This happens every time you transform...
Dragon Quarter is by far the darkest game in the series. It takes place in an oppressive, bleak setting where people live underground because the surface is ruined, there's a caste system where people's worth is determined by birth, synthetic monsters called Genics break out and cause havoc, the lower levels of society are filled with pollution and disease, the people are ruled by a shadowy elite who want mankind to suffer forever... It's not really a happy game.
- The D-Ratio system, which is decided at birth. The wealthy elite are born into their power and safety by a mere number, and the bottom of the barrel are effectively denied any respite unless they all but sacrifice their lives as Rangers for Sheldar. The reason someone like Nina was put into her horrible situation below is simply because she had such a low ratio that no one would even notice if she went missing. It turns out the ratio is actually a calculated chance of managing to link with a D-Construct - and the entire system is absolute bunk, because an impossible nobody like Ryu manages so anyway as Elyon's latest attempt to see if his system even worked and figure out if humanity was ready for the surface, meaning a millennium of discrimination and persecution stood for nothing whatsoever.
- Nina. She's been turned into a machine prototype for the benefit of other humans, in a process that damages her own lungs and dooms her to a short lifespan. The main three's visit to BioCorp and encounter with the head scientist only highlights their complete disregard for her as a person, infuriating Ryu who punches the scientist for his callousness.
- The empty room full of headless Nina corpses Lin finds. She's understandably upset and disgusted at BioCorp's immorality.
- Even worse? Her suffering is only because of Elyon's Secret Test of Character for those who link with D-Constructs, to see if their urge to reach the surface is entirely their own or forced upon them by the dragon for their own ends. She literally was created as a potential Morality Pet to prove otherwise. And Ryu saving and wanting to protect Nina was manipulated specifically, meaning countless clones in her position were not so "lucky" previously, dying who knows how many times to prove a point.
- Ryu's transformation into the Dragon form. Unlike most games where it's portrayed as a heroic Super Mode, here it's portrayed as an unnatural, dangerous One-Winged Angel. Every use of it drives up the D-Counter, which represents Ryu's humanity and life-force ebbing away. And what happens if the D-Counter reaches 100% and chooses to not reload a save? The player is greeted with the scene of Odjn erupting out of poor Ryu's body in a bloody fashion, killing him.
- Bosch becomes increasingly unhinged as the game progresses. The SOL scenes you can unlock on subsequent playthroughs show he was messed up from the beginning and the events of the game proper only made it worse.
- One scene shows a young Bosch being forced to fight a HUGE Genic by command of his father, who doesn't seem to care that his son is a small child just barely old enough to hold a sword. An absolutely terrified Bosch manages to kill it, and the subsequent shot of him with his eyes widened and his bloody face is horrifying.
- Bosch merged with the D-Construct. He was so desperate to beat Ryu that he chose to merge with a horrific weapon and turn into a monster. He gets these red Tron Lines on his body and this unnerving pupil-less eye...
- Tantra in general is rather creepy. He wears a mask that completely conceals his face, ruthlessly kills several Rangers so his battle with Ryu and company won't be interrupted, and lets out a mad shriek whenever he's damaged. He also powers up by merging with the spirits of his fallen allies. The Council of Six wasn't kidding when they said the Dark Rangers were the worst humanity had to offer.
