And it's over. I'm really tired and hungry and my fingers kinda hurt. I'll post my thoughts later when my eyes can stay open and my stomach isn't growling.

For the time being, suffice it to say that the final boss was quite an artistic triumph. I know people say Sephiroth ripped off Kefka or whatever but I don't see it unless they mean just looking somewhat angelic. I loved the various stages of the Kefka battle, how you ascended and and how the music changed each stage. I haven't a clue what those things were but I think the third one ("Peace?") was my favorite. That's where I had to reset during my first and only failure because Strago had died right at the end of the last stage and I guess they are "nice" and shove in someone to replace whoever is KO'ed at the end of one of the stages. Only they gave me Terra who had no equipment and was useless.

But yeah, the ascension thing and all of it is very different from Bizarro, Safer and "real" Sephiroth. Very different thematically too I feel in spite of the typical hero "we all have something to live for" speeches. Sephiroth is notable for his absolute silence during the entire ending while Kefka was of course anything but.

But yeah, overall thoughts on my entire 80 hour playtrhough will have to wait. But spoilers! I think it was a pretty good game.