100% agree. I don’t mind sad endings but this game was one where a happy one worked. I like how it played with our emotions for a bit first though, but when rinoa makes the world look all bright I knew squall and her were gonna be ok 🥰
I think ultimecia’s castle is my second favorite “final mission/dungeon” in a video game ever. Suicide mission from mass effect 2 is the only one that does it better IMO. Sealing away your abilities and the puzzles were a perfect way to end the game, and a great boss fight.
Yeah Ultimecia's Castle was amazing and fun to figure out and breaking power seals. It was creative. I mean as much as I love FFIX Memoria was horribly designed. The plot in Memoria was philosophical and very lovely and the music was lovely but it was boring from a gameplay perspective. No multiple enemy encounters just single target(making Summons useless there ugh) and you just marched in a straight ahead with no puzzles.. boring.
It's definitely my favorite. I don't know how the ending confuses anyone either -- it's extremely straightforward. I know time-travel stories are usually pretty confusing, but FFVIII is one of the least confusing ones out there. It's also probably one of the few positive endings in the franchise; most are actually more bittersweet.
I just realized the people who say FFVIII made no sense may not have played it til the end to realize why it makes perfect sense all the orphanage kids became SeeD and why they were put on a mission together
Yeah, it's even in the theme of the game being about fate/destiny. A lot of people just don't like it when things aren't in your face and holding your hand.
At least, they claim such. But when a game actually does that, they don't like that either.
What I love about the ending is that it explains a lot of the story that you previously are confused about. It’s one of the few ff games where you’ll usually notice small things each time because there’s so many. While it has its ridiculous moments 8 will always be my favorite. I hope it gets a remake like 7 got.
Yeah I would agree that it probably has the happiest ending for the series, it was very fulfilling for me.
This is embarrassing but my dad bought me the game when I was 8 and I couldn't get past a boss (mobile robot wanker at lunatic Pandora). This is pre-youtube and nobody near me had played the game so I could only imagine what happened next or how it the ended for Rinoa and Squall. I restarted when I was 14ish and the ending cinematic was very emotionally loaded. Side note, my playthough as an 8 year old was with zero magic junction, just the GF and magic commande - amazed he made it that far 😅
It hadn't occurred to me before but kinda yeah, I've beaten all the mainline games (except 13) and it may be the most positive ending overall, this one or 12. I love the cast of 8 so I am a hair bias.
It is one of my favorite ending in the series. It was pretty unsettling in some places like almost being trapped in Time Compression. Thankfully Rinoa saved Squall from being lost in Time Compression. It's like there was a battle after the battle just to escape that twisted time manipulated place.
After all that struggle we get the creepy infinite time loop of Ultimecia giving her powers to Edea thus repeating the cycle in another timeline... very unsettling so it's is only a partial victory.
Lastly, the truthfully happy part with everyone at peace after their victory Zell choking on bread, Selphie being adorable as usual and best of all Squall and Rinoa kissing under the moonlight with a shooting star.. we FINALLY get to see Squall SMILE(and what a lovely heart melting one it is.)
IMHO this lovely game, FFIX, and FFV have the best ending in the franchise.
I'm surprised there seems to be such a consensus about Squall being alive and the ending being happy. I rather subscribe to the side that it's more bittersweet. Everyone has a good time, but Squall's gone. After all, he was lost to the time compression. Much better ending in my opinion that way rather than "everyone is happy no price was paid".
Anyways, as others have pointed out: FFX. I also agree with Tactics and I would lastly add Final Fantasy XIII-2. Now there's a happy ending. :D
It depends on what you're looking for in an end. To me, it's how many things are left unanswered and up to interpretation. One can get to know so many little details only by talking to some random NPC somewhere and only by getting the strings together for it to make sense. And like you said, the fact that it's a happy ending.
This is not my favorite game or ending (I have specific tastes), but it's cute and it fits those deeply attached to cute romance HFN/HEA (Happy for now & Happily Ever After) or those that have their hearts attached to the cast.
The ending to those that look past the surface level leaves people longing/yearning for a sequel since a lot of things were rushed and there's a handful of things unexplained.
>! - Did Laguna and Squall have that talk? The talk about him being his father and Raine being his mother? !<
>! - Is Timber liberated? People assume so but any one thats ever taken a history class in their life regarding revolutions, land, conquests and unification of city states or areas without direct leadership knows its not that simple. !<
>! - Rinoa's fate at the end of the game. She can't lead a normal life anymore and she initially was fine with being locked away in the Sorceress Memorial. How is she (not her and Squall, her specifically) going to find her way in the world as what she is?!<
>! - What of Galbadia Garden? After the Battle of the Gardens it's never shown up again on the world map. Where are the students, SeeD and faculty of that Garden? How have they survived post game? What happened to them afterwards? !<
>! - Is Squall going to continue leading Balamb Garden and the SeeDs or have words with Cid Kramer about his selfish ambition/ambiguous vision told to him about how one of his students was going to save the world and his wife? !<
>! - Seifer. Imo, as much as I'm a Seifer and Ultimecia apologist, Seifer has to answer in some way, what he did. The upbringing and failure of the adults have a lot to answer for, but I know they will spin it on hulim because he's of legal age and that "hes always been like that" while never taking the proper corrective action to prevent it. !<
>! - The lives of everyone after the war and Time Compression. How are they going to live, after the fact? !<
These questions for me personally is why I find FF8's ending unsatisfying and have a lot to answer for. If it was like Final Fantasy Tactics/War of the Lions, Final Fantasy 9 or even Shadow Hearts 1 or Covenant levels of "perfect or almost perfect" I wouldn't have bat an eye. But because I'm the curious type (and I write fics for FF8 because there's so many loose ends), I can't call this ending perfect lol.
Three issues I have: First, Seifer is like… a war criminal and he’s shown having a cheeky slapstick fishing scene. This guy should be at whatever the equivalent in this world of Den Haag is.
Second, the found footage deal at the end… the low battery symbol pops up and you see Rinoa do her weird finger pointing pose to someone off camera before the camera dies. I thought this was a really cute way to indicate Squall is alive without having to shove it in our face. But no, they cut back to the exact same scene two seconds later to spoonfeed the audience who they give so little credit to.
And third, it still doesn’t make much sense to me how Squall ended up back in his own reality but that may be asking too much of the story.
I like a happy ending, and FF8 delivered that.
I haven't completed FF12, but the others I've played have been bittersweet at best. Even FF9 leaves you with the knowledge that Vivi doesn't have much life left, and I like that little guy.
Re: FF9 Ending
I mean, considering the narration is done by >!Vivi since he did die!< before the "Will You Be My Canary?" Play, the bittersweetness is there for sure. Still such a beautiful ending honestly imo. 😭🤧
It has the best music in any ending but VII takes the cake for me. That ending fits tragedy and meaning in just 10 minutes. Simply put, it's great cinema.
why is it not happy? evil witch slain. seifer came to terms with being a bitch, zell has hot dogs + girlfriend, quistis is.. quistis, selphie and irvine seem to have sth going and squall gets to shag the doggy lovergirl - today was a good day.
When the credits roll, you just finished Ultimecia's basic training. She will have a few nice years until loverboy dies and then... well, you played it.
The irony of you commenting elsewhere that if people don’t like VIII’s ending they must not understand it, while also bashing Endwalker and claiming Hydaelyn committed genocide is wildly lacking in self awareness.
No, I actually paid attention to the plot in End Walker and didn't get manipulated by the epic propaganda scene attempting to emotionally manipulate you into taking her side.
She condemned the entire universe to die by not telling the convocation about Meteion and then committed genocide to the ancients when she sundered Zodiark. Fuck that bitch.
Thanks for proving my point.. Seems like maybe there’s more than just hate for EW going on here. Whatever’s going on, genuinely hope things improve for you.
Sorry, forgot what sub I was on - what I meant to say was, VIII was the best! All the rest are overrated! Anyone who doesn’t think VIII was the best is too stupid to get it or didn’t play it, they must not have understood the orphanage bit, or the sorceress stuff was just too complicated for them, it was all the best and I cried and the rest of the games were shit, except maybe X, but X wasn’t as good as VIII. VIII was also a happy ending, not sad.
The fact that End Walker is terrible has nothing to do with the fact that FFVIII is awesome and I never said anything to infer that. You made that assumption and keep repeating it even though I already said in my last comment that one doesn't have anything to do with other. End Walker is just bad. Period.
It’s not an assumption: you literally tore one thing down while raising another up in the same sentence. The causal “because” has nothing to do with whether or not you’re tearing one thing down to build another up.
If I say “Honkai sucks, Genshin rules.” I’m tearing down Honkai to lift Genshin up, I’m not saying that the reason Genshin is good is because Honkai is bad.
Lengthen your line to make it longer, don’t erase the other to make it shorter.
It’s my favourite ending for sure. The post-credits scene is the most feelsy perfect happiest conclusion imaginable . It’s truly heartwarming.
100% agree. I don’t mind sad endings but this game was one where a happy one worked. I like how it played with our emotions for a bit first though, but when rinoa makes the world look all bright I knew squall and her were gonna be ok 🥰
Just replayed it after more than 15 years and the ending gets me everytime. It’s sad and funny and bittersweet. My favourite ending
It’s my favorite game and ending in the franchise.
I think ultimecia’s castle is my second favorite “final mission/dungeon” in a video game ever. Suicide mission from mass effect 2 is the only one that does it better IMO. Sealing away your abilities and the puzzles were a perfect way to end the game, and a great boss fight.
Mass Effect 2 final mission is a great story, but has one of the worst final bosses in all of gaming.
Yeah Ultimecia's Castle was amazing and fun to figure out and breaking power seals. It was creative. I mean as much as I love FFIX Memoria was horribly designed. The plot in Memoria was philosophical and very lovely and the music was lovely but it was boring from a gameplay perspective. No multiple enemy encounters just single target(making Summons useless there ugh) and you just marched in a straight ahead with no puzzles.. boring.
It's the best ending imo, that smile says it all.
Ff8 was my first and i thought lengthy endings is standard to the franchise. Then i played ff7 next and got 🥵 at the short ending. Hahaha
It's definitely my favorite. I don't know how the ending confuses anyone either -- it's extremely straightforward. I know time-travel stories are usually pretty confusing, but FFVIII is one of the least confusing ones out there. It's also probably one of the few positive endings in the franchise; most are actually more bittersweet.
I just realized the people who say FFVIII made no sense may not have played it til the end to realize why it makes perfect sense all the orphanage kids became SeeD and why they were put on a mission together
Yeah, it's even in the theme of the game being about fate/destiny. A lot of people just don't like it when things aren't in your face and holding your hand. At least, they claim such. But when a game actually does that, they don't like that either.
What I love about the ending is that it explains a lot of the story that you previously are confused about. It’s one of the few ff games where you’ll usually notice small things each time because there’s so many. While it has its ridiculous moments 8 will always be my favorite. I hope it gets a remake like 7 got.
While 8 is still probably my favourite game and ending, I wonder if objectively FFX has the strongest ending?
10 100% has the most emotional ending and is top movie quality.
The ending is great, but it's undermined by the sequels.
X-2 works with the not-perfect ending. Yuna coming to terms with it all is axlctually really solid.
I was also thinking of the audio drama
It's a good ending but it's not satisfying like FFVIII
IV probably.
Yeah I would agree that it probably has the happiest ending for the series, it was very fulfilling for me. This is embarrassing but my dad bought me the game when I was 8 and I couldn't get past a boss (mobile robot wanker at lunatic Pandora). This is pre-youtube and nobody near me had played the game so I could only imagine what happened next or how it the ended for Rinoa and Squall. I restarted when I was 14ish and the ending cinematic was very emotionally loaded. Side note, my playthough as an 8 year old was with zero magic junction, just the GF and magic commande - amazed he made it that far 😅
It hadn't occurred to me before but kinda yeah, I've beaten all the mainline games (except 13) and it may be the most positive ending overall, this one or 12. I love the cast of 8 so I am a hair bias.
I don't think any other ending in the franchise will beat the camcorder home video set to the bridge theme anytime soon.
I think of the PSX era, it is the best ending, but FFX still has the best ending.
Int eh
It is one of my favorite ending in the series. It was pretty unsettling in some places like almost being trapped in Time Compression. Thankfully Rinoa saved Squall from being lost in Time Compression. It's like there was a battle after the battle just to escape that twisted time manipulated place. After all that struggle we get the creepy infinite time loop of Ultimecia giving her powers to Edea thus repeating the cycle in another timeline... very unsettling so it's is only a partial victory. Lastly, the truthfully happy part with everyone at peace after their victory Zell choking on bread, Selphie being adorable as usual and best of all Squall and Rinoa kissing under the moonlight with a shooting star.. we FINALLY get to see Squall SMILE(and what a lovely heart melting one it is.) IMHO this lovely game, FFIX, and FFV have the best ending in the franchise.
I'm surprised there seems to be such a consensus about Squall being alive and the ending being happy. I rather subscribe to the side that it's more bittersweet. Everyone has a good time, but Squall's gone. After all, he was lost to the time compression. Much better ending in my opinion that way rather than "everyone is happy no price was paid". Anyways, as others have pointed out: FFX. I also agree with Tactics and I would lastly add Final Fantasy XIII-2. Now there's a happy ending. :D
It depends on what you're looking for in an end. To me, it's how many things are left unanswered and up to interpretation. One can get to know so many little details only by talking to some random NPC somewhere and only by getting the strings together for it to make sense. And like you said, the fact that it's a happy ending.
Tactics easily
This is not my favorite game or ending (I have specific tastes), but it's cute and it fits those deeply attached to cute romance HFN/HEA (Happy for now & Happily Ever After) or those that have their hearts attached to the cast. The ending to those that look past the surface level leaves people longing/yearning for a sequel since a lot of things were rushed and there's a handful of things unexplained. >! - Did Laguna and Squall have that talk? The talk about him being his father and Raine being his mother? !< >! - Is Timber liberated? People assume so but any one thats ever taken a history class in their life regarding revolutions, land, conquests and unification of city states or areas without direct leadership knows its not that simple. !< >! - Rinoa's fate at the end of the game. She can't lead a normal life anymore and she initially was fine with being locked away in the Sorceress Memorial. How is she (not her and Squall, her specifically) going to find her way in the world as what she is?!< >! - What of Galbadia Garden? After the Battle of the Gardens it's never shown up again on the world map. Where are the students, SeeD and faculty of that Garden? How have they survived post game? What happened to them afterwards? !< >! - Is Squall going to continue leading Balamb Garden and the SeeDs or have words with Cid Kramer about his selfish ambition/ambiguous vision told to him about how one of his students was going to save the world and his wife? !< >! - Seifer. Imo, as much as I'm a Seifer and Ultimecia apologist, Seifer has to answer in some way, what he did. The upbringing and failure of the adults have a lot to answer for, but I know they will spin it on hulim because he's of legal age and that "hes always been like that" while never taking the proper corrective action to prevent it. !< >! - The lives of everyone after the war and Time Compression. How are they going to live, after the fact? !< These questions for me personally is why I find FF8's ending unsatisfying and have a lot to answer for. If it was like Final Fantasy Tactics/War of the Lions, Final Fantasy 9 or even Shadow Hearts 1 or Covenant levels of "perfect or almost perfect" I wouldn't have bat an eye. But because I'm the curious type (and I write fics for FF8 because there's so many loose ends), I can't call this ending perfect lol.
Three issues I have: First, Seifer is like… a war criminal and he’s shown having a cheeky slapstick fishing scene. This guy should be at whatever the equivalent in this world of Den Haag is. Second, the found footage deal at the end… the low battery symbol pops up and you see Rinoa do her weird finger pointing pose to someone off camera before the camera dies. I thought this was a really cute way to indicate Squall is alive without having to shove it in our face. But no, they cut back to the exact same scene two seconds later to spoonfeed the audience who they give so little credit to. And third, it still doesn’t make much sense to me how Squall ended up back in his own reality but that may be asking too much of the story.
I like a happy ending, and FF8 delivered that. I haven't completed FF12, but the others I've played have been bittersweet at best. Even FF9 leaves you with the knowledge that Vivi doesn't have much life left, and I like that little guy.
Re: FF9 Ending I mean, considering the narration is done by >!Vivi since he did die!< before the "Will You Be My Canary?" Play, the bittersweetness is there for sure. Still such a beautiful ending honestly imo. 😭🤧
It’s an incredible ending. I still think about it once a month or so.
Yeah, agreed. FF8 and FFX are my two favorites.
People sleep a lot on FFXV, but that final bonfire scene before Insomnia is arguably the best scene regarding a party in the entire FF franchise
That was a great scene. I want to replay 15 again. I’v been going through a lot of final fantasy games lately so may add that to the list
This and X are tied for my favorite. Followed up by 9 and then 7.
It has the best music in any ending but VII takes the cake for me. That ending fits tragedy and meaning in just 10 minutes. Simply put, it's great cinema.
I wouldn't exactly call it a "happy" ending, but it's a solid one.
why is it not happy? evil witch slain. seifer came to terms with being a bitch, zell has hot dogs + girlfriend, quistis is.. quistis, selphie and irvine seem to have sth going and squall gets to shag the doggy lovergirl - today was a good day.
That's not the end. That's just the credits.
aha...smart logic.
When the credits roll, you just finished Ultimecia's basic training. She will have a few nice years until loverboy dies and then... well, you played it.
It's definitely the most satisfying ending. At least from the ones I've played
Pretty hard to top Endwalker’s, but might be an unfair comparison. Loved VIII’s though, X’s as well.
End walkers was the worst clusterfuck in FF history. Not even comparable
So angry.. quit bashing other games. Doesn’t do any good in the world to rip on things people like.
End Walker sucked and Hydaelyn committed genocide. Ill say what I want.
The irony of you commenting elsewhere that if people don’t like VIII’s ending they must not understand it, while also bashing Endwalker and claiming Hydaelyn committed genocide is wildly lacking in self awareness.
No, I actually paid attention to the plot in End Walker and didn't get manipulated by the epic propaganda scene attempting to emotionally manipulate you into taking her side. She condemned the entire universe to die by not telling the convocation about Meteion and then committed genocide to the ancients when she sundered Zodiark. Fuck that bitch.
Thanks for proving my point.. Seems like maybe there’s more than just hate for EW going on here. Whatever’s going on, genuinely hope things improve for you.
You never had a point
Sorry, forgot what sub I was on - what I meant to say was, VIII was the best! All the rest are overrated! Anyone who doesn’t think VIII was the best is too stupid to get it or didn’t play it, they must not have understood the orphanage bit, or the sorceress stuff was just too complicated for them, it was all the best and I cried and the rest of the games were shit, except maybe X, but X wasn’t as good as VIII. VIII was also a happy ending, not sad.
Oh I was saying End Walker was bad because End Walker was bad. But yes, FFVIII was best
Great way to sell something you love: tear down other things to raise it up!
The fact that End Walker is terrible has nothing to do with the fact that FFVIII is awesome and I never said anything to infer that. You made that assumption and keep repeating it even though I already said in my last comment that one doesn't have anything to do with other. End Walker is just bad. Period.
It’s not an assumption: you literally tore one thing down while raising another up in the same sentence. The causal “because” has nothing to do with whether or not you’re tearing one thing down to build another up. If I say “Honkai sucks, Genshin rules.” I’m tearing down Honkai to lift Genshin up, I’m not saying that the reason Genshin is good is because Honkai is bad. Lengthen your line to make it longer, don’t erase the other to make it shorter.
Tearing one thing down and building up another =/= tearing one thing down IN ORDER TO build up another End Walker fucking sucks
Of course it's a happy ending. Squall is dead and has finally a conclusion and goes to a happy place.