The other members of Final Fantasy's party are not unimportant, even though the focus of the game is often on the lead characters. This is true for Final Fantasy VII and its remake. Seeing Cloud Strife and the Avalanche crew realized with better graphics and a deeper story that it was more than just a movie, and drew in new fans who only knew of the 1997 movie by reputation. An unfortunate interruption during an Italian government meeting where porn of Tifa was played during the Zoom call captured the attention of the public.
It was funny and strange as it was to hear about it, but it makes you wonder why Square Enix didn't give her a spotlight of her own. There were strong debates about who was better between Tifa and Aerith. Fans fell in love with her appearance and her ability to keep the rest of the party focused on their fight to save the world.
Fans have learned or rediscovered why they love Tifa. She and Aerith are gal pals who make Cloud a third wheel. It could be the remake's combat, which is very good. She is easily the best of the four characters and they are fun to play. Tifa was designed around Final Fantasy's Monk class, and her strength and speed put her a few steps away from a character action game that ReMake flirts with being when playing as fellow frontline fighter Cloud. If you spec her right, she can bring down the enemy health very quickly. The upcoming Final Fantasy Origin gives you an idea of what playing as a Monk in a single player experience could be, and it feels like it is in conversation with how Tifa plays.
Over the years, Square has been able to put FF7 into its own universe. In the 2000s, there was extended media digging into past events for its characters, as well as exploring the aftermath of the original game with the film Advent Children. Ever Crisis is a mobile game that retells events from the 1997 game and various spinoffs, and The First Soldier is a mobile battle Royale. Outside of that, FF13 and FF15 gave their party members expansions, as well as FF7 gave their Yuffie expansion.
Smaller, bite-sized adventures for supporting characters have become a recurring trend in recent games. Smaller stories are appreciated for the insight they bring to a character or for giving a character more room to breathe. Cloud, Aerith, and the other journeys get a lot of screen time. Tifa has the least development of the core four due to Cloud's glitchy headaches. It can feel like you don't know her as well as the other three because she's in the game a lot.
She was going to get a special chapter of her own during Re make. She would have had her own spotlight in the middle section of the game that would have focused on her relationship with the crew and also her past trauma at the hands of Shinra. It was a shame that the content was cut since Tifa is an interesting juxtaposition to the other characters. She is not apathetic like Cloud, she is not overly devoted to her cause, and she is not aware of her place in this world like Aerith. She is the party's Normal Person who knows that things need to change, but isn't sure how. She is the one who deserves a chance to take it back the most because she is the one who knows that if you want to save the world, you have to accept that.
We all know that Tifa is not the only FF7 member who can handle their own solo adventure. A lot of fans would go to bat for Ms. 10/10 if you asked them what party member should have their own game, and one whose narrative potential seems to align with what the writers are interested in playing with.
If there was a Tifa game, she would be a topic of conversation on the social networking site.
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