I knew it was gonna happen, just like everyone here I would assume, still didn't change the fact that i was mashing the PSP yelling "Don't Die Dammit!". Damn I did not think I was gonna cry like I did haha. I was swelling up when Tseng said to go save em. Then Zack sets Cloud down and walks off into the distance as Cloud stretches his hand out.

What really set me off though was when the last three grunts come and Zacks still determined to protect Cloud...dragging the Buster Sword at his side and staggering and then gets shot and that last DMV of Aerith just hovering...showing his mind fading and him trying to survive just long enough to make sure Clouds alright.
Then of course the passing on of the sword and Aeriths reaction, knowing something bad has just happened and Zacks final words.

Biggest tear-jeerker I've seen in a while. Something Square was always good at really lol. Making me get attached to characters only to see them die.

I knew I was never going to play Crisis core because I don't own a PSP so I watched the FMV's and Cutscenes on YouTube and I cried at the ending They made such a small conversation between Zack and Cloud so strong and Cloud's face through the entire thing, where he looked so confused and when he was crying, was just so sad.

When Zack died smiling that was really moving. And lastly when Cloud looked unhappily upwards to the sky before sighing and saying his last words, you could really see his pain.

Man, if someone said they didn't care that Zack died after playing out the game and seeing the ending, I would slap them(well, not really, unless it was some dude i could easily own).
The last few years of Zack's life is lived out so horribly, and then he dies right afterward! =( So sad~

yea... knew it was gonna happen but just didnt want it to happen v.v what an evil game, they make you like zack and throughout the game you knew he was gonna die

I cried-- because it was terrible.

One of the many, many things that made Final Fantasy VII so revolutionary was the death of Aeris. Not only that she died, but the way that she died. It was unexpected, cold.

Looking at the relevant character development and mechanics, her removal was superbly executed. Aeris, as a protagonist, was developed on par with the other characters-- her history, dialog and relationships grew at the same pace as the others. If Square had forced her, made her overtly 'special,' manipulated the player's attachment to her, her impending death would have been much more obvious. The triangle between her, Tifa and Cloud was mid-stride-- they even gave her a final limit break.

There were subtle clues such as Cait Sith's fortune as well as the overworld theme but she was there-- and then she wasn't. Gone. That was that. She didn't have a chintzy, teary monolog before she died.

This is relevant because it made her death hit hard to the characters and the players. Everyone, in game and tangible, felt that loss and it's reality. Final Fantasy VII was a dark, dark game with limitless depth. To me, that is it's most attractive element. Aeris’ death changed everything in game from the motivation to the music. From light and optimistic to desperate and hopeless.

This brings me back to Crisis Crap. Change what they may, the one inevitable thing, the one thing that could not be changed or distorted– Zack’s death, was. When the video started with Zack laying in the rain spattered in blood, I was so hopeful. "For the both of us... you will live." Hand on Cloud’s neck... Perfect.

Except he doesn’t die. He goes on a twenty minute, redundant, cheesy death-rattle. When he does die, he dies smiling. If that’s not enough, when he finally shuts up and dies he starts in on a band-aid monolog again. It was as if Sqeenix does not trust it’s audience to handle profound emotion. They sugar coated it, dumbed it down. No, really guys, it’s cool. Everything is okay. Sure, dude just now full of enough lead to be an environmental hazzard, but it’s okay. He's got wings now! He's a hero! Have some closure. Have some more.

By Zack dying the way he did, I feel that it significantly took away from the legitimacy of Cloud’s character and in the most important places. I wanted to see why Cloud is so messed up– not as an observer but from his perspective. Being given that prozac ending takes the edge off of something essential and honest-- and as an end result looses the capacity for necessary empathy.

Ranting? Not quite. I don't mean this to be rude in any way, so please don't take it that way.

Sharing applicable points with other members of a demographic is considered by some an attempt to initiate intelligent discussion.

Maybe I should make a poll instead about which character has better hair if nobody is interested in anything relevant? I hope your response is not an accurate indication of the activity of this forum. I look forward to having conversations of substance if they are available here.

I am interested in different elements of games than the majority of gamers. My interests exists in games as a credible vehicle for story-telling, something that once belonged only to books and film. That is why character psychology, story structure, music as manipulation, etc are so important to me. Video games have a social-stigma and I'd like to see that removed.

I don't mean to offend anyone with my opinions-- just express them and hopefully find others with interests similar to my own.