Don't get me wrong, it had a story-telling and emotional impact when she died in the game, and was the first experience of a major character dying in a video game for me. I'm just saying realistically, if she didn't die, I know she'd be one of my characters that wouldn't get past level 20 because of how little i'd use her.
I agree. I didn't use Aerith at all once I got a different third party member, partially because I knew she was a goner and didn't want to waste time leveling her, but mostly because I didn't think she was that great when I was forced to use her in the game. If her magic was amazing, I would have dealt with losing her later and kept her in the party to make my life easier.
well technically....
Technically, what? I don't understand how that can be a response to my post.
However, I highly doubt the validity of that theory. It's interesting though probably expecting a lot of research from Square when they most likely just wanted a fancy CG cutscene. To think they had any intention of having Cloud more or less bury Aerith alive is a stretch.