FFIX was the last great Final Fantasy

[Wolf Kanno]

Enjoy (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/312197/features/why-final-fantasy-ix-was-the-end-of-a-great-series/?attr=CVG-General-RSS&cid=OTC-RSS) ;)

I must say, despite being short, and sometimes aimless, I can at least agree with some of the sentiments of the article.

[Laddy]

I can agree with the article. IX was awesome, thoughe njoyed the other entries, they all fell flat in some compartment.

X's protagonist was completely unlikable.

XII felt an odd kind of soullessness.

XIII was too restrictive.

IX was gorgeous.

[Dreddz]

I think the series was solid up until XIII. XIII was the first slip up Square made in my opinion. I quite often find myself alone when praising XII. I thought, while lacking in story, XII was brilliant and was up to scratch with the rest of the series, albeit in a different way. That being said, IX is still one of my favourites in the series, right behind VII (and followed by XII). If people want to argue that no Final Fantasy has managed to top IX since its release then Ill accept that and even agree somewhat. But both X and XII are too good to ignore entirely. They are both easily two of the best JRPG's released in their day.

[Laddy]

I liked XII and would say it's a brilliant game which I very much enjoyed, but to me it wasn't Final Fantasy. It felt somehwat soulless which is weird because it was a good game. Maybe because it was MMO-ish and MMO's typically seem soulless to me.

While we're on MMO's, XI was a pretty damn good one.

[Depression Moon]

I agree with Dreddz.

[Korben Raine]

To be honest i never liked IX as much as previous final fantasy release's. For me i though X was a far overall better game and story and was for me at least the last good FF title out there. But IX is still a good game never the less.

[TrollHunter]

X's protagonist was completely unlikable.



Now if X's protagonists (being Tidus and Yuna) weren't terrible then the game (at least for me) would've been far better. All the other characters (excluding Kimahri) were great.
I still need to get my hands on IX because it seems fantastic.
Sadly the store I would go to for my psX games doesn't have one in stock.

[AngelWings8]

I would agree with most/some points of the article as well. Although for myself...I liked 7 & 8 much more than 9. :blush: I know there are those that will disagree with me...but I just didn't like the story or characters as much in 9. 7 & 8 just really drew me in and I fell in love with every aspect of the games.

I really liked the music in 10...but I really wanted to strangle Tidus for screaming and acting like such a teenager all the damn time :eep: I wonder if his voice was so irritating in the Japanese version...I wish they gave us an option to change the dub/sub. And I was irritated at Yuna's character...she just seemed so weak and meak and helpless and "woe is me".

[Edge7]

I would agree with most/some points of the article as well. Although for myself...I liked 7 & 8 much more than 9. :blush: I know there are those that will disagree with me...but I just didn't like the story or characters as much in 9

...I really liked the music in 10...but I really wanted to strangle Tidus for screaming and acting like such a teenager all the damn time :eep:

Really? I just started Final Fantasy 9, and I feel a lot more engrossed in the characters than I did with 7 or 8. The scene where the black mages protect Vivi from the Third Black Waltz to me was more heart wrenching than Aerith's death.

Also, to go a bit off-topic, the one thing I liked about Tidus was how frustrated he was in a world so unlike his own. Granted, he didn't have much else going for him, but I can say I legitimately felt for him a couple of times, though not to frequently; he's really good at smurfing up any connections I felt with him. Plus I liked his narration segments, because it gave me the impression that he matured from the whiny child he started of with. It's a shame he never seemed to show that side of him though.

But, back to FF9, I love it so far. My only problem is how you learn skills. I'm almost at the end of disc one, and I still need to max out the ability my Mage Masher grants me (I think it's detect). What are some good places to get AP after you leave Lindblum after the festival of the hunt?

[Mirage]

all this is tl;dr so i'll just sum it all up with

Lol, no it wasn't.

The combat is way too unrefined.

[Depression Moon]

X's protagonist was completely unlikable.



Now if X's protagonists (being Tidus and Yuna) weren't terrible then the game (at least for me) would've been far better. All the other characters (excluding Kimahri) were great.
I still need to get my hands on IX because it seems fantastic.
Sadly the store I would go to for my psX games doesn't have one in stock.

You can get it off the PSN store.

[Hot Shot]

I beg to differ. Yes IX was awesome (my personal favourite) but X is definately up there with the best FFs. It's better than VIII (a lot) and VI (marginally). All of the characters in X was awesome. IMO, they had the best cast of characters who were all relevant to the story and had an interesting way of dealing with their backstories.

[Rostum]

I'm not sure if I like the article, but FFIX is definitely my most favourite of the series and in general. The only downside for me is the speed of the battles, other than that I love everything about it. I love the characters, the art style, the world, the story, etc. It's not a game to be taken seriously in terms of depth but it has a great whimsical quality about it that makes me fall in love with it every time.

On a side note, I much prefer a world setting where it's organic meets high tech (FFXIII despite not really liking the game overall). I think medieval fantasy is way over done and can come across as rather boring. However, for FFIX it just seems to work so well for me - probably the colourfulness of it.

[Darth Cid]

I have to agree FFIX is one of the best games of the series and perhaps the last good game, I enjoyed the return to roots before the series went to PS2, FFX...was alright I didn't care for Tidus and I could see Yuna or Auron as a better lead protagionist. FFX-2 killed the series for me, Spoony said it best, it put too much different stuff in the games too quick to the point it's not Final Fantasy anymore. From there I lost interest in later titles.

[dambaz]

i did enjoy 9 not as much as 7 and 8 while 7 and 8 had a sort of grown up seriousness 9 seemed to cater for a younger audience still good though

[Depression Moon]

Younger audience? I believe all the FFs are catered to the same age group.

[DMKA]

I disagree. Final Fantasy XIII was the last great Final Fantasy.

I'm 26 and have played I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, Dirge of Cerberus, IX, X, X-2, XI, XII, XIII, Tactics, Tactics Advance and Mystic Quest, btw.

Actually, IX is one of my least favorites. :p

[Rostum]

The themes throughout FF9 were a lot more 'grown up' than FF7 and FF8.

[Jessweeee♪]

I disagree. FFIX and some others before it were pretty cool and all, but I think the ones after were great as well. I also feel the author failed in explaining why its successors don't live up to that greatness, just, "this and this and this were different than what was in FFIX" and a couple of those "this"s only apply to games before FFIX if you think about it. There are just so many contradictions all over the place, such as "Forget futuristic worlds - simplistic medieval charm is what Final Fantasy is about" when several games before FFIX had future worlds, FFX did not for the majority of the game, and FFXII was a medieval world.

So yeah, FFIX is pretty fun (and I kind of want to play it again now) but this article isn't so great. One thing I do agree with is that the graphics aged better than FFVIII before it and FFX after. In a few more years FFX is going to be omg so ugly.

[TrollHunter]

X's protagonist was completely unlikable.



Now if X's protagonists (being Tidus and Yuna) weren't terrible then the game (at least for me) would've been far better. All the other characters (excluding Kimahri) were great.
I still need to get my hands on IX because it seems fantastic.
Sadly the store I would go to for my psX games doesn't have one in stock.

You can get it off the PSN store.

-Lacks a ps3-
unless I can get it on my psp.

[Jessweeee♪]

You can get all PS1 games on PSN on your PSP!

[TrollHunter]

I never took the time to set up psn on my psp so I wouldn't know you could get ps1 games on it.
My bad.

[Wolf Kanno]

For me, FFIX just felt like the last great entry. FFX always felt unfinished to me, and pretty damn formulaic, and lacking in charm. Course, what do you expect when two of the oldest members of the staff were both busy making preparations to leave the company. Most of all, I don't feel like FFX brought anything new to the table. Its game mechanics are mostly minor revisions of old mechanics and the advent of voice work had been in the genre for years before its release. When a games biggest contribution to the series is doing something Brave Fencer Musashi, a title released around FFVIIs time, I don't feel this is really a major contribution but rather just the series catching up to other games.

XI is a good game, but like some, I never felt like FF = Online worked for me, and while it has a wonderful world, it still feels like a spin-off project for me. Its like if TheaterRythm was announced as FFXV. While it may be a great game, I don't feel the genre fits with what FF is about.

FFXII is a great game and probably the last FF game to have a number in its title that I felt really held up for the series, but this game is far more aligned with Matsuno's other works. The game feels awkward when standing next to FFV or VII, but feels at home next to Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics A2, so even though it has a great pedigree, it doesn't quite feel like an "FF experience". Despite this, I felt like XII at least tried to push the series in a more groundbreaking direction and when modern RPGs still have issues holding up to stuff this game did, it makes me appreciate what it did bring. While XII is also flawed and unfinished, its still a far cry better than some other modern JRPGs I won't mention.

XIII is a combination of both my issues with FFX and XII. It not only doesn't feel like an FF cause its mainly a vision by one guy whose track record is mostly in the post-FFIX entries, but the game feels completely unfinished and barren. Just a couple of ideas that were never fleshed out, and ultimately done better in previous installments. I remember one fan made critique stating that XIII felt more like the evolutionary leap between FFX and XII, as opposed to feeling like a jump off from what XII did. Yet, I feel XIII's bigger issues stem from many of its ideas not being that good to begin with. Its a game that is hindered by so many lost opportunities, and one that feels very... corporate and soulless. Something that was mostly phoned in, the idea being created in a few meetings and then the concept shipped off to several departments that weren't at the meeting.

XIV is pretty much in the same boat as XI for me. It will always feel like a "spinoff" to me, course the game has its own fare share of issues as even XI fans used to find it unplayable.

IX on its own right is a throwback entry, but its charming and actually filled with some creative ideas that I feel everyone in the genre missed. It may lack some originality and god knows combat was more of a step back from its predecessors, but it had some great ideas it employed and even its "shout out" to older FFs feel much more refined and are given such a unique spin, that its really hard to treat these as faults. IX, just feels like a game that was developed with love. Every time you turn around in the game, you're given a new surprise. Everytime you think its going to just be a copy/paste of an old idea, it introduces a twist that makes the idea feel much fresher. Is it a perfect game? No, but I agree with the series creator when he said IX was the "ideal FF", the later FFs don't hold up as well because they don't strike the right balance that IX does. That's why I feel IX is the last great entry.

[Depression Moon]

FFIX is the perfect game.

[Rabbits on the Run]

FFX-2 is the last great Final Fantasy game.

X is better than IX or VII, I think that Yuna and co. are much more interesting than the cast of either of the other games. I have to say that I always felt that FFIX was a bit cliche, with the typical setting and typical scenery. FFX felt much more different with it's setting.

That said I actually like X-2 and it's battle system. I even like the cheesy story mixed with the sadder aspects. But then comes XI which I've never played, I don't play online games, and then XII which I dislike. XII and XIII just aren't the same series to me. I can handle XII but I still haven't gotten past the start of XIII.

[Caelheim]

As much as I enjoyed FFIX and consider it to be one of the best FF games in the series, I have to disagree with the article itself. FFX and FFXII had their own appeal - though FFXII is very underrated simply because so few FF fans seem to appreciate a rather deep and meaningful storyline that goes beyond the playable characters. The political situation in Ivalice was simply breathtaking for me - especially since I'd enjoyed a similar style of storytelling in FF Tactics and Vagrant Story. Though given how they're created largely by the same team, it makes sense.

I think the series simply began to grow stale due to the focus on sequels and side stories. FFX-2 leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, for example. It felt very...uncalled for. Though on that note, the FF franchise has always been pretty diverse. It's just trying to appeal to the masses now, rather than the niche it once catered for.

[champagne supernova]

Whether the sentiment of the article is correct or not, it isn't really delivering it's point well.

I never connected with IX. Only played it this year and haven't gone through the rigmarole of the final dungeon yet (but I YouTubed the ending video). I don't know if it's because I played it for the first time when it was 'old' or whether I would never have liked it, but it just frustrates me. It might have something to do with Zidane's face, which drives me tizzy with irritation, but think it's deeper than that.

I don't really agree that all the characters were all that well developed. Quina is static throughout, Freya is neglected after Burmecia, Eiko doesn't really change and Zidane, despite the revelations that surround his past, always retains his optimistic, happy-go-lucky nature. Garnet truly matures, from semi-spoilt princess to woman, Amarant learns to be more open with others and Vivi is just awesome. And XII's plot was more mature (although I agree that it did feel a bit soulless).

Gameplay was good, but not particularly revolutionary. Having characters fixed into certain classes is a nice touch, as it forces the trial of combinations, but even if characters are fully customisable, they do tend to fit certain specialised roles. Battle system better than X or X-2? Doubt it.

I like IX, I think it is very cute in many places and it can be good fun. But I would rather play X, X-2, XII or XIII over it. So, in my opinion, IX isn't the last great entry.

[Rostum]

XI is a good game, but like some, I never felt like FF = Online worked for me, and while it has a wonderful world, it still feels like a spin-off project for me. Its like if TheaterRythm was announced as FFXV. While it may be a great game, I don't feel the genre fits with what FF is about.

I've always wished that XI could be remade as a single-player RPG. After playing through all the story campaigns, it has probably the most interesting lore and narrative within the entire series. The idea of it being party-play based is the epitome of what a Final Fantasy game should be, however not so many fans of the series want to dedicate themselves to an MMO, and XI was true dedication even within the MMO community.

[felfenix]

FF9 was like a clip show episode of a TV show, but for FFs. I don't see what about it was superior to any FF game. There was always something another game did better, and nothing original about it that was actually good. It's not even like its story was really good. If it were voice acted, the people who hated 10, etc would likely have hated 9 just as much. You just ignore how bad it is since you don't actually hear the dialog out loud. I think the only reason people like FF9 so much is because the game should essentially be called Final Fantasy Fanservice. No, I don't mean "sexy" fanservice, but the literal definition. The game is like a bad fanfiction, but not as good. I personally think the game is grossly overrated due to people easily being played by nostalgia and easter eggs.

[Depression Moon]

This guy must be smoking crack. I mean that super crack!

[WhiteStorm]

Last great FF was VII. It was innovative, but still remained faithful to the series. I'm not a big fan, but what came after this one is either boring, ridiculous, tedious, annoying or just not a FF game... or worse, a combination of all that.

VIII's story was kinda good but the game itself wasn't challenging. You could become Superman in the middle of disc 2 with all those junctions.

As for IX:


I personally think the game is grossly overrated due to people easily being played by nostalgia and easter eggs.

I agree. The first 2 discs are great, but then the plot goes down and crashes.

X's story is utterly ridiculous and Tidus is annoying as hell. Aside from Auron, Lulu and the combat system this FF has nothing worth mentioning. I hated blitzball and still can't understand the thought process that ended in the conclusion this minigame is fun.

X-2 is plain fanservice. No plot, no sense whatsoever.

Never played XI, since it's a MMORG and there are better ones. XII is good, but it's not a FF. Looked and played more like Vagrant Story (which is no coincidence, since the same team that made the latter worked on this one). The story was very intricate and I thought it was interesting to see a more politically-focused plot, but the game itself becomes tedious very fast.

I'm currently playing XIII, 'cause I can't spend countless hours playing anymore and so far (I'm starting disc 2) I find the story interesting, a little weird, but it stands. Vanille is annoying, Hope is even worse (too bad he has the best magical powers), Lightning is female Squall (enough said), Snow tries too hard to be a "hero" and the only really interesting character I've found so far is Sazh. He seems more human than the rest of them and is definitely more likeable.

I understand Hope, really, but some times his attitude (especially when it comes to Snow) just annoys me. I mean, tell the guy already! Or better yet, tell him about your mother and then punch him in the face, he'll feel so guilty that he won't hit you back. Buuuuut I guess, they have to make this conflict go on for as long as they can to add to the plot.

It's a shame, really, the great FF classics had better plots, more likeable characters and a good combat system that made the experience enjoyable. Lately, the developers seem more worried about making incredible CGs and coming up with the most complicated plots and forget about basic things such as who is the protagonist of the story. In FFXII, it's not Vaan or Penelo, it's Ashe. In X, it's Yuna. XIII has found what I think had been missing for a while, a balance between the importance of each character. I still have a way to go, but so far, I've seen the story focus a little on each of them, except Vanille. I know there's a reason for this and I have my suspicions, but I'm playing along.

I really hope the next game becomes the last great FF, because fans deserve to have another title as epic as FF6.

[Bolivar]

This is egregious! This is atrocious! The logic is simultaneously infuriating and self-defeating!

j/k. When I first beat FFIX I thought it might have been the best game I ever played and definitely better than the other two PlayStation Final Fantasies. Years and playthroughs later, that's not really the case. It doesn't take nearly as many risks as FFVIII and the combat isn't as smooth, well-directed, or deep as FFVII. But it's far more well rounded than either of those two and that's why we have three awesome FF titles on the PlayStation that each could be the best (in my book).

But calling it the last great game in the series is horse crap. Utter BS. FFX is a great game. It gets hated on for arbitrary reasons, it's almost funny to watch people try to craft abstract, flimsy arguments on why it's bad. It's a solid game with a lot of awesome stuff in it. And FFXII? Wow. Seriously, wow. I invented the "it doesn't feel like a FF" argument but I'll be damned if that game isn't an insane bundle of gameplay. The story's killer too although it's not particularly well paced. XIII isn't bad, but it doesn't attain greatness, although some of its constituent parts undoubtedly do. The only way I could see the argument is if you mean it was the last title with a world map, ATB, a numerous & varied cast, random encounters, and such FF elements. But it's hardly the last great title in the series.

The article itself was obvious flame bait consisting of generalizations that would fall like a house of cards if put under closer examination and critique. It says FFIX was open world and encouraged you to explore more than the later games did. Exploration is a huge HUGE part of FFXII, there's is so much open to you that you absolutely have no requirement to see, even very, very early on in the game, it's utterly ridiculous. And with marks, chaining, and espers, there's even a few extra incentives to go out there. Also, I love, absolutely LOVE how almost every article these days remotely connected to FF HAS to take a stab at FFVII. "Think about the hits and comments we'll get from all the fanboys!!!" Dude, he actually says the backgrounds in FFVII are jaggy - THEY'RE PRE-RENDERED BACKGROUNDS THEY'RE NOT EVEN JAGGY ON A BIG SCREEN HDTV. And then he says FFVII hasn't aged as well as IX. I might accept this when it comes to the script, but on a PSP, FFVII has aged incredibly well, but when you take in the load speeds and combat flow, it's aged considerably better than FFIX.

TLDR - awesome game, not the last great entry in the series, article is poorly constructed flame bait anyway.

[Levian]

FFX is the last great FF game
FFX-2 is the last good FF game
FFXIII is the last ff game so far.

(:

(imho)

[sir helix]

FFXIII a great game but lacked the soul it had been made out to have,

ffXII I hated for the fact it made me think i was playing runescape on meth. the map was awsome but i was so used to old FF that I was only able to beat this game cus I had a buddy lvl my team up for me, I just couldnt do it.

FFX-2 was only good if you want a quik actiony game with no soul, and that makes you feel good cause youve beaten a chapter......some people

FFX was sort of linear and had the most pointless inns, the only true dungeon in the game is only located by accident.

FFIX was a great game but i do agree it was a croud pleaser

FFVIII had a great theme to its lvling system, by becoming stronger you not only lowered your salery by taking to long but you made your enemies stronger as well (adel lol)

FFVII being the first FF id played like most other ppl, I have a special place in my heart for it, But c'mon silent hero thats got personality disorders, a lora croft chested kick ass chick, a black guy with a foul mouth, a weak little girl, a kitty on a goomba, a wise wolf/cat thingy, a ninja girl thats only interested in whats in your pants (dont even go there), and a drunk pilot that wants to go to the moon.....oh and gothic superman cant for get gold finger.

FFVI perfect game never knew who you were running into.

FFV still cant get the hang of it

FFI-IV 'applause all around'

[Bolivar]

For your listening pleasure: looped, Final Fantasy 9 OST Feel My Blade - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWUqaTlT7M4)

After a couple glasses and a couple replays of this I'm getting closer to agreeing with the article. Don't get me wrong, I still love FFX & FFXII but...

When you listen to this ish and think about the stuff you were actually doing (setting off fireworks and using props) it almost makes you want to cry because of how far gaming has fallen... I know it's a cliche to talk about how things are worse now than they were in the good ol' days, but seriously..... WTF!!?!?!?!?

[Wolf Kanno]

I actually never felt there was much argument for the need of a world map in RPGs until I played FFIX recently and completely forgot about the little things like watching airships fly by while you rode your chocobo.

[Rostum]

I wouldn't say gaming has "fallen", just taken a different direction to what I would have liked. :(

[*Devore*]

TBH, the only reason people find characters annoying in modern games is because they have voices and animation which allows them to express themselves like the creators wanted.
Go back to one of the older games, upgrade it to FFXIII standards, re:release it and im sure there would be loads of people hating the characters. Pre-X, you would imagine the perfect voice for the character, now your stuck with what the creators give you.
And I dont care what anyone says, FFXII is a great game. Each party member is equally important (excluding Fran and Penelo who were pretty pointless bar one level each). A ridiculously big map and diverse map. And a gripping story...IMO.

[Jiro]

the little things like watching airships fly by while you rode your chocobo.

This. THIS. It's something simple like putting some airships in the sky that makes the world actually feel populated.

[ShinGundam]

the little things like watching airships fly by while you rode your chocobo.

This. THIS. It's something simple like putting some airships in the sky that makes the world actually feel populated.
I am not convinced by that, I would say shrinking the spaces would make it feel populated.

[Jiro]

Ehhh, if the space was small and had things in it, maybe. But when you wander around the overworld in most FF games, there is shit all else going on. You are it. I could walk around the inside of my bathroom, but that doesn't mean there's things going on.

We'll look at the inside of FF games, for example. There are often NPCs on predetermined paths walking around. That is infinitely better than having a bunch of people just standing around. The next step up from that is something like Oblivion where the characters go other places too! It makes everything come alive, rather than just being a canvas for you to paint all over with your actions.

I kind of digressed there but my point is that even a couple of airships in the sky, a huge sky, makes things feel more populated and alive than smaller spaces and a lack of "stuff" would.

[Melodies_of_life]

IX is probably still my favorite of the series so far. I've always been a sucker for the midevil setting whether in a book or a game. Even today with all the upgrades in graphics and musical scores I still prefer the story lines of the earlier FF games(ps1 games that is). After all, I play a game for the story, graphics are just a bonus to me. :)

[Hollycat]

screw this article. I am a diehard XII fan, even though it was missing character developement, it had awesome battle, great environments, a terrific story, memorable areas and enemies, a great developement system, and moogles. 9 was the last ff with moogles till then so it gets points there, but xii has awesomesauce all over it

[Bolivar]

screw this article. I am a diehard XII fan, even though it was missing character developement, it had awesome battle, great environments, a terrific story, memorable areas and enemies, a great developement system, and moogles. 9 was the last ff with moogles till then so it gets points there, but xii has awesomesauce all over it

Oh, man, the moogles. XII was glorious when it came to the moogles.

[champagne supernova]

We'll look at the inside of FF games, for example. There are often NPCs on predetermined paths walking around. That is infinitely better than having a bunch of people just standing around. The next step up from that is something like Oblivion where the characters go other places too! It makes everything come alive, rather than just being a canvas for you to paint all over with your actions. Yeah, and then I'll need to wait for two years before the game is patched enough for me to play. And then still have bugs (the vampire one was truly annoying).

[Flying Arrow]

See, I really can't take this person seriously. Not after statements like this:


Yes, Final Fantasy VII will always be remembered as the classic entry in the series, but let's be completely honest here - it hasn't aged well. Its jagged backgrounds and blocky character models make it harder to feel the same rushes of emotion now that you did when playing it back in its heyday.

Did anyone actually feel this? Does this person actually know what made VII enjoyable at all, or even "moving"? It certainly was never because of the blocky character models. They're just as silly now as they were in 1997.

Here is where I stopped reading:


Meanwhile, even the madcap chef Qu has more personality than Final Fantasy X's brainless Tidus.

I get the Tidus hate because he's absolutely insufferable but we're straying into some pretty stupid terrain with this kind of thinking.


My own opinion of IX is complicated. I really, really wanted to like it for all these years. Just looking at it, it's wonderful. But I can't get past how overprotective it is about its story progression. FFX and XIII are very linear to the point of literally being uninteresting straight lines, but IX can get pretty agonizing in its own way. I realize that the story is important, but even playing the game back in 2000 I'd ask myself, my god why does the game have to keep splitting my party up? Why do I have to be stuck with a thief and three mages when I've already been building up a badass knight? Why do I feel like I'm being interrupted by dialogue boxes (albeit well written dialog in amusing boxes) in each screen? The Alexandria scenario at the beginning is a great beginning to the game, but why do I have to keep running back and forth talking to NPCs in Evil Forest before I can get a nice chunk of uninterrupted playtime in?

My problem with IX is that I feel like it just won't let go of me and let me play it. The throwback thing really is kind of BS, because older FF games never stuttered like this. Sure, IV did the member swapping thing quite a bit, but IV had a ton more flow than IX, which stops you at every opportunity and loads battles in no fewer than 15 seconds a pop. IX is actually more like VIII than a lot of people like to admit. I'd argue that if you really want an old-school styled FF game with PSX pre-rendered graphics then your best bet is actually VII. VII has some kick-ass pacing that only really falters in a few sections (reasonably forgivable considering the size of the game). On top of that, it only gets really verbose on two occasions (the Kalm flashback and the Mideel Lifestream sequence) and both times the most important element of the game's plot are on display - a plot that has been slowly building from the beginning, mind. IX just has a tendency to chip away at my patience with moderately-long talking parts far too often. These sections are certainly charming and full of "character" but I still feel like they don't add up substantially enough to justify being so pervasive. The ATEs are a great idea, but I also wish I could just stumble on my party living it up in towns (think of Costa del Sol) instead of having to relinquish control lest I miss the admittedly charming character- and world-building. Dali is a beautiful little location but an old school FF would have me buying weapons, recharging my resources and moving on sooner rather than later. Instead, IX's first real town in a huge production that ends with an airship taking off and a battle against a murderous black mage.

None of this is inherently bad of course. Hell, I don't really think FFIX is a bad game. I recognize that a lot of people like it and I've played it probably more times that I should have in order to be able to enjoy it in the same way. Thing is, I just can't really. A lot of FFIX is for me, but at the same time too much of it isn't.

[Pumpkin]

Splitting up the characters was one of my favorite parts of the game. I am an obsessive builder-uper so it gave me time to grow each of my characters as the story progresses instead of spending hours building up on the side. I think it also put more importance on all of the characters instead of having some you don't even need to use, ever.

Also, story is THE most important aspect of a game for me, followed by characters. I can very easily forgive horrible gameplay and graffics and music and whatever else if it has a good story and good characters so I was very happy with the way it progressed. I cared about the story. I cared about the characters. In fact, there were some points where I just wanted to skip the dungeon and go on with the story. So I would save my game, rush through the dungeon escaping all battles, just to see what happens and then go through the dungoen properly. I realize not everyone agrees but these are the reasons that IX is my favorite title, the reason that I've played it more than any other game I've ever owned and I will continue to do so.

[Bolivar]

I agree, I like splitting up the party, if anything it adds to pacing for me. It drags out more importance for the more obscure characters instead of just whoever's in your party at the time. And because FFIX's characters are all very unique, it adds a lot of variety to the game. When you throw in the customization options of the ability system, you get a really awesome gameplay package from FFIX.

But I do agree with Arrow about the story pacing somewhat. Some of the best RPGs are so great because they know how to be respectful of your time. That means getting a point across or serving a purpose in all the time you need to do it, then keeping the player moving. While FFIX has a lot of story elements going on at the same time, it could have been achieved a lot quicker. I guess to me, the visuals were so wonderful and music was so endearing that I didn't mind when the game stopped to show me a scene. It's one of my favorite games of all time and some of my favorite characters.

That's another reason why this game needs to be left alone and not have any spin-offs.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah I don't mind party members splitting up when it doesn't seem like they're doing just to do it or keep you from having to switch party members early or at all. I do feel like they did that to Quina in IX though. The first time they left her at Madain Sari and Zidane responded that "he/she'll be fine on his own". I feel that was a clue that Zidane doesn't like Quina at all and regretted allowing her to come along and at the same time I felt like the developers were just doing it to prevent us from having to switch party members before they wanted us to.

No actually, the first time was at Cleyra when Quina decided not to jump into one of the orbs because "I no like heights". I felt like that was just another cop out and Quina surviving that seemed unrealistic considering that Brahne destroyed it like a minute after that scene. There was no way Quina could've made it to safe distance in that time.

[Raian the Fallen]

I really love Final Fantasy IX, but the battles take a really long time to load for some reason. Compare it to VII, where you were instantly handed control within a few seconds of the swirl. In IX, it takes a bit to load the characters, and you have to see the monsters, and then you're finally handed control.

In fact, though, I kind of liked it when the game switched party members. It brought attention to the characters that I wouldn't ever use. It was also really pretty, and was what Final Fantasy should be, in my opinion.

The completionist part of me despises Excalibur II with all my heart, though.

[Kyros]

Screw Excalibur II. Ive never gotten it, never tried, and never cared b/c I'm going to speed run through this game just for some stupid sword I dont need when Steiner does max damage just fine without it. Not to mention I didn't even use Steiner last time I played through the game and think he was like lv12 or something when I was at the end.

[Darylisgogo]

I just started playing this game again because it didn't leave a good impression on me the first time around and i would like to reshape my opinion of it and first thing that pops to my mind as i began playing was how painfully slow the battles are. i am playing it on an emulator to speed up battles and slow it down when reading through storyline, watching cuteness whatnot to make it a little bit more tolerable. storyline wise i forgot a lot about this game which makes me think if it didn't leave a big impression on me for me to remembera lot of the storyline then I must not of cared for most the characters or the plot. i remember there was a lot of humor throughout the game and a friend of mine told me it was one of the best final fantasies for sidequest and mini games I didn't take the time to explore that side of the game last time. i like doing sidequest and trying to complete ff games 100%, so i will have to really explore that this time around . Last time i think i was in such a hurry to beat it because I wasnt as interested in the game. If the battles were not so ridiculously slow on the ATB timer even with haste I would definitely rate ff9's battle system over ff8 and ff7 because it did bring that classic final fantasy feel to it and they actually relied on armor instead of silly materia like ff7 or gawd awful junction system of ff8. To me this game had all the gameplay features that a good final fantasy game should have but lacked on storyline and battle speed. the battles were just too slow and i'm playing it again to try and captivate my interest on the actual characters and story plot this time around. I notice a lot of ff6 fans also love this game they seem to get paired as 2 of the best final fantasies of the series, and i definitely love ff6 so i figured i might should give ff9 a 2nd chance despite my previous experience.

[DMKA]

It's a great game.

[Silent Warrior]

I kind of see his point. I won't go so far as using the words 'last' or 'great', but the open world map is a VERY strong argument. On the whole, I liked other games in the series better (oddly, though, no other FF was as enjoyable to play), but the main thing is that PS2-FFs and onwards were seemingly designed with a different goal in mind. I will admit I have no idea at all why they REALLY skipped on the world map, but the post-PSX games do feel more cinematic - which, I understand, is what puts the R in JRPG. *Shrug*

[Today's flamebait: Which means FF13 is a whopping champ! :mwahaha: ]