Some of my favorite games have big pcs turn into either npcs or killed off, but I don't think it's a necessity for a good game. Sure FFIV was awesome and it drove me crazy b/c every time I started liking someone they were killed, and in FF Tictacs and Suikoden 2 one of the main antagonists in each one was my favorite character who started as a pc. It doesnt mean there aren't plenty of titles that could be made w/o killing a big pc. Now that I think about it though, it seems like many FF titles have big characters die (or can die in the event theres a way to control whether they live or die), at least more than I realized before I thought about it o.o