Avid fans of the “Final Fantasy” series will know how much the seventh main installment made an impact in role-playing games. The people behind the popular “Final Fantasy VII” has revealed unseen artworks of the said game. Meanwhile, Tetsuya Nomura has shed more light on Aerith’s death in the game.
“Final Fantasy VII” will soon be celebrating its 20th anniversary since it was released along with the entire “Final Fantasy” franchise off to celebrate its 30th anniversary this year as well. To commemorate the upcoming events and pay tribute to undoubtedly one of the most popular role-playing video games of all time, the “Final Fantasy VII”, Polygon has released a special feature about it. The said game had made a great impact with avid players of the series as well as in the gaming industry for the surprises it packed.
"Final Fantasy VII" Made Impact In Gaming History
And one of the surprises was the unexpected death of the main heroine, Aerith, which even happened earlier in the game. Given that in the 80s and 90s, developers were expected to deliver original video games and that gaming enthusiasts those days did not have the luxury to teasers, gameplays, and even spoilers, Aerith’s death came as a shock that has scarred many for life. In the history of gaming, this event became one of the most emotional moments in a video game, which has even made some thousands cry.
Now, who would not cry after seeing one of the main characters being killed in the game when she was designed to be a character that players would surely grow fond of and even invest time and in-game money on to improve her character skills? Aside from being the heroine of the series, Aerith was a formidable ally who was the only one that focused on healing and possessed powerful spells. The culprits behind Aerith’s death, also known as the creators of the video game, have shed more light on this.
"Final Fantasy VII" Creators Talk About Aerith's Death
After “Final Fantasy VII” was released, the developers revealed years before that they were already set on killing off one of the important main characters as part of the story and it reportedly was a choice between Aerith and Barret. Eventually, Aerith was chosen because losing her life held more meaning and was more related to the game’s story. In the recent feature brought by Polygon, director Tetsuya Nomura explained that they sacrificed Aerith to give depth to the game’s story, which leaned on the meaning of life.
Along with him, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima and director Yoshinori Kitase also pointed out that they actually thought so hard about it that while developing the game that they kept on asking if killing Aerith was the right thing to do. Though it also broke their hearts, Nomura further explained that Aerith’s death depicted the feeling of tragedy and loss that they wanted players to feel. Clearly, they succeeded on doing so and even composer Nobou Uematsu admitted that he never thought that they would bring people to tears.
Unseen "Final Fantasy VII" Artworks Of Cloud, Aerith, And More
With Aerith’s death being one of the most memorable things to happen in the “Final Fantasy” series, the artist behind “Final Fantasy VII”, Yoshitaka Amano also revealed unseen artworks that will clearly stab through the hearts of players with surges of emotion. In the video below, while talking about the game’s history and the character designing with Nomura, he showed some of his artworks, which included Sephiroth, Cloud and Red XIII, as well as the heartbreaking scene of Cloud and Aerith that was made of silkscreen illustration. More of the unseen artworks by Amano of the said video game have been placed on display in an exhibition in Japan and Polygon covered the exhibit.
