I was really surprise that the crystallization of Cocoon became the logo of the game and that you understand that it's Fang and Vanille transforming into Ragnarok in that logo. It's a really nice touch. I was kind of touched by the ending, it was a little sad in his way.

Still, Fang and Vanille being Ragnarok out of nowhere at the end was a little confusing. I which they would have explained more why those two and not any other pulse l'cie.

I believe the reason for that was because their, Vanille and Fang's, original focus was to summon Ragnarok. I think it was revealed in a flashback with Vanille or something (I think it was what Fang was trying to remember, and what Vanille always knew it to be), it's been a while since I've played (imported it a while back) so I can't really remember where it was mentioned.

Yea, and it was great how the logo ended up being the crystalized Cocoon in the end. Always wondered what the two heads and beast face around the sphere meant. Could have easily spoiled the ending for someone if you mentioned the logo was involved in a big way.

IT FUCKING DIDN'T! I hated the ending with a passion. I thought the true intentions of the villain who kept letting me go over and over again would reveal themselves at the end but instead he screams "SWEET RELEASE!". Fuck you!
I stopped caring all together at that point. Fang's intentions in the end were ignorant and i thought to myself "I wish someone would have sacrificed themselves to at least make a decent ending".
To my surprise, it didn't, I didn't care any about Vanille but I liked fang but I still didn't feel any sadness for her like the game intended. I don't know if it was because the characters didn't feel developed enough, or maybe they were just too typical, but I didn't get attached to any of them. Sahz was the most interesting in my opinion, I liked his quest to save his son but after I have all the characters, he's nothing more but a supporting speaker and after Hope acquires Haste, Sahz is useless in battle which eliminates any more screen time for him.
I really tried to like this game, I thought the ending was going to save everything but it only made things worse. The entire ending stages were the worst and an eyesore.
All the reviewers say that the sweet spot is in 25-30 hours, but I say that that's when the game goes downhill slowly and entirely.

I was such an FF fan too, I'm hating the fact that I hate the story so much.
Also, Crystarium expanded at Final BOSS! GTFO of here!

Is that any more or less satisfying then any other Final Fantasy ending we have had? Aside from the lengthy happily ever after endings we got with VIII and IX...all other endings have pretty much left a bad taste in my mouth. You had VII's boring ass shit that didn't really explain much, X was just made you go HUHHHH? Oh look theres a sequel coming out thats supposed to have the TRUE ending. Lame. XII...I stopped caring about the story 1/4th through so whatever was going on in cutscenes was irrelevent. Point is, Final Fantasy games don't usually have the best ending that ties up all loose ends.

I think they did a good job with character development up until Chapter 10 or so. After that it focuses more on the world of Pulse/Cocoon and their relationship. I mean Hope during chapter 7 was kinda interesting to watch but after that he did nothing of importance. Oh well he cried so he could get his Eidolon. Same with Sahz, after chapter 8 he didn't really get any development and became the unfunny comic relief. It seems like...once they got their Eidolon, their development was done. So I can relate, I enjoyed the first half of the game...even if some parts were a bit slow and I was limited to what I could do. Story wise I liked the interactions between the 3 different groups. Second part, it was nice when I got to Pulse and was able to do what I wanted...but it felt slow and didn't flow with the game.

My thoughts on the ending are...well thats nice. I figured out that Fang or Vanille would sacrifice themself to save everything, didn't think it would be both. I thought it would end up being Vanille...take make up for how she lied to everything throughout the game...plus her whole voiceover throughout the game made me think that too. Still though, I enjoyed it. I thought Cocoon would prosper free of Fal'cie control but they surprised me with what they did. Not the best, but still satisfying.

Oh and the crysterium expands because you can continue your game after you beat it. Mainly for the Titans trial mission marks which are considerably stronger than Orphan or any other boss. Tier 10 Grid has some huge stat boosts. Most of the non story related trophies cannot be obtained outside of the New game +.

It should have expanded BEFORE that. What's one more level anyway?

I was fresh out of seeing the ending last night, so my feelings were pretty intense about it. Now that I have had a night to process. I kinda still feel the same way. A lot of the villains only had around 4 shots of screen time which made me not care if they died. Especially Cid's random revival and immediate death.
Fangs goal at the end were pretty ignorant, and pretty much all of the final fights defeated the entire purpose of the game. I wasn't the biggest FF7 fan since I had it spoiled and I played it 5 years late but that game at least had some turns in the story. In 13 they let the main characters go so they could defeat orphan, the bosses die, orphan is obviously the real boss and then because he looks evil they kill him anyways.
Lighting says "To make the impossible, possible. That is our focus!" No! It's NOT! It's to kill orphan. See? You're killing orphan. You're completing your focus. They failed in having any real twist in the story.
The story was as linear as the game. I think to wrap it up, I didn't hate the happy ending, I just hate how they delivered it with the final scenes.

damn, I didn't mean to rant again.
The characters are pretty.

I think Orphan had wanted someone to become Ragnorok, kill him and then Cocoon will cease to function and crash into Pulse. Instead, we kill him and someone still becomes Ragnorok but prevents Cocoon from crashing. So it was same path but altered ending from what Orphan and the other Fal'cie planned.

I do have gripes with how easily everything worked out. Serah and Sazh just de-crystallized like that? It was also convenient that all the feral beasts from Pulse happened to teleport to Eden...making Pulse habitable.