Final Fantasy VIII Story
The game opens with a duel between the two arch-rivals Squall Leonhart and
Seifer Almasy. Squall and Seifer are both students at Balamb Garden, a military
academy training SeeDs. SeeDs are an elite mercenary force contracted to help
people all around the world. The duel ends in a tie, when both men end up with
scars across their faces. Squall wakes up a few hours later, on the day of his
SeeD field exam. He goes with his instructor Quistis Trepe to retrieve a
Guardian Force (GF), a creature that enables people to use magic to enhance
one's physical capabilities.
The final test Squall must pass to become a SeeD is to go to the occupied
city of Dollet, together with his squad members Zell Dincht and Seifer. They
quickly uncover the reason for the Galbadian Army's occupation; to reactivate an
old radio tower. Seifer leaves his teammates behind, and disobeys Garden's
orders. A spunky young girl, Selphie Tilmitt, joins the party at this time, and
after defeating a monster at the top of the tower, the tower is reactivated, and
they are chased back to the beach by a spider-like war machine.
Back at Garden, the exam results are announced. Squall, along with Zell,
Selphie, and another man named Nida, are the only ones to pass, and are
subsequently graduated to SeeDs by Headmaster Cid Kramer. Seifer does not make
the cut, due to having disobeyed direct orders. Later that night, at the SeeD
Graduation Ceremony, a young woman in a white dress approaches Squall and asks
him for a dance. Squall is initially disinterested, but the assertive young lady
manages to get him on the dance floor. They share a dance, before she abruptly
excuses herself.
Afterwards, Quistis asks Squall to meet in the "Secret Area" of the Training
Center for a talk, where she reveals she has been relieved of her position as an
instructor, which effectively removes the professional barrier between them.
Quistis tries to tell Squall she has feelings for him, but Squall, being
emotionally distant as he is, quickly becomes impatient and leaves her.
The next morning, Squall, Selphie and Zell receive their first mission as
SeeDs: to aid a resistance faction known as the Forest Owls in their quest to
reclaim the independence of a small nation called Timber. On the train trip to
Timber, the SeeDs strangely pass out, and have a dream about a man called Laguna
Loire and his two friends Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac. Upon waking up, they
meet up with the Forest Owls, only to find that the girl who danced with Squall,
Rinoa Heartilly, is a member. She had been at the dance to enlist the help of
SeeD. The Forest Owls' plan is to abduct Vinzer Deling, Galbadia's tyrannical
president, and force him to withdraw his soldiers from Timber. However, once
they manage to hijack the president's train, they confront only his body double.
After defeating the imposter, they learn the real President Deling is going
to the Timber TV Station to broadcast something. The president announces the
Sorceress Edea as the nation's new ambassador when Seifer appears and holds the
President hostage. After a scuffle, Seifer disappears with the sorceress, and is
later announced executed. With Garden's reputation at risk following the
incident, Squall and his friends flee to Galbadia Garden, having another
mysterious dream about Laguna on the way.
In Galbadia Garden they are enlisted in a plot to assassinate the sorceress
with the help of Galbadia's General Caraway (Rinoa's father) and the master
sniper, Irvine Kinneas. The assassination is planned to take place at Edea's
inauguration parade in Deling City. Rinoa, determined to prove she is capable
and serious about the resistance movement, comes up with a plan to suppress the
sorceress's power with an Odine Brand item.
Rinoa is quickly struck down by the sorceress, who then kills President
Deling. Zell, Selphie and Quistis trap the sorceress inside a gated archway, as
Squall and Irvine arrive at their post where a high caliber sniper rifle has
been left for them to assassinate the sorceress. Irvine nearly breaks down just
before he is supposed to shoot Edea, but with a little help from Squall, he
fires at the sorceress. Edea blocks the shot with a magical barrier, forcing
Squall to attack the sorceress head on. Running through the parade, Squall is
surprised to see Seifer standing at the sorceress's side. Squall attacks the
sorceress after going through Seifer, who has now become Edea's protective
Knight. Edea hurls ice spikes at Squall, piercing his chest and rendering him
unconscious.
Squall dreams of Laguna in a little peasant town called Winhill, living with
a woman called Raine and her adoptive daughter Ellone. He suddenly wakes up in
Galbadia's D-District Prison, where his friends are being held nearby. Seifer
tortures Squall, demanding to know SeeD's true purpose. Squall is knocked
unconscious by the pain, but a Moomba frees him. His friends manage to escape as
well, but upon escaping, they see that the Galbadians have launched missiles
against Trabia Garden as part of Edea's plans to annihilate both Gardens.
Inferring that Balamb Garden will be next, they split into two teams: Selphie's
team tries to stop the missile launch, while Squall's team goes to warn Balamb
Garden. Selphie's party fails to stop the missile launch in time and barely
escapes the launch base as it self-destructs.
Squall arrives to find Balamb Garden in an uproar; students are fighting each
other, some siding with Headmaster Cid and some with Garden Master NORG. Cid
reveals NORG originally funded the Garden's foundation and saw them as a profit
venture, declaring himself the owner and dismissing Garden's true purpose of
fighting and defeating the corrupt sorceresses. The conflict of interest sparked
the internal fight amongst the SeeDs and Garden Faculty. Squall defeats NORG,
and learns the Garden can be made mobile. Squall moves the Garden just in time
before the Galbadian missiles hit.
As the Garden's steering devices have broken down over time due to lack of
maintenance, Balamb Garden crashes into Fishermans Horizon, a pacifist town
built around a defunct train station. The local technicians help restore the
Garden into full functionality and Squall is reunited with the missile base
team. Cid places the Garden under Squall's command, a duty he accepts
reluctantly. When the Garden returns to Balamb, Squall finds the Galbadians,
under the supervision of Seifer's friends Fujin and Raijin, have occupied Balamb
to search for a woman named Ellone. After liberating the town, Squall decides to
go to Trabia Garden, Selphie's home Garden.
Selphie mourns the wreckage of her home by the Galbadian missiles. As she
talks with Squall, Quistis, Zell, and Irvine, they gradually realize that as
children, they all lived in an orphanage together, cared for by a woman named
Edea. They had forgotten all about their past because of the memory loss brought
on by using the Guardian Forces. They decide to go back to the orphanage, only
to find out that Galbadia Garden has arrived there first. They prepare for an
assault on the Garden, now under the control of Edea and Seifer. Squall and his
friends eventually manage to infiltrate Galbadia Garden where they confront and
defeat Seifer, and finally defeat Sorceress Edea herself.
Edea returns to her normal state of mind in surprise. She reveals she had
been possessed by a sorceress from the distant future named Ultimecia, and that
up until now they had been fighting against Ultimecia inside Edea's "shell." In
the battle's aftermath, Ultimecia takes possession of Rinoa, rendering her
comatose. Ultimecia embraced and revived the unconscious Seifer, and ordered him
to raise the Lunatic Pandora from beneath the ocean. The SeeDs return to the
orphanage to speak with Edea about Ultimecia. It is through this conversation
with Edea that they learn of Ultimecia's plans for time compression.
Overcome by emotion, Squall realizes he is in love with Rinoa and will do
anything to bring her back. Having found out Ellone is the one who has been
sending him and his friends back in time to inhabit Laguna in the form of
dreams, he wants to seek out Ellone and have her send him back in time so he can
stop Rinoa from becoming comatose. Squall and his friends learn Ellone has gone
to the hidden nation of Esthar and Edea joins the party to Esthar due to her
fear that Ultimecia may possess her again. Squall carries an unconscious Rinoa
on his back through the Salt Flats, where the party discovers Esthar is cloaked
behind a massive shield. In Esthar, Dr. Odine tells Squall where he can find
Ellone. At the Lunar Gate, the party launches into outer space to Esthar's Lunar
Base. The Lunar Base confines Sorceress Adel, who once ruled Esthar.
Once the party is on the Lunar Base, Ultimecia takes possession of Rinoa's
body and forces her way through those who might stop her. Back on the ground,
Zell's party is shocked to see a massive black pillar rise from the ocean and
appear over Esthar. The pillar, known as the Lunatic Pandora, was created by
Esthar to artificially trigger an event known as the Lunar Cry, where countless
monsters fall to the planet from the Moon. Seifer engineered the unearthing of
Lunatic Pandora as part of Ultimecia's plan. In Rinoa's body, Ultimecia goes
into outer space and destroys the seal on Adel, who returns to the Lunatic
Pandora. Ultimecia then abandons Rinoa's body in space to enter Adel's.
Squall goes after Rinoa, and rescues her from death in outer space. They
escape on the lost spaceship Ragnarok, which had been floating in orbit near the
Lunar Base. Rinoa is now deemed a sorceress, and Esthar demands she be handed
over to custody, as she poses a threat to the world. Rinoa agrees to go with
them, but Squall cannot bear it, and rescues her before she is sealed away. The
party prepares to head to the Lunatic Pandora to rescue Ellone, who Seifer had
captured to further Ultimecia's plan.
The party discusses Ultimecia's plan with Dr. Odine. Ellone's ability to send
the consciousness's of others into different eras of time had been used by Dr.
Odine at some point in the future to create the Junction Machine Ellone.
Ultimecia is using the Junction Machine to reach back in time to connect and
take over the bodies of sorceresses so that she could exist in all eras of time.
However, the machine has limitations in regard to how far it can send a
consciousness back in time. Thus, it had become Ultimecia's goal to find the
real Ellone, so that her consciousness would simultaneously exist in the past,
present and future. With her mind present in all eras of time, Ultimecia would
finally be able to achieve time compression and become an omnipotent deity able
to fully control all time, space and existence.
With these revelations, Squall and his friends quickly form a plan with
Laguna, now the President of Esthar, and Dr. Odine, to stop Ultimecia. The plan
is to wait for Ultimecia to possess Adel. The group would then defeat Adel, so
she would pass her powers onto Rinoa, making her the only sorceress left in the
present era who Ultimecia could exist within. With Ultimecia inside Rinoa,
Ellone would send both of their minds into the distant past, allowing Ultimecia
to cast time compression. Ellone would then bring back both of their
consciousnesses and send them back to their respective eras, which would
temporarily stop the spell.
After discussing the plan to stop Ultimecia with Squall and his friends,
Laguna gives information about the only way to survive in a universe of
compressed time. In order to survive, Squall and his friends would have to keep
their bonds strong by remembering each other and thinking of a place they are
all connected to and want to travel to. They would then be able to survive
through time compression, and with their love and faith in each other make it to
Ultimecia's future and defeat her.
With the plan to defeat Ultimecia prepared, the party travels to the Lunatic
Pandora and confront Seifer. Fujin and Raijin try to convince Seifer to stop
serving Ultimecia and go back to being their friend. Seifer ignores their pleas
and does battle with Squall and his comrades. After Seifer is defeated, he
captures Rinoa, and offers her to Ultimecia (now in the body of Adel).
Ultimecia junctions Rinoa to Adel's body. Squall and his comrades fight
Ultimecia (as Adel), and defeat Adel's body. As Ultimecia's possession of Adel
ends, Adel passes on her Sorceress Power to Rinoa setting the plan into motion.
With no other vessel to exist within, Ultimecia possesses Rinoa, allowing Ellone
to send Ultimecia's and Rinoa's minds into the past. With her mind in all eras,
Ultimecia casts time compression, though it is temporarily halted when Ellone
sends her mind back to the future era.
However, the partially compressed time allowed Squall and his friends travel
to the future and finally reach Ultimecia Castle. In the future, the party finds
a dark world ruled by Ultimecia. The corpses of White SeeD members are found
around her castle, causing Squall to state that SeeD has been fighting Ultimecia
across generations. After many grueling battles in which the party must reclaim
their sealed abilities, Ultimecia is finally confronted. The final confrontation
between Ultimecia and SeeD is an epic battle that shifts through the fabric of
time and space.
Ultimecia attacks with an array of abilities including reaching into Squall's
mind and creating Griever, a Guardian Force created from Squall's idea of the
most powerful force that could exist. After Squall and his friends triumph over
Griever, Ultimecia junctions herself to Griever to increase her power. After she
is again bested Ultimecia transforms into her ultimate form to complete time
compression.
Ultimecia begins absorbing all time, space and existence into herself,
merging with it in order to become an omnipotent "living god[dess]". Ultimecia
even reaches into her own mind to create Apocalypse, the ultimate Black Magic
spell. However, her fated destiny, as well as the links that bound Squall,
Rinoa, Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine, prove to be too much for Ultimecia to
overcome. Ultimecia collapses in a massive explosion that emanates across space.
After Ultimecia's collapse, time starts to revert back into its original form
as Squall and his friends must find their way back to their own time. Ultimecia
and Squall end up traveling back in time to Edea's orphanage, to a time when
Squall was only a child and the Garden hadn't been built yet. Squall witnesses
Ultimecia passing her powers on to the Edea of the past before she fades away.
Squall speaks with Edea and mentions Garden and the SeeD. Edea is puzzled as
she's never heard of them, and Squall realizes he has traveled too far back in
time and enters back into the compressed time.
Squall finds himself in a featureless, desert-like state of limbo that is
gradually slipping into nothingness. Squall tries to concentrate on Rinoa to
make his way back home, but unable to recall his memories of Rinoa's face,
Squall resigns himself to his fate of being trapped in this dimension. In the
present era, Rinoa waiting for Squall at the flower field at Edea's Orphanage
where they had promised to meet if ever parted. Possibly using her sorceress
powers, Rinoa is able to jump back to the time compressed world, where she finds
Squall unconscious on the ground and brings him back to the real world.
The ending cutscenes reveal the fates of the various characters. Seifer is
shown to have abandoned his dream of becoming a SeeD and is spending his days in
the company of Fujin and Raijin in Balamb Town; though his satisfied smile as
Balamb Garden passes overhead suggests he has accepted his fate and moved on.
Laguna visits Raine's grave in the hills outside Winhill where he recalls his
memory of proposing to her, while Ellone, Kiros and Ward watch on at a distance.
The main party reunites at Balamb Garden for a celebration party, where it is
shown Edea has reverted back to her old self. Irvine and Selphie use a video
camera to document the party, though Squall is nowhere to be seen and the camera
runs out of batteries. After the credits, a short scene shows Rinoa gazing at
the stars from the balcony of Balamb Garden. A shooting star streaks overhead,
and Rinoa points it out, not unlike her first meeting with Squall. Squall looks
at Rinoa and smiles for the first time in the game. Squall and Rinoa share a
kiss as Balamb Garden ascends through the moonlit sky.
.
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Seifer Almasy. Squall and Seifer are both students at Balamb Garden, a military
academy training SeeDs. SeeDs are an elite mercenary force contracted to help
people all around the world. The duel ends in a tie, when both men end up with
scars across their faces. Squall wakes up a few hours later, on the day of his
SeeD field exam. He goes with his instructor Quistis Trepe to retrieve a
Guardian Force (GF), a creature that enables people to use magic to enhance
one's physical capabilities.
The final test Squall must pass to become a SeeD is to go to the occupied
city of Dollet, together with his squad members Zell Dincht and Seifer. They
quickly uncover the reason for the Galbadian Army's occupation; to reactivate an
old radio tower. Seifer leaves his teammates behind, and disobeys Garden's
orders. A spunky young girl, Selphie Tilmitt, joins the party at this time, and
after defeating a monster at the top of the tower, the tower is reactivated, and
they are chased back to the beach by a spider-like war machine.
Back at Garden, the exam results are announced. Squall, along with Zell,
Selphie, and another man named Nida, are the only ones to pass, and are
subsequently graduated to SeeDs by Headmaster Cid Kramer. Seifer does not make
the cut, due to having disobeyed direct orders. Later that night, at the SeeD
Graduation Ceremony, a young woman in a white dress approaches Squall and asks
him for a dance. Squall is initially disinterested, but the assertive young lady
manages to get him on the dance floor. They share a dance, before she abruptly
excuses herself.
Afterwards, Quistis asks Squall to meet in the "Secret Area" of the Training
Center for a talk, where she reveals she has been relieved of her position as an
instructor, which effectively removes the professional barrier between them.
Quistis tries to tell Squall she has feelings for him, but Squall, being
emotionally distant as he is, quickly becomes impatient and leaves her.
The next morning, Squall, Selphie and Zell receive their first mission as
SeeDs: to aid a resistance faction known as the Forest Owls in their quest to
reclaim the independence of a small nation called Timber. On the train trip to
Timber, the SeeDs strangely pass out, and have a dream about a man called Laguna
Loire and his two friends Kiros Seagill and Ward Zabac. Upon waking up, they
meet up with the Forest Owls, only to find that the girl who danced with Squall,
Rinoa Heartilly, is a member. She had been at the dance to enlist the help of
SeeD. The Forest Owls' plan is to abduct Vinzer Deling, Galbadia's tyrannical
president, and force him to withdraw his soldiers from Timber. However, once
they manage to hijack the president's train, they confront only his body double.
After defeating the imposter, they learn the real President Deling is going
to the Timber TV Station to broadcast something. The president announces the
Sorceress Edea as the nation's new ambassador when Seifer appears and holds the
President hostage. After a scuffle, Seifer disappears with the sorceress, and is
later announced executed. With Garden's reputation at risk following the
incident, Squall and his friends flee to Galbadia Garden, having another
mysterious dream about Laguna on the way.
In Galbadia Garden they are enlisted in a plot to assassinate the sorceress
with the help of Galbadia's General Caraway (Rinoa's father) and the master
sniper, Irvine Kinneas. The assassination is planned to take place at Edea's
inauguration parade in Deling City. Rinoa, determined to prove she is capable
and serious about the resistance movement, comes up with a plan to suppress the
sorceress's power with an Odine Brand item.
Rinoa is quickly struck down by the sorceress, who then kills President
Deling. Zell, Selphie and Quistis trap the sorceress inside a gated archway, as
Squall and Irvine arrive at their post where a high caliber sniper rifle has
been left for them to assassinate the sorceress. Irvine nearly breaks down just
before he is supposed to shoot Edea, but with a little help from Squall, he
fires at the sorceress. Edea blocks the shot with a magical barrier, forcing
Squall to attack the sorceress head on. Running through the parade, Squall is
surprised to see Seifer standing at the sorceress's side. Squall attacks the
sorceress after going through Seifer, who has now become Edea's protective
Knight. Edea hurls ice spikes at Squall, piercing his chest and rendering him
unconscious.
Squall dreams of Laguna in a little peasant town called Winhill, living with
a woman called Raine and her adoptive daughter Ellone. He suddenly wakes up in
Galbadia's D-District Prison, where his friends are being held nearby. Seifer
tortures Squall, demanding to know SeeD's true purpose. Squall is knocked
unconscious by the pain, but a Moomba frees him. His friends manage to escape as
well, but upon escaping, they see that the Galbadians have launched missiles
against Trabia Garden as part of Edea's plans to annihilate both Gardens.
Inferring that Balamb Garden will be next, they split into two teams: Selphie's
team tries to stop the missile launch, while Squall's team goes to warn Balamb
Garden. Selphie's party fails to stop the missile launch in time and barely
escapes the launch base as it self-destructs.
Squall arrives to find Balamb Garden in an uproar; students are fighting each
other, some siding with Headmaster Cid and some with Garden Master NORG. Cid
reveals NORG originally funded the Garden's foundation and saw them as a profit
venture, declaring himself the owner and dismissing Garden's true purpose of
fighting and defeating the corrupt sorceresses. The conflict of interest sparked
the internal fight amongst the SeeDs and Garden Faculty. Squall defeats NORG,
and learns the Garden can be made mobile. Squall moves the Garden just in time
before the Galbadian missiles hit.
As the Garden's steering devices have broken down over time due to lack of
maintenance, Balamb Garden crashes into Fishermans Horizon, a pacifist town
built around a defunct train station. The local technicians help restore the
Garden into full functionality and Squall is reunited with the missile base
team. Cid places the Garden under Squall's command, a duty he accepts
reluctantly. When the Garden returns to Balamb, Squall finds the Galbadians,
under the supervision of Seifer's friends Fujin and Raijin, have occupied Balamb
to search for a woman named Ellone. After liberating the town, Squall decides to
go to Trabia Garden, Selphie's home Garden.
Selphie mourns the wreckage of her home by the Galbadian missiles. As she
talks with Squall, Quistis, Zell, and Irvine, they gradually realize that as
children, they all lived in an orphanage together, cared for by a woman named
Edea. They had forgotten all about their past because of the memory loss brought
on by using the Guardian Forces. They decide to go back to the orphanage, only
to find out that Galbadia Garden has arrived there first. They prepare for an
assault on the Garden, now under the control of Edea and Seifer. Squall and his
friends eventually manage to infiltrate Galbadia Garden where they confront and
defeat Seifer, and finally defeat Sorceress Edea herself.
Edea returns to her normal state of mind in surprise. She reveals she had
been possessed by a sorceress from the distant future named Ultimecia, and that
up until now they had been fighting against Ultimecia inside Edea's "shell." In
the battle's aftermath, Ultimecia takes possession of Rinoa, rendering her
comatose. Ultimecia embraced and revived the unconscious Seifer, and ordered him
to raise the Lunatic Pandora from beneath the ocean. The SeeDs return to the
orphanage to speak with Edea about Ultimecia. It is through this conversation
with Edea that they learn of Ultimecia's plans for time compression.
Overcome by emotion, Squall realizes he is in love with Rinoa and will do
anything to bring her back. Having found out Ellone is the one who has been
sending him and his friends back in time to inhabit Laguna in the form of
dreams, he wants to seek out Ellone and have her send him back in time so he can
stop Rinoa from becoming comatose. Squall and his friends learn Ellone has gone
to the hidden nation of Esthar and Edea joins the party to Esthar due to her
fear that Ultimecia may possess her again. Squall carries an unconscious Rinoa
on his back through the Salt Flats, where the party discovers Esthar is cloaked
behind a massive shield. In Esthar, Dr. Odine tells Squall where he can find
Ellone. At the Lunar Gate, the party launches into outer space to Esthar's Lunar
Base. The Lunar Base confines Sorceress Adel, who once ruled Esthar.
Once the party is on the Lunar Base, Ultimecia takes possession of Rinoa's
body and forces her way through those who might stop her. Back on the ground,
Zell's party is shocked to see a massive black pillar rise from the ocean and
appear over Esthar. The pillar, known as the Lunatic Pandora, was created by
Esthar to artificially trigger an event known as the Lunar Cry, where countless
monsters fall to the planet from the Moon. Seifer engineered the unearthing of
Lunatic Pandora as part of Ultimecia's plan. In Rinoa's body, Ultimecia goes
into outer space and destroys the seal on Adel, who returns to the Lunatic
Pandora. Ultimecia then abandons Rinoa's body in space to enter Adel's.
Squall goes after Rinoa, and rescues her from death in outer space. They
escape on the lost spaceship Ragnarok, which had been floating in orbit near the
Lunar Base. Rinoa is now deemed a sorceress, and Esthar demands she be handed
over to custody, as she poses a threat to the world. Rinoa agrees to go with
them, but Squall cannot bear it, and rescues her before she is sealed away. The
party prepares to head to the Lunatic Pandora to rescue Ellone, who Seifer had
captured to further Ultimecia's plan.
The party discusses Ultimecia's plan with Dr. Odine. Ellone's ability to send
the consciousness's of others into different eras of time had been used by Dr.
Odine at some point in the future to create the Junction Machine Ellone.
Ultimecia is using the Junction Machine to reach back in time to connect and
take over the bodies of sorceresses so that she could exist in all eras of time.
However, the machine has limitations in regard to how far it can send a
consciousness back in time. Thus, it had become Ultimecia's goal to find the
real Ellone, so that her consciousness would simultaneously exist in the past,
present and future. With her mind present in all eras of time, Ultimecia would
finally be able to achieve time compression and become an omnipotent deity able
to fully control all time, space and existence.
With these revelations, Squall and his friends quickly form a plan with
Laguna, now the President of Esthar, and Dr. Odine, to stop Ultimecia. The plan
is to wait for Ultimecia to possess Adel. The group would then defeat Adel, so
she would pass her powers onto Rinoa, making her the only sorceress left in the
present era who Ultimecia could exist within. With Ultimecia inside Rinoa,
Ellone would send both of their minds into the distant past, allowing Ultimecia
to cast time compression. Ellone would then bring back both of their
consciousnesses and send them back to their respective eras, which would
temporarily stop the spell.
After discussing the plan to stop Ultimecia with Squall and his friends,
Laguna gives information about the only way to survive in a universe of
compressed time. In order to survive, Squall and his friends would have to keep
their bonds strong by remembering each other and thinking of a place they are
all connected to and want to travel to. They would then be able to survive
through time compression, and with their love and faith in each other make it to
Ultimecia's future and defeat her.
With the plan to defeat Ultimecia prepared, the party travels to the Lunatic
Pandora and confront Seifer. Fujin and Raijin try to convince Seifer to stop
serving Ultimecia and go back to being their friend. Seifer ignores their pleas
and does battle with Squall and his comrades. After Seifer is defeated, he
captures Rinoa, and offers her to Ultimecia (now in the body of Adel).
Ultimecia junctions Rinoa to Adel's body. Squall and his comrades fight
Ultimecia (as Adel), and defeat Adel's body. As Ultimecia's possession of Adel
ends, Adel passes on her Sorceress Power to Rinoa setting the plan into motion.
With no other vessel to exist within, Ultimecia possesses Rinoa, allowing Ellone
to send Ultimecia's and Rinoa's minds into the past. With her mind in all eras,
Ultimecia casts time compression, though it is temporarily halted when Ellone
sends her mind back to the future era.
However, the partially compressed time allowed Squall and his friends travel
to the future and finally reach Ultimecia Castle. In the future, the party finds
a dark world ruled by Ultimecia. The corpses of White SeeD members are found
around her castle, causing Squall to state that SeeD has been fighting Ultimecia
across generations. After many grueling battles in which the party must reclaim
their sealed abilities, Ultimecia is finally confronted. The final confrontation
between Ultimecia and SeeD is an epic battle that shifts through the fabric of
time and space.
Ultimecia attacks with an array of abilities including reaching into Squall's
mind and creating Griever, a Guardian Force created from Squall's idea of the
most powerful force that could exist. After Squall and his friends triumph over
Griever, Ultimecia junctions herself to Griever to increase her power. After she
is again bested Ultimecia transforms into her ultimate form to complete time
compression.
Ultimecia begins absorbing all time, space and existence into herself,
merging with it in order to become an omnipotent "living god[dess]". Ultimecia
even reaches into her own mind to create Apocalypse, the ultimate Black Magic
spell. However, her fated destiny, as well as the links that bound Squall,
Rinoa, Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine, prove to be too much for Ultimecia to
overcome. Ultimecia collapses in a massive explosion that emanates across space.
After Ultimecia's collapse, time starts to revert back into its original form
as Squall and his friends must find their way back to their own time. Ultimecia
and Squall end up traveling back in time to Edea's orphanage, to a time when
Squall was only a child and the Garden hadn't been built yet. Squall witnesses
Ultimecia passing her powers on to the Edea of the past before she fades away.
Squall speaks with Edea and mentions Garden and the SeeD. Edea is puzzled as
she's never heard of them, and Squall realizes he has traveled too far back in
time and enters back into the compressed time.
Squall finds himself in a featureless, desert-like state of limbo that is
gradually slipping into nothingness. Squall tries to concentrate on Rinoa to
make his way back home, but unable to recall his memories of Rinoa's face,
Squall resigns himself to his fate of being trapped in this dimension. In the
present era, Rinoa waiting for Squall at the flower field at Edea's Orphanage
where they had promised to meet if ever parted. Possibly using her sorceress
powers, Rinoa is able to jump back to the time compressed world, where she finds
Squall unconscious on the ground and brings him back to the real world.
The ending cutscenes reveal the fates of the various characters. Seifer is
shown to have abandoned his dream of becoming a SeeD and is spending his days in
the company of Fujin and Raijin in Balamb Town; though his satisfied smile as
Balamb Garden passes overhead suggests he has accepted his fate and moved on.
Laguna visits Raine's grave in the hills outside Winhill where he recalls his
memory of proposing to her, while Ellone, Kiros and Ward watch on at a distance.
The main party reunites at Balamb Garden for a celebration party, where it is
shown Edea has reverted back to her old self. Irvine and Selphie use a video
camera to document the party, though Squall is nowhere to be seen and the camera
runs out of batteries. After the credits, a short scene shows Rinoa gazing at
the stars from the balcony of Balamb Garden. A shooting star streaks overhead,
and Rinoa points it out, not unlike her first meeting with Squall. Squall looks
at Rinoa and smiles for the first time in the game. Squall and Rinoa share a
kiss as Balamb Garden ascends through the moonlit sky.
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