Summary: One year later (!!), Celes wakes up in Cid’s house. He dies shortly after. She despairs, but eventually sets out into the world. One of the best segments of the entire FF series.
A House, Somewhere
-We pan over the world.
A post-apocalyptic skyscape.
The sky is red/orange, and we come to a rocky island with a single house.
-Celes. In a bed. She wakes up.
-Cid is with her. She was knocked out from falling out of the Blackjack and washed up near the house I guess.
-THIS IS ONE YEAR LATER??????????????????????
-Sorry for excessive capslock and repetition in this part, but I’m just kind of blown away by where FFVI has gone. We’ve never seen the villain really win in FFV before, and this is one of my favorite tropes ever.
In FFII, we defeated the Emperor on earth, in hell, and then in heaven. In FFIII, we defeated the Cloud of Darkness after before it ate the world. In FFIV, we stopped Zeromus before he got too world-destroying, and in FFIV:TAY, we saved the world before the moon actually collided. In FFV, Exdeath sucked the towns of the world into the Void, but they were put into stasis and later put back.
A year has now passed with the world wrecked. This isn’t a dream, or something that looks easy to put right.
---
-Cid has been taking care of her the whole time, since they washed up together on the island “after the world was torn apart.”
-SHE ASKED AFTER LOCKE. If only that ship could materialize and help her sail off the island.
-Cid doesn’t even know if anyone else is alive on the planet. As far as he knows, the rest of the world could be underwater. My Christ.
-…Ok, I had to read this next part a few times to see if I was mistaken, but I’m pretty sure I’m not:
Cid wasn’t always alone. People washed up on the island with him. But each one of them wound up in such a state of despair since That Day that they all committed suicide. Every single one. They all jumped off a nearby cliff.
What. The. Fuck.
-And yet, Cid and Celes share a warm and loving scene here regardless.
They clearly share affection from Celes’ life growing up, and she even calls him “granddad” here. (I don’t think this is meant literally.)
-Cid is feeling ill, so Celes goes to get some fish for him. He urges her to hold onto hope.
---
Outside
-The sea is red, and everything is bleak. This is highlighted when we enter into a random battle and see the barren and blasted land up close.
It even carries over to the new overworld theme.
-Not sure where to go. The island’s not that big, and I’ve checked in with Cid a couple of times who’s still out of it.
-Oh. Great. Now Cid is dead. Celes is alone.
-This is brutal to see. What’s next? Celes finds a puppy who gets dies of an infection after playing with her for a few hours?
---
Cliff
-Celes climbs a mountain nearby. This is where Cid’s former island-mates jumped off.
-She’s contemplating suicide. This game is going there. That’s like the FFVI motto at this point. “FFVI: Yes, this game goes there.” After all, she’s staring down a lifetime without hope or meaning or purpose or friendship or ANYTHING, just surviving on an empty island. It almost makes it worse that she shared those loving moments with Cid before he died.
Remembering Cid’s words.
Strike that. It DEFINITELY makes it worse. It showed her clearly what she’ll never have back. (I know the game won’t end with this because it’s not gonna be THAT experimental, but I can totally see Celes’ perspective here.)
-SHE JUMPED
-SHE JUMPED OFF THE CLIFF
-SHE JUMPED
-NOTHING SAVED HER AT THE LAST MINUTE, SHE DIDN’T HAVE SOME LAST SECOND “NEVER MIND, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL” MOMENT, SHE JUMPED
-HOFDHSUFLD
---
Shore
-But she didn’t die. She washes up on a shore. Just like where Cid found her.
-A bird lies next to her. She sees the bird injured, but wrapped in a blue bandana. Locke’s?
”Hope is the thing with feathers...”
-Ok, this is still Cid’s island.
---
Cid’s House
-She now discovers a letter by Cid’s bed, telling her to press on and leave the island if she can. To not give up hope.
”Granddad” Cid’s final message.
-Dammit, game. Stop making me tear up. Strange… pure tragedy doesn’t make me cry really, but someone finding hope or even joy amidst tragedy? Then you get me.
-She finds a raft that Cid build, and sets out to take her chance with what this post-apocalyptic world has to offer.
-I lied just above, to make myself sound cooler or less affected or something. I don’t know why. I’m not “tearing up.” I’m fucking crying.
-Dammit.
---
Next time: into this new world.
“The world we knew won’t come back.
The time we lost can’t get back.
The life we had won’t be ours again.
“This world will never be what I expected.
And if I don’t belong…
”Now and again we try
To just stay alive.
Maybe we’ll turn it around
‘Cause it’s not too late.
It’s never too late.”
-Three Days Grace
