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Thats a tough one. between aeris and tifa i would have to say that aeris love cloud more then tifa but i think cloud thought of tifa more of as a best friend but aeris was more of a girlfriend.

For my old PSY class I had to write a paper regarding audience reactions to presented options. And being the geek that I am decided to use the FFVII fan based and since this topic has the most "resources" I used this one. I won't post the whole paper (because its fourteen pages long) but here's a summary. (And sorry Yuffie supporters... this is just Tifa/Aeris)

Tifa
Roughly 63% of variables interviewed (meaning I sat down and talked with them directly) said that as a character they prefered Tifa. Over two thirds over said group were male. One an online search shrines to the character (still active) ran at only roughly 25% of total shrines found (majority of shrines for both characters were managed by women) In forums searching the numbers looked about the same as the interviews.
When asked/explaining what traits of the character were liked the five most common (in order) 1: Character's sense of realism. 2: Character appearance. 3: Character battle capacity. 4: Character demonstrates sense of genuine kindness. 5: Character's ability to influence.
To dumb it down majority (I italicise because I am aware that these are not everyone's reasons) people that say they like Tifa because she felt more like a real person, was hot, kicked some serious a**, was a good person, and could be looked at as a role model.

Aeris
Roughly 47% of variables interviewedsaid that as a character they prefered Aeris. Over roughly 80% of said group were female. One an online search shrines to the character (still active) ran at only roughly 75% of total shrines found (majority of shrines for both characters were managed by girls) In forums searching more males admitted to prefering the character Aeris than admitted in interviews.
When asked/explaining what traits of the character were liked the five most common (in order) 1: Character's sense of kindess/sacrifice 2: Character's ability to influence. 3: Sense of dimension 4: Sense of comfort 5: Character's appearance
In other words, people liked that Aeris was willing to die for her loved ones and cause, was a good role model, was kind, mysterious yet had faults (temper was most commonly mentioned fault), you felt comfortable with the character, and she was hot.

Most outstanding x-variable in this paper was that when in search for answers to 'what traits do you like about the character you chose?' nearly 90% of the subjects responded with traits they didn't like about the opposing character. (Example: Why do you like Tifa? "She felt more like a real person than Aeris." Why do you like Aeris? "She was more of a role model than Tifa.")

Interviewed subjects were also ask questions regarding personal views. These questions were chosen under terms of how I figured the "social group" would respond. Yes, meaning I assumed a fan of Tifa would say one thing and a fan of Aeris would say another. (Call me a horrible person if you want be it got me a good grade)
(The option to not respond to a question was always open but very rare)
1: What is your view on women's rights today?
2: What do you think feminism should be?
3: Would you describe yourself as a realist or idealist?
4: What kind of relationships do you usually find yourself in?
5: How is your relationship with your ex/exes?
5: What are you views on divorce?
6: What do you think about widows/widowers remarrying?
7: Do you prefer sci-fi/fantasy?
8: Do you know where the character name Sephiroth came from?

The following is the major response from each side. (Responses in black are the responses I expected, responses in red were the responses I did not expect.)

Tifa fans (Again this is majority; all answers were at least what 60% answered)
1. It goes too far today. 2. A fight to make the genders equal. 3. Realist 4. Short, fun flings 5. Bitter/avoiding 6. It's natural 7. Sci-fi 8. less than 20% knew

Aeris fans (same disclosure)
1: It's on the right track. 2. A fight for women's right to choose. 3. Idealist 4. Long, serious relationships 5: Still friends 6: A person needs a time to grieve. 7: Fantasy 8: less than 30% knew

Now here's the kicker... All interviews were asked if their favorite should be with Cloud.

Tifa fans=68% wanted Tifa to be with Cloud.
Aeris fans=88% wanted Aeris to be with Cloud.

Just putting it out there.... I thought it was interesting.

Thank you but to be honest that was just the first half of my paper and not the half regarding fan based reasoning on their answer regarding Cloud, and character production and game background and symbolistic analysis. (Which would have probably been more suiting to the topic.)
I decided to only post that half if requested to.

Aries, no doubt. It was love. They should make a movie, oh wait, they did biggrin

Ok so i am going to try and end all this rediculous fighting. Cloud likes Aeris. Tifa and cloud were friends since they were kids. Tifa likes Cloud. I noticed that cloud began to like Aeris. It is really obvious he does not like Yuffie. One reason: She stole his ******* materia and then got her a$$ beat to give them back. Cloud likes Aeris end of story. cool

Well, Aeris is dead, that means, cloud would have to move on. Meaning he would be with Tifa. And Yuffie? I don't think Cloud ever had a crush on her. o.o

yo

hi