| gamingsoul said: I honestly don't understand way in recent years so many people have concluded that it's the best ff, don't get me wrong I loved the game, but the story falls completely apart at the end of the game, Kuja felt and looked to much like sephiroth , and like someone said the games felt too conservative, ff8 tried Many things some that worked and some that didn't but the game earned my respect for trying on the other hand I felt ff9 played it too safe, overall it's still a great game but in my opinion far from the best ff |
I think it's partly born from an idea that FFIX is somehow the most true to the spirit of the series. You'll never read a glowing review of FFIX without the words "love letter to the series", there is an opinion, partly fuelled by interviews with some of the devs like Sakaguchi, that FFIX is the ultimate expression of what FF is. It's like "this is what FF is supposed to be" and therefore it stands to reason that this is the best and games that deviate too strongly are where the series begins to decline.
I don't really think that, I think FFXI or FFXIII are just as true to the spirit of the franchise but I do like FFIX. The story is fine, it's silly and not very original but it's fine and there are a lot of hidden details that usually require searching out or replaying to see and stuff like that is always good in my opinion. The characters are all memorable, the world is interesting and the graphics are appealing. I love this game and am enjoying my replay of it. I do rate about half the main games higher than it but this is mostly down to gameplay. I'd much prefer a Job system or Materia or Junctioning or a Sphere Grid but instead I get my least preferred system of having each character fixed in a role of their own. It's far too safe and simple for my liking.
That could be another reason for other people to like it though, it's pretty safe and simple. You can't go very wrong with FFIX, just level up and buy new equipment. Make sure to equip abilities if you like some kind of customisation. There is a little more depth with Blue Magic and I don't dislike the system but it's kind of bog standard jrpg stuff and that's a weakness in my eyes but it is very well done bog standard jrpg stuff all the same, a clear advancement over FFIV. I can see how something like Materia or Junctioning could be intimidating and even off putting if a player just gets it wrong, so although I love those to death, a straightforward system like FFIX might appeal to people because at least they don't have to worry about that side of things.
