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#1
Final Fantasy IX
Previous Year: #1
The title for the best game of all time as far as I'm concerned goes to Final Fantasy IX, now and most likely forever. To me, this is as close to perfection a game has ever come. To put it simply, this is a game I could play through pretty much every year and never get tired of. The world, the characters, the story, the music, the visual style, and everything else in FF IX comes together in such perfect balance, with every element complementing the others to create something truly exceptional in my opinion.
One of the key elements that makes the game stand out so well in my mind is Nobuo Uematsu's amazing score. I still remember the first times I heard songs such as ´Rose of May´, ´Protecting My Devotion´ and ´You're Not Alone´. Those and many others have stuck in my head ever since then, elevating the scenes they accompanied to some of my favourites in video game history. Final Fantasy IX also contains some of the most impressive animated sequences ever created for anything. The battle of Alexandria, Bahamut vs. Alexander, any of the Eidolon sequences, the destruction of Terra, and so many others have rarely been even matched, let alone bettered.
If I would have to come up with something to improve in the game, the battle system could perhaps be a little faster paced and involve the player a little bit more. It's never truly bothered me, but I can still see that it could very easily be improved by adding something for the player to do besides just selecting an action from a list. However, in the overall package any minor problems the game has mean nothing. This is the best game ever made, plain and simple. I've played games for around 26 years now, and of those Final Fantasy IX has been at the top of my list for the last 16. Perhaps one day a game will come that dethrones it, but I don't expect that to ever actually happen.
