Final Fantasy VII/Trivia


 * Caution: Much of the information on this page may be nothing more than coincidence. Reader discretion is advised.

This page is a repository for interesting and unusual details, either present in the game as such or discovered by other means.

Aeris' Resurrection
What follows is a discussion of one of the most well-known plot twists in the history of video games. Few subjects in the field seem to have generated more controversy.

Fact: During this game, Aeris dies. Understandably, this was a really big shock to some players, and they refused to believe such things would happen.

Fact: Apart from cheating, there is absolutely no way to resurrect Aeris. Not in the Japanese version, not in the US/Euro PS version, not in the Japanese new version, not in the fixed PC version. This was the intention of the designers - Aeris dies and stays that way until the end. Hironobu Sakaguchi's mother died and he wanted to put something sad in FF7, specifically as a counterpoint to all of the heroic, necessary sacrifices.

There have been tons of rumors stating the opposite, however. There have been countless fake theories on exactly how she could be brought back. The most famous one of these was Ben Lansing's theory, which he unsuccessfully tried to shoot down when it became a far too popular a rumor.

There are various reasons why it can easily be confirmed that Aeris indeed cannot be resurrected:


 * 1) The designers really wanted this to happen the way it happens in the game. The actual idea was to include a completely unnecessary and dramatic death of a major, sympathetic character.
 * 2) There's nothing about ways to resurrect Aeris in the game script - the solid, physical file on the game CD-ROMs. The script format (at least for PC version) has been deciphered to the point that dialogue can be extracted.
 * 3) There are no further FMVs that point to Aeris or any other alternate ending.
 * 4) Everything related to Aeris happens on the first disc and there's no new content for her in Disc 2 or 3. You can get all of her weapons, the ultimate weapon, and the Level 4 limit break manual on the first disc.  However, there is one trace of Aeris on Disk 2.  If you use a gameshark to hack her into your party, the first time you land in Gaea's Cliff (The ice level after the snowboarding mini-game) She has a unique line that nobody else says.  Some people believe this means she was meant to die a little more into disk 2, e.g. the first time you visit the Crater, instead of right at the end of disk one.

Did you notice?

 * In the Shinra building library, Urban Development library has two books titled "Midgar city map", for sectors "0-4" and "5-8". Generally Midgar is described as having eight sectors, but this would indicate there are actually nine sectors. This is either a simple flaw, or it could be easily explained that the "rich" part of the city, over the plate, is the "Sector 0".
 * In Dio's showroom, you find "Kleine's pot"; a reference to Klein bottles, a three-dimensional progression from the Möbius strip.
 * Most people probably meet Yuffie when Cloud is leading your party, and know that she'll call Cloud a "spikey-headed jerk." However, on Disc 2, it's possible to meet her for the first time when either Tifa or Cid is leading the party. She'll call Cid a "bow-legged old man" and Tifa just "boobs".
 * While Cloud is poisoned by Mako and being taken care of by Tifa, he will allude to a few lines from a song in Xenogears named "Small of Two Pieces - Restored Pieces", and, then mumble the word "Zenogias" in the PlayStation version of the game and "Xenogears" in the PC version.
 * When you return to Midgar, the Shinra building is completely abandoned. If you take the stairs to the floors you can't reach in the elevator, nothing has changed. Employees are still walking about and nobody has cleaned up the bloody mess left by Sephiroth's attack.
 * The English version of this game contains a lot of errors, not only grammatically but also typographically. For example the Touph Ring accessory should be Tough Ring. Aeris' name was spelled in how it was pronounced (Aeris instead of Aerith). Logically, this may be one of the reasons why an international version was released.

Culture references

 * A poster in Midgar can be seen in the opening movie and some other places. It says "Loveless - My Bloody Valentine". This is a reference to real life's My Bloody Valentine band and album Loveless (though in the game, "Loveless" is also a title of a play).
 * An excerpt from Joseph Haydn's Creation is heard in the cut scene video where Sector 7 is destroyed and President Shinra admires his handiwork. (The Creation is not the end boss music; many people seem to get these mixed up because "The Creation" appears in the credits and the end fight music does not.)
 * The lyrics of the music (One-Winged Angel) heard in the game's gigantic big end fight were taken from Carmina Burana - a collection of medieval secular songs, and a Carl Orff's famous composition involving the lyrics from 1937.
 * Shinra's cannon is emblazoned with the name "Sister Ray". "Sister Ray" is also the last song from the album White Light/White Heat by American rock group The Velvet Underground.

Name meanings

 * Sephiroth: In Kabbalah, the ten attributes of God through which He projects himself to mortals.
 * Heidegger: A reference to German philosopher and Nazi Party member Martin Heidegger.
 * Vincent Valentine: Vincent Price, a horror movie actor, and St. Valentine, who died for love.
 * Barret Wallace: Barret is the Japanese pronunciation of "bullet" (though it could also be a reference to the Barrett M82 anti-material rifle). Wallace is possibly taken from Scottish rebel William Wallace (since Barret leads the rebellious group Avalanche).

Both Vincent's and Barret's names have very common parts, one could not possibly assume that Vincent automatically refers to Vincent Price, or Wallace referring to William Wallace. Both of their names could have originated in a different way, but without a quote from the character designer, it's impossible to speculate the exact origin.