Alright time for my BIG GALAXY BRAIN theory for FF7R going forward.

Firstly: I don’t think FF7R is simply a “remake”

I think that’s abundantly obvious to everyone now.

This is not a reboot, it’s not a direct remake it’s a requel (a sort of sequel to Advent Children)

Let me explain.

Nomura said in an interview months ago that he had been planning FF7R on his own for a time and that he planned for it to be the final piece of the compilation.

Knowing that, and seeing the direction the story went in, it makes sense. Sephiroth clearly knows things he shouldn’t know yet.

He’s seen the future, and from Aerith’s dialogue, it appears she knows shit too.

This isn’t their first rodeo.

This Sephiroth is from the future. He has found a way to go back in time and try to change his fate.

I’m guessing Aerith has found out about this stuff from hearing the planet.

The watchmen or “plot ghosts” were there to ensure things played out the way they were supposed to until it seemed Sephiroth gained control of them.

#FF7RSpoiler

So what happens when you destroy the embodiment of fate? (Or at least you think you did)

Time has gone haywire. As a big SciFi buff, I see this play out time and time again with Timetravel shit. You try to defy things but when you fuck with time there are ramifications.

Because time has been disrupted, a new temporal event sequence has been put into place. An alternate reality with a DIFFERENT Stamp and a different Zack Fair who SURVIVES.

I don’t think Cloud and Co. know anything about this new timeline however.

So because of these ramifications, (also Biggs being alive now), people are asking the obvious question:

Does Aerith survive? Is the story going to be completely different now?

I have a simple answer.

No. Aerith will not be saved. Yes the major story plot points will remain.

I could be here all day showing you all the times Kitase has said no Aerith isn’t getting revived but here is just one recent example.

(There are story reasons as well as to why I think her death will remain)

The excuse I usually hear for keeping her alive is “She can still summon Holy even if she’s alive”

There’s just one tiny problem with that. Holy didn’t stop Meteor. It wasn’t strong enough, remember? Only Aerith IN the Lifestream was strong enough to stop it.

She has to die.

So no. I’m not worried that they are undoing one of the most iconic deaths in video game history.

Her death will be a fixed point in time. What Remake is attempting to do is instill a false sense of hope that there is something you can do to stop it, but in the end you can’t.

Like @maximilian_ said. They want to give players of the OG a similar experience that we had for the OG. I’m order to do that, they have to twist things up a bit and give you enough uncertainty that you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen next.

The faithfulness to the OG in the first 95% of this game gives me the confidence that they will CONTINUE to respect the OG as much as possible while still giving us expanded lore and new twists.

Everything will play out as it should.
That is my theory.