zidane.

garnet.

kuja.

C I N E M A.

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.

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...

Platform: PlayStation 4 (Via PlayStation 5)
Date Started: February 8th, 2024
Date Finished: February 14th, 2024
Time Played: 15 Hours

"You taught me that life doesn’t last forever. That’s why we have to help each other and live life to the fullest."

Final Fantasy IX is probably my favourite in the series up to this point - a return to the traditional aspects of the series, it captures the magic of the earlier games whilst making advances in storytelling and presentation, taking us back to the medieval routes, maintaining a unique feeling of an strong world and introducing us to a solid set of characters.

The story here is initially great, but it does, in traditional Final Fantasy fashion, get more convoluted and strange as it goes on - the main party can't quite hold things together, either. Some of them were definitely more in the spotlight than others, as members such as Quina and Freya join and sort of get forgotten as the game moves on, but Zidane, Dagger and especially ViVi are solid characters that I enjoyed spending my time with. The villains were decent as well, and it was nice to see the layers peel off as the story unfolds and more are revealed, but while it was all decent, I didn't find anything to be necessarily standout or all too captivating.

The Active Time Event system emphasised the characters even more, too, letting you see what people are up to in other areas or parts of the world when they are away from you, and the game switching perspectives quite often made the story feel more grand, reminding me of a fantasy novel.

The combat is traditional, and although I do prefer when there is just no ATB, I still had a good time, although admittedly I did, for the most part, throw on the 9999 damage boost to blast through this one as I didn't want to spend too too much time on the game, and I wouldn't have had nearly as much fun without both that and the speed up modifiers.

Final Fantasy IX is the culmination of the series up to that point - it feels like it builds upon everything that came before to create the almost ideal version of the concept of Final Fantasy on paper, but I just didn't fully connect with the story or characters by the end.

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.

zidane.

garnet.

kuja.

C I N E M A.

Without a doubt the best FF on the PlayStation and one of the best FFs ever!

Even after playing through it for the fourth time, I still find new ways to enjoy the simple yet intriguing combat system. I especially love how well thought-out the entire world and experience are.

There is a nicely-paced balance of linear, story-heavy sections and the more open-ended exploration sequences of the world map with fantastic side quests. Not a single location feels pointless or underused. Rather, even the tiniest spot of the world map has its purpose.

And the story and characters just get me every single time. I love the entire cast, the writing is great and the pacing and the emotions are just perfect.

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.

Final Fantasy IX has always been a game that has been widely regard in the Final Fantasy community as one of the best, and thankfully it holds up to that exact expectation. Not only is it the best of the PS1 trio, but it's above and beyond the majority of the series, and stands out due to it's presentation and battle system.

While I certainly wouldn't call FF9 a hard game, it is a game that lends itself well to building your characters how you want without losing the uniqueness of each character. While the story does lose a bit of focus, it stays ground it what it wants to set up and do. Plus the way the game constantly switches the cast point of view is so well done that I just can't express how much I want more of that in other Final Fantasy game. Not only is the party treated as more of an ensemble, but it's also something that they constantly focus on and give themes too. Not all the themes are done well sadly, and out of all the good games you could remake, FF9 would probably stand to benefit the most out of it. Most of the problems really just rely on the 2nd half of this game going into a bunch of odd stuff, and honestly it just doesn't work well compared to the first half. I feel like a lot of FF9's problems are just not having enough time to focus on the themes as much, and some characters coming in far later in the game just don't get the screen time they need.

I don't want my criticisms to see too much though. In a lot of ways, the fact the game just goes to the end may be seen as a pace saver or at least, not dragging the game too much. Still if there could be some nice mix of cutting down certain fat, adding more story quests, or just expanding the story to the post game, I feel FF9 could immensely benefit. Considering the problem tho? FF9 not having enough for a player to chew on, already kind speaks levels in which it's story and characters engage you.

I wouldn't call FF9 the best Final Fantasy out there, but it certainly takes a lot from what made other final fantasies good, retools them, uses them more, or even makes new ones to really hit home the quality of this game. If you wanted to start out playing the Final Fantasy series, I'd honestly suggest 9 as a good starting point. Simple, easy, and really engaging.

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.

Let me get this of my chests because there is truly one barrier to this game, its slow. Like seriously boss battles, long battles where you have w/o worry about how long it takes for animations to go , and that being affected by the ATB because actions always have a pause and mis-timing? Eesh. I feel that because I had to liberally use speed to grind and the other mods time to time because of the pacing or the need to grind, it would be insincere just to start waxing poetic. That being said, this is a marvel. Sentimental and consistently effective sweeping you away in just the fairytale tone of it all.

The timing in the ATB is unclear time to time but that often increases the tension of battles. The way that you develop abilities through weapons but have to decide which abilities because some are overpowered, its simple but was even effectively used to allude to personalities of the character beyond just the jobs they ideally represent. Zidane protecting girls ability because he is a flirty sleaze when you meet him. Steiner with cover because of how seriously takes his job. It added such an elegant touch to the growth system. The ways in which certain items allow you to play and change your strategy because you can’t have them all equipped? IO found myself on certain bosses making adjustments.

The cast is truly remarkable. Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, Vivi is the cannon party for how I played but even Freya and Eiko really deliver the story home. Even someone like Quina has sweet moments. Zidane and Daggers romantic subplot just truly warms you as they find a great way to weave the will they wont they into storybeats. Steiner love for job becomes challenged learning about corruption and that duty comes into conflict with another great side character. I think what I really want to emphasize with this game is that the storybeats aren’t accessories but really integrate into gameplay effectively. It feels weird to say that , it should be obvious but the way FF9 does so? WOO

We talking about everything in Burmecia and Cleyra . Freya gets so much character but the way battles happen in towns and how that affects your relationship to the people in towns and that certain things develop because of small choices or just building attachment to the city because of how they integrate tragedy in these places. The cities are not window dressing, events happen there, and that really creates an impact. Or story moments for example the fact that Dagger can’t cast magic because of a major storybeat. Or when Zidane has to reunite and how they have him staggering into battles to reconnect. It is so much about how turnbased battles allow you fudge the immediate environment in order to enhance the storytelling experience.

We also talking about just some of the most beautiful looking locales. Everything Terra related and disc 4 is just stunning. Everything in Oielvert. Like it bears repeating traversing these places and dungeons with some puzzles without a traditional set up in terms of theming is just a breath of fresh air.

FF9 is charming. It’s simple. It’s elegant. It’s heartwarming. The game closes its final act really reflecting on memories and who they belong to and if it matters where they start. Its through connection to others we tap in and learn other memories and through that we can begin to get back to the beginning. This game is heralded as a throwback to how FF started in tone, and its also the finale of Sakaguchi involvement with the series. The throwback to the beginning was an ending. We are left with a memory of what was but also of what is, and that is FF9 is special.