5. Areith Dying In Your Arms - Final Fantasy VII
Square EnixThere are moments that elate us, moments that encourage us. Then there are the moments that define us. The planets align and we are caught, the perfect age for the lesson about to be punched into our stomachs to have a full impact - leaving a mark that will stay with us through life. For some, this moment is realising that Samus is a girl, and having those first strange feelings. For others, this is riding Epona across Hyrule Field and realising that the world can be conquered by an indomitable spirit atop a horse. For us however, it was holding the woman we loved in our arms as she bled to death, and swearing revenge. Final Fantasy 7, also known as the good one (but that title tends to start fights), is an expansive RPG that took hundreds of hours to finish. Near the start of that expansive RPG, the protagonist - a young man named Cloud Strife - meets a young woman. Aerith Gainsborough. A gentle pacifist, who served as a simple wild flower saleswoman on the streets of a dystopia, and a healer for your party of misfits and vagabonds. So she remains, sweet love interest, and someone who is regularly bought back from the dead with items. That is, until the items don't work any more. Aerith is stabbed by your former friend and commanding officer Sephiroth, left to bleed out in a puddle, surrounded by her flowers for the simple crime of being there. Of being a representation of innocence. You find her, and there is nothing you can do. The woman you were meant to spend the next two hundred hours with (a long time for a child) has died as you cradled her in your arms. It may seem simple and childish now, but if you have never played Final Fantasy Seven, find it. Play until just after Aerith's death and understand why this moment is a moment every single person who plays games should experience. This could well be the "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday..." of video games. But we'll always have Midgar.