LogFAQs > #949918810

Now that the preamble is out of the way, it is time to face the Clown himself. Everybody approaches him together (the 12 v 1 is a nice shot), and Kefka lets out his nihilistic views properly for the first time while destroying some more of the world. The gang is no longer fazed though, and we get a really nice moment of each of the crew recognising their reason for living and fighting. Despite what Kefka says I don't care how cheesy this bit is, it's really heartwarming, especially for the characters that don't usually open up like this (Celes, Shadow). Terra remembers she's the main character for this final hour, and it does her a world of favours. It's time to set a final team order.

This set of 12 is, again, intimidating, as we haven't had anything like this yet. Not sure what's coming, I place my mains on first (Celes, Sabin, Locke, Terra) and off we go. This sequence of bosses is visually astounding, three tiers of some eldritch abomination that still looks beautiful and carved by an artist, like the Triad before. The use of colour and the notable absence of it in many places only makes the whole thing look more affecting, and beating the first layer only to see the camera pan up slowly, it's just done so well.

Honestly this sequence is a bit of a blur for me- I can't remember exactly how it went, I was so full of adrenaline and ready to take Kefka down. I know it wasn't a walk in the park though, my guys fell down on numerous occasions. Thankfully the buffs stick between layers, but between death, petrification (I didn't have my main team set up with Ribbons) and the like, there was a lot of casting to do. At some points I got too caught up in buffing that I forgot to attack, and given how powered my characters are the best defence here is a good offence.

The second tier is harder than the first, more status effects are used and Locke falls down and out here :( The third introduces self-healing, but thankfully the healing head statue thing has a low HP limit. Unfortunately the third one has a super cheap finishing move (or I got unlucky) where it kills two of my characters outright then immediately fades away, removing them from the party. Sabin had Reraise so he stays, but Celes sadly fades away for the final fight. I'd like to see a piece of art of the full set of this creature in one shot.

Finally we ascend to the golden heavens and face our Chaos God himself, Kefka. Again, this looks great. He gives another brief speech and we're off- the team here is Gogo, Sabin, Edgar, and Terra. Unfortunately this is a bit of an anti-climactic boss, his HP must be pretty low because it only lasts a couple of minutes. Edgar gets lucky with a 4x Jump spree, and Sabin Phantom Rushes his way to victory before long. Not that I don't have to work to keep people healed and upright, it just ends way sooner than I thought it would. The song seemed good but it jumped between phases pretty fast so I didn't get a proper feel for it. At one point an eerie message warning us the end is nigh appears, and I think he's gearing up for an attack but no it's just the end of the boss fight! At first I think he's tricking us with an elaborate fake death animation (Like Soul Master in Hollow Knight) but it then becomes clear that the game is just really making sure we're aware of the gravity of what we've just done here.

All in all, the final dungeon was really really fun. Not the hardest in the series by a long shot, or the most complicated, but really effective at getting me into gear and excited for the ending. Even if Kefka himself is a little too easy!

It is then time for an ingenious take on the end credits, which take place during our escape, giving each character their own moment (and last name! Is this the first time in the series the last names are actually in-game?). The medley here is gorgeous, showing off how absolutely amazing the OST has been. Everybody gets their moment to shine and prove their worth (except Mog who needs help himself >_>), even Umaro and Gogo (who didn't give a reason for living earlier). Locke and Celes share a screen, effectively confirming their future relationship I guess, and Shadow bizarrely decides to stop running and... stays there? Not sure what to make of this, nobody addresses it. Hope he's ok, he mentioned finally finding friends now so it's weird if he's off on his own again.

Maduin appears to Terra and says her human side could allow her to continue to exist if she has a strong enough tie to this world (a fair way of giving her an out, tbh). Her tie is, of course, Katarin and the kids, and with a very sweet moment she tells Katarin, Celes and herself not to give up just yet, and is saved by Setzer. She's really shot up in my estimations in this final dungeon, where has this Terra been?!

Katarin gives birth, the Thamasans rebuild, Edgar ruins Celes' moment, and a plant begins to sprout. I gotta say, there's a lot of 'the world starting to rebuild' endings in fiction, but this game has damn well earned it better than most. Terra lets her hair down, and the gang rides off into the distance. The End.

Really, really enjoyed this ending. I'll talk more about it tomorrow and get going with postgame then, but it's late. Haven't even proofread this update properly, hope it makes sense! I'm really glad with how things turned out!

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Slowly becoming a Final Fantasy aficionado. Currently playing: FFVI
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