FFIX – Part 70: Happily Ever After

Summary: The end of FFIX. I hope you’ll forgive me for an unusually long, unusually screenshot-heavy post, and for me not foreseeing what should have been obvious. I really thought they were going for bittersweet/tragic; the hard turn into overwhelming joy shook me, and I couldn’t be happier.


Outside Iifa

-We’re now outside the Iifa Tree. Its roots are writhing like tentacles.

-The whole party teleports to us. It’s like Kuja said – the Iifa Tree is reacting violently.

-The sky is apocalyptic red.

-Scene swaps to Beatrix, concerned after seeing that explosion from the Red Rose.

-Mikoto is there! I didn’t notice that. She says we’re still alive.

-I love Beatrix so much. She’s such a boss.

-They communicate with Cid in the Hilda Garde 3.

-The Hilda Garde lands. Cid meets us.

A VOICE: “Farewell, Zidane…” Necron? Garland?

NOPE IT’S KUJA AND ZIDANE WANTS TO RESCUE HIM HAHAHA THIS IS GREATTTTT

-Why does Zidane want to rescue him? “Because I might’ve done the same thing if I were in his shoes.” This touches me more than I might have expected. He lacks any of the ego Kuja expressed, admitting that he could just as easily have fallen prey to the same destructive impulses as Kuja. He’s well aware of this.

Awareness leaves room for empathy.

-god this is so great I’m tearing up. He learned from Vivi.

-And the whole party wants to come with him. But he says no. This one he’s doing alone. The feeling is different than before, during the “You’re Not Alone” sequence. He’s marching to help someone like a sibling, not to end what he saw as a solitary existence.

-Everyone has left but Dagger and Zidane. Lolol Steiner senses this is “romantic” so he turns and walks a few paces, standing awkwardly away. XD

-Each of these two is so overtly and articulately thankful for and appreciative of the other. What a pair.

-Cinematic as Zidane watches the ship take off and sail into the red sky.

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The Rescuer

-Zidane tells Kuja he’s coming. Kuja wants him to leave, but Zidane’s not going anywhere.

KUJA: “…I don’t understand you.”

-hahahaha holy hell this is amazing!! Zidane is tearing across the writhing limbs and roots of the Iifa.

HE’S THE SMUGGEST PARKOURER EVER

-Makes it inside the tree.

-The camera stops mid-air as he sees Kuja on a leaf, doing a Matrix-y mid-air camera spin, before time resumes and he continues falling.

-Lands at the base of the tree and starts climbing.

-Zidane reaches Kuja. But how is this gonna work? Even though he now has found Kuja and wants to save him, we know that as Zidane grows stronger, Kuja will die.

-lol. At least they acknowledge this dynamic, that Kuja didn’t magically change. Zidane says Kuja would’ve done the same for him if Zidane were dying.

KUJA: “……”
ZIDANE: “…..Never mind.”

Wait, what?

KUJA: “Your comrades were able to escape?”
ZIDANE: “Yeah. I knew you had something to do with it.”
KUJA: “…I’m glad they made it.”

KUJA WAS THE ONE WHO PORTED THEM AWAY FROM NECRON?? HOLY SHIT

-Kuja thinks he doesn’t deserve to live. Only on death’s door, at the very end, did he come to this kind of epiphany about the value of life. Better late than never I suppose – Kefka never got there. “I guess I was too late.”

-I’m almost certain Kuja is going to die here. This is incredibly tragic – not that he’s dying, but that he got to this point at all. This is also the third mass murderer who we’ve seen in this scenario, with Brahne, then Garland, then Kuja.

-Kuja passes away. You were horrific, but if this game has taught me anything, it’s that even the worst villains can find some grace near the end.

-Crap. The roots/vines found their way into the tree and are crashing towards Kuja and Zidane.

-RUN DUDE RUN

-?????????

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Some Time Later

-Voiceover. That Kuja was wrong but gave “us” all hope. Is it Mitoko? Or Zidane?

-He alone defied their fate. Well… yes, I suppose. I just wish he didn’t do so by committing mass murder. I can appreciate the nuance in remembering Kuja, but his actions were overridingly evil and I hope he doesn’t get a saint treatment.

-“Some time later…” Flash forward? WHAT HAPPENED TO ZIDANE???

-Vivi! In Alexandria. Meeting Puck, with a ticket. Wait. Amnesia? Or is something timey-wimey going on? He doesn’t remember Alexandria.

-Puck crashes into him. Hi, Puck! Vivi has a LOT of tickets. Hopefully the party came with him. He doesn’t remember Puck, but Puck remembers him, so I’m guessing it’s amnesia rather than the world being timey-wimey.

-HIS SON WTFFFFFHDFJKSHDSFJKLHDSKLF

-LOOK AT ALL OF THEM SO MANY VIVIS HAHAHAHAHA

-wait wait wait

“I always talked about you, Zidane. How you were a very special person to us, because you taught us all how important life is.”

YOU WERE?? IS ZIDANE FUCKING DEAD?? ARE YOU SERIOUS, DID HE DIE JUST TO GIVE KUJA SOME TEMPORARY COMFORT? HDSHFDLSFHDJKLSFHDLSFDS

-Freya and the dude whose name I can’t remember, the one who actually had amnesia. In Burmecia, talking of rebuilding. Love rekindled.

-Despite his memory still being gone. That’s heartbreaking. Not everything is cured, but they’re moving on.

-Ah, I think I see – the voice that the text belongs to is each person respectively. This one is Beatrix’s voice.

-She’s leaving Alexandria. Why? Is Dagger not going to take the throne?

-Amarant now, crossing a bridge. Lani! They’re both heading to Alexandria.

-Amarant feels much more settled now about his purpose. Thanks, Zidane. GOD IS HE REALLY DEAD??

-Quina, back in the kitchen. The lessons of cooking for friends.

-Eiko is living with Cid and Hilda.

Aaaaand im dead of cute because she’s calling them father and mother and cid is shocked and SO HAPPY

-Back now to Beatrix leaving the castle. Steiner sees her outside.

-HIS HEART IS THUMPING!!

“Let us protect the queen together!” SHE RUNS TO HIM AND THE CAMERA CUTS AWAY AS SHE RUNS TO HIM

THIS IS SO GREAT

-The next text-over: “I’m so happy I met everyone… I wish we could’ve gone on more adventures. But I guess we all have to say goodbye someday.”

This is not remotely fair. As crushing as the Crisis Core ending with Zack talking from beyond the grave. I assume this is Zidane’s spirit talking.

-Tantalus, on a theater ship, preparing to do another show. The show in Alexandria that everyone must be heading to.

Closing the circle.

-That voiceover. Zidane saying goodbye. His memories as part of the sky now. That theme of collective memory coming back and stabbing me in the heart.

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Alexandria

-QUEEN DAGGER LOOKS AMAZING

-Steiner and Beatrix behind her. Guarding her.

-She’s looking forward to seeing everyone, but still crushed to have lost Zidane.

-Baku introduces the play. The same one we saw early in the game, the canary one with Princess Cornelia.

-I don’t know if this is different dialogue before, but Cornelia’s fears of being Marcus’ “puppet” take on a metric ton of new meaning at the end of this game.

-The dude here, “Marcus,” is cloaked heavily so we can’t see his face. Something is up.

-Hee! “No cloud, no squall shall hinder us!” i see what u did there, game.

-Blank steps onto the stage, to disrupt Cornelia’s and Marcus’s elopement. I’m surprised we’re seeing so much of the play here.

-Scene changes to Marcus that night, the moons in the sky. Cornelia is captured, so she can’t rejoin him. Symbolic of Dagger’s love passing beyond death. This is beautiful and heartbreaking.


-WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK HAHAHAHAHAHAH

HOW THE FUCKKNCNKCJNKL

-DAGGER IS SPRINTING DOWNSTAIRS

STEINER AND BEATRIX KNEW, THEY FUCKING KNEW, AND DAGGER HAS THE BEST “HDU” LOOK ON HER FACE

-The camera work here is amazing, one of the very few times that shaky cam has ever worked so well as she rushes through the crowd.

-She drops the gem from her neck, says “screw it,” and keeps running to Zidane. Trappings of royalty.

-They embrace and everything is wonderful and nothing hurts

-ALL THE VIVIS

EVERY PARTY MEMBER

STEINER AND BEATRIX HOLDING ALOFT SAVE THE QUEEN TOGETHER

-HFDSHFDLSFHJF

The next lines are what I imagine their conversation to be in that embrace. How did he survive?

-He had to. Sang her song. “Our song.” I… still don’t quite understand how that saved him from the crashing plants, but whatever. I’ll accept “fairy tale logic” as a reasonable answer here.

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Credits Roll

-Is this Dagger’s song with lyrics now or something new? Quite pretty.

-Ok, this is awesome. As the credits roll, we get to see cinematics from the game chronologically. E.g. Dagger’s intro in the window, our first glimpse of Vivi, Dagger swinging joyously with Steiner and Zidane in pursuit.

-Brahne.

-The Waltzes! So badass, even for early game villains.

-Atomos. Still terrifying af.

-Half of these cinematics are of Dagger going through horrific traumas. Brahne, Atomos, Bahamut…

-Soaring to Terra. That was awesome.

-The Invincible. One of the cooler ships.

-Lindblum airforce to the rescue!

-IS THAT THE FFIV CREDITS THEME THAT I HEAR SOARING IN?? [Later edit: I can’t remember what other games it was from, but FFIV was my seminal FF experience and its association is locked in my mind to FFIV.]

-That ending. To be honest, I feel like a bit of a sap for being impacted by such a classic/traditional romantic happy ending as I am, but screw that. This is awesome.

-The crystal from the credits – the source and nearly the end of everything – spins.

-Title screen. The end.

-Bravo.

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Next time: Final thoughts on FFIX.