Redeeming Necron: Final Fantasy's Most Underrated Antagonist
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- Talking about one of my favourite final bosses, what it represents, and how the rest of the game just wouldn't be the same without it.
Thanks to my good friend GoldenReshiram for the FF7 footage, and a special shoutout to Gamefaqs user ShotgunNova, whose Game Script came in very handy when writing the script for this.
Twitter: / themissingv
Music is all from Final Fantasy 9. In order;
The Place I'll Return To Someday
Crystal World
The Final Battle (Sometimes called Grand Cross)
Garnet's Theme
You're Not Alone
Sacred Ground Esto Gaza
Memoria
Melodies of Life (English version)
Thanks for watching.
0:00 Background on Final Fantasy 9
03:08 Introduction to FF9's Villains
06:36 Background on Necron
10:41 Meaning and Purpose in FF9
15:03 Kuja and Vivi: Two Parallels
23:30 Necron Conclusion
26:24 Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up - Hry
I agree with everything that you say about Necron philosophically, what he represents as a literary thematic villain. I believe I can also present evidence he IS a physical entity in setting that Has been referenced to. They've met Necron before.
Within Context, I firmly believe Necron is the Soul Cage. I scoured the script of FF9. Soul Cage stated his existence and death have been foreseen and when they defeated it, it knew it was not its time to truly die. Garland later mentions they defeated the Physical manifestation, but that Soul Cage was merely the "Back Door", the Physical not the Spiritual entity that it is. Soul Cage and the Iifa tree's purpose was to absorb and exchange/meld the souls of Gaia and Terra for Terra to one day overlap Gaia and take it over Spiritually. Soul Cage is basically the AI in charge of this process if you think of the Iifa Tree as a computer. A question came to me when Kuja went to Memoria, how did he get there? How did that place come to be? They said he went backwards through memories to the creation of all things from the original Crystal.
We already know even Garland finds the processes of life, death, rebirth, and assimilation to be semi-foolish and a waste, but that's not the point and it continues to be his job. Hope has long escape him. They've done this before for Terra with other worlds. It begs the question why this hasn't happened before to the Soul Cage if that's the case, why hasn't Necron appeared before? It's because Kuja opened up the doorway to Memoria. I believe this flooded Soul Cage with knowledge of all past souls and came to a conclusion across the memory of existence, that in its own experiences of the constant ends of souls, lives, and worlds, Death and the end of all is Inevitable. So it became that inevitability's personification. I was somewhat confirmed with my assumption, because the Iifa Tree seemingly died afterward. It lashed out and tried to take out Kuja and Zidane with it, but then it grew still as seen when Mikoto arrives looking for them. The Iifa tree could only have died if Soul Cage's true self died too. It didn't die when Garland's voice left, it died after Necron did.
If my theory is correct Soul Cage/Necron even understood its own destruction would come, maybe not How, but it knew.
Also if you've never heard Hades was supposed to be the original final boss of FF9, a very Greek Tragedy thematic idea there, but the sentiment's the same. They were aiming for a personification of Death. Hades would have been a nice Theatric, but they needed something more philosophical, deeper, cosmic. A Soul Syphoning AI of an ancient civilization coming to a conclusion that existence is meaningless then becoming that inevitability's personification is a pretty profound thematic final boss.
I really like this theory! It explicitly links Memoria to the Iifa tree too, which is something that was never really fully established in-game. The Iifa Tree dying as soon as Necron vanishes is also a very heavy hint, further connecting these two together.
I had also heard about Hades being the game's original final boss - I'm glad they changed it ultimately. Hades represents death in only one set of beliefs, and having an all-encompassing figure like Necron who doesn't really belong to anything (except the thing he embodies) works the best to drive their point home.
I didn't want to discuss a theory like this in the video because I wanted to go in my own direction, but I've pinned your comment because it does a great job of showing a more literal explanation of Necron! The other side of the coin, I suppose. Thanks for putting so much time into writing it!
YES, to this and to the video in general :D
@@TheMissingV You're very welcome and thanks so much for reading, commenting, and hearing me out.
FF9 is my favorite game of all time, the last game my father bought me before he passed away and helped me through his death. I love it to death, and Necron has been something I've tried to reason with for a while as I did not understand him contextually for a long time.
@@TheMissingV Curious interpretation. What if Necron isn't JUST the Soul Cage/Ilfa Tree? What if it is the amalgamation of the shattered crystal, Kuja, the Soul Cage and the Ilfa Tree? The crystal and Ilfa Tree are the sources of power, the cage is the containment factor and Kuja is its mind. The eternal life in becoming the eternal Angel of Death he was supposed to eventually become?
The wings and halos are dead giveaways to that iconography and his coloration matches Kuja's. The body type does match the Soul cage very well and then if you add to that the mentality of Kuja at the time he destroyed the crystal it makes sense. If he can't live then nobody can. Also all that power doesn't just disappear. It flows into him and then creates Necron. Plus both characters share that penchant for the dramatic. If Kuja didn't go full despair he probably would have become a more Kefka-esque final boss and retain his original persona of Kuja. So yeah. I surmise that Kuja and Necron are in essence the same being at the end of the day and I feel coming up that Dissidia Opera Omnia might prove me right soon enough if the current storyline is anything to go by.
Food for thought.
There was another reason why Hades was created as he was. He was supposed to embody all the dungeons the party went through as well, especially the ones with the eye motif. Its also why the last boss stage is a coliseum with eyes everywhere, and when you win, they explicitly show the eyes closing.
FF9 explores existential concepts with its characters in a high fantasy setting. It's about what it means to be human, mortal, a social creature, duty vs morals etc.
THIS is why FF9 is my favorite game. On the surface it's such a lighthearted and fun game. Dig deeper and you'll find a narrative that will make you question about your place in the universe and cause existential dread. It's so good.
It’s such a good game to play as a kid for this reason! It discusses some really tricky philosophical and existential issues in a way that’s understandable and relatable to all age groups, and it does so with a great deal of sensitivity and empathy. It’s truly a masterpiece. Definitely my favorite game of all time as well.
🙄
Great, another CZcams video that acts like IX is “deeper” than it really is. I mean no offence personally to you, just that IX is an overrated and overhyped pretentious game that is really just tries way too hard to have nods to previous FF games.
Quote: “This comes as obvious, but a lot of people don't seem to see the full picture, and some try to "justify" his appearance because SYMBOLISM.
Necron was really just a cheap out of nowhere excuse for Kuja to "redeem himself", the "symbolism" was just a cheap excuse by the writers to try and justify his appearance.
Instead of the thing where the final bosses transform One-Winged Angel style with Kuja following suit, we get this "giant space flea from nowhere" final boss whom is never properly explained what he is or where exactly he came from (with what the Ultimania stating just feels like the writers flat out made it up) and his only purpose is to serve as a lazy plot device for a incredibly unsympathetic character to pull off a forced and contrived "redemption" or more specifically to try and make it seem more sensible, and being a "representation of the games (unclear) themes" is just a lazy excuse and distraction from what he really is and dosen't make his appearance matter.”
Heck Necron’s actually name is “The Darkness of Eternity”, his name was just changed in the English version due to the Headcount limit, he is just a Cloud of Darkness/Exdeath clone and your generic JRPG final boss.
Sakaguchi is better suited as a producer rather than a writer, and his writing in IX really shows.
@@ifrit05 Well it’s not that deep, IX is aesthetically and ideologically disgusting, with a beautiful, but completely inanimate world, with exactly one good character in the middle of a horde of idiots, giving even more idiotic answers to idiotic questions and in the final third of the game it completely forgets what conceptual integrity is, and tons of inappropriate, incoherent, indigestible underplot.
The entire third disc is spent with idiotic fetch-quests, which are given the most helpless explanations, and at the end the screenwriter finally hits the roof, and he begins to smack the fan, juggling the words "life", "death", "souls", "Gaia", "Terra" and "memories" in no particular order, and the final boss becomes the apotheosis of all this creative impotence, in whose lines and motivations make as much sense as everything said on Terra. Zero.
Final Fantasy IX is often tried to be justified by saying that it's a "cute children's story" - as if that should brush aside any claims against it. This is not a children's fairy tale, by the way, already according to the age rating. This is Final Fantasy, and the FFs are aimed at teenagers, and teenagers, as you can see, ridiculously shill IX . It is full of empty and useless pathos replicas inserted there for the sake of pathos, and a good half of the FMVs are there only for the TA to joyfully jerk off (I'm sure there are those who claim that ff9 is the best already due to the fact that there summons in the FMVs), and the relevance of this in the narrative and common sense close their eyes.
Even if we consider it from the standpoint of a fairy tale, then it fails here too. Kuja is not a fairy-tale character at all. And Garland destroys the illusion of the deliberate simplicity of the local plot, winding up new turns of an inexplicable and indistinct whirlpool of facts over and over again, which does not add up to anything whole (hello, ff1). All this nonsense about Gaia with Terra does not fit into the “Fairytale”-ness that could be referred to throughout the first two discs. And needless to say, this attempt to look smart has completely failed.
Necron also appears to embody a twisted notion of mercy. Its goal is to end the suffering and fear that life brings, it truly believes that it is giving all living beings their ultimate desire.
Definitely that too! It sees itself almost as a hero, which to me is very interesting.
Which is why I think that Necron is literally the awakened form of the crystal. It mirrors the thoughts and memories of all living beings, a lot of which were suffering at the time due to Kuja's and Garland's actions. I mean, look at it this way. Kuja attacks the crystal with Ultima, and suddenly a giant, shiny, crystalline dude appears. Hmm.
The character motivation of "through death all living things will truly know peace" is awful to me.Might be my least favorite trope of celestial or godly characters.
But isn't it? A higher intelligence would perceive things entirely rationally. Human psychology has even pondered sociopathy/psychopathy as a possible advantage due to evolution, because our emotions make us weak and cloud our judgement. A super intelligent entity would of course think we're foolish, and if it had the power to make these arbitrary decisions, would it not believe it knows best? I love FF9. Second only to 6. :)
Necron is the antithetical paralell to Zidane. 'You don't need a reason to help people.' Necron wishes to help people by putting life out of it's misery.
“The fight against Necron isn’t just a fight against some fictional antagonist who has no relevance outside the game…but the fight against a malignant debilitating condition that has always lurked as a poison at the heart of the human experience”
This video was everything. This man GETS IT. THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS
I would love to quote that part, as it does apply to our existence.
The true final boss is how incredibly well the cut scenes of this 20 year old ps1 game hold up.
Just.....not the in game cutscene where Zidane runs back for Kuja.... hahaha
Not very well at all until the characters are off screen
Even the style of the graphics and the models holds up today.
better than ff7 for sure.
That's the beauty of stylization to overcome hardware limitations. Can't make it look realistic? Then don't. That's why the movie Toy Story holds up surprisingly well (save a few scenes). They knew they couldn't do a 3D movie with realistic humans and everything ended up looking like plastic, so what did they do?, made a movie about plastic toys instead of people
Necron is present throughout the entire game in a concrete yet subconscious way. Notice how FFIX has a lot of eye imagery throughout? (In historic murals, present in lots of architecture, eyes that watch you in dungeons, eyes surrounding you during the fight with Necron, the eye of the Invincible etc...) It has been watching since the beginning.
As they say "Your eyes are the windows to your Soul".
In my mind, We (as in the player and the people of Gaia) are not truly aware of Necron, Hell we didn't even know it had a name until the final parts of the game! Cause Necron is an Eternal being that is beyond you, that lives beyond time itself, your NOT meant to Know it's existence! And those that do, are doomed, because the truth about the world will only lead to Fear and Suffering.
Actually, the eye thing was supposed to be connected with Hades, the secret boss from Memoria, as he was supposed to be the final boss until for some reason he was replaced with Necron. You can see concept art of Hades on the same eye-filled colliseum where you fight Necron. Hades design has lots of eyes on his body.
The inevitable always looms, it's as if you are playing tag with Death, and he is it, and depending on your life choices(lifestyle, health and actions you make) you will either keep a safe distance, or trip and fall, causing him to catch up and touch you, prematurely.
It changes nothing though, at the end he always wins the game, because as you age, you will start to slow down, and eventually he will catch up.
@@azazel166 How was your day friend? Hope ur okay
@@cramirez3855 Still morning.
Are we gonna ignore the fact that Necron's face design is similar to the faces of those "things" on the walls of Oeilvert that speaks to you?
I had a little sentence about that in the vid but cut it to try and keep things more focused. But you are correct! It would've been nice if Oeilvert had a bit more relevance than just sorta being a loredump.
@@TheMissingV That's a important part of the entire Necron character because that room show case a council of study referring to ancient terran technology. Necron operated on a similar role that is to observe, watch, and draw a conclusion. The eyes of the arena are lettered throughout Terran technology and also on the invincible itself which destroyed the summoning village. Now that the op mentions it I think we can draw a conclusion on what Necron actually is. Necron is also made of crystal or metal from the GFX played during his "destruction" of the final boss scene when pieces of his body were being destroyed.
That means memoria and oeilvert are linked perhaps in concept of crystals containing memories and memories stored of people.
Square Enix themselves dismissed that as pure coincidence, and confirmed it was unintentional. They've admitted flat out that Necron was a last-minute ass pull.
Some spin-off content has added a word or two about it, but a lot of those contradict each other. It's just a poorly written twist, and as such many of us gave up trying to see something that wasn't there by the creators' own admission a very long time ago.
@@reloadpsi a lot of words for se to confirm something why not post a link instead
@@U9B Becusse FF9 was intentionally a callback to the earlier final fantasy days like 3 or 4 where the true last boss came out of nowhere like the cloud of darkness or zeromus. Both of which had the same goal as Necron - to return to world to nothingness. One could even argue that in FF1 fighting Chaos instead of Garland also fits this bill.
Thematically Necron makes compete sense when you realize his sudden appearance is a throwback to early FF games. It doesn’t need to have some special meaning in the game.
Final Fantasy IX is literally the only video game that has ever made me tear up, and not back when I first played it, but about 2 years ago when I played it again as a 40 year old man. This is BY FAR my favorite of the entire series.
Which part if you don't mind me asking.
I have a handful of games that do that to me, including Lunar: Silver Star Story, FF V and VI, Dragon Quest V and XI, Mega Man Battle Network 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, and Advance Wars, Days of Ruin.
@@nikketasnowden the obvious one... when you realize Vivi is dead at the end and then garnet flings herself into Zidanes arms like a minute later. If you aren't tearing up there you have literally no soul.
@@nikketasnowden it's that or the "you're not alone" sequence.
I bet a dollar
@@AArdW01f there's so many moments in the game that are emotional. It could be the ending.
Necron: "I may not have been seen. I may not have been mentioned, but I was always there...watching...waiting, unseen because all you looked for was my physical manifestation. I was always....there."
SPOILER:
This is similar to Nyx from Persona 3.
@@winterscott1991 I always thought FFIX wws just better P3
For me, Necron, with the root word Necro, pretty much is the embodiment of the Game's theme, Death. Everyone meets death at some point. Necron's quote represents that even though you can prolong your life, death will eventually take everyone. Everything has an end at some point.
For me, Necron was just a reference to Cloud of Darkness and Zeromus, where you finish the game and then a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere pops in and goes "NO, LUKE, *I* AM YOUR FINAL BOSS!" at the last second. FF9 was a huge nostalgiafest, so it just seemed natural. There's nothing deep to him, just Giant Space Flea from Nowhere for the sake of nostalgia.
Literally reminds me of nyx from persona 3
Necron is from Nekros which is Greek and translate to "Dead" there is no need to take the root Necro. The O dictates androgeny which indicates the form is genderless
Ironically, You do fight Hades the literal Greek god of death a bit before Necron
Vivi lives forever, he does so in the memories of those he affected in life. Which not only includes the characters in the game itself, but also us, the players who grew charmed by his personality, and engaged by his story. So, long live Vivi Ornitier, may the memory of you never fade.
Which is echoed by the themes of the English translation of Melodies of Life. If each life is a melody, every life you intertwine with influences your's and their's melodies. Their melody becomes our own, and we spread that melody to others. In that way, we live on in each other's lives, whether the physical body lives on or not.
Can you honestly say that the homage we give to the dead , however small, is satisfactory in light of their contributions?
For example, you may have heard how abe lincoln was this great amd noble man in life but how many times in life have we thought and reflected on him or talked about him with others?
Vivi is my favorite video game character of all time. An innocent, child like soul destined to an early death, while also wielding incredible power. He has to deal with so many existential crises in such a short time but handles it so well, finding purpose in his life through his friends, allowing his legacy to live on for long after he is gone.
OH WOW! The ending of your video was so beautiful! Final Fantasy IX actually saved someones life! That's incredible! I'm glad I'm not the only one who uses the games one plays as a form of therapy, to help someone (me) work through some really painful and dark parts in one's life! Games like this can help someone to come to the conclusion that:' They didn't give up, no matter how bad things got, so I'm not either!' Great video, new subscriber!
Kuja never got to know love. You made me cry and said so much I have thought and said to others over the years. Good analysis of the game.
I remember the Necron discourse as well. Honestly some people just over-analyze things in media. We don't need everything explained to us, especially when it does make sense within the text. If Necron were mentioned prior to the final battle I honestly don't think it would have added anything to the story nor would it have changed much, except that would mean at least one person is aware of an omnipotent being floating around in space contemplating whether or not life is even worth it.
I agree. I think subtlety is something people aren't used to getting from games, possibly because they're such a new medium and are usually seen as lowbrow. So then there's an expectation that things should be blunt and given to the player straight with no interpretation required, whereas the medium can be so much more than that.
A correction with Kuja here. He knew what he was. That's why he did what he did to depose his creator. He just didn't know his lifespan was artificially shortened as a contingency plan. Garland saw Kuja as a failure since him being created as he is unlike Zidane who experienced an actual childhood and adolescence. Kuja was created in his current form, an adult, who not only couldn't enter Trance naturally but had the mind of a child. With his power and all the other stuff combined, Garland shortened his lifespan so Zidane, his new chosen one, could be born and grow up under Garland's influence. Zidane had the right circumstances to reach Trance naturally putting him ahead of Kuja in terms of potential. So Kuja dumps Zidane on Gaia to kill him and Gaia simultaneously. Enraged, Garland barred Kuja from returning home, and birthed Mikoto since he believed Zidane was lost forever. Every Genome is a vessel for souls. This means, souls can be exchanged by Garland at any time. It also means, once Kuja, Zidane and Mikoto were finished as their roles as Angels of Death, they were to be made as regular Genomes and play host to Terra's souls in stasis and Gaia's crystal would become Terra's, thus Terra's rebirth would be complete. (This info is from both in-game and the official Ultimania.)
As for Necron, or Eien no Yami, I always imagined it as not having a form initially but obtaining one due to Kuja and Zidane's party. Memoria and the Crystal World allow memories and emotions to manifest physically which is why we fought the Terran Guardians again not unlike in FF1 in the Past version of the Chaos Shrine. We see this as something this realm can do. Also it's possible to imagine this realm as a nexus between FFIX's universe and the Interdimensional Rift. Just my thoughts on how Necron fits in lore-wise. Anyway, you've a solid point about Necron in terms of literature. FFIX is about life (still the deepest FF has ever gone when exploring what life is about) but it's also about getting to the roots of things. It's about the core essence of life and Final Fantasy as a whole. That's what Hironobu Sakaguchi said when he and Hiroyuki Ito wrote the game. Hell, most of the devs confirmed it as y'all probably know. Also, let's not forget the Iifa Tree. I feel like that is FFIX's second biggest, if not truly largest plot device and symbol. Peace, man! Love the vid and love that people here love this game as much as I do!
Yep, that's a valid clarification on exactly what caused Kuja to break down. Thanks for watching!
Someone watches Final Fantasy Union
Absolutely loved the comment, this is so true and others are mentioning the lifa tree as well. Necron may have been a last minute decision but it was accepted because it fit in better
A deep story driven video on Final Fantasy IX doesn't come around often, an absolute gem!
Cosmic void representative aside,always thought of Necron as Kuja's dying dream ( sort of like how Griever represented Squall's idealized form); or otherwise an existence equivalent in some way to the crystal-the source of creation-
I loved this final boss, it’s basically every living thing’s final boss in life.
You can find yourself in a tragic accident and wake up somewhere that you can’t describe or fathom and unfortunately find yourself face to face with Necron, you either accept your fate, or fight and continue to keep fighting so that you may return to your body and life back on Earth.
If you are strong enough in body, mind and spirit, you’ll be able to overcome Necron for that time and earn your second chance at living.
Some of us couldn’t really interpret why Necron was the final boss in Final Fantasy IX when we first got to the end of the great very long journey of FF IX and felt like Kuja should have been the final battle in our young Final Fantasy fan minds, but as time went by and our minds evolved to the many things that we discovered, observed, researched and understood, we would begin to see the whole concept of Final Fantasy IX.
The most fitting thing about Final Fantasy IX’s place in the franchise, it felt very metaphorical as to why our characters battled Necron in the very end.
Final Fantasy IX was the final game on PlayStation 1 and Final Fantasy X was in development for PS2 at that time as well, but Final Fantasy IX felt like the final swan song for the Squaresoft team and the first nine Final Fantasy games before they entered the double digits, and of course very soon after Final Fantasy IX and X, Squaresoft would become SquareEnix and start to go in a completely different direction in the future with the next ten Final Fantasy games.
It was basically the end of a great era 😔, long live Squaresoft and all the great memories that they gave us with the many great video game stories, worlds, music, and characters that they have given us.
Right? I believe necron is sqaures version of the archons talked about in ancient religions.
I felt like ff9 implied a much larger and mysterious universe, so when necron showed up it felt like finally a peek behind the curtains of the games reality
This is easily my favourite game of all time, and it is really endearing hearing about the game even today. Really good take on this vilain!
Same even if my 1st ff was 7 the story and music of 9 just hits different, even the artstyle stands well for its age and is a true master piece that needs more love.
Very good talk!
Of course you're here
Didn't know you were an FF9 enjoyer. Nice
I never had an issue with Necron. I always saw him as a manifestation of the crystal, or anti crystal, and more like a force of nature rather than a creature. Literally non existence itself. The Japanese translation refers to him as Darkness of Eternity, which falls in more in line with my idea.
Chrono Cross also had an interesting take on existentialism since Serge, the protagonist, has to face an alternate reality where he is literally dead. He also has to suffer the horror of body dispossession and union with the embodiment of his greatest fear: the panther that tried to kill him as a child. It wasn't a perfect game, but its approach to ontological themes is underrated.
Ever since a kid I didn't think of Necron as a random final boss. I interpreted it as ffixs version of God, appearing after kuja destroyed the crystal to destroy everything. I saw a theory that it's actually soul cage with all of the souls from Terra absorbed which is why the world became covered in mist again too.
Grand Cross still scares me to this day, that’s when you know you have a good and memorable boss. XD
Hell yes. Grand Cross is terrifying. First time I fought Necron, when I was 10, he used that and absolutely rekt my party. They were either dead or under mini AND berserk status, making them completely useless. The only character still in the fight (barely) was Steiner, who was inflicted with berserk. I had to sit back with my heart pounding and just HOPE he could dish out enough damage to finish Necron off. I just managed to scrape by and complete the game, but I was shaken after so much adrenaline lol.
Imagine if they add Grand Cross to FF14
@@Toksyuryel I've only played a little bit of FF14, and that was 2 years ago. Seemed good, just didn't play enough to get hooked.
@@SteVen-eg4sq The free trial was extended to the end of the first expansion since then, you should give it another try :)
@@Toksyuryel Heavensward's story is awesome, but ain't nothing on Shadowbringers' story. I can't wait to see what they pull in Endwalker at this point!
I always thought, after giving it some thought, that the Active Time Events you view are really Necron viewing the events of the game and comes to his conclusion in the final battle.
I listened to this video and i'm forever happy. I love what you did with my favorite game of all time. You delivered the perfect explanation, to every doubter and defiler of this theatrical masterpiece. Thank you so much.
My headcanon was always that Necron was literally created when Kuja used Ultima on the Crystal, combining the Crystal's power as the source of all life and creation, and Kuja's destructive power and will to wipe everything out. Necron is the embodiment of Kuja's despair and destruction given sentience and form by the Crystal.
This is a fantastic video! I've always liked Necron as a final boss, despite him coming out of seemingly nowhere. I find Necron unique because he's a culmination of all the games' themes, as you so perfectly articulated. He might not have been established within the plot, but thematically he was set up all along. I also like that he's a mystery that isn't explained. It's one of the many things that makes me keep coming back to IX and thinking about it, and I always have conversations with a friend about different theories of Necron. Will def be sharing this video!
Yep, that's why he's so interesting for sure. Thanks so much!
Necron: some god of death with goofy design
This channel: 24 mins
Necron is also top tier when it comes to final fantasy power scaling as he destroys timelines to reset the multiverse. Compared to some of the other final bosses who are at best universal in power.
@Meat wad who said anything about sephiroth he's nowhere near top tier. The bosses I think of are Omega and Shinryu who are not bound to any one universe and are a good deal stronger than most final bosses.
@Meat wad Ultimecia and Mateus would destroy Sephrioth, I don't understand why people consider him the strongest..
@Meat wad I mean he's quite strong if you haven't been farming that much, and skipped the chocobo stuff in disc 4 (wich back then wasn't that much indicated to provide such awesome materias) and only Ultimecia's two last forms were really harder her two first forms were kinda easy tbh
Never thought I would find a Yoda quote in a Final Fantasy game.
Ironic for a series that always gets Star Wars comparisons for any game with an empire
It's not a coincidence that final fantasy uses star wars character names as reoccuring characters in multiple games. Biggs and Wedge. Star Wars was an influence. I remember XIV 1.0 Gridania questline using a Yoda quote about hearing many screams of pain. Instead of the force it was the elementals or something; been a long time.
It's curious, when you think about it, that Kuja as a prototype was designed to die sooner than Zidane, and Vivi as another prototype, was designed to live longer than the other black mages.
Anyway, awesome vid on my favorite game, keep up
That's a very in-depth video about one of the greatest games. I would be glad to watch your new similar videos on the FF universe!
The music is nostalgic
kuja has always reminded me of Griffith from Berserk series
Yeah they're very much alike!
Yeah I thought that too! Griffith has a similar breakdown to Kuja when he loses his power. Both very narcissistic dudes
haha I've always thought the same thing
Yeah, but Kuja has a better excuse for what he did.
FF9 was universally hated by the general community at the time. It was derided for "kewpie" visuals and a contrived, fantasy-centric story when the series had been veering much harder into sci-fi in recent installments. That being said, it was and remaind my favorite of all time for those exact reasons. Charming, multi-dimensional characters coming together like something out of Dragonlance to defeat a BBEG, the emotional response generated by silent characters and text boxes... And who can forget Steiner and Beatrix proclaiming their love, two enemies fighting together as the excellent "Roses of May" plays over the scene.
My goodness, this game is glorious.
FF9 will always be my favourite Final Fantasy, and just favourite game in general. It's such a shame so many people probably overlook it, but hey, that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of it.
Also if I'm thinking of the same scene with Steiner and Beatrix, i think it's Protecting My Devotion, not Rose of May? Both great songs either way.
@@antman8845 You are 100% correct! "Protecting my Devotion" is a sped up version of "Roses of May" that's a bit more intense. Technically speaking, though they are very similar, that composition is "Protecting my Devotion".
Ah, to be surrounded by FF9 nerds. I believe this is what happiness feels like.
@@victoriousf.i.g.3311 holy shit, somehow I never noticed that! That's so cool
Necron is Yoda confirmed:
"Fear is the path to the Dark Side... Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to *suffering* "
Ah yes, the phases of life: the Zidane years, the Freya years, the Quina years, the [redacted]
I feel like "the Vivi years" should be in there somewhere...but I'm not sure on which end. On the one hand, Vivi seems very much like the youngest years, when you're a little kid, innocent, uncertain, and just looking for a place to belong. But then he also deals with the most mature and heavy theme of the game - mortality. Life and death. Choosing to live for the sake of his fellows who were all going to die before him. Finding a way to reproduce to ensure that, even though he was dead, there would be a lineage to carry on his memory and thus the memories of those HE carried after their own deaths. The sidequest where you find out what happens to his grandfather and even speak with his ghost is pretty adult as well.
So "the Vivi years" act as bookends, both the start of our lives...and the later part, once we've come to terms with our own mortality and what that truly means.
really great video on breaking down a final boss that I was even presently surprised added another level of depth to the story of FF IX.
Okay,this was an amazing analysis :O Well done. This brought so much more depth to an amazing game.
I think it could have been better introducted or foreshadowed, but in a game that basically talks about the meaning of life it fits that the final boss is the concept of death itself
The most hilarious thing about Necron ist that their face looks like Rorschach's mask from Watchmen.
Have to say, this was a beautiful video. For more years than I care to count, something about Necron just seemed right to me and I was never able to justify it properly. But this video just said it all and I'm grateful that it put sense to the disorganized thoughts and feelings I've had about this game's ending since release. Thank you. You did a wonderful job
Quality narration and presentation m8, I'm glad the algo led me here. Hopefully your channel grows, the effort shows in the video!
I said this once and I'll say it again: FFIX will always have the best story & themes! IX's popularity has exploded in recent years with the upcoming anime, the celebrating of it's 21st birthday, & multiple videos like this dedicated to it. Wouldn't be surprised if it gets the remake treatment after VII is done.
Wait, anime???
What anime?
It's not an anime but I'm looking forward to it
I always thought Necron was supposed to be another version of the Void.
It is pretty much. The only people who were confused or upset about necron probably only played FF7 or FF8 because the last boss of previous FFs was usually some sort of cosmological entity that stands in as an anthesis to each game’s core theme.
I mean heck Jenova is a space alien parasite that devours planets. it’s Through Jenova that Sephiroth exerts his will.
The irony is of Jenova and the ancients is that they sacrificed their lives and civilization to stop it only for their descendants (humans) to wind up leeching the planet to near death themselves and creating a jenova/human via sephiroth.
Ultimecia? Eh, it’s FF8 so the whole thing makes less sense than necron.
@@jprec5174 Ultimecia represents childhood trauma and its haunting effects.
@@optimysticquest right because you are told that from her backstory (no you aren’t ). You are told nothing about her other than she’s a sorceress from the future.
The only rationalization I can get from FF8’s antagonist is that when sorceresses lose their humanity the power of Hyne can influence their wills to become destructive. The narrative of FF8 flimsily shows us that sorceresses without people who care and love them become tragic, evil characters.
@@jprec5174 don’t have to be told that. We’re not “directly” told what Necron is either, but most put together his metaphorical meaning. Things don’t have to be on the nose.
@@optimysticquest ff games stories are so unnecessarily meandering that I can look at videos like this and thing, eh I guess that makes sense. I guess they're good in a sense one can draw their own conclusion about the intended meaning. For me, this one was a giant shitpost they went ham with. Guy with cat tail, steiner's comical face, whatever the hell Quina is, the red and blue clowns, fkn hippo people, kuja's unbelievably feminine getup even by ff standards, one of Zidanes bros having a doll od garnet,, there's a boss that's a giant jawbreaker.. its full on Japanese weirdness with a thin veneer of seriousness to not entirely lose its fan base.
I don't have a problem with any of this, really. I mostly look at it as trolling the audience with things that could mean anything or nothing.
That was a really cool video, i hope this format brings you more visibility
Amazing video! Excited to see what else you make.
Thank you for this incredible encapsulation. I hadn’t before imagined Necron as the very embodiment of the primary theme in the game. While I agree that it would have been better to allude to the boss at any point during the game, I can’t help but prefer this almost blindsided event. What could be a more fitting victory than defeating the very nihilistic philosophy that has pitted our party and its antagonist against one another? While the traditional device for this conflict is through a final battle of the ideas’ avatars utilizing their personal strength, cunning, and will, it’s fun to think that some universal keeper might have been watching all along, ready to test the very existence it has judged. Through Necron, there’s a kind of internal validation and manifestation of what is true in the universe.
Thanks algorithm. More FF9 videos are always good.
I think the algorithm blessed me this time hahah!
Excellent analysis. I shed some tears reviving these great game moments.
This is a fantastic video. Thank you for making it!
Amazing video as always, V. I've heard about people complaining about this game's final boss for a long time, but this is a great defense of it. I absolutely want to play through this now.
Thanks so much Grace! I definitely recommand FF9, would love to hear what you think if you do get round to playing it.
Glad to see IX getting the love it deserves. All time fav game.
That was a wonderful video. I was very surprised to see your subscribers in the low 2000's - though admittedly I haven't watched any of your other videos but will be doing.
Criminally underrated game given a much appreciated show of love. Nice one.
Awesome video and discussion fueled by it. It's been a long, long time since I've played ff9 but it always stood out as my favourite too. Don't have much I can add other than to say thanks for taking the time to make this. Cheers!
Necron looks freakin sick!
You definitely made view this game vastly different. And I honestly am going to play this game because of how deep you made realize this game is.
Thank you. I’ve been wanting a video examining this topic for 20 years and I didn’t even know that until now.
Very insightful and well thought out. You cleared up a lot of my uncertainty. 10/10
Hm. I always thought that the random explosions at the end of the Necron fight were Kuja's doing, considering Kuja also warps everyone to safety afterward.
Kuja is one of my favourite FF characters.
Also, this video is excellent. Thanks for making it!
my personal theory about necron always was and still is: he is terra's own death angel. as the well hidden background story reveals, every planet in the world of FF9 has a life crystal that allows the planet to be bestowed with life. however, the existence time of each crystal is limited. as soon as a crystal expires or gets destroyed, all life vanishes. millions of years ago, terra's life crystal started to expire. that's why garlant tried to fuse gaia's crystal with that of terra. but gaia, young and full of life and spirit, started bitching and reviled terra. and so garlant created kuja in order to get as many gaians as possible killed and have their souls sent to the crystal of terra. the plan was to kinda recharge terra's crystal. with gaia's crystal running out of souls to feast upon, gaia would perish. however, garlant's plan failed miserable, as kuja developed his own conciousness and decided to rule over gaia and party hard. a similar fate awaited zidane, who not only got an own conciousness, too, but learned how to love and feel empathy. when kuja learned about his true purpose and his own "date of expire", he destroyed the crystal of terra.
well, here is where my own theory kicks in: necron is a special kind of bestia which can be summoned by those with a tremendous amount of despair, grudge and vindictiveness in their heart and mind. kuja clearly just wanted to take revenge on his creator and his former home world. but necron, the conciousness and soul of terra, misunderstood kuja's death wish. he thought that kuja wanted ALL life in the whole universe to be destroyed, because life means nothing but misery and suffer.. I think that necron simply tried to fulfill kuja's wish as kuja was his summoner. I even think that kuja summoned necron unwillingly. he even admids during his last conversation with zidane.
What a great and thorough analysis for FFIX! Really appreciate your perspective on it and helped piece that together for my teenage self. Playing again now and I'm already gaining such a better idea of this message! Awesome how the older we get the more we gain from these masterpieces! Be it video games, anime, or music!
I’ve been trying to tell people this for years!! Thank you!
The writing in FF9 blows the writing in FF7 and FF8 OUT OF THE WATER. So much poignant stuff is said.
@Smunstu Stinkymonster "vague optimist/Humanist tropes" like what? Qualify your statements
And writing-wise, Final Fantasy IX just blows the others out the water. They can't hold a candle. The writing in 4, 5, 6 seems juvenile in comparison because the industry of JP to ENG video game translation was just starting out so we get a lot of, frankly, middle school or high school level writing in those games.
FF4 DS improved the script a bunch, but Final Fantasu IX is just so much better and is the pinnacle of writing in Final Fantasy games until Final Fantasy 12 (whose story sucks) and Lost Odyssey (which isn't even a Final Fantasy game but was created by the creator of Final Fantasy). It is no mistake that Final Fantasy 9 is the creator of Final Fantasy favorite Final Fantasy.
If you think the "scene" where Cid dies in Final Fantasy 6 (you can save him) is sad, I can't really help you dude. There are all types of things in Final Fantasy IX that are both disturbing and touching and 6 just doesn't hold a candle. Now if 6 was remade, you may have a point, but where it stands, Final Fantasy IX is better than the Final Fantasy 6 you have within your subjective imagination.
@Smunstu Stinkymonster here is an example of my favorite part of the game:
Dagger: "Why did you come with me?"
Zidane: "Hey, that's Ipsen's line."
Dagger: "Ipsen? Who's that?"
Zidane: "Ipsen is a character from a play, but he's a real-life adventurer. I think the play is based on his adventures. It kind of goes like this:
*Ipsen and his good friend Colin worked at a tavern in Treno. One day Ipsen got a letter. The letter was so wet from rain that most of the writing was illegible. The only part he could read said 'Come back home.' Nowadays, we have airships and stuff, but back then, it was really hard to travel. He didn't know why he had to go back, but he got some time off, gathered his things, and set out on his journey home. He walked a thousand leagues through the Mist. Sometimes he was attacked by vicious monsters, but he made it, because his friend Colin was by his side. And then, after much time on the road... He had to ask Colin something. 'Why did you come with me?'" *
Dagger: "And? What was Colin's answer?"
Zidane: "'Only because I wanted to go with you.'"
Nothing in the mainline series has compared since. Sorry... plus the lore and world building in Final Fantasy IX are off the charts. I'm surprised they didn't make another game within that world.
Having grown up with Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy IX was the first game in the series that sounded like an adult wrote its script and the dialogue for all the characters. First time. Beforehand, it was really all just silly.
@@beezusHrist that's one of your favorite lines in the game? A stereotypical "I came with you because you're hot" (let's face it, Zidane practically said that multiple times)?
I agree the game has good writing but damn you picked a low point to go with. It's not even any of the existential stuff. That dialogue you gave is such a common anime trope line. All that's different is Zidane told a fictional story in the middle of it.
All of the Black Mage Village was the best part.
@@pyxl666 no I didn't, son.
@@beezusHrist you didn't what? Give a stereotypical line that appears in many anime as your favorite in the game? Or....one of your favorites, I should restate.
Because you kinda just did. So many anime characters say they join characters "because [they] want to" (ie, they think they're pretty or sexy or whatever....which we clearly know Zidane thinks of Dagger that way because he says so....how many times?).
See, I totally get what FF9’s story is about and how Necron’s supposed to fit into it…but the thing is, the story really doesn’t NEED Necron. He adds nothing to it. Kuja already represents the antithesis to our protagonists perfectly, there’s no need for the big dumb generic apocalypse god to come in at the end out of nowhere with no real setup. The game could’ve had Kuja transform into Necron as his ultimate form and say the exact same things Necron does, and the game would’ve been better for it.
You're right about Necron, the only reason I still like him is his design and music and that he is genuinely a good challenge as a final boss. He's like Zeromus to me but even more sudden lol.
Just to add though, final fantasy has always been kinda like that. Imo Final Fantasy 6 and 8 screwed up their final bosses even harder. Kefka was cool but then suddenly he speaks his words as a God and you find out that he had a deep rooted existential crisis. THAT would have been damn sweet to explore in some character development before the final fight.
Same thing with Ultimecia in FF8 but worse. Worse because she was basically introduced very late in the game with practically no screen time before the final fight itself. It also sucked because, just like Kefka, she reveals her existential crisis in the last fight through some dialogue and it's actually really hard not to relate to her pain. She encapsulated the games themes so well but again, like Kefka, she didn't have any real character development with those things in mind (besides her goal).
Kuja was definitely shafted from being the last boss fight but he had development and at least his end was pretty satisfying. I can't say the same for the other two that I mentioned.
to be fair. Kuja having a crisis out of not living long and then having him say "i'll always come back" like necron would be a bit of a contradiction
that's where you're wrong kiddo.
Same. I think it was just shoehorned because the developers thought Kuja wasn't enough.
@@dragonlord564 This 👏 right 👏here 👏
Kuja was like the other characters in his strife with existential dread. Necron was the archetype of existential dread himself. He was always there to begin with, and he'll always be here forever.
The fight against him was symbolism of acknowledging and overcoming the realization that life has no meaning--(other than the ones we make for ourselves). Kuja would not have been able to fulfill that role since he was written as a living being and not as an embodiment of an abstract philosophical concept.
Beautifully done. Thank you.
This is an absolutely wonderful video and analysis of FF9. Excellent work.
Necron is as much the antagonist of Final Fantasy IX as Vaan is the hero of Final Fantasy XII, he isn't. The antagonist was Kuja.
So out of curiosity, who would you consider the true hero of XII?
ff9 is my absolute favorite game in the series. it just hit me differently than other ff games
Hey man. Wonderful video. Glad yo see this game get so much love :)
Thank you for this- That's been bugging me for ages!!!!
The first time I faced Necron, I wiped like 5 times with my way more leveled "A" team. I eventually turned to all my under leveled guy out of desperation, and finally won. Jump, was my key to victory.
Freya's jump is the best way to avoid Grand Cross which cause random bad status.
Urgh thank you so much for this video. Teared up just thinking about Vivi’s journey… this was back when final fantasy was art and not some L’ cie, FalCie, Cieth, Lunafreya, lack of substance game like 13+15 especially. I hope 16 will not only take it back to the roots aesthetically but certainly also emotionally. The existential struggles in VI and IX are undeniably my faaaaavoorite thing about them and the reason why I gravitate towards Terra, Vivi, Kuja, and also Celes when she jumps from that cliff as a parallel to her opera scene where she throws the flower bouquet! SUCH. ART!!! DAMN! 🌈🌈🌈🎉🎉🎉
I didn’t expect to get so teary eyed at this video omg
Thank you themissingv spectacular job with this video. I’m glad you understand necrons representation. You explained a great lesson from ff9 . The video ending was perfect 👌
Can we aprecciate how most of quina's lines are a metaphor of something?
true
We can! Analysing this character could very well be a video in itself.
@@TheMissingV you think you have stuff to say about her ? she is really hard to get.
@@theflashgordon193 I'll definitely consider it! I've got a few videos planned for the meantime but will add a potential Quina one to my list.
@@ryanisbelle6107 No they can’t, Quina can just use Aqua Breath and put the fire out. Boy, bye 👋🏽
Amarant's growth:
"This fucking guy" 😐 referring to Zidane
To
"This fucking guy" 🙂 still referring to Zidane
ffix is my favorite game too and i feel exactly the same about necron. also i teared up like four separate times during this essay because im so tender abt this game and its messages. thank you for your time and effort making this!
God I love this game so much. By far my favorite of all time. I first played it at about 10 years old and am still enjoying it at 29. I’m glad that videos like these are still being made and keeping this game alive. Great video!
Great video and development !
I believe FFIX is a game about Life and what it means to be alive. In opposition to Death, and its acceptance.
It is one of the only pieces of art to bring that question in that manner.
Necron is not only the final trial put in front of our heroes, but the player as well:
"Did you find meaning in life?"
That's exactly right! It really is a great game in that way.
9:46 "Taken lessons from Yoda, I have. Destroy life and the Force, I will". Its really hard to sell yourself as oblivion incarnate when you quote Yoda verbatim.
This game came out a year after the Phantom Menace released. Everyone was star wars crazy again during 1999-2000
This might be the only video on CZcams that actually engages with the deep existential topics in this game, and succeeds. Thank you!
Great analysis, man. Definitely made me rethink Necron
Well, Hades was the original final boss. Not sure why it was changed, but if you look at the boss arena, it matches the design of Hades’ Throne.
"At the age of ＃＃＃"
I'll take a guess... 31.
Reasoning: I'm 35 and at 13~15, I and the gamers around me were quite glad to see FF9 return to the stuff we liked in FF6 and FF4
You're close! Haha
33 here….. FF6 is low key the best in the series and paved a path for FF7! I loved FF4 as well 😄
Amazing video brother. So great you rock
This is a great analysis: there are times we are Kuja, and times we are Vivi. But I think as long as we keep contending with life, and we are striving for the best, I think we all can keep on trying and make things a little better.
Best game i ever played to date on any console
You should do a video about all the characters. Also did you hear there's going to be a FFIX animated series?
I love this game. Thanks for making this great vid man.
Now you make me want to replay this game again, I have so many games to play but don't have any time. This video is impressive.
What a great video, i never even drew the comparisons between vivi and kuja (and hell even necron). Really shows how he is the star of the show and like you said the antithesis of necron which is a fascinating bit of story writing i must say!
Ive actually also heard this theory before that many are depressed nowadays because our generation is one of the first who doesnt just have to "survive" we have time to try and find new meaning in our lives and its pretty amazing to see this addressed in a game this old
It's amazing to see it addressed in a game that's (from the outside) so light-hearted too!
FF9 was so sad. It hit me hella hard. I truly sympathize with Kuja and Vivi.
Such a beautiful game 😌😌🥰
Will always be my favorite, and it just keeps getting better as i grow older. Thank you for this analysis.
my absolute favorite FF game :) i always did wonder about necron.
awesome video!
I agree totally with the whole argument. From my point of view, Necrom is the FFIX encarnation of the cosmic state of evil, darkness, death, stagnation and involution.
We need a FFIX HD Remake!!
This game gives me nostalgia shivers
If it’s still turned based, I’m in. It wouldn’t work as this new action rpg kick that square is hung up on.
The moguri mod is perfect for me..
Time to kill fate again
Beautiful video dude!! Well said!!
great breakdown !