General Post-Game Opinons (Spoilers)

[ShineTheLion]

WARNING - SPOILERS IN THIS POST

The following emoticons chronicle my reaction process at the end of FF 13-2, after spending 3 hours trying to defeat the final boss and then watching the closing cutscene.

._.

o_o

O_O

: D

8D

8DDDDDDDDDD

o_o

D8

):

)'8

T______T

DX <----- me for the next 24 hours

I'll be honest, I wasn't mad at first, just confused. How could a Final Fantasy put you through so much effort and optimism just to shoot you down with that kind of ending? Why did it have to end so bleak and cruel? It did say "To be continued". I had heard there were several alternate endings to the game, so I was content with the thought that the short 30 hour adventure would become a longer adventure and eventually I would unlock the "real" ending... a happier ending, through the side quests.

WRONG. I will save the trouble for those of you still reading this and tell you, that none of the 8 "paradox endings" are conclusive, and none of them are particularly happy or really satisfying in any way. In fact, some of them are just plain cartoony and melodramatic, while others are as bleak as the original ending. I watched a video of all of them plus the "secret ending" which occurs if you obtain all 160 fragments. Let me tell you, if you plan to do this out of sheer love of leveling and item collection, go for it. If you're looking to see the alternate endings, do yourself a favor and just watch them on youtube. They aren't worth hours of gameplay. Hell, they aren't worth one hour of gameplay.

Now, the reason I'm particularly angry is that we've all been essentially duped into paying full price for an incomplete game. The only promise of a conclusion comes in the possibility of future downloadable chapters, or another Final Fantasy XIII sequel, which, if you have some sense about you, you will realize is probably not a very high possibility. XIII didn't sit well with a lot of the fans, and from this little stunt they are pulling with XIII-2 not having a conclusion, I don't think there would be enough faith or interest in another XIII game to make it a success. I wasn't tired of XIII and its world and characters until they went and pulled this "no real ending" stunt. Now I am. Next, please. How bout a game that doesn't rip you off and expect you to pay full price for a mere 30 hours of gameplay and 2 fully rendered cutscenes, and actually has, oh, you know, a story, complete with exposition, conflict, and resolution.

I am honestly on the verge of starting a petition online for fans to sign demanding that if Square Enix is going to release an ending to XIII-2 via DLC, that they do it for FREE, considering we all bought this game expecting there would be an ending. If they truly plan to create a XIII-3, then I suppose all is fair, despite the short play time of this game. But as of right now, I think it is safe to speculate that a XIII-3 would not have enough fan support to be a success, and that they should cut their losses with this series and handle the conclusion via DLC for XIII-2.

Anyway, my ranting is done for now. I just needed to warn other players of the disappointments in store if you think there is an ending in the game you have already purchased. There isn't, and unlike a good story that has a conclusion but leaves room for a sequel, I'm afraid in this case we've been strung along for an excellent ride only to be dumped off the side of a cliff. I, for one, having shown a lot of faith in this series when it has gone under fire several times from hoards of fans, feel really let down this time, and am seriously reconsidering my support of this series and Square Enix as a whole. Am I overreacting over one game? Maybe... but it is a Final Fantasy game, the crown jewel of their company, so maybe I'm just being fair here and sticking up for the people who willfully support these game developers with our time and money. It really isn't fair to treat your audience this way. I say we demand Square give us what we paid for, a complete game... without having to pay extra for DLC. If there's a sequel in the works, then so be it, but I highly doubt there is, and that's the only scenario where I think it would be even remotely fair for players to spend more of their money on the FFXIII saga.