What do you think would happen if Aeris didn't die? How do you think the Meteor would've been destroyed? One thing to remember is that Hojo said that Aeris was more powerful then her mother despite being half-Centra. Do you think that Aeris could've summoned the Lifestream to destroy the Meteor? How would the Holy have been released?

Are you sure it isn't the other way round?
Didn't Hojo remark that the mother was stronger?

Well, it seemed to me that in the City of Ancients Sephiroth was out for blood. Somebody wouldb't be walking away from that place, and if it's not Aeris, then it's likely to be Cloud, Tifa, or Sephiroth himself, and the odds that it would be Sephiroth look mighty slim.

I also remember Hojo saying that Aeris isn't as strong as her mother....

Then let it be Tifa! :devil:

:lmao: Let's see if Cloud would miss her then!

I'm sure he would. it would also be a horrible blow to him since it now means that there's absolutely no ties to his past anymore. Everybody he knew is dead and he couldn't save any of them.

It also means there's a good chance that Cloud would never pull his mind back together the right way.

Still, Aeris strikes me as a much more supportive person, and while Cloud may never solve his own past, his present and future look a bit brighter.

Then there's also the effect that Tifa's death would have on Barret. i doubt he'd take that well.

If Aerith didn't die, FFVII wouldn't be half as interesting... *ducks*

Actually, I don't think so either. It just makes the game so much more dramatic. However, if Aeris didn't die, there would have to be a wedding, and we all know how much I love to plan weddings!

I think, if Aerith wouldn't die, there wouldn't be so many disscusions about that they are great together... so many interesting fanfics about her ressurection.... it just wouldn't be the same. :( it would seem a little as FF9

Wow !!
If she still alive maybe Could wanna Marry her after killed Sephis.....
Then in The FF7AC Aerith appears as a Could's wife.....

Do you know what happened in AC yet, reno16? I don't want to reveal any spoilers for you, but Cloud didn't marry anyone in AC. ;)

Exactly.It made it the brilliant game it is.As for weddings.They could have it in the Gold saucer. :P

I dont know........I like it better off the way it is :)

the games story would've sucked if she didnt die....

Im for cloud X Aeris...but she is dead.. and better off that way, that is what made the story good(not her dieing I mean, but they would;ve failed if she didnt die)...Cloud relized he loved her more after she dead, you could tell.

If she didnt die, I do think the planet wouldnt be here XD
he rezied he loved her more after she died,

she is dead, o well, she not coming back in FF7..
but love never dies so there allways be with each other


spoilers......
...
....

In FF&:AC
well cloud and the other would be dead anyway..
because Aeris was the last one 2 help him remember?
if she didnt, he would've failed, because is she was alive he still wouldnt got that far...he was like way in the air when Aeris helped..so her death really was good thing..XD


S-E said,(got that infor form a good friend) they might bring Aeris and Cloud together in KH, thats all...so leave her dead, dont talk about bring her back, it would be stupid if they did XD...

sorry english is bad

What poppycock. Her death was created for the sole purpose of messing with the player's feelings. The whole business with holy and all that was invented as justification to kill her. The writers could ahve come up with a million other ways to save the planet.

To this day I still think that the decision to kill her was done in poor taste. Square did it because they hadn't done something like it before, and they realized that they could. I think it shows lack of restraint. It certainly didn't make the story better. They brought me to a beautiful fantasy world filled with enchantment and love and then took it away from me, leaving me with an empty sequence of tasks and events that I didn't care about. OMG Cloud's memories came from this guy named Zack? I'm soooo crushed. Helloooo -- AERIS IS DEAD and then they expect us to care about something as trivial as Cloud's past? The Cloud I know and love was right there the whole time as I played the game. It doesn't matter where he had been before that. The way how they expected us to be worried about something so stupid at that point in the game just shows that they had no idea what they were doing when they killed Aeris. Her death ammounted to nothing in the story. They killed her, had a little moment, and then brought out the next event, as if we'd give a damn about it. They just erased her. And for what? One moment little moment of emotional manipulation, with a little contrived justification tacked on at the end: she had to die, because, uh, that's just how the white materia works, okay?! Biggest pile of crap ever.

ha.
she wasnt the first main 2 die & it wasnt new 2 Square..they did it before <.< play more more S-E games before VII
I mean SS :P

they did that because that the way the wanted to do the story like that..that one reason I feel in love with her, She would killed herself anyway to help save the planet...

I mean I cared about the whole game, after Aeris dead, I still cried...

S-E(SS at the time)
why did they kill her, so the story could unfold...hey even they said them SELFS cloud reized he loved her after her death...(allso when they started, they said they was going to turn it around and make it CxT) XD how would u feel then?

yea the could of made a mil ways to save the planet...but allso the though about making it TifaXcloud...

they could done a numbers of crap 2 the story..but you never no the storyline might of been crap...and VII might of hade the wost storyline ever...instead of the best XD



they killed her it was sad, but FF might of sucked, and o yea in FFAC
well thats were the planet dies if she is alive...think about...

EDIT
really...i loved how Aeris and Cloud loves each other, but never can be upclose 2 each other, only feel the love in there hearts..S-E ment for it 2 be that way

its old see the same ending ..hero gets girl..we he gets girl, she is just in another world..I love the way they did that

Yeah.Made the story as good as it is now!!It would have taken from it is they hadent killed Aeris.Wasnt just poor taste. :cleris:

I think that Aerith's death couldn't of been avoided. If she didn't die in the City of the Ancients, she was more likely to die in the Northern Crater.

As far as the storyline was concerned, I think if Aeris had honestly seen any other way to save the Planet she would've taken it rather than leave Cloud all on his lonesome. Or maybe she thought Tifa would look after him? Maybe even Aeris underestimated Cloud's feelings for Aeris ;)

But she didn't seem too concerned about dying, so either she was being brave about it so as not to worry her friends (likely) or her Cetra nature gave her a different perspective on death which meant she didn't fear it or see it as really goodbye (even more likely).

S.E has their reasons. I agree with those beforehand who've posted that the game wouldn't be the same without Aeris' death. It would not have had the same emotional impact by any means. I doubt it would have even warranted all these sequels without that defining incident.

SE have killed main characters before - usually old men and other mentor figures. The effect of a dying mentor on the player's consience is not the same, he is portrayed as having taught the hero all he could and then given his life for the cause. I challenge anyone to suggest they felt the same way about losing Aeris as they did about Ben Kenobi.

The death of someone like Aeris - a beautiful and vital young woman with a lot left to live for - and the timing of her death - not very long after the date scene, the pinnacle of her budding romance with Cloud - indicates SE were maximising the psychological impact of her demise. They knew exactly what they were doing.

I agree with everything you've said, Malus, and this most of all.

I think that is what Nomura meant when they decided Barret dying would be too 'obvious'. You don't expect the young, vibrant ones, with a whole future to look forward to, suddenly have their lives snuffed out like that.

Aerith's death was supposed to hurt, and hurt hard. It was meant to create this large hole in your emotions, the way the creators felt a death would do. They didn't want to go the 'noble' way of everybody accepting Aerith's death as "something that had to be done", to go on with the belief that it was all for the better. Cloud's speech immediately after her death wasn't about that; it was all about his anger for Sephiroth.

The suddenness of her death, and the realisation that no, she won't come back and your party of nine is restored... It's a terrible feeling to go into an item shop and see the place where Aerith's avatar was, now empty.

fight the power:

I absolutely agree with you. The writers could have come up with so many different ways to save the planet. Aerith didn't have to die, but SE decided the theme of the game would be life and death. That was their focus. They needed the death of someone who would have the most impact on the players, as well as the other characters, of course, and they decided on her. You're right then, that the whole business about a dead spirit summoning Holy was invented to fit her death, not the other way around. Too bad her death didn't exactly impact the players accordingly though. Upon her death, the Aerith-haters most likely rejoiced and laughed. Ugh...SE didn't completely succeed then? :no:

Certainly...especially for people, like you and I, who are more interested in the love story. :pout:
However, I did forgive SE...only because they've touched on that of a spiritual bond/love (a very beautiful concept) between the mercenary soldier and his flower girl.

That's how I feel about Cloud too. I liked him ever since he was first introduced in the game as the cold mercenary, who pretty much instantly warms up to a beautiful girl in a pink dress, a complete stranger. It didn't matter to me much where he'd come from, or what'd happened in his past. I mean, it certainly helped us to better understand his personality and character. However, I would have been perfectly content if the tragedies of his childhood had never occured. Of course, we're talking about changing the whole story here... :cloud:

Heh...think of it this way: Characters usually aren't mentioned again after they've died, at least, not to the extent of Aerith. They keep marketing with her, you know? They bring her up over and over again, even in AU games. Obviously, she must be important to both Cloud and SE. She's dead, but they most certainly haven't just erased her out of the picture.

That's true. In FFIV, Tellah fought Golbez even though he was extremely old and you knew that the magical power of Meteo would burn up his body. In FFV, when Galuf thought X Death on his own you knew he was going to die.

In FFVI when General Leo began to fight Kefka, you knew Kefka had the upper hand and that he would kill Leo.

All of these characters had a certain charm to you knowing that they were going to die. They were all generally older than the main characters and had lived their lives.

But in VII, when you climbed those steps you would think that you were going to get Aerith back with a new found power. You NEVER suspected that Sephiroth would come falling down and thrusting his masumane blade through her. Also, Aerith died quickly, she didn't have any "proper" last words. The music, the emotions, the battle, you knew that she was gone.

Please also note that Aerith was the first and only FF character you could actually watch a burial. General Leo got one but you didn't actually see him getting buried. You saw Aerith sink into that lake and disappear. I can't remember in which interview but the main thing about Aerith dying was because he said...

"We wanted to cause the player pain,"

Also, you knew that Aerith was one of the two love interests for Cloud, and they always had lived on till the end of RPGs, the love interest would be kidnapped but never killed off.

EDIT: Leon forgot one thing, Aerith was also the first character you SAW dying. Sure you had seen other character's dying, but you actually SAW her, if you know what Leon means.

Agreed. I mean sheesh, Aeris' death made ME out for blood. I mean, I felt like I NEEDED to kill Sephy, like I had to finish the game. So yes, had Barret been killed, I doubt it would've been as dramatic.

well, if aerith didn't die, then Cloud woul dhave started to establish a deeper relationship between them. Remmeber the "what about us..?" scene when she died? it means that he was looking forward on a much deeper relationship, aside from being friends and all.

But I believe there was this ressurection idea...that Square just decided to ommit. (sorry if somebody already said this). It would be more dramatic if Aerith was ressurected...as we all know, "absence makes the heart grow fonder". And since cloud realized how important Aerith was to him, he'd love her even more...what a pity that it didn't happen...

about the ressurection thing, i forgot the site where they pointed out CONCRETE evidences (with screenshots). I'll look for it for everyone to see.

:cleris:

For years I've always wondered how different the game would be. And I know a lot of people would love to see Aerith live.. because I always tried to revive her.. but I agree on that the game wouldn't be as interesting. It wouldn't have such a great meaning to it if she had lived.

yeah, i've looked into practically every resurrection theory myself, and not one of them has worked. unfortunately, the only way that you can get aeris back into your party after her death is by using a Gameshark (for PS) or Character Editors (for PC). and even when you do use these tricks, when a scene comes up that requires character-specific dialogue, the game freezes and you have to reset.

altho it is interesting, i used a character editor one day on my PC version and put aeris in my party in Icicle Inn, and she had her own unique dialogue after the snowboarding minigame. But once i reached the crater and got into the dialogue it started messing up on me.

*edit*

i honestly dont believe that she was meant to be resurrected. (altho i sure used to!) instead, i think this means that she wasn't supposed to die until reaching the crater. I saw this theory on a website, and once i find the link i'll post it here for everybody!

*another edit*

i found the link! read on my lovely Cleris buddies!

http://www.ff7citadel.com/secrets/sa_seen1.shtml


much love!

hmmm...possibly Aeris could talk to the planet who would talk to Ifalna, who would tell the Cetras who would send out holy. Tadaaa! And there you have it...i don't know if it'll work but it's just a suggestion. Cloud and Aerith will probably fall in love...Tifa will have to get over it and that's the end folks!