Saddest moments in video games – Part I

Right, let’s cut the mustard shall we and start with the saddest moment – for me anyway – in my 22 years* of gaming so far.
No surprises here. This scene always seems to snag the number one spot.

• The year – 1997.
• The game – Final Fantasy VII.
• The console – PSOne.
• The moment in question – Aeris’s death at the brutal, unforgiving hands (technically big shiny sword) of Sephiroth.

SquareSoft – You ba****ds. 30 hours of blood, sweat and tears. All those exp points. All those items. Gone, gone forever. Aggghhhh. What next SquareSoft, who else is for the chop? Heck it’s like Serenity all over again. :-(

Seriously though, this particular scene dominates my memories of playing FFVII, and I’ve quite a few of those as it took me about 60 hours to complete. After Aeris’s death you never quite knew if any of your characters were going to die which steeled the game with a much tenser and edgy atmosphere making it such an involving and compelling game to play.

The one thing that did catch my attention after watching the clip for the first time 6 years is the dodgy midi music. Where did that come from? In my memories it was a wonderful, emotional orchestral extravaganza, but in reality it’s not. Maybe some moments are best left as memories….

You can relieve the sadness of Aeris’s death here. [YouTube clip]

*It all started way back in 1984 with the purchase of Elite for the BBC Micro – Model B.

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