There's not a whole lot of discussion for one of my all time favorite games, the 4 cd Playstation 1 game Final Fantasy 9. It's a great game with a somewhat perverted main character called Zidaine, a slightly annoying but still self-sufficient princess, funny character humor, and a decent story for it's time. Let's discuss the characters, plot, etc. revolving around this particular game in the series.
I enjoyed it for what it was but after the graphics of Seven and Eight, Nine turned me off to be completely honest. I know they were trying for old nostalgia rights, but I'd came to expect a better graphical capability and for the longest time this game turned me off. I just emulated it a couple days ago and it was really fun, but I still had issues getting fully immersed in the gameplay. Not saying I'm a graphical champion by any stretch but it still felt.. over done.
I suppose it could feel overdone. Different people like different games. This one, after all, is largely overshadowed by it's predecessors. It's still a great game. probably because it's the one I played first of the genre.
I personally never played video games simply for graphics as long as the game play is great. For me FFIX was one of my favorites from the music to the landscape. It gave a very humble yet wholesome vibe for me and I really liked the card game aspect that was included in it. Zidane with his monkey tail made me favor him easily along with Vivi the black mage. Freya was also one of my favorites I pretty much focused on those 3 most of the game. If I remember correctly, Zidane had a thing for Garnet and I always hoped he would end up with Beatrix later on once she sided with him. I hated Steiner but he did bring a lot of humor to the game. Overall I found this one to have some good replay value, I only wish my brother didn't overwrite my saved file when I reached disk 3 . That was a tragic moment for me, still playing it again gave me the chance to get all the secret items I missed out at first.
FFIX is definitely an underrated game, and it's one of my favorites in the series. I even like it better than FFVII to be honest.
I liked the balance of the characters. Zidaine actually has a very good reason for the 'monkey tail' and Garnet is called Dagger throughout the later half of the first disc and most of the rest of the game. The replay value is phenomenal in my opinion. There's playing the game as a play-through the first time, and there's also an internal clock in which you have to beat most of the game in under a certain amount of time to get the ultimate weapon. I have to say though, between a pole-arm and side arms, the ironic 'daggers' that Zidaine uses at the beginning are my favorite weapon in the game despite all that. Yeah, Steiner is funny, but I think he symbolizes childish purity in the idea of 'good' and 'evil' being completely one way or the other, and not blurred like it is in the game. He, both as that and as a comic foil, actually makes quite the adorable bumbling character.
What!? I can't believe that Final Fantasy IX isn't discussed much at all! I do know the main turnoff that a lot of people seem to think about Final Fantasy IX is its art concept: between chibi and realistic, but if they base it solely on that, they're missing out on one of the greatest Final Fantasy games made! Character wise, they are quite lovable, with my favorite being Vivi, haha! The story? Oh boy, that's what makes a Final Fantasy, and I say IX is one of the best; it's my favorite. *spoilers* Starting out in nothing but to capture the princess up to knowing your roots, to finally saving what's worth it in lieu of the invaders being what your true roots are, is quite nice. *spoilers end* Each individual characters' stories are also good, which are meshed up with the main story (well, at least most of them) so that it becomes more important. Gripping events in the game really are gripping, and if you have played earlier titles, a lot of references are made, which makes the lore even more engaging. Art style is also so good. Man, I love Lindblum so much. And the music? Oh what the heck would you expect from Nobuo? Very nice as well. Regarding content, there is absolutely a lot. Since it's the last title for the PS1, they jam-packed everything they could in it, hahaha!
The overall experience of FFIX never appealed to me in the least bit and from what I had seen when I first played the game, It was miles behind FFVII and FFVIII in terms of graphics and storytelling.
I might accept the story bit as taste, but GRAPHICS? Saying that any game is behind FF7 when it comes to graphics is really ridiculous because that game was ugly as sin and FF9 and FF8 are about on par in graphics but with different styles...
