I love FFIX, almost as much as FFTactics, but only because it's a welcome change from the previous two in-series games. FF7 and FF8 didn't seem too fantastical to me: fine places, but the world wasn't kind of adult-ish with respect to architecture and general citizenry. FFIX is a double-whammy right off the bat: a world filled with mist, a huge sword sticking out of a castle, a main character with a monkey's tail, hippo- and fish-people, moogles... I found it a breath of fresh air from the rigidity that FF8 presented (and the soundtrack is more adventurous, I'd say, too). The game is generous in that it's set in a wondrous world, which is something that earlier games lacked severely -- the return to a medieval-type setting paints a great picture. Another tidbit I enjoyed was that all the NPCs had _names_. It helps give a little personality to the game's fairly unimportant characters, which tempered my interest a bit. The previous two games forewent that nicety. =/

I can respect criticism, though. The game pays homage to earlier icons and cameos, and as such, has a bond of rehashed features. The characters are all based off of a single trait they've internalized a bit, which you can see if you let the opening title run a bit (Virtue, etc.). It's so easy to pick on everyone -- take Amarant. He's the typical "I strive for power and I only like power, etc." guy. He's not that interesting, says stereotypical power-hunter quotes ("Come on, fight me!") and stuff. Personally, it never mattered to me, 'cause I thought he was intriguing just because background is given little by little; anyone who's hinged on that aspect of his personality and is put off is, by my standards, completely put off for a legitimate reason. Not everyone has to understand immediately or at all.