The Ending [SPOILERS]

[Appie]

How exactly did they destroy it? It's still in one piece just with some crystal attached to it to keep it aloft. The people aren't evacuated till after the group has turned into crystal and reawoken. The only reason that they are 'evacuating' is because they no longer have any power, food, water, etc, not because Cocoon has been destroyed.

Orphan fuels Cocoon. Orphan is dead, therefore Cocoon is technically not suited for life anymore. It is now a useless ball in the sky. So it plummets to the world below: Pulse.

Also don't forget Fang and Vanille actually port out the animals and people when they turn into Ragnarok, that was the complete evacuation of Cocoon. Can't port people of a planet that's already crystalized. People you see in the last part of the cutscene probably got off before the whole Ragnarok stuff even started and didn't have to be ported by Fang and Vanille, since Yaag Rosch called the evacuation at the end of chapter 12.

I personally liked the ending, favorite cutscene after the opening of chapter 12.

[Maguspk]

Orphan fuels Cocoon. Orphan is dead, therefore Cocoon is technically not suited for life anymore. It is now a useless ball in the sky. So it plummets to the world below: Pulse.

Also don't forget Fang and Vanille actually port out the animals and people when they turn into Ragnarok, that was the complete evacuation of Cocoon. Can't port people of a planet that's already crystalized. People you see in the last part of the cutscene probably got off before the whole Ragnarok stuff even started and didn't have to be ported by Fang and Vanille, since Yaag Rosch called the evacuation at the end of chapter 12.

I personally liked the ending, favorite cutscene after the opening of chapter 12.

Exactly, that was my take and what I meant by 'Cocoon was destroyed'. Although Cookies could be right and maybe they were crystals on Pulse for a long time and only awoke once people started leaving Cocoon, hence the people in the CS? I just find it odd that anything on Cocoon would be alive at that point.

[Julian]

I thought it was pretty obvious that Fang and Vanille were lesbian lovers. >_>

[Lbelle]

Why? They never kiss or fuck or even imply that they are lovers in anyway or that they're family or anything else. How is it obvious?

[Kumbai]

I'm pretty sure their focus changed, causing them to become l'Cie again, just like how Fang and Vanille woke from their crystal sleep~

In a few CSes before the end, when Vanille and Fang are like "We've already lost Gran Pulse, but we'll make Cocoon our home" but I think their home was wherever the other was. Everyone else had a home to go back to.. Light/Snow to Serah, Sazh to Dajh, Hope to his dad. Fang and Vanille didn't have that sorta life on the present day, all they had was each other/the 4 other l'Cie... I think that's why they could turn into Ragnarok... which is when the l'Cie is filled with dispair they turn into Rag and destroy shit, but together they were able to control it, which ment they could make him create the pillar holding Cocoon up. Their dispair came from losing each other... cause if Cocoon hit Gran Pulse, I'm assuming both planets would be fucked...

Also, if you remember when Fang turns into Rag after Orphan#1, it isn't the full form of Rag~ I think she tried to hurt Vanille to let her become more enraged to allow her to fully become Ragnarok.

The only bit which I didn't understand was how Vanille told Hope/Snow/Light/Sazh to wake up... If they no longer had their brands, they would be cured of being a l'Cie... Which would mean Fang/Vanille would wake up, and the whole crystal spire would disappear....

They aren't lesbian lovers, theres a scene in one of the non-mandy zones where Vanille gets embarassed because Hope pretends he likes her... something like "Keep smiling it makes me happy." and she gets all embarassed and says "Oh I didn't know you felt that way!!" and he's like "Lulz I'm really gay for Snow since he took his shirt off."
The whole holding hands of them at the end, I think that's just to do with them picking My Hands as the theme song~ I liked it~ I dont think it's to do with any sexual relationship between the two, just that they are "home" when they are together~


I liked the ending though, one of my favourite so far~

Edit: I was just thinking about Orphan.... I don't think he actually existed before Bart died... I mean the name makes sense. Orphan was held by Bart and Minerva... I think it was born from their death~

Also I just redid the ending, Orphan says the l'Cie are made because the fal'Cie's power is finite, unlike that of a human.. The l'Cie can be stronger than the fal'Cie, so Orphan wants the world to be destroyed, so the maker will rejuvenate the fal'Cie's power, restoring it to what it used to be, making the fal'Cie strong again.

Reminds me of SO3 kinda~ with them making the 3D world, then their science was becoming too advanced so they tried to delete the reality before they overtook the 4D world ;3 kinda lol

[Gokulo]

They aren't lesbian lovers, theres a scene in one of the non-mandy zones where Vanille gets embarassed because Hope pretends he likes her... something like "Keep smiling it makes me happy." \

Yes, like it proves anything

[Maguspk]

They aren't lesbian lovers, theres a scene in one of the non-mandy zones where Vanille gets embarassed because Hope pretends he likes her... something like "Keep smiling it makes me happy." and she gets all embarassed and says "Oh I didn't know you felt that way!!" and he's like "Lulz I'm really gay for Snow since he took his shirt off."
The whole holding hands of them at the end, I think that's just to do with them picking My Hands as the theme song~ I liked it~ I dont think it's to do with any sexual relationship between the two, just that they are "home" when they are together~

'My Hands' does not play during the JP ending so that puts a hole in your theory. Lesbian Lover theory prevails.

[Kumbai]

Then it's prolly cause they were holding hands as they became Raggers.

[Arelian]

I'm almost 100% certain they were friends back on Gran Pulse, both lost their families due to some incident and adopted each other as sisters. It's pretty obvious to me, especially when Fang says, "I promised nothing would hurt my family ever again." as she's referring to Vanille.

Idk, I just think people are obsessed with finding slash in EVERYTHING nowadays.

[niwaar]

Cocoon is powered by the fal'Cie who are powered by Orphan. When you kill Orphan the power of Cocoon and it's fal'Cie are obviously knocked out. Cocoon then loses it's gravitational field and begins to plummet towards Gran Pulse. Fang/Vanille become Ragnarok and create a pillar of crystal to hold Cocoon up and of course, save Cocoon. They've completed their focus and turn to crystal.

Everything that happens when Fang/Vanille/other group members turn into Cie'th is an illusion. At first Barthandelus is trying to get Vanille to turn into Ragnarok and then of course switches to Fang. Barthandelus doesn't really have any power of his own, he uses illusions to get people to do what he wants. He's trying to make them feel so terrible that they willingly transform into Ragnarok.

It's pretty simple really and I quite liked the ending although I do wish we could go back to Cocoon. There aren't many areas to explore and that's the only thing I don't like about the end of the game.

QFT... You hit it on the head here as far as I am concerned. I really loved the ending. The story up to that point kind of was confusing I must say what with illusions of Cieth and all, but it was pretty straight forward in the end. They defeated the evil, the two real lovers in the game (Snow and Serah are just there to give the puritans of the world a focus to not look to carefully at Fang and Vanille) saved the populace of Cocoon. Cocoon is no longer there, some people are dead, but the majority of it was saved.

When Serah and Dajh came out I did cry a little though, that was nice, even though it made no god damn sense.

Dunno about crying but it was a nice thing, they had to do something. It makes sense they would be together since Bart did bring both crystals and fake break them in front of the group.

I always thought Vanille was Fang's daughter, but the lovers angle is such a better thought.

Overall though, the best part of this game certainly wasn't the story.

I disagree I loved the story from the outset. As for Vanille being Fang's daughter, they never really say ages and what not, but they also never refer to each other in any way that would indicate that was so. In their former town they basically said, everyone lived with each other. They were family in that way, but they obviously were more than.

^ Good point, lol. Wasn't it Orphan's objective to create a new world using Cocoon's destruction? Still kind of what happened..I doubt Cocoon was unscratched after all that.

Orphan's objective was to destroy everything so "God", "The Maker" whatever had to come back and recreate what was destroyed and give them (the falCie) the power to dream and have free will of their own to forge their own path instead of the "jobs" they were tasked to do. The story is obviously an allusion to the fall of angels and other works of religious fiction where the Seraph believe God loves man more than them and rebel.

Cocoon was inevitably altered as a result, but most of the people were said to survive given what we saw. Orphan/Bart/Cocoon FalCie wanted the deaths of the people the destruction of Cocoon itself was just a means to that end.


--

My personal opinion is that the story was great, even if it did have some odd points which made little sense until the end. The ending was awesome but at the same time a disappointment. I like a few others expected to see FF8 style "post ending celebration footage". Something of Serah and Snow getting married, Sazh and Dajh being happy together playing with their Chocobo and Hope finding his Dad again. (Hope not reuniting with his pops at the end was a huge oversight in my opinion. His story was the only one truly left unfulfilled.)

At the very least an X style post credit ending. Its commonplace for SE to "kill" or place a main character in some sort of limbo at the end of their FF games. But usually we have some sort of ending of hope for them.

[Despain]

I wanted a wedding at the end. And during the wedding everyone being reunited again. At least... its what I expected.

It just sucks that a game being run on an engine with so much potential only had a 6~8 minute long ending. FF8's was longer iirc.

[Lbelle]

FF9 had the best ending it made my cry like a fucking baby

[Despain]

FF9 had the best ending it made my cry like a fucking baby

I concur with this statement. FF9 is my favorite FF by far, don't think any other FF can top it.

Spoiler: show

I beseech thee, wondrous moonlight, grant me my only wish! Bring my beloved Dagger to me!

[Kaslo]

Not gonna lie, I teared up at the end when Sahz sees Dajh... But I always tear up at fatherly stuff :/ None the less Sahz, best FF character ever.

[Ardrial]

I absolutely loved the ending to this game. While watching it I was also WTFing but I love stuff like that where it can blow my mind but still make sense if you just think about it.

Also serah/dahj showing up at the end made me tear up.

Hope being all alone and asking about vanille/fang made me even sadder.

I was extremely satisfied with this story. EVERYONE of the characters were well developed and by the end I was attached to all of them (even if I did hate hope at the start).

My only complaint was that the ending cutscene was not long enough. It should have been a lot longer. Perfect ending (IMO) would have been, like others have said, a "so many months later" situation where we are at snow/serah's wedding and fang and vanille randomly show up.

[BlackMoomba]

I concur with this statement. FF9 is my favorite FF by far, don't think any other FF can top it.

Spoiler: show

I beseech thee, wondrous moonlight, grant me my only wish! Bring my beloved Dagger to me!

When I played this when I was 9 I didn't quite get it. But I played it again last summer, and 9 bumped way up on my fav games list cause I understood it better. Such a good ending.

[Exoduso]

Short but sweet. I liked the ending personally.
Great game, I already miss it lol.

I also have to say that I loved the story... I did wish for the ending to be a bit longer, ie. showing you Snow/Serah's wedding, but I'll survive. I don't understand how people didn't give this a 9 and above..

[Appie]

Because people feel they cut too much of JRPG's in FF13. Somehow people need towns and bullshit sidequests to get into the world of a FF, while FF13 does perfectly fine without it imo. And it brings the most awesome battle system in a FF to date and that in itself is worth a 9 or higher. Add in the good story (which is personal I guess) and fully developed characters and you'll see any reviewer is just an emo kid who lives too much in the past and doesn't want their JRPG to change at all. While FF's have always tried to change, the change is just bigger this time around, which upsets alot of people. I loved every second of the game, much like I did any previous installment of a FF except this time the battle system was actually fun.

[Lbelle]

where we are at snow/serah's wedding and fang and vanille randomly show up.

This would have made no fucking sense. They're in crystal for eternity.

But that brings up another point. Are the fal'cie gone now that the heroes have killed orphan? Because if so wouldn't the whole crystal/cie'th thing go with them, making them turning to crystal not make sense?

[Appie]

The same as how Lightning and co were supposed to be in crystal for eternity?

At some point they'll wake up, but it's a fal'Cie's call when afaik. Fang and Vanille woke up after 500 years once, they could again. Granted when they would, it would bring down Cocoon prolly.

Orphan fuelled all of Cocoon including its fal'Cie, it's save to say those are "dead". Pulse fal'Cie however? Probably still alive, but with Cocoon out of the picture, no reason to call for another Ragnarok?