Might be super cliche, but it's cliche for a reason. Aeris' death was the very first thing that popped into my head when I read this thread (I was pondering whether to put this in spoiler tags in light of the upcoming remake, but it was already mentioned out of tags, so I won't bother). When it happened, I simply could not believe it. I mean, I was in such disbelief that I really didn't believe it and assumed she would be resurrected somehow (so I can understand how those rumors came about). I don't quite know why. I'd played previous FFs before and they had deaths in them. Granted, in FFIV many of the deaths did turn out to be fake, but those were more offscreen deaths or things like being turned to stone. Nothing so clear cut as having a sword stabbed through them right before our very eyes. Also, previous FFs had not killed off characters that I would consider as major. This was basically killing off the female lead mid-game. WTF? It blew my mind and devastated me. It certainly wasn't the only "moment" in FF7. It had many, including one's that were mentioned in this thread, but of all major moments in video games, this was THE moment that had the most profound effect on me.