Spoiler Below -Vivi dies. Yes. At the end, the dialogue referring to Zidane is Vivi dictating what appears to be either a letter or just a 'goodbye' right before his death, I believe. And then you see his 'sons' whom he figured out how to create somehow (I think it's implied there's a connection between the Black Mages who raise the chocobo (from the mist) and Vivi creating clones of himself. Or maybe I made that up in my head. Either way, I'm counting it.
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But yes, he 'stops.'
Most of the Black Mages only have a lifespan of one-year; Vivi was a specially made Mage created by Kuja himself, so was a bit longer; however, at the beginning of the game, he is 6 months old (even though he looks to be 'ten' there is a location in Quan's dwelling that reveals how old Vivi truly is). Take into account the fact that more than a year passes since Zidane leaves to find Kuja (this being inferred from the fact that Garnet's hair could not possibly have grown back to full length in such a short period of time), so you have to figure Vivi's time came.
-I thought that they showed Frately in the end...during the end scene of the game, he is shown with Freya right before she goes to visit Alexandria. He tells Freya he loves her, and they talk about rebuilding Burmecia together.
-Beatrix is ****ing awesome. That is all.
-I actually think that this is the strongest soundtrack. I don't think there's a song on there that I DON'T like...
-I have to agree with the notion that it has the best character development for any FF game. It also has the most likable characters IMO. Even Amarant grows on you (at least, he did for me...).