Why just "iffy" on FFIX? It's my impression that the game is pretty well disliked. It's my friend's fav FF, and her impression is also that it's one of the top hated. And if it is, that hate is most definitely unreasonable.

The number one complaint I see is that it's "not serious." Nobody could possibly come to that conclusion unless they decided that based solely on the graphics and didn't happen to notice the story at all. Then there's complaints about the graphics being cartoony. They must not understand that it's a video game. Besides, the graphics are a hell of a lot more realistic than the blockpeople of FFVII. And how could anyone not like Kuja? He's the only FF villain who can even try to compete with Kefka for awesome lines.

I think it's the 3rd best of the series, it definitely deserves more love than it gets.