I'm just going to pop in and say vivisteiner you are out of your mind for calling FFIX the best of the series.

The characters were completely overly cartoonish and often juvenile. The humanity and emotion of great games like FFVII and VIII were completely absent. Hell it was even humorless!

My favorite games of the series are Final Fantasy III(US) and VII. I could go about endlessly with my reasons but I'm not here to boast my favorites. I'm not a fanboy but I am an acute critic. I'm wondering exactly what is going on in your mind to boast FFIX above all of the games in the series. It makes no sense.

Compared to FFXII (and most other FF titles), IX:

1. Is shorter, by a LOT.
2. Is more cartoonish / abstract
3. Lacks characters with ANY depth
4. Lacks innovation or new concepts
5. Is too lighthearted for the most part. Good guys and bad guys alike seem completely un-frightening or powerful.


It comes off as a Disney-esque roster to me. I see criticism brought upon Vaan and Penelo of FFXII which I can understand in some ways yet in FF IX I was entirely bored until I acquired Amarant who is the only slightly threatening character in the game despite a lack of personality. Where other characters such as Steiner held the opposite I found an almost boring over-personality or melodrama.

IX lacks a strong hero figure and a dark enough or cool enough villain.

There's a reason it was outsold by both VII and VIII.

Final Fantasy IX was well received on 2 points

1. Graphical presentation
2. Nostalgia

I can appreciate the game play of IX as I appreciate the game play of essentially every FF game to date and have no arguments. There's no way not to like it because it's basically a recycled active version of the standard FF battle system which IMHO was basically solidified in Final Fantasy II (US) and completely polished by the time Final Fantasy VII was in our hands.

The game is also utterly without reward in side quests which is HUGE in Square RPG's all the way back from Chrono Trigger and early FF's. The ultimate weapon side quests are over complicated in execution and redundant to some. Otherwise there are a couple optional bosses with mediocre difficulty and little reward.

FFIX is simply an effort at nostalgia everywhere from from it's synthesized and reproduced score to it's recycled Final Fantasy themes.