Final Fantasy IX came out to mass acclaim but also mass criticism. Imagine games not named FFVII coming out before and after to.. oh wait they all do come out to either mass acclaim or mass criticism. A YouTuber, Rabtoons, mentions in a "Final Fantasy IX in a Nutshell" video "Final Fantasy IX, the one everyone hated but now loves. Oh but wait that's all of them, you stay confusing Final Fantasy fans." And yeah that's the way the first couple of years could be slated to be in with this game. However, being a Final Fantasy nerd that I am, what did this game do well? What needed to be different? All of that and more below!
Positives:
1. Storyline- I absolutely am glad about the story taking so many different paths. This isn't a linear, straight forward Final Fantasy like say FF1 or FFV was. Most Final Fantasy games are not those sort of games but I liked that the story went from one point to another but not really straying after the first disc of where you were going to go to end game. It overall was a terrific storyline.
2. Character growth- This is a MAJOR difference from FF8 to FF9. Whereas 8 had very limited growth, 9 had growth among almost all characters in some facet. The main protagonist, Zidane, has deep character growth, but also other main characters Vivi, Garnet, Steiner, and even Eiko and Quina have good development. Freya develops in some way and even some NPC (well mainly NPC) such as Beatrix and Regent Cid do well in some facet to develop in a way, so this worked well.
3. Graphics- The graphics here put the PS1 to its limit overall as it made every use of the engine it had to make the graphics of different areas, different continents, caves, and events just as picturesque as they could. To say they did that is putting it lightly. The graphics were very, very well done and that is something that needs to be admired as this was on the PS1, which wasn't always noted for great graphics.
4. Music- Yes, Square makes great music for Final Fantasy. Uematsu makes great music for Final Fantasy, that's just how the game is done at this point.
5. Villain- Not too many times does a game get noted for its villain but here, Kuja deserves it. He is just a villainous person that it makes it great overall and in addition, his relationship to the protagonist is a fantastic example of the protagonist vs. antagonist being terrific overall. He is so cunning, but so devious that he warrants mentioning as one of the better villains in PS1 and Final Fantasy lore.
6. Side quests- They play a role here, and they lead to a lot of very solid items. While yes they take some time, it doesn't take a super large amount of time. Chocobo Hot and Cold is the main one of this but using the Chocobo for other hidden objects is a main key and something that you should do in this game to find some of the best items in this game.
7. Combat- I know the early versions of Final Fantasy do not get laid on with this but lol to that because This was on the PS1, not the PS3 or later. Therefore, you were more limited into what the combat system could be. Overall I felt the combat system was fine. I also felt that the Trance spell was something that was a good plus, kind of like the limit break system for FF7 but a bit more refined with specific abilities of a character (Double Magic for mages, Dyne for Zidane, etc) so I thought overall the combat system was very well versed.
8. Real life situations- I feel that this game relates to some real life situations pretty well. Main one is obviously Vivi's struggle to accept his fate, death at some point which we all do this. Also Garnet coming to terms with everything that happened in her life mid game (Which yes I was fine with and organized the team fine with this) and Zidane longing for a way back home, which admittedly some of us may do as well. Even Amarant's willing to be a new life is fine, but never forgetting his past is key. He may come off as cold, but you get his idea. So a lot of this is fine and I feel a major plus.
Honorable mention: For first timers to the game, those Moogle tutorials really help out. If you are going to say how you don't understand how something works, but skip these tutorials entirely, well that's on you for not paying attention and to be honest, I don't feel bad for you.
Negatives:
1. Slow starting- If people say it takes too long to build up this game, I completely agree. It takes at least 1 disc for the game to pop up in action mainly minus a couple points in Disc 1. I think most of the last three discs are pretty action packed and therefore pretty much make the first disc inactivity in ways moot. However if people say it is slow to start, I don't disagree at all.
2. Why is Stop game over?- Literally, why does when a monster successfully use stop on you it warrants a game over? Don't anyone say "well you need locomotion" because that is a nonsense excuse. I never knew (mainly because I used locomotion all the time regardless) that this led up to this and on stream I died due to this. I get the idea of the abilities but that shouldn't mean you have a game over because your character is stopped and can't continue at all.
3. Bosses giving no EXP- Yes they give a ton of AP, but I wish they would have given EXP more due to it being a boss fight. It's not a major negative, but one nonetheless.
Honorable Mention: IF this is a spoiler sorry but yes the Ipsen's Castle part is probably the one main controversial part to this game. No it isn't a negative because I personally got the clue right away when I did my first battle inside this castle, but then the Moogle should have been a dead giveaway to this. If you didn't get those clues.. then I again cannot help you in that regard.
Overall Rating:
My point of view is that I would highly recommend Final Fantasy IX to most any gamer overall. Yes it starts slow but you can live with that because the last three discs do so well with that. Yes you have to deal with the no EXP from bosses, which that one I still to this day don't understand but remember to equip Locomotion and everything will be good to prevent Stop. The positives of this game are thus that it makes the game well worth the time.
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10. Would be a 10 if they didn't have the #2 or #3 negatives (I willingly put #1 aside as the game picks up from Disc 2 onward)
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