About the Highwind Scene
in the Ultimanias
By Anastar
Certain statements made in the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania about the scene
where Cloud and Tifa spend the night under the Highwind have caused a great deal
of controversy. The following passage in particular has resulted in a great deal
of debate. The passage is from an interview with Nomura, Kitase, and Nojima in a
section entitled “What is FFVII?”:
Kitase: "The event on the airship the night before the
final battle was done by Katou as well, wasn't it."
Nojima: "Oh, the bit with that risqué/suggestive dialogue? I wasn't the one who
wrote that, that was Katou too."
Interviewer: “Words aren't the only way to tell someone how you feel", that
line, right? That's a rather mature conversation for a FF game.
Kitase: "Although I remember we had to tone down a version that was too strong."
Nojima: "The original idea was more extreme. The plan was for Cloud to walk out
of the chocobo stable in the airship, followed by Tifa leaving while she kept
looking around, but Kitase rejected it. But I think perhaps no one expected that
line to be so important [laughs]"
In this passage, Nojima says that the following line
spoken in the Highwind scene by Tifa is very risqué or suggestive: “Words
aren’t the only way of telling someone how you feel.”
Some people have interpreted Nojima’s comment to be a confirmation that Cloud
and Tifa actually had sex that night. Other people have gone so far as to claim
that Nojima’s statement actually confirms Cloud and Tifa’s love for one another.
However, the adjectives “risqué” and “suggestive” do not confirm anything.
Here’s the definition of “risqué” from
Dictionary.com:
Risqué adjective
- Suggestive of sexual impropriety
- Verging upon impropriety; dangerously close to, or suggestive of, what is
indecent or of doubtful morality
- Suggestive of or bordering on indelicacy or impropriety.
Here’s the definition of “suggestive” from
Dictionary.com:
Suggestive adjective
- Conveying a hint or suggestion.
- Tending to suggest something improper or indecent
As you can see, the words "risqué" and “suggestive” do not mean that an
action is confirmed or definite. Instead, these words only mean that an action
has been hinted at or implied. If something has only been hinted at, then
it is not definite. Instead, it has been left open to interpretation.
Furthermore, the definitions of “risqué” and “suggestive” both state that the
implied actions are improper or indecent, which is hardly
suggestive of love. The definition of “risqué” specifically states that the word
implies “sexual impropriety”. Nothing in these definitions is suggestive of love
for one another. Feelings of love between two single and uncommitted people
would not be described as “improper”, “indecent”, or “immoral”. Therefore, these
words are suggesting only a possibility of sex rather than love. Only a very
naïve person would believe that sex between two people is a confirmation of
their love for one another.
If you look at Nojima’s words carefully, he does not say that the Highwind
scene is suggestive, nor does he say that Cloud’s reaction is
suggestive. Instead, Nojima only says that Tifa’s words are suggestive,
specifically when she says, “Words aren’t the only way of telling someone how
you feel.” These words from Tifa are suggestive, because she is
essentially asking Cloud to use actions rather than words to show how he feels,
which implies that she wants Cloud to embrace her, kiss her, and/or have sex
with her. However, we never see Cloud act in this way towards Tifa. Here is the
dialogue containing Tifa’s line:
Cloud "Hey, Tifa...... I...... There are a lot of
things I wanted to talk to you about."
(He shakes his head slowly.)
Cloud "But now that we're together like this, I don't know what I really wanted
to say..."
"I guess nothing's changed at all... Kind of makes you want to laugh..."
(Tifa shakes her head)
Tifa "Cloud... Words aren't the only thing that tell people what you're
thinking..."
(Cloud looks at her. She continues to stare past the player, into space. She
straightens her hair again with one hand.)
Cloud "............"
(She closes her eyes. The camera pans up, past her, to the sky, as the scene
fades to black.)
The only reaction we see from Cloud is that he looks at
Tifa with a blank look on his face before the scene fades out to black. He says
nothing in response to her whatsoever. As a result, Cloud’s reaction is left
completely up to the player’s imagination.
Cloud never verbally expresses any definite feelings for Tifa during the
Highwind event. In addition, Cloud’s words can change according to which version
of the Highwind event you get. The dialogue in the Highwind scene actually
varies according to the Date Mechanism in the same way that who Cloud goes on a
Date with at the Gold Saucer is affected. If the game is played so that Cloud
has a low affection rating for Tifa, then the resulting Highwind scene plays
like this:
Last Night Under the Highwind - Low Affection Version.
The Low Affection version of the Highwind scene gives
absolutely no implication or suggestion of sexual impropriety between Cloud and
Tifa, let alone mutual love. Since the level of Cloud’s affection for Tifa is
completely governed by the Date Mechanism, then Cloud’s feelings for Tifa are
totally optional in the game. In other words, Cloud’s feelings for Tifa are
determined by the player’s choices in the game rather than being definite. This was confirmed in the
Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega:
After stopping Hojo from going amuck, the conversation with Tifa before they
rush into the Northern Crater diverges into two conditions, according to Tifa's
affection rating for Cloud. When the affection rating is low, the conversation
in the scene where they spend the night will be apathetic and ends quickly.
~page 198,
Final Fantasy VII Ultimania Omega
Another thing to consider is that Cloud also has risqué and suggestive scenes
with Don Corneo and Mukki in the game. In fact, the FFVII Ultimania Omega
specifically refers to the scene where Cloud is picked by Don Corneo as risqué. If Cloud’s suggestive scenes with Don Corneo and Mukki don’t mean that Cloud loves these men, then why should a risqué
scene with Tifa suggest that Cloud loves her? The risqué scenes with Don Corneo
and Mukki only suggest that Cloud may have had sex with these men, but it’s left
up to the interpretation of the player. The same can easily be said of the
risqué scene with Tifa.
A second passage from the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania has created further controversy
about the Last Night Under the Highwind scene. Nojima makes reference to a scene
which happens on board the Highwind right before the Last Night scene. On
board the Highwind, Cloud suggests to each member of Avalanche that they should
decide what is most important to them and decide why they are fighting. These
are Nojima’s comments about the scene:
Cloud asks all of his friends to ascertain what their
“important thing” is. After that speech, all of them are dismissed, except Cloud
and Tifa. Confessing their feelings to each other, Cloud and Tifa see whether
they feel the same way.
Once again, some people have jumped to the conclusion that
Nojima’s statement means that Cloud and Tifa confirm their love for one another.
In actuality, Nojima says no such thing. Although Nojima does say that
Cloud and Tifa confess their feelings for one another, he does not
specify what those feelings are. Therefore, the feelings shared between them
could be feelings of friendship, or feelings of support, or feelings of regret
for past misunderstandings, or other feelings. Nowhere does Nojima specify
exactly
what feelings Cloud and Tifa confess to one another. Therefore we cannot
assume that Cloud and Tifa expressed love for one another. Nojima most likely
did not specify what feelings they shared because he is fully aware that Cloud’s
feelings for Tifa can vary according to the player’s choices in the game, and
are therefore optional.
Therefore, neither of these quotes from Nojima in the FFVII 10th Anniversary
Ultimania confirm what feelings Cloud actually has for Tifa. In fact, there are
other statements in the Ultimania which actually contradict the idea that Cloud
loves Tifa. Those passages will be discussed further in other essays on this
site.
See these essays for further discussion of the Highwind Scene:
Last Night Under the Highwind: Low Affection Version - script and screenshots
Analysis of the Highwind Scene: Low Affection Version
Analysis of the Highwind Scene: High Affection Version
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