Aerith’s trial in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Spoilers)

Much of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s ending is drowned in deliberate obfuscation and theatrics, so when it does actually present something raw and honest, it sticks out above the nonsense. As Cloud and company descend further into the Forgotten Capital, there’s a point at which each of them faces a trial drawing from a difficult moment in their past. They’re forced to re-experience the trauma that has pushed each of them to this point in their journey, including Aerith. The last of the Ancients is forced to relive the night she lost her mother.

The entire sequence is devastating on several fronts. Watching Aerith’s mother, clearly nearing the end of her life, trying to soothe her daughter’s anxiety by talking about them going on an adventure is gut-wrenching. You then play as a young Aerith pleading with uncaring adults in Midgar as she tries to find help, only to see her break down again as she realizes she’s powerless to change things. Final Fantasy grounds so much of its fantasy in raw human emotion, and Rebirth loses all sense of that in a convoluted multiverse play. But as you reach the end, it’s nice to look back at one of the most memorable scenes in the game and remember that when Final Fantasy stays grounded in those feelings, it fucking hits.