Am I missing something? (Final Boss SPOILERS)

[Cloudane]

Yeah this did seem a bit odd - all that, and they ended up fulfilling the Focus anyway!

The way I interpreted it was, they thought Orphan was just some innocent party in this and not actually the bigger mastermind behind it all. When he turned out to be the evil one, it was really just a case of putting an end to him ('them'?) and carrying forward with what they were saying about the ability of humans to change destiny and all that. Otherwise, he'd have just turned them into Cie'th and the cycle would've gone on until eventually someone will less self-will would've done the "kill Orphan" bit without the "determination to save Cocoon even if it falls" bit.

Perhaps it just needed some mention of this in the dialogue. Subtlety is good rather than having things spelled out with a sledgehammer, but it was a little too subtle.

Edit: The guide at the end of page 1 seems to say pretty similar. Glad I'm one of the people who understands what's going on for once

Edit 2:

Chapter 12, Entry 2 "Eden Under Siege"

As a true testament to memorable things in FF games, even X-2, I still read this in a Hypello voice. "Ohhh no! Banditsh! We are under shiege..."

Edit 3 (maybe I should read the whole thread before replying!):

I only know that VIII had a totally unpredictable ending. I mean, sure, beating the obvious boss did it, but all the stuff that happened immediately afterwards was nothing short of bonkers to me.

I think you've just summed up the charm of FF for me (including VIII). It's bonkers. To borrow your name, it's downright looney at times. But that's just so much more fun than making sense (especially when you get online and start discussing it). XII made sense, and it was boring.