by Erpy » Sun Jul 26, '09, 12:44 am
I think each Dark Force is a creature existing separately from the others. This is more or less indicated in PS4 after leaving Motavia. The party has crashed on Dezoris, braved the snowstorm, found a new ship and a new party member and slashed, clawed, shot and Tandled itself a way to Kuran's command center where "Cyber Force" was wreaking havoc on Motavia. After pumping a healthy amount of Saint Fires, Flareshots and GiThu's into Kuran's Dark Force, the latter exploded and Wren fixed up the support system. When it became clear that Dezoris was still ravaged by the blizzard, the party trekked through several long dungeons and found the creature they identified as the source of the blizzard...Garuberk Force. (yeah, I made that one up) They Grand Cross it to death, Garuberk Tower falls apart and with the source of the snowstorm gone, the sky above Dezoris clears up.
If we can agree that Garuberk Force was indeed the source of the snowstorm, there were at least two Dark Forces present separately at the same time during the moment the party left what was left of Raja's temple. Garuberk Force was busy blowing frozen farts all over Dezoris while Cyber Force was using Motavia as its own personal playground. If Dark Force was a being that manifested itself in different incarnations over and over again, the Dezorian blizzard wouldn't have started until AFTER Chaz and co fragged Cyber Force.
What confuses things a bit is Wren's thesis after seeing Seth get rid of his human disguise...Wren wonders if Dark Force can evolve. I think, however, that this is more an indication that the third Dark Force was aware of what happened to its brethern and instead of sitting around somewhere, it decided to seek out the protectors and take the battle to them while getting some intelligence in the process. I also think that Dark Force evolves in such a way that the longer it remains around, the smarter and stronger it becomes. This would explain why "baby DF's" (the Prophalli you meet on The Edge) are relatively weak and the Dark Force Alis Landale faced had a limited repertoire of tricks while the Dark Force Rolf faced was "a present from the Earthmen world to all of you"...a creature that wasn't "newborn", but had been present for quite a lot longer, thus being a much more evolved DF.
So for short...different creature each time.