Can No One Surpass Aerith?

When people talk about the "impact" of Aerith's death in FFVII, or at least when they want to lessen that impact, they bring up how half your buddies in FF2 died, or Galuf in FFV. "It really wasn't that special!"

Only...it apparently was, since no party members have died in any FF game since. I guess there was MAYBE Tidus? And SORT OF Vanille and Fang but even then, those both come with the aforementioned MAYBE/SORT OF, and they only happen at the absolute end of the game. That's when you expect something like a party member dying.

So I wonder if the reason Square hasn't done anything like Aerith since Aerith is because they don't want to try and "rival" that, or make it seem like they're copying it.

>>> FF2 deaths were the most shocking to me..:luca:
The Aeris one was... heh I saw that comming.

I also think Aerith's death was previsible. For me, it was not the saddest death of the saga. Zack's death and Tidus' disappearance had much more impacts on me, even if I like Aerith a lot.

Yep, I remember when Zack was killed by those two Shinra mooks.

Very tragic.

They pretty much stopped because A) as pointed out, it was sort of a tradition in the series up until that point so people who've played the series would keep expecting it. B) It did traumatize a whole new generation of gamers and I would agree that doing something like that again in VIII or IX would have felt too contrived. I mean Vivi does die in IX but offscreen, Tidus disappears but then the epilogue scene after the credits gives the impression he came back, not to mention he's a more controversial figure than Aerith.

I feel that if Sahz had actually killed himself in XIII, it would have had the same impact for players and probably made XIII's story feel more meaningful. Who knows if XV will kill someone off.

To me Galuf's death was shocking and so was Cid's death if he actually died in FFVI. Like a bro, you lost a best friend and you can only have one of those. Aerith's death while sad wasn't on the level of Galuf's or everyone that died in FFII or Iris's death in Megaman X4.

Aerith was so memorable because of how they developed the character. You spend so much time learning about and building a relationship with that character before she's taken away. I would argue that Tidus's death (disappearance) was almost just as impactful. And really, he really did die at the end of X. We wouldn't of got an X-2 if the fans weren't so impacted by it.

SE just hasn't done a good job in fleshing out characters for the last decade or so (Zack may be an exception). They could possibly have another chance at devastating their audience in XV :P Depends if they're any good at making you love some of the characters in it. I have to imagine from the tone of the story peeps are gonna die.

I really didn't care about Aerith as a character. So I only really appreciated her death scene for how well it was directed and how moving it was. In terms of the actual loss of a character, I cared a lot more about Zack and Tidus. But those were at the end of the game so it didn't really matter. Both a lot sadder to me though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tyson

I would argue that Tidus's death (disappearance) was almost just as impactful. And really, he really did die at the end of X. We wouldn't of got an X-2 if the fans weren't so impacted by it.

---

There's a causal relationship I'm not happy with. "Because you all loved this so much, we've come up with a tacky sequel."

Yeah, his name was Vivi.

You clearly didn't pay attention to the end of the game. Vivi squirted out a bunch of kids so you don't have to care that he died.

That was the theme of the game.

Aeris had no replacement.

I remember the tragedy of Operation Mi'hen and finding out the fate if the summoners in FFX affected eight year-old me a lot back in the day but looking back I don't think the former is all that consequential plotwise and the latter is telegraphed from the beginning.

I think having a main character bite it halfway through and then have the rest of the game be from the perspective of a different character would be interesting. Or have them be revealed to be the villain and all progress up to that point was part of their evil plan. Both could prove impactful. As far as reaching Aerith levels, though? I think Square would have to do something very shocking to affect a medium that has evolved so much in narrative since that point. And, to be honest, I don't think Square Enix really has the willingness to do something truly shocking in their Final Fantasy series without risking a whole lot and that would require the games to carry the commercial and critical heft they used to.

Aerith was much more fleshed out than previous FF characters and always tried to bring a cheerful, hopeful disposition to even the worst situations. I think Square is conscious of what a risk it was to kill a character like that at the halfway point and is probably very cautious of doing it again, knowing the backlash such a move could garner.