Honestly, I think FF9 gets passed over a lot attention-wise because it came out in the middle of two games that had a lot more fanfare. When FF9 was released, contraversy was still buzzing around FF8 - love it or hate it - and most FFers were drooling over the prospect of the PS2's upcoming release and the horde of media attention being placed on FFX's graphics and voices in order to sell the new platform.

As 'Kishi said, FF9 was a letter of love and reassurance to old-school FFers, but they, unfortunately, often are overshadowed by the louder more apparent fanbase of FF7-10. The FF9 lovers were drowned out.

Therefore, fewer people have actually played the game. For instance, when 9 initially came out, I wasn't really all that excited about it, and put off playing it in favor of giving FFX a shot. However, when I came back to FF9, I absolutely adored it - much to my surprise. It's a great game, but you need to actually play it to realize that.