"Even a fly lives for a day"

Final Fantasy IX is a very strange game. A decades-long reputation and countless Final Fantasy ranking lists made it impossible to go into this without expectations; knowing it's so widely regarded as one of or even the best entry in the series is hard to ignore, but I tried my best to stay reasonable, and even expected not to like it as much as 7, and to compare the two as little as possible as I played.
This worked out pretty well in the end, but unfortunately my thoughts on this game in isolation ended up being even more confusing as a result..

If you sit on the title screen for a moment, you'll see images of the party members, each with a title and a thought related to their personality. Virtue: You don't need a reason to help people. Sorrow: How do you prove that you exist? May we don't... Devotion: Someday I will be queen, but I will always be myself. Solitude: I don't want to be alone anymore. -- These honestly make for a great first impression, and had me going in with even higher hopes that the characters would be fleshed out with rich and well written arcs surrounding their unique perspectives. I don't want to go on too long or trample anyone's love for the title, but I'm so disappointed that this ended up being untrue.
To be clear, a handful of characters do get some proper development and go through real growth. Zidane, Garnet, and especially Vivi, all succeed in this regard in my opinion, and make for some of the most interesting elements of the entire game. Steiner and Eiko definitely get their growth as well, but in a much more 'secondary' feeling way, with less ongoing presence, and this is even worse with Freya and Amarant, who seem to have their whole stories told in just a few specific moments with very little going on outside of those. (And then Quina honestly might as well not even be there I'm sorry. Their menu screen says "Indulgence: I do what I want" or something but what it should've said was "I like food, that's my whole character" 😅)

Anyway, due to this, the game fell a little short for me on the party front, and all the times I'd heard that the characters are so well written became a confusion as to how, when less than half of them even have a story to begin with. Freya's arc in particular is very powerful, and the concept is excellent, but as with a lot of the game's moments, it happens and then it's over, if that makes sense? There's no lasting impression, like being told an emotional story and then immediately putting a movie on. Idk this may just be me but I felt like a lot of scenes would've benefitted from being allowed to breath a bit more and giving me time with a soft song to let it sink in. Sure I could've just stopped playing and sat there, but that's not how I play :p

I've rambled a lot already so to quickfire some other thoughts I have: The combat in this game felt really bad, I'm sorry. Like all of it, I played on PS so I had the cheats to instantly trance and do 9999 damage, but even by the late game when I had good equipment and high levels the fights either felt unfair or just took way too long. The delay between every attack and whatever slows things to a crawl I never ever would've gotten through it playing normally. By the final area I still didn't have a single summon available on either summoner so idk what the deal was there, and after maxing out my levels and abilities to have a full party of Lvl 99's, Zidane's base attack was doing 4000+ damage and my summons were doing less than 1000.. why game 😅 This is probably me being stupid and not understanding something, but yeah not for me, big dislike. And phoenix down's reviving you with less than 0.5% of your hp is comically useless idk how you're supposed to do anything with that!

Narratively, the story took a hot second showing it's face but once it got going and especially in the endgame I ended up liking it. I can understand why the core principles and themes of the game resonate with people so strongly, I just think the execution of a lot of the arcs and the gameplay itself take away from it a lot more than I would expect for a game with a reputation so strong that when I started it the only common issue I knew people took with it was the battle intro being too long 😅

Ultimately, I definitely like this game, I dare even say that it's a good one, very good maybe. It's just a shame that the good is buried underneath so much that felt undercooked to me. Lots of really great ideas all thrown into a pot that's too small to fit them - some of it may be cooked to perfection, but you've gotta eat through a load of under or overcooked food to get to it, and that sucks.

People have been pretty vocal that this game should get a proper remake in the way that FF7 has been, with some even saying it should've gotten one instead of 7. I used to think this was just because they prefer 9, and the 7 v 9 rivalry will never end, but even as someone who prefers basically everything about FF7, I think I kinda get it. Neither game is perfect, of course not, but in terms of which game has the potential to be greater than it was if given proper time, care and a much improved execution? Maybe.. I believe that the best possible version of FF9 could improve upon its original more than the best possible FF7 could.

This ended up running a lot longer than planned so I'll cut myself off here -- hope you're all keeping busy with your backlogs in what's turning out to be a somewhat quiet year for the industry. I've not been reviewing/rambling as much recently because it takes me so long to type 20,000 words per game, but next on the docket is the latter 2/3rds of TWEWY and then honestly I might jump right back into Final Fantasy with my first proper playthrough of XIII, the controversy will continue :p
Thanks for reading everyone, hope you're well! 🙏

é difícil não escrever um texto reacionário sobre esse jogo. grande parte das pessoas que o engrandecem e regozijam em sua "volta às origens" são pessoas que não entenderam Final Fantasy 7 e 8. por incrivel que pareça, Final Fantasy 9 tem a mesma mensagem dos outros dois jogos: o ato de viver, por si só, requer um esforço imensurável; amar é uma das maiores qualidades do ser humano; seu tempo e legado no mundo são mais importantes do que você imagina

pouco importa se agora os bonecos tem proporção de desenho animado e se o mundo é """""medieval""""" (onde existem taxis aéreos). alias essa pataquada de Final Fantasy medieval nunca sequer foi verdade e FF9 tem uma ligação mais forte ainda com os outros de PSX, mais do que com os antigos de SNES, por sua fixação pelo espaço e pela criação do universo e da vida.

mas eu quero falar um pouco do jogo por si só. o timing dos balões de fala é excepcional nele. a Square havia, literalmente, aperfeiçoado sua técnica. é um jogo onde se pode ouvi-lo sem haver vozes de fato. tal sensibilidade energiza muito a personalidade de cada personagem, do mais tímido pro mais arrogante. é um jogo vivo e lindo, que não nos cansa de mostrar que há esperança depois do desastre.

ele ousa fazer a pergunta mais difícil do mundo e ousa mais ainda não dar resposta alguma. o ultimo chefe do jogo é literalmente uma conclusão errônea sobre a vida e talvez uma que esteja mais presente no nosso dia a dia do que imaginamos. "porque que o mundo ainda vai continuar sem mim?" não é uma frustração tão alienígena quanto parece. é assustador e frio e o conceito de legado serve pra nos lembrar que o mundo tem todo direito de existir depois de nós.

FF9 é mais complicado ainda de se enxergar sozinho porque o jogo é uma grande celebração dos que vieram antes. musicas, histórias e referencias aos outros jogos da série estão por toda parte de Gaia. é como se fosse, de verdade, o ~Final~ Fantasy (9). mas é um amor gentil, ele não precisa disso pra viver, mas ele quer mostrar que lembra do que veio antes. não é a toa que esse é o tema do jogo.

eu chorei muito no final então esse jogo ganha 5/5

Final Fantasy IX was my second old Final Fantasy game, however, unlike Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy IX was... a bit complicated at first, but more interesting experience overall.
The story is great, it has a wonderful beginning and it maintains consistent pacing until the end, and then it ends on a very high note; it actually has one of the best endings in the entire series in my opinion.
The characters are absolutely fantastic and the character development is some of the best I've seen in a videogame in general. Unfortunately, there are some weaker main characters in the party, but thankfully, the supporting characters are surprisingly likeable and make up for those few weaker main characters.
I think the dialogue in this game is worth mentioning because it's unexpectedly well written at times and the sense of humor is so good! Final Fantasy IX is probably the most humorous game in the series.
The music is beautiful and the visuals, while slightly outdated, are still very charming.
Also, I absolutely love the ATE system, it's such an great system because it enriches the sense of adventure and it makes the game so lively compared to previous Final Fantasy games.
With that being said, while Final Fantasy IX gets close at being a perfect Final Fantasy game, it has at least one flaw in my opinion; the gameplay feels slow, even for 2000's standards.

Pros:
+ Very engaging story
+ Compelling and likeable characters
+ Well written & funny dialogue
+ Amazing soundtrack
+ ATE system

Cons:
- Outdated minor elements
- Slow combat system

Narrative: 8/10
Gameplay: ?/10
Content: 8/10
Characters: 10/10
Music: 9/10
Graphics/Audio: ?/10

Final Rating: 9.5/10
- Outstanding -
At the end of the day, Final Fantasy IX is still an incredible JRPG, one of the best Final Fantasy games of all time and one of the most charming videogames I've ever played.

Do I recommend it?:
Definitely yes, must-play for fans and highly recommended for newcomers.

As much as I love Final Fantasy, this is my least favorite game in the series.

I don't vibe with any of the characters, I'm not really interested in the world or the story. The music is okay. I'm not saying this is a bad game AT all (if it were there's no way in hell people would love it as much as they do) But I simply just could not get into this game at all.

I'd recommend it to people tho because I know it's a good game I just have weird tastes...

What a game. Its script gets a bit messy by the end with all the ideas being juggled, but it's an exceptionally strong game with some of the most potent and poignant moments in the history of Final Fantasy. Its pacing is fantastic, constantly switching up what you're doing and who you're doing it with. The music is among the best in the franchise. The battles, while certainly slow, are enjoyable and some of the throughline boss fights stride the perfect line between challenging strategy and simple wins. There's so much to love here.

The side content is generally pretty annoying though. The worst of the worst of PSX era nonsense, completely RNG based tedious minigames and slow combing of a large map for nigh-invisible pixels. Don't bother with all that and you'll have a much better time. As a start to finish journey with minimal mucking about, FFIX is hard to argue with. A stone cold RPG classic and one of the mandatory FF games for anyone trying to worm their way through the series.

One of the most charming and solid JRPGs I've ever played. FFIX has a fantastic story with great themes and tone, all reminiscent of a Shakespearean play. The music is amazing and the graphics hold up surprisingly well, mostly because of its art style, specially the cutscenes that look straight out of a 90s computer animated movie. The gameplay is pretty solid, it doesn't bring anything new to the table but everything here is pretty good (except for the speed of battles and that freaking card game, but hey they're pretty minor things). But the real meat and bones of this game are the characters. Zidane is a pretty charming and fun main character, Garnet and Steiner have compelling character arcs, Eiko is really cute and Kuja is a pretty complex main villain. One with missed potential is Freya, whose development completely stops after the first half of the game, and there are some that straight up suck like Amarant and Quina (even if they have some cool designs), but all is forgiven by the inclusion of Vivi. Everyone has sung their praises for this character, so I'll just say that he's a ray of sunshine and he has got one of the best character arcs in gaming history. So yeah, FFIX may not be my favorite Final Fantasy game, but I believe it is the best one to start and that it encapsulates everything that made this saga so great.

This is a really odd standout when considering what came before and after it. Even right next to Final Fantasy VIII, the polarizing entry, Final Fantasy IX feels even less like its closest peers. In terms of style and theming, FFX actually feels more like a natural followup to the one-two punch of FFVII and FFVIII. Playing through this almost feels like peering into a different timeline where Final Fantasy skipped right over VII and continued from the first six games uninterrupted. Which tracks knowing the man spearheading this whole thing is none other than series creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi. Who stayed true to the aesthetics of the classic titles while willing to embrace the fresh changes pushed by the more modern games of the time. Creating something that would be just a nostalgic throwback to the more “simpler” times of the franchise when it was more traditional and “simpler”. And also is the closest embodiment to Sakaguchi’s ideal Final Fantasy representing everything that it meant to him of what it can be.

Already from Disc 1, Final Fantasy IX leaves a strong impression for its casual journeying pace, its cartoonishly charming world, and colorful cast of characters loaded with personality. The presentation creates the nifty illusion of being this cute and wholesome game when in reality it’s super existentialist and depressing like its PS1 contemporaries. But it balances it enough to never sacrifice its identity to what made playing through this genuinely fun and rewarding. It peaks very hard during Disc 2 where the party gets split up and ventures off into their own little journeys all over the map. This might be my favorite stretch of the game because of how simple and low-stakes it could get, still never fearing to get a little dramatic at parts, and just vibe with itself.

Disc 3 is when the game loses its initial charm and where the problems sank in. The game already did a great job introducing you to these delightful characters who form your party, making you think these guys have to go somewhere, right? Well, I think it speaks for itself in conversations about the game that the two party members really brought up the most are Vivi and maybe Steiner. Vivi especially is a great character with easily the best arc because he’s the only one who actually has an arc! The rest awkwardly stumble into beats resembling character arcs but either it never feels developed enough or the game just forgets about it. Steiner is funny and had some interesting character beats, like from his shortsighted pragmatism, his personal duty to who he should really serve, and his relationship with Beatrice but it hardly goes anywhere. Freya was introduced to have some weighty plot relevance and interesting personal history which never gets explored into a conclusion until the game suddenly remembered what her deal was at the end. Amarant might be the most nothing party member in a Final Fantasy game because I can’t imagine who is stanning this guy for how pointless he is story-wise and gameplay-wise. Eiko and Dagger’s shared history as summoners seemed to imply something deeper but it gets forgotten when the stakes escalate. There's an estranged lack of overall character development or heavy moments for many characters to tie themselves personally into this journey they’re taking. The only ones who get active focus and development, putting aside Zidane, are Dagger and Vivi. It feels very uneven from this point on and the last stretch all the way into Disc 4 is where I struggle to weigh where I stand with the game. There’s still very good character moments, especially that one moment with Zidane and his party, but how it gets paid off in the final confrontation with Kuja feels underwhelming. The twist revelation with Zidane just feels like needlessly trying to tie him into the larger conflict when part of the appeal of his character for me was how he was just an unimportant scrounger who wanted to do what’s right by his friends against overwhelming odds. I understand the thematic significance of his relationship with Kuja, weird as it is, and think it's still effective. Especially with the ending sequences which hit super hard seeing how Zidane has affected every one to realize the value of just living free.

What knocked my experience down hard enough is the combat, however. This is hands down the worst implementation of the ATB system. I never got the criticism against the system in games like FFVII but this is the only time where I understood the frustration. Every battle is way too slow (ironic considering you play as a thief who is canonically supposed to be the quickest one in fights) and often I just don’t understand the advantage of adopting the ATB system over a traditional turn-based system like they did in FFX. The same could be said about FFVII for example but I feel it’s helped with how the battle animations are more responsive, cinematic, and snappy. Besides the secondary systems, like Materia and limit breaks, saving the combat to feel more in depth and engaging. FFIX doesn’t quite have that going for many battles which makes waiting for your turn a slog more often than not. The Trance system is also kinda, uh, pretty bad? You have no control over when it activates or gets used by a party member. It’s hard to gauge how the meter fills up so you can make preparations in combat against tougher enemies. You end up either unintentionally wasting it or forced to use it no matter what.

The music unfortunately didn’t do much for me despite how “fine” it just is. They were shooting for a more SNES medieval sound with a lot of the songs which I can’t bring myself to care for because of how I've been spoiled by FFVIII’s soundtrack recently (including FFVII/X’s). Still, it’s impossible for Uematsu to deliver hard mid music so there’s like a few tracks that are worth listening to like the boss theme.

Finishing the game, I can understand how this didn’t set the world on fire in critical acclaim as either FFVII, FFX, or even FFVIII to a degree did. It was facing some really tough competition and felt like the odd one out from the modern direction Final Fantasy was taking. It wasn’t pushing any new boundaries for presentation, story, or gameplay really and was sorta more of the same old. Trying to look back on it in isolation helped clarify its own set of strengths but also its inherent weakness for its lack of personal ambition which holds it back a bit in being even a greater Final Fantasy game.

This game was a true delight to play. It took a while for it to sink its hooks into me, but once it did they did not let go.

I love the pure charm that this game gives off in its setting, characters, music and atmosphere. Zidane and the gang were (mostly) all well fleshed out, and Vivi's arc in particular was superbly done. The main plot of the game didn't grab me as much as I would've liked, but that was definitely made up for me in the stories for each individual character and how they intersected with one another. Nobuo Uematsu continues to be a genius when it comes to writing masterpiece video game music, and the ending of this game had me feeling some type of way for sure.

Overall, this was such a joy to play, and although I wish the main plot did a little more for me, the game's ideas around identity, death and purpose were spot on. Will definitely have to revisit this one in the future.

Based on my first playthrough back in 2020 I'll say that I had some issues with this game's writing (if you even followed me on twitter this is a charitable way of phrasing this) in the second half just kind of falling apart and the combat being pretty slow at times but also I did cry at the end so it did something right with having some good characters

Not my favorite PS1 FF (currently) but a great FF still

I intend on revisiting it sometime soon cause I really wouldn't be surprised if I ended up liking it more now as someone who has at least in some ways changed (as a person and video game enjoyer) since that first playthrough

Unfortunately I did not get around to this one as a child, so there was no nostalgia to be had. I had to undergo the painful process of examining something so beloved by so many with my stupid cobweb-addled adult brain. So while I did not love it, I had a damn good time making my way through the story. It is simply remarkable how much creativity is on display here for a linear, turn-based RPG. There's not a single hour of gameplay that really feels like another. It's kind of a masterpiece, really. I just didn't lose myself in it.

I so wish that I grew up with this game and had severe nostalgia for it, because all three of the PS1 titles are really good experiences but never truly make the desired impact on me until the ending.
- Although the combat was kind of slow and difficult, I think the ability system is among one of the best gimmicks in the series. It allowed some customisation while still having predefined roles. The trance system is absolute garbage here though. It NEVER occurs when you actually need it
- I love the character driven story this has. It possesses a lot of charm, and the atmosphere is simply sublime (Burmecia for example). But then we get the PS1 era problem where a cool concept in the story is rushed through in the last disc and a half
- This game makes me use a whole lot of jobs I normally don't care for in other games. The protagonist is a thief, my least favourite job of the series, the best character is a black mage, my favourite character was a dragoon and I basically needed the blue mage in my party to beat the game. My favourite job, summoner, had the summons split between two characters, one of which was busy healing and the other I vehemently hated. I don't know if this is a criticism or praise for the game
- WHAT'S THAT? I CANT HEAR THE MUSIC OVER THE SOUND OF BAHAMUT DROPPING A FUCKING NUKE ON THE BOSS
- Ark having a two minute long attack cutscene where he launches several tactical nukes but only deals 3000 damage is hilariously bad. This is a game ABOUT the summons. The cutscenes show Atomos demoloshing an entire city, and in-game, it does the damage of a wet noodle. Although this is the best implementation of Odin in any of the games
- This game wins the prize for best soundtrack in the series. Every single piece of music is a banger, and 'Not alone' is now one of my favourite pieces of music
- IX also boasts best cutscenes in the series. I am in awe of how all of these pre-rendered cutscenes ran on a PS1
- If I had played the original version of this without the autosaves, I would very much hate it
- Why do you only get Amarant on disc 3, or the boat for that matter?
- The world is so barren outside of the mist continent. Yeah, I know that the forgotten continent is 'forgotten', but there is literally two places of intereset on that entire third of the world map
- Beatrix should have been playable instead of Eiko. Worst character in the series.
- Chocob hot and cold is a GARBAGE minigane. So is Tetra Master

A experiência que foi de 80 a 8 (ou 9 ba dum tsss)

FF9 é um jogo que possui um certo charme, que envolve seu estilo artístico mais teatral e não tão moderno, a presença dos black mages e alguns personagens memoráveis na franquia. Infelizmente isso não foi o suficiente para proporcionar uma boa aventura do início ao fim.
O início do game (primeiro disco pra ser específico, isso pode ser visto no ícone de save ao decorrer do jogo) é bem envolvente, apresentando os personagens da party ao poucos e trazendo gameplays separadas para cada um. Eu adoro jogar sob diferentes perspectivas, então foi um prato cheio alternar entre Zidane, Vivi e Steiner, e posteriormente outros personagens. O clima de mistério em relação a quem estaria por trás de tudo me deixou curioso pelos eventos seguintes, pois até então fica um ponto de interrogação quanto às ações da Brahne.
Quando o vilão que usa calcinha (também conhecido como Kuja) é apresentado, a coisa começa a desandar. Ô vilão ruim da desgraça, mal desenvolvido e burro. Conforme mais detalhes eram apresentados sobre ele, mais meh ficava a história e até outros eventos foram ficando mal escritos. O disco 2 ainda dá pra salvar alguns eventos mesmo com o Kuja estando presente, mas os discos 3 e 4 foram decepcionantes.
Entre os personagens da party, Quina e Amarant destoam do restante, principalmente o Amarant por ter um desenvolvimento quase inexistente. Poderia muito bem ser um personagem opcional ou ser substituído pela Beatrix. Senti que faltou carisma para a Eiko, isso é um ponto que deve ser trabalhado caso os rumores sobre o remake se concretizem. Quanto aos outros personagens relevantes, o regente Cid e os membros do Tantalus ganham destaque em suas sagas.
O tema sobre existência e propósito de vida são explorados em vários momentos, proporcionando a evolução de alguns personagens através de questionamentos sensíveis. Existem alguns diálogos MUITO BONS que nos fazem refletir sobre o assunto.

Ok, a história não foi lá essas coisas, mas o combate e sidequests foram satisfatórias?
O combate é tão lento que dá tempo de fazer um miojo enquanto ocorre a transição da random battle e você deixa a luta ocorrer automaticamente pressionando o botão R2. A situação piora pois a taxa de random encounter é bem alta em alguns pontos, tornando a travessia de alguns mapas uma lentidão danada. Felizmente esta versão possui fast forward, deixando menos dolorosa a exploração, mas não impedindo de ficar ZZzzzZZzz ao saber que teria uma nova região extensa pra atravessar. Meu save teve 40 horas após subirem os créditos, acredito que sem fast forward teria no mínimo umas 5 horas a mais D:
É divertido ficar trocando o equipamento entre os personagens pra aprender skills ativas e passivas. Eu normalmente vendo tudo que não uso em jogos do tipo, mas em FFIX é necessário fazer essa rotação pra deixar os personagens úteis e pra criar novos equipamentos via synthesis, que é um sistema de fundir 2 itens para criar um novo.
Não fiz tantas histórias secundárias por causa do combate lerdo, mas o que posso relatar é:
- achei um saco o jogo de cartas, ainda bem que o trecho em que é obrigatório vencer algumas partidas é bem tranquilo;
- o minigame e sidequest do chocobo é interessante se usar o fast forward (por que tudo é tão lento nesse jogo? :'[), gostei de procurar os tesouros e de ver o chocobo evoluindo;
- completei também a side de restaurar a Mognet. Os moogles são uma atração à parte, pois além de servirem como save point, há toda essa rede de comunicação deles, no qual às vezes também entregamos algumas cartas e lemos elas junto com o moogle destinatário.

Por fim, FFIX é um bom jogo no geral, mas superestimado. A história começa bem mas vai perdendo força até se tornar algo questionável. Não vou negar que me diverti em boa parte do tempo, porém todos esses entraves em minha experiência me fazem considerar essa sequência um FF apenas ok dentro da franquia.

Magical, sweet, epic. These are the first words that come to mind.
Gameplay: as a jrpg you can expect turn-based battles, resource management and a little strategy. These aspects are implementend quite well and take in consideration a wide range of players, thus offering a good challenge for everyone regardless prior experience. Cursed by repetition, however

Soundtrack: Stellar. This Is the kind of soundtracks that stands out among their contemporaries. Melodies and instruments define each aspect of narration. As the tempo and sound change players immediately recognise that a chapter has concluded or is about to. Each dialogue would lose its effectiveness without the music that plays along, especially the "less" important dialogue uttered by the hoard of generic NPCs scattered around the scenery. Esto Gaza is one such case. It is hardly a village, and very few NPCs are present. The soundtrack evokes the feeling of isolation perfectly, It can't be easily described.

Story: It's quite simple. The same cannot be said about the way it develops. It's a crescendo, just like the soundtrack. The stakes get higher each time a situation seems resolved. Plot twists perfectly installed matched with their music. This is what fairy tales look like when are narrated through a videogame. There is no voice acting, allowing text to be vibrant and colourful. This story was made with this crucial aspect in mind, and it shows.

This is a massive interactive work that you should definitely try. It might not suit new players for its technical limitation but i suggest this game regardless.

If you ask me the question "What's your favorite Final Fantasy game?", Final Fantasy IX is my unironic answer.

This was something like my fifth complete playthrough of this game, and I still love it the same this time as I did the first time. The music hits me in all the right places, the character growth some of the characters experience is fantastic (Vivi remains my favorite FF character), and I just like the atmosphere, the struggle, the philosophical ponderings of what makes a man, and basically everything inside this package.

I will agree with most people here that the combat is pretty slow. But this particular version comes packaged with several helpers that alleviate that problem (and others) entirely, and would highly recommend it if the slow combat has turned you off in the past.

Just a great game. Can't wait for my next playthrough in the future already.