I know a lot of people don't want to admit it, but Cloud Strife cannot have a happy ending without Aerith being alive.
And this isn't about shipping them.
It's about what the games repeatedly show us.
Its so hard living life when your two favorite gaming franchises are Final Fantasy and Zelda because you are endlessly subjected to a sea of negativity about how much they both suck ass only for everyone to go "yeah that game was pretty sick" after it comes out
"Square Enix is washed"
Square Enix after dropping KH4, KH Anime, Final Fantasy Resonance, Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 14 Evercold back to back to back:
Modern Final Fantasy isn't held to the standard of being a "good game". It's held to the standard of making people feel the way they did when they were 13 years old playing their favorite Final Fantasy.
That's an impossible assignment.