Summary

• FF7 Rebirth's treatment of Aerith's fate is disappointing, lacking the emotional impact of the original.
• FF7 Rebirth overcomplicates simple moments, hindering the storytelling.
• The sequel needs to properly address Aerith's fate to bounce back from FF7 Rebirth's shortcomings.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is an obvious winner in many regards, but when it comes down to the climactic elements that matter most, the game has trouble truly sticking the landing. As a translation of a beloved classic’s middle chapter, FF7 Rebirth has a lot to live up to. Although the technological progress that’s happened in the industry since FF7 released gives Rebirth the opportunity to render the tale in a more immersive way, that boost in fidelity has to be accompanied by strong storytelling to take full advantage.

This article contains massive SPOILERS for events of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and the original 1997 game.Splitting one story across three games obviously requires some tweaks in the way of expansion, but the FF7 remake games have also struck out on their own with some larger changes to the plot. Starting with the introduction of arbiters of fate known as Whispers, the new trilogy teases a lot of potential for the characters to move the narrative in a different direction than before. It’s an interesting prospect that helps justify the retelling, but it also comes with significant challenges of its own.

Aerith’s Death Scene In FF7 Rebirth Is Disappointing

FF7 Rebirth's Biggest Story Moment Is Partly Lost

The biggest emotional punch of FF7 has always lied in the death of Aerith, a tragic scene that makes the intensity of the adventure clear and drives the weight of the narrative home. Although the simple 3D models that carry out these charged cutscenes might seem dated now, it was a cutting-edge presentation at the time, and the power of the images manages to hold up today. Sephiroth’s oversized Masamune blade piercing through Aerith remains striking, and Cloud lowering his fallen companion into the water is as touching as ever.

It seems obvious that FF7 Rebirth would focus on doing these scenes justice, but the approach the game takes ends up being quite the opposite. While Aerith does die in the story, both of these key moments are elided. Aerith’s impalement is replaced with a glimpse of a parallel world where Cloud deflects Sephiroth’s strike, and Cloud releasing her is lost among a haze of his untethered grip on reality, which causes him to see visions of Aerith while his companions face the loss head-on.

The parallel world story also plays around with the fate of Zack Fair, who is attempting to keep Aerith and Cloud alive and well in his own timeline.

FF7 Rebirth Makes Simple Moments Too Complicated

Some Scenes Are Better When They're Straightforward

The cause of all the trouble lies in how much FF7 Rebirth’s plot complicates the idea of Aerith’s fate. Pieces of the parallel world’s story appear throughout the game, but up until this point, this secondary narrative doesn’t push itself onto the primary one. When it comes to the moment of Aerith’s death, the change theoretically serves a dual purpose of offering a glimpse of a kinder fate and maintaining an element of surprise that was initially expended decades ago. In practice, however, it feels like a cheap fake-out that overwrites a more significant moment for minimal reward.

This goes hand-in-hand with a larger sense of the climax feeling less tangible than before. From the skip between the Temple of the Ancients and the Sleeping Forest to Cloud's visions of Aerith after her death, FF7 Rebirth leans into a dreamlike presentation of Cloud's psychic break. There's some value in this approach, as the original game's treatment of Cloud's issues can sometimes feel a bit fast and loose, but it significantly softens the moments that are supposed to ground the fantasy in unforgiving reality.

When it comes to the moment of Aerith’s death, it feels like a cheap fake-out that overwrites a more significant moment for minimal reward.

Over-complication is a frequent issue in FF7 Rebirth, from the strange take on Corel to the scene of Sephiroth acquiring the black materia, and it's at its worst with Aerith's death. These key moments are beautifully simple in the original game, and taking a moment to linger on them gives their emotional impact the opportunity to be felt. Cramming more storytelling goals into the picture makes it harder to do any one thing particularly well, and having a version of Aerith live while the primary one dies feels like Square Enix trying to have its cake and eat it too.

A Lot Is Riding On Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's Sequel

Aerith Still Needs Her Proper Moment

The best outcome of the current approach probably lies in revisiting Aerith's death from Tifa's perspective in the next game, a choice that seems reasonably likely. FF7 Rebirth makes use of more perspectives than the original game did to give each character an opportunity to shine, and a flashback from Tifa's viewpoint could show the scenes as they were originally conceived.

Tifa helping Cloud through his struggles with identity and the effects of Mako plays a major role in the remaining part of FF7's story, so building up the divide in their grasp on reality could strengthen this narrative aspect. There's also the possibility of saving the proper presentation of the scenes until Cloud manages to reckon with them himself, which could make for a powerful emotional moment of its own accord.

This possible silver lining, however, doesn't justify the sacrifices necessary to retool FF7 Rebirth's plot in this direction. The splitting of the narrative makes Aerith's death the climax of FF7 Rebirth, and the moment that the entire game is building toward desperately needs to land. Divorcing the point where the player is supposed to be faced with Aerith's death from the point where Cloud is and muddling it all in a haze of additional threads works directly counter to this goal, and it's hard to imagine walking away from the climactic events and feeling satisfied.

When the middle chapter of a trilogy feels less complete as its own narrative than it did as the midsection of a single game, there's a fundamental problem in the approach to storytelling, and it's a problem that's too late to fix now. At this point, the main hope is that Square Enix will recognize FF7 Rebirth's narrative shortcomings and do everything possible to make the final game have the immediacy and impact that this one lacks. Aerith's death has already been failed once in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and it's important that her story isn't wasted again.