Jason Tandro
Banned
- AKA
- Jason Tandro, Doc Brown, Santa Christ, FearAddict, Thibault Stormrunner, RN: Micah Rodney
Here's another top ten list I decided to make but can't be arsed to actually make a video for. This is my listing of the top ten endings to Final Fantasy games and I want you to know that while I was organizing this list and writing up my explanations I was listening to the music for all of them and don't do this because you are not ready for the onslaught of emotions.
Anyways, as always, please counter my points with your own list and discuss and all that goodness. I like to see where I fall in line with you all, as always.
Top 10 Endings of Final Fantasy:
10.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Anyways, as always, please counter my points with your own list and discuss and all that goodness. I like to see where I fall in line with you all, as always.
Top 10 Endings of Final Fantasy:
10.
Final Fantasy XIII had a great story, but the ending was hollywood hackneyed and actually undid a lot of good the story had done. Lightning Returns's ending, like the entirety of it's story, was goofy as shit. But XIII-2 had a middle of the road story and pretty good ending. Did I say good? That's
not the right word... what's the word? Ball-crushing. Yeah that's it, ballcrushing. I had to include it because it's outright gutsy to have this kind of a cliff-hangar ending and remains one of the darkest closings to a Final Fantasy to date.
not the right word... what's the word? Ball-crushing. Yeah that's it, ballcrushing. I had to include it because it's outright gutsy to have this kind of a cliff-hangar ending and remains one of the darkest closings to a Final Fantasy to date.
9.
Who would have thought an MMO could stand up to the dramatic and emotionally charged endings of the main series? Well, A Realm Reborn delivered. In a time before every content patch and expansion had to have some sort of horrible dramatic twist to tease the upcoming content, A Realm Reborn ended in a pretty definitive way - with your avatar hero escaping the exploding Imperial facility on his or her Magitek armor while the Final Fantasy Anthem kicks in and your allies cheer you on. Your comrade is saved, your main enemies defeated and the evil is vanquished. For now. And yes there was the teaser for the Binding Coil of Bahamut, but the main story was at least tied up nicely. Until 2.1.
8.
This can't and won't top the poignancy of the ending of FFX. But for what it was, the "Perfect Ending" of FFX-2 was actually a decent way to end the story. The tearful reunion of Tidus and Yuna was awesome enough, but then the tiny little scene in Zanarkand we get between the two that plays if you get 100% completion helps recapture a lot of the chemistry between them and provides a nice hopeful little touch. I still thing the ending we got in X was artistically better, but I'm a big softie and I think this ending has merit too.
7.
The ending of FF8 has everything. Which in a way is good but in a way makes it a bit disjointed. I still think it deserves the #7 spot because of how amazing it all comes together in the end. First the time-shifting ending which introduces the key point of debate / grandfather paradox of the game's story. Then Squall's lonely wandering about in the world without time before the strange hallucinogen trip (which I will never view the same way again thanks to the Squall Is Dead theory). Finally Rinoa, searching for him, recalls the words they shared and they find each other in the darkness as Eyes on Me begins to play. Then the pull out shot and the scenes we get with Seifer and his friends, and Laguna's past where he says goodbye to Raine before finally rejoining our main cast on the floating Garden for a final scene. I don't really care for Eyes on Me at all, but even I get moved by it during this ending scene.
6.
What a shock, the beginning of my golden era is featured on this list. The music, man. The music. The ethereal tune that plays as the scene wraps up on the moon- as Cecil finally forgives his brother and as the Lunarians prepare to depart for good. Then we cut back to the world to catch up on how all the characters are doing, finally ending with the coronation of King Cecil and Queen Rosa. We then get a curtain call ending with all the cast as - you guessed it - the Final Fantasy Anthem begins to play. It's just great, man.
5.
But... V did it better. Not only do we get the "Dear Friends" sequence which serves as our character recap to fill out the backstory bits and tie up some loose ends, but then we get the reunion next to the Guardian Tree. The Final Fantasy Anthem plays as the main cast bookends the journey with a farewell line before they ride off into the 16-bit sunset astride chocobos and the Wind Drake to a remastered version of the Wind Drake theme. This is a hugely emotional ending, but it can't compete
with the next four.
with the next four.
4.
One of the longer endings but packed with story, from the farewell between Kuja and Zidane, to the emotional 180 of Steiner, then the re-enactment of the play that started the game off. Packed into that is the reveal that Zidane did, in fact, make it out okay and Dagger rushing to meet him. We pan over to the crowd watching to see with a rather hard pill to swallow that Vivi has finally passed on, albeit leaving behind a legacy of his own. And then we cut to Melodies of Life and no that wasn't a knife in your heart that was emotion.
3.
Jesus, here we go. The mother of all sad endings and if we were going solely by how well the story was resolved, this would be the #1 spot. You all know what happens here. First Yuna has to say farewell to all of her summons as an instrumental Hymn of the Fayth plays. Then... well you know. Tidus says his farewell to Yuna. He leaves her behind returning to the nothingness from whence he came but not before one last meeting with his father. Never has a high five affected me so much. Every one of these endings has left me emotionally drained, as a good ending should. But only this one has made me bawl like a baby. And yes there is some speech of Yuna's at the end, but for my money I think we could have ended it at the airship.
2.
Okay this ending has just as much emotion as X's ending but rather than being strictly sorrow, it's got everything. Tension at the escape of the northern cave, a moment of hopelessness as it seems that Holy is not able to stop meteor afterall, terror as Meteor begins to touch down. But then, Tifa says those words that change the entire tone of the ending - "What's that?". Trails of the lifestream come from all over the planet to combine forces with Holy as one of the most beautifully triumphant pieces in the entire franchise plays before with a final swell Meteor is banished and we get a few bookending bars from the opening and see the visage of Aeris as if to say the planet itself has pardoned us and she was there for us one last time. The HD Remake had better do this amazing scene justice.
1.
It had to be 6. Yes I know I may be reaching unrealistic levels of worship for this game, especially considering the fact that I still don't consider it my personal favorite (thought it's up there). But we have the Ending Medley which almost sells this ending by itself, divorced from the content that takes place during it. But no, we get a great wrap-up / curtain call of the characters as they flee the Tower of Kefka, including a few heart-wrenching moments such as Shadow letting himself die in the Tower while telling his dog to go on without him and Locke and Cele's scene where Locke finally redeems himself and more importantly forgives himself for what happened to Rachel. I guess technically Gogo sacrifices himself too but it's played for laughs and I'm sure we'll see him/her/it again.
Yes it's two paragraphs it's a long ending. We also learn of Terra's fate and the hopeful words from Maduin that, while the espers will no longer be a part of this world, if she is attached to the human part, she might yet live. Then Terra has to, having hardly ever known them, say goodbye to her parents and a life that could have been. The first half of the medley ends with the famous "And You" a good way to wrap it up. But we're not even done yet. We get a final tense action scene as the Falcon flies out of the ruins as the tower goes tumbling down. Terra, using the last bit of her esper powers (and for all we know her life) leads them out. On a note of uncertainty as to whether or not they made it, we cut to the pregnant teen whom Terra was looking after. Life begins anew, a perfect metaphor for the rebirth
of the world. We return to see that after a magnificent dive, Setzer has caught Terra and she remains alive. Setzer announces proudly that this is the fastest ship in the world and the game proceeds to show FFV how a triumphant ending is done blasting an amazing version of Setzer's theme while the airship soars through the Mode-7 skies.
That's what you call a fucking ending.
Yes it's two paragraphs it's a long ending. We also learn of Terra's fate and the hopeful words from Maduin that, while the espers will no longer be a part of this world, if she is attached to the human part, she might yet live. Then Terra has to, having hardly ever known them, say goodbye to her parents and a life that could have been. The first half of the medley ends with the famous "And You" a good way to wrap it up. But we're not even done yet. We get a final tense action scene as the Falcon flies out of the ruins as the tower goes tumbling down. Terra, using the last bit of her esper powers (and for all we know her life) leads them out. On a note of uncertainty as to whether or not they made it, we cut to the pregnant teen whom Terra was looking after. Life begins anew, a perfect metaphor for the rebirth
of the world. We return to see that after a magnificent dive, Setzer has caught Terra and she remains alive. Setzer announces proudly that this is the fastest ship in the world and the game proceeds to show FFV how a triumphant ending is done blasting an amazing version of Setzer's theme while the airship soars through the Mode-7 skies.
That's what you call a fucking ending.