Reading and Growing

As a dad, I deeply understand the importance of reading with my child. Good reading habits not only foster cognitive skills, emotional management, and focus in children, but also serve as a bridge between parents and kids, offering common ground for sharing and discussion. For me, storytelling is not just educational — it’s the glue of our parent-child relationship.
Ever since my daughter was a baby, our home has been filled with picture books and audiobooks — from “Mother Goose” rhymes to Julia Donaldson’s picture books, from encyclopedias to “Dog Man” comics, from traditional books to electronic games to stories made up on the spot by my wife and I, these have been her companions as she has grown. Our bedtime story has become the most ceremonial part of our day.
A video shows the importance of reading to children: 🔗 Youtube
She’s truly amazing now. Although English isn’t her first language, her phonics skills have surpassed those of native English-speaking children her age. She has a rich imagination, creating her own stories with pen and paper to share with friends. She also communicates on equal terms with parents, teachers, and classmates — a precious trait in a traditional Chinese family.
A story create by my daughter. Pokra is one of her favorite characters from PVZ.

Exploring AI

I started experimenting with ChatGPT 4 and Midjourney as soon as they were released. I believe AI is now capable of creating content that can captivate children. Even simple storylines can spark endless imagination in kids.
I began by creating and managing my own media account, using tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Canvas to create content and share it. To date, I’ve accumulated nearly 2,000 followers. One of my AI bilingual stories even hit 65,000 views — a great achievement for an account focused on “pure content.”
My followers are mainly 30-year-olds interested in education and parenting and lifetime, including:
* Parents looking for fairy tales and teaching materials;
* Teachers needing to design courses and activities;
* Illustrators gathering daily materials;
* Couples seeking to add fun to their chats.

Meeting MyShell

I stumbled upon MyShell on social media and was deeply attracted by its ability to replicate voices. Imagine how wonderful it is for parents who can’t be with their children to tell them stories in their own voice!
I joined MyShell’s early activities and got a Genesis Pass. I gradually shifted my creation tools from ChatGPT to the MyShell platform. Initially, I created a rhyming poem tool, and although it’s no longer available, I still think it was a great tool. Similar applications rank high in ChatGPT Store. AI is certainly capable of creating content that teenagers can refer to.
With the introduction of the Patron Badge system, I started creating works that were popular on the MyShell platform, most of which included unique voice lines from movie and TV characters. I immersed myself in editing audio, writing prompts, and designing character personalities, with popular characters like Sheldon Cooper, Walter White, Homer Simpson, Saitama,… They not only brought me income but also daily joy to many users.

Learning and Building

Recently, I was invited to participate in MyShell’s LearningLab. With my basic Hello World programming experience, I began a new learning journey. I wrote my first line of code, defined a button, called an AI component, and created a page. I developed my first Pro-Config Bot — [One Sentence Fun] — a simple but effective product that I hope will bring joy or knowledge to users in the simplest way possible. Everyone can get a punchline with the click of one and only button.
After graduating from LearningLab, I joined ProBot Studio and teamed up with people from around the world who share a passion for AI. With programmers, prompt engineers, UX engineers, writers, psychologists, and marketing managers, I revisited another LearningLab project and iterated on it. Here’s the current version — [Once Upon A Time] — an AI storytelling app.
It features:
* Global accessibility with multi-language support, not just producing interesting stories but also playing them in expressive voice;
* The ability to randomly generate intriguing storylines and detail them out, allowing users to creatively craft their tales;
* Utilizing the powerful understanding of LLM to respond to any plot, character, or story development inputs from users, influencing the direction of the narrative;
* The final output is a richly illustrated, sonically varied, and complete story that can be read or listened to online.
Keep in mind, my past programming experience was almost nil, but with the help of the nice team, I did it, and I believe you can too!
Participating in MyShell has brought me immense joy as it has allowed me to discover the value of my spare time. I will continue to develop apps and create contents on MyShell, true to my name — Time ever moving, Clockwork never ceasing!

(continuation of part 2)
III. e) The Mobius FF x FFVII collaboration
Alright, back to our suspension world-hopping! Let’s visit the realm of Mobius FF, —more specifically, the collaboration between Mobius FF and FFVII—, where I found the most substantial evidence for my theory.
In case you’re unfamiliar with the Mobius FF (MFF) world and games, let’s begin with a bit of a summary of the parts relevant to us. The story takes place in a world called Palamecia, to which people from other worlds are inexplicably summoned. The vast majority of those who are brought there don’t remember anything from their worlds of origin or their lives before Palamecia except their names: these amnesiac people are called Blanks. The main character is Wol, accompanied by a guiding fairy of Palamecia named Echo. Echo knows a lot about the mechanisms of Palamecia, as she’s tied to the realm. The leader of this world is Vox, a being who manifests only as a voice. The first thing all Blanks remember before they wake in Palamecia is Vox telling them the rules of the realm. Incidentally, the crystals of the MFF world are teleportation crystals.
III. e) i. Devs’ Statements
Let’s review some of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration devs’ statements before diving into its story.
For both the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration and the Remake project, Kitase took on the role of producer while Nojima supervised the screenplay and wrote the scenario. The project leader was none other than the Remake trilogy’s Hamaguchi, who told a SE interviewer the following:

“We would love for you to play the [MFF x FFVII] collaboration event as you look forward to [Remake’s] release” (“Celebration of the Overseas Release of the Steam Version and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE Collaboration Event”, Square Enix).

He later hints at the collaboration’s storyline:

“This collaboration is focused on Cloud, so the other characters will not make an appearance. Players will join Cloud, who has gone astray in Palamecia, on his adventures and see how the story unfolds based on his decisions. Content-wise, FINAL FANTASY VII fans will surely become fraught with emotion as events unfold in-game (laughs).”

Kitase concurs on the emotional aspect of the collaboration in the same interview:

“When it comes to the story, I seek two things– ‘mystery’ and ‘[…] emotional impact’.”

Clearly, fans of FFVII are supposed to react emotionally to the events of the collaboration. With these statements in mind to give us perspective, we can get into the plot points relevant to our analysis. MFF x FFVII Remake comes in two parts, the relevant plot points of which I will describe and analyze one at a time.
III. e) ii. Eclipse Contact
1) Fact-Finding
Part one of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event is called Eclipse Contact. It came out in 2017 on Aerith’s birthday, February 7th, and its release campaign ran until March. In Eclipse Contact, Palamecia welcomes someone new: Cloud Strife appears in the realm with very little recollection of his core world of FFVII.
Cloud isn’t a Blank, since he recalls the mako reactors in Midgar upon his arrival in Palamecia, and also remembers that he was hired by Avalanche to blow them up:

“Echo: How did you end up in Palamecia?

Cloud: I… That day... I remember now. A job. I had taken a job. I was hired muscle protecting clients. They wanted to stop the reactor... We used a train to get past security... Was it at night? Something happened... Next thing I knew, I was floating through darkness. Then [I woke up here]”.

This piece of dialogue reveals that Eclipse Contact Cloud’s memories end at the very moment when Avalanche arrives at reactor 1 in OG (disk 1, chapter 1): the very beginning of the game. Consequently, Cloud does not remember anything that happened from the beginning of the OG timeline onwards.
Wol and Echo are intrigued by Cloud’s strange case: non-Blanks rarely arrive in Palamecia. The following text appears on the screen shortly after they meet:

“Perhaps he is not truly who he thinks he is.
Perhaps everything is illusory, a dream.
Only one thing is certain, that he must press on, one step at a time, toward the light that shines from the promised land.”

Just like he did in FFT’s Ivalice, Cloud feels the need to find the Promised Land in MFF x FFVII, despite the fact that he lacks memories of the OG timeline. Though Cloud doesn’t remember anything beyond the train ride to reactor 1, he does remember the Promised Land (at least somewhat). This is odd, given that in OG, Cloud didn’t learn about the Promised Land until several chapters into the game.
Wol and Echo agree to help Cloud figure out why he’s here, since there’s clearly something strange going on with his presence in Palamecia. In fact, Cloud brought Midgar’s mako reactors with him somehow, transplanting them onto the landscape of Palamecia. The group decides to bomb these reactors, following Cloud’s instincts in the hopes that it will jog his memory.
Now for my favorite part. After blowing up another reactor, the group is surprised by the appearance of a crystal. A piano rendition of Aerith’s theme begins. When Wol tries to touch the crystal, something akin to a force field rejects him. When Cloud approaches it, however, the crystal responds to his hand by flashing with light. As it begins to glow, Wol concludes that the crystal is linked to Cloud and Cloud alone. Let’s examine the resulting dialogue:

“Echo: This is the light in your memories. The light of home.

Cloud: Home? But I don’t—

Echo: If you don't remember… then your home is lost to you.

Cloud: Then my memories are gone.

Wol: Do you want to reclaim your past?

Cloud: Not interested... I am what I am now. Not what I was.

Wol: Then tell me… This light. If you can’t remember it, what does it mean to you?

Cloud: It's a warm light... I feel at peace. If this place —home— is as warm and peaceful as this light, then I want to go there.

Echo: You can't go there... Not back to the past.

Cloud: I see.

Echo: But even if you can't go back to the past, you can go forward. If you wish for it strongly enough, the crystal will show you the way. The way to a new world. The way to your Promised Land. […]

Cloud: So... Should [I] take [my] chances and make a wish to this crystal?

Wol: Go ahead. It’s your crystal.

Echo: I should warn you that once you start on this journey, there's no coming back.

Cloud: The past is the past. I want to go to a place where everything is new. I’m ready.“

What follows is a moment I call the wishing scene (13:43-14:34). Cloud closes his eyes and wishes on the crystal. It flashes, and suddenly, rainbow-colored ripples of light appear around it. Aerith’s theme is replaced by a slightly modified version of “Midgar, City of Mako”, the track that plays during the opening cutscene of Remake. You can recreate the modification by listening to “Midgar, City of Mako” from 2:00 to 2:23, then skipping to 3:00 and listening until 3:18. You may recognize the musical motif that kicks off the wishing scene as the Lifestream motif, which has become symbolic of the mysteries of the Remake trilogy, as it often plays during scenes where unexplainable plot deviations from OG occur— more specifically, deviations involving multiverse shenanigans. For instance, it plays during MOTF 4. It also plays in Rebirth after Cloud blocks masamune as Aerith is shown dying anyway.
Cloud disappears with his crystal, after which Echo speaks to Wol about Cloud’s journey:

“Echo: Each person gets the Promised Land they justly deserve, not the one they really need. If you’re a bad person, you go to a bad place. If you expect nothing, you get nothing. Even the journey there makes you look deep within yourself to find out who you really are. Cloud should be facing his own past as we speak. It’s cruel, but necessary. That battle was a long time coming”.

Apparently, at least in the context of this collaboration event, the Promised Land can be a reward or a punishment, depending on which you deserve. Echo explains that Cloud will have to face himself and his past on his way to his Promised Land. This means that the Cloud that appears in Eclipse Contact must next embark on a journey that will confront him with his past, test his mettle, and ultimately lead him to the Promised Land he justly deserves.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
There’s a lot of vital information to dig into here, mostly provided by Echo. She claims that the crystal’s light is linked to Cloud’s memories of home; Cloud has to have known this home in the past, as it could not otherwise exist in his memories. MFF Cloud must be a post-OG Cloud. Unfortunately, Echo indicates that whatever Cloud’s home is, he’s lost both it and his memories of it. Despite this, Cloud describes his home as warm and peaceful, concluding that he wishes to find it. Though Cloud can’t return to the past, Echo tells him that if he wishes it strongly enough, the crystal can guide him toward a new world, where his home and his Promised Land exist in the future. The fact that Aerith’s theme is playing all throughout these descriptions of Cloud’s lost home, his Promised Land and the past that he can’t return to makes it extremely obvious that these concepts all point to Aerith. Aerith is Cloud’s lost home. Wherever Aerith is, that’s his Promised Land. The time spent with Aerith before her loss is the past he tragically can’t return to. You might have clocked the similarities between Eclipse Contact’s mention of Cloud’s lost home and DFF’s mention of Cloud’s lost dream: in both these titles, Cloud’s home and dream are equivalent to his Promised Land. It’s confirmed yet again that Aerith is the one Cloud hopes to return to, just like every soul returns to the Lifestream. At this juncture of my research, I was curious as to why the last thing Cloud remembers before waking in Palamecia is the run-up to the Reactor 1 bombing mission in OG (disk 1, chapter 1). This mystery will have to persist for a while longer.
The alarm bells in your head might’ve been triggered by the mention of the wishing scene’s rainbow ripple effects— and rightfully so. This visual cue has sparked passionate debate in the fandom since its appearances in Rebirth, as seen in these pictures:
Zack Choosing To Get A Cure For Cloud, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating a New World/Timeline
Aerith Pushing Cloud Out of that World/Timeline, Remake Chapter 14
Cloud Blocking Masamune, Rebirth Chapter 14; Creating New World/Timeline
You might have read or heard that this rainbow effect signifies that a character has entered another timeline, created a portal to another timeline, created a new timeline or is being shown different timelines. Indeed, whenever the OG timeline is deviated from in a significant way, this effect appears. The pictures above present multiple examples of these shifting realities.
One might propose that the rainbow ripples in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth are unrelated because of the long period between their respective release dates. This long in-between period indeed makes it likelier that the effect was used without forethought in Eclipse Contact, forgotten over the years, and incidentally reused in Rebirth as a plot-important visual cue with no connection to Eclipse Contact. I’m inclined to disagree since the crystal is specifically described as a vessel that can take Cloud “to a new world” by Echo, which is a bit on the nose. Regardless, it’s plausible that there’s no connection. That is, it would be, if the rainbow effect didn’t show up in Remake too.
When the Whispers are finally defeated in chapter 18 of Remake, a burst of the rainbow ripple effects indicate the emergence of multiple worlds, newly freed from the restrictive clutches of fate (1:16:36-1:16:47). Shortly thereafter, Sephiroth takes Cloud to the Edge of Creation and invites him to join forces with him. Cloud refuses, and Sephiroth says the following:

“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it? Let's see.”

The question “What will you do with it?” implies that the answer is unknown, meaning Cloud is no longer bound to the OG timeline by fate: many alternate futures lay ahead. Sephiroth is telling Cloud and the audience that now, the mystery of the Remake trilogy has become “Which future will Cloud bring into existence? Which among the infinite possible timelines will his choices result in?” After pondering this aloud, Sephiroth leaves Cloud alone to consider the rainbow effects in the sky (1:19:23-1:19:36). Because they generally represent alternate or changing timelines, it’s safe to assume that the rainbow ripples here represent the myriad of possible worlds that Cloud’s actions in those seven seconds could generate. After all, Sephiroth was just talking about them, and chapter 18’s description in Remake reads as follows:

“In a world beyond, Sephiroth shows Cloud a vision of the planet seven seconds before its demise. Having strayed from the course destiny set for them, they strike out on a path towards an unknown future."

This explains why the player is shown Cloud staring at those colors in the apocalyptic sky at world’s end, directly after hearing Sephiroth’s cryptic words: those are all the alternate “unknown future” timelines ahead of him, now unravelled from fate. Amongst those rainbow ripples lies the answer to the question “What will you do with [the seven seconds]?”
Given that Remake was released in 2020 and Eclipse Contact came out in 2017, the major story elements of the Remake trilogy —including the eventuality of alternate timelines— had to have been planned out at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: while the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration was being made, Remake was also in production. Also recall that the collaboration event and the Remake trilogy share a codirector in Hamaguchi, a writer in Nojima and a producer in Kitase. Based on all this, it’s more than likely that the rainbow ripples in the Remake trilogy and inEclipse Contact represent the very same thing: alternate worlds and timelines. All this to say that when the rainbow effect appears around the crystal in the Eclipse Contact, it means the crystal is acting as a vessel to another world, just like Echo said.
But that’s not all Echo said: she also mentioned that this other world would take Cloud to his home, to his Promised Land. We’ve already established what that means for Cloud, what it’s meant since two whole decades at the time of Eclipse Contact’s release: this crystal will take Cloud to Aerith. So, where exactly did the crystal take Cloud? In what world can he meet Aerith again?
The music that plays during the wishing scene gives us a huge hint. As I noted before, the track playing in the background is a slightly modified version of Remake’s “Midgar, City of Mako”, which plays in the introduction cutscene of Remake. This is a musical cue that the ending of Cloud’s journey in Eclipse Contact and the very beginning of the Remake trilogy are closely related. Add the fact that the devs wanted players to experience this collaboration event before playing Remake, and it becomes undeniable: the crystal that appeared to Cloud in Palamecia —which offers to lead him to his home and Promised Land, meaning to Aerith—, took him to the world of the Remaketrilogy.
Eclipse Contact is huge. The whole crux of my theory lives and dies right here. However, we still have part two of the MFF x FFVII Remake collaboration event to analyze as well as its promotions to look into before I can drop the thesis on you, so bear with me in order to receive the most thorough analysis of all this possible! I want to give you every drop of proof I can!
III. e) ii. MFF x FFVII Remake Fatal Calling
1) Fact-Finding
Fatal Calling came out February 1 of 2018, and its release campaign ended in March. The game opens with a cutscene: Cloud is floating, seemingly unconscious, through a sparkling, green current of light. The current flows into a circle of bright, white light, surrounded by rainbow ripple effects as Cloud is driven toward and into it. An orb floats along with him. The Advent Children theme “The Promised Land” plays, a choir of mournful, aching, mutedly desperate souls engaged in a lamenting prayer. Sephiroth’s voice echoes:

“Sephiroth: It’s time. You may turn your back on the past, lock your memories away. Hide reality beneath a layer of illusion. But destiny will not die so easily. Yes. At memory’s end you may plead for it all to go away. But the past is a curse, binding your soul. It’s time. Wake to your fate. Rise to your destiny.

Cloud: (In a half-conscious grunt) Reunion…

Sephiroth: The light will lead you. Wake to your fate. Rise!”

Sephiroth’s mentions of Cloud hiding under an illusion and repressing his memories are no doubt allusions to Cloud’s past, which was complicated and darkened by Hojo’s experiments. It makes sense, then, that Cloud responds with “Reunion”. Fatal Calling indeed focuses on Cloud’s relationship to his past, his identity and Sephiroth. Everything involving Nibelheim —where everything started—, Sephiroth’s manipulation, and Hojo’s experiments are on the table. Also noteworthy if not out of place is Sephiroth’s evocation of fate.
Cloud enters a battle with Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, who are surprised to see him back in Palamecia. Cloud tells them about the orb seen floating along with him in the opening cutscene: though he calls it a materia, he doesn’t know how or when he acquired it. Based on his behavior, it appears that Cloud remembers just as little about the events of OG as he did by the end of Eclipse Contact. Wol informs Cloud that whoever he heard speaking to him on his way here was probably Vox pretending to be Sephiroth.
As the group advances, Cloud recalls Midgar and decides they should go there next. At one of Midgar’s mako reactors, the group encounters Sephiroth, who speaks to himself:

“It's still not enough. This... this is but a pale imitation of the power I desire.”

Once Sephiroth has disappeared, Cloud explains what he remembers: Sephiroth was the greatest SOLDIER of all and a hero to Cloud, though Cloud can’t remember what exactly ended this admiration. As players of FFVII OG, we know the event in question is the Nibelheim incident, wherein Sephiroth slaughtered the town’s residents, including Cloud’s mother, after learning of his past. The former war hero also severely injured Tifa, whom Cloud presumed dead when he found her in the old mako reactor with a vicious slash on her chest. Cloud is agitated by the gaps in his memory, so the group resolves to follow Sephiroth for answers. When they find him again, Sephiroth causes Cloud to experience a piercing headache with the mere mention of the Reunion. They fight, but Sephiroth is too powerful— he skewers Cloud with the masamune and taunts his unconscious body:

“Sephiroth: A puppet. I won’t kill you. Not yet. Not until you know true despair.
Wol: If you want despair, we got plenty to go around. Palamecia’s full of it.
Sephiroth: Yes, this planet knows suffering. But it is not the world that was promised to me. I must go home. Tell Cloud, if he wants to see me again, he should face his memories. I will await him there, in the land of memory, where it all began. In Nibelheim.”

Sephiroth darkens Cloud’s materia, turning it black. Later, Wol explains to Cloud that Sephiroth stole the light from his materia, taking Cloud’s strength along with it.
Once Cloud has woken up, the group travels to Nibelheim to uncover the truth about Cloud’s memories. Cloud slowly gathers pieces of his past, shown to the player as titled, diary-like text written from various perspectives. Cloud learns the truth about SOLDIER, Jenova cells, Sephiroth, and what happened in Nibelheim. Let’s examine a few of these diary entries:

“A Warrior’s Tale: There's a girl in Nibelheim I think about. Warm. Cheerful. More grown-up than a child. Haven't talked to her much, but she seems nice. She's going to be leading the SOLDIERs to the mountain reactor. Maybe if I get into the survey team I'll get a chance to talk to her? Nah. She's out of my league.”

Young Cloud’s crush on Tifa is on full display! This must be a memory from his time as an infantryman accompanying Zack and Sephiroth to Nibelheim.

“Tale of the Nameless: I drift along in the mako, asleep. Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Give me a number. I… I… I am… The Reunion. The Reunion must happen.”

This entry could be taken from any one of the Nibelheim survivors’ perspectives, as they were all bathed in mako and turned into Sephiroth clones. I would venture to say this is Cloud’s perspective though, given the reference to this iconic line from OG:

“Cloud: Professor... please give me a number. Please, Professor...
Hojo: Shut up, miserable failure.” (disk 2, chapter 2).

The trio encounters Sephiroth near the old Mt. Nibel mako reactor. Because Sephiroth stole the light from his materia earlier, Cloud goes into the confrontation already drained of his strength. However, when Cloud lifts the materia in his hand, it lights up and creates rainbow ripples in the air around him, similar to those seen in Eclipse Contact and Rebirth. Cloud is healed of his injuries: he closes his eyes for a moment, wearing a peaceful expression. Sephiroth is displeased, but recovers quickly:

“Sephiroth: The guiding light… it healed you.

Wol: […] here, near the mako reactor, the materia regained its light. And your strength returned […]. [Sephiroth]’s here so he can steal the power you've stored inside that materia.

Sephiroth, with a short laugh: I have all the power I need. Cloud. What strength you’ve regained is yours. Use it to fight me. It’s time. Let’s decide this, in this land lost to despair. The prize is home. The Promised Land. There to answer the call of destiny.”

With this second evocation of fate, Sephiroth disappears.
Cloud, Wol and Echo find Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. He mocks Cloud for believing the orb in his possession is materia. Sephiroth waves a hand and his signature black and purple fog surrounds Cloud, immobilizing him. Sephiroth claims that the power Cloud regained at the Mt. Nibel reactor was Sephiroth’s all along. Now that it courses through Cloud’s veins, Sephiroth controls him. He calls Cloud his puppet and finishes with the following before the two vanish, leaving Wol and Echo alone:

“Now, let us return. Back to the Promised Land. The time of the Reunion has come.”

After Cloud finally breaks free and defeats Sephiroth with the help of Wol and Echo, the villain makes a final threat:

“Very good, Cloud. You’ve destroyed an illusion. But the time will come to abandon your illusions and face reality. Then, you will know true pain.”

Sephiroth disappears for the last time, his body surrounded by his signature dark fog and the rainbow ripples. A piano rendition of Tifa’s theme begins. Cloud’s orb rises into the air and becomes a crystal, with the same shape and glow as the one we see in Eclipse Contact. The following dialogue is illuminating:

“Cloud: I will fight. The light will lead me where I need to go.

Wol: You sure? Wasn’t that [crystal] Sephiroth’s?

Cloud: I heard Sephiroth's voice, at the end. Inside me. Whatever he put in me, it’s still in there. Someday I’ll settle that score. If I can't avoid destiny, I might as well face it head-on.

Wol: Yeah. That was quite a speech, Cloud. Surprised you made it through without laughing.

Cloud: Yeah, forget I said it. I will too.

Echo: Forgetting won’t make it go away. Even if the words fade from memory, your dream will never disappear. Not until it becomes real.“

The crystal shines as though in response.

“Echo: See? See, that's how the light of hope works. Hope can turn your dreams into reality.

Cloud: Yeah. I guess so. I might forget this world, but I won’t forget hope. And my reality, that’s for me to live.”

Tifa’s theme ends. Cloud approaches the crystal, and disappears in a beam of blinding light. Once Cloud has vanished with the crystal, Aerith’s theme begins playing. A few pale feathers with a slight orange tint (the color of MFF) float down onto the floor where he stood seconds before. The image fades to black. The credits roll, and Aerith’s theme continues all the way through.
Once both the final name in the credits and Aerith’s theme fade, we’re surprised by a sudden, troubling image: Sephiroth appears in a frightening flash, standing amidst the flames of Nibelheim. When his image fades to black, the collaboration title *“Final Fantasy VII x Mobius Final Fantasy”*appears on the screen. The FFVII title is surrounded by the 1997 meteor logo. Then, a flash of light: the titles reappear, except this time, they read “Final Fantasy VII REMAKE x Mobius Final Fantasy”. The new Remake Meteor logo replaces the 1997 version. As soon as these changes to the FFVIItitle and meteor logo occur, Aerith’s theme returns. It plays on until the game ends a few seconds later, the screen fading to black.
III. e) ii. 2) Fact Analysis
The introduction cutscene shows that MFF Cloud travelled from Eclipse Contact to Fatal Calling via Lifestream. It’s unclear how much time has passed in between, but the atemporal nature of the Lifestream makes the question irrelevant. My theory that MFF Cloud has died is corroborated by the way he’s depicted in the opening cutscene: his eyes are closed and his body is limp as the Lifestream carries him.
Eclipse Contact ended with Echo’s claim that Cloud will face his true self and confront his past while he journeys to his Promised Land. This description resembles what Cloud experienced in the OG Lifestream sequence (disk 2, chapter 8). Indeed, Fatal Calling revolves around the same topics the Lifestream sequence addresses: the truth about the Nibelheim incident, Hojo’s experiments, young Cloud’s crush on Tifa, etc. The opening cutscene shows Cloud being transported to his Promised Land and facing his past on the way there, just like Echo said he would.
Let’s now take a long detour to examine the song that plays during the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling: “The Promised Land” theme from Advent Children. The title and general subject of this song are obviously relevant to the cutscene, but there must be more to its inclusion than that. Perhaps the lyrics can help us understand its appearance in the opening cutscene of Fatal Calling. Here are the unofficial English lyrics (translated from the original Japanese lyrics by an anonymous fan and verified by me via DeepL):

“Why do we cling together?
Why do we give punishment to lesser hearts?
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The planet did not forgive us
Did not forgive us
The pulse of veins flows through the earth
A faint, faint pulse
Of a heart drawn to death
A gentle life returns to the planet
Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?
Why do we cling together?
Why do we beg for forgiveness
In the Promised Land?” (“‘The Promised Land’ (theme)” by Final Fantasy Wiki).

The song appears to be a regretful lament of human behavior, expressed by the repetition of “Why do we […]?” questions. The behaviors listed are all typically human ones: the terms “[clinging] together” and “[giving] punishment to [the] lesser” express the uniquely human nature of tribalism and the consequences of the fear and hatred it can generate, and “[begging] for forgiveness in the Promised Land” is likely a reference to the human hypocrisy of only feeling sorry for one’s crimes when judgement day arrives. This last line describes a scenario where someone remains passive or ignorant in the face of something important, only to realize its essentiality once it’s too late. The repeated“The planet did not forgive us” lines reflect the fear of being condemned forever because of one’s mistakes, as though the planet is a deity one has sinned against. The lyric describing a pulse in the earth is obviously about the planet being alive— a reference to the Lifestream. But the pulse is faint and weak and the planet is dying, perishing because of mankind’s greed. This is an indictment of mako energy. The line “A gentle life returns to the planet” refers to an innocent’s soul returning to the Lifestream after death, while the next lyric “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” protests the “sacrifice” of the planet’s soul energy for mako production. In all this darkness, this song’s mention of “forgiveness in the Promised Land” leaves a modicum of hope for a better place, however meek, even though mankind might not deserve it. The song “The Promised Land” is both a lament of mankind’s ways and a plea for mercy, with religious and/or spiritual undertones. The song’s themes seem to be: the Promised Land itself, regret and shame, the sins and foolishness of mankind, the death of innocents, grief, Cetra spirituality, and a meek, quiet hope despite it all. The most interesting aspect of the song is its antithetical portrayal of death as a thing of both despair and hope, condemnation and salvation, cruelty and mercy, suffering and relief. Maybe we can glean more information about this theme’s significance in the world of FFVII if we examine the contexts in which it appears.
Importantly, the song plays in Marlene’s introductory narration of Advent Children, meaning its themes are related or similar to the film’s. I highly recommend listening and watching it again, even if you remember this iconic segment. Marlene references Aerith’s sacrifice as the image of Cloud lowering her into the water is shown. Note that Marlene says “Sadness was the price to see it end” (2:36) after we are shown Aerith’s death and her subsequent unleashing of the Lifestream (1:49-2:24): Aerith’s innocent life was sacrificed for the planet’s survival. The lyrics “A gentle life returns to the planet” and “Is it necessary to sacrifice souls?” suit Aerith’s situation quite well.
The theme also plays in Advent Children as Kadaj dies in Cloud’s arms (1:45:00-1:47:55), hearing Aerith’s gentle voice and reaching up to take her invisible hand. Here is what Aerith says to him in his dying moments as “The Promised Land” plays:

“Aerith’s voice: Kadaj?

Kadaj: Huh?

The dark sky has gone with Sephiroth. Healing rain starts falling from bright clouds. The rain no longer hurts Kadaj.

Aerith’s voice: You don’t have to hang on any longer.

Kadaj: Mother! Is that…?

Aerith’s voice: Everyone’s waiting, if you’re ready.

Kadaj nods his head slightly in acceptance. He holds out his hand, and slowly evaporates into the Lifestream. Cloud watches […]” (Advent Children).

Kadaj is brought into the Lifestream by Aerith as she provides rain from the Lifestream. All those with geostigma are healed by the rain, and Tifa feels Aerith’s presence as the party celebrates:

“Tifa, looking out at the falling rain […]: Somehow, I knew you were there. Thank you” (Advent Children).

Cloud stands in the rain with a smile —his first in the whole film—, closes his eyes and basks in Aerith’s healing with his face upturned. He is finally at peace:

“Cloud’s expression is one of peace as the [Lifestream] rain patters against him” (Final Fantasy VII Advent Children English script, “[83] Atop the Shinra Building”).

One thing is clear: the track “The Promised Land” accompanies Aerith. It only makes sense, since we’ve seen overwhelming evidence that she is Cloud’s Promised Land, and since she occupies the Lifestream —which some consider the Promised Land as it is where souls go after death— during the events of Advent Children. Note that when the piece plays, Cloud is shown either mourning Aerith and releasing her into the river at the Cetra capital, or basking in her presence, smiling with relief at the peaceful feeling that she’s somewhere near: these two opposing scenes reflect the song’s antithetical portrayal of death.
Additionally, the song’s themes of regret, shame concerning one’s sins and a small hope perfectly describe Cloud’s character arc and feelings in Advent Children. Cloud regrets his inability to save Aerith, which he considers a sin. Further, he only realized how important she is to him once it was too late to tell her. And of course, he harbors a fragile yet important hope that he’ll be reunited with her in the Promised Land:

“‘Can sins ever be forgiven?’ — Cloud asks this to Vincent, who mutters a brief answer. For both of them, ‘I couldn't protect my loved one’ is the sense of guilt that they carry, so their words resonate with weight” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Vincent Valentine”, “In Advent Children”, page 72).

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"’It is my sin that I couldn't protect my loved one’ — under this assumption, Cloud closes off his heart. What will the reunion with Aerith bring him? ‘I... think I want to be forgiven. Yeah, I just want to be forgiven’” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVIIWorld”, “Cloud Strife”, “In Advent Children”, page 40).

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“Cloud, after seeing Aerith’s hand reach for him through the Lifestream: … I think I'm beginning to understand.
Tifa: What?

Cloud: An answer from the Planet… the Promised Land... I think I can meet her... there” (disk 3, chapter 3).

Just as the song and Marlene express in the introduction of the film, Aerith was innocent, and her sacrifice generated great grief. Cloud finally experiences peace when he feels her presence in the healing rain, and he smiles: he’s glad to be with her again, even if it’s only for a brief moment of tangential respite.
The scene depicts Aerith guiding Kadaj into the Lifestream as the song plays, tying her to the concept and theme song of the Promised Land once more. This connection is later solidified by Tifa’s thanks to the late flower girl. All of this evidence shows us that this musical theme is intimately linked to Aerith, as it never plays in her absence. After all, the song speaks of sins, the death of innocents, forgiveness, grief, a small sense of hope, regret and the afterlife: all themes relevant to Cloud’s feelings surrounding Aerith’s death in and outside of Advent Children.
The Remake OST also includes a version of this piece called “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life”. This iteration of the theme begins playing in the wake of the first bombing mission, right after Sephiroth taunts Cloud with his mother’s dying words in Sector 8 (chapter 2). Sephiroth appears to Cloud surrounded by flames, evoking the Nibelheim massacre, and the theme begins playing in the background once he disappears, continuing (13:17-15:30) as Cloud walks through the sector, encountering fires and destruction all around him. This version of the Promised Land theme is meant to emphasize the deaths of the innocent Nibelheim townsfolk and the innocents in Sector 8. This dreadful atmosphere is amplified by the cries of despair that ring all around as Cloud passes by NPC Sector 8 residents. Perhaps the themes of tribalism and mankind’s sin are relevant to this scene as well, since Shinra and Avalanche are two distinct and warring groups whose quarrels, regardless of their necessity, result in the deaths of innocents. The theme of guilt also emerges, reflecting the Avalanche members’ feelings upon seeing the unintended collateral damage of the explosion. “The Promised Land - Cycle of Life” plays until Cloud encounters Aerith on Loveless. So it seems in this scenario, the heavy weight of death and despair is lifted when Cloud meets the lively, cheery Aerith. Once more, Aerith is central to the musical theme of the Promised Land, as well as to the concept itself.
I also noticed that a version of the song plays as Cloud and the party ready to enter the Forgotten Capital to save Aerith in Rebirth’s chapter 14: it truly adds the weight of her upcoming death to the scene.
Back to Fatal Calling, the scene where Cloud regains his strength is quite mysterious. Wol says Cloud’s orb regained its “guiding light” light because of its proximity to the mako reactor. In the moment his strength is replenished, Cloud is shown tilting his head back and closing his eyes: this is reminiscent of the scene in Advent Children when he stands under Aerith’s healing Lifestream rain, feeling at peace. The rainbow ripples shining from the orb indicate that something is crossing the boundaries of worlds. Since the mako reactor pumps up the Lifestream, being near a reactor also means being physically near the Lifestream. This means Aerith’s spirit is within proximity. In my opinion, Aerith was able to heal Cloud from the Lifestream, just like in Advent Children. However, Aerith is not in Palamecia with him: her healing had to travel there through the Lifestream, transcending the boundaries of worlds, hence the rainbow ripples.
Let’s now address the appearance of Tifa’s character theme in Fatal Calling. Since Fatal Calling is all about discovering Cloud’s past in Nibelheim and then in Hojo’s lab, it makes lots of sense for Tifa’s theme to play as the crystal appears. In OG’s Lifestream sequence (disk 2 chapter 8), she’s the one there helping Cloud sort through his past instead of Wol and Echo. Cloud even picks up a piece of his childhood crush on Tifa in Fatal Calling as a shard of his memory. After all, this crush was the catalyst for him joining SOLDIER, and everything that transpired in consequence:

“Cloud: That was the first time I heard about Sephiroth. If I got strong like Sephiroth, then everyone might... If I could just get stronger... Then even Tifa would have to notice me” (FFVII OG, disk 2, chapter 8).

Additionally, it’s fitting that her theme should begin right after Sephiroth speaks of “[abandoning] your illusions and [facing] reality”, considering that Cloud’s false persona was concocted by Jenova using Tifa’s mistaken impressions of Cloud:

“While being tended to by a station worker in the Sector 7 Slum train station, [Cloud] was reunited with Tifa, and using the abilities of Jenova’s cells, formed a new personality” (FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania Revised Edition, “Chapter 2: Character in FFVII World, “Cloud Strife”, “Cloud Behavior Record, Compilation of FFVII”, page 40).

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“(Image caption:) A new personality takes shape the moment he sees Tifa” (FFVII Story Playback, “Story Check: Tifa’s Flashback”).

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“Tifa (to Cloud): Deep down, you're a pretty nice guy. Didn't see it when we were kids, but...” (Remake, chapter 14).

Some of you might find this of interest - I’ve included the full text below and the original link too if anyone wants to read more related writings. (N.B. This is not an attack on existentialism)
Salamano distraught by the loss of the dog that he himself spent a lifetime abusing; Ivan Karamazov ardent enough in his atheism to suffers a satanically-coloured psychic breakdown at the death his father; Joseph Garcin obsessed by a telephone that inevitably connects him only back to the hell of other people that he is already in; Abraham witnessing his devotion to God singularised in his love for a sacrificed son; Clamence’s critical juggling between a virtuous debauchery and a debaucherous virtue; Joseph Grand’s literary impotence and self-doubt at the production of a single line in the height of the plague of Oran - these ‘narrative object-relations’ represent a logic that lies at the heart of the existentialist tradition. Fundamentally, the avatars of the existentialist ‘method’, from the literary characters of Dostoyevsky via Kierkegaard to Camus and Sartre, define themselves broadly by their obscure attempts to treat things (whether their object, their comrade, or their duty) directly, yet by a directness adopted from a distance, in a mediated, self-reflective view - they define themselves by treating singular instances as if they were isolated from the situation of which these instances are the inevitable reproduction. In Sartre’s Huis Clos [‘No Exit’], the telephone in the hotel room which Joseph Garcin finds himself in alongside two female strangers - this room being Hell, as it is later revealed - functions only insofar as it veils its own function. The uncertainty of its connection with an outside world acts as an internally necessary distortion of the fact that its connection is a ‘closed-circuit’ connection to the crushing immanence of the inescapable room in which it is positioned, a room for which the ‘outside’ acts as an unsettling memory or an idealised, ethereal vision. In Camus’ La Peste [‘The Plague’], whilst the central characters of the plot set to work managing and planning for the containment of the plague that has struck Oran, Joseph Grand is occupied with a parallel object - his book - which veils the impasse that the general population of Oran finds itself in. Yet this impasse is veiled precisely by reformulating the impasse as internal to its own distraction (the book becomes an impasse for itself). The book, of which Grand is unable to conclude even the first line, is an object that indirectly returns him to his situation (the plague) only by removing him from this very situation, reformulating a generalised impasse into a personal, subjectivized impasse. Sartre and Camus’ dramas rely on an object, a singular point of subjective engagement, to distort or cover a situation which the object itself is a direct reproduction of. The object is treated as nothing other than itself - as being a self-explanatory x which rejects integration into its background scene, and yet it is precisely this rejection, this negative relation of the object to the situation of the drama itself, which acts as its most faithful reproduction of the drama’s central antagonism. The object veils the situation insofar as it paradoxically acts as its structural support. This object, this distortion-in-itself which acts as the support of a structure which it disguises in the very act of supporting it - this is nothing other than the quality which Marx attributed to the commodity, under the category of ‘commodity fetishism’. One of the breakthroughs of Marx’s materialism was the reformulation of the commodity as the product of a mode of reproduction that it materialises in order to reproduce this same political economy by which it is conditioned. This can be understood by firstly looking at Marx’s inversion of the category of a commodity’s ‘use value’. One of Marx’s criticisms of the classical English economists was their understanding of the form of ‘value’ which a commodity possesses: the standard understanding was that the commodity was infused with value by its usefulness being superior to that of its raw materials. Any value, in other words, was thought to be inherent to the commodity, a representation of value concentrated in its use. Hence Foucault’s description of pre-Marxist political economy as characterised by an ‘episteme [mode of discursive knowledge] of representation’. Commodities do not, for Marx, hold their value ‘in themselves’, as a constitutive quality inscribed in the essence of the object itself. Instead, the object is something ‘other than it appears’ - the commodity re-articulates the mode of economic reproduction of which it is the product. The process of commodity production and commodity circulation which Marx presents in Capital begins with an analysis of the radical re-invention of the factory, or more generally of the social mode of serialised production, which capitalism introduced. (It is worth noting that Marx is not inherently critical of capitalism in this work, but slowly begins to enumerate the social and economic conditions which allow for a capitalist mode of production, eventually extracting the inevitable forms of exploitation constitutive of this revolutionary system.) Fundamentally, the essence of the commodity is the it has no immanent essence, but that it is a product of labour-force: certain time in which a wage-labourer dedicates his energy towards production. Capitalism, Marx argues, begins where a working day’s labour time/value exceeds the ‘necessary labour time’ required for a worker to return the next day in his capacity as a worker (i.e. the necessary labour providing for rent, food, clothes etc.). The day’s labour which exceeds this necessary labour time is called ‘surplus labour’. If the division of social and factory labour is advanced enough, surplus value can reduce the amount of time needed for necessary labour times to be achieved. This is ‘relative surplus value’ (as opposed to absolute surplus value), with which, Marx notes, capitalism proper emerges. A series of investments into fixed and variable capital, calculations of turnaround times, necessary maintenance etc. are components of the mode of circulation of commodities which directly contribute to their continued production. Production, reproduction, and circulation are reciprocally supporting, requiring capital investments, planned labour divisions, and a reproduction of the social conditions in which capitalised reproduction itself can operate. The capitalist mode of production is therefore, as Marx insists, revolutionary insofar as it is a socially revolutionary political economy. It colours a domain which was previously excluded from economic consideration - the 21st century only more directly displays the non-boundary of the economic and the social, where the intimacy of everyday life lends itself to the most aggressive forms of economic appropriation. The value of the commodity lies in its support of this economic process - the commodity is the input of productive, capitalised, labour force exchanged and circulated through its social forms of reproduction. Commodity fetishism is therefore the contradictory treatment of the commodity as nothing other than a commodity - treating it as having its value inscribed within itself, detached from the situation of which it is the simultaneous product and support. The act of fetishism tells itself that an object is nothing but an object, that its value is internal. It therefore distorts the general antagonistic scene in which it is framed, by reducing its ‘difference’ to itself. Fetishism reproduces a situation in the very act of veiling it. A distortion clouding a distortion by locating the justification of its own existence within itself, a veil which clouds a situation by the very act of making it possible - this is the fetishism of the object which Marx located in the classical conception of our engagement with commodities, and as we might see, it appears to be a strange communal feature of the existentialist relation to its subjective ‘object’. Consider the miserable figure of Salamano in Camus’ L’Étranger [‘The Outsider’]: a lonesome wretch devoting his energy towards hatred for his submissive dog by abusing it - kicking and shouting at it, blaming his troubles on his unwilling four-legged companion. By an ironic inversion, Salamano’s misery is nevertheless fully actualised only once this dog escapes. The misery that he has attributed to his dog is a ‘negative support’ (what Freud would call a compromise solution), a paradoxical bulwark, against a more direct state of nothingness and desperation which emerges if this ‘compromise’ is removed (for Freud, the removal of an unpleasant symptom only leads to a more absolute state of irreparable despair). What Salamano loses with his dog’s disappearance is his functional fetishisation of this dog: this object was treated as an isolated instance of misery, yet it is precisely this focus which veils the dog’s distortion (and support) of a more absolute and universal state of misery. This is the ‘broad stroke’ of the obscure existentialist tradition - noticeable even where we turn to its earliest manifestations, the most direct example being the ‘knight of faith’, represented by Abraham of the Book of Genesis, in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. The paradox which, according to Kierkegaard, Abraham is forced to embody, is that whilst willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, at the command of God, he must in the very moment of intervention (being told that he no longer needs to carry out the sacrifice), return to the position of an unquestionable devotion to his son, as itself representing his love for God. The moment of binding, Abraham’s dedication to the sacrifice of Isaac, is a horror which in the instance of its positing covers up the greater paradox of what happens without this binding. Without the binding of Isaac, the paradoxical formula which makes possible the unquestioning devotion of the knight of faith is itself removed. For Kierkegaard, faith is based on paradox: remove the paradoxical instance and you remove faith itself. This fetishism of the ‘leap of faith’ is that the contradictory instance supports, by veiling, the inconsistency structuring the religious scene as a whole. Dostoyevsky is equally a prototype of this existentialist fetishism. The atheist figure of Ivan Karamazov maintains a fidelity to his atheism despite his suggestion that without God, ethical codes would break down (here we see his nuance, irreducible to the ‘new atheism’ of Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris etc.). Yet this very fidelity to a form of pseudo-anarchic atheism leads him towards a severe psychotic break, of seeing a demon in his room, after his father’s death. The object of an amoral atheism here acts as a bulwark to a greater disharmony which nevertheless explains, by isolating, Ivan’s intellectual, anti-religious position. Precisely the same type of moral inversions would return in Camus’ La Chute: Clamance’s fixation upon virtue as an end in itself reveals itself to be a latent justification for an excess debauchery made possible by, and engaging in a dialogue with, the very category of ‘virtue’. The formula of commodity fetishism is evidently close to the existentialist mode of relating to its object. Across a series of dramas in this literary tradition, it is often a question of framing a singular subjective instance as an impasse or contradiction which veils, and in so doing supports (by reproducing), the central disharmony or paradox of a situation as a whole.

I feel embarassed that I've been playing Limbus Company for 2~ weeks and only now I found that he's based on Albert Camus' L'Etranger, one of my favorite novels of all time (I'm native Taiwanese and more familiar with the Chinese translation, therefore I forgot how to spell Meursault in English/French smh).
I know LCB Sinners are only loosely based on the source literature, but I really like both Meursault's characters in the game and in the source, and through this post I want to provide my preliminary speculations of Meursault's in-game story from a more source material oriented perspective.
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Plot Summary

If you're interested in the novel's plot, here's a previous post summarizing the general storyline. But in short, the novel is entirely narrated from the main character Meursault's perspective, who only speaks in an extremely descriptive and indifferent manner (just like LCB Meursault). His mother passed away at the begining of the story and he couldn't even confidently specify the date of her mother's death, hence the world-famous opening line "Mom died today. Or perhaps yesterday, I do not know."
Later in the story, under the overwhelming heat from the sun, Meursault ── quite inexplainably ── shot an Arab to death on the beach with a revolver, and got incarcerated for a year prior to trial. His seemingly indifferent and atheistic attitude towards his crime and defense infuriated the prosecutor, and ended up causing him to be sentenced to death. Before execution, a chaplain visited his cell and asked him to abandon atheism and apathy, to which Meursault furiously refuted that people are all condemned to die one day, so nothing ultimately matters, which is the first time (iirc) Meursault displays any significant amount of human emotion. The novel ends with Meursault alone in his cell, contemplating his imminent death and opening his heart "to the benign indifference of the universe".
https://preview.redd.it/5afyzpi3sq0d1.png?width=212&format=png&auto=webp&s=e2723e23be451182e786c5027f8ac270b2d80706
So, that's the gist of the novel. "What a weird and somewhat perplexing story" you might say. It's natural for you to want to follow up with the question: "What is the story truly about?"
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Philosophical Context

L'Etranger is a very philosophy-oriented story, which means it's more intended to assert a philosophical standpoint or raise a philosophical question rather than trying to be intriguing, entertaining, or straightforward. I'd say Meursault's character is key to understand the novel. He seems weird because the author is not trying to make him realistic or relatable (which doesn't mean he's impossible to relate to, though; I find myself often agreeing with his reasoning throughout the story). He is basically a tool or device, embodying and presenting Camus' absurdism philosophy.
So, what is absurdism? It's a school of thought orignated from existentialism. Existentialism is a broad term used to describe various philosophies that explore the issues caused by human's existence in the universe, such as meaning, purpose, value, free will, and the ramifications of their absence, while absurdism is more laser focusing on the issues dervied from "absurd".
"Absurd" refers to the uncomfortable situation in which humans try to find (often futilely) meaning in a meaningless world, reason with an irrational world, plead against an indifferent word, etc. Due to the conflicting nature of the relationship between humans and the external world, absurdism claims that the entirety of human existence is "absurd" ── It makes no sense and feels hopeless and paralyzing. Absurdism is essentially people trying to figure out how to deal with such an awkward situation. At one point, Camus even seriously discussed if suicide is a legitimate solution for the absurdity of human life (tldr: it's NOT. Don't try it at home.) in his othoer book Le Mythe de Sisyphe, and Sysyphis futilely rolling a boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down in eternilty subsequently becomes the most well-known symbol for absurdism.
Back to Meursault. He is basically a thought experiment by Camus, attempting to answer the question: "What if a person is fully aware of the absurdity of human existence? What kind of person he/she will become?" The result is a man who seems apathetic towards human emotion and societal rules, who feels like a stranger (hence the title) in the world. However, deep down he is brutally honest to both himself and others, is perceptive and even somewhat passionate about nature, and is constantly suffering from his acute awareness of absurdity, but will never cover up or trade away this suffering with a lie.
It's worth noting that, from Camus' perspective, Meursault is not the only possible result of a man directly staring into the abyss of absurdity. In his other fantastic work Caligula (minor spoiler ahead!), the main character Caligula is fully committed to fighting aganist the absurdity, and ends up spiraling into madness. Meursault is way more passive and submissive than Caligula, but the starting points of their reasoning are surprisingly similiar: the conlict between humans and the inhuman universe is irreconcilable, and the most important thing in our life is how to continue living happily and fulfilling despite the paradoxical nature of human existence. Also btw, both stories start with (or are triggered by) the death of a close family member: Meursault's mother, and Caligula's sister and lover.
If you're interested in further exploring the concept of absurdity, I'd highly recommend giving Jean-Paul Satre's novel La Nausée a read. This existentialist philosophical novel also presents its main character more as a presentation device than a conventionally engaging protagonist. It's bascially the main character's diary and random thoughts and can hardly be described as a well-structured story. But that's the point: humans crave to be a story character in a world deprived of any storyline. Every time the main character is struck by the feeling of absurdity, he often feels irresistible nausea (hence the title).
Chains of Others
Interestingly, Satre's philosophy may also be relevant in terms of in-game Meursault. Meursault's basic EGO is called "Chains of Others", and its passive is called "Refusal to Judge", which is likely a reference to Satre's world-famous quote from his play Huis clos: "Hell is other people." To be clear, Satre is not saying that other people are always adversaries or hellish. Instead he meant that people become frozen after death, unable any longer to fend off other people's interpretation and judgement. In life, we can still do something to manage the impression we make; but in death, we're left entombed in other people's memories and perceptions.
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Speculations

So, that's all the literary context I'd like to provide here. What can we speculate about in-game Meursault from these source materials?
Tbh, I don't think PM will incorporate many philosophical elements into Meursault's backstory, becasue it'd be difficult to make him engaging and accessible to a broader audience. Here's the list of speculations I made based on (very loosely) the source literature mentioned above:

1. Despite the indifferent and monotonous manner, Meursault probably craves (or used to crave) for purpose, for serving a higher and meaningful cause. This could be the reason why he initially joined N Corp, to find meaning via the religious fanatism.
2. In his promo trailer, Meursault said "Today, I killed mother. Or maybe it was yesterday." which is quite different from the original quote "Today mother died. Or maybe it was yesterday." Assuming Meursault indeed intentionally kiiled his mother, it could be because his mother disobeyed the religious rules set by N Corp or defied their authority, or something horrible happened to his mother and he had no choice but to end her life (e.g. his mother turned into a Distortion. He did mention he's dealt with Distortions in the past). His cold description of his mother's death could be due to his apathy or nihilist worldview in general, or due to him strictly following N Corp's rules and trying to suppress his normal human emotions.
3. Meursault mentioned (in Intervallo III) that his mom used to reprimand him the same way Outis does. His mom could've been very strict in raising Meursault, which may contribute to Meursault's monotonous demeanor. Their relationship could've been quite intense before she was killed by Meursault. This may also contribute to Meursault's reticency (children often criticized tend to become less likely to speak up) and efficiency (children often punished tend to do things more efficiently in self-preservation), both traits are more prominent than in-novel Meursault.
4. In his promo trailer, Meursault said "They are difficult to understand... Nevermind. That was a pointless anecdote. It was a waste of my energy." It seems that he's genuinely perplexed and has difficulty understanding normal human emotion. This line gives me a strong neurodivergent vibe. Therefore I think in-game Meursault genuinely doesn't (fully) understand how human emotion works, while in-novel Meursault intentionally chooses to be apathetic due to his philosophical stance.
5. In his promo trailer and in the picture of "Chains of Others", it seems that Meursault was on trial in front of a crowd. It could be a reference to the trial scene in the novel. I think in-game Meursault was being tried for his murder (potentially of his mother), similar to in-novel Meursault being tried for murdering the Arab. Her mother could be an important figure within N Corp or the community, hence the dramatic reactions from the crowd.
6. I think Meursault was genuinely feeling pain and all sorts of negative emotions during the trial. The EGO "Chains of Others" and the passive "Refusal to Judge" may imply that deep down he's trying hard to resist the negative judgement by others or by the crowd shouting in the court, or by his mom, or by his other comrades in the past. But his neurodivergent personality prevented him from wailing or shouting back or seeking help in a conventional manner. Instead, he can only describe the pain in a very objective and detached monologue: "Questions shaped from various emotions smothered my breath slowly."
7. At the end of his promo trailer, Meursault said "... the sunlight was just overwhelming, that's all.", which is a reference to the novel scene in which Meursault killed an Arab on the beach and attributed such murder to the sweltering sunlight (which I believe is symbolizing the absurdity). I think maybe in-game Meursault killed his mother under a similar circumstance (in an outdoor sunlit environment), but for a different reason. This line could be that he's merely tired of the roaring crowd, and instead of wasting his breath explaining his motivation, he used this random sunlight as an excuse instead. Tbh, I'm not sure what's the meaning behind the "sun" or "sunlight" in terms of Meursault's in-game story. It seems very important to him, but there're too few pieces for me to speculate further.

https://preview.redd.it/z9pl3jygfq0d1.png?width=222&format=png&auto=webp&s=b593d9bed06ac47ec49261667521b5f035c07865
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Overall, I feel that in-game Meursault has less autonomy than the novel version, and was definitely way more traumatized by certain undisclosed events in his past (which seems like the common trait of all Sinners). But both of their worldviews in general could be similar. They both seem aware of the dread of the inescapable silence and indiffernece inherent in the outside universe. But in-novel Meursault had already disenchanted all the illusions of meaning at the begining of the novel, while in-game Meursault seems to still be struggling to find something to grasp onto, to anchor his purposeless and directionless life.
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Thank you for the patience reading this long post!
Lastly, I'm no expert in philosophy or literature in general. I'm also very new to the PM universe and unfamiliar with previous games and stories. So if any of the above is laughably misguided for you, feel free to corret me.