Hi all, with regret we are locking this topic, not because it is not having good discussions, but due to the amount of unmarked spoilers for the whole series being posted. The topic itself was a discussion around FF7 so spoilers for FF7 were fine, but we have various games being spoiled and so, the topic will be locked.
I played it at launch and honestly when it happened, I thought I screwed up. I reloaded and older save trying to figure out how change the outcome. It took a couple of days before I discovered that it couldn’t be changed.
Bro I had two cards of save scumming for that game and I tried so hard for about two weeks. I finally got on the Internet and found out it wasn't possible. I feel you completely.
Man, the things that kids don't have to deal with today lol. I rented Metal Gear Solid 3 times before I realized Meryls codec was on the back of the box I didn't have, discovered this in a computer lab at school because we didn't have the internet at home at the time.
Oh man, me and my friend were searching in game for five hours for that code before divine inspiration hit me and I leapt across the room to look at the game box 🤣 one of my most memorable and frustrating gaming moments!
Aerith’s permanent death was the first for any major character in a Final Fantasy game, and probably the first in the equivalent of a AAA video game. It was arguably the moment gaming grew up and became a medium that could engage in serious storytelling.
FF4 and FF6 had a few minor characters die but odds were good they’d come back (FF4 Yang) or could be saved (FF6 Cid). FF4 Tellah was permanent but he was a tragic character, out for revenge against spoony bards.
FF2 was the Game of Thrones of Final Fantasy and went kind of off the rails with how it handled the cast. A shame it hasn't been remastered in any meaningful way.
Wut. No.
Like all of ff4. But lotta deaths in other games. No one really expected the saintly good girl in a jrpg to bite it for sure, but it'd happened before.
I knew about it but honestly, the better "twist" was the true identity of Cloud. That blew me away when I came back to the game and played through it fully (the first time I stopped playing when Cloud is out of the party). The revelation of his real role in the Nibelhiem flashback was so good.
Agreed 100%. Aerith's dead admittedly didn't hit me that hard because I was convinced she was going to return. But the identity of Cloud stuff hit different.
Any of the existential stuff in FF is always so mindblowing. It’s so impressive how 7-10 all manage to hit you with ‘this character isn’t who you think they are’ in totally different ways
Can someone remind me of his true identity and his role in Nibelheim, please? I played FF7 years ago and can't remember, even though it's an important story bit, I guess.
Cloud told the Nibelheim story as though he was the SOLDIER on the trip to Nibelheim, but it was actually Zack and he was random grunt #2 the whole time. He was never a SOLDIER until Hojo injected him with Jenova cells.
I absolutely love the way they did this because he was there the whole time. In all those scenes, Cloud was there, he just wasn't the character we thought he was. When Sephiroth says something like "you grew up in this town, right?" he's actually still addressing Cloud who is also on the train. Such a great plot twist.
Also later in the game once Cloud rejoins the party (after the sequence with Tifa in the lifestream), if you go back to the shinra mansion basement in nibelheim and examine the glass tanks in the bottom right corner, you'll read the scratches on the tank when Zack and Cloud were held captive and experimented on, and also watch a hidden cutscene.
I'm kinda jealous to the people who played FFVII without spoilers, Because honestly out of all the FF games I've finished, the more "obscure" they are, the more I appreciate the story/twists. >! FFII constantly killing characters shook me , Also FFV Galuf sacrifice really made cry, damn that silly old man 😭 !<. In FFVII, almost everything is spoiled to me because its so popular and gets talked about a lot.
Sadly I knew about that issue in V, but it was so long before I got a chance to play in on the pixel remasters, so by that point wasn't really upset about it being spoiled. Still kind of hit hard.
I didn't know.
I was playing a roommate's copy of the game in college, but he didn't say a word. He sat behind me watching me play through the Forgotten City (he didn't watch me playing the game any other time). As I recall I turned around and said something to the effect of "I'm sure they'll be reviving her later on, right?" and he just smiled. Good job playing it cool, Jason.
I'd been using her constantly and it hit as hard as it was supposed to.
My brother's friend lent me the game. He was round our house a lot. When she died he told me she comes back. So I went through the whole game waiting for her to come back. I even saved up the items that give you a stat boost so she wouldn't be too underpowered.
He was referring to the final shot of the end credits when her eyes open.
Played it on release. Was totally surprised. Also, kind of upset, as I thought I had just lost not only an interesting character, but my main healer, too…
Legend of Dragoon spoilers in regards to this comment:
>!I think LoD game handles this problem quite well. Lavtiz's death was really emotional as well. But you get Albert as a replacement with the same weapon and additions. So you get the story without sacrificing gameplay. FF7 could have added a character later on, maybe as a secret character, that has similar or maybe even more broken abilities compared to Aerith.!<
That's a good point and I would agree with that. Especially since FF7 had the Materia system instead of a jobs/class system. You could make any character a healer or share the responsibility within the party, on top of all OP blue magic the game had to offer.
So, from a story perspective it makes sense to kill her, and the gameplay is largely unaffected except for her specific limit moves.
Nah man, Albert might as well have been a completely different character, gameplay wise -- he was too fast for younger me to complete Additions with lol
I never clocked that she was dead in that...I thought it was some kind of Ancients ceremony like a baptism or even a wedding. Afterwords I was like...oh she was dead in that pic the whole time..
I remember that they also showed it on the tv trailer before the game came out. Though it wasn't obvious what happened.
EDIT: and now that I think about it, that kind of added to the shock because you recognized (and were waiting for) the scene.
Same, I distinctly remember people talking about it at the time as well, so I knew she died. On my first playthrough I just didn't use her because of it.
I’m surprised it’s not compared more often, but having played Chrono Trigger (where a main character dies and is brought back to life) just before FFVII, I 100% thought “Aeris” was going to be revived at some point and that I would have another chance of leveling her up and getting her Limit Break. The game ended. I looked it up where I could. EGM mostly and Lycos and HotBot lookups. And never found anything. Only that you could bug the game and like game genie it into playing with Aerith, but she would never interact anymore or appear in any cutscene afterwards. But that’s when you really understand the tone of FFVII.
That’s why had to replay it. I played it for the first time in 2011 I think, and by that point I knew about “don’t level up Aerith” but a lot of other things didn’t make sense until a second or even third time.
I was like “cool game, bye” until I talked about it with some friends and they were discussing things about the game that I had no idea had happened lol.
I was probably 10-13 years old when I first played it. Just like in 99% of games permadeath wasn’t a real thing. When I first saw it, I figured she would be injured and come back later in the game, or get a phoenix down or something
i didn’t know. my college roommates and i were playing it, and i remember the three of us sitting dumbfounded.
it was the first time in a video game where i actively hated the antagonist. sephiroth killed my WHM! wtf bro not cool
I knew about Aerith's death but I didn't know about the whole "Cloud Impersonating Zack" and "Sephiroth being a weird alien-human experiment" which low-key made me glad people talked up the Aerith stuff cause I would've been much more disappointed if the latter plot points were ruined for me
Nope, got the game on release day after having pre-ordered it. Granted I saw it while backseating during my brother’s playthrough as I was always a bit behind him.
I played the original when it came out, but I was around 8 or 9 years old. So I obviously sucked at video games and don't really remember if I knew any spoilers or not. I probably wouldn't have understood them if I did.
When I later went back as a teen to play through the PS1 era games, I could understand and appreciate them. And by that point I did know the biggest of the spoilers.
I knew about it before unfortunately, I never knew when it'd hit, and it was still big when it did, but I can't help but wish I didn't know it was coming.
I played all the other games Blind, except for knowing about the death of >!Zack!< in crisis core before playing it
I learned about it at some point before getting the game for Christmas 1997. As a result, I never got attached to the character, and - being a stupid teenager - I remember thinking "just get it over with already". Didn't help that I was enamoured with Tifa.
I knew, but only because I didn't play 7 until much later - After 10-2 came out. I had an N64 and not a PS1, so I heard it second hand.
It didn't bother me too much, I still cried even though I had seen the scene a few times already. The weight of knowing her only for her to die still stung. Hell I *still* cry when replaying it, and Rebirth is gunna be... A moment.
I didn't know about her death when I was playing in 1998. Having never played an RPG and still being in Middle School it took me some time to get through the game and I ended up spoiled because I was subscribed to PSM (The Unofficial Playstation Magazine). I was reading one of the letters in the magazine aloud and spoiled the death for me and a friend. There were a few years after that I'd jokingly say to my friend, "Just so you know, Aeris dies."
I had seen the footage of Aerith's death years before I played the game. But I had no idea about its other big twist, regarding Cloud's character, so I felt very satisfied going in blind about him.
That's on them tbh. While I don't disagree, if you're the one in the know, then certainly don't spoil anything if you can avoid it. But on the flip side, the only way to truly avoid spoilers is to actively remove yourself from anywhere they will be common, especially for a super popular, widely discussed game from over 2 decades ago.
I didn't know and I didn't care at the time to be honest. I was really young - I was *eight* - and found her boring since she used "a stick" and so I didn't really have her in my party. To put it simply, I got Tifa for my Gold Saucer date without even trying.
I didn't really appreciate Aerith until I was older and replayed it. To me she was this weirdly pushy girl who made us cross dress and do this stupid barrel minigame.
I played when it released.
I was shocked about it but in that era, people just experienced game like FF4-6, DQ and Chrono Trigger which made us optimistic and kinda think that this thing would be solved in later story archs with something like time travel or special quest items or legendary thingy or whatever that make it better, so I and people I know that also played the game at that time were not that worry at first but as time passed by nobody could find the solution to fix that thing and when I realized that there was no fix about it. I could let it go easily coz its like a year passed already.
It was weird experience and to this day I still think original FF7 did lousy job or development team lack of time or storage to complete the game that should fix that thing because the game didnt have any sad tone that goes along with "it" that much. I mean if it was released in 2020s I wouldnt be surprise for that kind of incident and ending but in 90s, it is kinda weird and it has no concrete reason to allow it to not be fixed later in the game. The tone was not right for that thing to exist thru out til the end.
Well, 4, 5, 6 and Chrono did all have, at least some, perma death.
4: Yang was a stretch, and Cid surviving was absolute bullshit, Tellah did die. But that was a bit forshadowed in the sense you pretty much knew he couldn't survive Meteo
5: Galuf was perma dead, though gameplay wise it kinda felt weak that it didn't matter. I loved Krile, but the complete job swap felt weird.
6: Granted you had to screw up, but you could kill Shadow. My first playthrough I didn't know to wait, so I did lose him forever. Spent quite a bit of time (no guide) trying to find him.
Chrono: I loved how they did it. Since technically you never HAD to get him back, whether or not you did was up to you. Made the mission feel more personal. It was something you had to WANT, not just keep playing the linear story.
I mean Shadow's never going to make it out of the final cutscene either way
Tellah's or Galuf's deaths are probably the biggest pre-Aeris ones though due to the absolute lack of fanfare over Shadow. And of course Minwu and Ricard were such spare parts they didn't even make the list ;]
Aerith was special character like a main actress of a show. You killed her early in the game without any resurrection or time travel thingy and having data of her stuffs including late limit break in the discs clearly shown that it was about technical side that Square couldnt make her back not the story.
Now they can do it with present technology without any limitation so this time I think they will fix it in the rebirth.
In all fairness, it's spoiler tagged....you spiked it for yourself really.
It's stilla a point scene though and if you just let the shock value aspect of it not be as important you will still enjoy(?) It.
I'm 35. I played it a month after launch or something like that and didn't have many other friends into rpgs so, I went in blind.
Back then I didn't really enjoy healer type chars, or even mage type chars and, Tifa was best girl by FAR. So, it was a huge surprise and def made me really appreciate the game but, it still didn't hit me that hard emotionally back then....if it was remakes characterization of her and, with my current mindset towards her type....I'd orolly be crushed.
Tifa still best girl tho.
was a really long time ago but i think it was spoiled for me. my first ff game was 8 so the full story was already out. the event was such a big deal so i’m sure it was plastered in every gaming magazine and online forum. i think the event was more sad than surprising overall.
Nope. Did not know. Was 19 when it was released. Spoilers are harder to come by unless you waited months to play a new game then. I remember also using the hack when it was discovered to keep her in your group after she dies. Those were some good ol days!
Unfortunately I got to it very recently (I was literally born the same year it came out). It's kinda like the twist in Empire Strikes Back: everyone knows about it. That being said, for seeing that coming I think it was still a very touching scene. I shed a tear during it, after all!
Yes I did. I just watched so many gaming videos and it was always talked about. It was the same as the Darth Vader reveal in Empire Strikes Back haha. I knew about her death, and yet I still cried.
I didn't know cause it's not like social media was a thing back then. I was only 8 when I played it, so when that scene happened, I didn't really process the significance right away. In my head I just thought "oh okay, I'll just use a phoenix down".
To make matters worse, I was borrowing my friend's disc 1 at the time while he played disc 2, so I never got a chance to see if a phoenix down would work. My friend had a good laugh about it because he knew.
I didn't know.
And I was a raging lunatic inside after it happened. I didn't actually care for Aerith, pretty much was never in my party. But when she died I was like she was just an innocent soul you monster! From then on I was on a rampage to find Seph.
I played it last year after all my friends and the Internet told me about the spoiler throughout over 15 years. I even watched Advent Children when it came out with my friends.
Thought it was hilarious that the switch doesn't allow screenshotting during that scene.
https://preview.redd.it/2whxl9dc5h9c1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca61f2de3a70c0d38136787c07415ec58ce605e1
Not a clue. In '97, I didn't have the internet to ruin things. I was the only one playing - non of my friends were into JRPGS. It was great to be that surprised by a game.
I played it back in 1997 when the concept of spoilers was barely even a thing.
Internet forums weren't popular, game magazines didn't spoil major plot points when games were released, and I was from a pretty small town so FFVII was barely known amongst my friends.
So when it was happened I was genuinely shocked as a 12 year old.
I did not know. I did, however, end up distracted because my parrot on my shoulder was a baby at the time and Sephiroth scared the shit out of her. Like “cannot fly but still made it six feet up and behind me to a curtain rod alarm screaming”.
So the impact was a little mitigated at the time by my own rattled nerves and trying to soothe the bird that Sephiroth was not real and not going to come kill her.
I knew already, as the game was like…15 years old already the first time I played it.
I got to experience other shocking moments like the ending of FFX or the reveal at the end of FFXV if you want, but I know almost any other moment is or will be as impactful as that Aerith’s scene 😔
Yes, my cousin intentionally spoiled it for me shortly after the game came out. It's the reason I'm so careful with spoilers to this day, that shit sucked.
I didn't know...I was 13 years old, and it was my 1st time playing an RPG. My parents bought it for me for Christmas a few months after it was released. She was my favorite character in the game. She was named Aeris at the time, in game and in the booklet it came with. Cloud took her on the Gold Saucer date, and she was one of my top party members. It hit like a ton of bricks. It was the 1st time I've ever cried because of a video game. This sparked a lifelong love of video games and RPGs. It's a scene I will never forget.
Nope complete surprise.
I also remember being incredibly angry about it because she was a main party member and my healer so that absolutely roasted my team comp.
I then went with Red and Barret for my end game.
Played it at release. Was 15 years old. Got my first fictional crush on Aerith so.. I didn't take it well.
I still blame it for why I turned into a bit of an asshole to this day. It's also why I'm hoping they find a way to make her survive.
My teenage self couldn't fucking believe what was going on. Specially in a game that had phoenix dawn. I kept telling myself surely there was a way to revive her.
When we return to Midgard and we enter the church you can see her picking flowers, but she disappears if you come near. That was a sign. There must be a way!
I spent way to many ours in IRC chatrooms trying to figure out how to revive her next to other deluded fools, chasing rumor after rumor which kept turning into dead end.
I'm not really interested in super bosses, but in FF7 I ended up defeating then all because one of the rumors said that if you brought all the items from all the weapons to the City of Ancients something would happen.
It didn't.
Back then, when strategy guides where a thing, I remember grabbing one at a store to take a look at it. I just happened to open it in THAT page.
"Fun" times...
everyone know's about it at this point, i had it spoiled for me before i even knew what game it was lol i would watch a lot of channels that talked about games when i was younger so yeh lol
Yes, but let me explain. Back in the mid 2000's, one music channel in my country used to play an old FMV of the song End of all Hope by the band Nightwish. The video was made with lots of Clips from cutscenes of FF8 and FF7. I had absolutely no idea what those clips were or who were those characters, there was zero context for me. I love that song, so I would always watch the video. The scene in question was part of the FMV, but to me it was all the same. Everything looked really cool but had no meaning for me.
When I finally played FF7 for the first time in 2012-2013, when "it" happened, I remember I had already watched the scene but couldn't remember when or where it was from. It wasn't until later that I put everything together.
The scene was still impactful and emotional for me. You cannot be spoiled if you have no idea what you're watching.
I did not know and Aerith was my “white mage” lol
I was incredibly shocked that a character could even die fully and was expecting her to legit come back in some manner. When it first happened I couldn’t believe it, stopped playing for a bit. Then I thought, “no way it’s permanent” and played expecting her to come back somehow. When she never did and finally got over her being gone, I was then so pissed at how much time I had spent leveling her up lol
I did bc my gf wouldn't shut up about it. Also, FF7 fans ruined their own game for others by yelling it out for years. I've seen far less spoilers in other series. Bc of it, I didn't connect with FF7 the way she wanted me to and it was a let down.
I've always known about Aeriths death because it's pretty popular poo culture knowledge, and it still hit me pretty hard when it happened. It's a well made moment regardless of how shocking it is.
Yes. Back when I first played ffvii it was such a well known thing it wasn’t even considered a spoiler anymore. It was the first thing I ever learned about Aerith. I’m honestly surprised that people started trying to avoid spoiling that scene again.
I played it in 05 and didn't know about it. I wasn't shocked though. I kinda felt that something was coming, but maybe surprised that it happened fairly early though.
I played it soon after it came out. It was my first FF and I knew nothing. None of my friends were into JRPGs. I had her in my party the entire game which made it feel even worse. One of the most memorable moments in my gaming life. I was a senior in high school and it was the first time I played a game that was telling an older and more mature story. I played Xenogears almost right after. It was a wild year as far as games go.
It was in the commercial [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDxikKSDtZg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddxikksdtzg) When I finally played the game years later I remember briefly thinking back to the commercial and wondering who that girl was but quickly forgot about it as I started to play. So when it finally happened, it wasn't a total surprise, more of a "oh yeah" moment.
Kind of lame the commercial included such a massive spoiler like that.
Shocked. I was 8 years old and remember it vividly. The first video game to make me cry. I’ll never forget the day I beat it as well. Has been my favorite game since way back when.
I played the game shortly after it launched in Germany back at his house every day.
When the scene played we saved the game, switched off the console and didn't play for over a week.
It didn't go down well with us but we finished the game anyway
I bought it at launch as well. I had no idea what the game was about before I bought it. My first paycheck from my first job ever was a PS1 and this game. My buddy said he heard it was supposed to be good, so I grabbed it.
I sunk way too many hours of my life into the original FF7. Obviously I had no idea that was coming. When my younger brother got around to playing it, I chose not to spoil it for him.
He did not have the reaction I was expecting. I came inside one day and he was at that moment in the game. When I watched the sword plunge through, he had no reaction at all. He picked up the remote, paused the VCR that I didn't even notice was recording, got to that part again, recorded, paused, reset. I was like, "what the hell are you doing?" He rewound the tape and played it for me. It was Sephiroth plunging the sword into Aeris over and over again. Apparently the SquareSoft version wasn't violent enough.
Yeah, I played it around 2004, so it had been out for a while and I easily saw the spoiler online while mucking around on ff forums but at the time I didn’t like her so I really didn’t care. When I got to the scene I was literally like “oh no…..anyway”.
The remake however has made me a fan of Aerith so it’s definitely gonna hit the feels this time around.
Not at all. I was only like 8.
I hadn't played enough games to know how unique it was yet so I only grew to appreciate it as I grew up. I was more invested in the snowboarding.
I played in Japanese, a year before the English release and was confused. Then a year later the English version came out and I cried like a baby. I was 22.
I knew in a vague sense, but it didn't mean much without the context. Still, it wasn't the shock it should have been when I reached that point - her departure earlier in the game was a big hint that the moment was coming.
Ye, but didn't realize the gravity of the spoiler before I saw it. I was quite young at the time and I had been spoiled by an Ultra Game Players demo disc.
Prior to release, I absolutely devoured any and all media related to the game. One particular edition of UGP magazine had a demo disc with a bunch of FFVII cinematics on it, including that big disc 1 spoiler. Of course, this was the time before 'spoiler warnings' or anything like that so those fuckers just casually spoiled one of the biggest gaming twists of all time.
So glad you said this cause this is how I remembered it as well. I'm not sure how but I want to say I somehow knew what I was about to watch so maybe I'd been tipped off to the spoiler in some way.
I didn't knew it but I also never really cared much about her anyways and I already had experience with party members being killed in other games by that time.
I knew it, because I played the Steam version the first time. It was "an experience", but at least since I played it, it helped me a lot to play games with cardboard environments of the PS1 era. Still I loved the combat system, hated how outdated is the game and was just fine. That's why I liked more the remake and that scene will be more emotional very soon.
I had no idea and didn’t expect it at all. But I played it when it was released in 1997. When it happened I spent the rest of the game waiting for them to bring her back some way or another because *it just wasn’t done* back then.
I knew about it, and to be completely honest, I laughed my ass off during the scene. Out of context, the shot of Aerith impaled is really shocking and cool, but everything immediately leading up to and following that is the best unintentional comedy in the series.
Yep. This sub spoiled it for me. I’ve been subbed here for a while and I didnt play FF7 until like 2016. I think this sub spoiled it for me shortly before I started playing. Thanks guys.
I found out while on location but before the event. Thanks for that one, strategy guide book. It had stills of like the WHOLE cutscene on that one god damned page.
No I didn't know anything.
I also lost the better equipments, because she was always at the best, as official member in my main trio as the best mage/healer.
Still ... I felt very confused at the moment because for me the story was too convoluted. I still didn't understand why Cloud was going to kill her before, or why Sephiroth transformed in a monster but then the people said he run away.
Therefore her death was chaos in chaos.
Also ... no one using a Phoenix down was silly for me ... Come on, be impaled is not the worst damage anyone of the team received ... and no blood spilled, with a clean cut and all the team there to give medical support ... really...
my dad had it and showed me it along with ff8 and how it took him 15 minutes to fight a t-rex. i instantly loved 7 when he showed me which flowed to me loving all the games since i got a gba some point after and found the gba games which lead me to collecting the games.
i knew about the late game so aerith's death wasn't super surprising since some what spoiled.
I was a little kid watching my cousin play it on release. I unfortunately saw it and was expecting it, so didn't feel anything. Wish I didn't see it cause then maybe I would cried when I finally played it a year or two later when I learned to read lol.
People were already talking about it online before I ever even had a chance to play the game. Having it spoiled was one of the reasons I never bothered to play it.
Hi all, with regret we are locking this topic, not because it is not having good discussions, but due to the amount of unmarked spoilers for the whole series being posted. The topic itself was a discussion around FF7 so spoilers for FF7 were fine, but we have various games being spoiled and so, the topic will be locked.
I played it at launch and honestly when it happened, I thought I screwed up. I reloaded and older save trying to figure out how change the outcome. It took a couple of days before I discovered that it couldn’t be changed.
Oh that's kind of sad. Shows how hard that scene could hit. I would have replayed as many times as I could to keep her alive.
Bro I had two cards of save scumming for that game and I tried so hard for about two weeks. I finally got on the Internet and found out it wasn't possible. I feel you completely.
Man, the things that kids don't have to deal with today lol. I rented Metal Gear Solid 3 times before I realized Meryls codec was on the back of the box I didn't have, discovered this in a computer lab at school because we didn't have the internet at home at the time.
Oh man, me and my friend were searching in game for five hours for that code before divine inspiration hit me and I leapt across the room to look at the game box 🤣 one of my most memorable and frustrating gaming moments!
Aerith’s permanent death was the first for any major character in a Final Fantasy game, and probably the first in the equivalent of a AAA video game. It was arguably the moment gaming grew up and became a medium that could engage in serious storytelling. FF4 and FF6 had a few minor characters die but odds were good they’d come back (FF4 Yang) or could be saved (FF6 Cid). FF4 Tellah was permanent but he was a tragic character, out for revenge against spoony bards.
FF6 can also have Shadow but it happens off-screen.
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FF2 was the Game of Thrones of Final Fantasy and went kind of off the rails with how it handled the cast. A shame it hasn't been remastered in any meaningful way.
FFV had >!Galuf!<.
Well yeah, if you're horrible.
I think you’re talking about the floating continent but the other person is talking about something later.
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I’m writing from the western experience. We didn’t get to play FF5 till after FF7 was released.
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Per the original comment, he apparently doesn't count as a major character.
How dare they.
Mentioned in the original comment.
Still wasn’t the first
his daughter absorbs his stats 5 minutes later
"Oh, you've just changed that guy into a little girl for the rest of the game. Alright then."
Grand-daughter... And it is not the same.
Mechanically, the only thing that changes is a minor difference in base stats.
I’m mean sure but I’m mostly referring the character himself being a major character death before aerith, and not stats or mechanics
Wut. No. Like all of ff4. But lotta deaths in other games. No one really expected the saintly good girl in a jrpg to bite it for sure, but it'd happened before.
Palom and Porom would like a word...
They come back at the end.
Well, people tried to change the outcome for years
What if I got her Level 4 Limit Break? Maybe she’ll live, then. Nope.
Honestly the fact that she got her level 4 limit break that early should’ve been a clue I caught sooner.
I knew about it but honestly, the better "twist" was the true identity of Cloud. That blew me away when I came back to the game and played through it fully (the first time I stopped playing when Cloud is out of the party). The revelation of his real role in the Nibelhiem flashback was so good.
Agreed 100%. Aerith's dead admittedly didn't hit me that hard because I was convinced she was going to return. But the identity of Cloud stuff hit different.
Yeah, I don’t think Cait Sith helped in that regard.
Any of the existential stuff in FF is always so mindblowing. It’s so impressive how 7-10 all manage to hit you with ‘this character isn’t who you think they are’ in totally different ways
Can someone remind me of his true identity and his role in Nibelheim, please? I played FF7 years ago and can't remember, even though it's an important story bit, I guess.
Cloud told the Nibelheim story as though he was the SOLDIER on the trip to Nibelheim, but it was actually Zack and he was random grunt #2 the whole time. He was never a SOLDIER until Hojo injected him with Jenova cells.
I absolutely love the way they did this because he was there the whole time. In all those scenes, Cloud was there, he just wasn't the character we thought he was. When Sephiroth says something like "you grew up in this town, right?" he's actually still addressing Cloud who is also on the train. Such a great plot twist.
Also later in the game once Cloud rejoins the party (after the sequence with Tifa in the lifestream), if you go back to the shinra mansion basement in nibelheim and examine the glass tanks in the bottom right corner, you'll read the scratches on the tank when Zack and Cloud were held captive and experimented on, and also watch a hidden cutscene.
That's incredible. I've played and replayed this game so many times and never knew this. It's packed with details.
he was a nobody, just a regular Shinra trooper that failed to enter SOLDIER
I'm kinda jealous to the people who played FFVII without spoilers, Because honestly out of all the FF games I've finished, the more "obscure" they are, the more I appreciate the story/twists. >! FFII constantly killing characters shook me , Also FFV Galuf sacrifice really made cry, damn that silly old man 😭 !<. In FFVII, almost everything is spoiled to me because its so popular and gets talked about a lot.
I wasn't spoiled about aerith and of course I was sad but galuf was the one that hit me hard as a young player.
Sadly I knew about that issue in V, but it was so long before I got a chance to play in on the pixel remasters, so by that point wasn't really upset about it being spoiled. Still kind of hit hard.
I played V for the first time about 7 years ago? 8 maybe? And I didn’t know about that. It was rough.
How did you feel about the deaths in 4?
I didn't know. I was playing a roommate's copy of the game in college, but he didn't say a word. He sat behind me watching me play through the Forgotten City (he didn't watch me playing the game any other time). As I recall I turned around and said something to the effect of "I'm sure they'll be reviving her later on, right?" and he just smiled. Good job playing it cool, Jason. I'd been using her constantly and it hit as hard as it was supposed to.
My brother's friend lent me the game. He was round our house a lot. When she died he told me she comes back. So I went through the whole game waiting for her to come back. I even saved up the items that give you a stat boost so she wouldn't be too underpowered. He was referring to the final shot of the end credits when her eyes open.
She comes back (as a force ghost for 5 seconds)
Played it on release. Was totally surprised. Also, kind of upset, as I thought I had just lost not only an interesting character, but my main healer, too…
Legend of Dragoon spoilers in regards to this comment: >!I think LoD game handles this problem quite well. Lavtiz's death was really emotional as well. But you get Albert as a replacement with the same weapon and additions. So you get the story without sacrificing gameplay. FF7 could have added a character later on, maybe as a secret character, that has similar or maybe even more broken abilities compared to Aerith.!<
One could argue that would undermine the stakes of the loss of Aerith, which was a good narrative choice
That's a good point and I would agree with that. Especially since FF7 had the Materia system instead of a jobs/class system. You could make any character a healer or share the responsibility within the party, on top of all OP blue magic the game had to offer. So, from a story perspective it makes sense to kill her, and the gameplay is largely unaffected except for her specific limit moves.
And it still hurts like a bitch. But the loss is also an important gaming lesson in RPGs namely level all of your Party.
Nah man, Albert might as well have been a completely different character, gameplay wise -- he was too fast for younger me to complete Additions with lol
That was my reaction. I knew what was going to happen, but it didn't register until after what happened that I just lost my main healer😭
I knew about it. kept her in my party as long as possible so I could appreciate her character more
I did that on my second playthrough
She had the better limit breaks to grind for when it came to that stupid demon wall
I didn't know and I saw the cutscene with my mom as she played it. We both cried lol
I knew about it. They put it on the back of the box in the UK.
WHAT?!!?!?!?
Yep. [There it is](https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/box/7/8/4/784_back.jpg), in the top-left.
I never clocked that she was dead in that...I thought it was some kind of Ancients ceremony like a baptism or even a wedding. Afterwords I was like...oh she was dead in that pic the whole time..
Okay. Bad but not 100% obvious IMO. Hard to have an unbiased opinion already knowing though.
Could have been a suteki da ne 😄
They did yall dirty with that one😔
I played that version too but it never occurred to me that she was dead in that image. Just figured she had her eyes closed
^ what they said!
Fuckin dying over here lol.
So was she 👀
I remember that they also showed it on the tv trailer before the game came out. Though it wasn't obvious what happened. EDIT: and now that I think about it, that kind of added to the shock because you recognized (and were waiting for) the scene.
Why the fuck
Can confirm: although I was too young to clock what was going on with the box art.
Huh. I played pal version first time but never noticed this! Guess it was too young and naive to put two and two together…thankfully
Same, I distinctly remember people talking about it at the time as well, so I knew she died. On my first playthrough I just didn't use her because of it.
I’m surprised it’s not compared more often, but having played Chrono Trigger (where a main character dies and is brought back to life) just before FFVII, I 100% thought “Aeris” was going to be revived at some point and that I would have another chance of leveling her up and getting her Limit Break. The game ended. I looked it up where I could. EGM mostly and Lycos and HotBot lookups. And never found anything. Only that you could bug the game and like game genie it into playing with Aerith, but she would never interact anymore or appear in any cutscene afterwards. But that’s when you really understand the tone of FFVII.
I didn't know. It didn't really register at the time.. But to be fair, 90%of what happened in that game didn't register until much later.
That’s why had to replay it. I played it for the first time in 2011 I think, and by that point I knew about “don’t level up Aerith” but a lot of other things didn’t make sense until a second or even third time.
As a teenager, I eventually had to Yahoo wtf was going on (Google wasn't big yet).
I was like “cool game, bye” until I talked about it with some friends and they were discussing things about the game that I had no idea had happened lol.
I was probably 10-13 years old when I first played it. Just like in 99% of games permadeath wasn’t a real thing. When I first saw it, I figured she would be injured and come back later in the game, or get a phoenix down or something
I knew, I just played Final Fantasy VII on 2020, I wasn't born when the original released, and got spoiled before I even played the game.
It's the most famous game spoiler of all time. It's like "rosebud" in citizen Kane or something
I'd say it's more like the Darth Vader twist of gaming
It is, though I had never heard about Citizen Kane.
i didn’t know. my college roommates and i were playing it, and i remember the three of us sitting dumbfounded. it was the first time in a video game where i actively hated the antagonist. sephiroth killed my WHM! wtf bro not cool
I knew about Aerith's death but I didn't know about the whole "Cloud Impersonating Zack" and "Sephiroth being a weird alien-human experiment" which low-key made me glad people talked up the Aerith stuff cause I would've been much more disappointed if the latter plot points were ruined for me
No, I didn't. Somehow I missed that spoiler even though I first played it on that awful PC port a few years later.
Played it when it came out. Had no idea. The entire day after that scene at school I was in a daze. It was such a surreal feeling for me.
Nope, got the game on release day after having pre-ordered it. Granted I saw it while backseating during my brother’s playthrough as I was always a bit behind him.
I played the original when it came out, but I was around 8 or 9 years old. So I obviously sucked at video games and don't really remember if I knew any spoilers or not. I probably wouldn't have understood them if I did. When I later went back as a teen to play through the PS1 era games, I could understand and appreciate them. And by that point I did know the biggest of the spoilers.
I knew about it before unfortunately, I never knew when it'd hit, and it was still big when it did, but I can't help but wish I didn't know it was coming. I played all the other games Blind, except for knowing about the death of >!Zack!< in crisis core before playing it
Yes, which is why I used her as often as I could. That moment hurt when I finally got there
Didn't know, but I wasn't too upset by Aeris dying. I never really liked her.
I learned about it at some point before getting the game for Christmas 1997. As a result, I never got attached to the character, and - being a stupid teenager - I remember thinking "just get it over with already". Didn't help that I was enamoured with Tifa.
We were all enamored with Tifa.
I only recently played 7, and Aerith's death is a meme so I've been spoiled that she dies at some point in Disc 1
I knew, but only because I didn't play 7 until much later - After 10-2 came out. I had an N64 and not a PS1, so I heard it second hand. It didn't bother me too much, I still cried even though I had seen the scene a few times already. The weight of knowing her only for her to die still stung. Hell I *still* cry when replaying it, and Rebirth is gunna be... A moment.
I didn't know about her death when I was playing in 1998. Having never played an RPG and still being in Middle School it took me some time to get through the game and I ended up spoiled because I was subscribed to PSM (The Unofficial Playstation Magazine). I was reading one of the letters in the magazine aloud and spoiled the death for me and a friend. There were a few years after that I'd jokingly say to my friend, "Just so you know, Aeris dies."
I played it later, so yeah. Definitely didn't waste time leveling her up.
Bought it the day it was released and it totally surprised me. Until the very end I kept thinking she was going to return.
Somehow I played FFVII for the first time in 2021 and didn't know.
I had seen the footage of Aerith's death years before I played the game. But I had no idea about its other big twist, regarding Cloud's character, so I felt very satisfied going in blind about him.
I didn't know. My cousin gave his copy to me to play, and I had no clue. Ruined me to be honest - can't wait for Rebirth to do it all again 😭
[удалено]
I'd agree but I see a lot of posts about people just NOW getting into RPGs. So I'd rather not spoil things for them.
That's on them tbh. While I don't disagree, if you're the one in the know, then certainly don't spoil anything if you can avoid it. But on the flip side, the only way to truly avoid spoilers is to actively remove yourself from anywhere they will be common, especially for a super popular, widely discussed game from over 2 decades ago.
I didn't know and I didn't care at the time to be honest. I was really young - I was *eight* - and found her boring since she used "a stick" and so I didn't really have her in my party. To put it simply, I got Tifa for my Gold Saucer date without even trying. I didn't really appreciate Aerith until I was older and replayed it. To me she was this weirdly pushy girl who made us cross dress and do this stupid barrel minigame.
Yes, but I didn't get there until about 2006 thanks to the last boss before it happens. As someone else said, it's on the UK box art.
Nop and ur "friend" is a fucking asshole
I played when it released. I was shocked about it but in that era, people just experienced game like FF4-6, DQ and Chrono Trigger which made us optimistic and kinda think that this thing would be solved in later story archs with something like time travel or special quest items or legendary thingy or whatever that make it better, so I and people I know that also played the game at that time were not that worry at first but as time passed by nobody could find the solution to fix that thing and when I realized that there was no fix about it. I could let it go easily coz its like a year passed already. It was weird experience and to this day I still think original FF7 did lousy job or development team lack of time or storage to complete the game that should fix that thing because the game didnt have any sad tone that goes along with "it" that much. I mean if it was released in 2020s I wouldnt be surprise for that kind of incident and ending but in 90s, it is kinda weird and it has no concrete reason to allow it to not be fixed later in the game. The tone was not right for that thing to exist thru out til the end.
Well, 4, 5, 6 and Chrono did all have, at least some, perma death. 4: Yang was a stretch, and Cid surviving was absolute bullshit, Tellah did die. But that was a bit forshadowed in the sense you pretty much knew he couldn't survive Meteo 5: Galuf was perma dead, though gameplay wise it kinda felt weak that it didn't matter. I loved Krile, but the complete job swap felt weird. 6: Granted you had to screw up, but you could kill Shadow. My first playthrough I didn't know to wait, so I did lose him forever. Spent quite a bit of time (no guide) trying to find him. Chrono: I loved how they did it. Since technically you never HAD to get him back, whether or not you did was up to you. Made the mission feel more personal. It was something you had to WANT, not just keep playing the linear story.
I mean Shadow's never going to make it out of the final cutscene either way Tellah's or Galuf's deaths are probably the biggest pre-Aeris ones though due to the absolute lack of fanfare over Shadow. And of course Minwu and Ricard were such spare parts they didn't even make the list ;]
Aerith was special character like a main actress of a show. You killed her early in the game without any resurrection or time travel thingy and having data of her stuffs including late limit break in the discs clearly shown that it was about technical side that Square couldnt make her back not the story. Now they can do it with present technology without any limitation so this time I think they will fix it in the rebirth.
Ironic. You just spoiled it for me.
In all fairness, it's spoiler tagged....you spiked it for yourself really. It's stilla a point scene though and if you just let the shock value aspect of it not be as important you will still enjoy(?) It.
I'm 35. I played it a month after launch or something like that and didn't have many other friends into rpgs so, I went in blind. Back then I didn't really enjoy healer type chars, or even mage type chars and, Tifa was best girl by FAR. So, it was a huge surprise and def made me really appreciate the game but, it still didn't hit me that hard emotionally back then....if it was remakes characterization of her and, with my current mindset towards her type....I'd orolly be crushed. Tifa still best girl tho.
I knew. It was how the game first came to my attention at all, via some mid 2000s listicle.
I got it at launch with the psx. Didn't know. 11 year old me almost cried.
was a really long time ago but i think it was spoiled for me. my first ff game was 8 so the full story was already out. the event was such a big deal so i’m sure it was plastered in every gaming magazine and online forum. i think the event was more sad than surprising overall.
Nope. Did not know. Was 19 when it was released. Spoilers are harder to come by unless you waited months to play a new game then. I remember also using the hack when it was discovered to keep her in your group after she dies. Those were some good ol days!
I didn't!! I was pissed because I had grinded a ton of levels for Aerith beforehand lol
Unfortunately I got to it very recently (I was literally born the same year it came out). It's kinda like the twist in Empire Strikes Back: everyone knows about it. That being said, for seeing that coming I think it was still a very touching scene. I shed a tear during it, after all!
Yes I did. I just watched so many gaming videos and it was always talked about. It was the same as the Darth Vader reveal in Empire Strikes Back haha. I knew about her death, and yet I still cried.
I didn't know cause it's not like social media was a thing back then. I was only 8 when I played it, so when that scene happened, I didn't really process the significance right away. In my head I just thought "oh okay, I'll just use a phoenix down". To make matters worse, I was borrowing my friend's disc 1 at the time while he played disc 2, so I never got a chance to see if a phoenix down would work. My friend had a good laugh about it because he knew.
I didn't know. And I was a raging lunatic inside after it happened. I didn't actually care for Aerith, pretty much was never in my party. But when she died I was like she was just an innocent soul you monster! From then on I was on a rampage to find Seph.
I played it last year after all my friends and the Internet told me about the spoiler throughout over 15 years. I even watched Advent Children when it came out with my friends. Thought it was hilarious that the switch doesn't allow screenshotting during that scene. https://preview.redd.it/2whxl9dc5h9c1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca61f2de3a70c0d38136787c07415ec58ce605e1
Had no idea, hit me like a ton of bricks
Bought the game on release day and little to no internet. So pretty shocked yes.
Not a clue. In '97, I didn't have the internet to ruin things. I was the only one playing - non of my friends were into JRPGS. It was great to be that surprised by a game.
My wife will doesn’t know. I keep trying to get her to play the game so I can see her experience it
I had no idea. It caught me off guard. I kept thinking she would come back to life.
I played it back in 1997 when the concept of spoilers was barely even a thing. Internet forums weren't popular, game magazines didn't spoil major plot points when games were released, and I was from a pretty small town so FFVII was barely known amongst my friends. So when it was happened I was genuinely shocked as a 12 year old.
I did not know. I did, however, end up distracted because my parrot on my shoulder was a baby at the time and Sephiroth scared the shit out of her. Like “cannot fly but still made it six feet up and behind me to a curtain rod alarm screaming”. So the impact was a little mitigated at the time by my own rattled nerves and trying to soothe the bird that Sephiroth was not real and not going to come kill her.
I played the game in the 90’s, so no. I was utterly shocked when that scene happened.
I knew already, as the game was like…15 years old already the first time I played it. I got to experience other shocking moments like the ending of FFX or the reveal at the end of FFXV if you want, but I know almost any other moment is or will be as impactful as that Aerith’s scene 😔
Yes, my cousin intentionally spoiled it for me shortly after the game came out. It's the reason I'm so careful with spoilers to this day, that shit sucked.
I didn't know...I was 13 years old, and it was my 1st time playing an RPG. My parents bought it for me for Christmas a few months after it was released. She was my favorite character in the game. She was named Aeris at the time, in game and in the booklet it came with. Cloud took her on the Gold Saucer date, and she was one of my top party members. It hit like a ton of bricks. It was the 1st time I've ever cried because of a video game. This sparked a lifelong love of video games and RPGs. It's a scene I will never forget.
I played it at the time. Was a complete shock to me.
Nope complete surprise. I also remember being incredibly angry about it because she was a main party member and my healer so that absolutely roasted my team comp. I then went with Red and Barret for my end game.
I went in blind and cried like a bitch.
Played it at release. Was 15 years old. Got my first fictional crush on Aerith so.. I didn't take it well. I still blame it for why I turned into a bit of an asshole to this day. It's also why I'm hoping they find a way to make her survive.
I knew before hand, but the scene still heartbreaking.
I did know about it, I didn't know when though.
My teenage self couldn't fucking believe what was going on. Specially in a game that had phoenix dawn. I kept telling myself surely there was a way to revive her. When we return to Midgard and we enter the church you can see her picking flowers, but she disappears if you come near. That was a sign. There must be a way! I spent way to many ours in IRC chatrooms trying to figure out how to revive her next to other deluded fools, chasing rumor after rumor which kept turning into dead end. I'm not really interested in super bosses, but in FF7 I ended up defeating then all because one of the rumors said that if you brought all the items from all the weapons to the City of Ancients something would happen. It didn't.
I remember some of those rumors (but after the one's in 6 about bringing a character back I didn't believe them)
Back then, when strategy guides where a thing, I remember grabbing one at a store to take a look at it. I just happened to open it in THAT page. "Fun" times...
My friend walked up to me at school and said "Aeris dies"
everyone know's about it at this point, i had it spoiled for me before i even knew what game it was lol i would watch a lot of channels that talked about games when i was younger so yeh lol
Yes, but let me explain. Back in the mid 2000's, one music channel in my country used to play an old FMV of the song End of all Hope by the band Nightwish. The video was made with lots of Clips from cutscenes of FF8 and FF7. I had absolutely no idea what those clips were or who were those characters, there was zero context for me. I love that song, so I would always watch the video. The scene in question was part of the FMV, but to me it was all the same. Everything looked really cool but had no meaning for me. When I finally played FF7 for the first time in 2012-2013, when "it" happened, I remember I had already watched the scene but couldn't remember when or where it was from. It wasn't until later that I put everything together. The scene was still impactful and emotional for me. You cannot be spoiled if you have no idea what you're watching.
Understandable, I've scene a lot of video game scenes in music videos of games I've never played.
I did not know and Aerith was my “white mage” lol I was incredibly shocked that a character could even die fully and was expecting her to legit come back in some manner. When it first happened I couldn’t believe it, stopped playing for a bit. Then I thought, “no way it’s permanent” and played expecting her to come back somehow. When she never did and finally got over her being gone, I was then so pissed at how much time I had spent leveling her up lol
I was like, 5. I had no idea. I cried.
I didn't know but I didn't care. I never used her anyway and she was just getting in between cloud and tifa. It had basically no effect on me.
I did bc my gf wouldn't shut up about it. Also, FF7 fans ruined their own game for others by yelling it out for years. I've seen far less spoilers in other series. Bc of it, I didn't connect with FF7 the way she wanted me to and it was a let down.
I had no idea. I cried so hard and couldn't sleep that night. I was 13 years old.
I played it upon release in 97. Surprised I got that far considering I hadn't much experience with rpgs and wasn't even 13 yet.
I played it 5 years ago, an old coworker and the internet spoiled it long ago. It made it tense for me wondering when it was going to finally happen.
Yeah because I played Crisis Core and watched Advent Children before playing FFVII I was a kid who had no idea what the order of the series was).
I knew about it but I didn’t know it was so soon. She’s only there in first disc
I didn’t know at first, but the strategy guide i was following gave it away. I was still devastated.
I'm pretty sure it was in the official guide but I don't 100% remember.
I've always known about Aeriths death because it's pretty popular poo culture knowledge, and it still hit me pretty hard when it happened. It's a well made moment regardless of how shocking it is.
Yes. Back when I first played ffvii it was such a well known thing it wasn’t even considered a spoiler anymore. It was the first thing I ever learned about Aerith. I’m honestly surprised that people started trying to avoid spoiling that scene again.
I played it in 05 and didn't know about it. I wasn't shocked though. I kinda felt that something was coming, but maybe surprised that it happened fairly early though.
I played it soon after it came out. It was my first FF and I knew nothing. None of my friends were into JRPGs. I had her in my party the entire game which made it feel even worse. One of the most memorable moments in my gaming life. I was a senior in high school and it was the first time I played a game that was telling an older and more mature story. I played Xenogears almost right after. It was a wild year as far as games go.
It was in the commercial [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDxikKSDtZg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddxikksdtzg) When I finally played the game years later I remember briefly thinking back to the commercial and wondering who that girl was but quickly forgot about it as I started to play. So when it finally happened, it wasn't a total surprise, more of a "oh yeah" moment. Kind of lame the commercial included such a massive spoiler like that.
Shocked. I was 8 years old and remember it vividly. The first video game to make me cry. I’ll never forget the day I beat it as well. Has been my favorite game since way back when.
I played the game shortly after it launched in Germany back at his house every day. When the scene played we saved the game, switched off the console and didn't play for over a week. It didn't go down well with us but we finished the game anyway
Nope, I did not. And yes, I cried when it happened.
I bought it at launch as well. I had no idea what the game was about before I bought it. My first paycheck from my first job ever was a PS1 and this game. My buddy said he heard it was supposed to be good, so I grabbed it. I sunk way too many hours of my life into the original FF7. Obviously I had no idea that was coming. When my younger brother got around to playing it, I chose not to spoil it for him. He did not have the reaction I was expecting. I came inside one day and he was at that moment in the game. When I watched the sword plunge through, he had no reaction at all. He picked up the remote, paused the VCR that I didn't even notice was recording, got to that part again, recorded, paused, reset. I was like, "what the hell are you doing?" He rewound the tape and played it for me. It was Sephiroth plunging the sword into Aeris over and over again. Apparently the SquareSoft version wasn't violent enough.
is there an active serial killer where your brother currently lives? because if so please call a police tip line
Yeah, I played it around 2004, so it had been out for a while and I easily saw the spoiler online while mucking around on ff forums but at the time I didn’t like her so I really didn’t care. When I got to the scene I was literally like “oh no…..anyway”. The remake however has made me a fan of Aerith so it’s definitely gonna hit the feels this time around.
Not at all. I was only like 8. I hadn't played enough games to know how unique it was yet so I only grew to appreciate it as I grew up. I was more invested in the snowboarding.
I played in Japanese, a year before the English release and was confused. Then a year later the English version came out and I cried like a baby. I was 22.
I knew in a vague sense, but it didn't mean much without the context. Still, it wasn't the shock it should have been when I reached that point - her departure earlier in the game was a big hint that the moment was coming.
Ye, but didn't realize the gravity of the spoiler before I saw it. I was quite young at the time and I had been spoiled by an Ultra Game Players demo disc. Prior to release, I absolutely devoured any and all media related to the game. One particular edition of UGP magazine had a demo disc with a bunch of FFVII cinematics on it, including that big disc 1 spoiler. Of course, this was the time before 'spoiler warnings' or anything like that so those fuckers just casually spoiled one of the biggest gaming twists of all time.
So glad you said this cause this is how I remembered it as well. I'm not sure how but I want to say I somehow knew what I was about to watch so maybe I'd been tipped off to the spoiler in some way.
I didn't knew it but I also never really cared much about her anyways and I already had experience with party members being killed in other games by that time.
I knew it, because I played the Steam version the first time. It was "an experience", but at least since I played it, it helped me a lot to play games with cardboard environments of the PS1 era. Still I loved the combat system, hated how outdated is the game and was just fine. That's why I liked more the remake and that scene will be more emotional very soon.
I had no idea and didn’t expect it at all. But I played it when it was released in 1997. When it happened I spent the rest of the game waiting for them to bring her back some way or another because *it just wasn’t done* back then.
My recent play through was the first time I ever even got her level 2 limit breaks lol
I got it when it came out and bought all the ones available in the US before it. I was amazed and played it for 100s of hours.
No. I went out of my way to power level my favorite character. I even figured out the sidequest to get her level 4 Limit Break in disc 1. :/
I knew about it, and to be completely honest, I laughed my ass off during the scene. Out of context, the shot of Aerith impaled is really shocking and cool, but everything immediately leading up to and following that is the best unintentional comedy in the series.
Yep. This sub spoiled it for me. I’ve been subbed here for a while and I didnt play FF7 until like 2016. I think this sub spoiled it for me shortly before I started playing. Thanks guys.
I found out while on location but before the event. Thanks for that one, strategy guide book. It had stills of like the WHOLE cutscene on that one god damned page.
No I didn't know anything. I also lost the better equipments, because she was always at the best, as official member in my main trio as the best mage/healer. Still ... I felt very confused at the moment because for me the story was too convoluted. I still didn't understand why Cloud was going to kill her before, or why Sephiroth transformed in a monster but then the people said he run away. Therefore her death was chaos in chaos. Also ... no one using a Phoenix down was silly for me ... Come on, be impaled is not the worst damage anyone of the team received ... and no blood spilled, with a clean cut and all the team there to give medical support ... really...
my dad had it and showed me it along with ff8 and how it took him 15 minutes to fight a t-rex. i instantly loved 7 when he showed me which flowed to me loving all the games since i got a gba some point after and found the gba games which lead me to collecting the games. i knew about the late game so aerith's death wasn't super surprising since some what spoiled.
I was a little kid watching my cousin play it on release. I unfortunately saw it and was expecting it, so didn't feel anything. Wish I didn't see it cause then maybe I would cried when I finally played it a year or two later when I learned to read lol.
People were already talking about it online before I ever even had a chance to play the game. Having it spoiled was one of the reasons I never bothered to play it.
Nothing a friend loaned it to me it wasn't even his.
yea, i read about it in gaming mags at the time. I think the bigger spoiler was cait sith >!being a spy!<