The Place of IX in the Final Fantasy series.

Lirael

Lirael

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Final Fantasy IX was - like many of the Final Fantasy games - significant in its own way. It was the last Final Fantasy game on the PS1 and simultaneously looked towards the past and the future of the series. The developers attempted to recall the medieval setting which had been present in past FF titles; they also bought back the 4 person battle system.

In light of this, I want to ask you guys where Final Fantasy IX falls within your overall perception of the Final Fantasy series. How does it compare to the Final Fantasy games which came both before and after it?

Where would you rank it? Is it your favourite title? Your least favourite? or does it come somewhere in the middle? Why?

For those of you who played this after previous titles, did it make you feel nostalgic for the older games? Did it feel like the series was returning to its roots?
 
Well, it's hard for me to say where it comes. I can't say it's my favourite, but it sort of is. IX, VIII and X are my favourites and depending on how long it's been since I played them, what mood I'm in and just general randomness I can never really make up my mind which order they come in. Ix ranks higher than VII, XII and XIII for me though (X-2 for that matter) so it's definitely one of my most favoured games.

Sadly I never got to really appreciate the nostalgia that I know is packed into this game. Since the only games I've played prior to this instalment were VIII and VII there was much that passed straight over my head.

Compared to the two directly before it though IX is certainly very much more fantasy-themes. In fact I;d say out of the games I've played IX is the most fanciful of them all, X being the only other game that didn't seem modern and technological. So for me IX always reminds me of a much more natural, old-school environment as far as fantasy worlds are concerned. Even though they do go into space...

Xx..xX
 
i played 9 before playing 6 to below and the only thing that made me feel nostalgic is the UNNE&DORGA song as i liked them and having to kill them in 3 made me sad, and hearing it again in 9 was nostalgic and sad.

This FF rank as #5 as folows: FF5, FF8, FF7, FFX and FF9, i dont like the kids saving the world plot and the adults were deformed.
 
kratoscar2008 said:
This FF rank as #5 as folows: FF5, FF8, FF7, FFX and FF9, i dont like the kids saving the world plot and the adults were deformed.
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But Zidane and Garnet and the others are about 16 years old that's not kids and that's only a year younger than Squall, Rinoa and the rest. Freya and Steiner are about 20- 30's. :brow:

Final Fantasy IX would have to be the number one spot maybe sometimes drawing ( lol no pun attended ) with Final Fantasy VIII. It has a beautiful storyline, with many amazing characters and a emotional storyline. FF9 is just pure emotions and one of the best stories that SE/ Squaresoft has told. :star:


For me it goes FF IX- FF VIII- FF X- FF IV- FF VI- FF VII- FF V- FF II- FF X-2 - FF XIII-2- FF III- FF XIII- FF I- FF XII

I think.... it's always changing, though FF IX for sure will always at least be number 1 or number 2 spot because it's just that cool :mokken:
 
I love FFIX to pieces, I love the setting and characters. But it falls short in terms of character development, the characters took so long to get fleshed out and the first two discs are just the group arguing. FFVII is my all time favourite but FFIX comes very close in third place as my order for top 5 are....

FFVII, FFXII, FFIX, FFXIII-2, FFX
 
I feel that Final Fantasy IX is the most "Fantasy-like" game in the series. It's got that medival scenario, the castle and the Princess along with the group of Black Mage, Thief, and Dragoon. THese aren't just what makes up a Final Fantasy game, but when yopu play through it, it's not sugar-coated.

THe graphics in the FMV"s are great for a PS1 game, but outside of that, looks are so-so. The story may start off slow with tedious tasks, but so does every other game in the series. It's captivating ability toward the end of DIsc 2 through the end of the game are amazing as you fight to put it down every day when you're pulled to do something else. People would prefer to play this game, from 1999, than one's that come out 2006 and beyond on new systems. It's always going to be a classic, characters and story remembered for long to come, and is an exemplary model of what the FF series is overall.
 
To me FFIX is the essence of what Final Fantasy is. It has that old time feel, like you were playing the older FF titles but still felt like a more modern game (at that time when it came out, which was the very end of the PSX generation). It is a great fantasy game and a great example of an excellent JRPG. It had the fantasy elements, the dramatic storyline, likeable and diverse characters, an awesome battle system that was reminiscent of older FF games, and really fun gameplay.

In terms of ranks: I would place FFIX as my fourth favorite. For me the list goes: FFX, FFVII, FFVI, FFIX, FFIV, etc.
 
FFIX is absolutely the best FF game in my opinion. It's the best video game ever in my opinion. To me, FFIX is what a Final Fantasy game should be. SE almost got it right with XII, but still, there was something missing from XII. I think it was the charm that IX had. Everything about it felt like a work of art. It didn't need fancy graphics or voices to get the job done. All it needed was text and pixelated characters. This game proves to me that if you really put your mind to it, you can make a work of art come to life. This game could be anything. A movie, a book, a game, anything. It's THE Final Fantasy. IMO.
 
I wouldnt really call it medieval to be honest :hmmm: I can see why youd name it that and it haa similarities but its just a fantasy world really.
VII, VIII, IX and X are my favourite FF games ever and some of my favourites games ever too. Number 9 is easily one of the best out of those four games, honestly i rate it equal to the others. I absolutely love the sidequests in it with the exception of Cards which i thought sucked badly in FFIX. It had a great level system or abilities system rather. Trance was a little bit of a dissapointment though. For me i think Final fantasy IX had the best characters and the way they interacted with eachother made you really feel like they were all good friends. I guess im trying to say they were all very memorable. Theres no nostalgia in it as FFVII was my first final fantasy game and IX was obviously my third.
After playing the 2 previous games it was a lot of fun to be in this fantasy world with castles and big fantasy hot air balloon airships. It was a welcome and fun change from the technologically advanced world of FF8 and reasonably advanced world of VII which id put similar in tech to our current world. The cut scenes in FFIX with the airships :ohoho: They are some of the best cut scenes in final fantasy. Period.
Great game with a great story, great side effects and great everything. Thats exactly how a funal fantasy game should be. Bar a few flaws its a perfect game and i love it :ryan:
 
I rank it very highly because I think it is a perfect blend of old and new elements. They really hit the nail on the head with what they were trying to do. The story may be a bit simplistic compared to the other PSX titles but it was engaging and kept me interested throughout. The characters are wonderful and probably some of the best I've seen in any RPG.
 
Big Casino said:
The cut scenes in FFIX with the airships :ohoho: They are some of the best cut scenes in final fantasy. Period.
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Those, and the scenes with Bahamut. First when he attacked the group at that tree, and then when he attacked Alexandria and fought Alexander. :D IX definitely had the best incarnation of Bahamut in the entire series.

IX is definitely my favourite in the series. I started at VII. VIII was great, but found it a little bit less enjoyable, but IX was friggin' awesome. The only problem I had with it, as Lew said, was the Tetra Master card game. But that's only because the stats on the card mostly meant jack shit when it came to playing. I remember discussing it with a couple of others a long while back, and we came to the conclusion that the more powerful cards only had an increased percentage of winning, so there would still be a 20 or 30 percent change of losing against a ridiculously weak card, or something like that.

But yeah, I loved this game for all the reasons mentioned in this thread so far. I wouldn't think of this as a medieval setting, but more of a steam punk setting.

I also love the music in this game, and how theatrical it all was. To me, playing the game felt more like watching a play with some really fantastic actors.
 
For me, FF:IX is a game that doesn't get enough praise, nor does it get enough love. This game is tied as far as being my favorite entry in the entire FF franchise. The story, the characters, setting, music, everything about this game is amazing. It's a shame that it's so under-appreciated.
 
Sir Cofu said:
For me, FF:IX is a game that doesn't get enough praise, nor does it get enough love. This game is tied as far as being my favorite entry in the entire FF franchise. The story, the characters, setting, music, everything about this game is amazing. It's a shame that it's so under-appreciated.
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Basically this! I feel that people turn to the "cartoonish" graphics when they turn it down, which I find a real shame. The cartoonish graphics I feel it actually made it feel more of a fantasy game over the last two FF games (VII and VIII.)
I also feel this had the best cast of characters (minus Amarant.) The rest of the cast though was amazing!
 
Sometimes the best is looked at differently. FFIX to myself was the best FF to date. I enjoy the moods/emotions of games and FFIX had all that and more. We have been programmed via movies and other forms of entertainment to sway our emotions with music(s). FFIX has done that, maxed out. After FF8 they needed a shrine and they accomplished it. No other FF game took the same complete path that FFIX took and they made a classic game within a classic series, FFIX.
 
Better late than ever, is what I'll say. Which is what I'm doing with the rest of the series. But there is something so innately special about Final Fantasy IX... I played it sometime last year whilst I was going through the worst kind of depression and mess you can imagine in life. But the game revived me, revived my hope, and I feel as if it is a part of me - or I am a part of it. So far I've played FFX, X-2, XII and Dirge of Cerberus - which is not a lot for an FF gamer - and the aforementioned games were actually a part of my teen years and I have fond memories of them but Final Fantasy IX... is truly a work of art and I absolutely recommend it as a must-have. I've only played it once but it just stuck to me and the soundtrack speaks everything that the best special effects can't hope to achieve in modern FFs. It's a truly moving story and I love it to no end. A lot of people have FFVII as their favourite - which I finally got around to playing now - and I'd be extremely impressed if I end up preferring it over FFIX...

Maybe it gets so underrated because it's so well-rounded and doesn't touch any terribly controversial topics? There's not much to talk about or add to the game. It truly felt like a fantasy.
 
I didn't truly appreciate Final Fantasy IX until I went back to the older titles and played them. I was introduced to the series through VII like a lot of people, and played VIII immediately afterwards. So by the time I got to IX a lot of the charm and throwbacks were lost on me. I played through I, II, V, and VI, came back to it later and fell in love with it. I think it's a beautiful love note to the series and does everything it wants to. Very happy that it's getting the HD treatment on Steam now.
 
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