EOFF Summer 2011 Census!

[Jessweeee♪]

I think that is probably my favorite pre-FFVII scene.

[TrollHunter]

Ahh great scene. How did I forget about it!?

[Wolf Kanno]

Well... of the last three, one is kind of a surprise, so I'm leaving that one for last. The other two are pretty damn obvious if you know your FF lore, what two scenes from FF lore will fans never shut up about, have in time become overrated, are still incredibly loved and defended by their fans, and both sets of fans use as fodder in the eternal debate of which is better? FFVI or FFVII? I'm of course referring to the iconic series staples of FFVI's Opera Scene and FFVII's Aerith's death.

Here's some nice pictures for the kiddies:

finalfantasy6opera_2.jpgopera.jpg
n516177396_8535_7659.jpg

AerithDeath2.jpg aeris-kebob.jpg

AerithDeath_210x200.jpg 1097439-cloud__26_aerith.jpg

Here's the full scenes in question for those who want to re-experience the magic.

Opera Scene (16-bit)

Some CGI Opera

Aerith's Death

Some of Aerith's Death AC

The really amusing thing about all this is how similar Aria di Mezzo Carattere and Aerith's Theme are too each other.

Aerith's Theme

Aria di Mezzo Carattere

and for fun...

Aria di Mezzo Caratere ~ SQ CHILL MIX by Q;indivi

Pure Heart ~ Aerith's Theme Vocal Remix by Rikki

So now that the two most obvious entries are out of the way... it's time to guess which one it is. If you've followed my clues, you should have it down to one game but the question is now which scene?

[Madonna]

Tell us. You need to tell a guy.

[The Man]

Knowing how much this forum loves FFIX I would expect it to be the You're Not Alone sequence but you said it wasn't obvious so I'm guessing not. I will be extremely surprised if it is not from FFIX though.

[Bolivar]

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).

[MJN SEIFER]

I always loved both Aeris's death and the opera scene to be really emotional (as is FFVIII's ending to some extent). I love how the music sounds similar in the opera and Aeris's death. I saw some really hateful comments about that in YouTube - which kind of threw me...

[Slothy]

You know, regardless of whether you think the opera scene is kind of overrated or not, that orchestra is really given 'er, and that's pretty damn cool.

As for Aeris's death, I bought the Bradygames strategy guide when I finally bought FFVII. You can imagine how shocked I wasn't when I reached that scene. That's one thing that's always pissed me off a bit about my first time through the game. I already knew Aeris was going to die, so there wasn't really any emotional impact for me when I actually saw it.

I feel kind of like I've been slacking a bit on the insults front because of that decent stretch where my computer wasn't working, so here we go:

Isn't it nice how Cloud just let's Aeris's body sink into the water. Of course she'll just bloat and pop back up as decomposition releases all kinds of gases inside her body, so it's probably the least respectful thing he could do with her corpse, but still, it's kind of touching ain't it?

I'll be sure to come back tomorrow with more, including quotes from you poor fools who voted for the desecration of Aeris's meatsack as best cut scene.

[Bolivar]

Isn't it nice how Cloud just let's Aeris's body sink into the water. Of course she'll just bloat and pop back up as decomposition releases all kinds of gases inside her body, so it's probably the least respectful thing he could do with her corpse, but still, it's kind of touching ain't it?

NO because of the composition of the water with its lifestream concentration so close to the city of the ancients, Aeris will rest peacefully at the bottom of the lake where she can quickly return to the planet in a loving and emotional way HOW DARE YOU DESECRATE THE MEANING OF THIS SCENE YOU MONSTERRR!!!!

But yeah, for someone who loves FFVII so much I can't imagine the feeling of people who were "blown away" by her death at the time, forever cursed to be FFVII zombies. Even though it is my favorite game

[Wolf Kanno]

You make one little joke so you don't look bias and everyone takes you so seriously. In truth, I actually love both scenes and I don't think either is overrated. I was just trying to cut off the fanboys on both sides by telling them they are both full of trout. It is also the reason why I did both of them at the same time.

I mean seriously, how often have I mentioned on this forum that the Opera scene in VI changed the way I viewed gaming forever and cemented my love of the RPG genre? How often have I mentioned that despite having her death spoiled for me, I still felt the complete direction of Aerith's death was well executed and still emotional despite the shock value not being there? I mean VII ends for me at Aerith's death cause nothing else in the later discs ever impressed me as much as that scene.

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.

Still one more up, The Man has guessed part of it, but can you guess what the grand finale will be?

[MJN SEIFER]

I don't find Aeris's death overated, it was the first time I ever saw a video game portray emotion, and I really liked the character. She was in my team a lot so I really got to know her as a character. I had no idea she was going to die, because my walkthrough didn't spoil it (even though ones I later got did) - it just stopped mentioning her. In hindsight I probably should have seen it, it just didn't strike me that they had stopped mentioning her.

[Bolivar]

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.

Doh, you're right that's what I was thinking of. Also, the scene after the ball room dance, where Quistis has Squall take her to the make out place in the training center, a part of the song that plays while they're talking is very similar to one of the two we're talking about here, either world themes or celes/aeris... can't remember!

[Del Murder]

Was FFIX's ending listed yet? That would be my guess mostly because it is my favorite FF ending.

[Wolf Kanno]

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.

Doh, you're right that's what I was thinking of. Also, the scene after the ball room dance, where Quistis has Squall take her to the make out place in the training center, a part of the song that plays while they're talking is very similar to one of the two we're talking about here, either world themes or celes/aeris... can't remember!

Tell Me?

I'm not hearing it, I just here how its a leitmotif of the other track Ami that plays.

[Bolivar]

As for Aerith and the Opera Aria sounding like Another World ~ Galuf's World, I don't think so, of anything, I think its closer to FFVII's Main Theme personally if we were judging what it sounded like it was sampled from.

Doh, you're right that's what I was thinking of. Also, the scene after the ball room dance, where Quistis has Squall take her to the make out place in the training center, a part of the song that plays while they're talking is very similar to one of the two we're talking about here, either world themes or celes/aeris... can't remember!

Tell Me?

I'm not hearing it, I just here how its a leitmotif of the other track Ami that plays.

At 1:19, for some reason I've always thought it sounds similar to 0:19 here. It's actually a lot smaller than I thought it was.