Final Fantasy IX

"A good game that should have fared better had it not been rushed."

Just a little over a year Final Fantasy VIII was released comes the ninth edition of the ever popular RPG series. How did this stack up with the rest of the Final Fantasy's on the PSX?

Graphics
Graphically the game is awesome, while the backgrounds are pre-rendered, there is a lot of activity in the backgrounds especially in towns and caves. Square looked like they went into detail with the graphics, you can even see a little puff of frost when the characters talk(but the game is still text though).

Much of the pre-rendered material is practically in FMV like status, sometimes you would think to yourself that you are moving in an FMV. There are a lot of bright colors in the game, they are used very well and there is never a dull moment...even in secluded caves. The battlefield is amazing, the zooming angles are pretty much apparent in the battles. One thing that make feel awkward for some Final Fantasy fans is that the camera actually moves with you, not like previous Final Fantasy games, but the camera moves like Dino Crisis, assuming you have played the game of course.

Music and Sound
The music in this game is pretty darn good, the best out of all PSX Final Fantasy games IMO. The battle music has reverted back to the first Final Fantasy battle music, it's remixed a bit but it still sounds pretty good and memorable. This time the victory music sounds much like the victory music from FF4, which is a good thing because the previous Final Fantasy games(FF7-8) did a bad job with it. The music overall is good, but you won't find many memorable tunes like the Decisive Battle theme from FF6 or the classic crystal theme found in practically all FF games. Soundwise, the game is like Resident Evil. There are certain variations towards sound, like if you were to step on a metal platform you would hear a clank, if you were to step on wooden bridges you would hear sorta a knock on the floor, really a phenominal job. One thing that bugs me is that Square gave one of the main characters a voice, well not a voice but a main character does sing in the game(although I won't mention who to avert any spoilers). It's kinda awkward since this is the first time that a main character in a Final Fantasy game(or any character for that matter) would have even a small sample of a voice.

Replay Value

Final Fantasy IX offers a boatload of side quests for you to complete. Anything from a new card game, to playing jump ropes, to completing a very long(yet fun) Chocobo side quest will keep you entertained for hours after you have beaten the game. Finding it is another story, it's almost impossible to find everything yourself without the help of a guided walkthrough.

Gameplay

Gameplay takes both a step forward and a step backwards at the same time. For starters, anybody familiar with learning magic via AP(ala Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII) will easily grow accustomed to this game. Every item you buy and find(almost) will basically come with a set of abilities only a certain character can learn and with that ability comes a certain amount of ability points that you need to earn to learn it. You can automatically use the ability once you have the item equipped, but learning it is what makes the ability permanent, regardless if you have the certain item equipped or not. Unlike the previous two games, Final Fantasy IX provides every character qith a unique attribute, but for characters like Eiko and Garnet(whose attributes during battle are the same) they are given different sets of summons(Madeen and Ark are a few examples respectively) and white magic(Holy and Scan are a few examples respectively).

The abilities in the game vary with great variety, anything from returning the exact same magic to the opposition used against you or making you float automatically, and each character will share some abilities but yet each one will have their own set of abilities unique to themselves. Yet not all abilities can be equipped, each character must use magic stones to equip an ability. As you can expect, each ability requires a certain amount of magic stones and the number of stones will grow as you gain in levels.

As for in battle attributes, it's nothing really new for you to learn if you played previous RPG titles. Fight, Jump, Swd Magic, etc. are all elements found in battles that can be picked up very easily by the first time RPGer.

New to the game is the use of ATE, or Active Time Event. These ATEs occur throughout the game, some are optional and some are forced. ATEs allows you to see what else is happening in another area with another character in the same time frame you are in. It's nothing really spectacular but it's nice to know it's there.

One thing about Final Fantasy IX that deserves the most criticism is the storyline. It's roughly a cut-copy-rearrange type of story from Final Fantasy IV except you have a lot of hilarious witty comments from Zidane and different character interactions from different(obviously) characters. It's the save the world type of story with a little bit of love mixed in(how many times have we seen this anyways?). The plot is utterly simple, no branching storylines, and the game overall itself is pretty linear. Anyone who has played the game might tell you that the game felt rushed, that Square was concentrating more on Final Fantasy X that they hired a 6th grader to do the storyline. Combine this with the fact that the game is relatively easy with very little challenges makes this a fun game, but not a memorable game that is played without a second thought.

Overall
Final Fantasy IX is a fun game, it's worth the $40 but it definitely doesn't live up to the earlier titles on the Playstation. A nice musical score, coupled with almost-to-the-limit Playstation graphics, and a semi-cliché-ish gameplay factor makes Final Fantasy IX an extremely fun game. Yet a drab storyline combined with a relatively easy game that's more linear than a ruler makes Final Fantasy IX less of a factor in comparison to some RPGs before and today.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/00, Updated 06/26/01