Spoiler Warning: The following article features major spoilers for Final Fantasy 7 and potentially for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which likely recreates several aspects of the original.
Final Fantasy 7 features one of the most iconic video game moments of all time, a moment set to be remade in some form in the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Fans are once again debating the discussion of spoilers around this moment as Rebirth's January 29 release date looms, prompted by the New York Times after it featured the spoiler on its homepage and sent it to users via a push notification.
Here's a final spoiler warning if you don't want to know anything about Final Fantasy 7 or potentially its second remake in Rebirth.
Aeirth is killed by Sephiroth towards the middle of Final Fantasy 7, and based on marketing from publisher Square Enix, this moment will seemingly end Rebirth. That's not to say Aerith will die in the new game, because various multiverse shenanigans featured in part one, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, suggest Square Enix isn't sticking to the script completely.
This makes spoiler discussions particularly complicated surrounding Aerith's death. Final Fantasy 7 arrived in 1997, meaning its 27 years old, and many fans think spoilers are therefore absolutely fine. But Rebirth isn't even out yet, prompting others to think spoilers are borderline criminal.
"On the one hand it's kind of wild to just put a spoiler on people's phones like that," Reddit user silverinferno3 said of the New York Times notification. "It was absolutely wild to hear my phone buzz and read: 'Will the creators kill Aerith again?'
"On the other, it's basically the 'Vader is Luke's father' of video game spoilers. There's always gonna be someone who hasn't heard of it but at this point the Remake project kinda leans in on you knowing the plot beats of the original anyways, but it would still suck to have the freakin' New York Times spoil you of all things."
Coolnametag chimed in too: "From my point of view, if something is more than a decade old then you can't really blame people for talking about 'spoilery' plot points in public.
"The original Final Fantasy 7 is so old that people who were born when it released are already paying taxes and one of the pulls from the remakes is finding out what is different and what stays the same in the story. So no, i wouldnt count this as a spoiler."
"The game's old enough to rent a car," said Psamtik on ResetEra, where users discussed the NYT article. "Besides, I'd hate to think of how many subversions and swerves in Remake would've flown over the heads of people who weren't familiar with the original." DanGo added: "I've never played a Final Fantasy in my life and I've known this for decades."
While the ending of Rebirth is obviously under wraps, Square Enix hasn't been shy about sharing other details so far, releasing huge dumps of information on several occasions. It's highlighted characters like Cait Sith and Vincent, plus iconic returning locations like Gold Saucer and Junon. The game will feature brand new locations not in the original Final Fantasy 7, too.
Square Enix has also added new playable characters, plus a card game akin to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's Gwent, and impressive fast travel. An ESRB rating has otherwise teased deep cleavage, pools of blood, and even a clue to Aerith's fate.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
