Darkest Final Fantasy

[Forsaken Lover]

Made this topic a long time ago I think, or someone else did. Might have been done more recently but I haven't seen it.

Which FF game do you feel had the most consistently bleak and depressing atmosphere? Consistency is important because something like FFIX or even X02 had its dark moments but they are generally fleeting and overwhelmed by the bright, levity of the world.

X, XII and XIII all are very serious compared to their forebears. There's little comedy in them, especially XIII. However I don't know if I'd say XII is particularly dark. It's not a war for survival really, it's just a war. There is not an impending feeling of doom in the game, ya know?

VII could have been a good choice if all of VII was Midgar. But it's not so I personally disqualify it.

None of the others fit so I'm left with either X or XIII. But that's just me.

What about you all?

[Fynn]

XII has war, but the darkness does not stem from that need to survive, and more from man's hubris and how power can corrupt you and fighting for freedom at all costs is not really a good thing, since you can easily lose yourself and others will have to suffer the consequences of your ambition.

I'd say overall VI might be the darkest. Yes, it has tons of mood whiplash, but that only makes it worse. Every time you have a funny or heartwarming scene, you can be sure the next one is going to be of a certain someone nonchalantly decimating a village of innocents or irreversably wrecking the world It's actually that feeling of "death is just around the corner, especially when you least expect it, and all because some people just want more, and you can't really do anything about it" that make it so dark. The world is cruel and unfeeling, and humans are insignificant.

[Pheesh]

I haven't played many of them tbf, but the scene in FF X where Sin destroys Kilika and then later when Yuna performs the sending are the darkest parts of any Final Fantasy that I've played, in that both of those parts have stuck with me in a big way. The opening for Type-0 was also pretty violent from what I remember, but it didn't really impact me in any big way because I couldn't make sense of what the smurf was going on.

[Wolf Kanno]

The idea of saying which is the darkest based on consistency is pretty limiting as it basically leaves only three entries: FFII, XII, and XIII as they have the least amount of humor and lack mood killing background information or aesthetics like the rest of the series.

I'm more inclined to go with Fynn about how the humor and light-hearted elements work well as a bit of mood whiplash. Cloud's breakdown in the Honey Bee Inn's F@!% Room wouldn't feel so unsettling if he did it in some dark alley in Midgard or the ones you see in the actual Reactors. You need that change up to throw you off sometime but I will agree it's a balancing act. Thematically and world building-wise, FFVII, FFIX and XII are probably the darkest entries, because you're not even safe in death in any of these games and there is a dark sense of the world of the dead encroaching on the living and vice versa, that is done more tactful and with better themes than a certain tenth entry. Seriously, read the background information on XII's world, even in it's golden age, it's a pretty troutty place to live in and Tactics and Vagrant Story show us that it only gets worse from there.

VI to me, does feel the darkest, especially since the humor starts to really fade away the farther you get in. There are very few humorous scenes once you reach the World of Ruin and frankly the idea of getting to explore a world you thought you knew after an actual cataclysmic apocalypse is pretty powerful. You basically move from people worrying about the war, to people honestly questioning their will to live. What makes it more powerful than some of the other crapsack worlds is that the threat and despair is visceral in its execution whereas other games tend to rely more on cosmic horror type elements of taking a step back and realizing the world works in a very sadistic way. You can see and feel the suffering in VI's Ruined World, whereas those feelings come and go in later entries, whereas it remains a constant in VI. I mean the opening area of the the Ruined World has enemies with little health and permanent sap on them meaning they die before you even attack them. Even the damn monsters are having it rough in this world.

XIII is also a troutty world to live in, but it has more to do with asshole gods and bad writers than because its some hell hole to live in. Frankly if you're not important enough for the fal'Cie or various gods to take an interest in you, it's not the worst world to live in.

[Formalhaut]

I'd concur with suggestions of FFVI or FFVII. I wouldn't quite go so far as to say FFXII is the darkest entry, though it does have moments. Then again, I didn't bother reading all of the background stuff, so it might be a complete hellhole. Every city seems like a decent enough place to live (sans the orphans, I guess). Bhujerba seems nice, and Balfonheim has that nice, breezy feel to it. Only Archades seems like a hierarchical hell.

In terms of darkest moments, FFX had Kilika and FFXII arguably had the darkest moment in either the beginning (with Reks) or at Mt. Bur-Omisace (the slaughter of refugees). But FFVII is the most consistently dark. Meanwhile, FFVI has that gradual atmosphere of dread, which works really well.

[Omni-Odin]

I'd say it's six, seven, or 8. Not that others don't have morbid stories. I just remember 7 being probably the darkest most steam punk and I think story wise it's a tie between 6/7. 8 is just so odd, I don't know whether to call it dark, sci-fi, steam punk, or what.

[Ayen]

I'm gonna have to go with FFVI, too, solely for the World of Ruin.

[fat_moogle]

Final Fantasy Type-0 has to take the crown on this one. The opening scene with the bloodied Chocobo sets the scene for the darkest entry yet

[Fynn]

Well, if we're gonna go beyond the numbered entries, I'd say Tactics is the darkest from the ones I've played.