I think the couple notes that are similar in the opera scene and aeris' theme are also in FFV's world theme when you get to Galuf's "planet."

Surprised to hear Wolf admit to the opera scene being overrated. I actually don't think it is. When that dude came out and opened his mouth and opera singing came out (the best it could from the chip) my jaw literally dropped. I think that's probably one of the best moments in gaming.

But then FFVII is a game chock full of the best moments in gaming. That's why Aeris' (yes with an s!) death just wasn't that hard hitting for me. Unfortunately, it was everywhere, everyone was talking about it, and I knew about it long before I got started on the game. I even saw a few pictures of it from this walkthrough in a magazine. When I saw it, I think it was pretty powerful because it was like "damn, this is it, wow..." but I probably mostly felt like I had to get it over with so I could get back to this game that was doing something different all the time. I don't know if I could pick a favorite scene from FFVII, which is why I went with the intro, because it had the biggest impact on an impressionable young mind right from the start (so I totally disagree with the prior post saying you need to care about the story before a cutscene can be your favorite).