I want to ask a question about darkness.

[Gameovers]

Hell XIV is pretty dark at it's core thinking about it. Stormblood really hits home for me as the amount thats shown how evil the Empire is, how they treat people "below" them. The amount of death and rape is just a small part of how fucked up characters in this cutestly game with huggable emotes really is. That highlander in the beginnings of Stormblood telling you and Lyse how she was messed with trying to find her father, I can't spell her name but the second main villain in stormblood's story. From whorehouse to whorehouse until she joined the empire and went to do nothing but kill all the people she believed were at fault and just for kicks. And that's just stormblood, ARR and HW and shadows all are insanely dark and unforgiving thinking about it.

I dunno, I need to see more but seeing how they went super crazy in the reveal is giving me odd vibes. Like they are saying.. " We've finally grown up fans" When they been ahead of the mature curve for awhile and I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees this.

[Rannie]

hell lets not even get into ffvi's Suicide is a viable option at one point of the plot

[FrightfulNight]

hell lets not even get into ffvi's Suicide is a viable option at one point of the plot

And that is after the world is basically destroyed and turned into a post Apocalyptic hellscape at the complete mercy of an Omnicidal maniac.

[Gemina]

Final Fantasy has for a very long time portrayed very dark subjects underneath a heavy layer of flash, sparkles and cute, look at Type-0, one of the more upfront darker stories in the series still has moogles going "kupo", a foul mouthed shop keeper and Jack.

FFIX is one that is a lot more whimsical and comedic but underneath the front layer it is a dark story just not in your face dark, it starts hitting you once you go to Burmecia, and it is present throughout the game with heavy subject matter but the tone is still naturally drawn to fun whimsical adventure let's go.

FFXVI looks to follow type-0 based on the one and only trailer we have seen, with having a more upfront darker tone, but I can bet money they'll add some cutesy or quirky stuff here and there, it is a mainline final fantasy game, doubt they won't try to pull a Chocobo acting cute, cactuar acting like a cactuar, a moogle in some shape or form, tonberry walking up with a knife, a wise cracking character.

Basically I'm saying expect the odd tone whiplash but the more consistent tone will be the heavier darker one rather than the light comedic one.

Took the words right out of my mouth. "Darkness", as it were is far more prominent in a setting of light. That is why people will refer to movies like Bambi, as being one of Disney's more darker films, and films like The Nightmare Before Christmas to actually be very lighthearted. I feel it is a big reason why the light stage was chosen for us to become the Warriors of Darkness in Shadow Bringers. Opposites attract, so if you want to express something really dark, it has to consume the light around it; not more darkness.

FFIX is a great example you brought up. Fun, whimsical and cute characters set in colorful backgrounds that makes the tragedies they encounter all the more poignant as a result of that. Take what we know about Vivi for example. Imagine his fate on a more diabolical looking creature opposed to this insanely cute black mage with adorable eyes underneath a wizard hat. It just doesn't have the same effect. When I saw the cover art for FFIX, I immediately knew it was going to be a really dark arse game.

[lolicon09]

Adding Blood and gore to a story doesn't make it darker, at all. Any Doom game (except 3) are good examples of that, especially Eternal, which is, literally, a playable meme

[Ayuhra]

The "darkness" of the trailer to me looks like a lateral move from Final Fantasy XV.