Final Fantasy IX
Description official descriptions
Final Fantasy IX tells the story of Zidane, the member of a team of theater actors who also happen to be a gang of thieves, and Garnet, the princess of Alexandria. Zidane and his buddies first plan to kidnap Garnet from her mother's palace. But shortly after the kidnapping, they realize the queen of Alexandria is up to something evil. Zidane, the princess, and other characters they encounter on their journey decide to join forces and find out what can possibly drive the queen to commit her cruel deeds.
The game's visual style is similar to the previous entry in the Final Fantasy series, with 3D character models, world map, and battle stages, pre-rendered backgrounds in individual locations, and CG cutscenes that advance the story. However, from the point of view of overall atmosphere and gameplay, the game tends to resemble older installments more. Like in Final Fantasy IV, each character belongs to a specific class (e.g. thief, black mage, summoner, etc.) which cannot be changed, having his or her own unique abilities. Combat utilizes the series' trademark ATB (active-time battle) system. Battles allow for the participation of four player-controlled characters. The player is able to choose these from a larger amount of available characters during later parts of the game.
Character abilities (magic spells, immunity to certain status changes, etc.) are contained within weapons and armor. Each of these allows the player to learn one or more abilities by equipping the item on a character and continuously participating in battles. Ability points are awarded after battles along with experience points, gradually filling the ability bar of the equipped part. Once the bar is full, the ability can be used by the character even after the equipment that allowed him or her to learn it has been removed.
The card mini-game from the previous installment is now called Tetra Master and is featured more prominently. Cards are now placed on a 4x4 grid and can attack other cards on diagonals as well as cardinal directions. Cards no longer have set stats, and instead have a range of values and arrow positions, making every card unique. Regional rule variations are gone, but at the start of every match one to five positions on the grid will be blacked out, changing the player's offensive and defensive strategies with every game.
Spellings
- ăăąă€ăă«ăăĄăłăżăžăŒïŒ©ïŒž - Japanese spelling
- æç»ćč»æł9 - Chinese spelling
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Credits (PlayStation version)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 90% (based on 75 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.3 out of 5 (based on 227 ratings with 8 reviews)
The Good
The beginning of the game is wonderful: Final Fantasy IX fascinates with a very atmospheric fairytale setting. Every part - the backgrounds, the character graphics and the sound - supports it very well. The dialogue has much more humor than the two predecessors and sometimes I almost had the feeling I'm playing a comedy game. Not every gag is a winner and the silliness becomes overwhelming at times, but I still enjoyed it because it fits the atmosphere and setting well. The characters, with exception of one comic relief character which didn't work for me at all, are sympathetic and their dialogue is good enough.
The battle system is the standard ATB fare, but thankfully with four team members again. It offers no surprises at all and, because of the manageable random encounter rates, never becomes annoying. The character system has a new angle: now the characters learn abilities through the equipment they wear. If the piece of equipment is worn long enough, the abilities can be chosen even if the equipment is changed. I enjoyed this system because it creates an interesting trade-off: should I use a better weapon for the extra damage or do I keep the old one because I want to use its abilities?
FFIV is the most linear Final Fantasy so far. Of course there is a lot of uninteresting side content to explore, but the destination and the party composition is fixed for the vast majority of the game. However, since the plot is well thought out (up to a certain point) and the pacing is relatively fast, I don't consider this a negative point.
The Bad
There was one exact moment when my positive impression changed: towards the end of the game, the player visits a mysterious new world called Terra. Here the story became idiotic and esoteric hogwash. It completely lost me and I instantly stopped caring about the world and its characters - which is a shame because the combat started to become more interesting and challenging. It all accumulates with an annoying boss fight (the party can instantly lose it when the random number generator doesn't go their way), a stupid ending and a completely unsatisfied player.
Otherwise my biggest complaint are the too long animations, especially the summoning spells during battles. However, the most annoying instance is saving the game: instead of just standing on a save point and entering the menu, the player has to endure a long animation of a Moogle dancing around. In this version this point is mitigated by a comfortable auto save which kicks in after every screen change, though.
The Bottom Line
The majority of the game is very good and refreshing change compared to its two predecessors. If Square didn't flunk the ending so badly, it would have potential to become the best Final Fantasy. As it stands, it is still a worthwhile play, but can't hold a candle to Final Fantasy VI.
Windows · by Patrick Bregger (305452) · 2021
Simply Unforgettable for all Reasons.
The Good
I haven't played many FF games but I was kind of amazed at how you could have 4 people in your party. I found it quite interesting. What I also found interesting are the stories they tell. (Gaia, Eidolons etc.) They are truly fascinating. This game is also humorous. I haven't seen much humor in FF games in a long time. The characters are amazing and they have some pretty cool background stories. They all look very neat and clean and they all have interesting names I just kept saying in my head over and over and over. One enemy in particular is very interesting. He seems very nice and all of the sudden he blows up a city or 2. That took me by surprise.
The Bad
While the characters do look neat and stuff, they all look like little children. Garnet is supposedly 16 but she looks more like a 12 year old. When I first put in this game, I said "Oh my gosh...they're all little kids!" I would've stayed with that too until they said Garnet was 16 so then I assumed they had to be teenagers. Now to some of my other problems with this game. This game is fun and all but it doesn't have a realistic touch like the other ones. In fact, this one is like those old cartoons where one person runs right pass another person and the person who was just ran by spins around in circles. That happens a lot in this game.
The Bottom Line
This is a very fun game to play. Go out and try to get the game.
PlayStation · by Rey Mysterio (23) · 2004
Roll for initiative, monkey boy!
The Good
Born in an age of technical limitations, Final Fantasy borrowed elements of classic Western RPGs of its time and turned their slightly repetitive epic deeds into more personal affairs with players feeling attached to their avatars through more than their stats and gear. Its often soap-operatic quality aside, the drama that shone through even in the earliest instalments has persisted, mixing it with humour and the spirit of adventure, but never quite belying its video game roots.
Final Fantasy IX came after the first two PlayStation instalments which not only marked the seriesâ change to a new hardware generation allowing for a much more cinematic story experience. Final Fantasy VII and VIII also veered drastically from their predecessorsâ plots and settings by being darker and more futuristic. However, instead of trying to top the modernism of VII and the graphic realism of VIII, IX makes an almost 180° turn and celebrates everything that was quaint (and corny) about the classics 8 and 16-bit Fantasies. Its renewal of time-honoured traditions, game mechanics and also clichĂ©s feels strangely fresh and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchiâs guts to create such an anachronistic game must be admired, especially considering IX was originally meant to be a âgaidenâ spin-off to the main series. However, a return to what first made the series great in this case doesnât mean a degeneration of an early 21st century game to gameplay and characters from two decades ago.
Final Fantasy IX is set in a medieval fantasy world in which colourful monsters still roam the countryside freely. It even allows for some mild technological advances from other ages, such as steam power, to add plot elements to the upcoming adventure. So far, so classic. The graphics are as in the preceding games a combination of real-time rendered 3D characters and animated, pre-rendered backgrounds. The overall art style is colourful, whimsical and cartoony, populated by people with slightly over-sized heads (perhaps a nod to the 2D sprite graphics of the series) and the odd anthropomorphic animals wandering around as ordinary citizens. (Not to mention series staples like moogles and chocobos!) Pre-rendered FMVs tell especially dramatic events and donât fall short of the technical quality of the cutscenes in Final Fantasy VIII. The adventure starts when a band of roguish bandits under the name of Tantalus gets hired to kidnap princess Garnet Til Alexandros of Alexandria. Already some changes to past formulas are noticeable because the kidnappersâ field agent isnât a run-off-the-mill adventurer or moody mercenary. One Zidane Tribal by (default) name, players are instead introduced to an impish boy with a monkey tail and the bravado of a teenage Errol Flynn. As if that wasnât enough, the plot takes off on an unusually humorous note as Tantalus bumble their way through the kidnapping under the cover of a courtly theatre festival. All eventually comes to an end when not only the princess unexpectedly request her kidnappers to whisk her away while her comically fussy protector, Adelbert Steiner, tries to intervene. Her wrath incurred, Alexandriaâs vile-looking queen Brahne tries to stop the getaway of the involved in a way demonstrating a startling disregard for her daughterâs safety. One airship crash-landing later, bandits, princess, knight protector and an innocent black mage bystander who got dragged along find themselves trapped in a magical forest. It is there that after the vibrant prelude the classic RPG mechanics fully take off: party formation, exploration and combat. Final Fantasy IX strays from the previous two gamesâ convention by allowing players to field four party members at a time instead of three. Combat plays out using the seriesâ innovative ATB system in which enemies and party members take it in turns to act once their individual time gauges are filled. Instead of allowing character customisation through classes or jobs, Final Fantasy IX establishes well-imagined personalities whose defining abilities adhere to their backstories and advances during the story. It is, however, possible to outfit them not only with the standard RPG gear of weapons, armour and assorted stat-boosting trinkets. Similar to the job system of Final Fantasy V, most equipped gear grants the characters special abilities which can be learned to be wielded indefinitely over time.
The continuative story turns of Final Fantasy IX are perhaps not the most original in the series, revolving around queen Brahneâs attempts to conquer her neighbouring kingdoms with the help of an effeminate arms dealer named Kuja. True to Final Fantasy tradition and clichĂ©, however, the person who seems to be the root of all evil is seldom more than a puppet behind who an even more powerful mastermind eventually manifests.
Apart from its pleasantly whimsical world, Final Fantasy IX derives a great deal of its appeal from the main charactersâ personalities. Almost all have deeper motivations and dilemmas they are facing which are well balanced with the funnier aspects of their characters: Zidane, a thief by profession, is boisterously boyish and philandering, yet has problems admitting his deeper feelings for his leading lady Garnet. Garnet, a white mage, struggles with the huge responsibilities of her future rule and being the last of the summoners known as espers. Her guardian Steiner is duteous and stubborn to a fault but must ask himself whether his sometimes misguided sense of responsibility is the only trait defining his character. The partyâs painfully shy and clumsy black mage Vivi makes some startling discoveries about his origins and questions the very purpose of his existence while the dragoon Freiaâs search for her missing lover and loss of her peopleâs home at the hands of villains she canât fight make her question the worth of her knightly lifestyle. The team roster is completed by gluttonous blue mage Quina, taciturn bounty hunter Amarant and Eiko, a cheeky six-year old with mystic powers not unlike Garnetâs. Although the various characters arenât always deep by themselves, thereâs an undeniable chemistry between them, be it Steinerâs obsequiousness towards Garnet and Vivi and his disdain for Zidane or Eikoâs crush on Zidane and bossy attitude towards an easily intimidated Vivi.
The Bad
Ironically true to its concept of âback to the rootsâ, the problems Final Fantasy IX has have plagued the series since its beginnings - and by extension the whole JRPG genre. Like most Final Fantasies and spin-offs, IX is an almost thoroughly linear affair with little character customisation, side quests or important, plot-altering decisions the player can make. Whoever dislikes random battles wonât be too pleased with the game, either, but such people are generally not advised to play console role-playing games. On top of that, however, the battles in IX feel a little more sluggish than in other parts of the series. Time gauges fill up slowly and the game takes almost over ten seconds to switch to its battle screen. Thatâs ten seconds wasted waiting before every encounter. Levelling isnât hampered too much by this as the XP rewards are adequate. On that note, it seems odd that defeating boss enemies doesnât give the party any experience points at all.
Although the cities players can visit are full of people going about their daily business, most prolonged stays can bring the game to a halt as some time may be spent searching for manipulable hot spots or approaching people to hear them spout single-sentence inanities about their personal lives or giving useless advice.
Although the gameâs characters are one of its definite highlights, not all are brilliant. The thoroughly weird Quina features interesting blue mage abilities but in the story is little more than a comic relief. Girly girl Eiko can be a little grating and Amarant seems like a character haphazardly written into the plot so someone could fill the traditional gambler/ninja class. Many fansâ main gripe is with the villain Kuja, and for a reason. The almost painfully androgynous, swaggering pretty-boy appears to channel the most obnoxious qualities of the JRPG genreâs youthfully arrogant antagonists. Being the mere compilation of stereotypes and bad clichĂ©s that he is, itâs hard to take him too seriously in spite of his ruthless deeds.
The Bottom Line
I admit to having an ambiguous relationship with the Final Fantasy series. As a video game phenomenon I find it deeply interesting even though I find many of its core mechanics simplistic or downright annoying. All in all it must be acknowledged that several of its concepts have been of an unmistakable gain to video games as a storytelling medium.
Final Fantasy IX plays like a revue of past things positive and negative of the series, yet with the enhanced technology of the newer console generations. It is whimsical and light-hearted, perhaps not as appealing as Square gem Chrono Trigger but overall in the same line. Having played I, II, IV, V, VI and X, I can honestly say IX is my personal favourite. It is refreshingly free of overly lofty heroes or simplistic game mechanics that get artificially complicated (e.g. junctioning or the sphere grid), yet gaudy and sometimes even trite in an amiable, nostalgic way.
PlayStation · by Kit Simmons (249) · 2009
Trivia
1001 Video Games
The PS1 version of Final Fantasy IX appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Cancelled PC port
Final Fantasy IX, like FFVII, and FFVIII, was to be ported to the PC. However due to poor sales, of Final Fantasy VIII for the PC, the PC version was aborted.
References
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During a visit to one of the villages is a store. When you walk in there should be a boy talking about a huge blade being used by someone with blond hair. Brief mention of Cloud right there!
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The name of the main character, rendered as Zidane in the English translated version, is another reference (along with Citan Uzuki from Xenogears) to Dr. Gitanes, the protagonist of Square's very first game, The Death Trap.
Zidane
Because "Zidane" is the name of the most famous french soccer player at the time, the "Zidane" character has been renamed "Djidane" in the French version.
Awards
- Game Informer
- August 2001 (issue 100) - #43 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
Information also contributed by MasterMegid, PCGamer77, Rey Mysterio, Unicorn Lynx
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Related Sites +
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FF-Fan
A fansite that offers all kinds of information on the entire Final Fantasy franchise, including walkthroughs, game media, discussion boards and fan art. -
Final Fantasy Extreme
Site that contains movies, wallpaper, codes, guides, walkthroughs, and general information on the Final Fantasy series. -
Hint file for FF9
Question and answer format will help you solve the game. -
OC ReMix Game Profile
Fan remixes of music from Final Fantasy IX. -
Something Awful review
A humorous review on Something Awful (PlayStation version) -
Wikipedia: Final Fantasy IX
Information about Final Fantasy IX at Wikipedia
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Grant McLellan.
Xbox One added by Cantillon. PSP, PlayStation 3 added by Caelestis. PlayStation 4 added by mars_rulez. iPhone, iPad, Android, PS Vita added by GTramp. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. PlayStation Now, Windows added by Sciere. Windows Apps added by Kabushi.
Additional contributors: MAT, Xa4, Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, Jeanne, DreinIX, â-, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, MobyReed, FatherJack.
Game added April 2, 2001. Last modified October 28, 2024.