The Ending [SPOILERS]

[Gokulo]

People of Cocoon? She was a Pulsian.
Murder the world? It wasn't hers.

L'cie crystals were generally treated with high respect, almost like deities, and place of their rest like a temple, where people would leave food and stuff for the sleeping ones. - read the short novels to learn more about that.

[TheDirtyHobo]

Crashing cocoon down would annihilate Pulse as well. Even if they're enemies with Cocoon, she's willing to eradicate an entire civilization (and probably her own, as well) just so her totally not-girlfriend can become a crystal instead of a monster. She's one heartless son of a bitch.

[Gokulo]

Fang is another case. But you started talking about some "random l'cie" and you need to remember that their focus was not always "destroy the world" or w/e. Some were just supposed to kill some monsters or just do some other stuff. So I think my point stands.

[Teorem]

On an unrelated note, I never really understood what the driving force was for a l'cie to even complete their focus. You either turn into a cie'th if you fail (i.e. braindead until someone kills you) or a crystal if you succeed (i.e. braindead for 'eternity'). Obviously for the group it was different since they learned they could revert from crystal form eventually, but the average person probably wouldn't know that. Maybe that has something to do with the 64 l'cie loafing around Gran Pulse instead of actually doing their focus.

Pulse l'Cie (excluding the protagonists) were generally aware that they could be recalled/restored after they completed a Focus and were turned to crystal:

My Focus this time appears to be dispatching an adroa on the Archylte Steppe. I don't know how many years have passed since the fal'Cie last called upon me, but there seem to be more beasts about.

Not that it matters. Provided I can complete my Focus and retain my master's favor, I will never die. And a little hardship is a small price to pay for an eternity of peaceful dreaming.

[Stiker]

Was finally able to beat the main story today and I was very happy with the ending. It was definitely bittersweet to say the least, but the end goal was to have humans released from fal'Cie control. Even though their future on Pulse is going to be a lot rougher than Cocoon, they are finally in control again.

[Tulun]

In the end they had to, it was that or doom the world to follow down the path over and over. They turned to kill orphan in order to stop the cycle in hopes they could end it.

At first they did not want to because it would doom cocoon but in the end they found it to be the only way.

Yeah, it made sense in a rather warped way, though it was rather funny seeing the entire world begin to crash (So ugh, we saved Cocoon right? .. guess not).

I think the story would have been great instead of just good if they had just simply developed some of the side characters more, and some of the plot points were more discovered rather than hidden. It's a bit funny Vanille didn't just tell them what was up instead of leaving you hanging for 10 of 13 chapters... I would have been fine with 'amnesia' or something...

We had a connection with bart; he had plenty of face time overall, chasing you to Pulse etc.
FF7 had a perfect example of well developed enemies, though. You got to know the Turks well, Shinra, Hojo a bit. This was lacking through a lot of 13...

[Raen Ryong]

That's because for the most part, you don't know your enemy. In a sense, you are your own enemies and fate is your enemy. PSICOM are "enemies" but Colonel Rosch is only trying to protect civilians through choosing the lesser of two evils.

I like a solid villain, but I also like the villain being an idea rather than a physical entity. Throughout the game you are Fighting Fate (see what I did there) and it's not until you meet Dysley/Bart in Ch9 that you really get someone who embodies this.

After that, the focus is still on defeating your fate but Bart becomes a plot catalyst, causing events to occur at an extremely accelerated pace. I would still argue fate is your main enemy though (even if we defeat Bart, will we save Cocoon given that we'll be marching exactly where fate wishes us to? Can we save Cocoon?) etc.

[Xno Kappa]

Just beat the game finally. Loved the ending and the story as a whole, definitely one of my favorites.

Only gripe I have is besides the main-characters, there was absolutely no character development. I didn't give two shits when Cid died and thought it was even stranger when he first popped out of nowhere randomly trying to invoke some kind of emotion out of me because he's a l'Cie. Badass fight though I guess. Rorsch was probably the next best developed non-playable character and he probably got like ten minutes total screen time. To me, it almost felt like at the end of the game's production they had to cut out a significant portion of cut-scenes in order to make it a reasonable play-time total.

[Jefe]

They used up all the resources for that one scene in the racing track or w/e it was lol. I didn't care for any of the characters, well maybe Hope. Although I wanted him dead but later on turns out an all right character.

The story was way too convoluted and sometimes didn't make sense. The ending was the same confusing tripe. Here's a reply when someone mentioned something about datalogs:

I think when one needs to check a godamn "datalog" to find out more about the "story," then there's something inherently wrong w/ its story telling.

It's fine if they don't want to give the story away. However, when the characters start to assume I already know the freaking plot and babble some pretentious-esoteric mumbo jumbo it's downright stupid, lazy, and obviously lacks creativity. Doesn't matter how you spin it.

The combat sys it's pretty awesome. Weapon enhancements was a nice change too. This game wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst either, just ok.

[Tulun]

I like a solid villain, but I also like the villain being an idea rather than a physical entity. Throughout the game you are Fighting Fate (see what I did there) and it's not until you meet Dysley/Bart in Ch9 that you really get someone who embodies this.

That's okay and all, but I think it would have almost been better if they had kept most of the enemy faceless than; Bart was actually a reasonably developed enemy. He went out of his way to piss you off, really, and he gets reasonable face time.

The other enemy sub-characters pretty much derived no emotion from me even though it seemed sort of obvious they were trying to make you care...

Colonel Rosch might have been much stronger character if you had just met him on Eden, then you fuck him up, as opposed to seeing him earlier at all (in fact, from what I remember, I thought he had died outside of Hope's apartment). A changed death scene likely would have made more sense, too; He tells you who he is, you bash his face in, than he has that conversation with you..
Cid probably should have accompanied the group directly on a mission. So his betrayal and so on mattered to you much more.

Overall on the story front, it seemed like 13 had a lot of good ideas it just lacked a little polish and execution. As you pointed out, a lot of the game was running and fighting fate; all and good, but stay the course, or admit you have to develop other characters further if you want impact on their fate to matter.

[Raen Ryong]

The story was way too convoluted and sometimes didn't make sense.

I thought the story was really easy to understand. If anything, it was quite straightforward compared to a lot of the FFs I thought. I could be in the minority here...

Colonel Rosch might have been much stronger character if you had just met him on Eden, then you fuck him up, as opposed to seeing him earlier at all (in fact, from what I remember, I thought he had died outside of Hope's apartment).

I agree that the scene in Hope's apartment is very ambiguous. I thought he was dead until he attacks you in the cutscene at the end of Chapter 9, and it's not really a twist when he does. I do think his early appearances in the game were quite effective, but I also agree that he wasn't as interesting as he should be.

As a character, I did find him fairly interesting, at least from his limited screen time. He knew what he was doing was morally wrong but was prepared to do so for the fate of Cocoon's citizens. The thing which bothered me is when he makes that announcement just before his death to suspend l'Cie operations, it just seemed kind of pointless since you never see another soldier again (in the storyline); if you actually ended up co-operating with them it might have been more effective but on the whole I agree that he was kind of halfassed and just a small bit of screentime off being a good antagonist.

Cid Raines I agree could've used a bit more screentime but I did actually care about him when I had to fight him and at the end. He reflects your group very closely: forced into a Focus which would cost him everything but attempting to fight it (at least towards the end).

On the whole though, I agree with

Overall on the story front, it seemed like 13 had a lot of good ideas it just lacked a little polish and execution.

I still found it very entertaining and exciting but it could've been even better. I'm not really disappointed as such since I haven't enjoyed an experience as much as this since X though.

[Xno Kappa]

One thing I really loved about the story-line was how it really had no true main character, all the playable characters being able to carry the game on their own merit. I personally found it very reminiscent of FFVI.

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

Just beat the game finally. Loved the ending and the story as a whole, definitely one of my favorites.

Only gripe I have is besides the main-characters, there was absolutely no character development. I didn't give two shits when Cid died and thought it was even stranger when he first popped out of nowhere randomly trying to invoke some kind of emotion out of me because he's a l'Cie. Badass fight though I guess. Rorsch was probably the next best developed non-playable character and he probably got like ten minutes total screen time. To me, it almost felt like at the end of the game's production they had to cut out a significant portion of cut-scenes in order to make it a reasonable play-time total.

Ya I feel like Rorsch's complexity was a bit forced but I'm not upset with it as I can see why they couldn't include more screen time with him and Cid to flesh them out a bit more.

It all comes home at the end and I appreciate the effort, especially considering how beautiful every cutscene was and every environment is I'm glad they at least attempted to to put more life into the background antagonists and protagonists.

I mean if you go back to FF4 you meet Cid all of 4 times and he's in the party for a small amount before that nigga al qaeda's out the airship.

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

Quick question about the end though, after the ending and you save and come back to the ending - that's the last Crystarium upgrade then you go back down to Pulse? Can you replay the Final Dungeon? I never made it to the Gold Sister parts cause I just got a bit confused as to what to do next after getting all the treasure chests I could find and would be in a boss battle and the next level

[Tulun]

I still found it very entertaining and exciting but it could've been even better. I'm not really disappointed as such since I haven't enjoyed an experience as much as this since X though.

Oh for sure. The story was still good; I just know they could have improved on it greatly with just a couple of changes.

I sort of hope they make a sequel, because I would love to have more adventures on Pulse; that section of the game was by far the most enjoyable. Their presentation of the Pulse from a story perspective (the build up to Oerba was fantastic) and a game perspective was pretty well done.
They could definitely build an interesting story from what they have left.

[TheDirtyHobo]

The thing which bothered me is when he makes that announcement just before his death to suspend l'Cie operations, it just seemed kind of pointless since you never see another soldier again

Gee, that is strange. I wonder why that is.

[Thunderblaze]

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

I agree, I still love the ending to FF9 the best. I'm disappointed there was no secret ending in FF13.

[Raen Ryong]

Gee, that is strange. I wonder why that is.

Because the ones around Eden are all Ci'eth? I'm not sure what point you're making

What I'm saying is that it doesn't change anything since you never see a human soldier from that point onwards... just weakens the dramatic impact in my opinion.

[Gokulo]

How would he know that you won't meet any solider after that. Plus if not the announcement you don't know if the heroes wouldn't be attacked later on Pulse

[TheDirtyHobo]

Because the ones around Eden are all Ci'eth? I'm not sure what point you're making

What I'm saying is that it doesn't change anything since you never see a human soldier from that point onwards... just weakens the dramatic impact in my opinion.

What I'm saying is the fact that you never see another human soldier after that point may just have something to do with the fact their general just called them all off and said not to bother with you.