"Final Fantasy IX" definitely feels a bit slower to play than some of the others in the series, that's with both its story and it's combat, but where the story's concerned it's worth it, easily some of my favorite characters in the franchise and the game gives you a lot of time to really get to know these characters, well most of them anyway "Amarant" is a bit underwhelming and "Quina" got on my nerves as they just act as comic relieve that I found got old fast but beyond those characters I was really invested in everyone else. I also like the sort of fairy-tail feel this game has it sets it apart from pretty much every other game I've played in the franchise so far, (I haven't played one older than "VI" yet) the game also has an art style that still holds up really well today particularly because the game wasn't trying to go for realistic looking characters so the PS1 graphics really compliment the aesthetic they were going for.

The combat feels a bit overly slow in places particularly in comparison to "X" and "VI" I'm not sure why this is the case, you get used to it and with this modern release of the game you can speed up battles which make it a bit better. I also don't like how the overdrive mechanics are used, you have no control over when you're characters overdrive is activated so most the time they are just wasted in random encounters, still these are minor issues for me and don't detract from the strengths of the game.

Probably my second favorite in the series behind "X".