In Final Fantasy VIIR Part 2, do you think Square will... *PART 1 ENDING & OG FF7 FULL OPEN SPOILERS*

[Gradon]

...still kill Aerith?

Aerith's death is one of the most iconic scenes in gaming, even being known by even hundreds of people who never played FF7. Its pop culture.

FF7R's ending really established that the events henceforth can be altered from the OG now that the Whispers of Fate were defeated, with an implied still-alive-Zack. Ever since her death in 97 fans tried any way they could to bring her back. Will Square go that far?

Will they prey on the expectations of those who know about Aeriths death and refuse to kill her? Will they pull off double whammy with this false sense of security and kill her in a later location of the game? Will they kill her and allow the player to bring her back?

To put my thoughts forward first, I feel like it's omission would sadden me, I love the new Aerith to pieces but the scene is so iconic to the game, and the JENOVA battle afterwards whilst playing her theme is so emotional... the idea that they might not do it is a wild thought. For that reason I don't think they will, but what if... 🤔

 

[Spork4000]

Aerith living is probably the most telegraphed thing in the remake. If she didn't live I'd be shocked.

 

[Squarealex]

She lives in alternative universe (like Zack).

 

[pikachief]

Its possible that the entire whispers of fate and changing of the story and different timeline nonsense is one long roundabout way to justify not killing Aerith.

I think she still dies though, just in a different way/place.

 

[headfallsoff]

I think we will redo this poll every single week until part two releases, personally.

Anyway yes she will die and it'll be like a double tragedy because the characters will be aware it's coming and think they have changed fate, but then she will die and they will realise that does not mean they have won. It writes itself, I will put money down on this.

 

[Hugare]

Nah, she still dies.

Nomura was THE guy that wanted to kill her in the Original, so since he is directing this one, I doubt that he would change it

Maybe they could put some secret ending with some obscure requirements that would result in you going back in time or something and saving Aerith. That would be dope, as an option.

But I firmly believe that during the main scenario, Aerith dies

 

[PlanetSmasher]

If they don't kill her, the story (and thus the entire remake) will pretty much be ruined forever, so hopefully they do still kill her.

There's no point in remaking FFVII at all if you coward out of the single most iconic moment in the entire game.

 

[Normal]

She's going to live. Just like Zack.

 

[Knight613]

No because they'll save it for Part 3.

 

[The Unsent]

I think it would be needlessly cruel for them to want to kill her in parallel universes. Once was enough.

 

[Lord Fanny]

I feel like we have had some version of this thread a dozen times lol

 

[Chrono]

She lives, but they find a way to kill off Tifa instead.

(Please no!)

 

[Protoman200X]

I think a unique mechanic (with how much time you spend with the different party members) influences who dies.

 

[Shiloh]

Isn't a big plot point of he ending involve her rejoining the life stream for holy/meteor shenanigans? It's been a while since I play the original.

 

[Gradon]

I feel like we have had some version of this thread a dozen times lol

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I searched and I couldn't find any lol.

I remember them Part 1 pre-release, but not post.

 

[The Unsent]

To answer the question, I think they'll do a half measure or compromise where she recovers from the death scene, using some life stream/materia plot device and later they'll see her fade away at the end, to close a breach.

I prefer they commit to letting Aerith live, as I don't think killing her again in a parallel universe would be as emotional and I'd appreciate a new challenge to keep her interesting.

 

[Strings]

Pretty sure she still dies, just at a different point to build and snatch away hope. That or another party member is kaput instead.

Even relatively recent (~2 year) Nomura interviews have him stating how important her death is to the fabric of the game, so I doubt they eschew it.

 

[DanteSparda504]

I think she still dies, just in a different way. The characters become away of her fate, and move to prevent it and succeed! Only for fate to come crawling back in another way. Cloud will realize that no matter what he does, Aerith will always need to die. And that he will never be able to save her in the end.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Her death is a series staple and it lays the ground work for a lot of the stuff. I love her in FF7R so it will be a tough loss.

 

[PhantomArtifice]

As much as I love her, yes they have to. Later events in the story depend on this event happening.

Definitely can see them making her die at a different point or a different way though.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Pretty sure she still dies, just at a different point to build and snatch away hope. That or another party member is kaput instead.

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It really makes zero sense to kill a different character.

People keep talking about Aeris' death like it's some Game of Thrones death for cheap shock value, but it's the linchpin of the entire story. Killing any other character wouldn't accomplish anything beyond EXACTLY the kind of cheap, pointless Benioff and Weiss-style death that people hate.

 

[ekka4shiki]

She will die in main storyline but probably with different circumstance. She then will get revived at the very end through some ancient Cetra magic and power of friendship.

 

[TaleSpun]

I don't she's dying in Part 2 specifically because chances are part 2 won't cover quite that much of the story.

Edit: Yeah, somewhat echoing others, my own biggest bet is that Aerith dies in the remake, but possibly via different means and she ends up living longer than in the original game. If this thing is 4 parts, I don't think Aerith would be gone until like the tail end of the 3rd.

They've made the character into her best self and it's going over great. I think one thing they're really going to want to do is just give people the chance to spend more time with her before the inevitable.

 

[Strings]

It really makes zero sense to kill a different character.

People keep talking about Aeris' death like it's some Game of Thrones death for cheap shock value, but it's the linchpin of the entire story. Killing any other character wouldn't accomplish anything beyond EXACTLY the kind of cheap, pointless Benioff and Weiss-style death that people hate.

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Yeah, I still think it'll be Aerith, but that CGI vision where they echo the shot of her death with Tifa set off some alarm bells for me.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Yeah, I still think it'll be Aerith, but that CGI vision where they echo the shot of her death with Tifa set off some alarm bells for me.

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They didn't really echo the shot of her death at all, though. They just showed Sephiroth kill her and Barret.

Like if they were showing Sephiroth FALL on her like he did to Aeris that would be one thing, but it was more just a standard "I'll kill everyone you care about" nightmare.

 

[Deleted member 37151]

They'll kill Cloud instead.

 

[Niks]

As much as I love her, yes they have to. Later events in the story depend on this event happening.

Definitely can see them making her die at a different point or a different way though.

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This.

She then will get revived at the very end through some ancient Cetra magic and power of friendship.

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Also this.
Aerith is too popular and Squarenix doenst have to balls to let her stay dead.

 

[Keym]

Zack will save her at the end of part 2.

 

[udivision]

Change the timeline... AND LIVE.

 

[Elephant]

I think they definitely should have her die. But it's Nomura, head scratching story choices that don't make sense are his specialty.

 

[JEH]

Depends on how far they go with Part 2. Assuming they keep the same general structure of the story. I think eventually in some later game (whether that be Part 2 or later) she'll die but come back to alive somehow even if it's in the alternative timeline with Zack.

 

[Korigama]

I feel like we have had some version of this thread a dozen times lol

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Because we have, and no one listens to Kitase's answer in the Ultimania interview that the story of FFVII will continue as usual without any major changes (part 1's ending muddles that for anyone who wants that to be the case, and it being true would dash the hopes of those expecting everyone to live).

 

[Normal]

They'll kill Cloud instead.

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🤔 🤔 🤔

Do we need Cloud when we have Zack.

 

[Neiteio]

They'll kill Cloud instead.

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This is an interesting theory. Sephiroth needs Cloud to be his puppet, but he also needs Cloud to remember him in order to manifest, according to a canon novella (I forget the book's name, but it had "white" chapters and "black" chapters, and was a lead-in to Advent Children).

The lifestream allows Sephiroth to travel all over the planet, but also governs the flow of time. If Sephiroth is using it to travel back in time, he could pose a cyclical threat that can't be truly ended unless Cloud -- his foothold in the world -- dies.

It's just an idea, tho.

 

[The Unsent]

Isn't a big plot point of he ending involve her rejoining the life stream for holy/meteor shenanigans? It's been a while since I play the original.

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Sepiroth may have changed his plan, like he summons meteor at the crossing between worlds so he can assimilate them all or some other abstract concept, so they need a different way to defeat him. There's new variables.

 

[TaleSpun]

Because we have, and no one listens to Kitase's answer in the Ultimania interview that the story of FFVII will continue as usual without any major changes (part 1's ending muddles that for anyone who wants that to be the case, and it being true would dash the hopes of those expecting everyone to live).

Click to shrink...

He does enjoy that uncertainty though, too, given that Game Informer interview that just went up. I personally take him at his word that the broad strokes will be there, but the team is clearly very cognizant of the wiggle room they've introduced as well.

 

[Korigama]

This is an interesting theory. Sephiroth needs Cloud to be his puppet, but he also needs Cloud to remember him in order to manifest, according to a canon novella (I forget the book's name, but it had "white" chapters and "black" chapters, and was a lead-in to Advent Children).

The lifestream allows Sephiroth to travel all over the planet, but also governs the flow of time. If Sephiroth is using it to travel back in time, he could pose a cyclical threat that can't be truly ended unless Cloud -- his foothold in the world -- dies.

It's just an idea, tho.

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I don't even know where to start with anyone expecting Cloud will die in anything other than the alternate timeline where Zack is miraculously still alive.

 

[Neiteio]

The beauty of the fate stuff is they have created enough uncertainty that it will be surprising on some level whether she lives or dies. Even if she dies it will be raw and emotional because they created the hope that her fate might not be sealed.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

🤔 🤔 🤔

Do we need Cloud, when we have Zack.

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Zack sucks, though. Like he's not a compelling character beyond the contrast he provided in Cloud's backstory.

Killing Cloud and replacing him with Zack would be a move that exists only to placate Crisis Core fanboys at the expense of basically everyone else.

 

[Cheezeman3000]

It really makes zero sense to kill a different character.

People keep talking about Aeris' death like it's some Game of Thrones death for cheap shock value, but it's the linchpin of the entire story. Killing any other character wouldn't accomplish anything beyond EXACTLY the kind of cheap, pointless Benioff and Weiss-style death that people hate.

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Yep. The only way they could change who dies without making it into some ridiculous nonsensical retcon would be to completely redo the entire lore of the game essentially. Unfortunately I wouldn't put past Kitase after seeing interviews with him.

 

[Arkeband]

If you think she lives, then the entire Whispers plot worked as intended and you'll be shocked by gaming's most well known spoiler happening again, something that was not possible without it.

plus, the devs already said major plot points would not be changing. All of this is just part of the embellishment process.

 

[Neiteio]

One approach could be that the party somehow becomes aware of Aerith's fate, and with the Whispers gone, they are able to prevent it... only for Aerith to realize she has to sacrifice herself to save everyone anyways.

She would then proceed to die in a different way at a different point in the story, on her own terms, and this time there would be a devastating, heart-wrenching, drawn-out goodbye.

She would get a "Jesus and his disciples" moment like a certain character in another recent FF.

"Cloud, you thought our love was real... You were right." ;_;

 

[The Unsent]

I think they definitely should have her die. But it's Nomura, head scratching story choices that don't make sense are his specialty.

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I think it's head scratching to want to kill her again in parallel universes. Like is that all necessary for the emotion of the story? It was sad enough already without the sadism of making her like Yeul in FF XIII-2.

 

[Lost Knight]

Too early to tell, but Aerith's death was very instrumental in the plot of the original story, changing it would change the story drastically and I'm not sure they'll go that route seeing all the love they poured into part 1 which recreated a lot of stuff from the original game.

That being said, they might kill her in one timeline and let her live in another, we'd have to wait and see what Nomura and Co have for us.

 

[Korigama]

He does enjoy that uncertainty though, too, given that Game Informer interview that just went up. I personally take him at his word that the broad strokes will be there, but the team is clearly very cognizant of the wiggle room they've introduced as well.

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It certainly achieved their objective of keeping people talking in the years between installments, if nothing else.

One approach could be that the party somehow becomes aware of Aerith's fate, and with the Whispers gone, they are able to prevent it... only for Aerith to realize she has to sacrifice herself to save everyone anyways.

She would then proceed to die in a different way at a different point in the story, on her own terms, and this time there would be a devastating, heart-wrenching, drawn-out goodbye.

She would get a "Jesus and his disciples" moment like a certain character in another recent FF.

"Cloud, you thought our love was real... You were right." ;_;

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That would be so needlessly melodramatic.

 

[Voxy]

Cloud will kill her

 

[Deleted member 69573]

They've said the story isn't going to deviate form the big moments, so yes but also no.

She'll die, but will be super present as like a force ghost when convenient to the plot. There's no finality in this universe anymore.

 

[pargonta]

that sword better come down, she accepts her fate

 

[carlsojo]

I hope we can save her. Whatever it takes.

 

[Neiteio]

It certainly achieved their objective of keeping people talking in the years between installments, if nothing else.

That would be so needlessly melodramatic.

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All in the execution, baby!