Most of the dislike and hostility for FFIX seems to come mostly from fans of VII and VIII, who in my eyes never seem to want to accept Zidane as a main character, mainly due to him not being as serious, or more to the point "emo" as Cloud or Squall. There's also alot of negative opinions on the plot and graphical style of the game compared to the two previous installments (which is understandable for players of VIII, I guess).

I don't think it helped that FFIX was released right at the end of the PSone's life too. From what I remember it had nowhere near as much hype as VII and VIII did, even the Official Playststion Magazine, (which I used to buy at the time) barely mentioned it and were very non-committal on the overall quality of the game. It almost felt like IX was never meant to be part of the regular Final Fantasy series, just something to kill the boredom while the developers worked on X.

Regarding the gameplay, I remember myself being slightly dissapointed with the "cutesy" look it had after getting so used to the more grown up and realistic feel of VIII and it effecting my judgement of the game (for the first few hours at least). It was only after the scenes in the Village of Dali with Vivi, and the fight with Black Walz #2 that I really began to take the game and the characters more seriously. Then after the introdution of Kuja and the fight with Beatrix, followed by the destruction of Cleyra and invasion on Lindblum I was completely hooked on the storyline and gameplay. From that point on it was among the most enjoyable gaming experiences I'd ever had on the PSone console. It was also at that point in the game when most of the characters began searching for themselves and questioning their own existence in some way or another, which I felt was done in a very natural way, and is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated aspects of the game by people who refer to it as "kiddish".

I thought the FMVs were spectacular also, especially the opening one, and Odin destroying Cleyra. The music througout the game is excellent too, very positive for the most part and well suited to the dungeons and cities that you visit. The one problem I did have with the game was the lack of difficulty, I don't remember there being a single boss in the game that recquired any specific strategy to defeat, it was just a matter of hit/heal, although anyone playing a FF for the first time would probably of found a few of them challenging (I remember it took me many attempts to defeat Elvoret on my first play-through of VIII).

I believe if the people who dislike IX so much gave it more of a chance they'd enjoy it alot better than they think they would. Perhaps in a few more years people will begin to become bored of the futuristic approach the series has taken and will come to appreciate IX's gameplay and story much more.