LogFAQs > #949423155

Knowing the term 'World of Ruin' I figured something like this would happen, but it's done really well. Every FF of this era has had multiple world maps, but this one is... the same world, just annihilated. V cool. Panning over a still sea at sunset, it is Celes who we join waking in her bed. Weirdly this makes sense despite her not being the lead, maybe because she was a major part of the last story beat, or maybe just because I like her. Cid of all people is here, and informs her that she's been in a coma (pretty much) for exactly a year. Cid paints a brutal picture of the barren world we are now in, and the two decide to live their lives as best they can as pseudo-grandparent and grandchild.

Celes is tasked with fetching some fish for an exhausted Cid. It's quite a comedown of a task after what we just had, a fitting intro into Act 2. This would be a new disc in the PSX era. I'm kinda surprised we have all our items still, half-figured we'd be starting from scratch. Celes brings him fish, then there's nothing else to do so I go back and bring more fish, several times. Cid's message changes to thanking us, and then on one return trip he doesn't wake up at all.

Celes breaks down in (long overdue) despair, and takes herself to the nearby cliffs to end the misery as everyone else has. This scene is tragically beautiful, a dark echo of Maria's balcony in the opera right down to the framing and music. I am caught off guard when she actually throws herself off the cliff, and expect a Game Over to come up. Honestly a really really good scene, one of my favs so far. Poor Celes does not get any rest though, as she washes up at the very same beach she was just at. A lone gull is her saviour, by chance having its wing wrapped in Locke's bandana. Knowing other human life still exists, she has a renewed sense of purpose and moves ahead. I leave things here.

I'm really glad I kept going a bit after the climax, it was done really well but this intro sequence to the new world is very very strong, things are gonna be much darker from here I guess. Good use of Cid, too, didn't really think much of him but they needed an established character for this bit and it worked well.

Locke and Celes have had a connection for a while obviously, but I've not read it as a love story as such (though I think that's what they've been going for). Locke is acting out of guilt over Rachel, at least at first, and Celes seems to feel general guilt about her past and confusion about what to do with someone who is genuinely kind to her. This scene, making Locke her tether to reality and bringing her back from the brink, is the best thing they could've done if they want me to buy that relationship as a crucial thing going forward. I am very fond of Celes but she's such an internal character, I've been really hoping they delve deeper into her backstory (there's also the relationship between her and Terra). Fingers crossed. In fact the one thing I've been hoping for more than anything else is more character depth+development all around, there's so many chars and a lot of them just fade out after their intro so splitting them all up again is a great choice.

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado. Currently playing: FFVI
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