I love Final Fantasy VII so much I got a Playstation 4 *just* to play the remake when it came out. And I loved it--without giving too much away, I loved how it was a mix of the original storyline, plus deviations from the original storyline, plus calling attention to the fact that it deviated from the original storyline. I'm a little mad that they only released Part 1, and I'm *more* than a little mad that Part 2 is going to be on the Playstation 5, meaning I'll have to get a whole new console for, yet again, just one game, but, let's face it, I will. I love this game too much. I played through without using any walkthroughs, and I really did choose "Exotic" for Cloud's preference when that dialogue option came up. When I saw what that put Tifa in, I was delighted; if you had asked me to choose an outfit based on aesthetics alone, this would have been it.

Since the game came out in 2020, also known as The Year Without Conventions, I really didn't plan on getting this costume any time soon. But then I got a sales e-mail from EZ Cosplay in early July that had the exact outfit I was looking for on sale for less than $100. I slammed that Buy It Now button so fast I almost broke it. In retrospect, I should have given it a little more thought, as while some pieces were extrodinarily well made--there's a complete under kimono of red leopard print even though only the collar shows--there are others that are not; the included hairpiece was just a big red bow with like one pink flower dangling from it. Since that made me look more like 80's Madonna than Tifa, I contacted Patti and Steph since I knew they had made kanazashi before. They 3D printed the accessories and *HAND* *DYED* the fabric to make the flowers, it is by far the most gorgeous piece of this costume (and possibly most of my others.) I initially bought a pair of black granny boots off of Wish, which I have a 50% success rate, but they never came and I didn't complain in time, so that was a wash. I ended up buying Pleaser Funtasma Victorian 120 boots off of eBay which were surprisingly comfortable.

Edited to add: during the second wear, the "ties" hanging from the gray bows also untied, and when I contacted Customer Support to ask how to retie them correctly, they just sent me a picture of what the tied version looks like (which I already knew, since the other bow was fine), and one red rose was lost. I really can't recommend this costume after all.