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this could have been covered in another post, so sorry if it has, but can someone tell me who Necron is and how he fits into the story? I mean there is always at least some background information regarding the final boss in all rpg's even if we dont know who/what will be the final boss, we always hear something about them in some way hinting to it, but with ffIX i didnt hear a thing about necron...hes so random.
somebody lead this guy to a previous thread that explained his question.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryűkishi
Being that Kawaii's explanation doesn't have an actual in-game basis for the being's origin and leaves a lot of things unanswered, I'm going to offer my explanation, which has said in-game explanation and effectively wraps up the loose ends:Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
(From my FFIX Plot Analysis at GameFAQs:)Code:http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/final_fantasy_ix_plot.txt
Quote:
I believe Necron, the final opponent fought in Final Fantasy IX, is the central function of the Iifa Tree, the mechanism that interefered with the Cycle of Souls. To put it another way, Necron is the true form of the Iifa Tree, that aspect of it that lies beyond the material plane and intereferes with the cycle of Gaia's souls on the spiritual plane.
For evidence of this, we must first look to Garland's observations and conclusions concerning life:
(In Pandemonium on Terra.)
We find very similar conclusions stated by Necron:Quote:
"But think for a moment... Isn't life death itself? It must kill other life-forms to survive..."
"Sometimes it even kills those with whom is shares blood..."
"To live is to give life meaning, yet one must take others' lives to survive..."
"A mature civilization becomes aware of this paradox..."
"Terra's souls will sleep until they forget such nonsense. They will begin a new life in a new dimension."
"It's a world in which life and death become one..."
"That is the dimension in which we are meant to live, as beings that transcend life and death!"
(Above the Hill of Despair.)
With this in mind, recall that Garland created the Iifa Tree. That it would be aware of Garland's (him being its maker and having assigned it its function) beliefs and could have sought to analyze them as a result -- with the actions of another of Garland's creations, Kuja, as the basis of the analyzation -- is something to be considered.Quote:
"All life bears death from birth."
"Life fears death, but lives only to die."
"It starts with anxiety."
"Anxiety becomes fear."
"Fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate... hate leads to suffering..."
"The only cure for this fear is total destruction."
"...Now, the theory is undeniable."
"Kuja's action proves it. All things live to perish."
"At last, life has uncovered this truth. Now, it is time to end this world."
...
"I exist for one purpose..."
"To return everything back to the zero world, where there is no life and no crystal to give life."
"In a world of nothing, fear does not exist. This is the world that all life desires."
Something else to consider is that Garland states that the Iifa Tree's true form was not the Tree itself, that being only its material form:
(Bolded for emphasis.)Quote:
Garland
"We must sort the souls."
"I want to disrupt Gaia's cycle and drain its souls, filling the void with the souls of Terra."
"To speed the cycle of souls is to speed the work as a whole. Thus, war..."
"And in time... Gaia's souls are gone, and Gaia becomes Terra."
Garland
"You saw it with your own eyes. You saw the Iifa Tree and the Mist it emits."
"The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider. The Mist you see comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."
Zidane
"Oh yeah? But we stopped the Mist! So much for that!"
Garland
"All you saw was the back of the tree..."
"Even now, the Iifa Tree blocks the flow of Gaia's souls, while it lets those of Terra flow freely."
"Come and see for yourself. See the true form of this planet."
Zidane
"What is this?"
Garland
"Think of it as an observatory. A place to measure the radiance of Gaia and Terra."
Zidane
"What are you talking about? And what is this weird light?"
Garland
"That is the center of the planet. The end and the beginning of the cycle of souls."
"The light remains Gaia's, for now, but when the blue changes to crimson, all will belong to Terra, and its restoration will be complete."
"That is why I wrapped up the light in the Iifa Tree, to prevent the cycle of the judgement of souls on Gaia from inside the planet."
"Such is the Iifa Tree's true purpose, its true form. All you saw was its material form."
"The flow of Gaia's souls cannot be changed simply by stopping the disposal of Mist."
This would mean that the mechanism which interrupts the Cycle of Souls was something not on the physical plane. With this in mind, recall that when Kuja is defeated, he says that if he is going to die, he isn't going alone, meaning he intended to kill Zidane and the others with his final attack. He then proceeds to blast them with an Ultima Spell, their bodies being engulfed in flames and vanishing:
Linkage 1.
Linkage 2.
Linkage 3.
Linkage 4.
Linkage 5.
Linkage 6.
Linkage 7.
Now keep in mind further that after the screen fades out, when it fades back in, we find Zidane and the others laying in an area that isn't the area where Kuja was fought, and which is called the "Hill of Despair" according to the Menu Screen:
Where Kuja was fought.
Another shot of the battleground with Kuja.
The Hill of Despair.
"Hill of Despair" on the Menu Screen.
In addition to this, the moans of tormented souls can be heard in the background.
In other words, the implication is that when Zidane and the others were hit by Kuja's Spell, they were killed, and then came face-to-face with the Iifa Tree's true form on the spirtual plane, it attempting to dismiss them from Gaia as it had done to all the souls up to this point, as was the purpose Garland said the Tree had been given.
Also consider that after the defeat of Necron, the gateway to Memoria explodes and the Iifa Tree goes into a spasm, flailing its vines and roots about, then dying soon after. We can be certain that the Tree died, as Mikoto can be seen briefly during the ending walking across a vine of the Tree, with it looking withered and dead, no longer violent and thrashing. For that matter, had the Tree not been undone, we would be left to wonder why Gaia's assimilation by Terra was never completed, seeing as how Kuja said that the assimilation was nigh at hand before the final battle with him.
Necron being the core mechanism of the Tree would account for the Tree's demise, whereas Necron not being so would leave us to question why the Tree died for seemingly no reason, first going into violent spasms immediately after Necron was defeated, then being dead shortly thereafter.
Something else possibly worth consideration is what Garland says concerning the radiance of Gaia and Terra:
The radiance of Gaia is blue, whereas the radiance of Terra is red. Necron is blue, yet when casting certain Spells, changes its color to red.Quote:
Garland
"That is the center of the planet. The end and the beginning of the cycle of souls."
"The light remains Gaia's, for now, but when the blue changes to crimson, all will belong to Terra, and its restoration will be complete."
In summary, with Garland and Necron expressing similar views on life, and Necron's own words showing that it was testing a theory involving that view of life before concluding that the view was accurate (which would make sense for it to do if Garland were its creator), we can possibly conclude the same point of origin for this belief. Further, with Garland suggesting that the true form of the Iifa Tree did not lie on the physical plane, and with Zidane and the others being killed in battle by Kuja only to find themselves confronted by a creature spouting views similar to Garland's and changing into the two colors of the Planets that the Iifa Tree served as a gateway between (blue for Gaia and red for Terra), we can assume a possible connection to the Iifa Tree on Necron's part. The death of the Tree following Necron's defeat allows us to confirm this.
Points That Would Possibly Contest This Concept:
Necron says "I am eternal" when defeated. Would this not immediately disprove Necron as being the central mechanism of the Iifa Tree, seeing as how Garland created it?
Not necessarily. Necron says "I am eternal" upon being defeated, yes, but that does not necessarily mean that Necron was saying "I have always been and always will be." "Eternal" is ambiguous. It can mean "Always has been and always will be," but it can also mean "Having no end." In other words, Necron might have been saying "I will never perish." This certainly isn't a foreign declaration to villains upon their demise. For that matter, Zeromus, the final opponent of Final Fantasy IV, and the incarnation of Zemus' hatred, made a similar declaration at the moment of his own death:
(Zeromus' final words.)
(Necron's final words.)Quote:
Zeromus: I will not...perish...so long as evil...dwells in the hearts...of mankind. G...gh... GRRRAAGH!
However, there's little question as to whether or not Zeromus was simply making a boast before his death, something which he did not anticipate. Something else to keep in mind is that Final Fantasy IX was a game designed to pay tribute to past Final Fantasy games. The ending boss battles of Final Fantasy IV and IX are very similar in that in both the party is wiped out, only to be brought back from defeat by other party members lending their strength. Also in both cases, the defeated final foe declares their self-proclaimed eternal nature, despite all indication and the context of the situation suggesting it to not be the case.Quote:
"This is not the end."
"I am eternal..."
"...as long as there is life and death..."
If the party members died, then how were they suddenly back alive after Kuja teleported them out of Memoria? For that matter, how did their souls return to their bodies with their bodies healed? Certainly this would suggest that the concept is false.
Again, not necessarily. The point could as easily be posed in response "Why then do the bodies of Zidane and the others vanish after they're blasted by Ultima, and why do they awaken in a different location than the one where they had fought Kuja, with it being called the "Hill of Despair" and the sounds of anguished souls audible?". The notion that Zidane and the others didn't die requires more explanation than one that would argue they did. While certainly odd that Kuja was able to teleport souls and then place them back into their [healed] bodies that had been killed moments before, that can possibly be explained away by the fact that Kuja had absorbed a multitude of souls from the Invincible:
With that much power, perhaps the power to reach out and touch souls was not beyond Kuja, him then teleporting the souls to the same location as Zidane and the others' bodies, the bodies healed. While that's conjecture and Zidane and the others dying would make a plothole of Kuja rescuing Zidane and the others, them having not died and Necron not being the core mechanism of the Iifa Tree would make a plothole of what Necron is, why the Iifa Tree died after his defeat, why Zidane and the others' bodies disappeared after being blasted by Ultima when Kuja attempted to kill them, why Necron and Garland express a similar view of life with there being no connection between the two, and why some random cosmic being was so cosmically bored as to be observing Kuja to make a determination about the nature of humanity and deemed it appropriate to step-in to perform what it deemed to be a "boon" to humanity. Logically, the explanation that left the smallest amount of plotholes would be the best one, especially when it is supported by in-game dialogue and events.Quote:
Kuja
"Yes! This is the power I've longed for!!!"
"The mighty power of souls! They assault any threat that tries to destroy them!"
Zidane
"Wh-What do you mean...?"
Kuja
"It's Trance! You know how it works."
"But a normal Trance won't be enough to defeat you... You're all as resilient as oglops."
"Even tiny moogles possess the power of Trance... When I saw that in Gulug Volcano, I came up with a plan."
"It was easy. I just needed to borrow the power from wretched souls that can't die..."
"Where did I acquire it? It was the Invincible, or should I say, that large eyeball in the sky?"
"The ship sucked up the souls of Madain Sari, the Iifa Tree, Alexandria to feed upon them..."
"When it fought Bahamut at the Iifa Tree, the Invincible drew in a powerful spirit... Can you guess to whom it belonged?"
Dagger
"!?"
Kuja
"Queen Brahne's soul! The soul of your mother!"
"The souls trapped inside the Invincible welcomed me with open arms."
"They were fed up with being your prisoners, Garland."
Garland says he wanted to place all creatures into a world in which life was combined with death, while Necron spoke of returning all life into a world without life. That wouldn't suggest similar goals.
Once again, not necessarily. This is what Garland says concerning his ultimate goal for living beings:
This is what Necron says concerning its intentions:Quote:
"To live is to give life meaning, yet one must take others' lives to survive..."
"A mature civilization becomes aware of this paradox..."
"Terra's souls will sleep until they forget such nonsense. They will begin a new life in a new dimension."
"It's a world in which life and death become one..."
"That is the dimension in which we are meant to live, as beings that transcend life and death!"
Necron speaks of placing life in a dimension of no life, with no Crystal to give life. Does that necessarily mean that all things are non-existant? Would souls cease to exist simply because they weren't inhabiting living vessels? Or would they be without life, and, thus, without death, as well? Would they not have transcended life and death, as Garland sought to accomplish? Granted, this is only speculation, but to transcend life and death would mean to be beyond both, and from my own interpretation, for there to be no life would also mean there would be no death. To exist without either, but beyond their reach.Quote:
"I exist for one purpose..."
"To return everything back to the zero world, where there is no life and no crystal to give life."
"In a world of nothing, fear does not exist. This is the world that all life desires."
However, I believe that the true nature of this matter is this:
Recall that Final Fantasy IX is a game that pays tribute to past Final Fantasy games and that its final boss battle is already paying heavy tribute to Final Fantasy IV's final battle. It's also paying tribue to V's, however, in that the concept of the Darkness of Eternity (also Necron's Japanese name) is akin to the concept of the Void from Final Fantasy V's final battle with Neo Ex-Death, and the manner in which they introduce themselves is also very similar (as will be pointed out further in the next section).
Supposing that Necron essentially became the same as the Void of Final Fantasy V -- keeping in mind that the Void itself was a manufactured entity only 1,000 years old and not simply a being that always was -- Necron, aware of Garland's view of life (that it exists hand-in-hand with death and that life is death itself as life must cause death in order to endure) due to Garland being his maker, chose to test the validity of Garland's hypothesis, and so it chose to observe Kuja, another of Garland's creations.
After witnessing Kuja's self-destructive actions that took place on a cosmic scale, Necron would have concluded that Garland's theory was correct ("...Now, the theory is undeniable." "Kuja's action proves it. All things live to perish.") and then took the purpose for which Garland had created it further than was ever intended, choosing to expand its range of negation beyond just Gaia's souls and to the universe itself, deciding to -- like the Void -- end all existance, quite possibly including its own, the same as the
Void had intended. If ever a being that existed for the purpose that the Iifa Tree had been given were to expand its range of function further, this would be the logical form of expansion: Extending its sights beyond Gaia and to the universe at-large. This is even arguably the logical evolution of the purpose for which it had been created.
When you fight Kuja you've travelled millions and possibly billions of years back in time, but Necron could only have existed for as long as Terra had first attempted to merge with Gaia at the most.
Why would Necron have been unable to travel to the past the same as Kuja, Zidane, and the others did were it the core function of the Iifa Tree? As it wasn't bound to the material plane to begin with, there's no reason it shouldn't have been able to go back in time, as well. For that matter, Necron's dialogue does suggest that it has been watching Kuja, so it's only logical that it would have followed him.
Necron is essentially the same entity as the Void of Final Fantasy V. Whether it is called "the Darkness of Eternity," "the Eternal Darkness," or "the Void," it is essentially the same concept, a manifestation of non-existance itself, or the drive for non-existance. The game plays tribute to both IV and V's final battles with Necron, paying homage first to Zeromus' appearance -- and later his defeat with Necron's defeat and the similar dialogue that both use upon being defeated -- and also to Neo Ex-Death, the merged being that was Ex-Death and the Void.
To support this notion, Neo Ex-Death says similar things to what Necron says:
(Neo Ex-Death's lines.)
(Some of Necron's lines.)Quote:
"I am Neo-Exdeath! I shall erase all memory, all existence, all dimensions. Then I too, shall disappear for, eternity!"
That Necron would simply be -- like the Void or Neo Ex-Death -- the manifestation of the state of non-existance itself, or that drive to render it as reality, is very much a possibility. For that matter, it's not at all unlike Final Fantasy games to have a being be the incarnation of a concept or a feeling, such as Zeromus being the incarnation of hate.Quote:
"You stand before the final dimension, and I am the darkness of eternity..."
...
"I exist for one purpose..."
"To return everything back to the zero world, where there is no life and no crystal to give life."
Necron's existance being akin to the Void's would only serve to support the notion that Necron was the Iifa Tree's core function, as it would suggest Necron to have been manufactured, as the Void itself was:
Necron being the same as the Void would only serve to suggest that Necron was also constructed and wasn't simply always there.Quote:
"...1000 years ago, there was a powerful evil called Enuo. Enuo was able to control the power of the Void. The battle raged on for a long time. Eventually, using the 12 Legendary Weapons, the people defeated Enuo. But they were not able to get rid of the Void that Enuo had created. The people were left with no choice but to. split the Crystals into two. When the Crystals that supported the world were split, the world split into two as well. The space between the two worlds, called the Cleft of Dimension, was where the people chose to seal the Void."
As for Necron being the manifestation of non-existance the same as Zeromus was the manifestation of hate, it should be kept in mind that Zeromus was the manfiefstation of Zemus' hate, not hate itself:
(Stated by Zeromus upon its appearance.)
Final Fantasy V's Void had a connection to pre-existing integral plot elements of V's story (Enuo and the Cleft of Dimension), just as Zeromus had a connection to pre-existing integral plot elements of Final Fantasy IV (Zemus and his hate). The concept behind Necron being the same as the concept behind the Void does nothing toward suggesting that Necron isn't the Iifa Tree's core mechanism, and really would only serve to suggest he was.Quote:
I am the incarnation of Zemus's enmity... Zeromus, the absolute darkness, the epitome of hate.
The Iifa Tree may have died as a result of an attack by Zidane in Trance, rather than as a result of Necron's defeat. During the ending, Zidane tells Dagger that it was his desire to go back to her that kept him alive when the Iifa Tree attacked him and appeared to have crushed him. As he put it, he had to survive so that he could see her again:
We know based on Kuja's powerful Trance after he absorbed the souls impriosoned in the Invincible that a soul will react with Trance when it is endangered:Quote:
"I didn't have a choice."
"I had to live."
"I wanted to come home to you."
Further, Garland states that Zidane would surpass Kuja in power very soon:Quote:
"Yes! This is the power I've longed for!!!"
"The mighty power of souls! They assault any threat that tries to destroy them!"
...
"It's Trance! You know how it works."
"But a normal Trance won't be enough to defeat you... You're all as resilient as oglops."
"Even tiny moogles possess the power of Trance... When I saw that in Gulug Volcano, I came up with a plan."
"It was easy. I just needed to borrow the power from wretched souls that can't die..."
"Where did I acquire it? It was the Invincible, or should I say, that large eyeball in the sky?"
Based on this and Zidane's statement that he had to survive so that he could go back to Dagger, as well as the knowledge a Trance would be induced by one being endangered, and, finally, by Zidane displaying far more agility and speed while avoiding attacks from the Iifa Tree than he had displayed earlier in the game when trying to outrun the vines in the Evil Forest -- suggestingQuote:
Zidane
"So...Kuja is just an angel of death who sends souls to the Tree of Iifa."
Garland
"Yes, my angel of death. But only until you came of age."
Zidane
"What do you mean!?"
Garland
"His soul is not eternal... I was going to create you next, after all."
Zidane
"You mean you won't need Kuja's soul once I grow stronger than him?"
Garland
"Precisely... Soon, that time will come."
that his power had increased -- we can determine that Zidane may have gone into Trance when crushed by the vines and roots of the Iifa Tree, and then became powerful enough to deal a fatal wound to the Tree. It may have even been already wounded substantially due to the explosion of the wormhole to Memoria that occurred directly above the Tree.
Also consider that Zidane's dialogue upon leaving Memoria would suggest that the Iifa Tree was still very much alive and well, and ready to carry out the fusion of Gaia and Terra:
For that matter, the Tree seemed very much alive while attacking Zidane. If the Tree was going to be dead in moments, one has to wonder why it didn't attempt to carry out the assimilation of Gaia and Terra. If Zidane didn't put a stop to it, why did it stop?Quote:
Zidane
"So what Kuja said was true... The Iifa Tree is beginning its violent reaction."
While I agree that it's likely that Zidane survived the Iifa Tree's assault through Trance, that hardly means that he necessarily killed
it, as well. Despite it being very much moving about once Necron was defeated, that doesn't mean it was in the same condition immediately after Necron's defeat as it had been beforehand. One can damage the mechanisms within a machine (which the Tree essentially acted as) and it may not cease functioning altogether straight away. For that matter, the same is true of the human body. Even if a patient were "brain dead," nerve receptors would still respond to stimuli and synapses would continue to flare. Even if one was shot through the heart, certain electrical functions -- such as those already mentioned -- within the body would continue to function for some time before they gave out entirely. There's no reason to expect the Tree to immediately keel over and die.
As far as the Tree not attempting to fulfill the assimilation of Gaia and Terra, we don't know that it didn't try, but if its main mechanism were gone (this mechanism being what would route the souls of Gaia and Terra), the assimilation couldn't take place anyway. (For clarification of why this is so, refer to the next section in which I explain what the nature of this assimilation is.)
Also, if one is going to state "If the Tree was going to be dead in moments, one has to wonder why it didn't attempt to carry out the assimilation of Gaia and Terra," it's then equally fair to ask why -- if the Tree were going to live -- it even bothered with going to all the trouble to attempt to take out Zidane when it could have just carried out the assimilation of Gaia and Terra, not only fulfilling its function, but being victorious over Zidane in the long run -- if not the short run -- anyway. The Tree being on the verge of death and reacting violently in an attempt to take out its killer as a response to its own death is a far more plausible explanation of events that
transpired there.
As for Zidane being more powerful than Kuja once he "come of age," we don't know how much more powerful than Kuja he would be. Further still, it has to be kept in mind that Kuja had absorbed a multitude of souls and that much of the power seen displayed by him on Discs 3 and 4 was coming from all of those souls being Tranced, including his own, with his own power not likely being anything on the scale displayed by him once he had absorbed those souls trapped in the Invincible. If he only gained a small boost of power from all of those souls, one would have to question why he even bothered to acquire them. His own words suggest that he gained a massive amount of power from having absorbed those souls and them then having gone into Trance along with his own:
On the matter of the wormhole to Memoria collapsing and then exploding above the Iifa Tree, we don't know the extent of any damage that the explosion may have caused to the Tree, if it damaged it at all. If it were powerful enough an explosion to significantly or fatally wound the Tree, the question would have to be pondered of why damage that was going to wound the Tree soQuote:
Kuja
"Yes! This is the power I've longed for!!!"
"The mighty power of souls! They assault any threat that tries to destroy them!"
significantly wasn't more prominent, at least mentioned in dialogue if not shown visually, yet there's no indication in either manner that the Tree had even suffered any damage. Supposing that it had, that the Tree would be so severely wounded would be unlikely considering that the explosion took place above its branches and not along its trunk or root system, with Trees being fully capable of surviving having all their branches torn off, so long as the Trunk and root system remain intact. Granted, we don't know the
physiology of this Tree, but if one is to argue that an explosion that -- while large -- didn't render any noticeable damage to it, yet significantly contributed to its death by leaving it weak enough that an attack from Zidane in Trance could kill it when we're not even aware of the extent of Zidane's full power, then it's equally reasonable to assume that if the Tree were so weakened, there would have been a visual or verbal indication that it had at least sustained damage, and also equally reasonable to assume that damage
to the branches of the Tree aren't going to kill it anymore than damage to a normal tree's branches would kill it.
Garland states that he created the Iifa Tree to subvert the Cycle of Souls, whereas Necron claims that the only purpose for which it existed was to return all things to the "Zero World." In other words, the purpose Garland gave the Tree isn't the purpose that Necron had.
Not necessarily. Garland had a habit of granting sentience and free will to his creations (Kuja, Soulcage, Zidane) even when they were created to serve certain functions, and they had a habit of not doing exactly what Garland wanted. While essentially machines from the standpoint of what they were created to do, they were living, thinking beings with the capacity to make choices, those choices often not at all coinciding with what Garland had intended for them. The most obvious example of this would be Kuja, Garland's "Angel of Death" of the Iifa Tree. Kuja fulfilled the warmonger aspect of what Garland created him for superbly, but Kuja also learned resentment toward Zidane and Garland and gained a lust for power and to rule, even overthrowing Garland, something obviously not in Garland's original plan for his wayward Genome.
With this in mind, that Necron could choose to test the validity of Garland's view of life in regard to the function that it had been given and conclude that a broader application of its function was called for (the negation of the universe itself) isn't so far a stretch of the imagination, especially with Necron's self-proclaimed observance of Kuja, something that would make sense with Kuja having been another Garland's creations, and -- more specifically -- that creation which was intended to incite death on a massive scale, sending
forth souls to the Tree to be intercepted.
In conclusion, I feel that the most simple explanation for Necron's role and the only one which is supported by the story itself is that Necron was the core mechanism of the Iifa Tree. Any other explanation I've ever become aware of -- such as Necron being the opposite of the Crystal, or ferryman of Death, so to speak, Death itself, or being some random cosmic being that was randomly observing Kuja -- are explanations that lie outside the support of the story and aren't supported by it, nor do they really serve to clear
anything up, as they merely raise more questions than they answer. While that's not to say that they're absolutely invalid, when basing one's examination of the matter solely on the game itself and its tributaries, the most simple explanation is that Necron was the Iifa Tree's core mechanism.
Youve posted this thing before havent you and just repeated it.yeah go timesaving!
thx for that in depth analysis, clear alot of things up.
Only, the thing is, what I quoted is right. As far as I'm concerned Necron doesn't have much of anything to do with the game, he's an unexpected last boss fight that manages to make perfect sense.
Necron isnt just a random prick from nowhere who makes the game harder he has his purpose so just read sqall of seeds post.
I've read it before, and I don't agree with it. I'm gonna go complete it now, see what Necron says.
Saying this and bolding "right" doesn't make it so. Explain to me why you think so by actually contesting the points I've presented. What makes more sense: Random cosmic entity that has no place in the story that randomly shows up, conveniently followed by the Iifa Tree dying for no reason whatsoever, or in-game mentioned function of the Tree that Garland says doesn't lie on the physical plane and which Zidane and the others encounter after being killed, fully explaining the death of the Iifa Tree?Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
You can guess which one I'm putting my money on.
I take it that you feel that Sakaguchi had no idea what he intended with the plot when he conceived the story, then? That he just randomly thought "We'll throw a bunch of battle scenes together and call it the finale to the story"? Considering how the rest of the game makes complete sense, your analysis of the ending sure doesn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
I noticed that you said as far as you're concerned Necron has no place in the story. As far as many people were concerned when playing VII, Cloud obviously was all about getting with Tifa or Aerith -- or Sephiroth -- depending on the player. That doesn't mean it's accurate. What's in the story is there for a reason.
Let us know how it goes. I only ask that you examine what Necron says with context in mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
Okay, I was wrong to have been so sure about myself, and you theory makes alot of very good points.
I still stand by this however, if you can ever prove your theory to be correct I'll buy you dinner.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryűkishi
Thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
I can't prove it in the sense that "Sakaguchi said I'm right in this magazine :: provides proof with pictures ::" but generally logic follows the concept of Occam's Razor, where, all things being equal, the most simple explanation is the best. With my theory, we at least have an in-game reference to the entity by Garland, and an explanation for why the party would encounter Necron after being killed, and why the Iifa Tree would die after that battle. It basically wraps up everything up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
While I once held the other theory, I realized that it has no actual in-game basis and leaves lots of loose ends (why the Tree died, why it made no sense in general for some random cosmic entity to appear, etc.; just trying to reason out the different location that Zidane and the others find themselves in (the Hill of Despair) proved impossible while following that line of thinking). For me at least, Occam's Razor is the way to go.
In the event that you consider this proof or I find it in the future, a thick five pound steak with a couple of pounds of french fries, and with it all smothered in mushrooms and gravy would be my dinner of choice.
Squall of Seeds analysis and reference to events and dialogue from Garland, Zidane etc makes perfect sense because almost all RPG's follow an invisible rule book. One of those rules is that there is always discussion/stories in game regarding the identity and nature of the final boss. For example the RPG Legend of Dragoon mentions Melbu Frahma once or twice and only at the end do we discover that he is the final boss. In regards to the final fantasy series, they also provide information regarding the final boss, although with 7 and 8 the final boss is painfully obvious from about the 3rd CD onwards. This is the reason i questioned Necrons role in FFIX because i missed all of the subtle details that Squall of Seed brought up. Also, after several Final Fantasies and being one of the most recognizable game series around, i highly doubt that the creative team would smack a random character in as the last boss, it would ruin their credibility.