X-MAS Poll! - Which FF death were you the most affected by/care the most about?

I agree that as far as NPC's deaths go, King and Queen Eblan's deaths were especially cruel. It's funny because between the translation and my inability to understand the details when I was a kid, I thought that they could have been saved if they had been taken to the Land of Monsters, since I had assumed that it was only in the Land of Monsters that monsters could be peaceful and not go crazy and attack people (which is also why Leviathan attacked the boat...the overworld air made him do it!). I wanted to make an alternate version where his were magically transported there by an NPC, then they would lend their power to Rydia as summons. They would never be able to return home, of course, but they would at least be alive (and since I shipped Rydia/Edge hard this would give him a reason to go back there with her).

Back to the topic at hand, as far as playable character deaths go, Galuf's hit me the hardest because of not only how long he was in the party, but because of how he went down. 0 HP and still standing, he REFUSES to die...until he does. Plus, even though he dies, the skills he develops still live on.

Aeris death would have been a lot more impactful if the storyline of Final Fantasy VII had made more sense. That moment was the instance where one of the most mysterious characters kills the other mysterious character leaving a cast of knuckleheads who are already trying to figure out one mystery. Part of the reason why I'm interested in the remake, despite FFVII being my least favorite Final Fantasy is that I could be clear on exactly is going on from an in-game perspective and not having to consult supplementary material to make sense of the game.

Tidus? Yeah the end was sad but technically he was already dead, just a dream if I remember correctly, same with Aaron wasn't it?

Tidus was a physical dream, but he wasn't dead/unsent. He was very much alive and his own person, which is what made the ending of the cycle so poignant. If only FFX had touched more on the ethics of ending the cycle beyond the impact to Spira and questioned whether destroying the lives of summoned people because the summoner got out of control was right, but instead it took a very "Save Yuna, Save the World" approach.

Auron was dead all along, though.