Editing Final Fantasy VII (section)

===Scenario===
Sakaguchi was responsible for writing the initial plot, which was quite different from the final version.<ref name="IGNffviii">{{cite web |url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2007/06/04/ffvii-not-being-remade-nomura |title=FFVII Not Being Remade – Nomura |work=[[IGN]]|publisher=[[Ziff Davis]]|date=June 4, 2007 |accessdate=December 9, 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328074809/http://www.ign.com/articles/2007/06/04/ffvii-not-being-remade-nomura|archivedate=March 28, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In this draft for the planned SNES version, the game's setting was envisioned as [[New York City]] in 1999. Similar to the final story, the main characters were part of an organization trying to destroy Mako reactors, but they were pursued by a hot-blooded detective named Joe. The main characters would eventually blow up the city. An early version of the Lifestream concept was present at this stage.<ref name="PolygonRetro"/><ref name="levelmagazine"/><ref name="IGNffviii"/> According to Sakaguchi, his mother had died while ''[[Final Fantasy III]]'' was being developed, and choosing life as a theme helped him cope with her passing in a rational and analytical manner.<ref name="CGVsakaguchi">{{cite journal|date=October 1997 |title=Final Fantasy VII: An Interview With Squaresoft |journal=[[Computer and Video Games]] |issue=191 |pages=53–59 |publisher=[[Future plc]] |url=https://archive.org/stream/Computer_and_Video_Games_Issue_191_1997-10_EMAP_Images_GB#page/n51/mode/2up |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311025933/https://archive.org/stream/Computer_and_Video_Games_Issue_191_1997-10_EMAP_Images_GB |archivedate=March 11, 2016}}</ref> Square eventually used the New York setting in ''[[Parasite Eve (video game)|Parasite Eve]]'' (1998).<ref name="levelmagazine">{{cite journal |title=Yoshinori Kitase interview |issue=25 |journal=LEVEL |language=sv |publisher=Reset Media |date=May 2008}}</ref> While the planned concept was dropped, ''Final Fantasy VII'' still marked a drastic shift in setting from previous entries, dropping the Medieval fantasy elements in favor of a world that was "ambiguously futuristic".<ref name="GTretro"/>

[[File:FFVIIsephirothkillsaeris.png|thumb|right|The cutscene of [[Sephiroth (Final Fantasy)|Sephiroth]] killing [[Aerith Gainsborough]]. This key story sequence has been called one of the most "shocking",<ref name="death"/> "cinematic",<ref name=mostcinematic/> and "genre-defining"<ref name= topmoments/> moments in video games.|alt=In an underground environment on top of an ancient altar, a silver-haired man in black clothing has just used his long sword to stab a brown-haired woman in red clothing through the chest and now withdraws it.]]
When Kitase was put in charge of ''Final Fantasy VII'', he and Nomura reworked the entire initial plot. Scenario writer [[Kazushige Nojima]] joined the team after finishing work on ''[[Bahamut Lagoon]]''.<ref name="FamVIIanniversaryB"/> While ''Final Fantasy VI'' featured an ensemble cast of numerous playable characters that were equally important, the team soon decided to develop a central protagonist for ''FFVII''.<ref name="VIIinterviews"/> The pursuit of Sephiroth that formed most of the main narrative was suggested by Nomura, as nothing similar had been done in the series before.<ref name="FamVIIanniversaryB"/> Kitase and Nojima conceived AVALANCHE and Shinra as opposing organizations and created Cloud's backstory as well as his relationship to Sephiroth.<ref name="IGNffviii"/> Among Nojima's biggest contributions to the plot were Cloud's memories and split personality; this included the eventual conclusion involving his newly created character of Zack.<ref name="FamVIIanniversaryB"/> The crew helped Kitase adjust the specifics of Sakaguchi's original Lifestream concept.<ref name="IGNffviii"/>

Regarding the overall theme of the game, Sakaguchi said it was "not enough to make 'life' the theme, you need to depict living and dying. In any event, you need to portray death".<ref name="gamemaestro">{{cite book |date=May 18, 2001|script-title=ja:ゲーム・マエストロ Vol.4 デザイナー/イラストレーター編|trans-title=Game Maestro Vol. 4: Designer/Illustrator Volume|language=ja|publisher=Mainichi Communications|isbn=978-4839903879}}</ref> Consequently, Nomura proposed killing off the heroine.<ref name="FamVIIanniversaryB"/><ref name="gamemaestro"/> Aerith had been the only heroine, but the death of a female protagonist would necessitate a second; this led to the creation of Tifa.<ref>{{cite book |date=July 31, 2000|script-title=ja:ファイナルファンタジーVII 解体真書 ザ・コンプリート|trans-title=Final Fantasy VII: Book of Deconstructions – The Complete|page=33|language=ja|publisher=Aspect|isbn=978-4-7577-0098-7}}</ref> The developers decided to kill Aerith, as her death would be the most devastating and consequential.<ref name="FamVIIanniversaryB"/><ref name="gamemaestro"/> Kitase wanted to depict it as very sudden and unexpected, leaving "not a dramatic feeling but great emptiness", "feelings of reality and not [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]".<ref name="EdgeMaking"/> The script for the scene was written by Nojima. Kitase and Nojima then planned that most of the main cast would die shortly before the final battle; Nomura vetoed the idea because he felt it would undermine the impact of Aerith's death.<ref name="PolygonRetro"/> Several character relations and statuses underwent changes during development. Aerith was to be Sephiroth's sister, which influenced the design of her hair. The team then made Sephiroth a previous love interest of hers to deepen her backstory, but later swapped him with Zack.<ref name="UOAnniversary"/><ref name="FamVIIanniversary"/> Vincent and Yuffie were to be part of the main narrative, but due to time constraints, they were nearly cut and eventually relegated to being optional characters.<ref name="UOAnniversary"/>

Nojima was charged with writing the scenario and unifying the team's ideas into a cohesive narrative, as Kitase was impressed with his earlier work on the [[Mystery fiction|mystery-like]] ''Heracles no Eikō III: Kamigami no Chinmoku'', an entry in the ''[[Glory of Heracles (series)|Glory of Heracles]]'' series.<ref name="FamVIIanniversaryB"/> To make the characters more realistic, Nojima wrote scenes in which they would occasionally argue and raise objections: while this inevitably slowed down the pace of the story, it added depth to the characters. The graphical improvements allowed even relatively bland lines of dialogue to be enhanced with reactions and poses from the 3D character models.<ref name="CGVsakaguchi"/> Voice acting would have led to significant load times, so it was omitted.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=|first= |title=An Interview with Hironobu Sakguchi |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=22 |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |date=October 1996|page=84}}</ref> [[Masato Kato]] wrote several late-game scenes, including the Lifestream sequence and Cloud and Tifa's conversation before the final battle. Initially unaffiliated with the project, Kato was called on to help flesh out less important story scenes. He wrote his scenes to his own tastes without outside consultation, something he later regretted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mitsuda.cocoebiz.com/friends/kato.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612080900/http://mitsuda.cocoebiz.com/friends/kato.html |archivedate=June 12, 2011 |title=My Friends: Masato Kato |author=Mitsuda, Yasunori |date=November 1999 |work=Our Millennial Fair |publisher=Procyon Studio |accessdate=December 29, 2010 |authorlink=Yasunori Mitsuda |url-status=dead}}</ref>