Author's Note

And there you have it. My first long-term finished fanfic. I decided to change the ending because I wasn't satisfied with the previous ending. The final chapters seemed a bit rushed, but that's because I was anxious to get this story finished after dragging it on for two years.

I'm still proud of it, despite changing it over and over again just for the sake of satisfying other readers. I feel like I made a bit of a mistake by taking people's comments to heart. I'd just come to the realization that if you like your story and where you're going with it, that's all that matters.

I'm putting this note here because I'm probably not going to have any conversations with people who are reading this story, anymore.

A long time ago (two years ago), I finished playing FFX and only watched a walkthrough of FFX-2, because frankly, playing a video game that lasts over 15 hours of gameplay really drained the energy out of me. Especially playing the original version.

And I was desperately wanting more. So I searched all corridors of the internet, forums, and Youtube videos, hoping to find some extension of the story. Then one day, I stumbled upon this French-translated novella, Eien no Daishou.

I did NOT even get close to the ending of that story, because I was completely turned off by the very first pages.

I honestly don't even know where to begin with why I despise the story so much. First off, I absolutely hate how Yuna treats Tidus. He comes back from god-knows-where after she spent an entire game looking for him and then completely ignores him like five seconds after he arrived. She gets offended that he proposed a different way of living, she refuses to kiss him, and she tosses him to the side.

To top it all off, after learning about his true nature and what would happen if he continued to exist, she just completely disregarded it. That, to me, just doesn't sound like something she would do.

I don't like the person Yuna became in FFX-2. The game itself is not great to me, anyway, and not just for the reason most people don't like FFX-2. True, there is the idea of character evolution over time, but the way they did it in this game just didn't feel right.

I'm glad she was more free-spirited and rebellious, but I feel like it would still not be in her nature to be jealous or selfish. Maybe I just have different ideas about the evolution of characters than people that create video games. Honestly, I feel like the game should be renamed Final Fan Service.

The thing that bugged me most about the sequel is that there's an option to bring back Tidus (spoilers) without any satisfying reason why he was able to be brought back in the first place. In FFX, it was inevitable he would cease to exist and the fayth didn't offer to do anything about it, because I'm assuming that resurrection was out of their power. Then all of a sudden Tidus just appears out of nowhere. It doesn't make sense, even if the sequel added a layer of complexity to his character by introducing Shuyin. Or tried to, at least.

At least try to add some reasoning to why Tidus just crawled back from the abyss. Most fanfictions have better explanations than this game did.

Also, why wasn't FFX-2 about them going to Zanarkand? FFX mentions the city over and over and over again, but we're never actually shown what kinds of magical rules and boundaries that take place there. We know nothing about how Tidus lived, how fiends were dealt with, and how summoners actually fought in this war. Sure, the novella gives us a bit of insight, but that's it. Maybe FFX-3 would include this, but that's after all the damage the novella and audio drama did.

Speaking of the audio drama, I don't know why it's told in the perspective of this person that doesn't pose any significance to the plot. Chuami is arrogant, spiteful, and rude and made it much more difficult to listen to the entire video. Kurgum is pathetic, whiny, and obsessed with Yuna. I can't help but feel like the only reason those two exist is to pose conflict between Yuna and Tidus.

I hated that I felt obligated to include them in my story, but if I wanted it to be the least bit realistic, I threw them in there. Yuna seemed petty, irritable, and more of a recluse, keeping this treacherous Yevon religion alive, instead of the humble, open-minded woman she had been before. She didn't seem to care about anyone else besides herself. This video took her selfishness to such a high level and I couldn't bear it.

And Sin being back? After everything that happened in FFX? Both the audio drama and novella really want to unravel the legacy of FFX. It's like the creators of the game wanted to bring back the drama, heartbreak, and tragedy from the first game by pretending that all of it just never happened. I feel like it's such a lazy method of continuing a story and establishing conflict.

FFX went from being a beautiful and thought-provoking story about the use of religion for political gain and manipulation, the hypocrisies of said religion, and the idea of self-sacrifice for something greater. It was about putting one's wishes and desires away for the sake of humanity.

It was about racism, xenophobia, toxic masculinity with the Ronsos, and the deception of political figures.

Then it turned into this petty high school drama that was trying desperately to throw in a story, but couldn't do it without trying to repeat the concepts of the first game.

Many people were upset about Tidus being a dream and fading from existence in the first game, but I'm here to remind people that a sad ending doesn't equal a bad ending.

Thus, out of anger, I decided to create this story. I decided not to rely on other authors to create the story I wanted to hear. And I'm glad I did so, because it allowed me to explore depths of storytelling that I've never explored before.

I learned how to take people's criticisms a bit better than when I first started using this website so many years ago. And I'm grateful for the readers that have stuck by this story even after a large portion of it was rewritten multiple times. So thank you all.

Some people went a little overboard with what was "canon" and "non-canon". This is a Fanfiction website, guys. Expand your imagination far beyond the boundaries of what the media you are recreating has to offer. Anyone could write this story. Some people could probably write this story better than I did.

And I say go for it. This is your story, after all.

Okay, I'm done complaining. All in all, I feel like the novella and the audio drama could have potential to turn into a great story. It just felt so forced and so much like it was trying to be a revamped version of the first game, but that doesn't have to be how storytelling works.

But what do I know? I'm just another Fanfic writer who spouts whatever it is that comes to my mind on this digital paper.

And now on to continue my other long-term writing projects.