So... about that gameplay.

[Cell]

I hated the IX battle system at first, but as I've aged and replayed it I've learned to really enjoy it.

[Jessweeee♪]

I liked the ability system, that was pretty neat. I never minded the slowness of the battles before, I actually found it fun to sort of strategize my next move by opening and closing an ability or item menu really quick to force a turn that was already queued up. I think I ruined it by upping the battle speed on the HD release though, now normal speed is really excruciating.

[Wolf Kanno]

I enjoyed IX's battle system, the long animations at the start of battle notwithstanding.

I appreciate the fact that the whole team was distinct from each other in their abilities which made having your team change around feel more refreshing than annoying. Having abilities attached to gear also had some interesting moments as you sometimes had to switch out more useful equipment for one that gave you an ability, and it was nice that the skill was readily available once equipped since it meant you could switch out gear for just a battle if need be and not have to feel required to grind until you got the right skill.

The ability system was also a nice touch that gave the player some good options for customizing a character. Did you equip offensive abilities like Bird Killer to get an advantage in battle, or did you equip defensive skills that protect you from status effects instead? I also appreciate the fact that each character had a few specialty skills that can change how they are used in battle like Vivi's skills to pierce Reflect or double the magic damage of reflected skills, or giving Steiner more traditional Knight skills like Cover. Overall, I liked this system because I was always tinkering with my abilities instead of just equipping once and never changing my setup ever.

I also liked Trance, partly because I enjoy the fact it mostly just boosted a characters natural abilities in a way that stays true to their classes, partly because it meant getting rid of game breaking skills like W~Magic, and partly because it wasn't salvable because like most Limit Break abilities, triggering one was almost a guaranteed victory, so unlike VII and X, I couldn't just wait to have my whole party have their limit breaks available at the start of a fight to kill the bosses in one round. So yeah, as annoying as people feel it is, its a great balancing tool compared to the broken games that don't treat it that way.

I also like the fact that certain classes got expanded move sets to make them more interesting. Zidane might be my favorite incarnation of the Thief class short of FFTactics simply because I liked his special moves like the ability to scan an enemy to see their items or tricky abilities like tricking enemies to turn around and turn a battle into a back attack or inflicting status magic based on the weapon you're using. Having Steiner and Vivi use Magic Sword was clever and really helped their party synergy, and Freya is tied with Kain as one of the most BS incarnations of the Dragoon class.

[Fox]

I also liked Trance, partly because I enjoy the fact it mostly just boosted a characters natural abilities in a way that stays true to their classes, partly because it meant getting rid of game breaking skills like W~Magic, and partly because it wasn't salvable because like most Limit Break abilities, triggering one was almost a guaranteed victory, so unlike VII and X, I couldn't just wait to have my whole party have their limit breaks available at the start of a fight to kill the bosses in one round. So yeah, as annoying as people feel it is, its a great balancing tool compared to the broken games that don't treat it that way.

Just as an aside, the correct way to fix the balance of the limit breaks in VII and X would be to reset the limit bars at the end of each battle. That would stop you 'saving them' for the bosses and would also prevent the frustrating thing that IX does where you always seem to get Trance on a trash mob 3 steps before reaching the boss.