why is this game so bad?!

[Deusa]

I love this game. I have two copies of each disk. But all the people i know call it crud! I don't understand it:cry: ! This is so uncool! I can't figure out what the horrible flaw that made the whole game crap that i must have missed the last 8 times i've played is! So now I ask you others: what is so bad about ff9???!!!

[Cookie]

Nothing, hush yourself. Opinion is not fact.

[Deusa]

The people who know me seem to think it is bad though!i don't get it!

[LunarWeaver]

This forum has pro-bandwagons for IX and anti-bandwagons for VII, so I doubt you'll get a lot of IX hate here.

IX is a perfectly good game. In most cases, people will look at the character designs and decide it's bad before they even start, which is just silly. I don't know if that's what's happening with your friends, but probably. If that is the case, just smack them with an otter's corpse and take a nap. All problems solved!

[The Ceej]

The problem with this game is that is was a classic overcorrection. All the part-time Final Fantasy wannabes got upset when they changed the direction they were going with in FFVII and FFVIII and wanted it back on track. So Squaresoft tried to combine the best of the old with the best of the new in an attempt to make everybody happy. Problem is, you can't make everybody happy and as a result pissed a lot of people off. It's definately not the best in the series, but it's still a fun game to play. I was extremely disappointed with this game at first. However, once I got to playing it, I started enjoying myself. Sure, it's lacking. Sure, it leaves a lot to be desired. But, come on. No one ever made a perfect game. It's still fun and it's still Final Fantasy. Although, I'm glad they learned from the response they got from this game that it's always best to do what they were planning on doing anyway than to listen to people complaining about what was wrong with the previous games. Or did they? <Cough, Cough> Final Fantasy X-2.

Oh yeah. I didn't vote because the option I wanted isn't there.

[Deusa]

How about why people think that others think that way?

[LunarWeaver]

Is the answer drugs?

[Deusa]

Hmmm your right that might be the problem!*grin*any other oppinions?!

[Xurts]

I love this game. I have two copies of each disk. But all the people i know call it crud! I don't understand it:cry: ! This is so uncool! I can't figure out what the horrible flaw that made the whole game crap that i must have missed the last 8 times i've played is! So now I ask you others: what is so bad about ff9???!!!
FF9 is a great game and definitely one of the best. It's the new FFs that suck.

Do your friends give any reasons for disliking it? If they don't then just ignore them, since their opinions are worthless anyway.

[Deusa]

Yeah they did actually. I heard something about 'gay monkey'and'eye candy'with 'no brains ANd no brawn'. I was closing my ears desperately so as to not start yelling at my "friends" in public!

[Xurts]

Yeah they did actually. I heard something about 'gay monkey'and'eye candy'with 'no brains ANd no brawn'. I was closing my ears desperately so as to not start yelling at my "friends" in public!
Yeah, just as I thought. They're noobs whose opinions are meaningless.

[Deusa]

Yeah I know!oh don't I know.......
but like I said earlier:How about why people might think that ff is bad?

can't think of anything cept stupidity. or extreme weirdness.

Edit by Psychotic: Hey there Deusa, please don't double post. You can use the edit/delete button if you've got something else you want to add and nobody else has posted. Thank you very much!

[Laddy]

It's not bad, they just don't know what they are talking about.

[Jessweeee♪]

Everyone has their tastes n.n
For me the most important things in a Final Fantasy in this very order are~
1. Story
2. Music
3. Gameplay

The story was good, and don't kill me for saying that in the older FFs the graphics get in the way of that for me. Bad graphics does not make a game bad, but it can ruin the story for me and my puny little mind. The music was awesome.
The gameplay was also great.

[Hambone]

I love this game. I have two copies of each disk. But all the people i know call it crud! I don't understand it:cry: ! This is so uncool! I can't figure out what the horrible flaw that made the whole game crap that i must have missed the last 8 times i've played is! So now I ask you others: what is so bad about ff9???!!!
FF9 is a great game and definitely one of the best. It's the new FFs that suck.

Are you sure about that? The first 5 Final Fantasies really revolve around collecting crystals and involve destroying the "darkness" about to claim the world. Although, as I recall, FFIV does have a plot. Please don't take the way that I hope you don't.

Like most Final Fantasies, I was addicted to FFIX and wouldn't stop until I did EVERYTHING. And I did. :) However, I really just don't think FFIX has anything special and different from most other FF's. I guess another reason why I don't think it's a very good representation of a Final Fantasy game is it's story. I just don't think it's epic enough as the others. I really didn't feel anything when I first beat the game. :-/

[NeoCracker]

The biggest problem is the lack of innovative battle system. As far as fighting goes, there really is nothing new it offers that stands out, and the battle speed is to slow.

However this doesn't bother me. I thouroghly enjoyed everything about the game.

And to quote a famous man


People dislike FF IX because they are horrible Idiots.

[Rostum]

Kishi is right.

[Wolf Kanno]

I've yet to meet someone who can give me a good reason for actually hating this game (and I do have a friend that despises this game and she has yet to give me a logically good reason:rolleyes2 ) Now I've met a few people who don't care for the game and I'm fine with that, I've yet to meet a true "FFIX SUCKS LOZRS LOL" person on this forum, I usually meet them in real life but just ignore them. They wouldn't know a good game if it bit them on the ass.

Main complaints I can think of...

Graphics. Now don't get me wrong, IX's graphics blow VIII's out of the water but most people don't care for the actual choice of design style. The psuedo-sprites and dark fairy tale design choices have really rubbed most people the wrong way and I still meet people who refuse to play this game cause they think it's stupid looking.

Others are too distracted by them as well, IX is pretty light hearted but honestly, it's plot is the darkest in the series IMHO. Most can't see this cause the light hearted design removes a sense of danger that was felt in other FF's.

The Ceej, also made a point with the odd reaction created by the fan bases created through VII and VIII. Many of more causal fans were unaware of FF's evolutionary process of change so many were weirded out by the high fantasy content after riding motorcycles and using gunblades. In fact VIII recieved a similiar reaction when it was released. I can't tell you how many times I had to explain that Midgard doesn't exist in VI and how Squall isn't Cloud and Tifa's son:rolleyes2 You won't really meet any of these people in the forums though.;)

The game does have a few gameplay issues but that's really nothing new to any of the games in the series. So I don't feel it can be cited as a main reason. Though the games summoning system and Trance system have their fair share of controversy.

Some of the characters are also nailed but once again I cite graphics and design choice as the major factor contributing to this phenomenon.
Most of the haters are just shallow and resistant to change.

[McLovin']

Good game. Not "great" but not worth hating.

[The black mage]

as far as i see it there is only one flaw in the game, you cannot store trances.
Apart from that its a very good game.
One flaw in my copy. has a scratch in disk one. that stops 2 or 3 FMV from playing.
(Don't start telling me how to skip them i alrady know)

[Bolivar]

Everyone I know who actually took the step to play this game liked it, and played it to the end. I remember it came out when I was in middle school. Most of the people I knew in the different categories of FF fans played it: the casual gamers who only played a little bit of VII, the ones who just really got into the series since VII, and of course the super-nintendo-elitists. After all racing to see who would finish it first (I won) and we all had the debate, the consensus was that it was a really good game and one of the best FF's.

And from this experience, I would say square did a really successful job of making it very accessible to all kinds of gamers. It was easy to pick up and there was alot to enjoy about it.

The only people who hated it were the ones who never even ventured to play it. Mostly the Nintendo 64 crowd. I would have the strategy guide with me and people would say "why are you playing a little kid's game?" But that's what made it fun, that we all really knew the greatness of it.

Years later, having beaten all the FF's, I would have to say it's one of the weakest in the series. The battle system was a major step back in that it took ATB and basically reverted back into a turn-based RPG. I also feel that it tried too hard to be FF, when every FF is supposed to be innovation based on what was already done in the past. This one just explores every region of the past and crams it into one game. it's like the Kefka's Tower of FF's. And they did a pretty good job with that. But I would rather have a brand new FF story rather than a generic one that hints at the plot of previous games.

For me it just confirms that Yoshinori Kitase makes better games than Sakaguchi ever did.

[daggertrepe]

This is one of the greatest final fantasies ever made, in my opinion.

[Hambone]

...I voted yes on the poll. :bigsmile: *hides*

[Xurts]

Are you sure about that? The first 5 Final Fantasies really revolve around collecting crystals and involve destroying the "darkness" about to claim the world. Although, as I recall, FFIV does have a plot. Please don't take the way that I hope you don't.
That's nice, but I don't recall mentioning anything about the early FFs.

[Ouch!]

Final Fantasy IX is my favorite Final Fantasy (and quite possibly my favorite game) by a large margin. As far as I'm concerned, it has the best soundtrack in the series, bar none. Granted, a lot of the songs are just different versions of the same tune, but there are many others that are absolutely excellent.

I cared more about the characters in FFIX more than I've ever cared about a character in a game. I felt that a majority of the characters had more depth than others in previous games. The only other game I believe to have come close in character development is Final Fantasy VI. All the characters in FFIX played a significant role in the plot. I never really felt as if anyone got left behind (as I believed happened in FFVII and FFVIII). As FFVII was the first Final Fantasy I played (I didn't start getting my hands on the older ones until after I played FFIX), I was incredibly relieved to have a main character who wasn't a stereotypical loner.

The animation style never bothered me, really. The characters would have certainly looked a lot cooler had they stuck more closely to Amano's concept art (Steiner looks like a total bad ass), but I believe the animation fits the attitudes of the characters more.

One of the best parts of the game, I believe, is the villain. Kuja is simply awesome. He's the only villain in a Final Fantasy game I've ever pitied. I felt he had real motivation, and it was refreshing to see a villain who wasn't trying to become a god to enslave the world, but instead someone who was acting on real emotions.

I loved the reintroduction of the class system. I've always preferred distinct definition between characters and their roles in battle. Choosing your party becomes less of a "These guys are my favorite, so I'll just use them," and instead introduces at least some element of strategy.

[Garnie]

9 is good but it can be very cheesey in places but i still lovr it like all the ffs

[Deusa]

who voted no? no one has addmited to it or to not liking it as far as i can see...........?

[Timerk]

It wasn't a horrible game, but in the end it just suffered from weak characters and a story which got a little too complicated for its own good. Also, Zidane and Garnet never really worked for me as a couple. The Trance system was horrible, and the sidequests felt uninspired. FF9 started out ok, but it ended up losing steam around disc three and never really got on track for me.

That's not to say it is a bad game. The story as a whole is ok, and there are some beautiful set pieces and moments (Bahamut vs Alexander). I don't think that people hate it, I just think it doesn't have much replay value because the sidequests are not much fun, and the plot just has too many threads in it. I still don't understand why some of the characters were even there.

ps I didn't vote. This game is a clear mild to me, and it always will be.

[MoonZapdos]

This game isn't bad. It's awesome. Awesome enough to be my favourite game of the series. Whoever thinks it's bad hasn't played enough PSX games.

[Heath]

Like people have said, I think people are too harsh on FFIX. I'm not quite sure what the principle reason for it is, though someone suggested the character design which is one reason I've frequently seen given. I think part of the reason the character design was received negatively by some people was that they've probably started the series at FFVII (as I know some of my friends certainly did), and had grown rather accustomed to the 'realistic' character design, only to have a guy with a tail and a head larger than his torso thrown at them. Musically, I think FFIX is one of my favourite games, actually. Perhaps that's fairly redundant though because I don't think I've ever head somebody say they disliked the game because of its music.

I have, however, heard many people say they disliked the game for Eiko!

[Lynx]

because when VII and VIII came out everyone played them and said thats final fantasy and they chose to ignore the old school knights, castles, kingsmiddle ages theme of the previous FF's because thye never played them. so when FFIX brought the series back to the old style all the millions of FFVII/VIII fanboys went around going nope thats not how a FF should be. because soo many peopel see themselves as experts after playing 1 or 2 games of the series.

thats why when FFX came out a lot of people were crazy about it despite the cliche story, easy gameplay and boreing characters.

also the character design comes into affect. cloud and squall 2 rugged looking guys looks like they were made to save the world. and their tough guy personalitys help with that. then comes little skinny 16 year old zidane kid with a tail. doesnt look like a hero in anyones eyes. but thats wrong. zidane always seems to come to the rescue. and his jokeing around personality makes him quite the interesting character fun character.

the story was very interesting. each character had there own interesting story that gets in some exploration unlike some other ff's. and an interesting theme of memories is included in it.

one of if not my favorite FF.

[cloud21zidane16]

no way is this game bad, its very underrated and it is actually one of my favourites

[Northcrest]

I think that FFIX was great. It was one of the Final Fantasy Games that didn't get me bored after doing a bunch of stuff like FFVII,X,V,and IV. In VIII and X I liked but when it came down to doing sidequest it would take me days to complete cause of the boredom. In IV and V i only played them to add to my completion list but they were all really not my type. Back to topic i really tought that IX was awesome and was really enjoyable to play.

[Zora]

Let us not forget the stupid excuse we have all heard "I couldn't by the fact the main character had a tail." :rolleyes2

Final Fantasy IX is my favorite in the series next to Final Fantasy VI. The story was excellent IMO, the characters were excellent and were well-placed in the plot, and there is little to hate about it. But there were some contributing factors.

- First, the press. It is safe to say that MOST of the press favored FFVII and FFVIII over FFIX. FFIX was like "nice game." They also criticized some weak points (like the gameplay being slow), among them was the music (which many press-reviewers called weak). The press in general didn't like the music.

Note: A lot of people, including me, love the music soundtrack, but the press criticized it nonetheless

- Late Gen Game. Lets face it. No matter how boring, stupid, pathetic, and weak a next gen library is, people still favor a weak next gen library. What I am saying, is that FFIX came out late in the PS1's lifetime. By then people moved onto the PS2 (which like all consoles at released had few good games), and didn't want to pick up a PS1 game cause it was last gen. Many good games fall victim to this, especially RPGs because they can be released at a normal time in Japan, but after localization come out late. This is a major contributing factor.

- Character Design. People said it. It looks silly and kiddy, but it works, yet people don't try it.

- "Slow" Story. I will admit the story is very good, but it doesn't really get into motion until the end of disc 2. It could be a good ten to twenty hours to reach that point, and without dedication you may not stay with it.

- Radical departure from FFVII/VIII. Self-explanatory.

Those are just some factors that led to FFIX not being popular among many.

[Formalhaut]

The game is good, not the best FF ever, but still a good decent FFR, worthy of being in the series.

7/10

[daggertrepe]

This game is the bomb. I really can't say it enough.

Oh yes and Beatrix RULES!

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

I've completed it for the third time and I still think the battle system sucks (compated to VII and VIII)

[Bolivar]

I've completed it for the third time and I still think the battle system sucks (compated to VII and VIII)

My only complaint on battles is that (even on the fastest setting) they were way too slow. It was a major step back, basically reverting battles to their NES days.

Other than that, it did have alot of customization just like VII and VIII, i mean Zidane is a thief but if you want you can make him more like a knight. Freya you can push in different direction, physical or magic.

[Xurts]

I've completed it for the third time and I still think the battle system sucks (compated to VII and VIII)

My only complaint on battles is that (even on the fastest setting) they were way too slow. It was a major step back, basically reverting battles to their NES days.

Other than that, it did have alot of customization just like VII and VIII, i mean Zidane is a thief but if you want you can make him more like a knight. Freya you can push in different direction, physical or magic.
How were the battles so bad? I didn't find anything wrong with them, and they were the same as previous FFs. At least it seemed like it to me.

Customization? The characters have set job classes and can only equip one or two types of equipment. I don't see how you could customize them, or why you would want to. Since the classes fit perfectly and are all useful.

[Hambone]

who voted no? no one has addmited to it or to not liking it as far as i can see...........?

I did.

[Kanshisha]

9? Bad? Ha! no offence but what are those guys on that are sayiong that it's a crud!, seriously, it's a great game.. but generally people " dislike " certain games, don't let it come to you..

[Galvatron]

IX is my favorite 3D final fantasy, as most of the thread says it goes back to its roots and shows what FF games used to be like. Well, I have to admit the story is a tad more lighthearted than some older games but it fits. The characters are great, the music is wonderful, and the ability system is awesome as well. The battle system was very slow though.

IX is the way the series should have gone in the 3D era. To me, personally, it is the last good Final Fantasy.

[Deusa]

thanks guys[and girls] oh yeah and hambone y did u pick no? im interested, really. u sounded more like an in-between to me.

[Bolivar]

I've completed it for the third time and I still think the battle system sucks (compated to VII and VIII)

My only complaint on battles is that (even on the fastest setting) they were way too slow. It was a major step back, basically reverting battles to their NES days.

Other than that, it did have alot of customization just like VII and VIII, i mean Zidane is a thief but if you want you can make him more like a knight. Freya you can push in different direction, physical or magic.
How were the battles so bad? I didn't find anything wrong with them, and they were the same as previous FFs. At least it seemed like it to me.

Customization? The characters have set job classes and can only equip one or two types of equipment. I don't see how you could customize them, or why you would want to. Since the classes fit perfectly and are all useful.

The battles were alot slower than the last few games, going back to V maybe. With ATB, your bar fills up, you go, but in FFIX there was alot of waiting to see things play out, by the time your character finishes their action they'll probably pick their next one before the next person/enemy's action finishes.

And what I meant was the customization with the ability system. You have alot of abilities to choose from and only so many you can put points into, you can make zidane really fast and really good at stealing or you can avoid to that to give him alot of power and HP. There's alot of variation open to how the player will choose to utilize each character to play their part.

[Amin_Strife]

This game is awesome. Before I bought it..I knew there were a lot of people who despised it and a lot of people who loved it. I was planning to buy it anyways. I actually think the battles are a bit faster than FFVIII battles. But I really liked the atmosphere in the game, just like VII and VIII. I liked how they returned to the old FF style. Especially the song that you hear at the game's main menu just oozes atmosphere xD When I beat the game it actually felt really complete. I really liked the ending in this one. And I liked the battle system more than FFVIII's. It was cool that every weapon had different abilities and it was up to you to decide wether you want to learn it or not. So I don't think this game sucks. I really enjoyed it. It isn't the best one..but it's a worthy entry to the series.

[Vivisteiner]

Especially the song that you hear at the game's main menu just oozes atmosphere xD .
OMG, the best song evar!

FFIX is best IMO. Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu both think that FFIX is best as well. And they founded Final Fantasy.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

I remember enjoying it when I played it, years and years ago.

[Xurts]

The Trance Kuja battle definitely has one, if not the best, battle themes in the series.

[The Crystal]

I guess another reason why I don't think it's a very good representation of a Final Fantasy game is it's story. I just don't think it's epic enough as the others. I really didn't feel anything when I first beat the game. :-/

You aren't the first person to say that, but i still don't understand how some people can think like this.

You fight against an evil empire that want to conquer the world, many cities are destroyed, you begin to discover about an old civilisation that is conected with everything that is happening(the Terrans), you go to another planet(Terra), the planet is destroyed, and in the end of the game you have to stop the bad guy from destroying all existence.

How you(and other people) can think this is not epic enough? Hell, just look at the line "stop the bad guy from destroying all existence".

I understand the reasons for people hating this game. Many of them are stupid reasons, but i understand them. But when someone say what you said, the only question that appear in my mind is "Did this guy/girl even play the game?"

Can you please, elaborate why you think it isn't "epic enough"? I'm really curious.

PS: Sorry if i was a little harsh, it wasn't my inttention. And maybe you thought that when i said "Many of them are stupid reasons" i was talking about your reasons. But i wasn't. I'm just curious to know why you think like that.

[Future Esthar]

FF9 is very funny while it lasts.But then...The sidequests aren´t very funny.
The main storyline is the worst of the ones I played (chrono series,FF7 &8).As someone pointed it only develops enough at the third disk.
In fact it is the comedy relief and the little side stories that deserve the fun.
I also felt,the designers throwed many different concepts into a mixing soup.To me,the story was left divided in many different stories.
For example:
1-Eidolons and Dagger/Eiko backstory
2-Terra-Gaia assimilation thingy.
3-Badass who wanna to return the universe to zero point.
What is the relation between 1,2 and 3?Never explained.
The best we know is that Necron was trying to test Garland´s view of life.
In general the storyline sounded vain and without content.
And...pu..lease...
FF7 ´s graphics are much better than 9´s.
Just consider the lightning effects.FF7 is brighter and more colorful.
The battle is slow but funny.I also loved the class system.
FF7´s gameplay is way much better than FF9´s.
Characters are likable and have personality.

[the_sandman]

final fantasy IX was my favorite out of ALL final fantasy games, but a lot of people thinks its bad because the battle system was lacking a lot. i kind of agree, the battle system was pretty slow. but the storyline, characters and the music made up for it. plus, all those mini sidequests were really interesting, like finding out garnet's real name.

most of them dont like it because the characters looks kind of kiddy which is a stupid reason. they rather have the emo, badass characters.

[the_sandman]

FF9 is very funny while it lasts.But then...The sidequests aren´t very funny.
The main storyline is the worst of the ones I played (chrono series,FF7 &8).As someone pointed it only develops enough at the third disk.
In fact it is the comedy relief and the little side stories that deserve the fun.
I also felt,the designers throwed many different concepts into a mixing soup.To me,the story was left divided in many different stories.
For example:
1-Eidolons and Dagger/Eiko backstory
2-Terra-Gaia assimilation thingy.
3-Badass who wanna to return the universe to zero point.
What is the relation between 1,2 and 3?Never explained.
The best we know is that Necron was trying to test Garland´s view of life.
In general the storyline sounded vain and without content.
And...pu..lease...
FF7 ´s graphics are much better than 9´s.
Just consider the lightning effects.FF7 is brighter and more colorful.
The battle is slow but funny.I also loved the class system.
FF7´s gameplay is way much better than FF9´s.
Characters are likable and have personality.

kuja wanted to use dagger's eidolon's to cause a chaos within gaia as a part of the plan for the terra-gaia assimilation thing.

eiko's backstory wasnt supposed to be a big part in the main story. it was just to support dagger's story. i mean, theres no connection between vincent's backstory and sephiroth's plan to destroy the world. hell, tifa's story didnt even have anything to do with the main plot. its almost like she was just throwin in the game merely for the love triangle.

ff7 graphics obviously werent better than 9. i know that the graphics were good for their time, but thats all it was...good for their time, not better than ff9's.

the characters in ff9 were a lot better than ff7 (its an opinion of course). ff7 just focused on cloud, tifa and aeris. honestly, i've never seen cloud have any important conversations with red XIII or vincent or yuffie. i mean, in ff9, each character had their own problems and story and it showed how they changed throughout their travels with zidane. a character like amarant who was cocky, arrogant, and believed that working alone beats working as a team. traveling with zidane made him realize what made zidane so strong. his attitude didnt change, but his views on the importance of teamwork did. he was still that hardcore serious guy. a character like steiner, who was so loyal to the wrong person realized that being loyal wasnt his duty, his duty was to protect the princess as a knight. yet, he was still loyal, but to a different person. eiko, who was hyperactive and energetic yet alone and sad found friendship and happiness. traveling with zidane didnt change their characters, it fixed their flaws. than in the end, when zidane was the one with flaws (the whole "your not alone" scene), the team helped zidane just like zidane helped each and every member on his team.

now that is character development.

[aquatius]

People who think this game's design is stupid have obviously never heard of Kingdom Hearts.

[Bolivar]

FF9 is very funny while it lasts.But then...The sidequests aren´t very funny.
The main storyline is the worst of the ones I played (chrono series,FF7 &8).As someone pointed it only develops enough at the third disk.
In fact it is the comedy relief and the little side stories that deserve the fun.
I also felt,the designers throwed many different concepts into a mixing soup.To me,the story was left divided in many different stories.
For example:
1-Eidolons and Dagger/Eiko backstory
2-Terra-Gaia assimilation thingy.
3-Badass who wanna to return the universe to zero point.
What is the relation between 1,2 and 3?Never explained.
The best we know is that Necron was trying to test Garland´s view of life.
In general the storyline sounded vain and without content.
And...pu..lease...
FF7 ´s graphics are much better than 9´s.
Just consider the lightning effects.FF7 is brighter and more colorful.
The battle is slow but funny.I also loved the class system.
FF7´s gameplay is way much better than FF9´s.
Characters are likable and have personality.

kuja wanted to use dagger's eidolon's to cause a chaos within gaia as a part of the plan for the terra-gaia assimilation thing.

eiko's backstory wasnt supposed to be a big part in the main story. it was just to support dagger's story. i mean, theres no connection between vincent's backstory and sephiroth's plan to destroy the world. hell, tifa's story didnt even have anything to do with the main plot. its almost like she was just throwin in the game merely for the love triangle.

ff7 graphics obviously werent better than 9. i know that the graphics were good for their time, but thats all it was...good for their time, not better than ff9's.

the characters in ff9 were a lot better than ff7 (its an opinion of course). ff7 just focused on cloud, tifa and aeris. honestly, i've never seen cloud have any important conversations with red XIII or vincent or yuffie. i mean, in ff9, each character had their own problems and story and it showed how they changed throughout their travels with zidane. a character like amarant who was cocky, arrogant, and believed that working alone beats working as a team. traveling with zidane made him realize what made zidane so strong. his attitude didnt change, but his views on the importance of teamwork did. he was still that hardcore serious guy. a character like steiner, who was so loyal to the wrong person realized that being loyal wasnt his duty, his duty was to protect the princess as a knight. yet, he was still loyal, but to a different person. eiko, who was hyperactive and energetic yet alone and sad found friendship and happiness. traveling with zidane didnt change their characters, it fixed their flaws. than in the end, when zidane was the one with flaws (the whole "your not alone" scene), the team helped zidane just like zidane helped each and every member on his team.

now that is character development.

VII might be my favorite game, but I gotta agree here that this is one of the aspects that really puts IX above much of the rest of the series. Although VII was a step forward for character interaction and development, playing it this time I only realized how much further IX took it.

[Breine]

Final Fantasy IX is a brilliant game. 'nuff said. Most Final Fantasy old-schoolers agree with this, but as far as I know it's mostly the newer Final Fantasy gamers that don't have that much love for it. The reason is that it goes against the sci-fi atmosphere and setting that Final Fantasy VI, VII and VIII (and also Final Fantasy X I guess) had. Most newer Final Fantasy gamers either started playing Final Fantasy when Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X came out, and so they're not familiar with the original so-called "fantasy" setting the first games had.

At least that's my theory, even though I am a big fan of the game and didn't start playing Final Fantasy until Final Fantasy VII was released.

By the way, Hironobu Sakaguci has also stated that Final Fantasy IX is his all-time favourite of the series.

[Mirage]

The biggest problem is the lack of innovative battle system. As far as fighting goes, there really is nothing new it offers that stands out, and the battle speed is too slow.

That's one of the main reasons I don't enjoy this game.



And to quote a famous man


People dislike FF IX because they are horrible Idiots.
No, people dislike FFIX because they have certain standards when it comes to gameplay. Also, the story was presented in a sorta boring way.

[tomboy08]

Well I like some parts of the game are cool but I really don't like the other parts of the game.

[Christmas]

You need to start playing the game from Disc 4 then it gets good. :bigsmile:

[Quindiana Jones]

Mist Continent arc is the best arc, fight me.