Comments on: Editorial: Characters To Die For

By: Mel

Mel — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 02:16:42 +0000

*Mel considers firing Java*

*long pause*

Naaaah, you’re fine!

*thumbs up, friendly wink*

By: Java

Java — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 15:55:16 +0000

*Hear.

Wow. Just fire me now. My searing shame shall be my punishment as it continues to flay every inch of skin from my face.

By: Java

Java — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 15:53:15 +0000

Ethos is my favorite Lusipurr.com character. I sure do hope he never goes away!

But seriously, interesting to here a different take on the FF7 Moment, Ethos. I have to admit that I probably assumed it hit everyone the same way, which is why it was a big deal, but that you “felt so much pressure to care” makes a lot of sense for the opposite to be true, as well, since that has ruined other stories for me before, now that I think about it. Literary or otherwise.

By: Ethos

Ethos — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 19:37:08 +0000

Aerith’s death was a little meaningless to me, but this is because of my own perspective and circumstances at the time. FF7 was the first Final Fantasy game I played, but I completed FF9 before I ever got to the part when Aerith dies and I had sort of immortalized the beginning of FF7 by that point, having played it over and over again. So when I finally strapped myself down to beat FF7, I didn’t really care about what was happening. The characters didn’t hold up to me for whatever reason, and I felt so much pressure to care about when Aerith died that I essentially watched the scene with apathy. I didn’t get it. Now I just accept it as something that I was not a part of and missed out on. I like FF7 a lot, and it’s the only non-Ito FF that I consider to be a favourite, but I just never really cared about Aerith, and was bracing for losing her from my party from the get-go, so it didn’t have an impact on me. Like I said, I missed out.

Anyway, this is just a response to the comments. I haven’t even read the article yet!

By: Imitanis

Imitanis — Sat, 31 Jan 2015 18:11:55 +0000

Back in the day, there were rumors floating around of various ways to prevent Aerith from dying. Around my school it was circulating that if one could play without saving up until the moment of here death, she would remain alive due to a bug.

I tried this, but died within a couple of hours.

By: Java

Java — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 22:41:25 +0000

I recall waiting for her to return. I think that was the saddest part. I wanted my healer, not some ethereal echo.

Yeah, there is no comparison, and Lusipurr is spot on as to why.

There are other times where the emotion seems to mean more in the moment. Bup will probably remember how taken with Bioshock Infinite’s story I was. Even in retrospect, it has heft, which may have had a lot to do with where I was at my life when I played it. There is a lot to be said about the state of mind, or stage of life one is in when experiencing a powerful story, as well.

However, FFVII seems to ring universal.

By: Bup

Bup — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 20:23:35 +0000

I totally agree with the “Aerith Dies” thing. I think I had heard of it happening before I played FFVII, but it was still a shock when it actually happened.
The other revelation that blew my mind was in Knights of the Old Republic. Finding out that at that Darth Revan, the super-evil badass who would put Darth Vader to shame and who every character constantly talked about, to the player no less, was actually your character after his/her memory was wiped.

By: Lusipurr

Lusipurr — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 19:32:07 +0000

Nothing–no moment in gaming, no shock, no drama–will ever be able to compete with the moment I saw Sephiroth kill Aerith.

First, it was something entirely unexpected. I do not mean that I was unaware that Aerith dies as a part of the storyline, true although that may be. What I mean is that, in RPGs released in the west at that time, it was NOT A DONE THING to kill off a central party member who had been with one since the very beginning of a game, and whose very character was deeply central to the storyline itself.

At that time, it was far less about ‘not knowing’ that Aerith died, and very much about ‘not being aware of even the possibility that she COULD be killed off.” And so, when it happened, the very landscape of RPGs seemed to be shaken.

That can never be recreated.