More observations:

I forgot to mention that I liked the fact that Cid's story included him having an affair. It puts a very real and ugly situation in with a fantasy world that isn't quite so unreal as a mother kidnapping and executing her daughter for magical powers. I liked the humanity of it.

Acquiring Ramuh. I liked his little test at the end and the reasons he gave for giving it, and the fact that he questioned Garnet over her decisions. I am always questioning how people have reached their decisions and answers because the answer isn't important to me, it's why they chose it. What I liked even more was when Zidane was puzzled about the old man trying to assign an arbitrary meaning to her choices and he got schooled. I enjoyed this scene.

I about had fit in the Mage Forest when I kept going in circles. But I finally figured it out!

I am a little confused as to why the eidolons were even a part of Garnet's inventory if they couldn't be used and were then taken away. Does not make sense.

I am finding that I do not care about stealing from general monsters. It just prolongs battles, and I receive plenty of items at the end of battles, anyway. Stealing from bosses, though, that's some trout I will waste my time on. I spent ages and ages and ages trying to get the Gold Helm from the Antlion and the Coral Sword from Lani. It got to the point where wasting my time, energy and resources I was expelling in order to sustain myself during battle did not seem worth it, and thus I slaughtered them and moved on.

I hope I haven't built this game up in my head as something more than it is. For years I've heard that it's so amazing and many people I've spoken to claim it as their favorite or as one of their favorites. Right now I'm excited to see where the story goes, but I'm afraid of disappointment after thinking it would be great all this time.

Do any potentially old members remember the FFIX music video Squally Leonharty created?