa coming into her own as a thinker. This is clear from the very opening scene where she confronts Cloud about the Nibelheim stuff and where he's been for 5 years. The game shows Tifa attempting to come to terms with her decisions and be more assertive as a person. The early scenes between Tifa and Cloud in Kalm and Under Junon are really well done, because they effectively utilize the romantic tension in an actual subversive way, like when Cloud calls out Tifa for "testing" him again. I liked the dynamic of them pseudo-fighting/being upset with each other.

This continues through Gongaga, where Cloud goes full Sephy and Tifa has her lifestream freakout. But here's where Tifa kind of loses me. She commits herself to helping Cloud - which is fine - but she also becomes a lot more passive I think. She lets herself get kind of bossed around by Bugenhagen in Cosmo Canyon, which is one thing, but she also gets looked down on by random hippies too. In the return to Nibelheim sequence, when Cloud "remembers what happened to Zack," she is continuing to play along even when she knows that Cloud is still remembering it wrong.

This marks the second FF game in a row where the main female character is uncomfortably submissive. To be clear, I'm not saying that Tifa is as bad as 16's Jill, who I think is completely embarrassing. But I also sense that we're supposed to think that Tifa is being admirable here for being silent and unflinchingly supportive, and quiet and shy and blah blah blah trad wife grossness. And maybe I'm off-base (considering her swimsuit attire), but I can't help but feel they've made Tifa actually a little too demure, personality-wise.

I do love her relationship with Aerith. Making them best friends is probably the single-smartest decision from the Remake project. They really do feel close in ways that both of them needed. They seem to bring out matching qualities in each other, if that makes sense.

Playing as her is pretty much like it was in the original. She's the stagger queen. Unbridled Strength is so fun I kind of forget to use her abilities. She's fun, but a bit simple.

Hint for NPC 10: If he's Hojo's Son, does that mean he's also Sephiroth's Brother?