I think the worst part is, she doesn't even get any last words or prominent scene before this. she just...dies. Gone before Cloud even caught her. A character's death usually has some sort of goodbye to it, but this was just quick an sudden. no one expected this in the least.
+Victor Oliveira +TheIceLurker that was kinda the point the creators were going for...Real Life. Death always comes sudden, and unexpected. The fact you feel that way after she passes means they did a great job
Played this 1998, was 14 back then and can confirm. Cant say Aeris was a fave char of mine but it was like "WHAT". And that moment when the materia that comes from her hair drops on the floor and the music starts, breaks me every time
many of you younger guys probably never knew why, but the director's mother passed away while making this game. he decided to show the sudden and sadness that death brings!
that's not what happened. Early in the development, there were going to be three playable characters: Cloud, Aerith and Barrett. They decided that, at some point in the game, one of them should die. Aki, the director's mother, died after that, so he decided that the game was going to be about life, death and earth.
This tragic scene has become so iconic that you'll always know it's coming, but you're still in denial after all these years... and I can't wait to witness it and cry during the HD remake.
+Michael Kao Hell, I just played this scene through again tonight. What an end to Disc 1. Possibly the most iconic moment in gaming history. It hits you harder than you are ever prepared for.
My thinking is cloud cloud is still delusional and can't believe she's gone. Once he snaps back to being himself in the next game we'll probably see the real thing
@@Yell_Dead_Cell It's not just Cloud being delusional, he literally is stuck between 2 different timelines, one where Aerith dies and one where he saves her. That was the point of the scene where he walks through the Whisper wall before reaching Aerith.
We kinda did. When the flashes start occuring we see Cloud say words we can't hear. That combined with Clouds own delusional state implies we'll get it in Part 3 when he's brutally snapped back to reality.
@@ArbitraryZer0101 not really, they have the opportunity with Cloud arc to show it next to how Zack died in front of his face too. Its going to be an arc to deal with the death, lost for sure, and mental health too.
Aerith: The sky scares me. Zack: Why? Nothing's going to fall from the sky... *years later* *Cloud falls from sky* Cloud: Let's go on an adventure! :D Aerith: ...Okay? *Finds out a giant meteor is falling from the sky* Cloud: Let's go on an adventure... To stop the meteor! :D Aerith: ...Okay? *Sephiroth falls from sky and stabs Aerith* Aerith: I f*cking hate the sky. -.- *dies* Aerith in a nutshell.
khfan4life365 meh. I would love to see a new way for her to die. It was effective back then allowing our imagination to take over the overall scenario with such vertex graphics. The experience will be much more better if the game successfully provides aerith better character development
salt on a WOUND? more like icing on a delicious cake of sadism, I found her death hilarious. I really dont understand why people get so emotional over her, she was so fucking annoying.
The way Aerith has been bastardized in our collective memories is a shame. Aerith wasn’t some pure waif. She liked teasing cute boys, roasting people. She was feisty, flirty, witty, even petty at times. She was independent. She was smart enough to realize Cloud wasn’t who he was acting like he was, even if she didn’t know herself. She was her own person. In many ways, she was a very ordinary woman in her 20’s with very ordinary interests. She didn’t really fight well or anything. But she was good. Not Virgin Mary good. Then her death wouldn’t resonate. She had flaws. But she was the type of good that was intuitive towards other people. Was willing to do the right thing. Aerith’s death is significant because she was a fully realized character that was in most regards ordinary but in the most important ways extraordinary. And in many ways, it’s ordinary people with incredible kindness and bravery that manage to ultimately make the difference. Did Aerith want to die? Of course not. She had boys to hit on and hijinks to take part in and girly cocktails to drink! But she knew that she might have to die because she knew that she was the only one who could save the world. Cloud is a great main character. But the hero is Aerith and I think that’s one of the most essential themes. That Cloud’s idea of masculine stoicism and martial prowess can make a difference, but it’s giving a shit that really matters. And Aerith? Aerith gave a shit. That’s a strong female character. Not physically strong, but dynamic. A good but realistic role model. In a modern online discourse where people think being a sort of an ambivalent smug show-off is something that’s cool, in the end it comes down to giving a shit. About ideas, other people, the whole fucking Planet, that ultimately wins out. That’s why Aerith’s death fucks with me man. It’s a life of a cool, realistic person interrupted. It seemed so senseless and cruel when little me first witnessed it. But knowing what ultimately happened, and it was the nice, funny, flower girl that seemed so incredibly ordinary that ultimately turned the tide? Fucks with me. “I’ll be going now. I’ll be back when it’s all over.” :’)
The Fox of Laurels Yep, that makes sense. If only that mattered now. This scene now makes me roll my eyes now. And it will probably only get worse. But hey, it might stop fucking with you.
Why can't I like this comment more than once???? You're so right. The spinoffs really destroyed peoples' perceptions of her character. Thankfully, the remake really got her characterization right. In my opinion, OG Aerith and Remake Aerith are the only valid versions of her character lol.
I dedicated defeating Sephiroth to Aeris / Aerith and a whole lot of other things in Final Fantasy VII. That very last Face off between Cloud & Sephiroth there is so damn insane....
I have a friend who is playing this for the first time. He knows nothing about the game and always has Aeris in his main party. He has invested alot of time into levelling up her character. I for one can not wait till he gets to this point.
I know this was a while ago but to anyone interested he said that his jaw dropped and he didn't see it coming at all hahaha. He also enjoyed the game which confirms it's not a nostalgia driven good game but is genuinely fun.
Michael Rich Good you didn't spoil it. When I played this game almost sixteen years ago, I didn't see this one coming at all. She was one of my favorite characters, mostly because she felt like a pure and genuine good spirit, like she was something more special than the other characters. Seeing her death was like a sudden slap in the face and when that Aerith's theme starts playing.....it was such a powerful and sad moment
When I first saw this, I started to cry from "Aeris (or Aerith) will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry......or get angry......." that really did it for me
For me, this whole scene is one of the saddest momments in videogame history. - Aerith was a good person, she never harm anyone and even living a hard life, she still remains with a good heart. - When she leaves Cloud to summon the Meteor, she knew she was going to die, she knew that was her last momment with Cloud, at least in the material world. - And even knowing about that, she sacrifices herself to save the world. - Even in her last momments she looks at Cloud and smiles, because even if she knew what is going to happen, Cloud was still there for her. - And then... Sephiroth killed her with a cold heart and still smiles to see Aerith dying. - That was so cruel and evil, it was one of the momments that I knew that Sephiroth needs to be stopped. And after seeing Aerith death, we still have to fight with a boss with her theme in the background. - It was one of the saddest fight bosses that I've ever seen. - But the good thing in all of this is that Aerith is powerful even after her death, and she is always watching over her friends. #FinalFantasy7
I cry every time I played this and got to the end of disc 1. When Cloud's laying her to rest at the water in the city... Damn. He is basically saying, " dont you worry my angel, I am gonna kick sephiroth's ass and use Holy for good "
@@TJGAMINGSCOTLAND I think he's properly disposing/returning her back to the Lifestream. Unlike Sephiroth's way of just killing her and then throwing her away.
In all my years of playing final fantasy....I never knew to appreciate just how beautifully concise this scene is. I've never once since the games conception walked away from this scene wondering if Aerith was dead or not.
I remember when I was 10 in 97' and watched my brother play the game the whole way. when I watched this seen I was sick to my stomach and couldn't sleep that night. amazing what the director of this game accomplished with the soundtrack and story giving you such a emotional experience
+DETA #time I know it because here in Brazil many youtubers dont have teh good sense to put an spoiler alert, so I was in like 30 hours of the game and I already knew it this was going to happen.
+shakaama I turned the game off for a few days and refused to play because of this scene. And my dad had warned me a few days prior not to worry about leveling her up...but I didn't hear why. Sephiroth was my sworn enemy from then on. I've never despised any video game character as much as I did him that day.
Rebirth fumbled this with the boss rush at the end having the multi verse was bad enough, but then having a sephiroth fight with aerith and cloud wasn’t needed not was safer sephiroth this early.
@@revit4909 I just don’t like the way cloud acts at all and how aerith acts tbh, it went from real instant raw emotion, to like a musical theatre level amounts of how dramatic they made it out to be, has nothing to do with the actual new things they changed
Well we expected this scene. And they tried to build tension towards this moment. It's an iconic moment. They knew it. But for people who don't know anything about the original will be confused af.
I was 11 when I was playing FF7 for the first time. I got really too emotionally attached to the game but more'so towards Aeris. Needless to say when she dies and that song started playing, I lost my shit. This terrible dread feeling enveloped me, I was depressed for at least a few weeks. It's funny thinking about how attached I was to a damn video game character. Pretty embarrassing, but true. Kudos to Square for the engrossing storyline that can make kids or even grown ass adults bawl like a baby.
I remember watching my brother play this game when I was little and I cried so hard because I LOVED Aeris. I can NEVER watch this without getting choked up.
Evelyn L. Cloud almost tried to kill Aerith/Aeris with the Buster Sword before this cutscene happened, but that's only if Cid is in your party when you go down there.
Sendy Lie It was sad back then, being involved in the story, but after some time considering these creatures what they're about, can no longer cry anymore. It's like my dad who's a marine, said "If it wasn't for that thing between their legs, there would be a bounty on their heads". I just think it's awesome really he took her cetra ass down, that a male villain wouldn't stand for a female hero's action, is right on, so many gimp characters that appear masculine, but would have been weak and still try to be on the level with her, when she's already locked you out. She knew him too, before Cloud, as I remember from '97 when she was talking on the Gold Saucer ride; love evolves, it's what she was looking for she found again in Cloud, but props to Sephiroth. 2:31 "Up north, over the snowy fields the promised land awaits!" :P
Me Honestly all of the multiverse stuff seems cool and I like the concept of Cloud hallucinating that he saved Aerith in order to cope/Jenova rewriting his memories. But holy shit, there was not enough emphasis on her death. It was all just taken backseat for fan service and... Bizzaro Sephiroth 💀 The excessive final boss at both ends of remake and rebirth are really going to dampen my mood for Part 3's final boss because if it's Sephiroth AGAIN, then I'll just feel hollow.
They really took a heartbroken moment that also happens to be the most iconic twist in the history of gaming from one of the most iconic games of all time and made it into a Marvel spectacle wirh Multiverse plot and Kingdom Hearts contrived presentation. Well, at least, the classic will be forever remembered.
Rebirth tripped so hard at the finish line, just like Remake. I think the creators got way too obsessed with making everything "bigger and better." Did we really need Sephiroth to appear so much? And the way they presented Rebirth's ending appealed to no one, as the ending had none of the emotional impact of the OG. The fans that were interested in the "changing destiny aspect" also gets blue balled by Aerith dying anyways, just in a far inferior way to the original.
Thank you, that's exactly what I keep saying. Yes, the remade version was poorly done. However, the original is still here and it always will. I get sick of people whining about how everything's been "ruined!" This isn't Star Wars where George Lucas/Disney actively try to erase the original content. This scene isn't going anywhere, the best version already exists.
i will remember this scene for the rest of my life its the first time real sadness struck me in a game i remeber i put my controler down and thought this isnt hapening a truly touching scene that is burned in my mind for eternity
Is it normal to feel thst this scene is way more sad than the rebirth? In the rebirth... I can't feel Cloud's sadness, then we see Aerith both alive and dead. Like how am I suppose to feel the pain knowing somewhere else Aerith lives?
They should've just kept it like the original, i'm in love with both remake and rebirth, but both the endings have that nomura's style that can work on kingdom hearts but wasn't necessary for ff7 (in my opionion)
@@xlaythe you and me both a lot of fans are going to go ape shitt when this happens can you imagine the idiots send an email to Square Enix to revive her
@Jokester Kitsune The greatest of the Final Fantasy 7 remake said the only difference would be more missions in the opening disc but the game will stay true to the original intent and storyline of the Final Fantasy 7 so they'll be no way to save her Her death helped some stop the Meteor As well as the LifeStream virus that occurs don't Final Fantasy 15 children's Adventures she cannot do Neither of of these events without being the LifeStream
@Jokester Kitsune The original game you playing or the remake And don't forget to watch Final Fantasy 7 children's Adventures movie You'll see what I refer to their as well
Ugh, idk, there's just something about how this played out back in 1997 that just couldnt be captured today like in Rebirth. I understand they tried to fool us, but the stillness when Sephiroth stabs her, the slow moving White Materia to the water, the powerful music playing, Cloud's speech... i cant watch this without crying my eyes out. I was sad in Rebirth, but it definitely didnt even hit a 10th as hard as it did here.
Because you knew what was coming. There was NOTHING like it in terms of unexpected death in a video game before in 1997. The unpredictability and death of such an innocent character made it even harder to comprehend. It’s not that hard to comprehend. Remake is also NOT meant to be a 1:1 replacement for the original. It is merely a remaining and a love letter to the original, so stop trying to imply the Remake is some sort of mess and failure of a game when we still have the third and final part of the game to wrap up the loose ends that are currently left unresolved.
@@cbgg1585 It fails at being a love letter too sometimes, like making Sephiroth lose more and more of his impact every part the more he gets his ass beat
I have been searching ever since this game for something that even came close to this level of sadness and emotion in anything, be it movies, books, series, anything at all. I have found nothing that can begin to compare, and I am starting to think I never will, this is simply one of the ultimate emotional moments of cultural history, damn you ff7 for being as close to perfection as rpg's will ever get (in everything but graphics)
Aeris is in my Top 10, but I don't think even she can ever top these: 1. watch?v=tZVF5DTQbts 2. watch?v=gz-queZul8I 3. watch?v=5DoBY8M_bCg 4. watch?v=eGVRQ4_Oqas
Cloud catches Aerith as she falls, and cradles her broken body to him, murmuring to himself that this can't be real. Sephiroth, ignorant to the depth of Cloud's pain, tells him that Aerith will soon be part of the Lifestream before going on about his own plans for the future. Still grieving, Cloud cuts his speech off and tells him to "shut up", and that the cycle of nature and Sephiroth's stupid plan don't mean a damn thing because Aerith is gone. The way his shoulders move and his speech on how his eyes are burning heavily imply that he's crying. Even more heart wrenching is when he says "What about my pain?", because it makes it clear that at that point, Cloud cannot focus on anything - not the impending doom of the planet, not even the fact that his archenemy is standing right there - but his grief over Aeris/Aerith's death.
This is the truth. Her theme started at pretty much the perfect moment to hit home with the emotion...as that little Materia of hers, that she always kept with her, clinked down the pillars and fell into the water. Even more impactful, IMO, is how her theme continues to play even as you go into battle with Jenova LIFE. It's like a requiem, while you fight for vengeance...
+zack19192 I think the single most hair raising moment ever in a game was walking into the room with Ganondorf playing that piano and the music stopping and just hearing that evil laugh. Ocarina of Time is the best game ever made hands down to me.
Shut Up Kylo Ren.... The dark side of the force and your stupid plan don't mean a thing! Han Solo is gone. Han will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry.................. or get angry! What about us?! What are WE supposed to do?! What about my pain?! My fingers are tingling... my mouth is dry..... my eyes are burning!!!!!!!!
Shut up, Cipher. Reuniting the world and your stupid plan don't mean a thing! The Boss is gone. The Boss will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry... or get angry! What about us? What about MY phantom pain?
Shut up, Blizzard... The subs and your stupid "content" don't mean a thing! Varian Wrynn is gone. Varian will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry... or get angry! What about us? What are WE supposed to do?! What about our pain...
What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings for him too? HAHAHAHAHA *Goes berserk for a moment of tantrum Stop acting as if you knew him or that you were sad. There is no need to act as though You're angry either. Because, Rey you're a Marry Sue.
Shut up Frieza Reuniting the universe and your stupid plan don't mean a thing! Krillion is gone Krillion will no longer talk no longer laugh cry...or get angry What about us what about My pain This time your going to PAY FRIEZA
The remake team really looked at this absolutely tragic and concise death scene and thought ''you know what this needs? horrible ADHD camera direction, rick and morty universe trolling, Marvel quips, AU fanfiction, Kingdom hearts boss fight gauntlet, characters not reacting like actual humans to move the plot and Hollywood corny scenes''.
@@seafoam6119 I wouldn't go that far, Nomura came up with the idea of Aerith's death in the OG after all and even stopped the stupid idea of other members dying during Midgar air raid. It was also Kitase who wanted to portray her death in this iconic way. Now with the remake project you have 5 different directors or so involved including Nomura and of course Kitase and Nojima and the effect of this starts to shows once they implement new stuff besides adapting the old it becomes a muddled mess of half baked ideas.
Tbh they were never going to be able to replicate this in the remake. If you had a 1-1 replica of this scene in gorgeous graphics. It would've made some people happy but it wouldn't have had the same impact as it did in the 90s. If you saved aerith, same thing. Some folks will be happy but it would've diminished the impact of the original scene. Becoming too hollywood. So instead they went a bonkers rick and morty style direction. Which you can talk all shit you want. It's gonna be built upon in part 3. Till then we will see if their decision was the best. They essentially wrote themselves more time but also into a corner.
My take on the scene starting at 3:28: The way that the camera angle is set up implies that you, as the viewer, are some kind of omnipresent force watching the events unfold. You, like the characters, are basically helpless and can only watch. Even though you can see all the reactions from all the characters, there's no dialogue (not just voices, text) to be seen/heard. This shows the emotional disconnect (and sort of irony) between the characters and the player; you can see everything happening and how all the characters react (and you are the ones that control them), but you cant perfectly see their emotions. Rather, you can only see how they choose to express how they feel about Aeris. Tifa and Yuffie are incredibly distraught, looking for comfort in Cloud/running away; Barret and Cid, the more "tough" characters, act less emotional, but still show it; Cid is distraught and leaves (he's already been destroyed by his dream of going into space being shut down, so he doesn't have much emotion left), and Barret braces Cloud, as if he's saying that he knows the struggle he's going through (as he's been there before too). At first glance Vincent seems like he doesn't care, but he does something important; he looks at Aeris, then looks at Cloud, as if he is trying to show that even though he looks cold, he's been in the same position before. The music is the icing on the cake; as the only form of sound in the whole scene, it does a job of reminding you how important Aeris is/was to them and fills in the 'gap' that words could not fill. It's a really beautiful scene, and if there's ONE scene I want to be remade exactly shot-for-shot, it's this one. Also love how the guy was playing on an old CRT tv; gives it that "old antique" feel that couldn't be replicated with the Steam version or something.
You still have the original right here. It's not going anywhere. Just because it was remade poorly in the recent game doesn't mean you're gonna lose the original. You're sitting here watching it, there's no reason to get mad.
I remember when I played this for the first time. About 10 years ago and this moment was so shocking that I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe it.
This death hit harder in my most recent playthrough. Recently my friend passed away and we only went on one date before she died the next day. So going on that date with Aerith then watching her die 2 hours later just hit close to home
*This was the first major death of my childhood* 😞 I watched my brother play thru this game when I was 7 (in year 2000) And how great was the soundtrack? This whole game is a masterpiece.
for me it hurt more after the day before her death, she confesed like she want to be more than friends, that she wanted to meet Cloud more, like she was in love of Cloud but she will never be with Cloud...so sad
@@alexandersmith4731 He isnt the director who came up with all the wacky changes like whispers, it was the other main director and the scenario writer of the original FF7 that came up with it. They actually wanted to introduce even crazier changes to the remake but Nomura stopped them on that, he only conceded on the Whispers.
I honestly thought things couldn't get that much worse after FFVII Remake's awful pacing, ruining Sephiroth and the clusterfuck of an ending but Nomura never lets me down. I continue to say the only legitimately good FFVII content is the original game and all of the spinoff games and Advent Children are mostly awful fan fiction but have cool moments.
Who else gets the chills when the holy materia bounces and you know the saddest song in gaming history is about to begin, all the emotions and nostalgia hit home all of a sudden, like you've been missing something for years.
1:09 Always gives me chills. The way she initially feels weakened by a sudden force only to widen her eyes and notice a massive sword impaling her is such a scary attention to detail
I've never played a final fantasy game in my life and never understood what the hype was about. Yet in less than 6 minutes i was crying. An 18 year old man reduced to tears over a group of characters i don't even know. Damn it, i will have to do so much to feel manly again.
the build up of this scene is half of the tearjerking experience, the OST part. the song of cloud under influence of killing aerith, that is when our heart is at the brink losing it, then the silence of aerith looking up for one last time and smile, and seeing sephiroth slowly descending towards aerith, our hearts racing, and comes the stab and the look of sephiroth face pulling his sword, and aeriths theme that played when holy materia hits the floor, we all know this is it, its done, aerith is gone, depression kicks in along with overpouring of tears. another point to note is that, the party fought jenova life with aeriths theme, id like to think the party was crying all the way when they fought jenova until it is defeated
Came here to say the ending in rebirth was not as impactfull as this was, but it was equally good because we see it happen in clouds pov. We are as confused as him and expefiencing his cope through the pain. only reason I like og more is cause it impacted my childhood.
we dont need confusion and some pretentious thought experiment on which universe we're in, we wanna see real sadness to a clear real event in the pov which can lead to coping to the pain
I was 13. It wasn't my game, but my brother's. I loved watching him play it. I remember I wasn't so much sad as I was... in awe. I was in awe that video games had come to the point where they could convey beauty and emotion.
I love how there is no battle theme. Just the sad Aerith theme. Nobuo Uematsu said in an interview that he wanted to resonate what the player should be feeling in every area. Here there is no action theme for the battle, no creepy or scary theme for Jenova. Just sadness for Aerith...
I don't know how I always end up back at this video. Ever since I found out about youtube in 07-08ish this damn video has been the same one that any search goes too lol.
Yep... 21 and I still break down into tears like when I was about 7 or 8... This scene is amazing. Nowadays there are no games that even come close to evoking such emotions.
