I am not particularly enamored with the Final Fantasy series despite playing most of the numbered entries. Final Fantasy IX, however, is easily one of my favorite games of all time. Admittedly, a significant amount of my reverence for it has to do with the time and place in which I first played the game, and the state of mind I was in. Without dumping a bunch of personal details out on the internet, I will say that I was having to reckon with the loss of a loved one and was in a particularly poor place. Final Fantasy IX deals heavily in themes of death, especially with how the main cast of characters deal with the concept of mortality and their embrace (or rejection) of it.
I wasn't really expecting that. Most of my memories of Final Fantasy IX prior to actually playing it were watching a few friends struggle with the final boss and thinking it just looked "cool." Which, it is. But I think most people have forgotten this game, or lack the sort of affection for it that is typically heaped upon FFVII and VIII. It's a bit of an odd one, the middle child of sorts, stuck in that transition from Final Fantasy's golden years into the next generation of gaming. And yet, I think it's not only the strongest in terms of the story it tells, but in how it plays as well.
Sure, I've complained in the recent past about Final Fantasy's core battle system not really evolving, and it's true that IX doesn't make any attempts to break the mold. But the characters are so well-defined in battle and have a practicality to them that helps add some excitement to combat. You are greatly limited in how you compose your party, as whoever is active in battle is typically dictated by whoever the story deems the most important at the time. But Square tailored encounters and dungeons around who you would have in your party, which goes a long way in ensuring combat stays engaging.
I also think I have an inherent appreciation for Final Fantasy games that primarily adopt a more medieval aesthetic, especially when they work in some anachronisms. IX really feels like it's playing up the "fantasy" in Final Fantasy, and it's refreshing given how strongly the series leaned into high tech futurism after the success of VII. At the time it came out I'm not sure that's what people really wanted, but I sure as hell appreciate it. In fact, FFIX holds up better graphically than VII or VIII, or indeed many other games of its era. This is thanks in part to releasing so close to the end of that console generation, at a point when Square had a proficiency with the hardware and a team large enough to take on something so large in scope; but a lot of it is thanks to excellent visual design. The character designs are really some of the best in the entire franchise.
I think about this game a lot, and I really ought to go back to it for another playthrough. I wouldn't say FFIX helped me understand death or carried me through a hard time or anything so dramatic, but it did resonate with me more strongly than it would have if I played it in a vacuum. So maybe I'm a little biased, maybe I like it more than I should, but I do think it holds up incredibly well and is worthy of a second look if you dismissed it back in the day. You can also buy it brand new, physically, from Square's online store. That's crazy.
I wasn't really expecting that. Most of my memories of Final Fantasy IX prior to actually playing it were watching a few friends struggle with the final boss and thinking it just looked "cool." Which, it is. But I think most people have forgotten this game, or lack the sort of affection for it that is typically heaped upon FFVII and VIII. It's a bit of an odd one, the middle child of sorts, stuck in that transition from Final Fantasy's golden years into the next generation of gaming. And yet, I think it's not only the strongest in terms of the story it tells, but in how it plays as well.
Sure, I've complained in the recent past about Final Fantasy's core battle system not really evolving, and it's true that IX doesn't make any attempts to break the mold. But the characters are so well-defined in battle and have a practicality to them that helps add some excitement to combat. You are greatly limited in how you compose your party, as whoever is active in battle is typically dictated by whoever the story deems the most important at the time. But Square tailored encounters and dungeons around who you would have in your party, which goes a long way in ensuring combat stays engaging.
I also think I have an inherent appreciation for Final Fantasy games that primarily adopt a more medieval aesthetic, especially when they work in some anachronisms. IX really feels like it's playing up the "fantasy" in Final Fantasy, and it's refreshing given how strongly the series leaned into high tech futurism after the success of VII. At the time it came out I'm not sure that's what people really wanted, but I sure as hell appreciate it. In fact, FFIX holds up better graphically than VII or VIII, or indeed many other games of its era. This is thanks in part to releasing so close to the end of that console generation, at a point when Square had a proficiency with the hardware and a team large enough to take on something so large in scope; but a lot of it is thanks to excellent visual design. The character designs are really some of the best in the entire franchise.
I think about this game a lot, and I really ought to go back to it for another playthrough. I wouldn't say FFIX helped me understand death or carried me through a hard time or anything so dramatic, but it did resonate with me more strongly than it would have if I played it in a vacuum. So maybe I'm a little biased, maybe I like it more than I should, but I do think it holds up incredibly well and is worthy of a second look if you dismissed it back in the day. You can also buy it brand new, physically, from Square's online store. That's crazy.
DeltaWDunn
1 year ago