see when i was playing i just thought "Oh these are like those random cloaked Reunion guys you would see all over the og game".
as for the theme of the game being fate and destiny, i mean, the original game is about stopping the planet from dying, because a meteor is going to hit it, in the future. that is quite literally dealing w fate and destiny. the meteor is part of the bloody game logo even! the entire game has always been about looming destiny.
the original game was very long and confusing and had many intertwining themes. destiny was one of them. confusing flashbacks was another. i've played through the og FF7 many many times, it is not a typical straightforward narrative and NEVER HAS BEEN. Cloud blacks out many times. halfway through the game, it's revealed he is an reliable narrator. i don't know what to tell you.
i dunno, just feel like all the bitching about them daring to change things is kind of silly. people really thought this was going to be a 1:1 game translation? you wanted the same people to make the exact same game from 20 years ago with no changes at all? seems like a lot of expectations to lay on these artists, you gonna tell them not to change any dialog, no plot points can change, etc. sounds like a boring fucking way to revisit a game. lol. that was never going to happen.
The main theme of the original game is to save the planet and stop Sephiroth.
Meteor is just one of many consequences that will be part of the game's story.
But this Remake develops with the concept that Aerith, because of these new random elements that are the Wispers of Fate, now literally knows the whole original story of Final Fantasy VII throughout the game of Final Fantasy VII Remake.
And during the story of the game, and especially in the ending, the other characters also learn multiple points in the story of the original game, including Aerith's death.
And even the main antagonist itself, Sephiroth, learns these events, almost changing even his own villain characterization, and trying to prevent such events.
(which destroys a good chunk of the impact Sephiroth has always had in the original, death and the attempt to destroy the world)
For me, what I would have preferred, were only enormous insights on the characters, places, events and settings of the original Final Fantasy VII. Without improvised and sometimes not excellent upheavals.
Because these can destroy the characterization of those historical characters, as happened precisely with Zack.
Then, there are also those who can appreciate these enormous upheavals, even exaggerated obviously, but for me personally the original Final Fantasy VII storyline was already more than good, honestly.
And Final Fantasy VII Remake could work well even by enlarging and expanding the story of the game, thanks precisely to many insights and additions to the characterizations of main and secondary characters, greater characterization of places and events, and practically complete fidelity to the history of the original game.
And instead Nomura wanted at all costs to do a new work that could potentially lead to totally ruining not only a part but the whole narrative flow of the original game of Final Fantasy VII.
And my preference would have been a work as faithful as possible to the original, rather than something improvised by Nomura.
I am always curious about the future, but my initial expectations (despite the work done) have lowered as regards the hope of seeing faithfulness to the original in this "Remake".