"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! 🙏

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

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.

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.

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.

zidane.

garnet.

kuja.

C I N E M A.

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...

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.

zidane.

garnet.

kuja.

C I N E M A.