Was FFIX the darkest modern FF? [spoilers]

[Sailor Suit Barret]

By modern I mean FFVII and onwards, as any game with a psycho clown hellbent on becoming god while taking pleasure in the death of anything in his path (with quite possibly the best laugh in history) has to be the darkest game ever.

But back onto the thread, while it seems lighthearted enough, if you consider the actual plotline and events of FFIX. The slaugher at Burmecia, the usage of the black mages as simple weapons of war, and the ramifiacitons that has on Vivi. The general destruction of cities and the fact you can see the effects of a war torn world definitely contribute. But the darkest part of the game is undeniably Zidane and Kuja's twisted form of companionship and more importantly how they came to be.

Consider that Zidane was originally sent to Gaia to be what Kuja became, a propagator of death and destruction. The ultimate purpose of which was to assimilate the desolate and destroyed planet of Terra with the lush and lively planet of Gaia. Not only does this lead to the destruction of one of the worlds eventually but also the realisation that both Zidane and Kuja only have a set time to live.

I'd definitely consider IX to be the darkest modern FF. Does anyone think that the lighter sides of the game however work to allievate a lot of this? Discuss.

[Althea]

This is a really interesting thread, Barret!

Until you posted this I hadn't thought the game was that dark probably because of the lightheartedness to the graphics. You know, a lot of people didn't like this game because it looked "too cartoony." I agree with you, this is a game that involves something terrible like war, the slaughtering of innocent people, the princess falls into a depression, and the happy go lucky Zidane even gets depressed. Imagine this storyline with ffVIII's graphics. Pretty dark. I think they were able to pull it off because of graphics and also the humour. Even though Vivi's constantly fighting himself and his own self awareness, Zidane and Eiko add more of a flightier feeling in such a dark atmosphere. Also its fairytale ending helped a lot.

Let's look at VII... I think this game was pretty dark too. A character living a lie and losing himself, Sephiroth burning a village mercilessly, killing the most innocent character in the game, even the civilians around the world were depressing... and the game is missing the lightheartedness that IX offered!