#cid highwind

Cid, Freeflier Pilot

Billy Christian: Twitter / Instagram / ArtStation

made these little guys (well... outfits) recently

day 3: make believe

Ifalna was 22 when she gave birth to Aerith.

Cid, meanwhile, would have been TEN YEARS OLD!

TLDR: I think remake Cid missed the mark, but it doesn’t upset me too bad because I can always go back and play the OG game.

Whilst I love all Cids, it’s definitely not equally. When I first played FF7 I came to adore Cid, at first because I found him funny, and then secondly because of the wonderful character arc he gets throughout the game that really solidified him as my favourite character.

OG Cid starts out as a grumpy asshole! He’s a horrible person! He’s rude to everyone he meets, especially Shera, who seems to do nothing but care for him despite his abuse. He only joins up with the main party to stick it to Shinra- he doesn’t want to save the world, or protect people from Sephiroth. His motive is just getting his own back on Shinra for using him- which is still fairly noble, but a lot flimsier than “Shinra has destroyed my country through war and I deserve to take everything I can from them” or “Sephiroth is going to destroy the world, and I am the only person who can try and stop him.”

Throughout the course of the game, though, Cid goes from just wanting his own back to genuinely caring about the others, sticking up for them and offering support. He’s trusted enough to become the leader of the team when Cloud and Tifa are gone, and he does his part, stepping up to get the huge materia, and then offers to sacrifice himself to save the party and Shera’s lives- something he never would’ve done before meeting the party. After he survives, he becomes the one to spur the party on to the Northern Crater- not with a desire to hurt Shinra, but to save the planet.

“That’s why I say this planet’s still a kid. A little kid, sick and trembling in the middle of this huge universe. Someone’s gotta protect it. Ya follow me? That someone is us.”

Cid is risking his life with the others to save the planet and everyone on it, to fight beside people he insulted and dismissed at the start of the game. That character growth is why I adore his character so, so much, and sadly it’s something Remake Cid really can’t get at this point.

By making him a loveable, rough around the edges pilot, you ruin any chance of that character development happening naturally. He’s already nice, he already is friends with the party. I love the detail of him recognising Aerith because he knew Ifalna, but I would’ve loved if that was kept whilst still meeting him in Rocket Town and making him an asshole like in the OG. Let him have his moment of gentleness in recognising her, to show that there’s a chance for him to become better, and let him really start becoming better when Aerith dies, and he realises this is bigger than Shinra- it’s the world at stake.

I like Cid in the remake, but… he’s not Cid Highwind to me. He’d be a lovely character if he was someone else, but he isn’t. It’s like if they made Cloud outgoing and extroverted, or made Tifa confident enough to call Cloud out on his memories being wrong. It doesn’t serve the story in the same way, which is what characters are meant to do- push the story along, and if you change q character drastically, so does the story. Cid trying to sacrifice himself for the others on the rocket doesn’t come across the same if he would already have done that for the others.

Comfy-- 😘