Tifa and cloud were childhood friends, but parted ways when cloud left his hometown of Nibelheim to join SOLDIER. When her parents died, Tifa also Nibelheim and headed for Midgar. Soon after opening her bar 'Tifa's 7th heaven', she met Barret and joined his rag-tag group of rebels known as avalanche. It's her goal to make sure that cloud remains with avalanche after his first mission with the team.
When fighting, Tifa lets her fists do the talking. Her attacks are generally weaker than Cloud and Barret's, but from early on her chain of limit breaks is the best thing going. Instead of selecting a single limit break, each new attack adds to the chain for a total of 7 devastating hits. If she can score a "yeah" on the moving slots, she causes extra damage. If she stops the slot on "miss," she misses with that part of the combo. Tifa should always be a front line fighter, but may have trouble contributing in some boss fights.