Posted: 2 AprilThere's a reason why Final Fantasy IX is the personal favorites of series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and composer Nobuo Uematsu. A love letter to everything Final Fantasy was meant to be, and the last in the franchise before they started experimenting more with the formula, IX is filled with fan-service references to the past games and solid gameplay, with some of the best designed characters in the series (and some of the worst - I'm looking at you, Quina and Amarant.)The game has a ton of heart and soul, and is well worth your time. And most likely you'll be in tears by the end. Posted: 7 AprilFF IX is a fantastic game, its a combination of all the great features of the previous games. The story has been done to an exceptional standard. FF VIII is still my personal favourite.I have given this a thumbs down only because the PC port of the game is complete utter rubbish.
It crashes more often than I care to count. This is the only game I have on my PC that crashes. More recently, it had an update that deleted all the data of the game off my machine. How can Square Enix release software that doesn't work properly. Its been out long enough! Not only that, a fast forward feature like FF X remastered would have been nice, as the battle sequences take an eternity to get through.Not good enough, TRY HARDER SQUARE ENIX!!P.S FF XV.
Final Fantasy IX is here, and all that is old is new again. Square's developers have once again outdone themselves as far as technical execution and visual artistry, building a fantasy world that. Extensive RPG News and Reviews Coverage Since 1998. I did not play Final Fantasy IX for many years after high school, and I could only.
FF X was the last proper FF game. Everything since pales in comparison. Posted: 3 AprilThe best Final Fantasy game. It puts the Fantasy back in Final Fantasy.A story of excitement, action, love, loss, tragedy and much more.I personally think it is also Nobuo Uematsu's best work yet for the music - and he himself also has said it is the work he is most proud of.This is an awe inspiring game that really plays with emotions - if you immerse yourself in it - it is a wonderful thing.This is one of very few games that will stay close to my heart and be vivid in my memory for the rest of my life.I will never forget the sights and sounds of this beautiful game.
Published 6:15 PM EDT Oct 10, 2017
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Common ground can be tough to find in a hobby that fuels diverse and passionate opinions.
Like fine wine, however, the ninth mainline entry in the Final Fantasy series has aged very, very well — at least in the minds of JRPG connoisseurs.
Case in point: I have a coworker whose taste in games typically align with mine. When it comes to Final Fantasy, however, there are a couple of forks in the road where our opinions diverge. I quite liked Final Fantasy XII, for example, and he hates it with a passion. Meanwhile, the guy loves Final Fantasy VIII, which I don’t really like that much.
With FFIX, however, we’re lockstep in agreement. In fact, a comment my coworker made about the game took me aback.
“Everybody loves Final Fantasy IX,” he said.
Realizing that the game holds the highest Metacritic average in the Final Fantasy series was definitely a surprise to me as I remember a lot of people panning the game when it first came out. Personally, I was quite excited about FFIX’s announcement because it marked a return to the classic look and actual “fantasy” stylings of past games. Those very reasons, though, also made many folks decry the game. They basically saw the scrunched-up characters and overall presentation of the game as a step back from the more modern, stylized design of Final Fantasy VIII (which unfortunately, and perhaps unfairly, made me dislike FFVIII even more).
Personally, I have wonderful memories of FFIX. In fact, the only bad experience I have related to the game is the abomination known as BradyGames’ official Final Fantasy IX strategy guide that was tied to PlayOnline. See, FFIX came out at a point in my life when I was getting started with my journalism career. As such, I didn’t have as much time to explore and replay JRPGs like I used to, so I bought the strategy guide with my hard-earned money along with the game. Instead of getting a guide, however, I ended up spending $20 for a book that would tell me on every single page to go to the PlayOnline website for all the details that I bought the darn thing for. That’s for every ... single ... tip in the book.
Fortunately, I actually had Internet service. Some of the folks who bought the book didn’t even have that so they couldn’t access PlayOnline. That being said, this was back in the days of slow, dial-up service. Plus my computer was in a different room that was a floor above my game room, so I had to go up and down the stairs every time I needed to check something out. Want to know what I eventually did with that horrible book by the time I reached the second dungeon? Visit PlayOnline to find out! Seriously, it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I stopped buying Western strategy guides until the nice hardcover books for games like Dark Souls and Ni No Kuni came out. To this day, I believe the FFIX guide is arguably the worst strategy guide ever made in the history of mankind. There are cave drawings out there that give much more insight than this guide did.
But I digress. Unlike the official strategy guide, I thought the actual game was a delight. For those who never played the game, FFIX follows the tail, er, tale of Zidane, a member of the Tantalus Theater Troupe. Unlike the broody protagonists of Final Fantasy VII and VIII, Zidane is a cheerful and likable fellow, making him a breath of fresh air from all the angst-ridden heroes that were popping up in games and anime at the time. It’s rare that a game makes me fall in love with a bunch of its characters within the first hour. But that’s how I exactly felt when I started playing the game.
It’s a feeling I remembered once again as I played Final Fantasy IX Remastered — the first time I’ve replayed the game in more than a decade. Just like back then, I would still go “awww” in my head every time poor Vivi would trip over himself. I also laughed out loud just as I did all those years ago upon seeing Steiner’s goofy expressions of surprise, then sheer shock as events unfolded in front of him after he unwittingly found himself onstage. The chase scene, meanwhile, between Princess Garnet and Zidane still puts a smile on my face. Even NPCs — normally treated as glorified coat stands in many RPGs — are given plenty of personality. More often than not, I find myself stopping along the way of whatever mission or quest I’m in the midst of so I can talk to random people and see what interesting tidbit they might end up blurting out. When a game makes you care about what NPCs say, that’s when you know they’ve done a great job in crafting an engaging world.
FFIX’s approach to character development results in this wonderful sense of charm and whimsy that balances the more serious moments of the game’s narrative really well. Unlike some games that try too hard to be serious and epic, FFIX isn’t afraid to have fun and loosen up a bit, a trait that can easily get lost in games that mistake being profound to lacking lack of color and humor.
Speaking of color, I also love the art style of the game, which harkens back to the Golden Age of Squaresoft. This includes the pint-size or “chibi” look, even though it can lead to some uncanny valley moments. Admittedly, not everything makes the journey to 2017 in good shape. Although character models are improved for HD, the backgrounds can look blurry and grainy in comparison. The cutscenes, in particular, haven’t transitioned well, sporting a smaller aspect ratio and poor image quality. It’s a jarring reminder that this game actually came out for the original PlayStation. While the game looked beautiful at the time, it was also released back when 480p was the standard. Unless the whole game is rebuilt from the ground up, it’ll be tough to hide its warts on today’s larger high definition displays. That being said, I love the art style of the game as well as the classic JRPG proportions used on its characters.
Battling also continues to subscribe to the time’s classic Active Time Battle system. This turn-based system hews to the familiar combat of classic JRPGs, which should be familiar to fans of the genre. To distinguish the different characters, each team member boasts a unique trait or ability. The mechanic won’t be for folks who prefer a more action-oriented combat system. For people who love turn-based battling, however, it’s a nice blast from the past.
The game also adds some extra twists to the remastered version. These include assists as well as quality-of-life improvements like speeding up combat. Depending on which of the features you turn on, it can affect whether you get trophies or not.
Admittedly, the extras are not as wide-ranging as they could be. I wish the game did more in that sense as this is still essentially the same game from more than a decade ago. Then again, given how great the original was, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Final Fantasy IX Remastered re-introduces one of the pinnacles of Squaresoft’s Golden Age of JRPGs. Some aspects, including parts of the game’s visuals, don’t quite make the transition to the PlayStation 4 in good shape despite the improved graphics. There also aren’t as many new features to distinguish it from the original. A likable cast of characters, however, combined with a well-crafted world and narrative makes this a must-have for any JRPG lover, especially those who missed it the first time.