Talmanes

I prefer the former over the latter in terms of romance. Player choice romances are often stale and formulaic and the fact that I can game the system for the outcome I want takes any and all anticipation out of it. Give me Cloud/Tifa or Kal/Merrin, wonderful romances that keep you guessing and hoping and cheering for them as opposed to well, I know I'm gonna get with Shadowheart because I know how this works. Basically having too much control over the outcome somewhat ruins it for me as a story element. Another problem is the self-insert characters found in many games don't have any of their own personality, they're just meant to represent the player, so it's not the same as seeing two characters who both have their own stories fall in love.

There are some exceptions, Witcher 3 does both romances quite well, probably aided by the fact that Geralt does have his own personality and doesn't just represent the player.

I think the lesson is going to be that fate never controlled anything and even with "Fate" defeated, they still make the same choices. So they defeat fate and little things change eg CIssnei in Gongaga or Tifa not drowned out by firewords this time, but the major things stay the same, because the characters are the same and the characters were what controlled the story of FF7, not "Fate". Think about all the layers of illusion in the original game, and how much was just there for misdirection and then frame the Whispers in that light. They make people think and debate in the meantime but in my opinion their main purpose is just to make us unsure of the future. It's a way to keep us guessing that a straight one to one remake would not have done, but they get that effect whether or not they actually change anything. I hope they stay as true to the original as they have so far in part 3.