Final Fantasy IX

"Put the Fantasy back in Final Fantasy. Pure Fun"

I'm writing this review four years after it's original release. Reviewing this game, I'm faced with a dilemna. Do I hold it to the standard that it was held to upon it's release, or do I compare it to the new installments in the series that have been unveiled in the four long years since this game has been released?

I've decided to SCORE the game based on it's comparison to previous installments. It just simply isn't fair, or logical, to rate the graphics a two and say they just look pathetic in comparison to Final Fantasy X. However, that is truth, so while the numerical values I give will be in the standard of it's release, I will make comments in passing of it's comparison to newer installments.

-Introduction

When Final Fantasy IX was unveiled it was billed as a return to the series roots, a throwback. However, I prefer to call it an homage. Instead of it being like "Alright, let's dump out everything that's happened in this series recently" particularly elements introduced since V or so, it's more like "Let's take one final splurge into the old days before moving on to the next generation". I think the game works very well as that, although some things seem like a bit too large of a plunge, which I will get into later.

-Presentation-10/10

Presentation is excellent in my opinion. When creating fantasy, one of the hardest things for the creator to do is set the right atmosphere. Just how fanficul is this world? What's considered normal, and what's considered out-of-the-ordinary? Final Fantasy IX wastes no time in setting a fantastic fantasy atmosphere that you can get used to very quick. By the time you leave Alexandria for the first time, you'll have a good idea of the world the game is set in. There is still alot to be discovered, however. Personally I think this game has one of the best presentations of any I've played.

-Characters-7.9/10

The main character in this game is Zidane, and he certainly isn't an updated Squall. Super-deformed with a strange wardrobe and oddball personality, Zidane to me was instantly likable. A fun-loving prankster, but when it really came down to it, a very virtuous person who would never let his friends down.

Princess Garnet is next. Garnet is the princess of Alexandria. Very early on in the game she adopts the alias "Dagger" and it sticks for the rest of the game. Dagger is suspicious of her mother, the Queen's, recent behavior regarding Alexandria, so instead becoming a victim, she takes action. Dagger's character development was excellent early on, but at one particular point in the game it comes to a screeching halt. After that though it continues at a good pace.

Captain Steiner is Dagger's royal bodyguard, so to speak. He has that sort of stereotypical blind allegiance to his kingdom, even when it's totally obvious to everyone else that atrocities are being committed. His character shifts are a bit abrupt. I felt that his relationship with Zidane was't developed quite as well as it could have been.

Vivi is the instantly lovable black mage. From the moment you see him trip over himself and be victimized with his fake ticket you will instantly fall in love with him. His story arc is definitely the best in the game. At the beginning, he's a lovable, kind goofball who trips over himself, and at the end, he's learned the nature of life, what it means to live and die, and the transition is beautiful. But throughout the whole game he's still the same, lovable little boy

Past the "Big Four"(the main characters listed above) some of the supporting cast is weak. The first person other than the above four to join your party will be Freya, and while she will play prominently early after she joins you, once a certain event happens(early on in the second disc, I won't say what) she doesn't really have a plotline. She's still a likable member of your party, but she just sort of sits in the background.

Another supporting character is Amarant. He doesn't really have a plotline of his own.(a few tidbits are revealed about a quarrel he had with Zidane in the past) He really seems to be more of a vehicle for Zidane to have philosphical discussions with. They'll debate over things like what victory really is, whether it's better work alone or with others etc. He's intriguing, with a quirky personality, but there's not enough substance there.

Quina Quen is a....well nobody is quite sure what the hell s/he is. S/he also really doesn't have a story arc but in this case it's intentional(the reason she joins your party is so she can travel the world to see all different kinds of food) S/he's there for comic relief, and generally it works. You won't care that she doesn't have a plot thread because that's not the point. Gameplay wise, s/he also has a few cool abilities that I'll talk about later.

Eiko is the real disaster in my opinion. Her plot thread is dull and annoying. Just when Zidane and Dagger are getting a nice relationship going, Eiko throws her bratty self into the mix. All she ever does is throw herself at Zidane and then whine about not being grown-up. You will probably hate her very quickly after you meet her because you hate seeing her bratty, stuck-up self throw herself at Zidane who you like quite well by this point.

Overall, the cast of playable characters is satisfying

As for the NPCs, there are some very good characters there as well. The best NPC by far in my opinion is Cid, the king(or regent) of the nation of Lindblum. He goes through some amusing transformations and has a funny yet serious personality.

-Graphics-8/10

Well, if you'ved played the newest installments in the series, seeing the old pre-rendered backgrounds will be a bit of a shock, and not a good one. It's very limiting in terms of exploring enviroments. Once you've entered a particular screen, you've seen all there is to see. However back in the day of PSX this was considered perfectly normal. As for the actual quality of the pre-rendered backgrounds, generally excellent. Every once inawhile you'll see one that looks like a cardboard cutout, but most of the time, particularly in places like Ipsen's Castle, the backgrounds are gorgeous.

Character models in this game are definitely a big change from the previous installment, FF VIII. Some of the in-game models aren't so great. Zidane is a bit too blocky and Dagger always looks fuzzy or something. Some characters looked excellent though. Vivi looks spot-on for a black-mage Enemies look great, particuarly some bosses, although some are standard RPG-fare.

Combat and Ability System-7/10

Both the combat and ability systems are very solid in terms of functionality, but the design of them it just kind of "meh".

Combat is done using the standard Active Time Battle system. Once a character's ATB bar is full, you can issue a command to that character. The best thing about the combat is that the job system is in place. Personally I think it's ludicrous not to have the job system. For those not familiar with it, the job system gives different skill sets to each character. Zidane, a thief by profession, can steal from enemies, and also has a whole set of thief-like skills, such as fleeing from battle. Dagger as a white mage can heal the party. Vivi as a black mage uses black magic to deal damage to enemies. Steiner as the knight has the most attack power. There's also an interesting skill set for him in which Vivi allocates a certain magic spell to Steiner's sword for one turn at a time.

The most interesting skill set of anyone's is Quina's. Quina has two commands that nobody else does, Eat and Blue Magic. In battle, once an enemy's HP is down to a certain percentage of it's total, Quina can eat that enemy and will usually learn a new blue magic spell. That spell is added to your Blue Magic list and can be used immediately. Quina can amass quite an impressive collection of blue magic. Many players will probably almost never use Quina on their first playthroughs, because she really has no bearing on the storyline, but if they don't use her they'll be missing out on one of the most interesting characters combat-wise.

The ability system is just a bit too basic. Equipment you buy contains abilities. When you equip the equipment to a character they now have that ability, but only if they are wearing that equipment. BUT, each abilitity has an AP bar. After each battle you will earn AP. Once you fill up an abilities AP bar you have that ability forever, even if you aren't wearing that equipment.

Abilities come in two forms; Support and Action.

Action abilities are spells actually used in battle, such as Thundara, Blizzaga, Curaga, whatever. Support abilities usually of the defensive sort, they help prevent status ailments to your character and the like. There are some really great support abilities, such as auto-haste and auto-regen. However, you can't use all of the support abilities you have acquired. You have to allocate gems to them, each one has a price.

So as you can see, the ability system is kind of cut-and-tried, and doesn't allow for a whole lot of customization. Though, it functions perfectly fine and the interfaces are great. I feel stupid complaining that it is too basic, when the main reason I hated FFVIII was the stupid, tedious junctioning system(which sounded great on paper but was executed horribly). I think Square finally found a happy medium with the Sphere Grid in FFX, although even that was flawed.

So, in conclusion of the combat and abilities: Solid, but not innovative

Storyline-9/10

I really enjoyed this storyline. I liked how there were three main villains early on, and in the end they all took different paths, although it was a little too obvious which of the three was going to end up being the main guy. I would have liked to have been in more suspense of who was going to win the showdown between Queen Brahne and Kuja, but the outcome was pretty much pre-determined. There's also a fourth villain introduced very late in the game, and at first it seems like he may be the real man behind the curtains, but he's actually disposed of easilly and quickly.

There were some flaws with this story. You found out way too much about Zidane all at once towards the end, with you having learned really almost nothing about him beforehand. And as I mentioned earlier, some characters just dropped out of the storyline, Freya in particular.

Still, this is a great FANTASY themed story that I enjoyed much more immensely than VII's or VIII's

Side Quests-9.9/10

Wow! I've never seen so many sidequests in one game. One sidequest, the Chocobo Hot and Cold game, could almost be a game in itself! In Chocobo Hot and Cold you dig through the Chocobo garden for Chocographs, which are basically treasure maps, though not quite that easy to figure out. Find the location shown on the chocograph and you'll find a treasure chest. Sometimes these treasure chests will have some awesome weapons and equipments. Through this you can also find more, better Chocobo gardens, where you will find even more Chocographs! And if you think it's too hard to get Ethers in this game, play the chocobo hot and cold game. You'll probably end up with about 50 Ethers!

That's certainly not all though. There's three optional bosses, two of them being super-bosses(well actually, one super boss and one super-extreme-ultra boss!) If you're looking for some motivation to strengthen your characters, you will find it in the challenge that is Ozma, one of the hardest optional bosses ever.

There's some cool, involving sidequests for obtaining some of the stronger weapons in the game, and some fun item-hunts like the Stellazio and Coffee quests. The rewards are also usually quite, well...rewarding!

There's also a card game, though it's a bit confusing. Card battling is fun, but it's just too hard to figure out what the stats on each card mean. Hexadecimal? Who really knows that?

So why 9.9 instead of 10? Well, the ultimate quest of Final Fantasy IX is to obtain the Excalibur II, the most powerful weapon in the game. But in order to do this, you must beat the game in less than 12 hours. In doing that, you will have to skip everything except the main quest. So it's either do EVERYTHING and miss Excalibur II, or get Excalibur II and MISS everything. Thus, it's impossible to get a truly "perfect" game.

Conclusion

To me, Final Fantasy IX is definitely the best of the triad of titles on the PSOne. It's fantasy story is novel-worthy and the gameplay, while it won't blow anyone away, is very solid, fun, and replayable. After you beat the game the sidequests are more than enough to keep you occupied for several more hours of gameplay.

Overall(not an average)-9.2

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/04