I don't want to get into this again, but it was just never sold that way. And the idea that it's a "sequel" but shares 95% of the same story but accounts for the childish desire to "save Aerith" is, IMO, beyond stupid. The WHOLE POINT of the story is learning to deal with death (Hironobu Sakaguchi was inspired by dealing with the death of his mother when making the original) and that you CAN'T bring the person back. Everyone who played this game as kids thought you should be able to bring her back. But, again, that's the point. Death happens. It's part of life. Many young people had not been through that experience yet, and were literally upset you couldn't revive her. I might have even been one of them. I dont remember.
After having gone through the death of my own mother in recent years, I feel like I finally got it. She's not coming back. Ever. The fact that that Nomura thinks its cool to remove that lesson, and pretty much dump on Sakaguchi's mom's grave and the entire point of the story to fulfill some silly kid fantasy is just ... incredibly disrespectful and short sighted. It's a
bad story. Period.
Again, never ever sold as a sequel. It was a remake. A sequel doesn't tell the same story all over again with a "twist." And I still hold that opinion, but I can "let it go" at this point. I'll check out Rebirth to see what they do. But I'm treating it for what it is. Fan fiction with high production values.
