The game's storytelling was considered revelatory for its time and resonated with most of its audience. The depth of its storytelling, along with its character building, emotional scenes, and cinematic production values, made it a landmark for video game storytelling. Aerith's death in particular has often been referred to as one of the most significant moments from any video game. It is one of the most iconic deaths in video game history, is frequently cited as one of gaming's most shocking and emotional scenes, and cemented Sephiroth's status as one of the most infamous video game villains. The scene topped "IGN"s list of top 100 video game moments, calling it "a genre-defining moment" and representative of "gaming's emotional journey from kids' entertainment to modern storytelling medium". Brian Taylor, writing for "Kill Screen", described a cottage industry of fan theories for how to return Aerith to life or prevent her death. He compared these efforts to the letter-writing campaign to convince Charles Dickens not to let Nell, the endearing protagonist of "The Old Curiosity Shop", die at the end of the book. Taylor affirmed that the acts of discussing these fan theories and dissecting the game code to test them comprise a valid and important part of the experience of the game.