4. Aeris - Use The Phoenix Down/Revive Materia To Revive Her
For many this is
the gaming death - the first time they ever encountered even the idea of Father Time's toll as a child, and the first time the realisation that a game could make you truly care about someone came about. If you've somehow not played FF VII (and the further way get away from 1997, the less likely it is people will have) you need only know you've essentially lived with a perfect cast of characters for what feels like a lifetime, putting upwards of 50-80 hours into the game speccing them all out and perfecting magic/materia setups. Y'know, just really enjoying their company. Then big bad Sephiroth and his rather large sword comes flying in and skewers poor Aeris right through the belly button. It was tragic, nobody saw it coming and plenty people still get emotional thinking about it.
Hang on a minute though... This was covered in a recent article on
game plot holes everyone seems to forget about, as okay sure, the Phoenix Down item works to prevent being knocked out in battle (characters have definitely been cut and slashed to ribbons by this point through in-game fights) but what about the Revive materia whose very
name is built on, well, reviving things?! Delve into the rumours and behind the scenes tidbits surrounding FF VII (like the shot of Aerith next to the Highwind airship or the empty spot for her to stand in the closing battle) and it becomes more and more plausible that she was never supposed to die in the first place - opening up the idea for a reprise at the last minute by way of this exact method. Maybe when Square eventually do their remake, they'll include the option?