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Dark rift

The Dark Rift as seen from the inside.

"That ain't no ordinary sky rift!" - Don

I once heard from a man that managed to survive a shipwreck in the Dark Rift that there are these strange plants called "Lenautos". He said that he survived by following the paths on which these things grew. I wonder what they look like...- The Innkeeper at Esparanza

The Dark Rift (サルガッソー sarugasso?, "Sargasso") (the lands of the Black Moon?) is a huge area that effectively separates Yafutoma from the rest of the world, and makes reaching the 'Looper Land' nigh impossible until late in the game.

Theory:[]

First and foremost, the Silvites were aware of a Blue Gigas, and that gigas had participated in the wars with other civilizations. This meant that Old World Yafutoma was not cut off from the rest of the world as it is during the present day. This would heavily imply that the Dark Rift had not existed prior to the Rains of Destruction.

At the core of the Dark Rift is a void space that contains Black Moon Stones, implying that the Black Moon Stones empower the Dark Rift. The Dark Rift is already considered a huge, powerful anomaly in the world of Arcadia, so it stands to reason that an equally mysterious energy source would be the cause of it.

As an Obstacle[]

EntraceDR

The Dark Rift's entrance.

Until the Delphinus gains the ability to fly above the cloud level, there is no way to get beyond the Dark Rift. As a result, Yafutoma, Ryu-Kan's Island, the Looper Land, and a few other locations become completely unreachable. It draws a large circle on the world map, blocking the area west of Ixa'Taka, north of valua/"south" of the Lands of Ice, east of Nasr, and creates another circle around the entire Looper Land.

After gaining the ability to fly above and below the clouds, it is possible to fly over it and, just above the dungeon region, the Hamachou Island can be found.

The general structure of the "core", or dungeon region, when viewed from outside or above reveals it to be much like a hurricane or huge tropical storm, like a super-sized version of the Vortex.

The Core[]

After defeating Admiral Gregorio at Esparanza, the Dark Rift must be crossed by entering the "eye" -- sort of a horizontal tornado or funnel like artifact of the storm that is calm inside. The inside looks like a jumble of living islands, some of which actually pulse rhythmically as though breathing. Shipwrecks, etc. can be seen smashed against many islands, and a good number of them actually function as 'treasure chests' of a sort. The interior is divided into different room-like areas, separated by more eyes, but with a catch: any eye that flashes very dimly red will lead back to the entrance of the core -- which renders this dungeon into a potentially infuriating back-to-start maze. The Inn keeper at Esparanza, mentions that there is a certain type of plant marking the correct route to navigate the Dark rift: This is probably referring to the enormous yellow glowing flowers that seem to loosely mark out a path through the rift. A player can fairly reliably trust these glowing flowers to lead the way, although there are a few red herrings here and there. In the final chamber, the Anguila is fought as the dungeons final challenge. Later on, after gaining the ability to enter Soltis, Elcian can be fought in the same final area. This is one of the only two places in the game that the Delphinus goes through the dungeon, and contains two of the four ship save points in the game.

In general, crew members are afraid or otherwise uneasy when you talked to aboard the Delphinus while inside the dark rift. Robinson can be found stranded in the core, and will join if Polly has been recruited (and, if you reach Robinson after recruiting Urala, Polly must be on duty).

As a Dungeon[]

Treasure Chests[]

The Treasure chests in this area are ship wrecks with a glowing light coming from inside:

Bestiary[]

Trivia[]

  • In the Japanese version, the Dark Rift is called Sargasso. The name is a reference to the Sargasso Sea, a region in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.
  • The Dark Rift may be a parody of the Bermuda triangle.
Dungeons
Valuan BattleshipShrine IslandValua CatacombsTemple of PyrynnMoonstone MountainRixisDaccat's Island
Grand FortressDark RiftMount KazaiGlaciaMaw of TartasDangral IslandGreat Silver ShrineHydraSoltis
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