It was a fatal blow, and outside of battle status and hp contenxt, so you won't do any good with a potion, and a phoenix down is for the Ko'ed, not the dead. Also, Sephiroth came flying down from the sky at lightning speed, which added to the power of the stab.

Also, as if it wasn't heart breaking enough the moment she was stabbed, I doubt Square would have made Sephiroth continue slashing for a few more minutes, and finish by beheading her or etc. (Plus, it would raise the classification ESRB, OFLC or whatever your region uses, far higher than the targe audience, which is rather broad.)

And to do this, would have been very hard back at the stage that FMV's were in then, that's why there aren't any FF's with FMV fight's until VIII's opening.

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/051205.jpg

Explains it :p

That would also make a lot of sense.

There are a lot of things in video games don't make sense that are suppose to be for the sake of the story.

Why did Aerith die from a stab wound when no else would? 'Cause her death was supposedly necessary for the story.

Gameplay=/=Storyline

Simple as that, trust me. Canonically, very few of those lethal bullets, magical spells, or physical attacks actually hit the party. Just because it happens to them in a gameplay battle doesn't mean that it happened to them in the storyline. In reality, the party either avoided or deflected the vast majority of those attacks. In other words, Cloud and Co. aren't able to survive being hit with a flurry of bullets, swords, claws, the elements themselves, and a variety of other incredibly powerful attacks. Advent Children pretty much proved that none of the characters are immune to bullets and iron. The only canon damage the party sustains is the injuries inflicted to them in cutscenes.

That's basically how it works in any RPG. In gameplay, you see the characters get hit with all manner of nasty attacks ranging from meteors to high velocity super lasers to nuclear explosions. Then, in the storyline, they're vulnerable to something as simple as a sword to the gut. I mean, let's face it, the game wouldn't be very fun if none of the attacks hit your characters, would it? That's just how turn-based gameplay works. So yeah, Aerith dies because she was stabbed in a cutscene.

Pretty much.

Though if you look closely at Cloud's face after the battle with HO125whateveritscalled in the Shinra Building it looks as if he has a black eye, which he didn't have prior to the battle

...Seriously?

Well, I guess it's only natural to assume that they'll sustain a FEW injuries considering all the battles they're in...Still, that's some impressive attention to detail.

I've always noticed it because he was closer up than usual and (when the team are talking right outside the tank Aerith was imprisoned in) and it just standed out. It looks as if the black line around his eyes are a little thicker than usual for that particular moment. Anyone else noticed it? please don't let it be just me?

Well, I found the cutscenes on Youtube (it included the scene where Red XIII almost got it on with Aerith, which, by the way, I still find hilarious given the lego-style sprites). Cloud's eye does look a bit darker than usual, so you're definitely not the only one who sees it. Still, I wouldn't really say that it's anything significant. I doubt it was something like the lighting in the laboratory, though, considering the in-game character models look the same pretty much regardless of what kind of environment they're in. Still, there's really no reason to believe that Cloud sustained any kind of visible injury in that battle, leastways as far as his sprite is concerned. If it was anything to be paid attention to, the script would've pointed it out to us, if only subtly. It could be an Easter Egg that the designers threw in there, I suppose.