World of Darkness (Final Fantasy)



The World of Darkness (in Japanese: 闇の世界, Yami no Sekai), also known as the Dark World, is a dangerous, supernatural world of pure darkness and it is the final dungeon in Final Fantasy III where the party fights the Cloud of Darkness and several other foes. It is also a Point of No Return.

The layout of the World of Darkness mostly consists of paths made out of immense dark energy, surrounded by a black void.

To defeat the Cloud of Darkness, the party must first find the Warriors of the Dark to weaken the final boss. To find each of them, they must first battle the bosses: Echidna, Ahriman, Cerberus and the Two Headed Dragon.

The name World of Darkness was also used to refer to the surface world before Luneth's party went down there.

The World of Darkness is the representative arena of Final Fantasy III in Dissidia. Here, the Onion Knight fights the Cloud of Darkness to save Terra Branford. It is also the site of the first cutscene for Cloud's, Cecil's, and Squall Leonhart's storylines, and is where Tidus and Firion split up. In Firion's storyline, he fights the sorceress Ultimecia directly afterwards.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
The World of Darkness consists of a polygonal dark crystalline area with many tall pillars and tendrils of dark energy circling the arena. Characters can use Quickmove to grind over the energy bars or to run up the pillars. In the background at one end of the stage, a staircase descends from nothingness. The arena's Ω form periodically shifts form to one of two other areas of the Final Fantasy III.

Depending on how close the characters are to each other when the shift occurs, the arena will shift to a small, closed-in area with a series of square pillars and platforms rising in the center, or a large open area consisting of transparent platforms connected by bars of dark energy hovering over a Banish Trap. Depending on which alternate area the characters are teleported to, the Bravery pool will rapidly increase depending on the distance of the two characters from each other. After a period of time, the arena shifts back to its default appearance.

The battlegen item obtained through stage destruction in this area is Sealed Darkness.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
The World of Darkness returns as an arena in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. In the 12th cycle, this is where Laguna Loire encounters the Cloud of Darkness.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
The World of the Darkness is the background for the "Battle 2" Battle Music Sequence.

Trivia

 * Developers planned to add a Save Point in the Dark World entrance while developing the NES version, but ignored that idea, as they thought it would make the final dungeon too simple. It is kept this way for the DS remake.
 * The background theme that plays in the World of Darkness is called "Dark Crystal". An arrangement of this track was included in the "Dark Cloud" track from the album Final Fantasy III: Eternal Legend of the Wind.