Who does Cloud Strife love more Aerith Gainsborough or Tifa Lockheart?

Answer 1

The best way to discover which woman Cloud loves more is to play the game. Unfortunately, there will always be misunderstandings, and fans who want one outcome so much that they will twist things so badly in favor of that outcome that the story, and especially the characters, become completely unrecognizable.

Fortunately, there exists something called the FF7 Ultimania (which gets an update/revision when SE feels it's necessary; there's a revision in the works to include things from Advent Children Complete), which plainly explains the events of the story; in the creators' own words. There's also Dismantled, and Reunion Files(they basically exist for the same purpose as the Ultimania).

One woman is described as having projected her still very much alive feelings for one dark haired SOLDIER onto VII's protagonist, it's these feelings that cause her to act the way she does around our hero all through the game (it may sound confusing, but if you've played the game, you should know about Cloud's conflict of multiple personalities, and the fact that the dark haired SOLDIER was a heavy influence of the formation of Cloud's false persona).

There is a prequel title in which this relationship(with the dark haired SOLDIER) is hammered down very securely, even going as far as to tie iconic aspects of her character to this man(flowers, the color of her dress and the ribbon in her hair is a gift from this man that she still wears), and making her interactions with our blonde hero(treasured by C/A fans everywhere), almost carbon copies with the ones she had with Crisis Core's hero; almostbecause the only thing really missing is, well, the mutual romance.

The Ultimania drives home their relationship many times, with quotes explaining that she and (not like you didn't know, right?) Zack Fair, were in love, destined, irreplaceable to one another.

There is not one single quote that says anything about a love between Cloud and Aerith even existing, much less one that describes it in the way they have with Zack and Aerith.

What is Aerith described as in relation to Cloud? A loving mother, a symbol of his sins(to protect people who matter to him), a fallen comrade; never once a lover.

Tifa is described as just that (koibito, the Japanese word that has one meaning and that's lover). Square Enix has stated that they revealed their mutual feelings in the Lifestream, acted on those feelings under the Highwind (without words), Cloud asked Tifa to be with him always (Case of Tifa) and said that she is the reason his new start at life will work. She is described as the mother of the family they formedtogether in Edge, as well as being more than a friend, and an important woman to Cloud. She's also stated to be the only person, period, that Cloud has ever opened his heart to.

Answer 2

Cloud loves Tifa. They become a couple by the end of the original game. He builds a home and starts a family with her.