By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - Thoughts on Final Fantasy IX?

Good afternoon, VGChartz breathen.

I just beat FFIX for the first time last night, stayed up till 4 in the morning to see the ending. It would've been earlier had it not been for Trance Kuja using Flare Star 3 times in a row, all the time..there may be spoilers in this thread.

Anyways, I loved Final Fantasy IX, much more than other Final Fantasies. I'm not the biggest FF Fan but the only other FF that I really enjoyed was Final Fantasy VI. I absolutely loved FFIX's world and atmosphere. The cities of Alexandria, Lindblum, and Treno were a joy to explore and had amazing backgrounds that truly made the cities come to life. One of the things that was fascinating was seeing the clear blue sky in Cleyra after the sandstorm dissapears. It's supposed to be a tense moment because the skies represent a bad omen for Cleyra without the sandstorm but damn, that clear blue sky was amazing. By the way for a late PS1 title, I think FFIX still looks great today. It looks a lot better than FF7 which hasn't aged particularly well. The FMV sequences were also really well done and felt cinematic and really emphasized the situation. 

In terms of gameplay, FFIX is simple and effective. I loved how characters could easily learn abilities through their equipment by gaining AP and the battles are your standard turn based battles. To be honest, the gameplay isn't anything groundbreaking but I don't think it was meant to be. It refined the basic turned based formula and offered a good amount of character customization, that's all I need in an RPG. Trances make characters stronger and the opportunity to use strong spells, kinda like Limit Breaks. I just didn't like how they activiated during an easy random battle whereas, I would've saved it for a boss. 

The story and characters in FFIX is great. I didn't feel anywhere near as annoyed I was with other FF characters. These characters were fun, had goals in mind and went through vasts amount of character development. The tragic struggle with Vivi as he tries to find a reason to exist, the responsibility and leader that Dagger tries to strive to become and the choice of whether Steiner should follow his duty or his own ideals, etc. I loved the cast of FFIX and the supporting characters were great as well. The villains in the game were pretty good. Queen Brahne is basically a tyrant trying to destroy everything and Kuja is a pretty conveying villain as his own inner struggle involves life and death. I'm not so sure I would call Garland evil as he was trying to accomplish his goal but then again, no villain in FFIX is truly evil because they all repent and kinda become "good guys" by the end. 

The soundtrack in FFIX is amazing and I think it's truly underappreciated. I've read some reviews on this game from major gaming sites and some have said that the soundtrack in the game is not as good as others or just kinda there. I strongly disagree, Final Fantasy IX's soundtrack is very much up there as one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. Some of my favorite tracks include Vivi's theme, Feel My Blade, Vamo' alla Flamenco, Jesters of the Moon, the Game Over theme, Song of Memory, Eiko's theme, Terra, Melodies of Life, etc. Seriously, if you're not interested in playing the game check out the soundtrack. 

Overall, I love Final Fantasy IX. Although, I'm not sure if it dethrones FFVI as my favorite FF but it's definitely up there with it. Do you guys agree with me? 

Also let me know if you guys liked this thread, I might do a similar one to Skies of Arcadia Legends when I get around to beating that game. 



Around the Network

The best Final Fantasy game ever! This game simply kicks ass for so many reasons! The visuals are good and they have aged much better than FFVII and FFVIII's visuals, the soundtrack is amazing ( the franchise's best), the characters are awesome ( for the most part at least ), the atmosphere is really unique, etc. You get the point, I really love this game!

EDIT: Great review by the way!



                
       ---Member of the official Squeezol Fanclub---

I really liked Final Fantasy IX. But then, I saw Zidane's Trance...where he goes all Kaio-ken. Then the game became ten times more awesome.

And totally, the soundtrack must be one of the best in the saga. Truly a memorable game in all aspects.



Ka-pi96 said:
Good review of it, it is a really great game and you pretty much covered why. Although you never mentioned any of the minigames, card game and chocobos, what did you think of them?


Oh yah, I completely forgot about those. I only did Chocobo hunting for a little bit and it was alright. To be honest, I did not like Tetra Master all that much, even though I kinda liked Triple Triad from FFVIII. Although, I did enjoy the card game a bit more as the game went along but I didn't do as many card battles as others did. 



AZWification said:

The best Final Fantasy game ever! This game simply kicks ass for so many reasons! The visuals are good and they have aged much better than FFVII and FFVIII's visuals, the soundtrack is amazing ( the franchise's best), the characters are awesome ( for the most part at least ), the atmosphere is really unique, etc. You get the point, I really love this game!

EDIT: Great review by the way!


Agreed, 100%.



Around the Network

It is superb.

Essentially the last great FF game.



Hmm, pie.

Rash2049 said:
I really liked Final Fantasy IX. But then, I saw Zidane's Trance...where he goes all Kaio-ken. Then the game became ten times more awesome.

And totally, the soundtrack must be one of the best in the saga. Truly a memorable game in all aspects.


Yah, I loved when Zidane goes into Trance because I would just spam Grand Lethal at that point.



soundtrack in this one is unforgettable. replay value is best in the franchise but probably the easiest FF game.



Tsubasa Ozora

Keiner kann ihn bremsen, keiner macht ihm was vor. Immer der richtige Schuss, immer zur richtigen Zeit. Superfussball, Fairer Fussball. Er ist unser Torschützenkönig und Held.

FFIX is, in my opinion, the best Final Fantasy to date. The existential theme that encompasses the game was very well done and executed. Vivi was my favorite character, overall. I really loved his character development and how he struggled to find his meaning in life, despite that he was a manufactured prototype weapon.

The game's soundtrack was also among my all time favorites.



I really liked the game, but i don´t know if it happened only to me, but i felt a little bored at the last 4 hours or so of the game.