Yes, IX is gewd. The great gameplay of "The good ol' days", in a nice 3D environments, plenty of opportunity to go "Hey! I remember that! That reminds me of back when I was a kid...ah...good ol' FF1/4/6/7..." plus, a great cast of characters. Particularly, Vivi. It's kinda refeshing to see a guy mage.

And there's plenty of secrets to find. That, and the mini-game that gives you most of your hidden stuff is actually FUN. Yes. You heard me right. It's FUN!

BTW...if you do get the game, and something in the beginning is either bugging you, or making you wonder a lot, just go with it. It'll all be explained in due time, and it's quite better to see the game tell you of this, than an FAQ.