Aeris, the Ending, and Other Things. -By Mike Lenzo
As I sit writing this I am listening to Aeris's theme in the background. I first learned about Aeris's death when I was casually browsing FF7 web pages and I came across Andrew Vestal's masterful editorial on whether or not FF7 is complete. Ignoring the spoiler warning I found out that Aeris died during the course of the game. I was upset that I knew this fact, but I then decided that it was six months before the release, it didn't really matter. When I finally got the game I knew that Aeris would die at the end of Disc One. I decided to use her all the time during the battles, and I gradually got attached to her. Attached to a video game character? Well, most people get attached to characters in movies or novels, and that is really what FF7 is, not just a game, but a movie/novel experience. As one of my friends who played the game said "Man it felt like I knew her." When I reached the Forgotten Capital I realized that Aeris was about to die and it seemed that my time with her was all too short and fleeting. It had been the date at the Gold Saucer that had really made me love her as a character. I watched in horror as Sephiroth decended and gutted the peaceful Aeris. As Cloud later said "She smiled, in the end..." I couldn't believe what I was doing. I was feeling sad at the death of a fictional video game character! I was on the verge of tears, real tears of sadness! How ridiculous and idiotic and stupid was that? Except it's not. Square has made a game where the characters seem real, and it is indeed a testament to them that we feel this way about them. It's nothing to be ashamed of, or to be embarassed about. The rest of the game was good, but not as good as the first twenty hours. The first disc of the game was pure genius. The second disc only got interesting when we learned about Cloud's past and the Sapphire Weapon attacked Junon. Otherwise, the second disc only gets very, very depressing, with the storyline making you think Cloud is a Sephiroth clone and Bugenhagen dying (although that is actually on Disc Three). The fall of Shinra was horribly done, in fact the last ten hours of the game are altogether horrible. The storyline is rushed, many plotlines are left unexplained, and the characters undergo very little development (besides Cid and Cloud). The third disc is a waste, as the last dungeon is hardly a challenge. The path to Sephiroth is interesting, and the fight with Jenova is good, but the Bizarro-Sephiroth fight is horrible and tedious. The final battle is incredible, literally some of the best music in any game. The ending was also good in the beginning, as Cloud's final battle one on one with Sephiroth was spectacular. Otherwise, the ending was absolutely a waste. FFIII's ending was just as bad, with absolutely no character development occuring. The ending in FF7 was a waste of disc space and uninventive thinking. The script writers should be shot for destroying such a good game. Indeed, many people I have talked to have totally changed their opinions on the game after viewing the ending. My roommate broke the third disc into pieces after viewing the ending (I know, that's a little weird, actually, it's really weird...). In short the ending is horrible. My first opinion on it was that humanity was wiped out by Holy, as Bugenhangen hinted at earlier on in the game. However, upon thinking about it, wouldn't it be the ultimate injustice if humanity had killed Sephiroth, freeing Holy and thereby saving the Planet, and the Planet repayed humanity by killing each and every last one of them? But now, thinking about it, I hope that Holy did indeed wipe out humanity. It would be a fitting ending to an altogether tragic game. Why am I so bitter about the ending and the latter half of the game, you ask? Well, the answer is simple. Everyone probably knows about the Aeris resurrection theory, as originally presented by Ben Lansing on the Internet, supposedly an employee of Square. If you look at the game there is a vast amount of empirical evidence that Aeris's resurrection was originally supposed to be part of the game, perhaps if only in the original script or in early versions of the game. I believe that there is NO WAY to resurrect her now, however, I believe that FF7 is incomplete, and that we are all playing a game that is truly the greatest ever made, but that could be so much better. First I will present the evidence that can be found in the game and related to the game. Most of these points were compiled by Tony Destro. 1. The presence of Aeris's ghost in her church is a very small plot point in the game. In fact, it's barely discussed by any one in the game itself. Why else would it be in the game. A nostalgic moment? Perhaps. 2. Before the final battle there is an extra ledge that no one is standing on. 3. For the battle against Bizarro-Sephiroth, if you are strong enough to form three parties, then one party has only two characters. Each party should have three members... 4.Throughout the game Cloud is in situations in which he must pick Aeris over Tifa or show that he is an uncaring or a caring guy. However, after Aeris's death, this entire point is dropped. Considering the number of decisions you are forced to make (around twenty some) you would think it would have more bearing than who you get to date... 5. In the Japanese version, why does Aeris speak at certain points after you use use the GameShark to get her back? Why does she only have it in certain spots? 6. Aeris's best weapon has only seven Materia holders and it can gain AP, while EVERYONE else's best weapon has eight linked slots and gains no AP. 7. Aeris's Umbrella has a higher Attack Power than her best weapon, the Princess Guard, whereas everyone else's best weapon has a higher Attack Power than all of their other weapons. 8. When you get Aeris's fourth limit break she has most likely already died. If you actually do what you need to do to get it before she dies you waste vast amounts of time (it took me three extra hours of getting her limit breaks up). The point is that if you get it before she dies, it doesn't seem like you should have it yet. 9. Right before the pillar steps in the Forgotten City before Aeris dies there is doorway in the background. If you look at the patterns on the pillar, the doorway is somewhat similar but markedly different. Programmers usually don't put extra stuff like that in a game, it's a waste of time and effort. There is no way to reach the door. 10. If you look at the floor before Cloud is trying to kill Aeris, there is a spiral staircase leading downward. If you think about the way the City is shaped it should be the reflection of the stairs above, but if you think on how the glass around Aeris is shaped, it physically couldn't be so... 11. In the game manual there are FMV drawings of the characters. Every characters' drawing except Aeris' actually occurs in the game, or could realistically occur. Aeris's canot, as she wasn't with Cloud when he first saw the Highwind on the first trip to Junon. She had already died when Barret and Tifa made their escape on the Highwind later. In the picture she also dressed in white, and the entire game she dressed in red... 12. The strongest empirical evidence for this lies in a conversation Cloud has with Tifa during on the bridge of the Highwind... Tifa:I wonder what Aeris felt... when she was on that Altar... Cloud: I'm sure she wanted to give her life for the planet... Tifa: Really? I wonder? I don't think that's it at all. I think she didn't think she would die at all, but that she planned on coming back all along. She always used to talk about the "Next Time". She talked about the future more than any of us. This is very, very suspect, as anyone can see. The entire game is ruined, in my opinion, by the loss of Aeris, and the death of hope and joy. Many argue her death insured the player's hatred of Sephiroth. Even if she were to be theoretically resurrected, I would still hate Sephiroth. In my opinion, Square should re-release the game with her resurrection, and a better ending, one worthy of a Final Fantasy game. Would it make her death meaningless? Yes, it would, her sacrifice would be null and void and hollow. But her death makes the game meaningless... Judging by the number of people who desperately want to resurrect her, I think Square would profit financially from such a decision. A game which was already great could be made truly perfect. But somehow, I don't think this will ever happen. -Mike Lenzo
Follow Up -By Mike Lenzo
Well, what I have to say in response to this debate and to defend my viewpoint is this, that I honestly believe that the game was ruined with her death. I believe Square miscalculated on this point. If Crono had truly died in ChronoTrigger would the game have been even half as good as it was? Not hardly. They killed her for a plot point, to inspire true hatred for the villain. From a writer's point of view, it was a shrewd move. It maintained willing (perhaps even unwilling) suspension of disbelief in the game and made the player hate Sephiroth, unlike all the other FF villains, such as Golbez, Garland, and Kefka. However, it also made me hate the game itself. It's not as if the game gets any happier after her death either. The only thing to break the monotony of three overly large and complicated dungeons was the revelation that Cloud is a Sephiroth clone. Cloud's grovelling in front of Hojo before he gives the Black Materia to Sephiroth angered me so much that I almost quit playing the game. It affected me that much. It is not until much later (almost ten hours later) that the truth about Cloud comes out. That was the sole good event on Disc Two. I've already voiced my opinion on the ending. Overall, the game promised so much during the first disc, and yet it failed miserably to deliver... If Aeris were to return, would the plot be destroyed? That is debatable. It is partly because of the somewhat shoddy translation of Bugenhangen informing Cloud about the purpose of Holy that we are still in the dark about whether or not someone needs to die to summon Holy (remember, nowhere in the game does it explicitly state that is true, it is merely inference from known statements). The ending would have to be one hundred percent different, and hopefully much better than it was. I used my imagination, I tried to rationalize what would happen if humanity survived. Barret would probably commit suicide if Marlene had died in Midgar, or else raise her if she had lived. Red XIII obviously found a mate, who knows what Vincent did besides look spooky and talk in cryptic sentences, and Yuffie probably went off with the Materia. Cait Sith was probably deactivated by Reeve, who went on to lead a better life, perhaps as a leader of others. Cid probably married Shera and built a new airship. And Tifa and Cloud? Judging by Cloud's cryptic wordings during the ending, Cloud either killed himself to be with Aeris or lived out a life of hermitage, regretting not having taken advantage of love when it was presented to him. He certainly didn't marry Tifa, as the ending hinted at... Then I realized that it was all pointless. Cloud didn't love Tifa, he loved Aeris, and now she is gone forever. Whatever ending they showed which didn't include Aeris being resurrected was hollow and pointless. What is left in Cloud's life now that his love is gone? Emptiness. My original letter was a form of catharsis, perhaps, getting over the disappointment this game has generated. Did Square truthfully want it's customers angered and saddened over the game? Disillusioned at how they have turned into a monolithic corporation? If I read a book in a series that I didn't like, I usually don't buy the next book. That will definitely not be the case here, as I will purchase FFVIII whenever it is released. However, I believe Square made a huge miscalculation with the game. The vast majority of gamers don't want an ending which has everyone debating about semantics for two years, they want an answer. They want an adventure which sweeps them away with its power, grandeur, and beauty. They want true love, tragedy, a villain that is truly three dimensional, and a story which makes you think. They don't necessarily want a depressing and tiring game about a psychopathic main character who rejects true love and a quest to release a force that will do as much harm as good, and an ending which is defined as a classic cliffhanger ending, even though it is well known that Square never (ever) continues its characters' stories. In short, they want a game which is a Final Fantasy. The first disc promised this, but the rest let us all down. Was it all because of Aeris's death? For the most part, yes. And most gamers will agree with me. -Mike Lenzo
The confession. By ??? Found by -Mike Lenzo (One of the most important rumors of Final Fantasy VII has come to an end)
I came across this editorial while roaming the Web. It was written by Ben Lansing, the "employee" of Square who started the rumors on Aeris's resurrection. Please read this and realize just what we have all been arguing about...
"I am writing this to quench all rumors about Aeris and the completeness of Final Fantasy 7. Final Fantasy 7 was completed to the best of Square's ability and funding."
Hmm ... you leave the internet community for a few months, and people are STILL dragging your old s**t around. Okay folks, this is getting a bit absurd. Can't you all take a joke? Look. I have a confession to make, and if you stick with me and read this WHOLE post, you'll learn a lot more about this whole AERIS thing. A lot of you know me as Ben Lansing. Way back in March-April of 97, when FF7 had first came out, I bought it (an imported version), and loved the hell out of it. While rummaging around online one day, I stumbled across some madman raving about the scene with Bugen Hagen near the end of disc 2. The game being in Japanese and this guy being full-blooded American, this scene came across to him as something else: a failed ressurection attempt. He started posting to the FF7 Message Board about all of this, saying that perhaps Aeris could be revived ... and people started jumping in on it. All sorts of stories began flourshing about ways to bring her back, and I did a lot of research on this before I ever posted my first message on that board. I decided to see just how silly people could be. I had actually understood everything that had gone on during the game, so I knew lots of ways to trick people into believeing things. I already had a silly audience who believed nearly anything, so I took a great step when I came out with my Aeris Ressurection process, under the name of Ben Lansing, an alleged translator for Square. Without even reading this process, people should have known I was lying to start with. I claimed to be a temporary translator for Square. Well, anyone with any common sense knows that Ted Woolsey and the Square team did NOT translte FF7 ... SONY did it, all in Japan, and all within the parent company - NOBODY WAS HIRED FROM THE OUTSIDE! But ... being the gullible fish that I thought everyone was, they swallowed it whole without a second thought, and I became a near-idol on that message board. I decided to see just how far I could carry all of this. Several people on the message board started rebuking what I said, claiming me to be a liar and even catching me in a few little fibs. However, I also had a strong support, backed by a few guys you may remember as Fish, Mooncalf, Smear, Casper71, Zakna, and so on. We strongly opposed anyone who claimed we were liars. They do not know to this day that it was all a hoax. Some of them even made up little lies themselves in defense of me. I thought that was a bit overboard, but people will be people. We went off and founded a channel on DALNet: #Aeris. You people may remember it, and some of you may even visit from time to time. We had contacts with Crow (Miranda's Cafe) who helped us advertise and such. Well, as more people came to know about us, more people started doubting me. I went as far as to give over ownership of the channel to Fish and Zakna, while having my name removed from the #aeris home page. Things were looking bad, so I made one final post to the message board and vanished from the net. Here it is, with comments I have to make about why I said certain things:
