Final Fantasy IX - Game Review

Recently I finished playing Final Fantasy IX and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. It's a game I've always wanted to play. Its art style and old-school fantasy theme are things that were always appealing to me. I wanted to see what the game was about and if it stood up to the online reviews.

The first part of this review will be spoiler free.

My thoughts are that it was a good game, though I am hesitant to give it the same praises I gave to Final Fantasy VI. Let's start with what I liked.

The Good

The Battle System

I honestly enjoyed the battle system in this game a lot. There's nothing too flashy about it, but it's consistently fun. There will be a lot of comparisons to Final Fantasy VI in this review, but in this case it is favorable. The Final Fantasy VI battle system was largely just spamming your most powerful spells over and over. Definitely one of the weaker points of that game. Final Fantasy IX adds a lot more nuance to the battles.

First, attacks take a lot longer. While this slows down battles in general, it gives the active time battle system (atb) a lot more room to shine. Gone are the days of just queuing up all four attacks and watching the enemy die. It is much better in this game to only queue one or two attacks at a time. You need the more immediate responses to the enemy attacks, and in some cases it is also advantageous to skip a party member since a more effective one can charge their next attack in the time it takes the enemy and just one or two of your party members to move.

Second, the equipment options are a lot better, with a lot of them giving unique resistances. This means that at times it was advantageous to equip a weaker armor piece because it gave a 50% resistance to a certain element.

Finally, the passive abilities you equip allow you to drastically change the way your team works in between battles.

I really appreciated the flexibility of the combat system in this game. (Even if support or effect imparting abilities still have the classic JRPG flaw of being mostly useless. Their accuracy just isn't high enough to justify the turn they consume.)

The Theme

The message this game is trying to get across is "You're Not Alone". It's a great theme, and has a great song to go with it. At times the characters just don't want to be a problem for their friends, but time and time again it is shown that they are stronger together.

The Characters

While I don't like the story of Final Fantasy IX as much as Final Fantasy VI, I would argue that the characters in this game are just as strong.

I will do a deep dive into each of the characters in the spoiler section, but I can still mention some of the main points as this game has an awesome cast.

First off, Zidane is a great protagonist, as long as you realize one thing. He has already been on the hero's journey. He is already willing to do the right thing just because it is right. Throughout the story we get to see how his good influence causes growth in those around him.

I also appreciate the love story between him and Princess Garnet. In general, it feels like this game is able to delve more deeply into the individual feelings of the characters than Final Fantasy VI.

Even Quina has a good part. He is the most single-dimensional character I have ever seen (he wants food). But it works because he is funny, and they don't try to make him a serious driver of the plot.

The World

I really do like the fantasy world this game takes place in. The bright colors, the different kingdoms, the fantasy creatures. It was all so fun to me. In my opinion this game shines the most when it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it just lets you go on fun adventures.

The opening act does this best. Vivi exploring the city of Alexandria, a group of bandits posing as a traveling theatre company to kidnap the princess, the silly captain of the guard trying to save the princess, these are fun adventures.

The Cinematics

The Cinematics in the game are to die for. They look great, and there is just so much going on. They do a great job of keeping the action up and bringing life to the characters.

The Bad

Now that I've sung my praises, I must now present the harsh reality that this game just wasn't as good as Final Fantasy VI. Of course, that is a hard game to beat but let me explain why.

The Story

The story in this game just didn't convince me. It seems to rely more on spectacle than true story telling. There just wasn't a real overarching story.

The villain's motives weren't well fleshed out, which led to the first two-thirds of the game being a cycle of seeing the villain trying to destroy a city and then trying to stop him. You didn't have a final goal you were just going wherever the story told you to.

The game tries to stitch this all together towards the end, but that doesn't justify the lack of drive for the first part of the game.

There is also a lack of proper rest between major sections. You are often just shoehorned into the next set piece and are not given the time to soak in the consequences of what just happened.

Finally, the final boss is really lame. It's just one of those generic evil incarnate beings.

It pains me to discredit the story this much, as I know a lot of people like it a lot. But for me, the story is really what kept this game from being a true masterpiece.

Still, the story did not completely ruin the game. You will see in my game ratings that I still give it favorable marks. The world, and characters the story is based around are strong enough to keep the game entertaining.

• Story: 7/10 - The solid characters and fun world bring this up from a 6.
• Gameplay: 8/10 - Better than FF VI

Now I will proceed to talk about some of my favorite parts of the game. Spoilers Ahead!

Cool Story Stuff

Rushing the Lindblum Gate

Have I mentioned the cinematics are awesome in this game. One of the best was definitely rushing through the gates to Lindblum.

The crew are escaping from a mysterious black mage sent to retrieve Garnet. She is driving the ship (something a princess wouldn't normally do), the windshield if broken, and Vivi deals the final blow to the assailant's ship. All of this right before they narrowly make it through the closing gate.

Queen Brahne's Death

This was probably my favorite part of the entire story. In her greed for power, Queen Brahne takes on Kuja at the Ifa Tree. At this point almost everyone has lost faith in her. Even Steiner and Garnet have started to think that she has truly turned evil.

Kuja then turns Bahamut against her and destroys her entire navy. The party then finds Queen Brahne washed up on the shore. Up to this point she has been the fat ugly villain no one really liked. But in this moment we begin to consider that perhaps we misjudged her.

Her final words reveal that she was indeed heavily manipulated by Kuja. Garnet is brought to tears, and the party can't help but share in her sadness. Vivi also poignantly further considers the concept of death, and the feelings he has about it.

With Queen Brahne now dead, Garnet is now the queen. All of a sudden the entire dynamic of the party has changed. Garnet is no longer free to roam the world with brigands. Instead, she is now tied to her duties as queen. She feels this responsibility is solely hers and begins to block out the friends she has made. She is now alone.

This means a lot to Zidane as well. The girl he loves is now the queen, and he is just a thief. In no world can they be together.

Character Review

Zidane

As mentioned, he has been on the hero's journey and doesn't need a reason to do something good. He does have a cool dynamic with Kuja and overall is just the life of the party.

Garnet

I've already talked about Garnet a decent amount as well. Her dynamic with Eiko is pretty cool, and wanting to be kidnapped at the start of the game was a cool twist. I also liked how she had to learn how to talk like a normal person. It is details like this that make great characters.

Having her name be "Dagger" was a tragedy though. I was not a fan of this name. If it were me her name would have been Garnet for the playthrough, and then just for a few specific parts she can go by another name.

Steiner

Steiner is an easily misunderstood character. It is easy to see him as a stupid overzealous knight. There is a lot more depth to it though.

His job is to protect the princess, and he takes that very seriously. Don't discredit him for that. His problem is that he needs to learn where to direct that zealousness. And we see him do that throughout the game.

He comes to realize that blind loyalty and adherence to the rules isn't what defines a person. Rather it is the actions they perform. He goes from knocking Zidane at every opportunity, to offering up his sword in Zidane's service when he sees the cause is good.

Vivi

I don't have a lot to say about Vivi that hasn't already been said. He is a fan favorite and really helps with the setting of the world as he is recognizably a black mage from the legacy games.

He provides a lot of the dramatic moments in the game as he tries to figure out who he is, and what his purpose is.

Freya

Wow, her people was destroyed and her lover abandoned her. Then tragically she is barely present for the rest of the story.

What a shame.

Quina

I actually really appreciate Quina, he knows what he wants, and he doesn't deviate from that. He is some easy comic relief. I particularly appreciate how he is used in the story. The writers were very wise to keep him out of any plot moments that were too serious or significant.

Eiko

Eiko's obsession with Zidane is cute and characteristic of a girl her age. She is fun and her moogle friends work great with her character.

She is the other feminine character in the party and likewise is able to connect with Garnet in a unique way.

Amarant

This guy has crazy hair and should not have been included in the game. He is a sourpuss whenever he talks and has no redeeming factors. Not a lot of change and growth in him, as even towards the end of the game his allegiance to the party is loose at best.

Kuja

Let me start off by saying this character's appearance was confusing, but in a good way. He is a unique male villain with many feminine properties. I'm just not sure if I was supposed to be attracted to him.

As a villain he had some good moments. He was mysterious yet held great power. But in the end his motives were often not fleshed out, and his final state just didn't seem that powerful.

Conclusion

So there you have it, I hope you enjoyed my review of Final Fantasy IX. The next game on the list is the esteemed Final Fantasy VII. I've never finished it, so we'll see if that game truly is a competitor for the best in the series.