Up & Down - 3

Sern: The real way to revive Aerith is to call her TENSHI (all caps) which is Japanese for angel, after that you play through the game as normal except you have to make sure you have the maximum possible relationship stat with Aerith (refer to TFergusson's Date Mechanics Guide on www.gamefaqs.com). In the scene just before Sephiroth kills her where you control Cloud trying to resist Sephiroth's commands you walk up to Aerith and input the same cheat code in FFI and IX; R2, L1, R2, R2, Up, X, Right, O, Down, Triangle, L2, R1, R2, L1, Square, Square really quickly (there's no way to confirm if you did this correctly until much later in the game).

After this the game continues as normal until Cloud returns to your party after becoming sick. After this you go back to Bone Village and on your way to the City of the Ancients you will see a flash back of Aerith's death but this time you will see a glowing angelic figure float out of Aerith's body and fly off the screen as she's lying on the floor dead. Once the flashback sequence is finished you will find that you can now climb up some vines to the right of the screen in the area you were in that lead up to a cave. As you enter the cave you will see the angel figure floating above some white materia but it will quickly dissapear into the materia as you approach it, you then pick up the materia which is called Holy Revival (it counts as a Key Treasure much like the Black Materia so you can't equip it or sell it).

Take the Holy Revival materia to the spot where Cloud put Aerith to rest at the bottom of the lake, once again input R2, L1, R2, R2, Up, X, Right, O, Down, Triangle, L2, R1, R2, L1, Square, Square. If you've done this correctly you will see a cut scene where Cloud takes out the Holy Revival materia which the angel figure will then leave and fly towards the bottom of the lake where Aerith rests, you will then see a flash in the water and afew seconds later Aerith will float up from the bottom of the lake with her hair down and glowing white wings (she has this appearance for the rest of the game).

Her level will be the average level of your party and has a weapon called Divine Sceptre equiped which gives her 110 Strength, 200 Attack% and 255 Magic with 8 linked slots and triple materia growth, her armour will be called Blessed Bangle which gives her 170 Vitality and 255 Spirit and also has 8 linked slots and triple materia growth. She also has an accesory called Heaven's Ring which automatically gives everyone in the party Auto-Life.
Additonal notes: You cannot change Aertih's equpiment after reviving her. You will find that the Holy Revival Materia is gone from your key item list after reviving Aerith. Aerith has practically no dialogue apart from where it's compulsary for your party to make a comment. You can talk to Aerith on the Highwind and at the Northern Cave. Aerith will not appear in any FMV sequences including the ending.

Krom: Shit, I thought you had to use strength on the truck to revive Aeris.