Oh What a horrid thing to say!

[Lord Chainsaw]

Originally posted by Mrs. Bupu-chan Maynard
I'm not saying she's useless in battle because she died. I'm saying she's useless in battle because she sucks.

And if she'd lived, she would just be even more useless later in the game.

I'm sorry but I just have to jump in here and defend her. You know how I get when it comes to Aeris.

For one, she doesn't suck. You would notice if you spent time on her levels and actually put her in the front row she could do decent damage.

And second of all, why would she suck in the end-game? Last time I remembered, you can morph sources. That means everyone has equal stats and the only thing seperating them is their limit break.

And Aeris' limit break would make the Weapons child's play. Sure omnislash is nice doing over 100k damage, but Great Gospel is the most useful limit break in the game. And at the endgame where everyone is the same the only thing that sets them apart is their limit. And invincibilty sounds might nice to me.

I believe Great Gospel is actually one of the reasons why she was nerfed.

[artimis]

O sorry, i shoulda added spoilers O.o. anyways! Iv played FF7 with out useing Aeris and i find its better to use her. So she dies! use her while u can. Her healing ability is fantastic!! shes a great char!

[Raistlin]

Originally posted by soulICE
i think tifa was more willing to 'suck' so to speak. i mean, i bet she would have it for a limit break to releave that "battle stress" onto cloud if it was possible.

I would make a sarcastic comment about that idiotic, stupid, and irrational statement, but I'll content myself by quoting this ingeniously truthful retort:

Yep, and the fact that she has big boobs makes her a super skank. She was all over Cloud... oh wait, no. That was Aeris.

Anyways, back on a serious note:

For one, she doesn't suck. You would notice if you spent time on her levels and actually put her in the front row she could do decent damage.

I've played through FF7 784578943758423965 times(not quite literally), and used every single character at least 3 times, including Cait Sith. Aeris sucks.
Putting Aeris in the front row is the stupidest thing you could do. "Decent damage?" Tifa could do more damage hitting the enemy with her breasts. The only place she can use magic to her full efficiency is backrow(as in front row she dies), where she also can't do a damn thing physically, since she has short-ranged weapons. All-in-all, it's much better to have someone stronger physically in your party, who can fight, defend themselves, but also have decent magic ability. Tifa and Red XIII are excellent early-on alternatives(I prefer Cid to Red, but you don't get him 'till later).

And second of all, why would she suck in the end-game? Last time I remembered, you can morph sources. That means everyone has equal stats and the only thing seperating them is their limit break.

Show me a person who has sat there morphing those damn Unknowns until all stats maxed?
But with materia, magic wouldn't be an issue, so you're right, limits do have more of a factor, which is an even bigger reason she sucks, because the only thing she can do is cast Great Gospel over and over again, which is not only disgustingly cheesy, but also nearly obsolete once you get W-Item and can have 99 megalixirs at everyone's disposal. Since if you have half-a-brain, bosses can't kill you in one hit, you're pretty much invincible.

And Aeris' limit break would make the Weapons child's play.

Cait Sith's limit makes the Weapons child's play, too. 99 megalixirs makes the Weapons child's-play, too. KotR and having more intelligence than the average slug makes the Weapon's child's play too.

Your argument on how Aeris is useful is based solely on her sitting back and using Great Gospel over and over again. I think this proves how pathetic she truly was.

(Note: also, she can really only use Great Gospel once per battle. Since while it's in effect, she can't be harmed, and thus her limit can't be refilled. Then, she'd have to be damaged enough so that her limit fills. Then - if she hasn't died yet - she can cast Great Gospel again. More trouble than it's worth).

[TheAbominatrix]

Originally posted by PENIS
Yeah talk about wrong.

big boobs = HOT super skank

Damn, I always forget that part!

[Mo-Nercy]

I'm a bit of a mage lover so I think Aeris was an okay character. But I didn't like as much as the other characters, personality wise. So I didn't use her much.

[silent_ultima]

squaresoft was suppose to make aeris super powerful.. remember general leo from ff6?? but that's the element of suprise i think.. u'll never know that *spoilers* .. she'll be dead unless of course u read the walkthrough before u came to that part... eheheh

[Daedra]

Personnally, I loved to play with Aeris, and partly because of what happened later. I used the oportunity to use her while I could, and I did not think of it as a waste of xp at all. Because later in the game, you'll have all your characters at a decent level, you'll beat the weapons and so on. And then the xp you gave Aeris will be pretty much insignificant.

So I say : anjoy her while you can, because it is always frustrating not being able to play with a character anymore.

[Lord Chainsaw]

Originally posted by Mrs. Bupu-chan Maynard
But with materia, magic wouldn't be an issue, so you're right, limits do have more of a factor, which is an even bigger reason she sucks, because the only thing she can do is cast Great Gospel over and over again, which is not only disgustingly cheesy, but also nearly obsolete once you get W-Item and can have 99 megalixirs at everyone's disposal.

Oh so you're a cheater now?

Insisting on taking advantage of a glitch not intended to be in the game. That wasn't a very good thing to say to help your case at all.

[Raistlin]

Originally posted by Lord Chainsaw
Oh so you're a cheater now?

Insisting on taking advantage of a glitch not intended to be in the game. That wasn't a very good thing to say to help your case at all.

And you're talking about using a character not intended to be used later in the game, using a Limit Break unavailable at the time.

Way to be a hypocrite.

[Lord Chainsaw]

Originally posted by Mrs. Bupu-chan Maynard
1) I've played through FF7 784578943758423965 times(not quite literally), and used every single character at least 3 times, including Cait Sith. Aeris sucks.
Putting Aeris in the front row is the stupidest thing you could do. "Decent damage?" Tifa could do more damage hitting the enemy with her breasts. The only place she can use magic to her full efficiency is backrow(as in front row she dies), where she also can't do a damn thing physically, since she has short-ranged weapons. All-in-all, it's much better to have someone stronger physically in your party, who can fight, defend themselves, but also have decent magic ability. Tifa and Red XIII are excellent early-on alternatives(I prefer Cid to Red, but you don't get him 'till later).


2)Show me a person who has sat there morphing those damn Unknowns until all stats maxed?

3)But with materia, magic wouldn't be an issue, so you're right, limits do have more of a factor, which is an even bigger reason she sucks, because the only thing she can do is cast Great Gospel over and over again, which is not only disgustingly cheesy, but also nearly obsolete once you get W-Item and can have 99 megalixirs at everyone's disposal. Since if you have half-a-brain, bosses can't kill you in one hit, you're pretty much invincible.


4)Cait Sith's limit makes the Weapons child's play, too. 99 megalixirs makes the Weapons child's-play, too. KotR and having more intelligence than the average slug makes the Weapon's child's play too.

5)Your argument on how Aeris is useful is based solely on her sitting back and using Great Gospel over and over again. I think this proves how pathetic she truly was.

6)(Note: also, she can really only use Great Gospel once per battle. Since while it's in effect, she can't be harmed, and thus her limit can't be refilled. Then, she'd have to be damaged enough so that her limit fills. Then - if she hasn't died yet - she can cast Great Gospel again. More trouble than it's worth).

7)And you're talking about using a character not intended to be used later in the game, using a Limit Break unavailable at the time.

Way to be a hypocrite.

Where to begin? I'm too lazy to quote piece by piece so I just numbered your statements.

1) No character belongs in the back row. Maybe Vincent or Barret because of their long range but certaintly not anyone else.

And I don't know if you and I are using the same Aeris because when I put her in the front row she doesn't die any more often than any other character. Perhaps it's my Seventh Saga experience and just plain ol taking the time to level up (got to level 32 before crossing the Zolom swamp) but I see no problem when I stick her in the front row. I didn't say her damage would top someone like Cloud's but I said it would be decent and considerably better than what it would be in the backrow if damage is what you're looking for. And if you still have problems with her dying you can always create a "tank" character.

A "tank" in MMORPGs refers to a character that is built solely for taking hits. That's a character loaded with HP plus materia and all sorts of defense. Give the tank character the cover materia. I build tank characters quite often in RPGs such as Brandol in Grandia Xtreme and Rudy in Wild Arms. They're very useful when you're fighting an uber boss that uses an attack that wipes out everyone except them, or when you see the character take 13 points of damage from an enemy that usually deals 100. But I'm getting off track here.

2) If you want an uber team, you have to work for it. I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to be a level 200 character in Phantasy Star Online. No, I put over a thousand hours into that game until I was a level 200 character. However, in that game, the most difficult level, Ultimate Mode Seabed, becomes easy around level 170. So what's the point of going past level 170? Some want bragging rights, some want to have fun totally ripping asunder anything in their path and yet others do it just for fun. Just for the record, you get about 350 exp per kill in Ultimate Seabed, and at level 199 it takes well over a million exp to level up. That's far more work than morphing those puny unknowns for a couple of weeks. Results don't just come, you have to work for them.

3) Seems like you're just not taking advantage of her incredible limit breaks. I'll give you a scenario:

If Aeris uses great gospel the party is completely invincible. The three party members rip away at the enemy doing thousands upon thousands of points of damage before it wears off. Now compare that damage to Meteorain, quite possibly the most damaging limit break at that level. Let's see, Great Gospel still enabled the party to do more damage.

Great Gospel isn't your thing? How about Fury Brand? Cloud just unleashed meteorain. Oh, look at that, Aeris uses Fury Brand and not only does Cloud do another meteorain, but Barret Unleashes an Ungarmax as well. I find Fury Brand to be the second greatest limit break in the game.

4) Yes, Cait Sith is another good character. I'm just not comfortable with timing the slots wrong and getting an instant death. 99 megalixers would help, but the W-item trick is cheating. And I don't cheat. If I cheated I'd be hacking away at Ultimate Seabed with a Black King Bar +80 with 60% to all areas killing everything in one hit. There's no honor in finishing a game or beating an optional boss by cheating. Simply suggesting that is terrible. I'll admit the Weapons aren't very difficult to beat. Some players, however, aren't as experienced with optional bosses and may have difficulty on them.

And lunch break is over, time to get back I'll continue when I get home. You'll freak when you see what I have to say about Aeris and killing any boss on disc one in four hits.

[Raistlin]

1) No character belongs in the back row. Maybe Vincent or Barret because of their long range but certaintly not anyone else.

And I don't know if you and I are using the same Aeris because when I put her in the front row she doesn't die any more often than any other character. Perhaps it's my Seventh Saga experience and just plain ol taking the time to level up (got to level 32 before crossing the Zolom swamp) but I see no problem when I stick her in the front row. I didn't say her damage would top someone like Cloud's but I said it would be decent and considerably better than what it would be in the backrow if damage is what you're looking for. And if you still have problems with her dying you can always create a "tank" character.

She has less HP, less defense, and weaker attack than any other character in the game. Sticking her in the front row limits her main talent: magic. Tifa, for example, in the front row is much more of a help and less of a hinderance than Aeris.

2) If you want an uber team, you have to work for it. I didn't just wake up one day and decide I wanted to be a level 200 character in Phantasy Star Online. No, I put over a thousand hours into that game until I was a level 200 character. However, in that game, the most difficult level, Ultimate Mode Seabed, becomes easy around level 170. So what's the point of going past level 170? Some want bragging rights, some want to have fun totally ripping asunder anything in their path and yet others do it just for fun. Just for the record, you get about 350 exp per kill in Ultimate Seabed, and at level 199 it takes well over a million exp to level up. That's far more work than morphing those puny unknowns for a couple of weeks. Results don't just come, you have to work for them.

The person who puts a thousand hours into FF7 needs to be shot.

3) Seems like you're just not taking advantage of her incredible limit breaks. I'll give you a scenario:

If Aeris uses great gospel the party is completely invincible. The three party members rip away at the enemy doing thousands upon thousands of points of damage before it wears off. Now compare that damage to Meteorain, quite possibly the most damaging limit break at that level. Let's see, Great Gospel still enabled the party to do more damage.

Great Gospel isn't your thing? How about Fury Brand? Cloud just unleashed meteorain. Oh, look at that, Aeris uses Fury Brand and not only does Cloud do another meteorain, but Barret Unleashes an Ungarmax as well. I find Fury Brand to be the second greatest limit break in the game.

Here's another scenario: there's items called Hypers, which not only increase your damage, but also make your limits fill up 3x as fast. Yeah, you won't immediately get another limit, but you'll have another character in your party to do a damaging limit break. 3x limit breaks, with limits filling up 3x as fast, compared to 4x limit breaks, and then a wait. Yeah, with Aeris you probably get slightly more damage, but it's almost insignificant.

Yes, Cait Sith is another good character. I'm just not comfortable with timing the slots wrong and getting an instant death. 99 megalixers would help, but the W-item trick is cheating. And I don't cheat. If I cheated I'd be hacking away at Ultimate Seabed with a Black King Bar +80 with 60% to all areas killing everything in one hit. There's no honor in finishing a game or beating an optional boss by cheating. Simply suggesting that is terrible. I'll admit the Weapons aren't very difficult to beat. Some players, however, aren't as experienced with optional bosses and may have difficulty on them.

I used W-Item as an example. I don't cosider it cheating, however, even though I rarely use it: it's just part of the game.

And lunch break is over, time to get back I'll continue when I get home. You'll freak when you see what I have to say about Aeris and killing any boss on disc one in four hits.

*freaks out
I could kill any boss in four hits with Yuffie.

[Daedra]

Originally posted by Mrs. Bupu-chan Maynard

Show me a person who has sat there morphing those damn Unknowns until all stats maxed?

I did. And I did not spend thousands of hours on ff7, it is quite fast once you manage to have a strong enough Yuffie.

And since I prefer not having an uber team during the actual game, which would spoil the fun, I see no problem in having aeris in your party, and using her efficiently. Of course the more you max your team members, the more she'll look weaker in comparison. She was not intended to be a high-level character.
However, as long as you have "normal" levels, she is pretty good, because you are quite often in need for support. And as far as magic users go, I do not see anyone who better fits this role than her.

[Lord Chainsaw]

Originally posted by Mrs. Bupu-chan Maynard

5)Your argument on how Aeris is useful is based solely on her sitting back and using Great Gospel over and over again. I think this proves how pathetic she truly was.

6)(Note: also, she can really only use Great Gospel once per battle. Since while it's in effect, she can't be harmed, and thus her limit can't be refilled. Then, she'd have to be damaged enough so that her limit fills. Then - if she hasn't died yet - she can cast Great Gospel again. More trouble than it's worth).

7)And you're talking about using a character not intended to be used later in the game, using a Limit Break unavailable at the time. Way to be a hypocrite.

8)She has less HP, less defense, and weaker attack than any other character in the game. Sticking her in the front row limits her main talent: magic. Tifa, for example, in the front row is much more of a help and less of a hinderance than Aeris.


9)The person who puts a thousand hours into FF7 needs to be shot.


10)Here's another scenario: there's items called Hypers, which not only increase your damage, but also make your limits fill up 3x as fast. Yeah, you won't immediately get another limit, but you'll have another character in your party to do a damaging limit break. 3x limit breaks, with limits filling up 3x as fast, compared to 4x limit breaks, and then a wait. Yeah, with Aeris you probably get slightly more damage, but it's almost insignificant.


11) I used W-Item as an example. I don't cosider it cheating, however, even though I rarely use it: it's just part of the game.


12)*freaks out
I could kill any boss in four hits with Yuffie.

5) My argument is that there's really not much difference between the characters except limit breaks so there really is no "sucky" character in Final Fantasy VII. A game like Star Ocean: The Second Story where wizards cast a spell taking 8 seconds to do 9999 damage once compared to a fighter hitting by 9999 11 times in 8 seconds DOES have a sucky character.

6) You're thinking that I think that Great Gospel is the be all end all solution to any battle. What it is is simply the most damaging attack in the game. That is all.

7) You're the one that said she wouldn't be useful in the end game, bringing up the subject of her in the end game in the first place. How am I a hypocrite?

8) Yes, she may have less HP and Vitality than any other character. However, this isn't a game like Dragon Warrior where a soldier with 295 HP would take 25 HP damage from an attack and a wizard at the same level with only 190 HP would take 125 from the same attack.

9) Are you implying that it takes 1000 hours to max your characters? I'm pretty sure you can build a team as uber as it gets in only about an extra 30 hours. Daedrella, did it take you 1000 hours to max your characters?

10) Yes hypers increase your damage. But you know what else they increase? The amount of damage you take. Suddenly, all of your characters are getting hit harder than Aeris!

11) It's a bad example. Any method of exploiting a glitch to give the player an unintended advantage is in no way a viable point to your argument.

And here's what I was gonna say earlier that makes Aeris so awesome. You'll want to try this out next time you give FF7 another run through:

Ever wanted Beta early? You know, the attack that can wipe out Jenova in two hits? The one that does in Bottomswell in one hit? The attack that can wipe out all bosses on disc one in three hits? Ever wanted to cross the swamp WITHOUT using a chocobo? Now you can. And guess who makes that all possible? That's right, Aeris Gainsborough.

When you get to the chocobo ranch make sure you have Aeris in your party and her limit break is full. You will need Planet Protector. Now go into a battle with the Midgar Zolom and have the Enemy Skill Materia on one character. Keep pounding on the Zolom until you get him down to low HP. Now cast planet protector. You will be taking 0 damage from all attacks now. Hit him a little more and he will cast beta. Beta will do 0 damage to the party, and you will learn it. Proceed to kick the snake's ass now.

And now you have one of the greatest spells in the game and are only at the beginning of disc one. You can now wipe out any enemy on disc one in 1-3 attacks and without limit breaks. When you get more enemy skill materias go back to the zolom and learn beta again.

You know what, that is so awesome I think I'm gonna make a thread on it.

[Numisma]

Ever wanted Beta early? You know, the attack that can wipe out Jenova in two hits? The one that does in Bottomswell in one hit? The attack that can wipe out all bosses on disc one in three hits? Ever wanted to cross the swamp WITHOUT using a chocobo? Now you can. And guess who makes that all possible? That's right, Aeris Gainsborough.

When you get to the chocobo ranch make sure you have Aeris in your party and her limit break is full. You will need Planet Protector. Now go into a battle with the Midgar Zolom and have the Enemy Skill Materia on one character. Keep pounding on the Zolom until you get him down to low HP. Now cast planet protector. You will be taking 0 damage from all attacks now. Hit him a little more and he will cast beta. Beta will do 0 damage to the party, and you will learn it. Proceed to kick the snake's ass now.

And now you have one of the greatest spells in the game and are only at the beginning of disc one. You can now wipe out any enemy on disc one in 1-3 attacks and without limit breaks. When you get more enemy skill materias go back to the zolom and learn beta again.

You know what, that is so awesome I think I'm gonna make a thread on it.

i believe this was already mentioned but, um... .by the time Aeris would GET that particular limit break, the party would be strong enough to whoop the Zolom's arse fairly quickly anyway, so there's a chance the Zolom wouldn't be able to cast Beta in time. in addition, there are some bosses that would not be wiped out so quickly by Beta. for example, the Materia Keeper. ever had Vincent in your party and on limit level 1 wwhen going against this boss? i have, and it was devestating because Vinnie's attacks kept HEALING the Materia Keeper since they're elementally aligned with fire, AS IS BETA. in addition, any other fire-strong or fire-healing enemy (or, perhaps, even the Gi Nattak, another fire-strong boss, whose only weakness is Holy power and you don't have anything holy that early in the game!) would also be healed/not wounded much by Beta.

[TheAbominatrix]

Some people are a might too obsessed with this, methinks.

Anyway, personally I never used Aeris cause frankly, she annoys the living hell out of me. But in a game like VII, the only things that really matter are the limit breaks. This isnt like IV, where only certain characters could use healing spells, and each character had a speciality. Aeris was useful for healing, yes, but so is a cure materia with an all materia... far easier, as well. And seeing as Great Gospel is pretty much useless unless you cheat to get her back, it's pretty much useless. Argue it all you want, there's far better characters to put on your team, simply for the limits.

Of course it's possible to make any character awesome, and of course if you do all these little 'expert' moves that to me are simply a waste of time, but frankly I'd rather waste my time on characters I feel are worth it.

And to be honest, it seems like the main reason people argue over whether she's useless or not is just some loyalty towards her... whatever, doesnt matter much to me.