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Orphan’s Cradle
-The reunion’s nice, but Orphan blew up. Isn’t this the end of Cocoon?
-We see a memory of Fang and Vanille embracing. I love these two so deeply.
It’s weird that the game hasn’t clarified their relationship. I feel like if they were just sisters or friends, the game would’ve said that. I take the ambiguity as a sign that they’re lovers, but that Square Enix didn’t feel comfortable making it overt (grr).
Maybe they’ll explore it more in the sequels, perhaps even specifically defining them differently as family or “just friends,” but for now, they clearly seem like lovers and it’s beautiful.
-We all still have our brands.
-The burning Orphan melts into the primordial soup once more, T-1000 style.
HOPE: “If we have the power to destroy Cocoon, then we have the power to save it!” Do we? They seem like different powers.
-So how are we doing this? Is this another boss fight? Please no. (If we lose, I reeeeeally don’t want to have to go through every single phase again.)
-Something arises. Dammit. It’s another Orphan phase.
-This time, it’s a single Orphan face. Like a baby.
[Later edit: I now see that it’s the middle head of Orphan’s prior phase, the one the Goddess cradled. It was also behind Barthandelus’ throne when we first walked in.
I remember the Goddess and her Cocoon-based rival from the analects, but don’t know who the kid is.]
-So we’re all on board with trying to save Cocoon even if it doesn’t quite make sense how we’ll do it.
HOPE: “We live to make the impossible possible. That is our Focus!” *fist pump*
-Boss time. Again.
OH GOD IT STARTS WITH DOOM! AND IT’S IMMUNE TO PHYSICAL AND MAGIC
-Chill. Stagger it.
-Okay, staggered it, and now it takes max damage without dealing any… Whew. Got it.
[Later edit: I was SO relieved at this point. I was terrified it’d be like FFVIII’s final Ultimecia phase. It turned out to be a mere coda, like FFX’s Yu Yevon.]
-CRYSTARIUM EXPANDDEDDDDD!!
-RIP Orphan, with my same concern as before. This is just what it wanted and may summon the Maker if Cocoon dies off.
-Cinematic time. This ship/structure/thing, Eden, blows up around us. The lights go out.
-There’s an antigrav thing going on. We’re being sucked up. Not sure where we are.
-Everyone holds hands and stays together. Except Vanille and Fang, who are their own thing.
”Wishes can come true.”
-Like, I’m there are some people who still view Vanille and Fang as “gal pals” or sisters or something, and they haven’t specifically said one way or the other, but I can’t see it.
-OH GOD NO, THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER AND THEY’RE “MAKING THE MIRACLE” HAPPEN. THEY BECOME RAGNAROK TOGETHER! A much bigger version than Fang alone.
-There’s that beautiful sight we saw in our vision. A giant Ragnarok loosing a roar.
-Cocoon comes crashing towards Gran Pulse, but Ragnarok charges it. They choose to save Cocoon.
-They crystallize a pillar from what I think are souls, holding Cocoon up.
-The camera pans down to crystallized l’Cie.
-Is that Lightning and the gang? It sure looks like it.
-When Cocoon went into a boiling mode, did that kill everyone on it though? Probably not.
“Wake up.” Lightning uncrystallizes.
LIGHTNING: “They did it. They saved the world.”
SNOW: “No, they gave us a new one.”
-We demolished Cocoon, and made it anew. Technically completing our Focus. Our brands are gone.
-SERAH AND DAJH ARE FREE! Happy reunion time.
HOPE: “I guess they meant for this to be goodbye. Then again, we’ve changed out fates before.” I’m taking this as a hint that we may not have seen the last of Fang and Vanille.
-The camera zooms into heart of the crystal pillar holding up Cocoon.
I’M FUCKING CRYING
FANG AND VANILLE HOLDING HANDS IN THE CRYSTAL
Credits roll. The end.
HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWESOME
-I saved and continued to see my new stage 10 crystarium. Big power boost! But I’m not really interested in going back to grind gil and CP to continue with the Cie’th stone mission.
I feel pretty good ending it here.
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Next time: Final thoughts on FFXIII.
