Explanation for the ending of Final Fantasy 8

All right, I just finished Final Fantasy 8 and am quite confused as to what really happened at the end of the game. Somehow Squall gets lost on his way back to his time. Why is this? And then somehow Squall tells Edea about a timeline that exists for him, but couldn't possibly exist because Matron hasn't created the Seeds yet, so Squall wouldn't be there to begin with! Explanation? And then, squall collapses and Rinoa shows up. From here I don't know what's going on. Did both of them make it to the place they promised each other? And then in the video camera, it shows Rinoa standing on the balcony of Balamb Garden, apparently talking to herself o/ the camera just doesn't show Squall in the picture. I suppose what I'm asking is whether of not Squall is alive! Bah! 6,7,9,10 weren't nearly as confusing! Thanks in advance to any replys!

MrWhite

Um... I suggest watching the ending again. Squall was on the balcony. He and Rinoa kissed. It was all there.

Without reading WAY too much into it, as I'm sure a lot of folks will, turning over R=U stones, Cloud-- er... I mean, SQUALL went through that whole time compression crap again, there was a lot of stuff that just messed with his mind, he and Rinoa found their special place and all was happy.

You should know now, MrWhite, that VIII will never explain any paradoxes or general confusing crap that comes with it's 'Time Compression' stuff

Hey, if metaphysics people are hgard pressed to agree on a sensible explanation for temporal mechanics, how do you expect game designers to deal with that stuff?

Because of the liberally tossing around of the word 'fate' and Ellone's mentioning about the failure of her plans to change the past, I would say FFVIII goes with 'one timeline' argument. There is ONE timeline, and Edea ALWAYS had Squall telling her about SeeD. (but.... Edea told Chid, and Cid told Squall and Squall told Edea and... HELP!)

Regarding the dream. Yes, according to us that is basically Squall going through time compression and seeing that Rinoa will turn into Ultimecia. (that's why he shed a tear. You KNOW it's gotta be bad for Squall to actually cry) Us supporters think we see (and the detractors deny) that Rinoa's face turns into Ulti's in the scene, and her face is rather often put next to her face. There's still an open thread on this discussion, so I'll leave it at that.

And yes, eventually he's still there and kisses Rinoa. (eventhough, according to me, he knows he's gonna lose her someday)

Well the designers of Chrono Trigger handled it quite well. I think they should have skipped the time compression stuff and found another plot if they werent going to be detailed in their explinations. Though I'm probably very biased.

Here's what i got from the ending. squall and the others were sen tinto time compression. squall, being the more reserved of the bunch, was seperated from the others. he witnesses Edae recieving her powers and faints or something. He then dreams the whole part where he is walking, and it turns out that ultimecia's attempt at time compression failed, since she was so weak, and they came back into the real world where her castle would be. right in the field where Squall and Rinoa made their promise. that is where rinoa found him, and they live happily ever after,
(well, unless you consider fanfictions and the rumored FFVIII-2 lol) BTW, i support the Q=U Theory

i explain all this in my fanfic too. it is called "And..."

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Well the designers of Chrono Trigger handled it quite well. I think they should have skipped the time compression stuff and found another plot if they werent going to be detailed in their explinations. Though I'm probably very biased.

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Hmm, I LIKE Chrono Trigger. Somehow I like it better then any of the final fantasies (which is odd, as I'm not THAT impressed with the SNES generation) but IMHO it doesn't concern itself much with logical consistency, concentrating on good clean fun.

When Marle 'kills her own grandmother'so to speak, the suggestion is that there's one timeline, and you can alter it.

On the other hand, on other occasions, whatever the heroes do ends up causing what happened in teh first place anyway. Magus being defeated, The Reptites defeated...

Also, at the end it gets really confusing. With Doan, who should be gone, as I can't imagine the future being just the same with the day of Lavos averted, unless you're gonna start messing with parallel universes.

Besides, I happen to think FF VIII has dealt quite well with the time travelling stuff....Sure you get paradoxes, but CT has those too. (If Marle was never born, then how did she interfere with herself being born in the first place?) Actually, FFVIII avoids the paradoxes, as nobody has succesfully altered the past at all. (Ellone tried to keep Laguna with Raine, Ultimecia tried to destroy SeeD that was destined to defeat her)

And they did explain paralell universes (in Cross, at least), and they did explain it all. I found it all to be explained very nicely, while I felt that VIII was just sort of thrown together. *shrugs*

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Originally posted by TheAbominatrix
And they did explain paralell universes (in Cross, at least), and they did explain it all. I found it all to be explained very nicely, while I felt that VIII was just sort of thrown together. *shrugs*

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Well of course Time got thrown together that was sorta the po....

OH like that. Bah, to each their own. Except the 'we're all from the same orphanage'scene I kinda liked it.

http://www.rpgamer.com/editor/2003/q2/050503dx.html

This should give you a strong definition of FF VIII's ending.
I was even shocked at some of the stuff it had. Haha.

I think & i'm not sure of this but anyone out there that is wiilling to answer please do so.

If Squall died or not I'm not sure but could it be possibles that Squall is trap in time compression.

I know is not realistic but because the ending is confusing who knows?

please let me know

woah, necromancy much?

It's possible that Squall at the end was a ghost. Rinoa pointing at the star to express her love in the memory of Squall.

I doubt that. Squall looks solid enough, and the music doesn't jive with your sombre interpretation.

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Originally Posted by Serapy

It's possible that Squall at the end was a ghost. Rinoa pointing at the star to express her love in the memory of Squall.

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They touched, so he's not a ghost (not by my definition anyway) nice theory though.

I did think Sqaull was sort of "dead" - so much so in the state he can be brought back to life. I actually had a thread about my theories on what was happening on the ending (one of the few theories I had the guts to upload.) I dunno if it's still on here.