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RUMORS AND SPECULATION
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This section contains a list of the most popular rumors in Final
Fantasy 7. I've attempted to answer them using my own knowledge as well
as information that others have shared with me. After listing the
rumor (as a question), I offer reasons (not evidence, mind you) why the
rumor may or may not be true--but I'm not saying that my arguments are
sound. Finally, there's my own opinion on the rumor. Remember, it is
YOU, the reader, who must decide what's true and what's not--don't blame
me for voicing my opinion since I'm not saying that I am correct. I'm
only presenting my belief concerning each rumor.
Also, I'm not trying to say that any of the FAQs contributors are liars
or that they're just making stuff up--several people have told me their
opinions/knowledge about the rumors and I have no intention of making
them into scapegoats. What they say is perfectly valid: as NONE of
these rumors have been PROVEN to be true or false, these people are just
as right or as wrong as the rest of us. There is _no_ hard evidence in
the game concerning these rumors--even the 'Suichuu Kokyuu' materia
only _suggests_ that the Aerith rumor could be true as it has no effect
in the game as far as anyone knows. And it IS perfectly possible that
Square had planned alternate endings but never put them on any of the
discs once they decided to can other parts of the game.
In an interview with the lead members of Square, it was stated that
the Aerith rumor is just that, a rumor. It was also said that no other
endings were made because they (the Square programmers) would have to
create entirely new endings depending on whether or not Yuffie or
Vincent had joined your party. Just so you know.
The section following this one contains all the documents that I used in
presenting, proving, and disproving these rumors; as you'll see should
you read it, there are many reasons why a rumor could be true or false.
All I'm trying to say is that we're all entitled to our own opinions,
and my opinions shouldn't be taken as the truth or be used as a reason
to put down others just because they have good reason to believe that a
rumor is true or false. And if you haven't even played FF7, you're not
even in a position to judge anybody anyway, are you?
With that little reminder out of the way, on with the rumors:
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Can you revive Aerith after her death in Disc One? I heard that Square
had planned to let you resurrect her, but then decided against it. Why?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT SUPPORTS THIS RUMOR:
Originally there was a rumor spread by a certain individual named Ben
Lansing who claimed that Square had originally been working on a
scenario which, if completed, would allow you to bring Aerith back to
life using a special materia. The reason why people thought he had
so much crediblity is because he said he was a former temporary worker
for Square USA, and the information he presented to the 'outside world'
seemed impossible for someone to know unless they had been affiliated
with Square.
In the game itself, there is an Independent Materia called 'Suichuu
Kokyuu' which means 'Underwater Breath/Respiration'. You can only
get it using a Game Shark code. According to Mr. Lansing's story, you
needed a materia that would let you go underwater in order to revive
Aerith, so this could be that materia that he was referring to, since
there are no other materia in the game with that name or power. Also,
if you return to Midgar City in Disc 2 or 3, you will see a flickering
image of Aerith in the church that Mr. Lansing claimed was left in by
mistake--it was supposed to be followed by a sequence with Cloud
talking to Aerith's ghost. Lansing also gave several reasons for
Square removing the revival process, including the fact that Square was
pressed for time. This is true--Square had already delayed the game
once and finished it shortly before it was shipped, and the obvious
incompleteness of the ending adds even more credence to his story.
Also, before the final battle, there is an extra ledge that no one is
standing on. And if you are able to make three groups, one group will
only have two members. Some people say that that proves that there
should have been an extra member in your party, who would be Aerith.
WHAT CONTRADICTS THIS RUMOR:
Mr. Lansing claimed that the materia that would let you go underwater
was a yellow (Command) materia. The 'Suichuu Kokyuu' materia is
purple (Independant) instead. Also, it has no known effect in the
game, even if one has follows the instructions concerning the Materia
that Lansing explained in his message. Furthermore, he claimed that
there were two alternate endings you could see if Aerith was revived,
but it has been proven that there are no extra FMV ending files on
any of the discs, and even if the ending wasn't an FMV sequence, no
one has yet discovered any of quotes or graphics that might have been
used in either of the 'alternate' endings. Most people also overlook
the fact that, although it's difficult, you CAN get her 4th level
Limit Break before her death near the end of Disc One--it was
originally thought that if you couldn't get it normally, why would
it be in the game unless Aerith could get it after her revival? Now,
of course, that has been proven to be false.
One part of Lansing's story is rather interesting since it has yet to
be fully proven or disproven. To get the underwater breathing materia,
according to him, you had to get the Area 5 Key during the first disc,
take Aerith to meet the General, then go into Midgar City and meet the
General's sick friend. Aerith would care for him, but he would still
die. Because Aerith tried to help, the General would remember her and
give Cloud the Suichuu Kokyuu materia in Disc 2. According to Lansing,
the one thing that prevents you from doing this little side-quest is
the Area 5 Key, which was removed in the first disc only. He insists
that the quest could be partially completed with a Game Shark.
Now, you get the Area 5 Key by digging at the Excavator's Site. But
you can't even dig at the site until after Aerith's left for the
Ancient City. So you'd need two codes, one to be able to dig up the
Key, and another one to stick Aerith back in your party (that last
part is easy enough to do :)) Even assuming you had a GS code to
simply put the Area 5 Key in your inventory, you'd run into another
problem almost immediately: while you do see the General leaving the
town after rescuing Aerith from the church in Midgar, he doesn't
appear outside of the city until the second disc, which means that
Lansing wasn't exactly right; _two_ things were removed from the game,
if his story is true. And the General is a key part of this so-called
sub-quest. That would seem to prove his story false right there, but
the General didn't give the materia until after you had cared for his
sick friend (the guy living in the tube near Aerith's house). If you
were able to get back into Midgar with Aerith, and _anything_ happened
when you met the sick man, that alone would be very important;
according to Lansing, the whole point of this quest is to be able to
revive Aerith later, so if it's in there, it may be for the reason he
stated. And if the General appeared when you left and gave you the
Underwater Breath materia or gave it to Cloud in Disc 2, as Lansing
states, then that would be the first piece of hard evidence to come
forward concerning the rumor.
The game's plot is also a large obstacle in the way of this rumor. While
it seems that Square could have changed the plot in order to 'cover up'
the removed revival process, that would be a lot of dialogue to change.
Even the bit with Aerith in the church after her death is explained in
the game. The biggest contradiction is that Aerith has NO lines of her
own in any of the other discs, even if a Game Shark code is used to
access her in later discs. Also, the game freezes if she enters any
conversation/event in the later discs, further discrediting the rumor.
The only times she speaks is when she's saying a quote that any character
in your party would say at the time (such as just after crashing during
the snowboard event). She also has no extra weapons available to her in
later discs, unlike any other character.
MY OPINION:
No, you cannot revive Aerith. If you really have to play with her,
just use my Game Shark code, okay? :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
What about extra characters? Aside from Vincent and Yuffie, isn't it
true that you can have Sephiroth or 'Young Cloud' join your party?
And what about the character called 'Baakusa'?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT SUPPORTS THIS RUMOR:
The fact that Sephiroth does join your party, at least for a time.
Like any playable character, he can fight, cast magic, and even use
magic outside of battle. Plus, you can move him around and check
his stats. If you use a Game Shark code, you can dequip and equip
him with materia and other equipment. As for Baakusa, he is
supposed to be an imp (better known as a kappa to Japanese gamers)
that was removed from the game due to time contraints, as the rumor
goes. Using the same code that enables Sephiroth to join your party
at any time, you can also see two extra character portraits, made up
of red hiragana (characters used in the Japanese alphabet). One of
those could belong to Baakusa. And Young Cloud has his own portrait,
his own stats, and can use materia. He can equip things, raise
levels, and be controlled in battle just like a normal ally.
Throughout the game, Cloud battles his 'self'--that second self could
be the younger part of him, or Young Cloud.
WHAT CONTRADICTS THIS RUMOR:
Even with Sephiroth in your party, he is still controlled by the
computer. And like with the GS code that lets you use Aerith,
Sephiroth cannot have a conversation or appear on the screen without
the game hanging, indicating that he has no lines in the game, not
even 'general quotes' that any ally might say. Furthermore, he has
no weapons available to him aside from the Masamune (which doesn't
even have it's own icon; see below), and his portrait cannot appear
on the PHS screen. To add to that, Sephiroth does not have any
Limit Breaks; if you use the GS code, it says that he has Vincent's,
which is impossible*.
While one of the two portraits could conceivably be for Baakusa, the
translations of the characters spell out 'Now Printing'. A likely
conclusion for this would be that this was used while the portraits
were still being drawn/decided upon, a theory that is further backed
up by the fact that in the FF7 demo disc, none of the characters have
the same portraits used in the finished version (in fact, Cloud has
Young Cloud's portrait!) If you load up either of the 'Now Printing'
portraits using a Game Shark code, you'll see that they don't have
their own stats/limit break/etc. Also, each character in FF7 uses his
own type of weapon, but Baakusa has none, while even Sephiroth had a
weapon (although the icon with it was Vincent's gun, indicating that
perhaps you would never be able to buy/receive new weapons for Seph,
which further discredits that rumor). The 'Now Printing' portrait
won't fit in the PHS screen, either.
How could Young Cloud join your party--through a time warp? Remember,
Cloud's flashback takes place several years ago. Even if you could
get Young Cloud, what would the point be? Young Cloud doesn't have a
Limit Break; use a code and it says you have Cait Sith's (which is a
bug since Young Cloud, like Sephiroth, can't use it, even if you
activate a Game Shark code to have an fully-filled Limit Meter). And
the Cloud in your party can do everything Young Cloud could do, too.
He also starts at a higher level. Like the other 'hidden' characters,
Young Cloud's portrait is messed up if you try to stick him in the PHS
screen. So even if you could get Young Cloud, why would you want him?
* Vincent is NOT Sephiroth, despite what some people say. The only
reason why Vincent and Seph seem to have some similar abilities in
terms of 'glitch' weapons and 'glitch' Limit Breaks is because
Vincent is considered by the game to be the last normal character
in the game before Sephiroth. Although he comes before Cid in the
'Character Select' code, that's because the nine playable characters
appear in the earliest order that you could receive them. In terms
of Limit Breaks and weapons, Vincent always appears before Sephiroth,
and the only reason why the handgun icon is used for Sephiroth's
Masamune is because you're not able to equip Sephiroth with other
weapons--the designers of the game had no need to make an icon
because no one could ever see it normally, so they just used
Vincent's. Even if you don't believe this, Vincent's past (he was
a former Turk) goes against the plot--and Sephiroth was already
alive at the time (in his human form...I'm not talking about the
'copy' Sephiroths that you see throughout the game. Sephiroth
protects his body by placing it in the Crater, but before he learned
that he was inhuman, he only used his real body). And no, I don't
believe the theory that Seph could have controlled his alternate
form of 'Vincent' by mind control, the same way that Reeve controls
Cait Sith. If I got the plot confused--well, hey, I can't read any
of it, so don't blame me.
MY OPINION:
Vincent and Yuffie are the only 'hidden' characters in the game--the
only time when Sephiroth is in your party is during Cloud's flashback
at Kalm Town in Disc 1 (when Cloud is replaced by Young Cloud), and
there is no character named 'Baakusa'. Once again, if you just have
to have either Seph or Young Cloud in your party, try a GS code.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Well then, what about the 'Chocobo Control' materia? You can have
a Chocobo join your party if you use the materia, can't you?
------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT SUPPORTS THIS RUMOR:
There is a chocobo 'portrait' in the game, just like the one that your
allies have. Also, the chocobo isn't a true enemy in the game, he/she
will only atack if you hit it first. Plus, you can ride around on them
and breed them, so perhaps they're friendly enough to want to fight
alongside your allies.
WHAT CONTRADICTS THIS RUMOR:
The portrait is used simply for the purpose of naming a Chocobo during
the breeding scenario in Disc 2 onwards. Should you use a Game Shark
code to add the portrait to your party, you'll see that it doesn't have
it's own stats/limit breaks/etc, and the portrait glitches in the PHS
menu. And, there are no weapons in the game made for a Chocobo to use.
Most importantly, there isn't even a 'Chocobo Control' materia in the
game, and you can't control Chocobos using 'Ayatsuru', either. Even if
you could, you could probably only make them attack someone, not join
your party. If they did have such a command, it would be the sole
exception out of every other controlled monster's commands in the entire
game.
MY OPINION:
There is no way to have a Chocobo join your party at any time during
the game.
If you think about it, all these rumors contradict each other. There
are nine spaces in the PHS screen, and supposing you could revive
Aerith, they would all be filled. But, one character is always leading
the party, so that clears up a space. None of the hidden characters
portraits will work in the PHS screen. However, Cloud's portrait fits
in the PHS screen, so that would leave three free spaces (your active
party). So it must be possible, right? Wrong. There are four rumored
characters: Sephiroth, Young Cloud, Baakusa, and the Chocobo. So where
would the fourth one go? And if you say that they'd all fit if you
couldn't revive Aerith, then, okay, you may be right--but that means
that the rumor about bringing Aerith back to life is false, and if it's
true, one of the above rumors is also false. If you say that maybe
they only join for a little while (maybe while Cloud is recuperating in
Mideel or for the period of time between Aerith's death and the first
chance you would have to supposedly 'revive' her), then that would also
be an event unlike any other event in the game. Sephiroth is only in
your party for a little while, but remember that it's not really your
current party--it's just Young Cloud and Sephiroth during Cloud's
flashback.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
What about other endings in the game? Let's ignore the whole Aerith
thing for a moment? Doesn't the ending in FF7 seem a bit unfinished?
Could it be possible that there are alternate endings, just like in
Chrono Trigger?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT SUPPORTS THIS RUMOR:
Frankly, most everyone agrees that the ending does seem a little
incomplete. And Mr. Lansing said that the 'main' ending was supposed to
have scences with Vincent and Yuffie in it. In terms of FF7's plot, the
ending seems to wrap up Cloud's history and his troubles, but you never
hear about anyone else, with the exception of Red 13 (and that's not
explained either). Taking the Aerith rumor into consideration,
throughout the game, Cloud is in situations in which he either must pick
Aerith over Tifa or show that he is a caring guy or an uncaring guy.
But, these choices affect the game in a very minor manner--the characters
reactions change a little, and the 'date' scene in the Gold Saucer
changes depending on the choices you made, but after Disc 1, the whole
thing is dropped. According to information concerning the other endings,
Aerith lives happily with Cloud or commits suicide (read the Documents
section below) because of Cloud's actions. Considering the number of
times when Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith get involved in a situation like the
ones I mentioned, it seems very likely that there could be other
endings.
WHAT CONTRADICTS THIS RUMOR:
People have searched the third disc and have proven that there are no
extra ending FMVs. Even if the endings didn't use FMV, this goes
against the design of the main ending. And despite replaying the game,
no one has yet found a significantly different path to take, (failing
all 4 Huge Materia quests has virtually no effect on the game's course)
nor have they found any other endings.
MY OPINION:
I hate to say it, but it seems that there's only one ending in the game.
I think that there could have been other endings planned, though, even
if they were never actually completed or put on the discs. I don't know
if people have tried searching Disc 1 or 2 for the alternate endings,
but it seems a little odd to have to switch to an earlier disc to see
an ending sequence, so there may not be any endings on those discs,
either.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Okay then. Square DID cut stuff out of FF7, for whatever reason.
There WAS going to be more in the game originally, right?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT SUPPORTS THIS RUMOR:
Just about everything :) There are disabled Materia in the game,
unused portraits (albeit possible test portraits at that), a seemingly
unfinished ending, and the fact that Disc 3 seems incredibly rushed,
which would be likely considering that Square announced that FF7 would
be a 3-disc game instead of a 2-disc game very late into their
production of the RPG. There are many graphical glitches that could
have been easily fixed (such as when you view most characters up close),
and both the actual game itself and the mini-games could have used some
playtesting (as people and game reviewers have both said). One rather
interesting point that no one has yet mentioned is that there are three
spaces for each Limit Break level, both in the Main Menu sub-screens and
on the red window that appears when use use a Limit Break in battle--it
could be that characters were originally going to have extra Breaks, but
this was dropped when the programmers began to run short on time.
WHAT CONTRADICTS THIS RUMOR:
Few games that are designed are ever released exactly the way they
were thought up. This is due to a number of reasons; lack of money,
time contraints (which Lansing hinted as being the biggest reason why
Square may have cut things out of the game), or lack of interest from
both the programmers and the consumers. FF7 is a complete game in
terms of being able to play, understand, and beat it, so it was
released in a 'usable' form. And even using GS codes, it has been
discovered that there are no other Limit Breaks in the games aside
from the ones your characters can normally get in the game.
MY OPINON:
Cuts in the game? Absolutely! Like I said above, not every game is
released exactly the way it was intended to, but I think the main
reason why everyone got ticked off about FF7 is because so much was
removed at the last moment. There's only one ending on the disc, in
my view. Does that mean that Square never planned any other endings?
Of course not! In my honest opinion, I do think there were going to
be more hidden characters, and I do think that Square may have toyed
with the idea of being able to revive Aerith. Just because none of
this is evident in the final version doesn't mean it never happened.
FF7 was put together very hastily and it seems like the programmers
may have changed their minds as to what works and what doesn't
throughout the game. The 'Materia Select' code and the extra
character portraits show that. Even if the portraits were just test
images to be used before the real ones were put in, you think the
programmers would clean things up and remove them before putting out
the finished title. Same for the 'Active Battle' debugger that
happens as a result of the Item Select Game Shark Code. And the sudden
change from 2 discs to 3 before FF7 was released was also very
convincing--there's only one new area on the third disc. Everything
else, from the bonus areas to the Ultima Weapon, all show up first on
the second disc. If you think about it even more, what's the difference
between discs except for FMV? The 'FMV Viewing Trick' proves that ALL
the discs have the same program on them; I played through several areas
of each disc that would seem specific to that disc with another FF CD in
the PlayStation, and they all loaded and played (like the snowboard and
submarine sequences, which aren't available in Disc 1, or the whole
first few hours of the game, which can't be reached in Disc 2 or 3 since
Area 7 of Midgar City is destroyed early on in Disc 1.) The only
difference between Disc 1 and 2, and 3 are the FMV files, but all the
discs have at least some of the same FMV on them (the lift in Junon
Town, the observatory in Cosmo Canyon, and the sky lift going to and
from the Gold Saucer are on all three discs, and the bit with the
rotating silver car can be found on Discs 1 and 3, at the least). So
yeah, I'd say that FF7 definitely has had some parts that were not
implemented and/or cut out for various reasons.
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Will FF7 be just like the Japanese version when it is released in
English? Will anything be added or removed? Who's handling the
translation if there's no more Squaresoft?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(All the information below is from PSX Power <
www.psxpower.com> except
where mentioned)
Apparently, FF7 _will_ be changed when it is released in the US. In
addition to the obvious translation of text, the following changes
will be made:
- 'The overall difficulty setting during battle sequences will be
balanced.'
Thank goodness for this one! This means that instead of a single
character being able to wipe out a boss all by him/herself, you might
actually have to _plan_ a strategy in order to win the battle! The
bad part about this is that the HPs and stats of the monsters will
probably be changed, making my monster list useless *sniff*.
- 'The interface with the Materia exchange will be improved, allowing
gamers more choices during gameplay.'
The exact wording of this is a little unclear, but it would seem as if
the Materia system will be altered so as to be a little more user-
friendly. It's not bad as is, but it could use some improvements, such
as a command to dequip all characters (active or not) of their Materia.
It'd also be nice if you could equip/exchange Materia in battle. What
really needs reworking is the Item Menu (you can't equip weapons in
battle, like you could in other FF games. It'll also be interesting to
see what they do about the 'item organizing' commands, since one of them
arranges items according to the Japanese alphabet.)
- 'Additional "Weapon" monsters have been added.'
Apparently, the two Weapons that you don't fight (the one that attacks
Junon by sea and the one that attacks Midgar by land) will be fightable
in the US version. Furthermore, if you go to:
http://www.gamefan.com/hot/archive/7_97/pics/
You can see pictures of a green Weapon running around underwater (and
there's a timer going as well). There are also pictures of a red
Weapon monster stomping around in the KoreruSabaku (Corel Desert; it's
the huge 'dirt pit' around the Gold Saucer). You may only be able to
fight this monster via the Buggy or the Highwind.
- 'A few select scenes have been augmented to clarify the storyline.'
Sony claims that 'no portion of the story has been changed'. So, it
seems that all that will happen is that many of the unresolved and
unexplained events in FF7 will be made more clear, such as Cloud's
real past, the connection between Sephiroth and the Jenova project,
and other events. The above statement doesn't mention anything about
repairing the apparently unfinished ending sequence, but perhaps they'll
put in a few lines of text explaining what happens to our heroes after
the end of the game.
- You will now have 10 spaces to enter a character's name instead of
six (this info comes straight from the UnOfficial Squaresoft
Homepage).
Some of you already saw this coming. After all, 'Sephiroth', 'Vincent',
and 'Cait Sith' are all longer than six letters, when spelled in English.
Furthermore, this modified version of FF7 will also be released in Japan
as well (in Japanese, of course). Now, this may just be speculation on
my part, but the agreement between Sony and Square (as I see it) is that
nothing that is normally in the game will be removed or altered. This
does _not_ prevent them from removing the disabled materia, the 'test'
character portrait, and any reference to Aerith's ressurection. I
wouldn't be surprised if the 'augmented scenes' change includes removing
certain mentions of Aerith's death from Buugen Haagen's conversations,
and I'm sure that the guy standing outside Midgar City in Disc 2 and 3
will have his dialogue re-worded to a certain extent. This is just my
opinion, but it seems very likely to me, since Sony can do this without
anyone knowing (aside from those of us with GameSharks :)) I had always
been wondering what the translators would do about the disabled stuff
(call it 'dummy' materia, actually translate it into English, or
something else), but it looks like it could just be removed.
The actual translation of the game is being handled by Sony, since
Squaresoft (USA Squaresoft, mind you) has been disbanded ever since
the release of Secret of Evermore some time ago. However Square is
working in conjunction with Square USA when it comes to adding the
extra stuff (such as the Weapon monsters).
=========================================================================
THE DOCUMENTS
=========================================================================
Here are the documents the 'Rumors and Speculaton' section was based
upon (it was also based upon personal experience, use of GS codes, and
newsgroup discussions, particularly in alt.games.final-fantasy). All
have been edited for space and so that they could fit this guide:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This original document below was located at Miranda's Cafe (the address
is in the Special Thanks section):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aerith's Ressurection
NOTICE
A) You *cannot* ressurect Aerith
B) We do not have the required Game Shark Codes to revive her
C) We have NO FURTHER INFORMATION regarding her revival
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The True Aeris Story
This was posted on the FF Discussion Group by Lansing, a temp worker
for Square who did some of the translations. It lays to rest (finally)
the rumors of Aerith's ressurection:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh no. They did it. I wouldn't have known, because I had access to the
full set of FF7 info... but they did. I guess this means that I should
have actually played through things to see if anything had changed,
instead of getting tired of the game after translation purposes. I think
everyone is gonna kill me for my insolence, because I really should have
played through the game more fully before I said anything to make sure it
was still possible.
Throughout the past few weeks, I, myself, have been wondering why people
were having such a hard time reviving Aeris, because according to
everything I saw through the scenario translation process, it could be
done fairly easily. Here's the Aeris revival process, in full.
First off, throughout the game, you must make the logical choice of
things to say to Aeris to indicate that you like her. You must never hurt
her in any way by choice. What happens in scenarios, however, cannot be
avoided (Aeris' beating by Cloud, for instance). Also, with the sick man.
There is no medicine, but you could have Aeris tend to him and make him
feel better, by learning about her heritage and returning to Midgar in
the first CD. By doing this, the "GENERAL" as people call him, would
trust you, and request you go buy his dying friend something from the
store. A simple quest. After doing so, the GENERAL would tell you thanks,
and that if there was anything else you need ever, to ask him for help.
You then see a scene with his friend dying. A sad scene. :(
Now, continue through the game as normal, and after Aeris dies, go on to
the second CD. Once here, return to Midgar with the key from CD1, and the
GENERAL will ask you where the nice girl (Aeris) is. You explain that she
has died, by Sephiros, and that there is no hope in reviving her. There
would be a chance, but only if you could go deep under the waters of the
floating castle (where Aeris died). The GENERAL would tell you that he
thinks he may be able to help, and to come back later. After this
meeting, you were to go on to Aeris' church, where there would be a long
scene with her spirit. If you had been nice to her, she would express a
desire to return to help you. After doing this, return to the GENERAL,
who would provide you with a Yellow materia that allowed the entire group
to travel through water. With this, you could return to the floating
palace, go up to Mr. Fish, and once you touched him, you would be
transported under water, to a cavern, where, at the end, lay Aeris'
orb/life essence. With this orb, Bugen Hagen could complete the ress
process, and you could move on to a happier life with a neater ending.
Well, the FMVs were all completed on time, but a lot of coding was not.
They then delayed the games release by a month (Dec -> Jan). However, it
seemed that even by late December, the coding STILL wasn't finished, so
Square told production to wrap it up quickly. In order to get the game
out on time, SqJP sacrificed what could have been a miraculously better
game than FF7... The main coding that was not finished dealt with
manipulating the transparent polygon of Aeris' spirit in the church.
Since they were forced to wrap production up to meet the many-delayed
deadline, they had to stop with the Aeris process unfinished. So, to keep
things from ever happening, they simply removed the one item that allowed
any hint of the process to take place... The Key to Midgar, from the
first CD. This completely stopped the ability to ressurect Aeris.
HOWEVER, they left out the removal of one thing, and that was the split-
second of seeing the ghost of Aeris once you return to the church.
Unforunately, this, along with the insanely big size of the ending MOV,
are the only hints to Aeris' existence that we have. Other than the
original FF7 scriptline, from which all the above information came.
I ran across this info while talking to John H. (another temp like me)
trying to get some US script from him for our channel's page. Also, Seph
wanted it. I asked him if it would be alright for me to release the
script info in an altered form, and to release info on gameplay, such as
Aeris' death/ress. Then he told me the deadline story, and I almost had a
heartattack. He said that the process can still be done to its
completion, sans a couple of scenes, with the Game Shark, but until
someone develops a MOV player that handles multiple sector files, the
true ending will not be seen.
Oh, and about the ending... There were supposed to be scenes with the
hidden characters, but things got cut short, so they weren't added, and
the end of the ending was terrible, without even the typical "THE END" in
the stars.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is part of an email sent to me from James Smith:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
First of all, the game is 'unfinished'. You may have heard rumors of
thos, but I can swear they are true. The major thing removed was a
large scenario by which you can revive Aerith. In December, when the
game development was being finished, Square got a bit lazy and as a
result just pulled the whole revival process. In fact, the movie files
and code for the revival all exist on the discs, but a small part where
you could get the key to Midgar in disc 1 was removed, making the whole
process impossible. Game Shark allows the parts with her alive again on
disc 2 and 3 possible, but the two other endings are inaccessible..
(Yes, there are two endings, one in which Aerith commits suicide)
Removing the revival also removed the possibility of getting another
secret character, and imp, which I believe you had on your list as
KanjiMaru (I've not seen anything much regarding the char, but that he
had only 1 limit etc.) and strangely, I had heard nothing of 'Kanjimaru
2'. The chocobo part is another secret in the game. Interestingly, from
what I've gathered this part may still be accessible, but I'm not yet
sure. Basically it's a materia that lets you control your chocobos,
which I've been told is not a very large deal anyway.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Smith's second message is:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In response to your question <KM's note - I had asked how Mr. Smith
knew Mr. Lansing>, we met about three months or so ago only, (online).
Because of his relation to Square, he could not reveal the method to
get Aerith back, that is until he left Square at the end of March.
Well, the end of March came, and he left Square. Before he did, he was
talking with a friend about getting some scripts and the full method in
perfect steps for all the secrets, when his friend told him about the
whole removal of it. I think it was in your FAQ the bit about seeing
the ghost of Aerith in the church. Ever noticed how fast the ghost
dissapears? It doesn't fade, and it's not even there for long. It was
at this point that an Video sequence was supposed to start. But Square
just deleted the key, and several parts hinting at her death, but they
did forget the ghost. Yes, the game will freeze in parts of the second
disc, but you have noticed that she does in fact have dialog. But there
is no real point in the discussing the matter. It's impossible in the
Japanese version, because even with the Gameshark it cannot be viewed
in it's entirety. And having discussed it with Lansing, it will not be
fixed for American release anyway. (Or, it is not scheduled to, which
is unlikely to change) If you'd like to know more about it, I can
basically tell you pretty much everything you want. The other two
endings you recieved if:
1. You revive Aerith and were nice to her through decisions throughout
the game.
2. You revive Aerith and were mean to here through decisions throughout
the game.
Come to think of it, why isn't Bakuusa's portrait displayed with those
others? Hmm, that too is a question I need to get some help on. BTW,
Lansing said that another thing that was 'forgotten' was a portrait of
Bakuusa on the save game files. The portrait is supposed to appear
randomly of a 1 in 30 chance, so clearing a slot and saving/deleting
should find it pretty easily. I'll try to find out more so as to clear
the confusion. <KM's note - 'Bakuusa' is the name of the imp/kappa,
I believe, that was mentioned in the first message.>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's some more info. from Mr. Smith:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, it's been a while since I've talked to you, and I've gained a little
information on the whole revival process. I hope you will put it in your
next FAQ, as it clears a few things up and makes me look less like I'm
just 'spreading rumors' :)
Lansing left the web permanently. I tried to contact him, but he
is gone. For those who believe that Aerith was never meant to be
revived, I do pass along this: Lansing insisted that the second and
third endings were on the disc. Yet, by using PSXVideo you can plainly
see that only three ending files (The 'trip' to last boss, the ending,
and Red XIII segment.) So in at least one place there is no validity to
his statements. Yet I could be wrong here too. And what of the 'Chocobo
control' materia? This is not so clear either-- I truthfully don't have
much knowledge past what anyone else knows--that it's a rumor without
basis. Additionally, the secret endings, as Lansing said, were that
Aerith and Tifa argue over Cloud, Aerith attempts suicide, when in the
mad rush Cloud accidentally kills her. How much does this sound like a
Square ending? I'm really not so sure. I do however believe strongly
that Aerith was intended to be revived, and that Kappa/Bakuusa was
indeed supposed to be there. Does it not make sense? But I think perhaps
there is true proof that she was intended to be revived. Why the so
sudden dissapearance in the Church? Why does she have dialog at points
after her death, but in contrast, why does she only have dialog in
certain spots? I think we will truly never know-- Square will never
tell. Yet I believe that in early pictures a 'breathing underwater'
materia was in fact shown, though you as a reader can verify this just
as much as any other rumor. Laid to rest, I don't think we'll find much
more than we now know. <KM's note - the 'Chocobo control' materia was
supposedly an item that you could use to make a chocobo join your party
that you could control in battle sequences.>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's Andrew Vestal's take on the whole Aerith rumor--this document is
no longer at his homepage (the address at the top of the FAQ)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why Final Fantasy VII is Complete
Many have written me, concerned:
Aerith dies. You can't bring her back.
You ask that I start a petition--after all, my first one worked! Square
rushed the game, you say, and released it before it was finished.
Originally, you could bring her back! Make Square give us the TRUE Final
Fantasy VII!
And I smile and politely go about my day's business. But, lately, I have
received too many of these letters to ignore them, and I must I make my
views known.
Square is a video game publisher: they make games. Why? To make money.
But, then, why are movies made? TV shows aired? Books published? Magazines
written? Newspapers produced? For the same reason: to make money. Only a
fool, however, would argue that no important movie or book had ever been
made. Rightful works of art have appeared in each medium. And Square has
done more than any other video game publisher to move video games out of
the realm of mere children's entertainment and into their rightful place
alongside other media.
Square delayed the release of Final Fantasy VII by a full month. They have
also delayed the release of Final Fantasy Tactics, SaGa Frontier, Bushido
Blade, and Tobal 2. Every Playstation game announced to date! Their
profits for the year took a serious hit. Their stock value wavered. Yet
the games were delayed because a substandard product would not be worthy
of the Square name.
But Square, sadly, can't delay games forever. Final Fantasy VI's ending
was originally to have an Amano sketch for each character, but cartridge
limitations demanded they be cut. Chrono Trigger's End of Time was to be
majestic and crystalline. Characters such as Janus and Schala were,
tragically, cut at the last moment. And who knows what other parts of
Square's games never made the final cut? Square cannot always put
everything they want into a game; eventually, they must say "the game is
finished" and release it.
Some still insist the game is unfinished. I should start a petition to
demand the game be "fixed," they say. These people misunderstand the
power of the petition.
The Final Fantasy VII Translation Petition asked for fair and equitable
treatment. It asked that the game not be censored or cut; that it remain
in its original form; that Americans receive, finally, a Final Fantasy
game the way it was written. The petition was succesful, and I am proud
to have supported it, because it asked for justice.
A petition to demand the insertion of Aerith's ressurection, however,
would ask for preferencial treatment. It would selfishly demand more than
others have already received. It would ask Square to retouch a finished
product at gamers' whims. It would ask for these things out of greed, and
I cannot support it.
Square offers you the Venus de Milo, and you would send it back because it
has no arms.
There are rumors that an alternative, superior ending exists, unaccessible
because of Aerith's permanent death. Those rumors are nothing but LIES.
The ending you see is the ending Square originally intended: the largest
movie file on the third disc. The ending, as well, is perfectly
satisfactory; there's nothing "lackluster" about it. A "better" ending
(with Aerith ressurected) is an impossibility. If she had been
ressurected, then she would commit suicide before the end. This is true!
Cloud would try to stop her and fail, for her death is inevitable. Aerith
knew her death was absolutely necessary. Do not presume to know more than
she.
And most importantly . . . Aerith should stay dead.
A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and
there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist.
- Steward Alsop
Aerith's death is a tragedy. I truly do believe this. So was Tellah's. So
was General Leo's. So was the death of every person who ever sacrificed
themselves for a greater cause. But unlike deaths in previous Square
games, Aerith's death carries long-lasting repercussions that echo long
after her passing. For Aerith did not die senselessly. Aerith meant to
die.
Some people are so afraid to die that they never begin to live.
- Henry Van Dyke
Aerith knew her actions would mean her end. But she faced death anyway,
aware that only in death could she avert the coming disaster and save her
world. She gave her life intentionally, purposefully, and with full
knowledge of the consequences. No one ever, EVER forgets that; the
tragedy of her loss is what keeps the small party together.
Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
- Dylan Thomas
Even in death her presence is felt. Her memory guides and leads the party
on its quest. Her spirit appears in silent reminder of her selfless act.
Aerith died. She died! And she died honorably.
Dear, beauteous death, the jewel of the just!
- Henry Vaughan
If Prince Hamlet came back from the dead, would his indecision be
meaningful? If King Lear recovered, would we learn from his folly? And if
Aerith were disinterred mere hours after her death, would her sacrifice
have any importance? Square should be honored that the death of a
character brings about this outcry. It is touching testament to the
games' power: the characters are truly loved. And grief is a natural
reaction to the death of a loved one. As is denial. Now, Square fans
must proceed to the next stage: acceptance.
Do not stand at my grave and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow. I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sun on ripened grain. I am the soothing, gentle rain.
When you awake in morning hush, I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight. I am the stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry. I am not there. I did not die.
- Anonymous
Aerith Gainsborough gave her life so that the world might live. May she
rest in peace.
. . . she smiled, in the end.
- Cloud Strife
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, here's some speculation about the 'disabled' Materia Orbs and
the Aerith rumor from Ian Kelley:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Materia
11. Suichu Kokyu
16. Booster
???? I have no clue whatsoever what the hell either of these Materia do.
My best guess is that they were materias thought up very early in
the gamemaking process, and were scrapped very early on, since neither of
them seems to have abilities that make any sense whatsoever. I was a
little intrigued by the Suichu Kokyu one so I did a little investigation
on that using my computer...I'll talk about it later.
26. Housoku
This is great! I cracked up when I saw this one. It's a joke materia put
in by the programmers. "Housoku" means "Law" in the sense of what lawyers
do. The skill given was "Zeninage" (Throw money) so I guess the
programmers are trying to say you have to throw away your money if you
want to hire a lawyer. Hehehe...^_^
3F Mabarrier
42 Reflek
43 Refuab(???)
These were all pretty interesting. It gives you insight onto how the
programmers initially intended to make the Barrier type spells. The first
teahces you "Mabarrier" 3 times...obviously not a finished Materia, like
Booster. The description says it allows you to cast "Mabarrier."
Reflek teaches you "Reflek" and "Wall," and Refuab (whatever the hell
that's supposed to be) teaches you Wall.
My best guess is this: When they first started programming the game, they
wanted to have all of the spells on the "Barrier" Materia that is
actually used on separate Materia. Then they decided to put Reflek and
Wall together on one materia, then just gave up and put Barrier,
Mabarrier, Reflek, and Wall all on one Materia, the one we see in the
game itself. If you do a little searching I bet you will find a Materia
with just "Barrier" on it, and maybe a Materia with Barrier + Mabarrier
on it.
Now for the stuff on the Suichu Kokyu Materia...
This interested me, cause for a moment I actually thought that Square was
being stupid enough at some point to actually be thinking about having
Aerith be ressurectable. Therefore, I booted up my Disk Block Editor on
my computer, and since I have Japanese system software on my computer, I
converted the ASCII values of each of the blocks to Japanese fonts so I
could read the dialogue. And this is what I found that is *really*
interesting:
It took me an hour, but I eventually found the section where Bugenhargen
is in the place where Aerith died. Around that area, I found some lines
of dialogue that I don't remember before.
(I am paraphrasing this cause I don't remember the lines verbatim)
1. "But at the floor of the ocean is impossible..."
The middle of this sentence started at the beginning of a sector but the
previous sector did not have the first part of the sentence...possibly
this could be if that the Ascii values for a single character get split
in half it turns the first part into garble, and it might have split the
character in the sector before. Either that, or the beginning of the
sentence is stored in another sector. Anyhow, this came just like 2
sectors before the sentence where they talked about whatever the hell it
was you needed at the bottom of the ocean.
2. "[The] White Materia is necessary", literally.
This was about 10 sectors or so after the first line I don't remember.
Since this could mean anything, it might have been there before and I
just don't remember.
<KM's note - He actually says something like this in the game, I think,
although mind you that I don't know much Japanese.>
Anyhow, after seeing this, I have some possible theories for the purpose
of the Suichu Kokyu Materia. There's not a hell of a lot of evidence, but
my guess is that either:
1) The materia is needed to leave the submarine to get the key or
whatever the hell it was underwater that you needed to get. Either that,
or the programmers initially intended for you to go underwater some way
other than the sub to get that key.
2) The materia is needed to get at the White Materia that dropped into
the Water right after Aerith gets killed.
I think the first theory makes more sense, since I found no dialogue
evidence towards a search or subquest for the White Materia, but it does
seem awfully strange that during that FMV sequence they show us in minute
detail whatis happening to the White Materia, when you would think that
they would be focusing on Aerith, who is in the process of dying. ^_^ My
best bet though is that that Materia would be needed to let you get out
of the sub, either to retrieve the key or whatever, or enter the sunken
plane. It does make sense...after all, the monsters in the sunken plane
are stronger than most of the monsters in the last dungeon, yet you get
access to that place towards the beginning of Disk 2. If there was
supposed to be some key to getting in there that you could only get
*after* getting the sub, it might make sense, and the Suichu Kokyu
Materia would be a prime contender IMO for that key, if such a situation
really were to exist. Of course, this is all just conjecture. It is
really interesting though, and I plan to do more research...including
finding the exact address values of any fishy dialogue I see. It's cool,
with those earlier Barrier Materias, you can see how the programmers
planned the game mechanics to go one way, then changed their minds. It's
a waste of space though to leave stuff like that in; they should have
just deleted it.
And oh yeah, one other thing...a search for the ascii values of
the word "Fukkatsu" (Revive, bring back to life, etc.) turned up nothing
that had anything to do with Aerith...I guess the rumor about her
ressurection being possible in any way, shape, or form was just some guy
jumping to conclusions. Oh well, I guess it's more dramatic anyway to
have her die and stay dead anyway. And it wouldn't make sense to have
Square revive a dead character in one of their games, that's not like
them anyway. The closest they came to that was in Chrono Trigger, but
that was less a revival and more of a "jump in time + grab him before he
gets killed" kind of thing.
<KM's note - Like I said, these are just people's opinions...let's not
get on their case because of whatever they did/didn't say, okay? No one
except for the programmers at Square know the real truth behind the game,
and I don't think they'll be saying anything anytime soon ^_^;>
