For some reason I voted for IX. I feel like the older ones do have a lot of convoluedness to them like a villain being a tree, some chicks mom getting it on with a Phantom Beast, the Emperor having tournaments for a princess who got stolen bya balloon, and then he becomes SATAN!?

I think IX was pretty straight forward, butnow that I think about it, there are some confusing elements like the Genomes and Mages...