Playing this game now

[Reverof Enola]

Who is playing this game right now? Just made it to disc 3

[maybee]

No but last year around this time I went through it. Same with FF VIII.

[Reverof Enola]

No but last year around this time I went through it. Same with FF VIII.
Awww.....I finished ffviii a little while before I played this game.

[Klarkus]

I never really played it. I only ever completed 8 years ago and i've just started 7 and i'm loving it. Is 9 any good? I remember hearing a lot of bad things about it when it came out.

[Goldenboko]

9 is the best. Around. It will never let you down.

[Reverof Enola]

I never really played it. I only ever completed 8 years ago and i've just started 7 and i'm loving it. Is 9 any good? I remember hearing a lot of bad things about it when it came out.
It isn't that bad. I mean you can't grind as much and you have 8 characters to play as(similar to ffseven) Other than that the gameplay is awesome, cutscenes are great, story has some twists, and there are multiple allusions to past ff games( such as Zidane seeing a huge broadsword and states he knows someone with spiky hair who has one.)

[Heath]

I love FFIX. And disc three is just when things start to get awesome. I know quite a few of my friends never took to IX as they did VII, but I think in terms of the complete package, IX is possibly the better game.

[Flying Arrow]

Just started playing yesterday. Currently mid-way through the Ice Cavern and enjoying it.

[Faris]

Started replaying this last year, made it to disc three then a butterfly flew in. I've played FFIX all the way through soooo many times, this game is extremely fun.

[Flying Arrow]

Just got my ass up to the Cleyra Settlement. Haven't played through the whole game in a few years (6?) so I'm going to give some updated thoughts on what's good, bad, ugly, etc:

Bad:
- Encounter rate is far too high in general. The world map is totally reasonable as far as random encounters, but in-door 'dungeon' areas are just ludicrous in spots. The worst offenders so far have been the Cleyra Trunk and Gizamaluke's Grotto. The issue is exacerbated because of the hidden treasure/"!" bubble interactions making you want to look in every non-descript corner.

- Why can't the game just tell me which items teach which skills before I buy them? Gil and buying stuff isn't necessarily a huge hassle, but seriously why is this information hidden until I've bought the damn sword?

Ugly:
- Battles are wayyyyy too slow. This has always been an issue for me with this game. It makes the a lot experience feel sluggish when it should be upbeat and energetic. Can you imagine FFIX with FFX's speedy battle system? :)

- The main character is a thief and yet I'm always getting "Couldn't steal anything" messages. Ughhhhhhhh.

Good:
- Everything else. The world is beautifully crafted and the amount of detail is super impressive. Square knew how to do world building back then and most companies should go back and take notes. These days world-building goes into an in-game encyclopedia which updates whenever you cross within 50 miles of the relevant object. Old FF did world building by scattering it across well-directed sequences, NPC dialogue, or wherever else fit logically within the actual game world. No talking heads spouting paragraphs of who-gives-a-trout made-up fantasy lore. Just the perfect amount of drips and drops where they need to be. Amazing.

Really looking forward to getting back to the game this week. Hoping I'll be able to polish it off before Ni no Kuni comes out at the end of Jan.

[Tigmafuzz]

Bad:
- Encounter rate is far too high in general. The world map is totally reasonable as far as random encounters, but in-door 'dungeon' areas are just ludicrous in spots. The worst offenders so far have been the Cleyra Trunk and Gizamaluke's Grotto. The issue is exacerbated because of the hidden treasure/"!" bubble interactions making you want to look in every non-descript corner.

The encounter rate is a bit high because there are people who don't feel the need to check every corner, and they still need to level up a bit to proceed with the story. If you just run through without getting random items and such it can get a bit difficult to progress at certain points. Like that place in Treno where the lady drops you into a pit to fight a large monster. If you're one of the people who stops to collect all the items, you won't have much difficulty in that fight, even though it's meant to be kind of hard.


- Why can't the game just tell me which items teach which skills before I buy them? Gil and buying stuff isn't necessarily a huge hassle, but seriously why is this information hidden until I've bought the damn sword?

Haha wow, I never even thought of that. I was always concerned about buying every single item in case I found one with a unique skill or that offered multiple skills at once so I wouldn't have to shuffle my equipment around too much. Being able to see what skills they have beforehand would actually be really nice.


Ugly:
- Battles are wayyyyy too slow. This has always been an issue for me with this game. It makes the a lot experience feel sluggish when it should be upbeat and energetic. Can you imagine FFIX with FFX's speedy battle system? :)

Battles are way too slow in most games for me :( even worse is that I usually play FFIX on Wait instead of Active because it makes it easier to cheat your enemy out of a turn or two. Open a menu when your character is attacking so that nobody's action bar will increase, including the enemy's, and then when their attack is finished you can continue and let their bar increase instantly after their move. I love making the battle seem more efficient so much that I end up getting frustrated at the game being even more slow than it normally would be :crying:

[Laddy]

At Disc 4 and finishing up all the sidequests. This great is still one of the greats.