Why FFIX is the best!!

[dragoon1028]

1.It has the most badass villian in the entire series, not that panzy sephiroth, he wouldnt stand a chance against trance Kuja.
2.It has the best character selection out of all the final fantasy games, better than Leon and a bunch of chicks definately!
3.It has amazing graphics for a playstation game, truly stunning
4.Finally it has the greatest storyline of all the final fantasies, it brings back the classic 4 crystal collecting, tied into a much more intricate storyline with twists and turns that no other game can match even to this day.

Thanks for listening!

[trancekuja]

1.It has the most badass villian in the entire series, not that panzy sephiroth, he wouldnt stand a chance against trance Kuja.

Why thank you my child...

[daggertrepe]

Three words: BEATRIX AND STEINER

[Crimson]

1. FFIX is a great game, but the Sephiroth bash is how flamewars are started.

2. Why yes, Kuja is quite sexy badass, what with her his dashing long ripoff silver hair and angsty cunning plan to end all existance by destroying the crystal.

[nik0tine]

FFIX is likely the best due to it's unique cast of characters, good storyline, rich environments to explore and superb music. Really, I think the music is the most integral ingredient. Without it the atmosphere wouldn't be half as colorful.

[The Man]

I'd rank it as a close second behind FFVI. I'd rank the soundtracks the same way, and I probably rank both of them so highly in large part because of their soundtracks.

[Big D]

FFIX could easily have been the best, if the main characters had been developed as well as in other games. Aside from Zidane and Garnet, practically no-one has any significant screentime or character-building. The injustice done to fascinating characters like Freya, Amarant and Lani was almost criminal in this regard, these characters and many more should've been fleshed out far more than they were. Instead, the game focussed almost entirely on that snotty, self-righteous, hormonally-driven, cowardly violent criminal, Zidane.

Kuja, like a lot of things in the game, is basically a derivative of other characters and ideas that appeared previously in the series. Interesting, but unremarkable and unengaging.

[The Turk]

1.It has the most badass villian in the entire series, not that panzy sephiroth, he wouldnt stand a chance against trance Kuja.

Then the game ruins that by not making Kuja the final boss. I felt Kuja was fairly week tbh. He started off very good but the game tries to humanize him later on. Yes this makes him a more rounded human than say Kefka, but I don't want my villains to be human. I want them to be pure evil like Kefka!

2.It has the best character selection out of all the final fantasy games, better than Leon and a bunch of chicks definately!

I don't know about this one. Vivi is probably the greatest FF character of all time and Zidane one of the best main characters, but the rest, not so much. Dagger and Stiener are pretty good, but it seems like the game only cares about the main four. Freya starts off great but she has nothing to do on the final 3 CD's, the same situation with Eiko really (only she doesn't do anything on CD 1 either). Quina doesn't really have any part in the story, but that's fine as he is the comic relief. Amarant is just terrible.

The cast isn't bad at all, but not in the same league as VI.

3.It has amazing graphics for a playstation game, truly stunning

I LOVE the look of the game. The way it harks back actual FANTASY. It's just joyous walking through the towns and seeing all the different species. However while I like the look of the game the graphics give me a headache. Everything is so triangular!

4.Finally it has the greatest storyline of all the final fantasies, it brings back the classic 4 crystal collecting, tied into a much more intricate storyline with twists and turns that no other game can match even to this day.

I didn't care for the story. Some people want an VII remake, but they already got one- FF IX. The plot is too similar to VII's imo.


I love this game and it's my third favourite behind VI and VII. VI and VII are still the best imo, but IX is by far the most underrated FF. It sure beats VIII and XII.

[Goldenboko]

FFIX could easily have been the best, if the main characters had been developed as well as in other games. Aside from Zidane and Garnet, practically no-one has any significant screentime or character-building. The injustice done to fascinating characters like Freya, Amarant and Lani was almost criminal in this regard, these characters and many more should've been fleshed out far more than they were. Instead, the game focussed almost entirely on that snotty, self-righteous, hormonally-driven, cowardly violent criminal, Zidane.

Kuja, like a lot of things in the game, is basically a derivative of other characters and ideas that appeared previously in the series. Interesting, but unremarkable and unengaging.

Vivi, Eiko, and Steiner all got plenty of facetime. Freya, and Amarant's roles in the story had always seemed filled out enough, Lani was the only character that I look back, and wonder where they were going. Zidane was a GREAT main character. He was the only one who didn't fit into the same class as basically every other main hero in the game. He's actually appears, you know, human (minus the tail). He was never perfect, an obvious womanizer at times, but when the situation called for it, he showed really great character. The segments between him and Vivi where absolutely lovely.

1.It has the most badass villian in the entire series, not that panzy sephiroth, he wouldnt stand a chance against trance Kuja.

Then the game ruins that by not making Kuja the final boss. I felt Kuja was fairly week tbh. He started off very good but the game tries to humanize him later on. Yes this makes him a more rounded human than say Kefka, but I don't want my villains to be human. I want them to be pure evil like Kefka!

You prefer your villians 100% cliche? You can keep'um.

2.It has the best character selection out of all the final fantasy games, better than Leon and a bunch of chicks definately!

I don't know about this one. Vivi is probably the greatest FF character of all time and Zidane one of the best main characters, but the rest, not so much. Dagger and Stiener are pretty good, but it seems like the game only cares about the main four. Freya starts off great but she has nothing to do on the final 3 CD's, the same situation with Eiko really (only she doesn't do anything on CD 1 either). Quina doesn't really have any part in the story, but that's fine as he is the comic relief. Amarant is just terrible.

The cast isn't bad at all, but not in the same league as VI.

Quina does his role, most memorable imho, and "Amarant is just terrible" that seems like empty opinion rather than saying anything about the game, unless I'm the only person who liked Amarant. I always felt everyone had their roles and they played them, the game doesn't focus around Freya, or Eiko, but they certainly get just as much facetime as characters like Strago, Relm, Sabin, RedXIII, or Vincent. However, VI's is better, but FFVI's cast is the very best of the series.

3.It has amazing graphics for a playstation game, truly stunning

I LOVE the look of the game. The way it harks back actual FANTASY. It's just joyous walking through the towns and seeing all the different species. However while I like the look of the game the graphics give me a headache. Everything is so triangular!

Oh don't give me that, FFVII is made of triangles xD

4.Finally it has the greatest storyline of all the final fantasies, it brings back the classic 4 crystal collecting, tied into a much more intricate storyline with twists and turns that no other game can match even to this day.

I didn't care for the story. Some people want an VII remake, but they already got one- FF IX. The plot is too similar to VII's imo.

LOLWUT?
The two are nothing alike, the only thing they have in common is that Gaia's "cycle of souls" is a clear reference to FFVII's lifestream. However, the rest of the stories are galaxies apart.

[NeoCracker]

Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi were the best developed characters I think.

True, the others definitely did their role and very well, but as much as I loved Amarant, I do feel he got shafted a bit for how much he could have been developed.

And I need to find that one thing The Man posted (I believe it was him) that showed the insane similarity between FF VII and FF VI.

Edit: Here it is.

[/QUOTE]

[The Turk]

lol @ the VI-VII plot being the same. So true. I think VII and IX can be compared too. The game begins with a cocky hero Cloud/Zidane who teams up with a group of rouges called Avalanche/Tantalus who are out to defeat the evil Shinra/Queen. However later on it is revealed that the true evil is not the Shinra/Queen but on the mysterious white-haired Sephiroth/Kuja who is the real bad guy. Then again it's revealed that both Cloud&Sephiroth/Zidane&Kuja are connected due to being experimented on/created by Hojo/Garland.

I just found it very similar and yes they both share the same plot core of VI as well, but I played VII first so that's why IX reminded me of it so much. Also its characters are just like that of the 7th game too. Steiner and Barret for example share the exact same mannerisms and then there is Yuffie/Eiko and Amarant/Vincent. It's true that you could also compare Eiko to Relm, Selphie and Rikku and then compare Dagger to Rinoa, Yuna etc as well as Tifa, but I found the similarities between the two games to be very similar. I guess that is due to Square lazily recycling the same game after game though.

As for Amarant, well I found him to be rather unlikeable with no real relevance to the plot and his only function in the game seemed to be being the token 'mysterious loner' that every FF seems to have. I also found him to be rather under-developed compared to the major characters like Vivi and Zidane and felt that even the lesser playable characters like Freya, Quina and Eiko had more personality to them. Also Amarant always fails to get an emotional response from me. I don’t love him or hate him…. He’s just there. Plus I don't like how he looks, I can never even make out his face, which sounds like a small thing but is essential when you are trying to connect with a character.

As for Kuja I do like him. But that's the problem, I liked him too much. I never really felt that I wanted to stop Kuja and put an end to his evil deeds, because I didn't feel any hatred towards him. Both Kefka and Sephiroth had slayed people that I liked and therefore I wanted to get revenge on them, but with Kuja I always got the feeling that we could all settle our differences over a pint. I know Kuja did kill people but it wasn't really anybody I gave a damn about so it didn't bother me so much.

I don't necessarily want a clichéd moustache-twirling villain, but there is a problem when you try and humanize your bad guys that you can make them too likeable. Sephiroth falls into the same trap Kuja does really. I know he has so many fan-boys that think he's cool because he has a giant sword and wears black but he's not a bad guy at all. He always seemed more confused than evil and only the fact he kills the flower seller redeems him imo.

I do like deep villains, Metal Gear Solid's Sniper Wolf for example is a perfect bad guy, or girl in this instance. She isn't the stereotypical gah-haa-haa villainess that Kefka may be accused of being and she does have reasons for her actions, but you still want to defeat her. I'm all for trying to make the villains human, but I don't think Square have quite nailed it yet. However sometimes you just want plain crazy. To quote Scream "Did Hannibal have a motive? Did Norman Bates have a motive?" Sometimes simply having an evil character do evil things just because they are evil is much scarier and powerful.

Also Kuja isn’t even the final boss anyway which I thought was beyond stupid.

All of that is just my opinion so don’t get annoyed that you disagree.

I love Final Fantasy IX, just not for the above reasons. It’s hard to explain why it’s so good, but it’s the general feel of the game. It’s just dripping with imagination and a sense of.. well- fantasy, that hasn’t been seen since in the FF series. It’s as if a fairy tale has actually come to life and you get to live in it’s world. It’s a charming, funny game and above it’s simply FUN.

[Goldenboko]

Most of this is all opinion so I'm not going to argue much of it, however VII and IX are miles apart in storyline.

lol @ the VI-VII plot being the same. So true. I think VII and IX can be compared too. The game begins with a cocky hero Cloud/Zidane

Do not insuiate that Cloud and Zidane are similar main heroes. That's just not an argument your going to win.

who teams up with a group of rouges called Avalanche/Tantalus who are out to defeat the evil Shinra/Queen.

Zidane didn't "team" with anyone, he was a life-long member of Tantalus, whom he ended up LEAVING, not to "defeat the evil queen" that was never Tantalus's intention, they where to kidnap/rescue Garnet. That's it. Even later on its "Garnet tries to reason with her mother" then "they defend Cleyra". Later on when Brahne has taken over the entire Mist Continent they decide to go after Kuja instead, because killing Brahne, and destroying Alexandria was never really part of any plan by your heroes.

[demondude]

Steiner and Barret for example share the exact same mannerisms

What the hell are you smoking?

[daggertrepe]

Steiner pwns Barrett in personality and skillz.

[Ultima Shadow]

VII and IX are miles apart in storyline

...as well as graphics, gameplay, ability-systems, sound, time-period... you name it.

Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX are about as similar as a tomato and a potato: their names sound pretty much alike but... man, do they look different!