A new Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth PlayStation Blog has arrived, and this time producer Yoshinori Kitase and creative director Tetsuya Nomura delve into two of the PS5 exclusive’s central characters – Aerith and Sephiroth. And by the sounds of things, one of the biggest games of 2024 is going to get emotional.
If you’ve never played the original version of one of the best RPG games, or don’t know the significance of this duo being discussed, then we’d advise saving yourself from major spoilers and clicking away now. Otherwise, crack on.
Musing on Aerith’s character in the blog – more specifically her big moment with Sephiroth – Kitase says that he is “confident that the audience will feel a great breadth of emotion from the extra level of detail in how the characters [Aerith and Sephiroth] are portrayed.” Neither dev offers up the slightest whiff of a clue as to how events will play out, but it’s clear that they’re aiming for the same sort of response players had back in 1997. It’s a gargantuan task, but we can’t wait to see how it materializes.
Though we often think of the interplay between protagonist Cloud and big sword-wielding nemesis Sephiroth as being the game’s main driving force, the One-Winged Angel is also intrinsically linked to Aerith. As we know from how the original FF7 went, the heroine was stricken by more than just tragedy – unless of course, tragedy comes in the form of an unnecessarily-long odachi.
In Rebirth, despite there being plenty of narrative tweaks this time around (hey, Zack!) it doesn’t look like Aerith’s fate is going to take any sort of last-minute detour. Though her demise is ultimately necessary for FF7 to function – both in terms of thematics and general plot – it’s going to really suck to witness it all over again in 4K. At least the original had that awkward blockiness to it that helped dampen the pain.
Should Square be able to recreate the magic and gut-wrenching sorrow of Aerith’s death in the original Final Fantasy 7, then it’ll quickly find itself in our best games list. With FF7R reportedly set to appear once again at the next State of Play, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a fresh trailer focusing more on Aerith and Sephiroth – we’ll bring the tissues.