Is IX the darkest Final Fantasy game?

[Rydia]

IX has often been critisized for being a childish game mainly due to the art work. Ironically, I think this is the only game where the moogles cuss you out on more than one occasion.

While I'm replaying through it, I can't help but feel that this may be the darkest Final Fantasy game.

First of all the game is pretty much about death. Many of the characters have a fear of death especially Vivi, Zidane, and Kuja. Kuja even goes as far as to prevent his own death.

Let's look at the endings/themes of other notable Final Fantasy games.

Final Fantasy VI: Sure the world goes in to the ruin about halfway through, but the end gives us a strong sense of hope as we see the world rebuilding in the credits.

Final Fantasy VII: The main theme in Final Fantasy VII was life and how death is in fact not the end of everything. (Aerith's death was very important for this theme) We get to the end and we're not sure what happened. Did humanity survive or did it not? Scroll through credits and we see that Red XIII is in fact still alive. So was humanity destroyed? Out comes Advent Children which says no. But despite AC, wouldn't matter if humanity survived or not because they would cycle through the life stream.

Final Fantasy VIII: Well everything ended up pretty happy here. XD

Final Fantasy X: Yeah Tidus disappears at the end but Sin is destroyed and everything is over. Yuna's final speech gives everyone a sense of hope.

Final Fantasy IX: At the end after you defeat Kuja, Necron appears. Necron is death personified and most of the characters' worst fear. You do not technically defeat Necron because, well you can not escape death. The final message of the game is basically, "death will come, you can not escape it, so take advantage of the time you have left."

It kind of gives a very strange bittersweet ending.

 

[Hayate]

Well, if you base it off Endings, yes this game has to be the darkest.

But, Wasn't X surrounded by death as well? As Auron stated "Spira's cycle of death". Yah.

So, I think they may be on par with one another, in some ways.

 

[Warbsywoo]

I'd agree, but the ending (i.e. Melodies of Life) completely erased that theme from my mind.

I'd say VII would be the darkest though because it started off dark and did not let up even through Gold Saucer. As you said, the ending was ambiguous so you really couldn't say it had a happy ending even if you didn't have proof of it having a bad ending. IX on the other hand reverted back to being a 'happy' game when Garnet and Zidane were reunited.

 

[Stella]

thats a tough question.. when i played through the game, i thought it waz the brighest ff because of all the humor it had and everybody had a happy ending... thinking back on it tho, there waz a dark theme to the story, and it didnt leave off with one of the cheeriest messages ive ever seen, so i guess now it could b considered the darkest

 

[Marshy]

I say that Final Fantasy Tactics has a more darker story to it. Its also all about death. The whole story is about people fighting over Ivalice and back stabbing eachother. Delita is the biggest backstabber of them all cause he just watches as his master plan folds out. Its also revolves around the zodiac brave story where they find stones that turn the hosts into creatures that are ancient and its death all around. If you've played this game, you would know what im talking about.

 

[Rydia]

I really don't find VII to be all that dark mainly because it's theme is life. And all the sequels and prequels have pretty much made it an emo fest. XD

Haven't played Tactics so I can't comment on that.

thats a tough question.. when i played through the game, i thought it waz the brighest ff because of all the humor it had and everybody had a happy ending... thinking back on it tho, there waz a dark theme to the story, and it didnt leave off with one of the cheeriest messages ive ever seen, so i guess now it could b considered the darkest

That's what I loved about this game. The characters were lighthearted in the midst of everything that was happening. None of this "Waaah! My life sucks! The world's is going to end! I didn't tell her how I feel! OMG he doesn't love me!" XD

I think having the characters more cheerful only makes the story more darker.

 

[Rockman X]

IX is definitely a dark game. Um, this will all pretty much be a gigantic spoiler, thus I'll be courteous and use tags. Forgive me if I leave anything out, I'll probably think of more things later.

Spoiler

1. The game deals with genocide. Kuja is using Queen Brahne and his black mage army to wage war on the surrounding nations and wiped out a good portion of Freya's people.

2. Kuja brainwashed Queen Brahne into becoming a warmonger; Brahne kidnaps her own daughter and has her eidelons extracted, then later decides to have her executed.

3. Black mages are tools of war made from, as Kuja called them, "the dregs of souls."

4. Terra is dying, and to preserve it Garland intends to assimilate the planet of Gaia and steal its souls via the Iifa tree.

5. The entire summoner tribe was wiped out, save for Garnet and Eiko. As a matter of fact, alot of the game centers around being orphaned. Zidane was raised by Tantalus and never knew what his home planet was like, Vivi was raised by a Qu who deemed him too small to eat, and Eiko lived with only the Moogles in Maidan Sari.

So um, yeah. There are plenty of dark themes hiding under the happy exterior of the game. What makes the game so great is that, like Rydia says, the characters are able to stay strong and/or cheerful through the whole mess. Vivi's a depressed guy because he first doesn't know who he is, and when he finds out it only makes things worse. But not once does he give up, he keeps fighting and searching.

In X, Spira revolved around death. However, the deaths were something accepted and certain people learned how to keep from moving onto the farplane. IX is more tragic because when people are wiped out, it's not something accepted as natural (such as Sin) and it's not something that can be circumvented. In IX if you died, you'd either end up

Spoiler

going to the Iifa tree and becoming mist that would spawn monsters in the overworld, or you'd end up as a black mage who would in turn kill more.

There were no sendings to give the souls peace.

IX on the other hand reverted back to being a 'happy' game when Garnet and Zidane were reunited.

Pay more attention to the ending. Yes, it has happy aspects, such as Zidane reuniting with Garnet,

Spoiler

Steiner and Beatrix getting together, and Eiko being adopted by Regent Cid.

However, the ending is very bittersweet.

Spoiler

Kuja saves your entire party and redeems himself, yet dies anyway. Vivi dies and it is he who narrates the ending. And even though Freya rekindles her relationship with Sir Fratley, he never recovers his memory loss so he doesn't remember their past together.

So I wouldn't call the ending entirely happy.

 

[Kenpachi]

If you take the entire game into account, I'd have to agree, that this is the darkest game, what with Genocide, Homicide, Suicide... nearly every -cide you can think of in it!
However, I also agree with Hayate, saying that X was fairly Dark, The entire thing of it revolving around Sin, and how everyone in the world has to live in constant fear of Sin and its horror.
The whole cycle of death thing too was quite good.

 

[Ultima36]

I never really thought of it as a dark game. I always thought it was one of the more cheerful FFs. Now that you've made me aware of all these dark themes, I think I'll think of it differently next time I play. Thinking about it, there are a lot of 'tragedies' with towns being destroyed and invaded, and the characters' own problems.

 

[Fusionist]

I always thought that each FF game has some dark aspect to them, and FFIX probably has more than some other FF games.

But the graphics and designs of video games makes it hard to see the angst and such.

I personally think FF Tactics is the darkest FF game I've played so far, but because of the style, unless someone is focusing on the storyline, it's hard to see.

 

[Replica Yuff]

I never noticed that. Anyways, now that I think about it, yeah, it is dark.

Spoiler

A lot of sad moments happened in that game. Like when Garnet loses her voice, or when 1 city gets destroyed, and etc.

I'm still thinking if this is the darkest FF ever because of FFX.

Spoiler

FFX had a sad ending, Kilika got destroyed (but later on got rebuilt in FFX-2), the temples/yevonite people were evil and betrayers, and etc.

 

[Rockman X]

Spoiler

A lot of sad moments happened in that game. Like when Garnet loses her voice, or when 1 city gets destroyed, and etc.

One city? O_O Dear me, there were alot more than that:

1.

Spoiler

Madain Sari and all the summoners but Garnet and Eiko were killed.

2.

Spoiler

The troops in Gizamaluke's Grotto were slaughtered (so it was more like an outpost, but whatever).

3.

Spoiler

Burmecia was decimated and very few survived.

4.

Spoiler

The entire business district in Lindblum was swallowed up by Atomos.

5.

Spoiler

Alexandria was nearly destroyed by Bahamut and the Mistodons.

 

[Bambi]

Well I really DO need to replay this game because I always thought of it as quite cheery myself because it was so bright & to an extent childish because of the characters but thinking about it & reading through some of these posts it really did have darker undertones

The characters were all really unhappy for one reason or another. Gee these threads make me think too much, although it's been a while since I played it

Although I kind of agree with some of the comments about X being dark especially when you find out Yuna has to sacrifice herself for the greater good and Tidus & all his memories are just dreams
The deception of Yevon aswel was quite a shocker. I actually felt rather betrayed by that >>
Everybugger seemed to be an unsent

 

[Rydia]

I wouldn't say X was the darkest. Considering what was going on, there didn't seem to be that much destruction as there should have been. We got a strong sense of hope at the end of the game. And Yuna chose to be a summoner. It is not like she was forced. A lot of the melodrama made it some of the more depressing moments in this game seem forced.

If we were to take Aerith on the other hand... She never chose to be an ancient and was forced to sacrifice herself for the planet.

VI, VII and IX were the darkest Final Fantasy games for me.

 

[The Dreadnought]

Naw, not really. Sure, they used souls to remake Terra, and there is evidence to show that other planets have died altogether, but it isn't exactly dark.

 

[Rockman X]

Naw, not really. Sure, they used souls to remake Terra, and there is evidence to show that other planets have died altogether, but it isn't exactly dark.

You didn't even pay attention to IX when you played it, did you? People always look at the stylized characters and pretty fantasy setting and go "LIEK OH MY GAWD SO CUTE THERE SO HAPPY WHAT A CHEERFUL GAME I WANT MAI EMO ANIMU CHARACTERS WITH SPIKY HAIR AND 6 FOOT LONG SWORDS COMPENSATING FOR SMALL WEEWEES BACK!"

And nobody ever mentioned anything about other planets dying or whatever. Christ, I've listed enough reasons to prove that this game even beats X as the darkest FF. But just to reiterate that (because it IS darker than X), here ya go:

Spoiler

Death is accepted in Spira. Sure, Sin comes from time to time and wipes out a village or two. But it's accepted as normal. And when people die, they can be sent and go to the Farplane. In IX there is no Farplane. So when Brahne goes on her military campaign and genocide and people are slaughtered, what happens to the dead? Their souls get cycled through the Iifa tree and become mist. Mist either spawns monsters in the overworld, or is turned into black mages. And I suppose if the assimilation took place, it would enter the genomes.

And it's not like the death is exactly toned down. Just walk through any place the black mages attacked and soldiers will be strewn across the ground, buildings will be in rubble or on fire, etc. It's not a very happy game. It IS, however a HOPEFUL game. There's a difference.

 

[Baks]

Hell no IX isn't all that dark compared to VI, VII and and X imo. I personally believe that VI is the darkest game in the series by far.

Its a very dark game right from the get go. I mean you see Terra being mind controlled, Kefka then poisoining the water at Doma - killing off all Cyan's friends and relatives and then the attack on Castle Figaro.

Not to mention all this stuff happens at the beginning of the game and is only the tip of the iceburg.

Far more worse stuff happens later in the game like Celes opera scene and some of the stuff in the World of Ruin ie mainly the scenes with Shadow.

 

[Rydia]

How the heck in Celes's opera scene dark?

X was pretty much just an emo fest to the point where it was greatly shoved down your throat Besides, when the characters die, they get sent to the far plane, which is basically like a heaven. And people can still see their lost loved ones if they go to Guadolosom.

Maybe we should make a list of all the grimmer details in the FF games?

 

[Ruin_leader]

Well honestly in My opinion i think that Final Fantasy IX was in fact the most Hopeful game becuase like throught out it you kept losing garnet *dagger* and you never gave up and kept going but yes it did have a strange aura of death.

 

[Rockman X]

Far more worse stuff happens later in the game like Celes opera scene and some of the stuff in the World of Ruin ie mainly the scenes with Shadow.

lolwut? How, praytell, is that scene even remotely dark? If anything it's comical.

How the heck in Celes's opera scene dark?

X was pretty much just an emo fest to the point where it was greatly shoved down your throat Besides, when the characters die, they get sent to the far plane, which is basically like a heaven. And people can still see their lost loved ones if they go to Guadolosom.

See that's what I've been trying to point out.

Afterlife in X = farplane
Afterlife in IX = mist

Maybe we should make a list of all the grimmer details in the FF games?

Something tells me it wouldn't do any good ;

Well honestly in My opinion i think that Final Fantasy IX was in fact the most Hopeful game becuase like throught out it you kept losing garnet *dagger* and you never gave up and kept going but yes it did have a strange aura of death.

Thaaaank you! Finally someone gets it. IX is a dark game, but it has an underlying theme of hope and perseverance. It's the anti-emo game. No matter how hard or depressing things get, you never see the characters give up. It's quite an inspiring game, really.