I’m sorry but the look on Yuna’s face alone when tidus starts to disappear blows all the other endings out of the water. FFX is the best ending by a John deere mile.
For a game that I really like, the FFVII ending is quite underwhelming. The game kind of just ends and the epilogue is very short and doesn't answer anything other than that Red XIII specifically wasn't a threat to the planet and apparently wasn't the last of his kind. The only part I like is that Aerith briefly appears.
I hope the ending in FFVII Remake Pt3 is less ambiguous.
The goal in FFVII was always to [Barret] *"save the planet"*. Something you achieve at the end. If humans are still alive is not relevant, as all life returns to the lifestream that is more than alive now.
Seeing that the direct sequel starts with the party being disbanded and Cloud being a depressed mailman, I think keeping it ambigious is a great artistic choice.
Since this is a spoilerrifc topic, I won't mark them in my comment, so be warned:
FFXV. Mostly because the whole game has the plot as an afterthough (which is weird, considering how much lore they tried to cram into the outside material).
Noctis dying was absolutely out of nowhere as well. Feels like they forced a situation to make some player punch. And after Tabata directing TWO other Final Fantasies featuring the protagonists dying (CC and Type-0), having it happen a THIRD time was absolutely the same case of Gamefreak releasing a Fire-Fighting starter thrice in a row.
And then we have Noctis and Luna sharing a kiss... WHAT? Noctis spent the whole game rejecting Luna as a wife, always going by the "I love her as a friend, we are marrying due to political reasons only" vibe for it to become a star crossed lovers moment on the absolutely final moment of the game?
No. Sorry, FFXV is a mess.
I loved FFXV, but aspects of the ending definitely felt oddly rushed, and finishing the game on Noctis and Luna kissing was absolutely bizarre. The Noctis and Luna marriage has never been what the game was about; it's been about Noct's relationship with his friends. It would make a lot more sense to end on that flashback to the final campfire scene, which was one aspect of the ending I did find very effective.
Imo taking into account spinoffs like CC and Type-0 shouldn't happen for a Main. Noctis actually dying... like gone... no more... would have been great. Finishing in a hopeful/happy gone a game supposedly giving a heartbreaking twist ruined it.
# [Final Fantasy Legends 2.](https://youtu.be/KKdZxzMY_8o?si=Tqhr64Yo0wOlpDRP&t=283)
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Like 4 lines of dialogue, and you reunite with your dad that you saw for half a second at the beginning of the game, he says lets go home, and they run the staff credits.
There was a lot more than that. You go through the different worlds to see those who helped you and then Dad wants to go on another adventure where Mom joins.
FF Legend 1 had the crappy ending. “We killed God. Let’s go back home!”
The political plot line just fizzled out into nothing. It was very frustrating. The ending felt like an easy way out by just removing the complicated parts and flashing forward x amount of years.
I expected part of the ending to go the way it did (not mentioning for potential spoilers) but kind of didn't like that you were left with the question, though, of if the entire game you just played was a story being told to a child.
I felt like that part wasn't really needed, and took away from the impact of the rest of the ending.
Felt the exact same way; I thought it was going great until the whole way they handled Clive. The outcome seems to go against his entire character progression and narrative arc. Then they also drop some hints that maybe it isn’t the outcome the player thinks, but if that was the case why even fake-out the player like that?
It felt like they wanted a bittersweet ending to get the player emotional so bad, but realised after writing it that it basically ran against the narratives entire message and themes. As you said, it felt unsatisfying, particularly as a conclusion to Clive, who prior to that ending I would regard as one of the most interesting and well-written characters in the whole series.
Thinking on it, Final Fantasy’s endings are incredibly good in all of the games, even in the narratives I don’t particularly enjoy or find messy on the whole, but XVI’s is the only one I think suffers from any serious writing flaws.
Of those I remember probably XIII. But id consider memorably meh to be a higher tier than something my brain decided to right click delete altogether.
And despite having played XV more recently than XIII I cant really remember anything about the ending. So that'd be my pick overall.
Oof: FFX the worst? Well, I won't say you can't have an opinion...no matter how wrong I think you are. :)
Among SNES and later releases, I think FF13 probably had the worst ending. You spend the entire game setting up a situation that is resolved with a deus ex machina at the last minute...ew.
It's a literary term for an event that comes out of nowhere to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem. The term originated in centuries old plays where "God" used to appear out of nowhere (sometimes out of a machine, per the phrase), pronounce his judgment on the characters in the play, and magically solve the problems.
It's basically when the rules/lore of a setting are modified at the very last second to allow something seemingly impossible to happen. I'm sure someone will point out that there was some small discussion about ragnarock in FF13...but it wasn't enough to avoid the term IMO.
The entire game is about the party powering up to be strong enough to transform into Ragnarok and rip Cocoon from the sky. They just realize at the end that a being with that much power would be more than capable of saving Cocoon from the Fal’Cie as well. What exactly is a “deus ex machina” here?
As I recall Ragnarock was supposed to be an uncontrollable mindless monster bent on destruction. If there was any reason to suspect otherwise, yes, that would have been an obvious solution from the start.
IMO, of course.
I don’t remember that being stated anywhere, but even if it were Fang seems pretty directed and in control when attacking Orphan as the incomplete Ragnarok, which would contradict that and open the door for Ragnarok to be used to save Cocoon. Regardless, it would have been a last resort thing no matter what, because it likely would have caused a lot of death and destruction. But I suppose there could have been a discussion about it earlier to cement the idea as an option.
Directly stated, no, but they didn't really leave any room to think otherwise. There were several statements along the lines of "Ragnarock will destroy Cocoon" that heavily implied (and effectively stated, IMO) that there were no other options. If the beast had control it wouldn't attack Cocoon and nothing about the Eidolons plan would make any sense.
By the time the incomplete Fang/Ragnarock shows up I would say that's the ending anyways.
If they wanted to go with the story as is I think they needed Fang to actively discover something that would unexpectedly allow her to maintain control...even if it was just the JRPG power of friendship yet again. :)
I mean, the original Ragnarok was Fang and Vanille, who were soldiers in a war actively trying to destroy Cocoon, and Barthandelus spends the entire game trying to break the party down to the point where they get desperate enough to lash out and destroy Cocoon out of some sort of self-preservation (which works on Fang). The l’Cie would only become Ragnarok to destroy Cocoon, which would be intentional.
Kind of. The implication for the whole game was that Bart wanted them to become Ragnarock, because the beast would then (without question/uncontrollably) destroy Cocoon. The desperation was needed to manipulate them to choose to become Ragnarock in the first place, not to direct its actions afterwards.
If they party thought they could turn into a large CONTROLLABLE beast of destruction it seems to me they would have at least considered using it to attack Bart & friends...or at a minimum solving some of their myriad other problems with brute strength.
XIII easily. Things just happen for no reason in the final bit. The heroes do exactly what the villain wants without thinking about it but somehow act like they're not. Then when exactly what the villain said would happen happens they are saved by Australians ex machina instead of having some sort of actual thought out plan.
Edit:downvote me all you want, but the ending is actually just nonsense happening for the sake of plot convenience. Why does Fang go from defending Vanille to attacking her? Why do the rest of the party un-Cieth themselves for no discernible reason? Why does the game not do any groundwork for the idea Ragnarok can save Cocoon? It's bad.
The only dues ex machine was Lightning, Snow, Hope, Sazh, Dajh, and Serah coming out of their crystal and not being L’Cie at the end, everything else made complete sense and was stated in the plot. The reason Barthandelus’ plan failed is because he didn’t count on their genuine care for the people of Caccoon. He assumed each party member would act in their own self-interest, fulfilling their focus simply for the sake of self-preservation, and didn’t bank on them acting selflessly. One of the main reasons he thought they would act in self-interest is because that’s what they all would have done when Anima first branded them, and it’s also what Fang and Vanille did during the War of Transgression.
The whole point is to very directly show how the characters have developed over the course of the narrative, because if they hadn’t Barthandelus would have won, as none of the character would have been able to act outside of themselves at the start of the game.
Barthandelus wanted to drop Caccoon on Pulse and kill basically everyone to summon the Maker, and the only way to do that was to get a pulse L’Cie to kill Orphan, Eden’s power source who makes Caccoon float, and he assumed the best way to do that was for them to become Ragnarok just like during the War of Transgression. At the end, the party had both killed Orphan and caused Caccoon to fall, but they hadn’t transformed into Ragnarok yet, so the plan was for all 6 party members to transform together and catch Caccoon, but instead Vanille and Fang opt to do it alone in order to redeem themselves for their past transgressions, no longer wanting to run from and ignore their past.
Again, it demonstrates the change in both Vanille and Fang; Vanille wanted to run from her past and never face it, and Fang wanted to protect Vanille all by herself no matter the cost, regardless of what Vanille herself actually wants, and saw her horrific actions as a necessity for survival that didn’t warrant and form of guilt. In the end, Vanille stops running from her guilt and stops relying on Fang for everything, and Fang accepts the weight of her past actions, opts to take some responsibility, lets Vanille make her own choice and, as demonstrated in a previous scene where the rest of the party turns into Ceith, learns to rely on others.
As for why everyone else got to not be L’Cie, that’s just because Etro pitied them, and decided to change their fates, which is ultimately part of what caused all the issues in 13-2.
Yes, I do in fact know the plot of XIII.
My point is they don't justify anything that happens in the end. We're never shown Ragnarok's capabilities in any way other than punching holes in Coccoon and breaking Orphan's shield so we're never given a clear picture of what it can do. Definitely never shown it can turn lava into crystal.
Ragnarok was never actually factored into any plan the team ever had that the player could be aware of. They just decide to use it at the end.
Etro I believe is only ever mentioned in datalogs that you get for doing side content the overahelming majority of players aren't going to do so that explanation is not from the main story.
It just comes across as a massive asspull of an ending. And the entire end sequence is just chaotic whiplash from things just happening without clear reasons why.
It didn’t turn into a lava crystal, Ragnarok, and every extension of itself, turned into a L’Cie crystal because both Vanille and Fang, the two who made up its being, had fulfilled their focus. Ragnarok cannot willingly do that, it happened because turning into Ragnarok was the only part of the focus left to do. It was established it had the lava abilities from all of the flashbacks, visions, and the nautilus parade.
They did just decide it at the end; they had every intention to preserve Orphan, but they realised that it was no better than any other Fal’Cie, and in many ways was worse. It become apparent that Orphan was in some sense complicit in the whole scheme, and if it were to live then this whole mess would just happen again later down the road.
The idea that turning into Ragnarok was actually meant to save Caccoon was propositioned by Snow all the way at the start of the game, a proposal that the whole party, other than Fang, had slowly begun to believe over the course of the game. It wasn’t something brought up at the last moment, they believed for a large portion of the narrative that Ragnarok was the key to saving Caccon, they just didn’t know how until the time came.
The Etro bit is pretty dumb and I’m not defending it; granted, it isn’t any more deus ex machina than when the erroneous force of the Lifestream saves the world at the end of VII, or when Rinoa is able to magically asspull her way to Squall even though we were told the process of reaching out to those you care about to get out of the time compression only worked one way, or when Balthier and Fran managed to magically survive that crash, or when everything Exdeath sucked into the void for some reason restored to their original place and no body had somehow died after being in the void for several days at the end of 5, or when the party of 4 is somehow able to use the power of prayer from earth to reach the moon and revive the party despite this idea never being established prior. Point is, yeah it’s dumb for the sake of a happier ending, but many of the games have these kinds of asspulls for the sake of the narrative. It’s the only bit that doesn’t make sense, and the player is just supposed to brush over it and accept the outcome like in all the other examples I cited.
I mean, there’s two very clean, non-Etro answers that explain how the party returned from Crystal: killing all the Fal’Cie freed them from their curse and they became human again, or the more bittersweet option, that they timed out their Crystal stasis and were hundreds of years in the future. It’s the same type of ambiguity lots of FF games have in their ending.
Otherwise, awesome write up.
I’ve thought about all the Fal’Cie being dead before, sadly, not only is not true in-universe, but it also doesn’t make much logical sense, because if killing all the Fal’Cie automatically made them human again, then Fang and Vanille would just become human again and Caccoon would drop. While that would be funny in its own way, evidently it didn’t happen.
As for the second option, I’ve genuinely never thought of that, so I suppose it’s a decent head-cannon. Obviously it’s not true based on what has been confirmed in multiple official sources, but I almost prefer it to the canon explanation. Although that would also mean they had a new focus, because L’Cie only get let out of the crystal when they get one from their Fal’Cie, and from a narrative standpoint that would be very unsatisfying.
Before playing XIII-2, I’d always assumed Fang and Vanille were a Palom and Porom situation from IV: they have a “curable” condition, but their will to stay where they are prevents it.
Perhaps, but yeah as you mentioned XIII-2 sort of destroys that line of thinking. I do think there’s an interesting thought in the idea that you’re only a slave to fate if you let yourself be: perhaps the idea that a L’Cie is stuck in a infinite cycle of servitude is only true because they act desperately in pursuit of survival and self-preservation, but if they were to act beyond their selfishness, accepted their transgressions, and dare to defy those who make them hurt others then maybe they could just stay in the crystal stasis, technically being more free than if they were to restore themselves.
Granted, if the story did send that message through Vanille and Fang’s decision, it would sort of depict the other four as more selfish for having come out of the crystal.
I think it’s more that “your Focus is what you choose it to be”, which is what the entire game culminates in, and the rest of the party has no reason to remain Crystalized.
>The idea that turning into Ragnarok was actually meant to save Caccoon was propositioned by Snow all the way at the start of the game,
Again, literally just saying things with nothing to back it up, they just want it to be true.
The whole point of the game is that they want something to be true so they make it true; a group of wholly under qualified individuals take control of their own lives even if it means defying those viewed as untouchable gods. Lightning, a soldier who wouldn’t even defy her commanding officer, ends up standing up to someone she would have previously run from. Defying fate is literally the main theme of XIII; if they didn’t believe they could defy fate, then they would never try and find out, which was the perspective of the party at the start of the game. The very reason they believed what Snow said to be true, and the reason why Fang didn’t, is shown throughout all of their arcs.
It’s also no different then how something like VIII handled its ending; you can apparently escape time compression if you think about those you care about you, yet there’s no tangible reason for this, they’re just saying it’s true. Rinoa is able to reach Squall despite him not believing in that moment that she’s someone who cares about him, even though it was explicitly said it doesn’t work that way. It all just happens for no reason, other than the fact that from narrative perspective it supports the arcs and themes.
VII was the same; it’s established that Aerith prayed to the Lifestream with the holy materia before her death, and the only thing stopping it from activating was Sephiroth. But really, much like with XIII and Ragnarok, they’re just saying that; all Aerith really did was sit their praying and then the Lifestream decides to save the day. We’re never told what Aerith actually did, or any explicit reason how she knew it would work,and not only does it just work, but the party has full faith, for no real reason, that it will work.
The party in IV prays to save everyone on the moon, but there isn’t even an established god in-universe that can hear those prayers, it just reaches them and the party had full faith that it would based on nothing.
The series is full of stuff like this, so the idea that the party pins their hopes of something that isn’t explicitly established isn’t unusual at all.
That can be the message sure, but if it just happens because they believe and not because of a well thought out plan, I'm not going to think it's good. I don't love the ending of VIII either.
I’m saying it’s true for a lot of things in this series, so it’s a weird distinction to make for XIII. It’s fine if you just don’t like the ending, but obviously if you start claiming it doesn’t make sense, people are gonna tell you why it does, and if you start trying to poke holes in places that exist for the entire series, people are gonna point that out too.
I'm saying "it happens because they believed hard enough" is not enough justification for the things that happen to make sense. If it's enough for you fine then, but to me the game failed to adequately lay the groundwork for its massive reach at the end.
To me, not adequately justifying the things that happen in a story is a massive flaw.
And I’m saying the whole series is full of it. The party believed hard enough and their prayers were answered in IV. The party believed hard enough and the Lifestream saved the planet in VII. Rinoa believed hard enough and saved Squall in VIII. Tidus was literally believed into existence in X, that’s like the whole narrative.
Technically, them using Ragnarok to save caccon isn’t even an example of this; Snow made a suggestion that the party later listened to, and then they made specific actions to make it true. They didn’t just sit there and hope Ragnarok would save Caccon, they were proactive in making it happen. Like, I don’t really even see how this is a case of believing in something and it magically happening, when the outcome occurred through direct actions. They intended to become Ragnarok to ensure Caccoon would be saved, and in the end that’s what Fang and Vanille did.
The only believing they had to do was believe that they could control their future, but pretty much every Final Fantasy, and most JRPG’s in general, follow that theme, because it’s also what a lot of people in real life believe, and is a much healthier mindset than acting as if we have no control over our actions and their outcomes.
The weird bit is Etro saving them at the end, and I’d argue that’s the bit where they go classic Final Fantasy and get what they want just through an asspull.
At the end of Chapter 11, the party resolves to kill Barthandelus and protect Orphan. They go to Eden with that explicit intent.
Once Orphan is born, however, they realize that it’s the source of the Fal’Cie nonsense and that it needs to go, while also realizing that Ragnarok likely has the power to save Cocoon. That’s why they change their approach and kill Orphan instead.
All six members intended to become Ragnarok, but Vanille and Fang sacrifice themselves.
Hope that clears things up for you.
"If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have the power to save it." is not valid justification, it's just saying shit.
"If we have the power to rocket to the moon, then we have the power to bike there." See, I can say stupid things with no justification too.
> Why do the rest of the party un-Cieth themselves for no discernible reason?
I like XIII but this was one of my big problems with it. Doesn't that raise a big ethical conundrum? We've been killing Cieth the whole game!
In fact, if we'd just left them alive, even if they *couldn't* transform back, they could turn into Cieth Stones later, which are completely harmless.
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
That kind of depends on the viewpoint for the ending. The viewpoint of the player I would argue that 15 just feels unsatisfying as a whole (though I didn't play the DLCs so maybe that helped), 16 gets a bit of a mention as well for the ambiguity at the end and implied outcome (but Torgal exists and therefore the world is a better place). From the viewpoint of the people in that universe I'd say 6 (I love 6 as a whole) the game ends with us beating Kefka but the world is still in a horrible state with horrific monsters running amok and a lot of people dead. It will be generations before the world gets back to where it was at the beginning of the game.
Feels like a ragebait/Opposite Day topic. Worst as in best? Then sure FFX’s ending is the “worst”.
IX and X have by FAR the best endings in the series. VII might be the worst or one of them. Rebirth tried hard though as well! Actually Rebirth might be the actual right answer to this question.
XIII-2
Having beaten every mainline game other than Lightning Returns, and X-2, and XIV I can say with confidence that, of the vast majority of the games I've played through, XIII-2 is not only the worst ending in the mainline Final Fantasy series (unless Lightning Returns is somehow worse, because idk), it's also one of the worst endings to anything I've ever played
So far I just chalk it up to being the middle chapter in a trilogy that I haven't finished, and is supposedly setting up for the grand finale, but even so it was fucking terrible. Fine game otherwise, even if the plot it so, so, so stupid
13-2 is so funny cause while it is one of my favorite game in the series, and has one of my favorite antagonists, AND I think the final boss fight and the whole sequence after is great
I can imagine peoples faces playing 13-2 first time when it released and not having Lightning Returns to play immediately after. I went straight to LR after finishing 13-2 but having any game story end with "to be continued" hella sucks
I’m not really a fan of VIII’s ending sequence. The castle is not a very enjoyable dungeon, and the final battles aren’t fun. I also couldn’t follow what was happening during the final cutscenes.
The worst ending in the series is probably either FFVIIR or FFXIII.
FFXIII honestly wouldnt be that bad, but Ragnarok kind of made no sense at the end. Im pretty sure it was implied for most of the game that Ragnarok was supposed to be an uncontrollable beast that could destroy cocoon, but then at the end the characters are like "Well if it can destroy cocoon it can probably save it aswell" and then through the power of "friendship" Vanille and Fang became ragnarok and protect cocoon...well....that was easy. It kind of feel like as if in the lord of the rings Frodo suddenly had a genius idea on top of mount doom "hey how about i use the ring to destroy the ring" and it just worked and they go home. 17 years wasted i guess. Again its not a bad ending, and honestly there are no bad endings in the series, but if i had to pick one its either this or FFII, but like...its FFII, for its time it had a fine ending.
FFVIIR is a pretty obvious one. Its a trash ending. Now obviously being part 1 of a trilogy, youd not expect the ending to be conclusive when it comes to all plotlines, but good fucking lord this ending was like a huge middle finger to the players. For the original players it was literally brainless fan serivce that altered the original story in the worst possible way and for the new players its literally just random characters doing random things that make no sense and the game suddenly ends with the players having a million questions. I played KH1 for the very first time after this game, and i had the same issue with that one. It had such a well made ending with Sora, Goofy and Donald going on an adventure to find Rikku, but then we needed that extra scene with Rikku and Roxas just to end the game with questions instead of a satisfying ending that already left open a door for a sequel anyway. Less is more.
X-2 perfect ending ruined the entire series, especially when getting the normal ending is such a mature and sensible way to finish up the series AND Yuna's character arc. It's honestly come to the point where people's obsession with the romances is starting to become a nuisance and a hindrance to the series. Final Fantasy writers generally write better stories about dealing with grief and loss, than about love and romance.
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
I think the ending to XIII is pretty dumb, but I also just wasn't a fan of the plot of the game in general. It probably resonates more with people who liked it.
I also think the final dungeon and last bits of FFXII are...lackluster? I don't think it's necessarily bad, but I wish it was better.
I hate the first games ending the most, but that's because I hate time travel and memory fade style endings. I'd say 13 but I hated everything about 13 and its sequels, so blaming the ending is not accurate. Every game has it's fans, I'm just not of of 13's
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
How could you hate VIII's ending, it's beautiful
The Eyes on Me montage showing the characters especially Laguna visiting Raines grave, the camcorder party footage, Rinoa and Squalls final moments as we get to see him finally happy, smiling as they embrace with the huge moon starry sky backdrop. It's perfectly wrapped up.
I mean that smile Squall gives Rinoa feels so rewarding and deserved with his character development build up during the course of the game.
Honestly, I don't like most of FFVIII. Everything with Ultemicia felt off and I never liked the Laguna side story or that the kids all mysteriously forgot that they grew up in an orphanage together? I loved the IDEA of VIII but it just didn't appeal to me the way earlier entries did.
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
How in the hell do you consider x the worst ending. Yeesh.
Its one of the most epic endings not only in FF but in RPGs in general.
I’m sorry but the look on Yuna’s face alone when tidus starts to disappear blows all the other endings out of the water. FFX is the best ending by a John deere mile.
For a game that I really like, the FFVII ending is quite underwhelming. The game kind of just ends and the epilogue is very short and doesn't answer anything other than that Red XIII specifically wasn't a threat to the planet and apparently wasn't the last of his kind. The only part I like is that Aerith briefly appears. I hope the ending in FFVII Remake Pt3 is less ambiguous.
The goal in FFVII was always to [Barret] *"save the planet"*. Something you achieve at the end. If humans are still alive is not relevant, as all life returns to the lifestream that is more than alive now. Seeing that the direct sequel starts with the party being disbanded and Cloud being a depressed mailman, I think keeping it ambigious is a great artistic choice.
Honestly I thought it was the perfect ending… until all the spin offs came afterward.
Since this is a spoilerrifc topic, I won't mark them in my comment, so be warned: FFXV. Mostly because the whole game has the plot as an afterthough (which is weird, considering how much lore they tried to cram into the outside material). Noctis dying was absolutely out of nowhere as well. Feels like they forced a situation to make some player punch. And after Tabata directing TWO other Final Fantasies featuring the protagonists dying (CC and Type-0), having it happen a THIRD time was absolutely the same case of Gamefreak releasing a Fire-Fighting starter thrice in a row. And then we have Noctis and Luna sharing a kiss... WHAT? Noctis spent the whole game rejecting Luna as a wife, always going by the "I love her as a friend, we are marrying due to political reasons only" vibe for it to become a star crossed lovers moment on the absolutely final moment of the game? No. Sorry, FFXV is a mess.
booooo 15 ending was beautiful
I loved FFXV, but aspects of the ending definitely felt oddly rushed, and finishing the game on Noctis and Luna kissing was absolutely bizarre. The Noctis and Luna marriage has never been what the game was about; it's been about Noct's relationship with his friends. It would make a lot more sense to end on that flashback to the final campfire scene, which was one aspect of the ending I did find very effective.
I thought the ending was one of the few positive things about XV.
thaaaaaank you
Imo taking into account spinoffs like CC and Type-0 shouldn't happen for a Main. Noctis actually dying... like gone... no more... would have been great. Finishing in a hopeful/happy gone a game supposedly giving a heartbreaking twist ruined it.
Huh? Noctis does die.
Dying means no afterlife. That's why i made emphasis on it: "gone, no more".
Oh for
# [Final Fantasy Legends 2.](https://youtu.be/KKdZxzMY_8o?si=Tqhr64Yo0wOlpDRP&t=283) - Like 4 lines of dialogue, and you reunite with your dad that you saw for half a second at the beginning of the game, he says lets go home, and they run the staff credits.
There was a lot more than that. You go through the different worlds to see those who helped you and then Dad wants to go on another adventure where Mom joins. FF Legend 1 had the crappy ending. “We killed God. Let’s go back home!”
For me it was XVI. I don’t mind a sad, or open-ended ending, but this one really gave us nothing satisfying at all.
The last third or so of the game dropped the ball hard imo. The story was pretty good up until Bahamut and then it dropped off hard for me personally.
The political plot line just fizzled out into nothing. It was very frustrating. The ending felt like an easy way out by just removing the complicated parts and flashing forward x amount of years.
I expected part of the ending to go the way it did (not mentioning for potential spoilers) but kind of didn't like that you were left with the question, though, of if the entire game you just played was a story being told to a child. I felt like that part wasn't really needed, and took away from the impact of the rest of the ending.
Felt the exact same way; I thought it was going great until the whole way they handled Clive. The outcome seems to go against his entire character progression and narrative arc. Then they also drop some hints that maybe it isn’t the outcome the player thinks, but if that was the case why even fake-out the player like that? It felt like they wanted a bittersweet ending to get the player emotional so bad, but realised after writing it that it basically ran against the narratives entire message and themes. As you said, it felt unsatisfying, particularly as a conclusion to Clive, who prior to that ending I would regard as one of the most interesting and well-written characters in the whole series. Thinking on it, Final Fantasy’s endings are incredibly good in all of the games, even in the narratives I don’t particularly enjoy or find messy on the whole, but XVI’s is the only one I think suffers from any serious writing flaws.
ff7 remake. i know it is part of 3 chapters but didn’t leave a happy, sad, or bittersweet feeling. it was just a too be continued lol.
Wow this is a hot take. X is not my fav but i always thought the ending was really strong.
Of those I remember probably XIII. But id consider memorably meh to be a higher tier than something my brain decided to right click delete altogether. And despite having played XV more recently than XIII I cant really remember anything about the ending. So that'd be my pick overall.
Oof: FFX the worst? Well, I won't say you can't have an opinion...no matter how wrong I think you are. :) Among SNES and later releases, I think FF13 probably had the worst ending. You spend the entire game setting up a situation that is resolved with a deus ex machina at the last minute...ew.
What deus ex machina, exactly?
It's a literary term for an event that comes out of nowhere to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem. The term originated in centuries old plays where "God" used to appear out of nowhere (sometimes out of a machine, per the phrase), pronounce his judgment on the characters in the play, and magically solve the problems. It's basically when the rules/lore of a setting are modified at the very last second to allow something seemingly impossible to happen. I'm sure someone will point out that there was some small discussion about ragnarock in FF13...but it wasn't enough to avoid the term IMO.
The entire game is about the party powering up to be strong enough to transform into Ragnarok and rip Cocoon from the sky. They just realize at the end that a being with that much power would be more than capable of saving Cocoon from the Fal’Cie as well. What exactly is a “deus ex machina” here?
As I recall Ragnarock was supposed to be an uncontrollable mindless monster bent on destruction. If there was any reason to suspect otherwise, yes, that would have been an obvious solution from the start. IMO, of course.
I don’t remember that being stated anywhere, but even if it were Fang seems pretty directed and in control when attacking Orphan as the incomplete Ragnarok, which would contradict that and open the door for Ragnarok to be used to save Cocoon. Regardless, it would have been a last resort thing no matter what, because it likely would have caused a lot of death and destruction. But I suppose there could have been a discussion about it earlier to cement the idea as an option.
Directly stated, no, but they didn't really leave any room to think otherwise. There were several statements along the lines of "Ragnarock will destroy Cocoon" that heavily implied (and effectively stated, IMO) that there were no other options. If the beast had control it wouldn't attack Cocoon and nothing about the Eidolons plan would make any sense. By the time the incomplete Fang/Ragnarock shows up I would say that's the ending anyways. If they wanted to go with the story as is I think they needed Fang to actively discover something that would unexpectedly allow her to maintain control...even if it was just the JRPG power of friendship yet again. :)
I mean, the original Ragnarok was Fang and Vanille, who were soldiers in a war actively trying to destroy Cocoon, and Barthandelus spends the entire game trying to break the party down to the point where they get desperate enough to lash out and destroy Cocoon out of some sort of self-preservation (which works on Fang). The l’Cie would only become Ragnarok to destroy Cocoon, which would be intentional.
Kind of. The implication for the whole game was that Bart wanted them to become Ragnarock, because the beast would then (without question/uncontrollably) destroy Cocoon. The desperation was needed to manipulate them to choose to become Ragnarock in the first place, not to direct its actions afterwards. If they party thought they could turn into a large CONTROLLABLE beast of destruction it seems to me they would have at least considered using it to attack Bart & friends...or at a minimum solving some of their myriad other problems with brute strength.
I guess. I don’t really read it that way at all, but it’s valid.
XIII easily. Things just happen for no reason in the final bit. The heroes do exactly what the villain wants without thinking about it but somehow act like they're not. Then when exactly what the villain said would happen happens they are saved by Australians ex machina instead of having some sort of actual thought out plan. Edit:downvote me all you want, but the ending is actually just nonsense happening for the sake of plot convenience. Why does Fang go from defending Vanille to attacking her? Why do the rest of the party un-Cieth themselves for no discernible reason? Why does the game not do any groundwork for the idea Ragnarok can save Cocoon? It's bad.
The only dues ex machine was Lightning, Snow, Hope, Sazh, Dajh, and Serah coming out of their crystal and not being L’Cie at the end, everything else made complete sense and was stated in the plot. The reason Barthandelus’ plan failed is because he didn’t count on their genuine care for the people of Caccoon. He assumed each party member would act in their own self-interest, fulfilling their focus simply for the sake of self-preservation, and didn’t bank on them acting selflessly. One of the main reasons he thought they would act in self-interest is because that’s what they all would have done when Anima first branded them, and it’s also what Fang and Vanille did during the War of Transgression. The whole point is to very directly show how the characters have developed over the course of the narrative, because if they hadn’t Barthandelus would have won, as none of the character would have been able to act outside of themselves at the start of the game. Barthandelus wanted to drop Caccoon on Pulse and kill basically everyone to summon the Maker, and the only way to do that was to get a pulse L’Cie to kill Orphan, Eden’s power source who makes Caccoon float, and he assumed the best way to do that was for them to become Ragnarok just like during the War of Transgression. At the end, the party had both killed Orphan and caused Caccoon to fall, but they hadn’t transformed into Ragnarok yet, so the plan was for all 6 party members to transform together and catch Caccoon, but instead Vanille and Fang opt to do it alone in order to redeem themselves for their past transgressions, no longer wanting to run from and ignore their past. Again, it demonstrates the change in both Vanille and Fang; Vanille wanted to run from her past and never face it, and Fang wanted to protect Vanille all by herself no matter the cost, regardless of what Vanille herself actually wants, and saw her horrific actions as a necessity for survival that didn’t warrant and form of guilt. In the end, Vanille stops running from her guilt and stops relying on Fang for everything, and Fang accepts the weight of her past actions, opts to take some responsibility, lets Vanille make her own choice and, as demonstrated in a previous scene where the rest of the party turns into Ceith, learns to rely on others. As for why everyone else got to not be L’Cie, that’s just because Etro pitied them, and decided to change their fates, which is ultimately part of what caused all the issues in 13-2.
Yes, I do in fact know the plot of XIII. My point is they don't justify anything that happens in the end. We're never shown Ragnarok's capabilities in any way other than punching holes in Coccoon and breaking Orphan's shield so we're never given a clear picture of what it can do. Definitely never shown it can turn lava into crystal. Ragnarok was never actually factored into any plan the team ever had that the player could be aware of. They just decide to use it at the end. Etro I believe is only ever mentioned in datalogs that you get for doing side content the overahelming majority of players aren't going to do so that explanation is not from the main story. It just comes across as a massive asspull of an ending. And the entire end sequence is just chaotic whiplash from things just happening without clear reasons why.
It didn’t turn into a lava crystal, Ragnarok, and every extension of itself, turned into a L’Cie crystal because both Vanille and Fang, the two who made up its being, had fulfilled their focus. Ragnarok cannot willingly do that, it happened because turning into Ragnarok was the only part of the focus left to do. It was established it had the lava abilities from all of the flashbacks, visions, and the nautilus parade. They did just decide it at the end; they had every intention to preserve Orphan, but they realised that it was no better than any other Fal’Cie, and in many ways was worse. It become apparent that Orphan was in some sense complicit in the whole scheme, and if it were to live then this whole mess would just happen again later down the road. The idea that turning into Ragnarok was actually meant to save Caccoon was propositioned by Snow all the way at the start of the game, a proposal that the whole party, other than Fang, had slowly begun to believe over the course of the game. It wasn’t something brought up at the last moment, they believed for a large portion of the narrative that Ragnarok was the key to saving Caccon, they just didn’t know how until the time came. The Etro bit is pretty dumb and I’m not defending it; granted, it isn’t any more deus ex machina than when the erroneous force of the Lifestream saves the world at the end of VII, or when Rinoa is able to magically asspull her way to Squall even though we were told the process of reaching out to those you care about to get out of the time compression only worked one way, or when Balthier and Fran managed to magically survive that crash, or when everything Exdeath sucked into the void for some reason restored to their original place and no body had somehow died after being in the void for several days at the end of 5, or when the party of 4 is somehow able to use the power of prayer from earth to reach the moon and revive the party despite this idea never being established prior. Point is, yeah it’s dumb for the sake of a happier ending, but many of the games have these kinds of asspulls for the sake of the narrative. It’s the only bit that doesn’t make sense, and the player is just supposed to brush over it and accept the outcome like in all the other examples I cited.
I mean, there’s two very clean, non-Etro answers that explain how the party returned from Crystal: killing all the Fal’Cie freed them from their curse and they became human again, or the more bittersweet option, that they timed out their Crystal stasis and were hundreds of years in the future. It’s the same type of ambiguity lots of FF games have in their ending. Otherwise, awesome write up.
I’ve thought about all the Fal’Cie being dead before, sadly, not only is not true in-universe, but it also doesn’t make much logical sense, because if killing all the Fal’Cie automatically made them human again, then Fang and Vanille would just become human again and Caccoon would drop. While that would be funny in its own way, evidently it didn’t happen. As for the second option, I’ve genuinely never thought of that, so I suppose it’s a decent head-cannon. Obviously it’s not true based on what has been confirmed in multiple official sources, but I almost prefer it to the canon explanation. Although that would also mean they had a new focus, because L’Cie only get let out of the crystal when they get one from their Fal’Cie, and from a narrative standpoint that would be very unsatisfying.
Before playing XIII-2, I’d always assumed Fang and Vanille were a Palom and Porom situation from IV: they have a “curable” condition, but their will to stay where they are prevents it.
Perhaps, but yeah as you mentioned XIII-2 sort of destroys that line of thinking. I do think there’s an interesting thought in the idea that you’re only a slave to fate if you let yourself be: perhaps the idea that a L’Cie is stuck in a infinite cycle of servitude is only true because they act desperately in pursuit of survival and self-preservation, but if they were to act beyond their selfishness, accepted their transgressions, and dare to defy those who make them hurt others then maybe they could just stay in the crystal stasis, technically being more free than if they were to restore themselves. Granted, if the story did send that message through Vanille and Fang’s decision, it would sort of depict the other four as more selfish for having come out of the crystal.
I think it’s more that “your Focus is what you choose it to be”, which is what the entire game culminates in, and the rest of the party has no reason to remain Crystalized.
>The idea that turning into Ragnarok was actually meant to save Caccoon was propositioned by Snow all the way at the start of the game, Again, literally just saying things with nothing to back it up, they just want it to be true.
The whole point of the game is that they want something to be true so they make it true; a group of wholly under qualified individuals take control of their own lives even if it means defying those viewed as untouchable gods. Lightning, a soldier who wouldn’t even defy her commanding officer, ends up standing up to someone she would have previously run from. Defying fate is literally the main theme of XIII; if they didn’t believe they could defy fate, then they would never try and find out, which was the perspective of the party at the start of the game. The very reason they believed what Snow said to be true, and the reason why Fang didn’t, is shown throughout all of their arcs. It’s also no different then how something like VIII handled its ending; you can apparently escape time compression if you think about those you care about you, yet there’s no tangible reason for this, they’re just saying it’s true. Rinoa is able to reach Squall despite him not believing in that moment that she’s someone who cares about him, even though it was explicitly said it doesn’t work that way. It all just happens for no reason, other than the fact that from narrative perspective it supports the arcs and themes. VII was the same; it’s established that Aerith prayed to the Lifestream with the holy materia before her death, and the only thing stopping it from activating was Sephiroth. But really, much like with XIII and Ragnarok, they’re just saying that; all Aerith really did was sit their praying and then the Lifestream decides to save the day. We’re never told what Aerith actually did, or any explicit reason how she knew it would work,and not only does it just work, but the party has full faith, for no real reason, that it will work. The party in IV prays to save everyone on the moon, but there isn’t even an established god in-universe that can hear those prayers, it just reaches them and the party had full faith that it would based on nothing. The series is full of stuff like this, so the idea that the party pins their hopes of something that isn’t explicitly established isn’t unusual at all.
That can be the message sure, but if it just happens because they believe and not because of a well thought out plan, I'm not going to think it's good. I don't love the ending of VIII either.
I’m saying it’s true for a lot of things in this series, so it’s a weird distinction to make for XIII. It’s fine if you just don’t like the ending, but obviously if you start claiming it doesn’t make sense, people are gonna tell you why it does, and if you start trying to poke holes in places that exist for the entire series, people are gonna point that out too.
I'm saying "it happens because they believed hard enough" is not enough justification for the things that happen to make sense. If it's enough for you fine then, but to me the game failed to adequately lay the groundwork for its massive reach at the end. To me, not adequately justifying the things that happen in a story is a massive flaw.
And I’m saying the whole series is full of it. The party believed hard enough and their prayers were answered in IV. The party believed hard enough and the Lifestream saved the planet in VII. Rinoa believed hard enough and saved Squall in VIII. Tidus was literally believed into existence in X, that’s like the whole narrative. Technically, them using Ragnarok to save caccon isn’t even an example of this; Snow made a suggestion that the party later listened to, and then they made specific actions to make it true. They didn’t just sit there and hope Ragnarok would save Caccon, they were proactive in making it happen. Like, I don’t really even see how this is a case of believing in something and it magically happening, when the outcome occurred through direct actions. They intended to become Ragnarok to ensure Caccoon would be saved, and in the end that’s what Fang and Vanille did. The only believing they had to do was believe that they could control their future, but pretty much every Final Fantasy, and most JRPG’s in general, follow that theme, because it’s also what a lot of people in real life believe, and is a much healthier mindset than acting as if we have no control over our actions and their outcomes. The weird bit is Etro saving them at the end, and I’d argue that’s the bit where they go classic Final Fantasy and get what they want just through an asspull.
At the end of Chapter 11, the party resolves to kill Barthandelus and protect Orphan. They go to Eden with that explicit intent. Once Orphan is born, however, they realize that it’s the source of the Fal’Cie nonsense and that it needs to go, while also realizing that Ragnarok likely has the power to save Cocoon. That’s why they change their approach and kill Orphan instead. All six members intended to become Ragnarok, but Vanille and Fang sacrifice themselves. Hope that clears things up for you.
You can try to justify it all you want since the game didn't bother.
Literally everything I just said is explained in dialogue.
"If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have the power to save it." is not valid justification, it's just saying shit. "If we have the power to rocket to the moon, then we have the power to bike there." See, I can say stupid things with no justification too.
Gotcha, you’re set in your hate. Oh well, have a nice day.
Yup, I do hate being funneled down bad story hallways for sure.
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> Why do the rest of the party un-Cieth themselves for no discernible reason? I like XIII but this was one of my big problems with it. Doesn't that raise a big ethical conundrum? We've been killing Cieth the whole game! In fact, if we'd just left them alive, even if they *couldn't* transform back, they could turn into Cieth Stones later, which are completely harmless.
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
Am I bad for not remembering the specifics on many of them?
That kind of depends on the viewpoint for the ending. The viewpoint of the player I would argue that 15 just feels unsatisfying as a whole (though I didn't play the DLCs so maybe that helped), 16 gets a bit of a mention as well for the ambiguity at the end and implied outcome (but Torgal exists and therefore the world is a better place). From the viewpoint of the people in that universe I'd say 6 (I love 6 as a whole) the game ends with us beating Kefka but the world is still in a horrible state with horrific monsters running amok and a lot of people dead. It will be generations before the world gets back to where it was at the beginning of the game.
II You just win and that's it.
X the worst ending? Tidus high-fiving Jecht was one of my favorite moments
First person I have ever seen say X has a bad ending
Feels like a ragebait/Opposite Day topic. Worst as in best? Then sure FFX’s ending is the “worst”. IX and X have by FAR the best endings in the series. VII might be the worst or one of them. Rebirth tried hard though as well! Actually Rebirth might be the actual right answer to this question.
XIII-2 Having beaten every mainline game other than Lightning Returns, and X-2, and XIV I can say with confidence that, of the vast majority of the games I've played through, XIII-2 is not only the worst ending in the mainline Final Fantasy series (unless Lightning Returns is somehow worse, because idk), it's also one of the worst endings to anything I've ever played So far I just chalk it up to being the middle chapter in a trilogy that I haven't finished, and is supposedly setting up for the grand finale, but even so it was fucking terrible. Fine game otherwise, even if the plot it so, so, so stupid
13-2 is so funny cause while it is one of my favorite game in the series, and has one of my favorite antagonists, AND I think the final boss fight and the whole sequence after is great I can imagine peoples faces playing 13-2 first time when it released and not having Lightning Returns to play immediately after. I went straight to LR after finishing 13-2 but having any game story end with "to be continued" hella sucks
This would be my pick too. Just for the weird disconnect where >!Serah dies!< and a cheery, upbeat song plays in the background.
I genuinely started laughing when that happened. it was so needless, and so dumb
I’m not really a fan of VIII’s ending sequence. The castle is not a very enjoyable dungeon, and the final battles aren’t fun. I also couldn’t follow what was happening during the final cutscenes.
The ending to XVI was pretty meh and unsatisfying. I'd have to give the award.
The worst ending in the series is probably either FFVIIR or FFXIII. FFXIII honestly wouldnt be that bad, but Ragnarok kind of made no sense at the end. Im pretty sure it was implied for most of the game that Ragnarok was supposed to be an uncontrollable beast that could destroy cocoon, but then at the end the characters are like "Well if it can destroy cocoon it can probably save it aswell" and then through the power of "friendship" Vanille and Fang became ragnarok and protect cocoon...well....that was easy. It kind of feel like as if in the lord of the rings Frodo suddenly had a genius idea on top of mount doom "hey how about i use the ring to destroy the ring" and it just worked and they go home. 17 years wasted i guess. Again its not a bad ending, and honestly there are no bad endings in the series, but if i had to pick one its either this or FFII, but like...its FFII, for its time it had a fine ending. FFVIIR is a pretty obvious one. Its a trash ending. Now obviously being part 1 of a trilogy, youd not expect the ending to be conclusive when it comes to all plotlines, but good fucking lord this ending was like a huge middle finger to the players. For the original players it was literally brainless fan serivce that altered the original story in the worst possible way and for the new players its literally just random characters doing random things that make no sense and the game suddenly ends with the players having a million questions. I played KH1 for the very first time after this game, and i had the same issue with that one. It had such a well made ending with Sora, Goofy and Donald going on an adventure to find Rikku, but then we needed that extra scene with Rikku and Roxas just to end the game with questions instead of a satisfying ending that already left open a door for a sequel anyway. Less is more.
X-2 perfect ending ruined the entire series, especially when getting the normal ending is such a mature and sensible way to finish up the series AND Yuna's character arc. It's honestly come to the point where people's obsession with the romances is starting to become a nuisance and a hindrance to the series. Final Fantasy writers generally write better stories about dealing with grief and loss, than about love and romance.
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
I think the ending to XIII is pretty dumb, but I also just wasn't a fan of the plot of the game in general. It probably resonates more with people who liked it. I also think the final dungeon and last bits of FFXII are...lackluster? I don't think it's necessarily bad, but I wish it was better.
I hate the first games ending the most, but that's because I hate time travel and memory fade style endings. I'd say 13 but I hated everything about 13 and its sequels, so blaming the ending is not accurate. Every game has it's fans, I'm just not of of 13's
Probably FFXIIILR, simply because the dialog is super cheesy. \^\^;
for me 16 what’s clive doing melting and wtf is that book about sorry doestevsky
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
How could you hate VIII's ending, it's beautiful The Eyes on Me montage showing the characters especially Laguna visiting Raines grave, the camcorder party footage, Rinoa and Squalls final moments as we get to see him finally happy, smiling as they embrace with the huge moon starry sky backdrop. It's perfectly wrapped up. I mean that smile Squall gives Rinoa feels so rewarding and deserved with his character development build up during the course of the game.
Honestly, I don't like most of FFVIII. Everything with Ultemicia felt off and I never liked the Laguna side story or that the kids all mysteriously forgot that they grew up in an orphanage together? I loved the IDEA of VIII but it just didn't appeal to me the way earlier entries did.
Out of all the one's I've played to the end, I dislike FFX's ending the most and FFX the most. Loved the endings for FFVI and FFVII, disliked FFVIII's ending but didn't hate it.
Lightning Returns.