FF9 was kind of meant to be a throwback to the charm of the SNES eara FF games. So the best I can recommend for you are FF4, 5 & 6. If going back to 2D is an issue then I would suggest FF4 on the DS, it is a full 3D remake.

Even if you don't have a DS the old school SNES games are easily emulatable on just about any computer.