Can you revive Aerith after her death in Disc
One? I heard that Square had planned to let you resurrect her, but
then decided against it. Why?
The True Aeris Story This was posted on the FF
Discussion Group by Lansing, a temp worker for Square who did
some of the translations. It lays to rest (finally)
the rumors of Aerith's ressurection:
Oh no. They did it. I wouldn't have known, because
I had access to the full set of FF7 info... but they did. I guess
this means that I should have actually played
through things to see if anything had changed, instead of getting tired
of the game after translation purposes. I think
everyone is gonna kill me for my insolence, because I really should
have played through the game more fully before
I said anything to make sure it was still possible. (Good
point!)
Throughout the past few weeks, I, myself, have
been wondering why people were having such a hard time reviving
Aeris, because according to everything I saw
through the scenario translation process, it could be done fairly easily.
Here's the Aeris revival process, in full.
First off, throughout the game, you must make
the logical choice of things to say to Aeris to indicate that you like
her. You must never hurt her in any way by choice.
What happens in scenarios, however, cannot be avoided (Aeris'
beating by Cloud, for instance). Also, with the
sick man. There is no medicine, but you could have Aeris tend to him
and make him feel better, by learning about her
heritage and returning to Midgar in the first CD. By doing this, the
"GENERAL" as people call him, would trust you,
and request you go buy his dying friend something from the
store. A simple quest. After doing so, the GENERAL
would tell you thanks, and that if there was anything else you
need ever, to ask him for help. You then see
a scene with his friend dying. A sad scene. :(
(You can go and try this if you like but I don't think you will get much
out of it.)
Now, continue through the game as normal, and
after Aeris dies, go on to the second CD. Once here, return to
Midgar with the key from CD1, and the GENERAL
will ask you where the nice girl (Aeris) is. You explain that she
has died, by Sephiros, and that there is no hope
in reviving her. There would be a chance, but only if you could go
deep under the waters of the floating castle
(where Aeris died). The GENERAL would tell you that he thinks he
may be able to help, and to come back later.
After this meeting, you were to go on to Aeris' church, where there
would be a long scene with her spirit. If you
had been nice to her, she would express a desire to return to help you.
After doing this, return to the GENERAL, who
would provide you with a Yellow materia that allowed the entire
group to travel through water. With this, you
could return to the floating palace, go up to Mr. Fish, and once you
touched him, you would be transported under water,
to a cavern, where, at the end, lay Aeris' orb/life essence. With
this orb, Bugen Hagen could complete the ress
process, and you could move on to a happier life with a neater
ending.
Well, the FMVs (What?)
were all completed on time, but a lot of coding was not. They then delayed
the games release by a
month (Dec -> Jan). However, it seemed that even
by late December, the coding STILL wasn't finished, so Square
told production to wrap it up quickly. In order
to get the game out on time, SqJP sacrificed what could have been a
miraculously better game than FF7... The main
coding that was not finished dealt with manipulating the transparent
polygon of Aeris' spirit in the church. Since
they were forced to wrap production up to meet the many-delayed
deadline, they had to stop with the Aeris process
unfinished. So, to keep things from ever happening, they simply
removed the one item that allowed any hint of
the process to take place... The Key to Midgar, from the first CD.
This completely stopped the ability to ressurect
Aeris. HOWEVER, they left out the removal of one thing, and that
was the split- second of seeing the ghost of
Aeris once you return to the church. Unforunately, this, along with the
insanely big size of the ending MOV, are the
only hints to Aeris' existence that we have. Other than the original
FF7 scriptline, from which all the above information
came.
I ran across this info while talking to John H.
(another temp like me) trying to get some US script from him for our
channel's page. Also, Seph wanted it. I asked
him if it would be alright for me to release the script info in an altered
form, and to release info on gameplay, such as
Aeris' death/ress. Then he told me the deadline story, and I almost
had a heartattack. He said that the process can
still be done to its completion, sans a couple of scenes, with the
Game Shark, but until someone develops a MOV
player that handles multiple sector files, the true ending will not
be seen.
WHAT SUPPORTS THIS RUMOR:
Originally there was a rumor spread by a certain
individual named Ben Lansing who claimed that Square had
originally been working on a scenario which,
if completed, would allow you to bring Aerith back to life using a
special materia. The reason why people thought
he had so much crediblity is because he said he was a former
temporary worker for Square USA, and the information
he presented to the 'outside world' seemed impossible for
someone to know unless they had been affiliated
with Square.
In the game itself, there is an Independent Materia
called 'Suichuu Kokyuu' which means 'Underwater
Breath/Respiration'. You can only get it using
a Game Shark code. According to Mr. Lansing's story, you needed a
materia that would let you go underwater in order
to revive Aerith, so this could be that materia that he was
referring to, since there are no other materia
in the game with that name or power. Also, if you return to Midgar
City in Disc 2 or 3, you will see a flickering
image of Aerith in the church that Mr. Lansing claimed was left in by
mistake--it was supposed to be followed by a
sequence with Cloud talking to Aerith's ghost. Lansing also gave
several reasons for Square removing the revival
process, including the fact that Square was pressed for time. This
is true--Square had already delayed the game
once and finished it shortly before it was shipped, and the obvious
incompleteness of the ending adds even more credence
to his story.
Also, before the final battle, there is an extra
ledge that no one is standing on. And if you are able to make three
groups, one group will only have two members.
Some people say that that proves that there should have been an
extra member in your party, who would be Aerith.
WHAT CONTRADICTS THIS RUMOR:
Mr. Lansing claimed that the materia that would
let you go underwater was a yellow (Command) materia. The
'Suichuu Kokyuu' materia is purple (Independant)
instead. Also, it has no known effect in the game, even if one has
follows the instructions concerning the Materia
that Lansing explained in his message. Furthermore, he claimed
that there were two alternate endings you could
see if Aerith was revived, but it has been proven that there are no
extra FMV ending files on any of the discs, and
even if the ending wasn't an FMV sequence, no one has yet
discovered any of quotes or graphics that might
have been used in either of the 'alternate' endings. Most people
also overlook the fact that, although it's difficult,
you CAN get her 4th level Limit Break before her death near the
end of Disc One--it was originally thought that
if you couldn't get it normally, why would it be in the game unless
Aerith could get it after her revival? Now, of
course, that has been proven to be false.
One part of Lansing's story is rather interesting
since it has yet to be fully proven or disproven. To get the
underwater breathing materia, according to him,
you had to get the Area 5 Key during the first disc, take Aerith to
meet the General, then go into Midgar City and
meet the General's sick friend. Aerith would care for him, but he
would still die. Because Aerith tried to help,
the General would remember her and give Cloud the Suichuu Kokyuu
materia in Disc 2. According to Lansing, the
one thing that prevents you from doing this little side-quest is the Area
5 Key, which was removed in the first disc only.
He insists that the quest could be partially completed with a Game
Shark.
Now, you get the Area 5 Key by digging at the
Excavator's Site. But you can't even dig at the site until after
Aerith's left for the Ancient City. So you'd
need two codes, one to be able to dig up the Key, and another one to
stick Aerith back in your party (that last part
is easy enough to do :)) Even assuming you had a GS code to simply
put the Area 5 Key in your inventory, you'd run
into another problem almost immediately: while you do see the
General leaving the town after rescuing Aerith
from the church in Midgar, he doesn't appear outside of the city until
the second disc, which means that Lansing wasn't
exactly right; _two_ things were removed from the game, if his
story is true. And the General is a key part
of this so-called sub-quest. That would seem to prove his story false
right there, but the General didn't give the
materia until after you had cared for his sick friend (the guy living in
the
tube near Aerith's house). If you were able to
get back into Midgar with Aerith, and _anything_ happened when you
met the sick man, that alone would be very important;
according to Lansing, the whole point of this quest is to be
able to revive Aerith later, so if it's in there,
it may be for the reason he stated. And if the General appeared when
you left and gave you the Underwater Breath materia
or gave it to Cloud in Disc 2, as Lansing states, then that
would be the first piece of hard evidence to
come forward concerning the rumor.
The game's plot is also a large obstacle in the
way of this rumor. While it seems that Square could have changed the
plot in order to 'cover up' the removed revival
process, that would be a lot of dialogue to change. Even the bit with
Aerith in the church after her death is explained
in the game. The biggest contradiction is that Aerith has NO lines
of her own in any of the other discs, even if
a Game Shark code is used to access her in later discs. Also, the game
freezes if she enters any conversation/event
in the later discs, further discrediting the rumor. The only times she
speaks is when she's saying a quote that any
character in your party would say at the time (such as just after
crashing during the snowboard event). She also
has no extra weapons available to her in later discs, unlike any
other character.
MY OPINION:
No, you cannot revive Aerith. If you really have
to play with her, just use my Game Shark code, okay? :)
Personally I don't know the Game Shark code. I don't have a Game Shark and probably won't get one soon. I think there are too many contradictions to this ending. But my two theories are (scary I have an opinion) that square ran out of time and so they took it out. Or it was all supposed to happen, by killing Aeris it makes you have a greater hate for Sephiroth. And if you got to revive her that might make Cloud and the others not fight as hard. I mean they all had different reasons but part of them is still fighting for Aeris. Also the way she just realized everything by the end of Disc 1. If she came back and then told everyone what she knew, the whole mystery of the game would probably be ruined. Personally I don't think Aeris is coming back! =oþ