First time playing FFIX

[Shin Gouken]

The characters were awesome, as was the plot and scripting and all the FMV videos. But the ability system is really bad and random battles are the most repetetive thing ever. Ive never hated random battles before. To be completley honest (and dont hate me for this) but i think im confident in saying i didn't enjoy fighting a single battle! On a higher note, the chocobo sidequest was great. I spent hours playing hot and cold. I havnt completed the game yet... my game froze during the fight with necron so ive pretty much seen it all. I would have to give it 7 out of ten... and put it joint 3rd on my best of FF list... making it better than VI and VII, much the same as VIII but not as good as V or X. But im interested in what other people thought after their first playthrough... i remember hating X and turning it off four or so hours into but playing it a year later and loving it lol

[Flying Mullet]

What about the battles did you find repetitive and boring?

[RiseToFall]

I rank all my games right after the first play through, and my order has never really changed. I guess it's a system that really works out for me. As for how FF IX compares to the others, it's in my top 3 favorite FF's of all time.

[Shin Gouken]

What about the battles did you find repetitive and boring?

well firstly the loading times were a joke... you have to watch ten seconds of blank screen before the enemy intro appears then finally you see your characters. The ATB fills incredabley slow at the start of the game so battles are far too long. But by the end battles are still too long because enemies have a huge amount of HP and the only way to do good damage is to cast Flare/holy/bahamut and the animation for these is a long process. In fact for all the bosses in memoria is was just a real pain casting flare and bahamut 50 times till they died.

It might just be beacause i played FFX before playing this one, and battles in X all take specific aproaches and/or strategy where you can plan moves ahead etc. Every battle is different. Even FFVIII wasnt as repetetive for random battles

[Bunny]

The first time I played Final Fantasy IX, I hated it with a passion only rivaled by my hatred for Final Fantasy VII. So strong was the loathing placed on this game, I refused to go any further than I was (a bit more than halfway through, I believe). However, something urged me to pick it up and play it again, it was then that I realized the error of my ways. Final Fantasy IX is a good game.

[jammi567]

when i first got the game, i hated it because i didn't get how you got abilities (ghod....). five years later, i got it again, and suddenly, it just clicked into place.

and i find all random battles boring, especially when i'm doing just to level up so that i can get to the next part of the game.

[The Crystal]

The characters were awesome, as was the plot and scripting and all the FMV videos. But the ability system is really bad and random battles are the most repetetive thing ever. Ive never hated random battles before. To be completley honest (and dont hate me for this) but i think im confident in saying i didn't enjoy fighting a single battle! On a higher note, the chocobo sidequest was great. I spent hours playing hot and cold. I havnt completed the game yet... my game froze during the fight with necron so ive pretty much seen it all. I would have to give it 7 out of ten... and put it joint 3rd on my best of FF list... making it better than VI and VII, much the same as VIII but not as good as V or X. But im interested in what other people thought after their first playthrough... i remember hating X and turning it off four or so hours into but playing it a year later and loving it lol

No, you haven't. You will have to beat Necron to see it all. FFIX have one of the best endings in FF history, and the game will not be so good if you don't watch the ending. I feel sorry for you, because if your game is still froze, that means that you are missing something very good.

[Lynx]

you really need to beat this game to see how great the story is. as for the battle system i agree that it is slow paced and load times are annoying. but fight ozma and it should be a fun battle same with necron also a fun battle. also come on zidane has some of the coolest weapons ive ever seen which can add a tiny bit of excitement to the battles.

its one of my favorite games of all time.

[farplaner]

What about the battles did you find repetitive and boring?

well firstly the loading times were a joke... you have to watch ten seconds of blank screen before the enemy intro appears then finally you see your characters. The ATB fills incredabley slow at the start of the game so battles are far too long. But by the end battles are still too long because enemies have a huge amount of HP and the only way to do good damage is to cast Flare/holy/bahamut and the animation for these is a long process. In fact for all the bosses in memoria is was just a real pain casting flare and bahamut 50 times till they died.

It might just be beacause i played FFX before playing this one, and battles in X all take specific aproaches and/or strategy where you can plan moves ahead etc. Every battle is different. Even FFVIII wasnt as repetetive for random battles

Ten seconds is an exaggeration. I agree about the ATB at the beginning of the game, but it's a small (and a temporary) price to pay. Still, battles aren't too long if you have good weapons, in such case, the only thing that takes a whole lot of time is if you want to steal everything from bosses. It takes a while to level up abilities like "thievery," "frog drop," and "dragon quest," but they all do guaranteed max damage.

If you are fighting Ozma, who I believe has the highest HP at around 60,000, the challenge is not doing enough damage, but staying alive long enough to do it.

Perhaps, you know this, but there are ways to boost your stats through leveling. Ask, if you don't know, and many will be happy to elaborate, I'm sure.

IX and X, though separated by one "game generation," are completely different in almost every aspect, save the title "FF."

Those are my initial responses to your post.

[NeoCracker]

The fact you put IX on the same level as VIII sickens me.

[Bart's Friend Milhouse]

Yeah, IX is not fit to clean VIII's boots

[Shin Gouken]

What about the battles did you find repetitive and boring?

well firstly the loading times were a joke... you have to watch ten seconds of blank screen before the enemy intro appears then finally you see your characters. The ATB fills incredabley slow at the start of the game so battles are far too long. But by the end battles are still too long because enemies have a huge amount of HP and the only way to do good damage is to cast Flare/holy/bahamut and the animation for these is a long process. In fact for all the bosses in memoria is was just a real pain casting flare and bahamut 50 times till they died.

It might just be beacause i played FFX before playing this one, and battles in X all take specific aproaches and/or strategy where you can plan moves ahead etc. Every battle is different. Even FFVIII wasnt as repetetive for random battles

Ten seconds is an exaggeration. I agree about the ATB at the beginning of the game, but it's a small (and a temporary) price to pay. Still, battles aren't too long if you have good weapons, in such case, the only thing that takes a whole lot of time is if you want to steal everything from bosses. It takes a while to level up abilities like "thievery," "frog drop," and "dragon quest," but they all do guaranteed max damage.

If you are fighting Ozma, who I believe has the highest HP at around 60,000, the challenge is not doing enough damage, but staying alive long enough to do it.

Perhaps, you know this, but there are ways to boost your stats through leveling. Ask, if you don't know, and many will be happy to elaborate, I'm sure.

IX and X, though separated by one "game generation," are completely different in almost every aspect, save the title "FF."

Those are my initial responses to your post.

From the time a random battle is encountered to the time you see your characters is very nearly ten seconds. I dont think i could have the patience to power up thievery which seems to only gain 15hp more per successful steal (and im not an impatient person... i raised my luck stat to max for four characters in FFX) And i believe i have everyones best weapon. Im at level 61 for necron... is this considered too low a level? I have spent seriously too much time leveling as it is.

In reply to the other posts, I didn't once knock the plot or characters, if you read my first post again you will see these are things i said were very good. I have much confidance in the greatness the ending is sure to be

[Sain Cai]

The first time I played Final Fantasy IX, I hated it with a passion only rivaled by my hatred for Final Fantasy VII. So strong was the loathing placed on this game, I refused to go any further than I was (a bit more than halfway through, I believe). However, something urged me to pick it up and play it again, it was then that I realized the error of my ways. Final Fantasy IX is a good game.

Wow thats odd, hating both 7 & 9 initially?

On a side note, whats the avatar of? looks like Zhao Yun form an earlier RTK game.

[senecawolf]

I think Final Fantasy IX was the easiest Final Fantasy game I had ever played. The battles were easy, there were lots of cutscenes, the ability system was simple, and it had an overall good story line. But it is not in any way on the same level as 7 or 8. I didn't find the battles boring though and I thought the ability system was way easier than having to deal with the Junction system that 8 had, that thing pissed me off. You really need to play it all the way through though to rate it properly.

[Zeromus_X]

I don't agree about the ability system, I quite enjoy it, and I still find it to be a very balanced and fun system while still keeping characters to their 'classes' without making them overpowered.

However, I must agree with you on the fact that the game has some terrible load times. It's a result of the game being too pretty for the system to handle...