She wasn't supposed to look hot in it, it's just her God-forsaken fashion sense. Would you believe her to be this cool magic-casting soft-hearted white mage if she's wearing a tube dress? Fashion almost always contribute to the overall impact of the character design that would make us either hate them or love them for it. And hell yeah, we have our own set of stereotypes.

OK, for those who still choose Tifa over Aerith, here's a rundown...in all Square titles I've come across so far:

Tifa =
Appeared in FF 7
Appeared in Ergheiz

Aerith=
Appeared in FF 7
Appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics
Appeared in Kingdom Hearts

You may have your own opinions, but in my opinion, the game developers at Square-Enix just love her character as to make her incarnate in these 2 un-FF7-esque titles. Tifa incarnated as Rinoa in FF8, and Garnet in FF9 (just check out the damn HAIR~~~!!!), but they totally reworked her over and these 2 Tifa clones only retained her hairstyle and not much else in the costume or personality department. Just using the same character over and over again makes you think that there is something about Aerith or any character out there that has stood the test of time and the gamers would still love (or in this case hate) her or him for it.

As for Cloud =
Appeared in FF 7
Appeared in Ergheiz
Appeared in Final Fantasy Tactics
Appeared in Kingdom Hearts

Sephiroth =
Appeared in FF 7
Appeared in Ergheiz
Appeared in Kingdom Hearts

And Yuffie =
Appeared in FF 7
Appeared in Ergheiz (secret character, along with Vincent)
Appeared in Kingdom Hearts

But this is a Tifa VS Aerith thread, so these characters are another story. But they basically reflect the same things that Aerith has that made them incarnate as themselves in the original FF 7 or an offshoot of what they were in these succeeding games.

Life is short.
Let's all grab a BEER~~~!!!