Criticize This Game

[chionos]

Well, not necessarily either, since its value is relative. Personally, I see it as a favorable list of attributes, because those are things about the series that I like, and I'm a sucker for nostalgia, but yeah, others will see these things as points against the game. Totally understandable.

[ShinGundam]

@Chionos
But FFIX has it fair share of Sci-Fi elements such as spaceships, transformable robot,Terra and clones that play an important part latter in the game and the world has quite a bit of steampunk feel than a classic fantasy.

[chionos]

Perhaps, but I don't think those things take away from the root element of the world, which is medieval fantasy, sword & sworcery, knights and princesses.

[Laddy]

There are complaints I have with FFIX. Minor ones, but complaints nonetheless. Hux can still go smurf Janeway, though.

-The ending is sweet, but rushed.
-The entire cast is very well-developed, but because of this some character's are noticeably underdeveloped, relatively speaking.
-It's too easy.
-I feel like the character advancement system is better suited for a somewhat longer game.
-I honestly think FFIX could've been brilliant with voice acting, and some of the better moments could have really been improved if there was more than text there.
-The locations do lack a bit of unity, but they are indivudally impressive.
-About 10 more hours in Terra would have made me more invested in its destruction.
-Kuja is a great villain with a surprsingly strong motivation, but I think he needed a bit more development. He just needed that little push to make him truly great.
-Necron is fine being alluded to prior to his appearance, but FFIX was...too subtle.
-Really, the setting and all the races and cultures were smurfing fantastic. It's a shame they didn't delve into the lore somemore, particularly with Burmecia and Lindblum.

[Mirage]

@ Spooniest
Play 8bit JRPGs if you want a straight forward experience, I don't mind slow start but what i played from FFVI was just slow as well.

I agree, FFIX isn't a retro/classic FF, I still don't understand what why people call it a throwback to traditional FF? FFIX has a completely different gameplay and world structure and different ability system. FFIX has so many references to older games but so is most of FF games.

It's a reaction to the previous two games, which took the series in a sci-fi direction, AND it's because that's exactly how SE defined the game, as a daggum throwback.

For old-school FF fans, Final Fantasy means:

castles (Alexander, check),

airships (Blue Narciss, Prima Vista, etc etc etc, check),

spells that come from innate ability (Vivi, Eiko, etc, check),

classes (zidane=thief, vivi=wizard, steiner=knight/warrior, garnet=summoner/cleric, etc. [FFVII and FFVIII utilized characters that were modeled on classes in their stat progressions and fighting styles--cid=dragoon, zell=monk, etc--but the materia and gf systems made the base character stats basically moot, and the weapons/limit breaks are really just flavor]),

dwarves (Rally-ho! bitches),

4 person parties (yep, check),

a princess (Garnet, check),

battle theme based on the first 6 games (and the victory theme, check),

and a bunch of other stuff:
elemental fiends, doga artifact and une's mirror, crystals, namingway, mount gulug, god/goddess statues, garland, pandemonium, ramuh's story, the moons, Madeen, trance, Gilgamesh, and well basically every single detail references the earlier games. To be fair, there are references to FFVII, FFVIII, FFT and other SE games as well, but what it all adds up to is a crazy nostalgia trip.

You take Final Fantasy and you put it in a spoon with a little water, and you let it dissolve, and then you take your isopropyl-rinsed syringe and you suck that mess up into your needle and you jab it in your arm and mash down on the plunger and what you're feeling right now is FFIX.

Hironobu Sakasmurfingguchi called it the closest FF to his ideal of what FF should be (double smackdown to the face, check).

I am an old school FF fan and this is not what Final Fantasy means to me.

[chionos]

You're also a misanthropist and nothing you say matters.

[Elly]

ill admit the High Fantasy tone might have quite a bit to do with my distaste of this game...
i started JRPG gaming with Phantasy Star, im a Sci-Fi fan, ive seen every Star Wars and most of the Star Trek movies in theaters due to my dad being a huge Sci-Fi fan, he'd take us kids to the theater with him to see the movies, thus i grew up on Science Fiction and not much High Fantasy, anyway back to games...
when i first tried FF i was initialy turned off by it, i was used to Phantasy Star I-IV at that point and to me FF seemed silly with their standing on opposite sides of the screen waving their weapons at each other, never actualy fighting, i didnt give FF another chance till FF6 after i played Chrono Trigger and thaught "ok SquareSoft is an amazing company, guess ill give FF another try"... this time with FF6 the characters no longer did that weapon wave thing from across the screen all the time they finaly got into the fight mostly, sadly i never finished FF6 though, damn ADHD, anyway years later i played FF7 and was blown away its become my 2nd most replayed game ever, Chrono Trigger being my most replayed, ive seen every ending in every possible way, anyway later we get FF8 and i loved it FF was finaly going in a direction i liked leaving behind the High Fantasy silliness for Sci-Fi, Steampunk, and some hints of Cyberpunk...
then comes FF9, at the time i didnt know it wasnt originaly supposed to be a numbered entry, i just knew it was more a tribute than anything as there was a quote from one of the guys from Square in PlayStation Magazine saying so, so being a tribute i was hoping for some referances to 6,7,&8, nope, barely a nod at either of them, it had taken a huge leap backward off a cliff and into the overused over-cliched High Fantasy and to top it all off the art design went all to hell, they superdeformed them, not in any installment has the characters been superdeformed, just mearly shown with forced perspective from a birds eye view, and the release of the artbook showed me what they would have looked like had they not changed art direction, i felt let down, the company i had faith in for moving forward and embracing change had just gone backwards, luckily they didnt continue this route as they got better, X was awesome, XII was ok, and i simply adore XIII & XIII-2, and i dont give a flying flip what the haters say The Spirits Within was an awesome movie...
but, FFIX just doesnt do it for me, despite all the problems i and others have mentioned, i think stepping backwards into High Fantasy is what killed it for me initialy and from there the problems just kept stacking up...

[Rostum]

That's not really a fair criticism of the game, but rather just your distaste for a genre.

[Elly]

lol, ive criticized it a fair bit already, figured id frame it, so it doesnt come across like i criticize it just for the sake of doing so, ya know a little background...

[Mirage]

You're also a misanthropist and nothing you say matters.

I am? Since when?

[chionos]

You're also a misanthropist and nothing you say matters.

I am? Since when?

Just a guess here, but since the moment you first came in contact with another human being? (SPOILER)I wasn't being serious Mirage.

Quick Forum Tip #384:

Breaking large chunks of text into smaller paragraphs and putting space between paragraphs means more people will read your posts.

Elly, there were several references to FFVI, VII, and VIII.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by, "they super deformed them," but if you mean they didn't attempt to make them realist/human-like as in FFVIII, I understand the critique (them being comical, cartoony) even though at that stage, during the PS1 era, hyper-realism was so far from possible, deforming them allows for much prettier characters. FFVIII characters were just ugly.

I enjoyed the FFIX cast, but it's perfectly understandable that others wouldn't equally enjoy them. Especially Zidane with his monkey tail.

I'm genuinely sorry you're not able to enjoy High Fantasy, Elly. Genuinely.

At least you had Phantasy Star, though. PSIV is one of my favorite RPGs from any generation. But I enjoyed both series because of the differences between them. That's not to say I'm better than people who couldn't enjoy them both. I'm fortunate that I could enjoy both. Enjoying more things = more enjoyment.


Another criticism of the game:
It wasn't that I felt cheated or anything when I was playing, but the majority of FFIX's cities fell flat, felt kind of bored and umm, meatless or listless.

[JaymeNoel]

God the graphics are horrible. Started playing this again today... How is it possible its a backset from Final Fantasy VIII?

On the other hand, once you get into the game there's so many better things going on with the story and the characters that you really don't give a damn anymore.

[NeoCracker]

I love the graphics in the game.

I'm not really bothered by the deformed characters, and the environments are all wonderful.

[Mirage]

You're also a misanthropist and nothing you say matters.

I am? Since when?

Just a guess here, but since the moment you first came in contact with another human being? (SPOILER)I wasn't being serious Mirage.

Sure, but it's not really humorous when you just take things entirely out of thin air .

[chionos]

You're also a misanthropist and nothing you say matters.

I am? Since when?

Just a guess here, but since the moment you first came in contact with another human being? (SPOILER)I wasn't being serious Mirage.

Sure, but it's not really humorous when you just take things entirely out of thin air .

Oh, sorry bruh. When I wrote it, I thought it would be obvious.

@Neo I thought it was a beautiful game too. Definitely under-appreciated in that area.