For my comment, you need to understand that Final Fantasy as a series is kind've an on/off switch affair. I love the games or I hate them, with FFVII being the only one I'm KIND'VE indifferent on (Cloud cross dressing almost makes up for the rest of the game).

FFIX is one of the three FF games (two if you don't count Tactics) that I consider to be 'the best FF ever'. FFIX is the game that made me say, "Y'know, I love FFVI, and it's time to move past those fond memories and say that something new did it better."

The first and last discs are pretty short (like everyone's been saying), but I honestly believe it's because those two discs have the most cutscenes in them... And while I'm usually more to talk about what made the game playable and interesting, since everyone else did that... Discs 1 and 3 have the most amazing cutscenes to be put into a Final Fantasy until FFXII. Oh, and FFIX holds the distinction among FF titles (jointly if you count Tactics-I DO) of making me care about the characters.