Edit by Serienne: <font face="lucida calligraphy" size="6">Please, mark off things that could spoil the story. Someone who hasn't played the game might not want to know about that.

*SPOILER AHEAD*</font>







Why do you think Areis died?

Simple, Squaresoft killed off the beloved character to set the stage for an epic adventure. I mean I was saddened by her death enough to put some real emotion into my gameplay. To sum it up, her death made FF7 one of the greatest games there is.

<font color=red face="comic sans ms">*SPOILERS*




Well, it's the sort of thing that nobody was really expecting (unless someone had told you beforehand, I had it spoiled by my friend :notgood: ), and it also gave Cloud even more reason to go after Sephiroth.

Also, it has an effect on the storyline in general. It is explained in the Forgotten City on disc 2 that Aeris made a prayer on the white Holy materia before dying. This was obvious because the materia turned green, showing that it needed to reach the planet. Aeris alone was the only person who could stop Sephiroth by praying to the Planet. I don't think she had to die to do this, but she died anyway. The Holy materia couldn't reach the planet until right at the end of the game because Sephiroth was stopping it from happening. So yeah, Aeris died to make the game more emotional, and she died for the sake of the Planet. :)

Originally posted by MasterCloud
Simple, Squaresoft killed off the beloved character to set the stage for an epic adventure. I mean I was saddened by her death enough to put some real emotion into my gameplay. To sum it up, her death made FF7 one of the greatest games there is.

same here:(

LMAO Seri :)

I like that, gotta remember that one, heehhe

Umm, as for the topic...

*SPOILERS*

I think she needed to die for the storyline and everything to work out. She gave her life for the world to have a chance.

Remember...
*SPOILERS*


Why She Died:


Out-Game
Aeris died as an increasing effort to keep you addicted to the game of Final Fantasy VII. Although it was quite obvious at the time that she was physically dead, it left the player pondering several things (so long as they hadn't spoiled their mind by reading online posts such as this). One, the desire to destroy Sephiroth was greater than ever before. "Gladly," replied the player when Cloud asks his friends if they want to continue the journey and destroy Sephiroth. Although it had already been established that he was all but Satan reincarnate, and that he would willingly sacrafice millions of people for his unholy and evil cause, there was still a sense of "so what - he burned down some Nibelheim guys; I didn't know any of them." Now, the revenge factor is mixed in, and the human psyche increases its desire to exact punishment on the foul man. Secondly, the tear jerking scene depicting her death obviously stirred up some emotional string and tugged on it hard enough to keep the player interested, even though there were still two additional discs to complete. Verily, the trauma inflicted by the unyielding sword of Sephiroth can be attributed to the greatness of the game - her death is what made the game great. Tragedy, my friends - it's what good stories are made of. Granted, the tragedy came early on (I'd have preferred a Disc 2 death), but the impact would generally be the same, so long as her character was built up substantially before it was stricken down. Think of the great plays of Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, and many more which are all tragedies and which are all famous even today. Additionally, Aeris needed to die because she knew too much - her life would have compromised the storyline of FF7. Knowing about Holy, becoming increasingly more potent in speaking with the Planet, and other increases in her power would certainly have yielded answers before the questions had even been asked by the player. In the Ancient City there are numerous crystals which relay the 'knowledge of the Ancients.' Had Aeris spoken to these while in your party, much would have been destroyed in the way of surprises (WEAPON, Holy, Meteor's potential, what JENOVA really was, etc.). For the sake of keeping the game interesting, Aeris' death was a necessity.

In-Game
Aeris died because she was a threat to Sephiroth. He knew that she would be able to summon holy (he had traversed the Life Stream for 5 years and was continually doing so). In this way, he saw a way to kill two birds with one stone - by killing Aeris he'd prevent the summoning of Holy (rather or not humans could do it is unknown, but Cloud and company [as well as all the other humans on the Planet] were obviously not aware of Holy's existance so there was virtually no threat there) and he'd force Cloud's mental breakdown (his original intent was to have the Mako infused slave finish the task for him). Emotionally, he'd be torn apart having killed her himself, and he'd probably feel so much regret he'd commit suicide - therefore, Sephiroth's two strongest rivals would be destroyed in one cataclysmic event and he'd be virually unopposed in his 'becoming of a God.'

- PTM

I would have to agree with PTM & Meltigemini

There opinions pretty much match my own..

I must say you have a very interesting theory PTM :)

i just got the game, but friend told me *spoiler* that she died. when does she die, is it on disc 3?

Originally posted by toocool223
i just got the game, but friend told me *spoiler* that she died. when does she die, is it on disc 3?
SPOILER!!

She dies on Disc 1

She died, simply cause her final limit break is too powerful and Square couldn't be stuffed changing it:P.

I think they just killed her off so everyone would have more of a reson to hate Sehpiroth. I mean I know I hated him more after that and Cloud certainly did.

re killed her off cos they're mean!

MEANIES!

cloud wanna join my fam?

Because Aeris dying was what made FFVII the greatest game ever made.