History DarkerAndEdgier / FinalFantasy

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' has shown it is not pulling ANY punches and from the demo ALONE showed it was prepared to go beyond XV in darkness, the first game in the series to receive a PEGI 18 rating. Consider this is the same team behind XIV and add in that they are now working on a contained single player story. The said demo showed [[spoiler:someone being decapitated in front of their child, a mother betraying her family and selling her unfavored son into military slavery after nearly everyone else is slaughtered, copious amounts of f-bombs dropped (albiet appropriately), a fair bit of charged sexual inuendo]] but the biggest crowning shocker goes to [[spoiler:the avatar of Phoenix being savagely pounded to a bloody pulp with bone chilling crunching while the child inhabiting it cries out for his brother while said brother screams in agony and swears to "fucking kill" him for it]]. ''XVI'' has set the bar for darkness in the series.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' is easily one of darkest games in the series, and definitely its darkest spin-off. The game takes place in a world plunged into war, with the opening animation sparing no expense in showing a violent, [[PuttingOnTheReich vaguely Nazi-esque]] army viciously slaughtering ChildSoldiers. The hits don't stop there; shortly into the game, players are treated to a heart-rending scene of one child soldier and their [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter chocobo]] dying painfully in a pool of their own blood, and it gets worse as the game continues. The dark subject matter, in conjunction with [[BloodierAndGorier violence the likes of which the series had not seen before]], made this game the first M-Rated ''Final Fantasy'' in the series's long history.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' is much darker than the original story in many respects. A few characters die on-screen rather than by implication, the aftermath of Shinra atrocities is shown more graphically, and characters are more vulgar in their speech than before. [[spoiler:Not to mention that the game is a {{Deconstruction}} of remakes and retellings, and the chapter ends with [[TheBadGuyWins Sephiroth's triumph]] in removing the [[{{Railroading}} guidance of the Arbiters of Fate]] and [[SetWrongWhatOnceWentRight setting the story potentially on much darker paths]].]]

[[caption-width-right:350:From "[[{{Tagline}} The crystals come back]]" to "[[{{Tagline}} The legacy of the crystals has shaped our history for long enough/]]"]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' has shown it is not pulling ANY punches and from the demo ALONE showed it was prepared to go beyond XV in darkness, the first game in the series to receive a PEGI 18 rating. Consider this is the same team behind XIV and add in that they are now working on a contained single player story. The said demo showed [[spoiler:someone being decapitated in front of their child, a mother betraying her family and selling her unfavored son into military slavery after nearly everyone else is slaughtered, copious amounts of f-bombs dropped (albiet appropriately), a fair bit of charged sexual inuendo]] but the biggest crowning shocker goes to [[spoiler:the avatar of Phoenix being savagely pounded to a bloody pulp with bone chilling crunching while the child inhabiting it cries out for his brother while said brother screams in agony and swears to "fucking kill" him for it]]. ''XVI'' has set the bar for darkness in the series.

* After the light-hearted ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' brings back a lot of the darkness full-force. The world is being repeatedly devastated by an EldritchAbomination whose origins and motive are beyond comprehension, and civilisation is unable to advance, only barely keep itself standing. The group responsible for keeping it at bay for short periods turns out to be a CorruptChurch of the first order, and doing so requires a would-be Summoner to [[spoiler:sacrifice one of their friends, and then themselves]]. The plot deals with heavy themes like the inevitability of death, religious dogma and technological progress, and racial descrimination. And it all caps off with quite the BittersweetEnding.

* Creator/SquareEnix announced that ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' will be the darkest game in the series, even when Tetsuya Nomura (known for ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' and ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', both games on the idealistic end of the scale) was the director. Tabata took over, but he did not disappoint in delivering a game that truly forced the protagonist to work for his happy ending as the world gets worse and worse. What's more, [[spoiler:he doesn't even live to see that happy ending]] to boot. Given that Tabata's resume includes two games featuring the protagonists dying at the end (And the aforementioned ''Type-0''), this does ''not'' disappoint.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'' has shown it is not pulling ANY punches and from the demo ALONE showed it was prepared to go beyond XV in darkness, the first game in the series to receive a PEGI 18 rating. Consider this is the same team behind XIV and add in that they are now working on a contained single player story. The said demo showed [[spoiler:someone being decapitated in front of their child, a mother betraying her family and selling her unfavored son into military slavery after nearly everyone else is slaughtered, copious amounts of f-bombs dropped (albiet appropriately), a fair bit of charged sexual inuendo]] but the biggest crowning shocker goes to [[spoiler:the avatar of Phoenix being savagely pounded to a bloody pulp with bone chilling crunching while the child inhabiting it cries out for his brother while said brother screams in agony and swears to "fucking kill" him for it]]. XVI has set the bar for darkness in the series.

The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series isn't known for being the happiest, but these examples stand out;

* ''VideoGame/StrangerOfParadiseFinalFantasyOrigin'', the franchise’s second M-rated outing, takes place in the same world as ''Final Fantasy'', but instead of a light-hearted and hopeful quest to stop evil it's a gritty and rage-fueled attempt to kill the embodiment of darkness, with the opening cutscene showing Garland mercilessly slaughtering soldiers, and Jack brutally destroying his enemies during the gameplay with various execution-style attacks.

* ''VideoGame/StrangerOfParadiseFinalFantasyOrigin'', the franchise’s second M-rated outing, takes place in the same world as ''Final Fantasy'', but instead of a light-hearted and hopeful quest to stop evil it's a gritty and rage-fueled attempt to kill the embodiment of darkness, with the opening cutscene showing Garland mercilessly slaughtering soldiers, and Jack brutally destroying his enemies during the gameplay with various execution-style attacks.
* All of the above games however, pale in comparison to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI''. From a decaying, resource-deprived setting in the form of the continent of Valisthea, incredibly bloody scenes that include the armies of Valisthea hacking and slashing each other to death, implied sex, and a major AntiHero protagonist in the form of Clive Rosfield, the narrative of ''XVI'' was rooted in both the harsh realities and modern anxieties of real-life, according to producer Creator/NaokiYoshida, and this has resulted in the first mainline ''Final Fantasy'' game with a M-Rating by the ESRB and the first game ever in the franchise to earn an age rating of 18 from PEGI, whereas the past M-rated games in the series, including ''Type-0'' and ''Stranger of Paradise'', have never gone past 16.

* All of the above games however, pale in comparison to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI''. From a decaying, resource-deprived setting in the form of the continent of Valisthea, incredibly bloody scenes that include the armies of Valisthea hacking and slashing each other to death, implied sex, and a major AntiHero protagonist in the form of Clive Rosfield, the narrative of ''XVI'' was rooted in both the harsh realities and modern anxieties of real-life, according to producer Creator/NaokiYoshida, and has resulted in the first mainline ''Final Fantasy'' game with a M-Rating by the ESRB and the first game to earn an age rating of 18 from PEGI, whereas past games in the series, including ''Type-0'' and ''Stranger of Paradise'', have never gone past 16.

* ''VideoGame/StrangerOfParadiseFinalFantasyOrigin'' takes place in the same world as ''Final Fantasy'', but instead of a light-hearted and hopeful quest to stop evil it's a gritty and rage-fueled attempt to kill the embodiment of darkness, with the opening cutscene showing Garland mercilessly slaughtering soldiers, and Jack brutally destroying his enemies during the gameplay with various execution-style attacks.

* All of the above games however, pale in comparison to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI''. From a decaying, resource-deprived setting in the form of the continent of Valisthea, incredibly bloody scenes that include the armies of Valisthea hacking and slashing each other to death, implied sex, and a major AntiHero protagonist in the form of Clive Rosfield, the narrative of ''XVI'' was rooted in both the harsh realities and modern anxieties of real-life, according to producer Creator/NaokiYoshida, and the result has presented itself as the first mainline ''Final Fantasy'' game that intentionally targets a M-Rating by the ESRB and is the first game to earn an age rating of 18 from PEGI, whereas past games in the series, including ''Type-0'' and ''Stranger of Paradise'', have never gone past 16.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyType0'' is easily one of darkest games in the series, and definitely its darkest spin-off. The game takes place in a world plunged into war, with the opening animation sparing no expense in showing a violent, [[PuttingOnTheReich vaguely Nazi-esque]] army viciously slaughtering ChildSoldiers. The hits don't stop there; shortly into the game, players are treated to a heart-rending scene of one child soldier and their [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter chocobo]] dying painfully in a pool of their own blood, and it gets worse as the game continues. The dark subject matter, in conjunction with [[BloodierAndGorier violence the likes of which the series had not seen before]], made this game the first and only M-Rated ''Final Fantasy'' in the series's long history.

* ''VideoGame/StrangerOfParadiseFinalFantasyOrigin'' takes place in the same world as ''Final Fantasy'', but instead of a light-hearted and hopeful quest to stop evil it's a gritty and rage-fueled attempt to kill the embodiment of darkness, with the opening cutscene showing Garland mercilessly slaughtering soldiers, and Jack brutally destroying his enemies during the gameplay with various execution-style attacks.

* The ''Final Fantasy XV'' DLC campaign, "Episode Gladioulus", brings us a new rendition of LegacyCharacter Gilgamesh. In previous games, Gilgamesh is a dimension-hopping goofball searching in vain for the ultimate sword. Here, however, he's an immortal warrior who is feared across Eos as the "[[RedBaron Blademaster]]", having slain every warrior hoping to challenge him.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' is a pretty dark and story driven game, especially since it's sandwiched between [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII the third]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV fifth]] games, both of which are very light-hearted. From the main character committing war crimes, the [[DysfunctionJunction traumatic backstories to some of the characters]], and the DisneyDeath trope being frequent (although one character was the only one [[KilledOffForReal who actually died]]), it's a signal for the dark things to come for the franchise. And yet, it's not ''as'' dark as the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII second game]].

* The base game of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' takes place after a [[AfterTheEnd devastating apocalypse]], but depicts civilization being rebuilt and [[HopeSpringsEternal the people being hopeful for the future]]. Once the expansions move beyond the Eorzean mainland, however, the world is shown to be a dark and imperfect place. ''Heavensward'' takes place in Ishgard, a theocracy with UrbanSegregation between the nobles living in posh neighborhoods and the downtrodden commoners, caught up in a ForeverWar against dragons [[spoiler:which is eventually shown to have been caused by the Ishgardians' ancestors]]. ''Stormblood'' focuses on efforts to liberate the conquered nations of Ala Mhigo and Doma, both shown to suffer gravely under imperial rule to such a degree that the people have [[ConditionedToAcceptHorror grown accustomed to the horrors of occupation]] and fear reprisals from any rebellion. ''Shadowbringers'' takes place in an alternate reality where the forces of Light have defeated the forces of Darkness, only for [[LightIsNotGood most of the world to be completely destroyed by Light]]. The two major settlements in ''Shadowbringers'' consist of a resistance base where people gather to fight back against the light, and a [[CrapsaccharineWorld Crapsaccharine City]] whose citizenry have welcomed the coming apocalypse, some of whom are even fighting to ''ensure'' the world ends.