Final Fantasy IX

"Pretty good, but far too flawed to be anywhere near great."

This final attempt of Square's 3 Final Fantasies produced for PlayStation is apparently a throwback to the early days of FF, a homage to their legacy. The pseudo modern worlds of VII and VIII are gone and instead we have a land of complete fantasy, with cartoon characters and crumbly medieval cities. 4 character parties make a return, as do preset character classes. And it works, it's a pretty decent game, but it does not reach the heights achieved by the two previous installments.

The graphics are as we have come to expect very VERY good. The pre rendered backgrounds are beautifully drawn and create an immersive game world. I love the fantasy element of the game here, the towns are a joy to explore as they are unique – the artwork successfully creates a planet that is completely unlike our own, and it does it tastefully. One section takes place in what is essentially a giant tree house, a very cheesy concept but pulled off superbly – the player never feels like the fantasy is being forced upon them, they simply express a truly fairytale place. Even the save points are replaced with Moogles, which form a sidequest in themselves and are definitely one of the better ideas put forward. The character art is also highly exaggerated – small bodies and big heads, everybody completely different sizes. It looks great and the characters certainly suit the world they have been put into.

There is one problem with the graphics, and it may be a bit harsh to comment on, is that it does not improve whatsoever on those given in FFVIII. I can see no obvious difference between the quality of graphics in VIII and IX. The characters are slightly less pixellated and seem less offset against the backgrounds but otherwise there is no difference. The FMVs are in my opinion less impressive due to the cartoonish nature of them, and certainly less frequent. One of VIII's best features was its incredible FMVs and in IX there seem to be hardly any after disk 1. Perhaps they just aren't as memorable. Many claim that VIII had pushed the PSX to it's limits anyway so I guess the lack of development is fair enough, and it just comes down to whether a fantasy realm appeals to you. For me, whist the characters definitely look cool, I struggle to care as much about dragon knights and black mages then I do about real people and for this the storyline suffers.

The music is well above average for most games of its time. Uematsu again composes and the score is very professional and thoughtfully done, with themes interlinking throughout the huge number of tracks. I have no complaints here, it's a Final Fantasy game so we expect the music and sound effects to be good. The music has a less dramatic edge to it than the previous games but it is not weaker for it, there are many beautifully soft pieces that amble along with the game. There is another vocal number for the ending like FFVIII, but it does not work nearly as well as the song serves no purpose in the storyline.

As for the story, I found it the most disappointing aspect of the whole thing. Where is it? Cliche ridden from start to finish. It doesn't really get going until disc 2 and even then is very slow, it plods along and then dramatically gains place late in the game where it is difficult to follow what the hell is going on. It has the potential to be good; sibling rivalry, warfare between kingdoms, love, the idea of death and mortality but none of it is ever quite pulled off. Take the romance part - the main protagonist Zidane is on a mission to take a Princess hostage and falls in love with her at first sight. That's it. The rest of the game could all be some bizarre attempt to woo her and we are supposed to care? The whole thing seems too shallow for a game of this standard. When presented with an interesting concept, like one of the characters having to face his own mortality, the game tails off heading somewhere else and leaves questions unanswered. 3 of the 8 central characters contribute nothing to the storyline whatsoever and are completely undeveloped at the end of the game. I simply didn't care for them as they were simply filler, with vague histories that were not relevant to the plot in any way. I know all games will have characters like these, but nearly half the main cast?!

Even so, the biggest most glaring example that can be given is the final boss of the game. No explanation is given as to where it comes from or why its there. None whatsoever! Simply an afterthought added with a few fancy moves to challenge the player before they can enjoy the far too loose ended and extremely over sentimental closing FMV. In fact the whole final disk seems to be out of place with the character of the rest of the game, the slow plot suddenly spirals off into poorly explained tangents that are entirely unsatisfactory.

The gameplay itself I have to say is fairly good. It is undeniably simpler than the two previous games – the player equips weapons armour and accessories and these allow you to learn a range of abilities. I do like this simplicity, there is room for customisation but not to become ridiculously overpowered. The bare bones gameplay certainly does seem to fit well with the fantasy setting but I would prefer something meatier that allows for more experimentation. You can only try so many things which is not what Final Fantasy games should be about. There is also a lack of really challenging parts, on my first and only playthrough I did not see the game over screen once which would be commendable were it not for the fact I'm not very good at these games. Even the late game bosses can be easily taken down with a bit of patience.

The battles are fun however – we get 4 characters in a battle to play with which makes for more teamwork. There are no ‘super' abilities dealing 200,000 hit points which is refreshing, and there are some annoying monsters that can be tricky to defeat without a proper plan. Its main flaw is the new limit break system, the trance system. It is supposed to tie in with the storyline but does so poorly, and it's a useless system which is more luck than skill. Characters enter trance when dealt enough damage over time, but the trance cannot be saved for a later time and does not last until the next battle. If a trance appears during a random battle you can finish in 1 round anyway? Unlucky, you'll just have to wait for another one. The skills themselves are not particularly great – double magic is not exactly inspiring or useful to anyone.

The sidequests are again plentiful and some are actually quite fun and useful to the player, but every single mini game in here is either useless or boring. The chocobo's, which we absolutely brilliant fun in FFVII, are now infuriating and boring – you run around the world map digging for treasure with them and that is it. The awesome snowboarding section of VII is replaced with running races and skipping! The card game however is my pet hate, a completely unfathomable pointless game that has replaced Triple Triad, the daddy of all mini games. The cards offer no value to the player other than as collectors' items, yet you still have to play them at one point to progress in the story for no apparent reason.

All being said, the game still does have stuff going for it. I played it through to its completion and did genuinely enjoy the game - I was just left completely unfazed by it all. Great games you finish and immediately want to play again, or wish it went on for longer, or are left sat in awe of it. This however I was pleased to get over and done with after I stopped playing to the tune of 6 months halfway through as it just didn't manage to hold my attention. I'm not saying it's a bad game, I am only picking up on what is wrong with it in the review, simply saying that it does not reach the heights of its predecessors.

Thus I am compelled to give it a 7, an enjoyable game but lacking in that bit extra that makes it properly memorable. And I certainly won't be playing it again.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/28/08

Game Release: Final Fantasy IX (EU, 02/16/01)