why is everything so dark?

After moving my gamecube to the living room so I could actually see what I was doing in the Temple of Darkness, I finally got summon spirit Shadow as well as continued on my way to get Aska and Luna.

I ran around Iselia Human Ranch as Kratos and enjoyed every second of him being back on my team for the very short time. I had a little trouble fighting Forcystus and the Exbones, but I somehow managed to kick his butt.

After getting through all the long mandatory dialog I went to Ymir Forest. Not sure if like or dislike, it was a very pretty area but it was a lot of backtracking.
I suppose the only reason I got through it without losing my mind was because of how beautiful it was.

Latheon Gorge however was slightly annoying with all the flowers and the cave and the ugh but Plantix was a really easy win so not too much to complain about.

Traveled to SE Abby then Tower of Salvation where I manged to actually beat Kratos, just barely though. (Really wanted that extra EXP.)

Now I’m in the Tower of Salvation again dreading my fight with Yggdrasill.