Hiya!

Before you ready any further, I will have to alert you that there will be massive SPOILERS incoming for Final Fantasy VII. It’s a bit weird for me to even be saying this for a game that’s a couple of decades old. But I do realize that there are going to be kids who have never played this 20-year old game nor have read any details of the plot. That population may be minor but I rather be safe than sorry and put up the big ol’ SPOILER WARNING out anyway. So, you have been warned!

Final Fantasy VII is one of the most iconic and influential games of all time. It is still one of Square Enix’s (then just Squaresoft) biggest sellers of all time. It was one of the biggest reasons why the Sony PlayStation became the success that it is. It’s probably the reason why a lot of gamers in the ’90s got into JRPGs in the first place and it’s also more than likely that it was their first time playing a Final Fantasy game despite it being the 7th game in the series. To say that Final Fantasy VII is a memorable game would be doing it a disservice as it’s much more to a lot of adults today.

It’s also noted for doing something that was thought impossible before. Final Fantasy VII was one of the rare games that made people who played it actually cry. No, I’m not talking about almost making them cry. I’m talking outright bawling! It may seem ridiculous to be crying over a bunch of polygons keeling over but that was the reaction of a lot of gamers when, and here come the SPOILERS, Sephiroth killed Aerith.

This reaction was a really honest one, in my opinion. Most gamers couldn’t believe that she was actually dead. I mean, she was one of the main characters! She took off by herself to find a way to stop Sephiroth’s plan and players were fully expecting that she return to the group after going to her. It must’ve been a shock to see her just cut down like that in an instant and the perfectly timed music just added to the feeling of sorrow that they felt at the time.

A lot of fans just couldn’t believe that Aerith was actually gone for good so rumors that there was a secret way to bring her back. There must be some convoluted way to resurrect her and bring her back to the party, right? But after years and years of trying to find it, it just turned out it was impossible. Once Aerith dies, that’s it. She’s never coming back.

Back to the present, Square Enix has been hard at work with the Final Fantasy VII Remake. It now boasts movie quality visual, fully voice acted characters and the pseudo turn-based battle system has now been revamped to be more action oriented. But even with all of these changes, it still looks like the original Final Fantasy VII for the most part. Cloud is there. Barret is there. Sephiroth is there. But, as seen in the most recent trailer, Aerith is also there.

Like in the original Final Fantasy VII, I fully expect to see Aerith meet the same fate at the hands of Sephiroth. I mean, even if it was something that fans didn’t like at the time, Aerith’s death has become one of the most iconic moments in gaming history and I feel taking it out would make fans riot. Weird, huh? It’s something they don’t want to happen yet they’ll be angry if they take the scene out? You know it’s true, though.

So what I propose is that they keep Aerith’s death. Make her have Cloud cradle her in his arms before she returns her to the Lifestream while her theme song plays. But what Square Enix should do it make it possible to resurrect her.

Think about it: this is the one thing that the gamers that played Final Fantasy VII wanted for all this time. They scoured the Internet trying to find even the most insignificant hint that it was possible to bring her back. So, why not do that? Aerith will still get her dramatic death so it won’t hurt the heartwrenching impact it had on gamers. But there should be a way to bring her back and that should make a lot of fans rejoice.

But I’m not talking about some quick and easy fix. You can’t just cast Resurrect or give her a Phoenix Down (which I don’t understand why that shouldn’t work but that’s game logic for you!) to bring her back. No, what I want is some really, really, really long and convoluted side quest that will take a good chunk of your time! It should maybe involve you exploring every nook and cranny of the area where Aerith actually dies or maybe there’s a secret wall that you can’t see normally. I’m thinking something along the lines of the secret room in Batman: Arkham Asylum, which was so secret that the developers had to reveal it themselves!

Final Fantasy VII Remake is going to be released in parts. I’m assuming it’s going to be around 3 parts to simulate the 3 discs the original Sony PlayStation game came out. Anyway, if they do make it possible to revive Aerith, make it so that you have to be doing things in all three parts.

You may have to have collected a specific item, like the flower Aerith gives you when you first meet her. Then maybe find a new item hidden deep in the place where Aerith is last seen. Then a couple of more obscure items that weren’t in the game before. Make it so that it strongly hints that these items are important even though they might not seem to have any use. Then, in the 3rd part, Cloud discovers a way to bring her back by going through something even more crazy.

This might be infuriating for a lot of newer players, especially those who have never played Final Fantasy VII before but, hey! Final Fantasy VII veterans are used to doing crazy crap! I mean, they had to go through the arduous way of getting a Gold Chocobo just to get the Knights of the Round materia! Worth it!

It’s been more than 20 years since Final Fantasy VII was released but I have not played it yet nor have I actually seen how it ends. I’m only familiar with Aerith’s death because it’s become a legendary fixture of the gaming world. Final Fantasy VII Remake will be my first real chance to play this celebrated game. So I really hope that it will be possible to bring her back then. I’ll going to bawl my eyes out when Aerith dies. But I’ll probably do that again when I revive her, if and when Square Enix puts it in the game.

Do you think Square Enix should make this drastic change and make it so you can bring Aerith back to life? Let me know in the comments section below!