I cried when Aeris died...

[I-n-j-i-n]

Just because a character had an inspiration, it does not mean it is inspired.

Aeris was a boring shell that was obviously put there just to die, she was too perfect, not human enough.

No. It does. She was inspired by the very creator of the game with that kind of a mindset and the entire game's plot was based fully around it. Also, the interesting thing about Aeris was not when she was alive, but when she passed on. She sort of lived vicariously in Cloud and was basically elevated to another level posthumously unlike many videogame characters who are more or less forgotten or don't have much impact on the story near the end the way Aeris did.

You can harp on how she is 'not inspired, not inspired, not inspired', but that's pure subjectivity. Personally, she is one of the most interesting additions that created a lot of controversy in an RPG as never before really. I admit she is a love it or hate it character and that death is still controversial today. I for one love Sakaguchi for having the balls to do that.

Also, I'm not sure she was perfect as it was that she was just incredibly meek even for an RPG character. In most RPGs, most characters at least put up an effort to live through things and not willfully sacrifice themselves. Even when they do, like Fire Bringer, the twins in FF4, Alys in Phantasy Star lore to Nei in Phantasy Star 2, they still went down fighting to the end. In a way, I think her passiveness and connection to the lifestream made her more of an avatar than a human character.

As for addressing "WHY ARE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME NOW" posts, it was 10 year launch anniversary for North American release like a week ago. And that Crisis Core game for the PSP got really good reviews in Famitsu. AND the FF7 trailer/remake news never stops. Never.

[NOIZROCX]

No. It does. She was inspired by the very creator of the game with that kind of a mindset and the entire game's plot was based fully around it. Also, the interesting thing about Aeris was not when she was alive, but when she passed on. She sort of lived vicariously in Cloud and was basically elevated to another level posthumously unlike many videogame characters who are more or less forgotten or don't have much impact on the story near the end the way Aeris did.

You can harp on how she is 'not inspired, not inspired, not inspired', but that's pure subjectivity. Personally, she is one of the most interesting additions that created a lot of controversy in an RPG as never before really. I admit she is a love it or hate it character and that death is still controversial today. I for one love Sakaguchi for having the balls to do that.

Also, I'm not sure she was perfect as it was that she was just incredibly meek even for an RPG character. In most RPGs, most characters at least put up an effort to live through things and not willfully sacrifice themselves. Even when they do, like Fire Bringer, the twins in FF4, Alys in Phantasy Star lore to Nei in Phantasy Star 2, they still went down fighting to the end. In a way, I think her passiveness and connection to the lifestream made her more of an avatar than a human character.

As for addressing "WHY ARE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME NOW" posts, it was 10 year launch anniversary for North American release like a week ago. And that Crisis Core game for the PSP got really good reviews in Famitsu. AND the FF7 trailer/remake news never stops. Never.

Yeah, I can agree that she was inspired by personal experience of the creators putting it into their story. Sure thats great. But typically (and I am not vouching for all gamers) most people who play RPG's want to play a story w/well developed characters and an engrossing plot which, yeah, isn't full of plotholes.

Another note, on creators personal interest in their games. I really don't think most gamers would be interested in (for instance) knowing that Giygas' dialogue in the final battle of Earthbound is inspired by (and I take a direct quote from Wikipedia) "a traumatic childhood experience where he (Shigesato Itoi the creator) mistakenly walked into an adult movie theatre and caught a glimpse of a sex/rape scene in the 1957 movie Kenpei and the Dismembered Beauty". Not exactly something you want to know, BUT, surely interesting trivial material.

I agree, Sakaguchi is a genius, when it comes to putting together a game. Final Fantasy VII however, is just a giant cash cow now for Square-Enix, which fanboys and fangirls easily sway into. NOT TO SAY, that some of the titles they are releasing aren't good, BUT, it is going a little overboard.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Yeah, I can agree that she was inspired by personal experience of the creators putting it into their story. Sure thats great. But typically (and I am not vouching for all gamers) most people who play RPG's want to play a story w/well developed characters and an engrossing plot which, yeah, isn't full of plotholes.

But ALL RPGs have plotholes. Suikoden even has glaring ones and its fans (including me) are perfectly fine with it. FFT as great as it was, had plotholes the size of Jupiter. Also, the mystery and the stuff they left open left a lot to interpretation and I thought the fan reception and speculation was the best thing about FF7's fanbase aside from the asinine console/"which is the best FF" flamefests.

Another note, on creators personal interest in their games. I really don't think most gamers would be interested in (for instance) knowing that Giygas' dialogue in the final battle of Earthbound is inspired by (and I take a direct quote from Wikipedia) "a traumatic childhood experience where he (Shigesato Itoi the creator) mistakenly walked into an adult movie theatre and caught a glimpse of a sex/rape scene in the 1957 movie Kenpei and the Dismembered Beauty". Not exactly something you want to know, BUT, surely interesting trivial material.

I agree, Sakaguchi is a genius, when it comes to putting together a game. Final Fantasy VII however, is just a giant cash cow now for Square-Enix, which fanboys and fangirls easily sway into. NOT TO SAY, that some of the titles they are releasing aren't good, BUT, it is going a little overboard.

I agree. I mean, popular titles are always two faced like that. They couldn't have gotten there without a lot of effort and good intentions to begin with. Nowadays it's all about Halo, Final Fantasy, Mario and all that with a crazy amount of hype but they always are followed by attempts to cash in on it.

I personally love FF7 for what it is, and really, I'm more entertained by all the crazy hype surrounding it than anything. I can't blame anyone for being put off by it because that's what hype can do. Like when a few magazines started labeling FF7 as "BEST GAME. EVER.", that's just funny to me. Some people can take it seriously and that's fine too.

And the entire mystique of the 'biggest development team in history of gaming' and 'biggest budget in any game. EVER' kind of thing is pretty funny in retrospect but it actually paid off. Like another crazy project in Kingdom Hearts and a few other insanely popular diversions for Square. It's like one big circus, love it or hate it.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

As long as we're joking around...

You know, I once went up to my brother and said "I've got a spoiler for you: Jesus dies." His response: "What book?"

I just looked at him for a few seconds until he realized what a dumb question that was.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

So, anyway, getting back to what I was talking about. . . Barret rules! Hahaha.

Allow me to throw in another two cents of mine about a game that I've recently added to my top . . . 5 or so.

ALUNDRA SPOILERS

...

...

...

...

After about half of Alundra, everytime I entered someone's nightmare to save them I kept getting jumpy at the possibility of that person dying. Because in that game I think over one-third of the people you meet die. As soon as I exit the dream, the only thought in my mind is, "will the next note of music I hear be that acoustic guitar of death or that groovy town theme?" That was really starting to get to me. I loved it! It had a much greater effect on me than the FF7 scenes. By the way, does anyone know if it's possible to do things differently so that one CAN save the villagers' lives?

[herograw]

No. It does. She was inspired by the very creator of the game with that kind of a mindset and the entire game's plot was based fully around it. Also, the interesting thing about Aeris was not when she was alive, but when she passed on. She sort of lived vicariously in Cloud and was basically elevated to another level posthumously unlike many videogame characters who are more or less forgotten or don't have much impact on the story near the end the way Aeris did.

You can harp on how she is 'not inspired, not inspired, not inspired', but that's pure subjectivity. Personally, she is one of the most interesting additions that created a lot of controversy in an RPG as never before really. I admit she is a love it or hate it character and that death is still controversial today. I for one love Sakaguchi for having the balls to do that.

Also, I'm not sure she was perfect as it was that she was just incredibly meek even for an RPG character. In most RPGs, most characters at least put up an effort to live through things and not willfully sacrifice themselves. Even when they do, like Fire Bringer, the twins in FF4, Alys in Phantasy Star lore to Nei in Phantasy Star 2, they still went down fighting to the end. In a way, I think her passiveness and connection to the lifestream made her more of an avatar than a human character.

As for addressing "WHY ARE PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS GAME NOW" posts, it was 10 year launch anniversary for North American release like a week ago. And that Crisis Core game for the PSP got really good reviews in Famitsu. AND the FF7 trailer/remake news never stops. Never.

Don't be stupid (read: typical of yourself) injin. "Inspired" is obviously being used as an adjective here. You're using it as a verb. Your are incorrect for using it in that capacity, regardless of whether or not her death is "inspired" as an adjective. If he had meant "inspired" as a verb the answer would be obvious: yes, duh.

[Ciel]

I felt a blood rage the likes of which only rivaled by my feelings on 9/12/01.

Heh.

ten chars

[Kenobio]

For those of you who were really touched by the tragic death of Aeris, an excellent community was formed at this site: www.aerisdies.com, where people could come together and discuss the beauty that was the "heiress of the earth".

[Arek the Absolute]

For those of you who were really touched by the tragic death of Aeris, an excellent community was formed at this site: www.aerisdies.com, where people could come together and discuss the beauty that was the "heiress of the earth".

Touching page.

[The Legendary Zoltan]

I liked the "Aeries dies" page too. Hahaha.

[Sir_NutS]

What's a GenDisc?

Also:

General Leo death > Aeris Death

*flee*

QFT.

When Leo died I felt sorry for him. When Aeris died I felt glad I got rid of the whiny bitch.

Well that would have applied for most of the characters of that game as well.

[The Author]

Seriously, take FF7 and remove all the whining and the EMO and you end up with Yuffie.

Where is the Yuffie game anyway? Something like Metal Gear, infiltration and shit?

I'd buy that.

[Devyn]

That was a touching page, I must say. Anyway, I bet most of you have seen this, but anyway:

http://www.duelinganalogs.com/?date=2005-11-24

[Shadow Wolf]

Awwww.... that site is so sweet.

[vici_ruthless]

omg that's the funniest thing i've seen in a long time! ha!

[NOIZROCX]

That was a touching page, I must say. Anyway, I bet most of you have seen this, but anyway:

http://www.duelinganalogs.com/?date=2005-11-24

That one sums up Aeris' death pretty well. This one sums up the entire game perfectly.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nllR2k3uTNg

[Soma]

I was joking about the OMG spoilers if you didn't catch the sarcasm. I didn't care when she died actually, I don't see why people seem to have such deep emotional bonds with some of the FFVII characters. Perhaps it was because it was their first rpg. It was one of the first that i actually played through though i had watched my brother beat pretty much every FF when i was much younger. I don't like or identify with many of the FF7 characters, Cloud is cool but it's mostly because of the buster sword (for me anyway). Same with Sephiroth.

[Hum4n After All]

Back then I was just like "Stupid bitch died, oh well I want to play more hurry up."

[MechaFone]

I kinda skimmed through here, so I don't know if anyone else thought about this, but...I think it would've been pretty hot if they'd let ol' Sephy kill her back in KH2.

[Fritz the Cat]

...and then fuck her corpse.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Don't be stupid (read: typical of yourself) injin. "Inspired" is obviously being used as an adjective here. You're using it as a verb. Your are incorrect for using it in that capacity, regardless of whether or not her death is "inspired" as an adjective. If he had meant "inspired" as a verb the answer would be obvious: yes, duh.

I addressed both issues. It's called sarcasm. Read about it sometime. Yes, hur hurrrrr adjective, verb. Literally, figuratively, blah blah. What's there to point out when I argued both ways?

[DrumUltimA]

I didn't cry when Aeris died.

I came.

[The Author]

I addressed both issues. It's called sarcasm. Read about it sometime. Yes, hur hurrrrr adjective, verb. Literally, figuratively, blah blah. What's there to point out when I argued both ways?

If you argued both way, does that make you right or wrong?

[Devyn]

When Aeris died I cut a hole in a giant watermelon and climbed inside. Then I rolled down a big hill and hit a rock and it exploded. Rainbows went everywhere!

[BardicKnowledge]

I think it would've been pretty hot if they'd let ol' Sephy kill her back in KH2.

Hell yes. And he deserves it in that game, where he's actually quite difficult.