7 & 8 were spectacular imo so for me 9 wasn't as strong. However it was a great game I just don't like the light hearted feel as much. The characters while developed well weren't developed in the darker, more thoughtful way (you didn't see what they were feeling, and it didn't feel as important except Vivi, who brought up the most interesting topic in the game, of course this is all my opinion) as the others. The battle system had a well done battle system. You have multiple jobs (thief, warrior, black mage, dragoon, blue mage, I think amarant's a monk and two white mages/summoners) and you learn abilities from your weapons. Sometimes you learn moves and sometimes you learn abilities that you equip to your character via a the ability part of the system. you have a certain # of ability points for each character that goes up as you level, and you gain abilities from training with weapons. Abilities you equip could stop status, allow u to counterattack, make you level quickly, make you good against a certain type of enemy, etc... Overall I liked the system a ton for a job system but prefer customizing system's like VIII. The graphics gave a nice fun fell to the game and the FMV's were great. Plot was good in a somewhat medieval setting. The character's were well developed for the type of rpg it is. I thought the main enemy was probably the best done main enemy in the series. I found some of the characters dull but characters like Vivi made up for it. The game had a lot more humor than 7 or 8 with characters like Steiner and Quina (one of the most disliked characters in FF history whom I thought was funny). Overall the game is a very stong game which is strong in a lot of areas and easy to get into. Probably my 5th favorite game all time after: 1.FFVIII 2.FFVII 3.Shadow Hearts Covenant (wonderful game with great humor and characters) 4.FFX and 5.FFIX.

Hope this helps.