I love IX, I like VIII. Both have their faults but between the two I felt IX had fewer and its faults were more tolerable. I love the ideal of VIII. It really tried to do so many different things and when I think about how it all could have worked so well, I see it for the masterpiece it is. Then reality sets in and its back to business as usual. Still, I give the game loads of applause for trying something new and being different which is more than I can say about some other faulty games in the series.

IX is a genuine masterpiece, it has a few hang ups here and there but nothing I feel that takes away from the overall experience. Battle system wise it wasn't anything terribly new but it had also been so long since we played an FF title with established classes that it felt fresh despite being old school. I don't feel the gameplay bothered me as much as others but then again, I rate battle systems on function.

IX definetly had a better soundtrack and easily the best FMV's in the entire series. In fact, most IX's FMVs were awesome whereas some of VIII's were a bit irrelevant and felt more like the programmers just showing off what they could do.