Everyone criticizes the PS1 FFs for having slow battle systems due to the 3D but it only really bugged me in IX.
The battles in this game just aren't very fun.
Everyone criticizes the PS1 FFs for having slow battle systems due to the 3D but it only really bugged me in IX.
The battles in this game just aren't very fun.
Trance was lame and i agree about armarant coming in too late. Also, yeah the lack of character development
Isn't the final boss meant to symbolize Kuja's fear of death ? The whole game is really about facing death and facing life. And when you face him it looks like a heaven/ underworld like realm.
And when you defeat him; Kuja is no longer scared of death and Vivi is no longer scared of death and Zidane learns to take life more seriously.
The game is too awesome: it made my eyes bleed!
Oh wait, I have another: it is the best Final Fantasy ever, and nothing will appease me ever again.
My main (and probably only) complaint about IX is that it was too short. 4 discs just wasn't enough, man.
Face
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The encounter rate is too high and the battle system is far too sluggish (seriously, it felt tired even in 2000). I'm also still not a big fan of the 'equip item and gain AP to learn its abilities' way of doing things, but IX does it better than other, similar systems in the series (mainly because of the variety of exclusivity of equipment).
Not a criticism of mine but used to be:
I used to hate on the party management and how the game determined who would be in your party for about the first half of the game. Now I totally dig it and I'm really into how the game encourages these different ways to play. I just picked up Amarant and only now do I have the option to swap characters. It's made for a really balanced game thus far. Enjoyable, yes.
The fact that they forced me to use Quina when the party splits up into 4 groups. Other than that, no complaints.
I now get what Necron is, somewhat. What I didn't like was the complete lack of foreshadowing before his final battle. You go through the entire game not hearing anything about him whatsoever, then suddenly this weird entity turns around and faces you.
It's baffling, to say the least.
The battle speed was to slow. This doesn't feel as bad late game, but early on fights drag on for a long while.
I think characters were well developed. Only Amarant's story really felt lacking. Freya's was good, it was just to abrupt with Fratley showing up out of no where. An altered ending to her ark would have fixed it I think. Still, it was a lame end.
Necron could have been handled a lot better. They should have had some build up on what exactly the crystal was while you went through Terra. Maybe even have gotten your first glimpse (Maybe not physically) of Necron as Kuja fried that planet. Perhaps show him not only ultima-ing the surface, but destroying that plants crystal. Would have prevented Necron's appearance from being so Jarring.
Trance is rather poorly implemented. The fact that it activates automatically is its downfall. No way I'm the only one who had a character go into Trance in the middle of a random battle, and then have the next person kill the enemy, making it a total waste.
"Dagger" is probably the worst character name in the whole series. I just called her "Garnet". It really doesn't make things awkward because they ditch the whole "going undercover" thing entirely, and quite early on IIRC.
The disc 4 world map theme is undeniably a nice track, but it's the same problem as VII and VI; the first theme is just better.
And finally... there's way too much missable stuff.
Still a brilliant game in spite of all those nitpicks.
Heavily implying that there is still another part of the Iifa Tree to defeat. Enough of my propaganda though.Garland: "You saw it with your own eyes. You saw the Iifa Tree and the Mist it emits. The role of the Iifa Tree is that of Soul Divider. The Mist you see comprises the stagnant souls of Gaia..."
Zidane: "Oh yeah? But we stopped the Mist! So much for that!"
Garland: "All you saw was the back of the tree... Even now, the Iifa Tree blocks the flow of Gaia's souls, while it lets those of Terra flow freely. Come and see for yourself. See the true form of this planet. Such is the Iifa Tree's true pupose, its true form. All you saw was its material form. The flow of Gaia's souls cannot be changed simply by stopping the disposal of Mist."
I completely agree about Trance. Pissed me off so much to get it at the end of some meaningless fight just to lose it soon after.