After Final Fantasy XVI’s ending Square needs to leave ambiguous alone. People want to be told a story not have to write it themselves.Well I said potentially. After reading directors comments and commentary on Reddit, it seems they left it ambiguous as to wether he actually thinks aerith is alive still or if he knows she’s dead and can see her because of life stream shenanigans.
So there’s a few prevailing theories right now. One being what you just stated, that she’s basically a force ghost that only he can see.
Either way I’m interested in what ends up being the case and if they can pull it off satisfactorily