Saddest death in the compilation?

[Knuxson]

I voted for Zack. I feel like I should say Aerith, but for some reason her's doesn't make me feel as sad. Maybe it's because I have seen it so many times over the years.

 

[CameoAmalthea]

I haven't finished Crisis Core yet, so I can't say my feeling won't change and I fully expect to be gutted by the ending, however for now I'm saying Aerith. After Zack dies in Crisis Core, the game is over. After you lose Aerith, you have to go on without her, all the time missing her. There's an ongoing sense of loss because of that. When she dies so early in the game and you know you won't see her again, it's gutting.

For me, Aerith was the first character I actually liked in the game. (Aside from Jesse, but she's not around long enough to really get attached to). I have a stream of continuousness twitter feed that does over my feelings on the game start to where I am now, and with Aerith I sort of fell in love with her. She was like a point of light for me in the game and I always had her in my party.

When she left I was so upset and angry. I wished someone could just grab her and do whatever it took to keep her from running off alone. Then you find her again, only to have her snatched away. And I knew it was coming (though I tried to play the game as though experiencing the story for the first time and really feel it) but ok I did a live stream of this and you can see my gutted face:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXourOEmIK4

at about 5 minutes into this. Which sort of speaks for itself, but let's just say I cried.

 

[Rydeen]

As previously mentioned in this thread, I think the deaths of Aeris and Zack are of a different nature and thus hard to compare. With Zack you go through the whole game following a young kid who grows up and faces hardship who you know is going to die, in vain, and in a bloody manner, which gnaws at you as you come to relate to Zack's character. One thing I thought was interesting was how FFVII was about creating your own person and coming to terms with it, defying the force that seeks to destroy your individual identity, whereas Crisis Core was about legacies and living on through others, creating an interesting push-pull dynamic. There was so little said about Zack in the original game, and although this is due to poor writing it actually makes CC more tragic, especially as you see Aeris, one of the few things left of his life, die. Anyway, I think Zack's death follows a more traditional narrative, building you up and then ending with the emotional release, whereas Aeris' death, as it is famous for, cuts right into the story, with little forewarning. When you look at it this way, her death is quite poignant and daring because of its sudden and completely frivolous nature, which makes it that much more tragic and realistic.

 

[Geostigma]

I wanted to vote for good old bugenhagen, but the more I thought about the less sad it seemed.
It was one of those beautiful "im ready" kind of deaths that are rare and his knowledge of the planet made it less tragic.



Ehh still voting for the old guy.