Best Reaction to Aerith's Death

[The Witch]

Of course Seph is gonna win this poll, as many people like Seph for killing Aeris as much as there are people who liked Aeris alive just as there are people who just like Sephiroth as much as there are people who like Aeris.

You put up a pole and complain when the vote dont go the way you want

The hell, man. Who said I'm complaining? I was hoping Sephiroth would win. Hence why I put him in the poll in the first place. sheesh.

 

[Squid]

Sephiroth's definitely! I never did like Aerith!

 

[GalaxyFlare]

Sorry Ditd/Cali it sounded like complaining to me, just a misundrstanding.
Im such an ebil man

"The hell, man"

Cali you so gangsta

I should have known Sephiroth would be winning this. Everyone loves watching an ebil-doer, laugh at the death of an innocent woman.

Complaining?

The hell, man. Who said I'm complaining? I was hoping Sephiroth would win. Hence why I put him in the poll in the first place. sheesh.

Rebuttle?

The FFVII power base goes like this:

1 Sephiroth

2 Cloud, Aeris

3 Tifa, Barrett, Vincent

4Yuffie, Cid, RedXIII(?)

5 Caitsith

This is how S-E has designed it, and how the fans like it, it changes over time
first it was Cloud but as Seph got more exposure his superior characteristics out shone Clouds and now he and Aeris are on the same level, where as before it was Cloud and Sephiroth on level1.

Im just saying>-----

 

[Starships]

I'm debating whether or not to respond to that... How retarded.
.

Excuse me. But I was just kidding around and not being very serious. There is no need to take everything so seriously. And I actually DID think that Tifa was running away laughing. With lego like graphics, sometimes it's hard to tell.

 

[Roland_Deschain]

The FFVII power base goes like this:

1 Sephiroth

2 Cloud, Aeris

3 Tifa, Barrett, Vincent

4Yuffie, Cid

5 Caitsith

This is how S-E has designed it, and how the fans like it, it changes over time
first it was Cloud but as Seph got more exposure his superior characteristics out shone Clouds and now he and Aeris are on the same level, where as before it was Cloud and Sephiroth on level1.

Im just saying>-----

Yeah I guess I can kind of agree with your count except that you forgot Red XIII in that list.... and he is my favorite character . hehe not too worry though... I will rebuttle. I dont think square enix/soft designed anything knowing who is going to be most liked... I thinked they developed a game with a variety of characters each with their own complexis so that we as players could form our own opinions on who we like.... thus its a type of marketing to figure out what we desire from the games for future benifit of the games.

Examples: If cloud wasnt so popular...do you think FF8 would have another messy haired main character wielding another huge sword?

or: If cait sith and red XII had gotten great ratings from players than do you think all of the characters of FF8 would have been human looking as they are?

The creators of these games may have an idea of what we like... But just remember we form our own opinions. And they are not controlled by the creators of the game. Its up to us and our own minds to determine the future of the seris. So state your opinion always, Remember you dont have to jump off that bridge hehe

that being said I think Tifas reaction was very good, as well Red's. I love it when he howls because its when you really can understand his emotion, as he usually keeps a pretty straight head.

 

[Dragon Mage]

Excuse me. But I was just kidding around and not being very serious. There is no need to take everything so seriously. And I actually DID think that Tifa was running away laughing. With lego like graphics, sometimes it's hard to tell.

For future reference then, it really didn't look like you were kidding around. The only reason what you said was taken seriously is that there are, in fact, people who believe such, and those people have come into major conflicts on the forums before in the past. The huge flame wars that resulted afterward has developed a great cynicism in many people -- myself included -- so really, as ridiculous as your post was, there are those who would say that and mean every word as absolute truth. Every. Word. So even though your post was blatantly absurd, and I'm sure you thought that enough to denote it was just kidding around (seriously, who would believe in such , neither I nor Colours could tell you were anything but serious. So, just to save a lot of misunderstanding in the future, just remember to include a small note that you're being sarcastic; like using sarcasm tags or something.

For example:

[sarcasm]Oh yeah, everyone knows that Sephiroth killed Aerith because he was jealous of her relationship with Yuffie.[/sarcasm]

On such sensitive topics, where there are people who literally will believe in the most ridiculous, a little caution like adding sarcasm tags goes a long way to assure what tone your posts are taken in. No fault of yours -- You're clearly a fresh and new member and such mistakes are to be expected, but at least now you know what to do in the future to prevent any misinterpretations.

As for the blocky graphics, I suppose you could get by saying she was 'laughing' but that's stretching it, no? Sure the graphics are very imprecise, so character reactions must rely on the context of the situation to define the character emotion. I thought she was running away so that she could go and cry the loss of her friend in private. Don't know where the laughing part came in. Ah well, different ways of looking at it, I guess.

I think someone on here said that Cloud's reaction was the worst. Something about 'you don't really describe how your vision blurs, how your hands tingle,' etc. I agree with that 100%. Again, those pesky bad graphics! Oh, how FF7 suffered from them.

 

[The Witch]

What's wrong with Cloud's big-ol'-poetic speech? It was describing what Cloud was feeling that the graphics couldn't tell us. That's beautiful.

I mean, I guess it's a bit unrealistic for someone to say all that during someone's death, but that's why it's so great.

 

[Dragon Mage]

What's wrong with Cloud's big-ol'-poetic speech? It was describing what Cloud was feeling that the graphics couldn't tell us. That's beautiful.

I mean, I guess it's a bit unrealistic for someone to say all that during someone's death, but that's why it's so great.

That's just it -- it was so unrealistic. I would've felt better if he'd done a big anguished cry or even shouting her name, perhaps. That I could deal with. It'd be campy and cheesy as hell, but I could deal with it. Even maybe, a very quiet "no" or asking her to wake up... all that would be more powerful than, "My eyes burning, my hands shaking, my mouth is dry... what's happening to me?" It's like... Really? It took the focus off Aerith actually dying to... Cloud describing his physical reaction to seeing a friend die. They did this simply because the graphics are not good enough to actually *SHOW* that that is what Cloud is doing. It kinda broke suspension of disbelief for me because it's just exactly what someone would not say in such a situation. There are so many other ways to go about showing the emotion through the words that would have been so much better, and yet they didn't chose any of them...

:\ As a writer, I find it incredibly painful to read. I just want to edit it to make it better.

Really, which sounds better? This:

*Aerith falls, Sephiroth mocking*

*Cloud catches her*

Cloud: OMG my eyes burn, my hands shake, my mouth is dry... what's wrong with me!?

Or this:

*Aerith falls*

*Cloud catches her*

Cloud: Aerith, wake up, we gotta go. I came to save you... Aerith.
Aerith?

See, to me, the latter is much more powerful. The first.... just bad. And I immediately knew, first time playing the game, that it was substitution for the limited graphics. :\ Which kinda breaks the belief of the whole scene.

 

[The Witch]

Why would he say all of that, if he just saw her DIE. He's not going to say, "wake up Aerith I came to save you" when her eyes are shut and he just witnessed a sword rip out of her body.

This is Cloud's first reaction:

(Aerith's body falls forward. Cloud catches her before she hits the
floor, cradling her in his arms. Sephiroth stands, looking skyward, his
arms spread.)

Cloud:"...Aerith."

(He gently shakes her body.)

Cloud: "This can't be real!"

Sephiroth:"Do not worry. Soon the girl will become part of the Planet's
energy. All that is left is to go North. The 'Promised Land' waits for
me over the snowy fields. There I will become a new being by uniting with the planet. As
will this girl...

Cloud:"...Shut up."

(He bows his head closer to Aerith, trembling. He abruptly looks up to
Sephiroth.)

Cloud:"The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing."

(He slowly turns his head back to Aerith's sleeping face.)

Cloud:"Aerith is gone."
"Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...... or get
angry......"

(He holds her body closer to his and bows his head forward.)

Cloud:"What about us...... what are WE supposed to do?"

(He gently rests her on the floor.)

Cloud:"What about my pain?"

(He trembles.)

Cloud: "My fingers are tingling.
My mouth is dry.
My eyes are burning!"

(Sephiroth moves for the first time. He slowly lowers his arms and looks
at Cloud.)

Sephiroth:"What are you saying? Are you trying to tell me you have feelings
too?"

(Cloud quickly stands up to face Sephiroth.)

Cloud:"Of course! Who do you think I am!?"

(Sephiroth starts to laugh.)


The first sentences that leave Cloud's mouth ARE realistic, and now that I reread this scene, it isn't unrealistic for a man who usually showed little emotion to vocalize his pain when he was feeling something he wasn't used to.

This is why I think Cloud's reaction is the best. :3

 

[Dragon Mage]

Why would he say all of that, if he just saw her DIE. He's not going to say, "wake up Aerith I came to save you" when her eyes are shut and he just witnessed a sowrd cut rip out of her body.

Er... did you read some of what was in those links? The one (PleaseWakeUp) is pretty clear that this is a state of denial. It's a pretty TearJerker one too, but still.... denial. Ain't just a river in Egypt anymore!

For the record, "This can't be real!" don't strike me, personally, as being realistic. Odd, it's like he's in that state of denial I just mentioned, yet the writers chose to actually come out and say it instead of SHOWING it, like a writer is supposed to.

And sure, it isn't realistic for a who shows little emotion to vocalize pain, yeah, it's to be expected that he's going to say something. But the way it is done... that one part.... "My fingers are tingling! My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!"

No, just... no. It's so.... forced sounding. Unrealistic. Up until that point was okay, but then those lines just did it in for me. I've been reading lots of books my whole life and I can tell you, there are MUCH better ways of going about this reaction. And the writers simply didn't do any of them. I'm judging the scene not on how bad it was but by how much better it could have been.

 

[The Witch]

Whelp, suppose that's your opinion. The same reasons you hate, are the same reasons so many people remember that scene. xD

 

[GalaxyFlare]

a sowrd cut rip out of her body.

A sword was stabbed in to her back it woul not have been that painful death would have been almost instant, Sephiroth new exactly where and how to kill her, poor Aeris/Aerith such a painful way to die

DM your experience as a writer may allow you to analyze this event deeper than most but consider what they had to work with and the translation of the script may have been a problem too.

Cali this event has to be the saddest event in FF, and we are arguing interpretations?
that just seems wrong somehow? I thought those lines Cloud expressed were quite good and finally gave depth to his feelings for aeris.

S.S did an adequate job of emoting the pain With what they had to work with, If you understand that then the words only add to the emotion they were trying o portray
they certainly dont detract from it.

Whelp

Is that some kind of insult or justa typo?

 

[Dragon Mage]

Whelp, suppose that's your opinion. The same reasons you hate, are the same reasons so many people remember that scene. xD

I didn't say I hate it, I just think it's one of the worst reactions be of it being so poorly handled.

Blame it on my incredibly refined tastes and familiarity of the written medium.

DM your experience as a writer may allow you to analyze this event deeper than most but consider what they had to work with and the translation of the script may have been a problem too.

This did occur to me as well. Mistranslations can go pretty far and get pretty horrendous ("All your base are belong to us you have no hope make your time!") but even so. They had this scene with great potential and only tapped a portion of it, which is, well, disappointing. The fundamental writing couldn't have been too fantastic, if the translation is even remotely like the original script.

 

[Starships]

For future reference then, it really didn't look like you were kidding around. The only reason what you said was taken seriously is that there are, in fact, people who believe such, and those people have come into major conflicts on the forums before in the past. The huge flame wars that resulted afterward has developed a great cynicism in many people -- myself included -- so really, as ridiculous as your post was, there are those who would say that and mean every word as absolute truth. Every. Word. So even though your post was blatantly absurd, and I'm sure you thought that enough to denote it was just kidding around (seriously, who would believe in such , neither I nor Colours could tell you were anything but serious. So, just to save a lot of misunderstanding in the future, just remember to include a small note that you're being sarcastic; like using sarcasm tags or something.

For example:

[sarcasm]Oh yeah, everyone knows that Sephiroth killed Aerith because he was jealous of her relationship with Yuffie.[/sarcasm]

On such sensitive topics, where there are people who literally will believe in the most ridiculous, a little caution like adding sarcasm tags goes a long way to assure what tone your posts are taken in. No fault of yours -- You're clearly a fresh and new member and such mistakes are to be expected, but at least now you know what to do in the future to prevent any misinterpretations.

Thankyou for the advice. I'll remember it for the future, future posting.

As for the blocky graphics, I suppose you could get by saying she was 'laughing' but that's stretching it, no? Sure the graphics are very imprecise, so character reactions must rely on the context of the situation to define the character emotion. I thought she was running away so that she could go and cry the loss of her friend in private. Don't know where the laughing part came in. Ah well, different ways of looking at it, I guess.

Well the last time I played FF 7 I was really young and probably saw things a bit immaturely from the adult world. But it stuck out from memory, since haven't played it recently. However I don't think it was stretching it, because that's what I really saw and thought. Even if it sounds mean towards Tifa's character, or ridiculous.

I think someone on here said that Cloud's reaction was the worst. Something about 'you don't really describe how your vision blurs, how your hands tingle,' etc. I agree with that 100%. Again, those pesky bad graphics! Oh, how FF7 suffered from them.

I have to disagree ! I thought that Cloud holding Aerith shaking in all his sudden emotions, was the best and most thought- provoking and emotional scene of the whole entire game. Cloud started out as a cold, isolated and stand-offish character, and just hearing the words that sound like his heart breaking and the sadness, anger and dispear of loosing somebody he really cared for, it ... can just make you completely speechless.

 

[Priestess-Mars]

I definitely liked Cloud's reaction the best because he was never the type to show that much emotion in the game (unlike in Crisis Core). It shows that he actually felt something for her because he was trying to fight the tears and he actually expressed how he felt about her death. He also voiced out his anger about how she wouldn't be able to laugh, cry, smile, etc ever again.

 

[Noize]

I definitely liked Cloud's reaction the best because he was never the type to show that much emotion in the game (unlike in Crisis Core). It shows that he actually felt something for her because he was trying to fight the tears and he actually expressed how he felt about her death. He also voiced out his anger about how she wouldn't be able to laugh, cry, smile, etc ever again.

Agreed. Although i like Vincent's reaction. it was like "huh? oh, she's dead....wait SEPHIROTH!".

As for Cloud, I bet he was cut pretty deep, i mean he did chase Aerith to the Forgotten City from the Temple of the Ancients, which is pretty damned far away... and to have her executed right before his eyes just as he was starting to develop feelings for her!

I can't help feel as if Tifa felt a slight sense of relief aswell, i mean she was in competition with her afterall.

 

[Rapture]

I saw the death scene yesterday...It came out of nowhere.... and

Finally, Cloud being the cold, confused one that he was opens up and has a moment of lucidity and shows a bit of emotion with Aeris's death. He talked about how he felt and what it was that he was feeling in his body because I don't think he was too familiar with expressing his emotions...so that was the best that he could do at the moment. It also showed that he had deeper feelings for Aeris because he talked of her never laughing and smiling again...things that he wouldn't be saying if he really didn't really care about her death. He realized the world is now lonelier without her and her brightness. The best reaction in my opinion though was Tifa. I had her and Vincent on my team and Vincent kinda brushed her hair away...and Tifa did the same, but she lingered for a moment and bowed her head, like she was really saddened. She could've been like "Yippee! Now I've got a clear path to Cloud!" ...but she wasn't. She was friends with Aeris and she loved the girl... That moment, although brief, showed it.

 

[squaredgirl]

I voted for Tifa's reaction, although I think everyone's reaction is good!

There's something so sweet about how she gently cradles her cheek (okay so maybe a teensy bit of me ships them! What's wrong with that?!).

I think that there is some sort of rivalry between the two of them near the beginning of the game and there's some tension there too, but as time goes on they become really good friends and so close. So although (in my eyes) Cloud is losing a lover (or potential lover!) Tifa's losing a best friend and that's terribly sad!

 

[DarkShadow]

It would have to be Cloud for me........After all this scene does have an effect on his character and the game as a whole.

But seeing him go all emotional really did make me feel for him. The words he said during at the time,"My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!" really did think wtf is cloud really saying that? Even Sephiroth was shocked saying " Are you trying to tell me you have feelings now?" .....Cause up until that scene Cloud was an emotionless character.

And also I don't think he did have that much interaction with Aerith.......and if he did love her over Tifa........He didn't really express his love for her.

 

[Shaissa]

Just a question...why Isn't Aerith a response? I really think her response was the best...she knew she was going die...and she just smiled the whole way... even as the sword went into her and she dropped the holy materia....

Between these choices...
I have to say Sephiroths was the best because he told everyone his plan well in a victory pose, and to top it all off he goes to tell Cloud that he is a puppet and is useless and he can control him whenever he wants, and he does...