So we all know FFIX is the best, but why? I can't figure out what makes it SO good.

The music, the story, the gameplay, the graphics(for an original PS1 game) the drama, the FMV's the battles. The trance-crazyness. The scenary and backgrounds were all amazing. Its flows perfectly. good anf fun sidequests. A crazy fun Card game, even if it doesnt matter if you get them all or not.

Only bad thing were the characters appearances. If they didnt look so kiddish it would have been the best FF ever, better than 7.

the characters the game play the graphics the story line the god damn amazingness of the whole bloody thing!!
it whoppped ass!

the best story line out of all the ff games!! it flows the best and feels the most natural.

its fun...

the characters look cool and it doesnt have real talking, i hate that

the way that everyone in the game had their own story and the game actual went into their seperate storys

oh and

VIVI

its fun...


Thats informative.

I prefered ff9 to ff7 due to the characters and also i enjoyed the trance systems as well.

Yea.... FF9 is way better than FF7. Trance is awesome

the reason it is loved so is because it is everything you want out of fantasy but with a twist that doesnt suit the charecters and scenery

but it works

The music, the story, the gameplay, the graphics(for an original PS1 game) the drama, the FMV's the battles. The trance-crazyness. The scenary and backgrounds were all amazing. Its flows perfectly. good anf fun sidequests. A crazy fun Card game, even if it doesnt matter if you get them all or not.

Only bad thing were the characters appearances. If they didnt look so kiddish it would have been the best FF ever, better than 7.

I say it is better than VII.
Everything else I agree with.

For me, what makes it REALLY good is that it's a return to the old school FF games. like it has been said each character has their own story and it gets explained (taken from FFIII american. i've just been playin that one), the trance system is neat and i like how the characters glow (?) when they're in trance and all the references to old school.
(i.e. King Ed Plains = Edward from FFIII american, Terra = a character in FFIII and i think a place in a few other ones (not sure), Zidane being a flirt and falling for a white mage = Locke/Celes and Locke/Terra (FFIII american) and Cecil/Rosa (FFII american))

well i dont think ff9 is close to the best but i do love it. And its not the story that is its strong point and I realy dont lie the battle system but I do think ff9 has some of the best characters out of all the final fantasies. The characters I will remember for long after I finished this game so thats why I like it.

Yea.... FF9 is way better than FF7. Trance is awesome
BLASPHAMY!!!

I did like having four party mmembers as apposed to just three. But FF9's ending was so CORNY...

Trance was not good, it was to random to be used stratigically.

People think that ff7 is the best because of the storyline but thats a load of absolute crud.people just cant be bothered to pay attention to the other ffs true genious.

People think that ff7 is the best because of the storyline but thats a load of absolute crud.people just cant be bothered to pay attention to the other ffs true genious.

BLASPHEMER!

Although your response was half true, the other FF were amazing in their own ways, FF7 is the king of FF's everyone knows that and going against it is BLASPHEMY!

Lol
Both 7 and 9 have good points to them...
7 has a great storyline, good character development and more..
9 has a better battle system in my opinion, better ability learning (Materia idea in 7 wasnt very good in my opinion) More and better extra activites and secrets
Both are better than the other one in different ways,
But they are the best 2 by a long way

FF7 is not the king off FFs. Its just another FF in the series. If its your favorite its your opinion, not neccesarily the best.

Well.... Ill have to go with FFVII being the best Final Fanatasy game. (It did revolutionize rpg gaming) But FFIX is definetly in second coming close to VII.
It has a great storyline with many twists and turns. I personally like the scenery and backrounds in IX best out of all the FFs. ATE were a great idea. And I of course love the characters. A bit more comedy than VII which was good and more of a love story as well. The materia system out did FFIXs battle system though. There both great games!!! Love em....

Well.... Ill have to go with FFVII being the best Final Fanatasy game. (It did revolutionize rpg gaming)

Hardly. There had been 3D games before and there were other 3D RPGs in development. It was just standard console evolution, which is about as revolutionary as a new Coca-Cola flavor.

Well.... Ill have to go with FFVII being the best Final Fanatasy game. (It did revolutionize rpg gaming)

Just because it did things that hadn't been done before and so on and so forth doesn't mean that it's a good game. it's got crappy graphics tbh at the time they were the best, but now they suck ass. it's story sucks ass in a general sense and the characters weren't that believible. it all leaves a lot to be desired.

FFIX on teh other hand has great plot and characters. the graphics weren't pushing the technology at the time so didn't look weird like in both VII and VIII. accept the ending was a little corny, but then what do you expect?

Hardly. There had been 3D games before and there were other 3D RPGs in development. It was just standard console evolution, which is about as revolutionary as a new Coca-Cola flavor.

Prak you go too far. It was a revolution, not just for the console and the new 3D genre, but for FF games in general, it set the standards high for the first 3D FF game.

Bullshit. FFVII was a disgrace; an incomplete mish-mash of recycled concepts, forgettable characters, and cheap plot advancement.

Hardly. There had been 3D games before and there were other 3D RPGs in development. It was just standard console evolution, which is about as revolutionary as a new Coca-Cola flavor.
So?

I love my Coke with lime...


accept the ending was a little corny, but then what do you expect?
What do you expect?!?

How about a not-corny ending? Like the one from Legend of Dragoon... I love huge explosions...

The reason why i like it so much is the medieval fantasy beckground it is set, also the storyline is amazing, ignoring the fact that the last boss was a bit of a confusing twist, but other than that this game has everything i would want in a game. That is why it is my favourite game of all time :-D :-D

I loved the characters, especially Vivi. My aussie friend showed me the start of it with Vivi, and I was like nyah! must buy all FFs ever!

In fact FF9 is what started it for me.

The music, the story, the gameplay, the graphics(for an original PS1 game) the drama, the FMV's the battles. The trance-crazyness. The scenary and backgrounds were all amazing. Its flows perfectly. good anf fun sidequests. A crazy fun Card game, even if it doesnt matter if you get them all or not.

Only bad thing were the characters appearances. If they didnt look so kiddish it would have been the best FF ever, better than 7.
All FF's have those exept maybe the card game. Personally I thought the game really sucked until the end. It started picking up after the "Your no alone" scene which is too late in a game to make any real impressions. Finally I must say that I was more impressed with FF7 because of the "characters appearances" and the whole game was fun. It started out with some good action and kept you playing through the whole game.

i liked 9 alot.. i think it was very the storyline dramatic, n i luved the card game 2

I actually didn't like the card game as much as 8's. 9 has been my fav ever since i got it. And you know what...I have absolutely no idea why. I was always determined to keep playing it and finishing it whenever i got to a hard bit.
Also lately it has been tied with 8. So i think 8 is becoming my recent favourite. I dunno, I keep changing my mind =-O

FF9 one of my favouites. It has good music, hell they all do, but there was this one tune in FF9 that always make me wanna play it- i think it stands out from most other FF games(apart from ff10-2)
One of my fav songs from FF9. (http://www.geocities.com/doofusmusic9/FF9YoureNotAlone4piano.html)
u need speakers btw
ofcourse it sounds a little better in game- that site dosent use the right instruments etc.
Also, the characters seem real- i know what u say prak about the characters being crap in FF7- i think i can see that now. A lota emotion in this game as well.

Because FInal Fantasy 7 sucked compared to 9. I mean seriously. It sucked compared to 9. Don't lie to yourself or anyone. You know it's true.

I say, VIVI = Best Black Mage ever!! and FF9, is a Rocking game!

Because FInal Fantasy 7 sucked compared to 9. I mean seriously. It sucked compared to 9. Don't lie to yourself or anyone. You know it's true.
it cuz 9 was a newer game than 7!

All FF's have those exept maybe the card game. Personally I thought the game really sucked until the end. It started picking up after the "Your no alone" scene which is too late in a game to make any real impressions. Finally I must say that I was more impressed with FF7 because of the "characters appearances" and the whole game was fun. It started out with some good action and kept you playing through the whole game.
character appearances? are you serious?? Yuffie joins just cause she wants to!!!!there is no reason, she is just like "hmm, hi, you are traveling, i need to stretch my legs, so i'll join you!"

yes, 9 does rock, and the ending was not corny, i loved it!! it wrapped things up well, and it brought the love story full circle(i love love stories). 9 was so awesome!! i loved it. i can't really explain why. i just loved the game in it's entirety

Reasons as to why FFIX was not a good FF:

To start off, the characters animation was all chibi status (not healthy for my eyes). Each character played this expected role, Like Zidane as a likeable hero and Dagger as the damsal in distress. While their personalities had no depth, the other characters didnt add much to progress the story either, or to build depth into it either.

The story line. The only thing that fully satisfied me was the fact that they didnt leave any loose ends. But, hey, I dont know, I was able to figure things out on my own.. so in short, the story was obvious (it happens to the best of FF's so *shrugs*)

Trance annoyed me, not only could you not use it for other battles, but it turned your character this pink that hurt my eyes. :whatever: It also happened to royally suck when you couldnt use trance after they died and you revived them either.

what more? the system of weapons and equipping them and the such didnt bother me too much. to equip stats did, because whenever you really really needed one stat you had to like take off 10 other stats just to get that one stat. not cool.

and those are my reasons as to why, I didnt like FF9

Trance annoyed me, not only could you not use it for other battles, but it turned your character this pink that hurt my eyes. :whatever: It also happened to royally suck when you couldnt use trance after they died and you revived them either.

what more? the system of weapons and equipping them and the such didnt bother me too much. to equip stats did, because whenever you really really needed one stat you had to like take off 10 other stats just to get that one stat. not cool.

and those are my reasons as to why, I didnt like FF9
yes, the trance thing was annoying, but kinda realistic(in a way). like, trance is when they get worked up in battle and get (angry?). so, after the battle, it makes sense that they would lose the trance, because they lost all the emotion from the fight. although, kuja stays in trance for a LONG time, so, it's kinda unfair.

i don't understand what you are trying to say about the stats thing

How you always had to unplug one stat to gain the option for more.

..............like, on the abilities thing?

yes

I agree that Trance sucked. And I disliked the ability system but I loved the characters personalities. What do you mean that they had no personality?

I agree that Trance sucked. And I disliked the ability system but I loved the characters personalities. What do you mean that they had no personality?

I ment that they didnt go any further than what the story allowed them to go. They just didnt have any complexity

Complexity? What do you mean?

Like, there wasnt anything else to them than what was given. You can further inquire about their past or their mental standing or their emotions or anything.

or maybe, I am looking for too much in a game.

who knows?

detonate.. NICE TUNE!!!

I agree with Solaris, what is the development of Quina's story, s/he remains he same, Eiko too, the only development is the madeen part, Freya just a little bit, Amarant, what the hell do we learn about Amarant, Zidane knows he is from another planet and he is kuja's brother, so nice..., the only in-depht story is the one of Vivi, we learn his fears, he's problems, to me he is the most complex character, Steiner gets nicer and falls for Beatrix, and Dagger is like Yuna, shy but stuborn, Vivi rocks!!!

Good point there, Vivi is the only one that actually has some depth to his character.

yeah..............solaris, why did you change your avatar? i liked the other one(what was it again?)

this isnt the place to post that question lol

my other avatar? the one with raven on it?

Actualy i would like more if it had more it had more briefing about all characters
1.Zidane more about hes past and about hes memories
2.Garnet more about her parents
3.Vivi where did he came from??
4.Quina what are you :P
5.Amarant who and where you from?
6.Eiko more memories about her parents and about the summoners village
7.Steiner more about hes memories also
8.Freya past and more about her memories

Well i like if the FF where more <corect>about the characters story
P.S FF Rules =)

Because FInal Fantasy 7 sucked compared to 9. I mean seriously. It sucked compared to 9. Don't lie to yourself or anyone. You know it's true.

for once i agree with you. wise words from a wise curry.

i dunno i thought that FFIX was fairly simple to play and beat but I did like the storyline

omg!!! ff9 is my favorite game out of the other ff games i've played so far!! its has really good graphics, the best music, a great storyline, and really cool characters!! everything in that game is awesome!!

Meh I grew to love it at the end.

i think the reason it's so good is because the right mix of charecters that bring the light, and the dark out of eachother, showing us them, plus it's a diffrent kind of style than 7, 8, and any other

No the style is a comeback of the old Medieval style of the first ones, anyway i have beaten it once more, and i like it more than before but i stoill think that the chibi characters, and miss of in-depht to teh characters was bad

You must be nuts. What's wrong with the somewhat whimsical character designs? It was okay for the older games, so it's stupid to find fault with it unless you somehow think that the FF series is defined by 7 & 8, which is also remarkably stupid.

As for character depth, it had plenty of that, especially compared to the previous two games.

it is a great game. unfortunatly it is the least celebrated of the ff games on ps1. I think it should have gotten more limelight. the only thing wrong with it is that the characters, or some of them, lacked inmagination

Well i must say i can't decide if i prefer FF9 to FF7. They are definately the best two though. I'm glad someone made this topic.

Basically FF9 is better, the characters are fantastic creations and the art style through out is brilliant even thought i love the style in ff7 too but the characters were just japanese anime in 7.

Square made one game before FF7 on the ps1, and that was Tobal no.1.
FF9 was their last game on the ps1. So 9 benefits from their experience with using the ps1 (1996-2001) thats nearly 5 years of experience they put toward FF9. Also they learned from 8 that people want to play a fantasy game without realistic characters (well i do anyway) and that junctioning is too complicated and we wanted a more 'materia' like skills system.

Well FF9 isnt perfect, it suffers from the old technology a bit. Low framerates on the world map and slow as heck battles, but i'm pleased they managed to push the good ol' ps1 so hard and make the game look as good as it does.

If FF9 came before FF7 it would be my favourite game ever as it is I can't decide because they're both SO good. Thank you Square.

FFIX is the best, NOT FFVII. I've explained before why FFVII isn't the best, but I'll recap.

Cloud is the worst (as in the opposite of best) protagonist I have ever seen, and once the "cool factor" wears off of Sephiroth, he isn't much better. The last, oh...third of the story is insanely muddled, and the ending was total crap. Let's also not forget that, despite its muddled-ness, FFVII was a pot shot taken at western culture as a whole.

As much as I like to bash FFVII, this thread's about FFIX's awesomeness. So here goes. Nearly all the charries in FFIX "develop," with the exception of Quina, so far as I know. S/he's merely comic relief, in case some of us haven't figured that out. FFIX's music (along with VI) is the best in the series. Also, there is no guaranteed "Ownage" abilites, outside of the trance skills (I thought they were great-I spent too much time before bosses maxing limits, overdrives, and stocking auras), with the exception of the Reflect x2/Flare. But in order to do that, one must nerf Vivi by using the majority of his ability points on Reflectx2 and Auto-reflect. And even then, one must rely on items to heal him, as opposed to spamming Curaga or Auto-Regen. As corny as FFIX's ending was, it was still great-it tied up loose ends, it was fun (like the entire game), and I cheered when Zidane tossed that cloak off, thank you.

The first ff game I ever playerd was ffIX. It'S that one that made me love Final fantasy. I never actually played ffVII and it's not because I don't want to. I just can't find it out!! So I cannot say which is the best but why doesn'T square enix make a movie with ffix like ffvii (advent children). Seriously, I think there's much more thing to do with ffix than ffvii in my opinion. BUT IT'S only MY OPINION... To aswer why ffix is the best game (which is the topic of that thread) I think it'S because of its atmosphere. How I would so much love living in a world exactly like ffix's world. It looks so peaceful. And I really loved the ability system in which you had to own the magical objet in order to learn the ability. the fact that we had to search throughout the world to find those. This system has been deleted from the following ffs and that really disapointed me. Personllay, I played it 6 times and I think I would like to play it again. The graphics are awesome! they outstrip even some ps2 games! and that's why I think ffix was the best game ever. I don't say ffvii was bad, it's just that I don'T have any idea! And ffx and x-2 were awesome too but not as awesome as ffix and I think everyone here agree with me on that.

The first ff game I ever playerd was ffIX. It'S that one that made me love Final fantasy. I never actually player ffVII and it's not because I don't want. I just can't find it!! So I cannot say which was the best but why square doesn'T make a movie with ffix instead of ffvii. Seriously, I think there's much more thing to do with ffix than ffvii in my opinion. BUT IT'S JUST MY OPINION... To aswer why ffix is the best game (whick is the topic of that thread) I think it'S because of its atmosphere. How I would so love living in a world exactly like the ffix world. It looks so peaceful. And I really loved the ability system in which you had to own the magical objet in order to learn the ability. the fact that we had to search throughout the world to find it. This system has been deleted from the next ffs and that really disapointed me. Personllay, I played it 6 times and I think I would like to play it again. The graphics are awesome! they outstrip even some ps2 games! and that's why I think ffix was the best game ever. I don't say ffvii was bad, it's just that I don'T have any idea! And ffx and x-2 were awesome too but not as awesome as ffix.


how can you then say why square shouldnt make a movie over FF7 if you havent even played the game? even though, I disagree though, FF9 doesnt need a movie, the ending pretty much resolved the game pretty well.

I did not say that. I just said that they should also make a mivie about it.

But there'S one thing I did not like in ff9; trances.
somehow, only zidane's trance was cool. The other characters trances were only double casting or simply they did nothing special whatsoever.

I liked the trances, they took a good long time to 'charge,' and with the exception of Zidane's, they weren't THAT powerful, which I think is good. FFVII, VIII, and X bosses were made much easier by powering limits, overdrives, and stocking Aura spells. Before FFVII, there weren't limit breaks or anything like that to rely on. (If THAT doesn't sound like a "back in my day, we'd walk three miles to school in the snow!" speeches...)

I liked the trances, they took a good long time to 'charge,' and with the exception of Zidane's, they weren't THAT powerful, which I think is good. FFVII, VIII, and X bosses were made much easier by powering limits, overdrives, and stocking Aura spells. Before FFVII, there weren't limit breaks or anything like that to rely on. (If THAT doesn't sound like a "back in my day, we'd walk three miles to school in the snow!" speeches...)



final fantasy 8 didnt over do it with its limit breaks either. I just thought it was a waste how some of the characters had useless trances, and you couldnt even save it for afterwards.

It was really good.For me,it was the graphics,the relationship between Dagger and Zidane,the music and the storyline. :)

the thing I loved from FF9 was all the references to FF1-8.... And the Crystal!

final fantasy 8 didnt over do it with its limit breaks either. I just thought it was a waste how some of the characters had useless trances, and you couldnt even save it for afterwards.

That's the POINT of the trances, that you DON'T save them like in FFVII, VIII, and X. VIII overdid them, b/c you could have three charries spamming Limits in one round, with Triple and Aura. FFX overdid them b/c they were wicked easy to charge, and having Yuna charged, then charging her Aeons for maximum spammage took care of a good many bosses.

So far as gameplay goes, in FFVII, VIII, and X, there was no real party-building. What I mean is, with GF's, Materia, and the mid-battle switching (which was a great feature), you didn't really have to put any thought into what party you had. I never did, at any rate, and I never had problems getting past anything (granted, I never bothered with the Weapons in FFVII, but I did bother with Omega Weapon in FFVIII-I wound up with four or five lvl 100 charries.) My first time through FFIX, I spent a little bit of time playing with party set-ups, and for Necron, I believe I used Zidane, Vivi, Eiko, and Garnet. It wasn't THAT challenging (though I did need to revive folks-more than what I can say for Sephy or Ultemecia...sp?).

Ultimecia*

But FFVIII's limit breaks weren't overdone. If anything, you had to have your character in very low levels to actually get their limit breaks. Also, the effect of Aura is usually short. It does become quite a nuisance when you have to constanly Aura your characters just so they can get their limit breaks once or even twice throughout the entire effect.

FFIX's trances either were worthless and many of them, even to this point, I still do not know their full effect. At least you knew what you were dealing with (like what the limit breaks power was). To say the least, I only liked Zidane's limit break because it was the strongest and the only one which I understood what I was using. I actually did have some trouble building my own characters in 10, because if you took the time, the game becomes harder when you try to achieve every character to his/her perfection.

Try the weapons in FFVII, to say the least, they do require a bit of strategy.

I think that you mean it's so bad that it's okay.

What kind of idiotic remark was that? Stop polluting every thread you touch with random jackassery.

I guess for 8 and 9 something new had to be done, they can't keep the limit brake from 7 even if you think 7's was the best you have to change it in the next game.

i think its the coolest because the storyline is amazing and i like the trance system

Just because it did things that hadn't been done before and so on and so forth doesn't mean that it's a good game. it's got crappy graphics tbh at the time they were the best, but now they suck ass. it's story sucks ass in a general sense and the characters weren't that believible. it all leaves a lot to be desired.

FFIX on teh other hand has great plot and characters. the graphics weren't pushing the technology at the time so didn't look weird like in both VII and VIII. accept the ending was a little corny, but then what do you expect?


7's biggest flaw was its grapics. but i would agree with most...its by far the best. (IMO)

the only thing thats bad graphically in 7 is the field character models and the odd battle model.
you can't expect 7 to be on par with 9 because they are about 5 years apart, and square surely improved their inhouse technology and got better with the psone.

Oh great. So now this thread has been overrun by retarded FFVII fanboy ranting.

Final fantasy 9 is the best because of the characters and the great story to it

well..alot of these comments i feel are true and some are just rants..but i like IX because yes..the story and the worldly atmosphere(medieval, gradual transition from hoofing to air travel, unique characters). but about the story..it does leave something to be desired when u want to know everything about the characters, but then it would make the game considerably more drawn out than it already is..as far as comparing IX with VII
---(was it this forum someone was talking about VII being a potshot against western culture?)..i don't remember the name of the game..but when i was walking through a best buy browsing the game section..there was this samurai game that had three characters on the front one of which looked remarkably like Zack..but a tad sloppy..or..westernized i guess lol..but this character had the purple sleeveless top and slacks and pistol belt..black spiky hair and body of cloud/zack..or just plain japanese..but it was sickening..which is why i don't know much about this game(ignorance is bliss) and why the explicit dialogue..feel free to comment :>---
where did the "chibbi characters" comment come from..yes they're not ffVIII long-legged SeeD but not totally chibi..imho..anyway..IX is great..

what more? the system of weapons and equipping them and the such didnt bother me too much. to equip stats did, because whenever you really really needed one stat you had to like take off 10 other stats just to get that one stat. not cool...trading certain ones to boost another..one way this could go is if you're trying to gain the best abilities to finish the game in twelve hours for ExcaliburII and have to sacrifice stats over abilities in certain periods of the game or for example the jade armlet..takes every point away from magic evade i think it is..and boosts magic defense outrageously..but then there's ribbon and extension that boost every stat comfortably..and i'll stop..IX rules

It was like an old school ff with good graphics.
It had an excellent story
The coolest Airships ever to grace FF.
There were seperate stories for each character. Each story interlinking at some point of the game. Very deep stuff.
It had Kuja!!

its got good graphics,good storyline,good mingames,good characters and good music

Well i played it once more, and i have to say i really loved the game now, even tough i still think Amarant is a completely useless character and should stay as only a boss, i love the whole Life and Death story of the game, and i even love Necron apperance, the end was great and the gameplay is better than VIII and VII, i liked the fact that we get to travel quite a lot and the soundtrack is just amazing, i like the fact we don't have to relly on Eidolons , the characters really have some in-depht altough i feel Zidane could have some more development, the sidequests were fun and enjoyable things that are sometimes hard in sidequests(e.g the UFO Quest in VIII), The FMV are also very good, and well it's probably the second best FF only beaten by VI

Final Fantasy IX is the best becouse of characters(i like all of them even Quina) the great story line, the ability to choose your own names, the ability to travel around the world with airships or ships(something that x doesnt have), the gameplay, trances and its humor!

uh.. well... i like FFVII and nothing could change my mind!!

Not meanig to trash it, but I didn't like it too much. The characters were O.K. I guess it was the "magic" system where very few characters could use true magic. I would have like a magic system more like that of FFVIII. Not to say that it didn't have its problems, but it was more open-ended. The trances turned me off. I guess that you could say that the trances were very weird, and the fact that if you got stuck with, say Zidane in trance and you really needed to heal your characters, but you had 3 turns to use trance, it is not cool. The idea of trances being forced on you isn't my idea of a good system. Make what you want of this game, but the extreme "strictness" didn't seem "classic" to me.

I loved the magic system (or rather ability system) but thats just me.
The fact that only certain characters could use magic made it interesting and alot more like older FF's.
I just finished it again today, and I must say this time I attempted to do everything and I must say it is easily my most favourite FF to date.
What made it the best?
Trance, deep story, Characters, ending, music. Heaps. It was great.

I love FInal Fantasy 9 because of Zidane. Dude was just too cool. THere was no cheapness in this game. When you fought a boss, you had to think and use some strategy. But, I have to say...trance was uninteresting for a lot of characters. I mean, I like that it isnt overpowered...but double white magic? Double Black? Comon now, don't run out of ideas on me yet!

Now then someone said the Weapons in FF7 required strategy. WHAT SORT OF HORRIBLE DRUGS ARE YOU ON?!

Ruby Weapon vs Cloud (1vs1 none of that revive party members shit). Equip Mystile to have 99% chance of dodging Ultima counter attack. Kotr. MIME MIME MIME MIME MIME.

Emerald Weapon vs Party: Final attack +Revive. Kotr. MIME MIME MIME MIME MIME.

GREAT STRATEGY. Kotr Mime. Is that character Yuffi? No it's a mimer. MIME MIME MIME.

FF10

Tidus attacks...99,999 damage. GG.
Tidus uses limit break...99,999+ damage. GG to everything in the game. Lulu? Who used Lulu?! She cant do 99,999 damage PLUS.

FF8

Squall uses Limit Break. GG to everything in game.

Zindane uses Grand Lethal, his Ultimate Limit. 9999. Fight continues so you can at least realize there are other characters there.

peaceful melow music, amazin story, out of proportion charicters, great replay value an its just fun to play

Final Fantasy X-2 is the best, however, Final Fantasy IX is a very close second for me. Final Fantasy IX has tons of characters I like for a lot of reasons --- Eiko Carol, General Beatrix, Zidane Tribal, Captain Adelbert Steiner, Quina Quen and The Flaming Amarant. And most of the moogles are pretty neat too. Final Fantasy IX has some of the best music --- Melodies of Life and all of its variations, the various character theme, Skirmish of the Silver Dragons and many more. The chocobo sidequest is definitely 100% the best of any in all the games. There being two different airships is sweet too.

Iliked pretty much everythin about FFIX.

The only problems were:
Eilodons were weaker than some of the other characters normal attacks, which is stupid considerin the story revolves around summoning.

also i didnt really like the fact that the save points were moogles, but thats probably just me, also tents were rubbish.

(How can you think X-2 is the best!!!! What are you on?)

I didnt really like the fact that the save points were moogles, but thats probably just me, also tents were rubbish.
Moogles were good, but yes, saving at moogles was garbage. And yeah, Tents --- trash, especially since you had rest twice in one in this game to fully restore health.


(How can you think X-2 is the best!!!! What are you on?)
Nothing, but then again, you probably don't know FFX-2 like I do.

Well i played it once more, and i have to say i really loved the game now, even tough i still think Amarant is a completely useless character and should stay as only a boss,

WHAT ARE YOU INSANE!

Amarant was the absolute coolest character ever to grace the playing screen!
I loved that mystery about him! If you are going to call anyone useless, how about Quina! The only reason you ever get her is because she chases a frog and opens a path for you (if you do not adventure early in the quest and find her, or else you would get her sooner), but after that she just follows you around trying to make you wonder whether she is a male or female (thats her whole story). Clearly she is female! The "a" at the end of her name represents female expressionism( as apposed to "o"), she wears pink and light blue clothing, and MARRIES Vivi! Anyway, I still think Quina IS awesome and would never replace her for anything, but come on! Don't knock Amarant!

P.S. Nobody tell me that the Vivi/Quina marriage ment nothing and doesn't explain that Quina is a woman. That is EXACTLY what it explains. AND whoever keeps going around saying Vivi is a doll is a moron! Don't you know anything! Vivi is a Fourteen year old child. He is part of a race that looks much like humans...(without the hood of course) They also have glowing eyes when in shadows. Anyway that is for another time and place....Peace out!

P.S. Nobody tell me that the Vivi/Quina marriage ment nothing and doesn't explain that Quina is a woman.
The Vivi/Quina marriage "ment" nothing and doesn't explain that Quina is a woman.

And Vivi's not 14.

The Vivi/Quina marriage "ment" nothing and doesn't explain that Quina is a woman.

And Vivi's not 14.

The marriage itself may have meant nothing intimately, but it does explain howthey DID choose Quina because she is female.

And Vivi is in fact a teenager...

And you were right.... X-2 sucked anal cavity

The marriage itself may have meant nothing intimately, but it does explain howthey DID choose Quina because she is female.
Nobody chose Quina, they let hir marry Vivi because like anyone else, they can't tell head-or-tails what gender s/he is.


And Vivi is in fact a teenager...
Um, and your proof for this is? I mean, other than that stone-cold Alelluia_LOCKandLOAD said so?

Nobody chose Quina, they let hir marry Vivi because like anyone else, they can't tell head-or-tails what gender s/he is.

Oh, so Final Fantasy has gone potentially homosexual ??? Gimme a break!


Um, and your proof for this is? I mean, other than that stone-cold Alelluia_LOCKandLOAD said so?

Let's just say I do my research... (And don't start knocking my username mr. "Agent Double O 42" "O, shoopuf"???
w/e

Oh, so Final Fantasy has gone potentially homosexual ??? Gimme a break!
Not homosexual, asexual. As in Quina and her tribe don't really care about things like gender and gender is something that other people in FFIX's world attempt to impose upon hir, but it's outside hir frame or reference.


Let's just say I do my research...
Let's not just say it, let's see it. What research? Where's the proof that Vivi is 14?


(And don't start knocking my username mr. "Agent Double O 42" "O, shoopuf"???
I wasn't knocking your username, I was making a reference to the slogan of wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. I don't watch wrestling, but I thought it seemed appropriate.

sorry, but in my opinion ff9 sucked (sorry) but i didn't like the way the characters looked like.

it is said in game that Vivi is not much older than Eiko. And she is 6, right?

And I also agree with Dragoncurry, Zidane is such a likable character which is a nice change from most other ffgames, Infact all the characters are the most interesting since 6.

I wasn't knocking your username, I was making a reference to the slogan of wrestler "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. I don't watch wrestling, but I thought it seemed appropriate.


It has NOTHING to do with Stone Cold..... Wrestling sucks.....



And as for Vivi....

Play the game again... you should be able to put 2 & 2 together if you look closely at how he acts in the game and how others act towards him. But thats enough of that...

Not homosexual, asexual. As in Quina and her tribe don't really care about things like gender.

And also, Do you know what ptentially means? It means possibly. So what I was saying was "Are you saying final fantasy could be going possibly homosexual" as in, there is a chance.

And just like you questioning my output on Vivi, Why would you say that the Qu's don't care about gender? Where did you get this information?

Play the game again... you should be able to put 2 & 2 together if you look closely at how he acts in the game and how others act towards him. But thats enough of that...
Whatever, it's obvious you have no proof that Vivi is 14. How can he be? I'm not even sure where the idea that he's older than Eiko comes from. Didn't the black mages just start showing up not long before the events of the game started?


And just like you questioning my output on Vivi, Why would you say that the Qu's don't care about gender? Where did you get this information?
Logic. All Quina cares about is food, journeying and traveling with her friends. She couldn't give two cracks about things like gender. Do the math.

But, you know what? Never mind. You're obviously so convinced of the superiority of your own opinions that you're just ready to roll with them without any reasonable facts or proof to back them. Check your spelling before posting, do a little actual thinking, and come back when you're ready to be taken seriously.

Whatever, it's obvious you have no proof that Vivi is 14. How can he be? I'm not even sure where the idea that he's older than Eiko comes from. Didn't the black mages just start showing up not long before the events of the game started?


Logic. All Quina cares about is food, journeying and traveling with her friends. She couldn't give two cracks about things like gender. Do the math.

But, you know what? Never mind. You're obviously so convinced of the superiority of your own opinions that you're just ready to roll with them without any reasonable facts or proof to back them. Check your spelling before posting, do a little actual thinking, and come back when you're ready to be taken seriously.

Okay, I'll respect that...

if you respect what you are suggesting as well.

Sure all Quina cares about is food so w/e.
But, all Amarant cares about is Being better than Zidane? Who's to say that he isn't female?
All Eiko and Freya care about is Zidane and Fratley, who's to say they aren't gay males?
All Zidane cares about is women, and the way he dresses would suggest that he is one. Who's to say that he isn't a woman?
Steiner only cares about protecting Garnet. Who's to say he isn't a woman?

This can be said about ANYONE!

And if Vivi appeared just prior to the games beginning, how could he have had a past? It tells of how he had lived for YEARS with his adoptive 'Granfather'. (who, I might add, was a Qu and was referred to as a male various time(hence "GRANDPA")).

...This is what I get for disappearing. Anyway. Kudos to Prak and Dragoncurry.

Since I would like to keep this going (idiotic arguements about Quina's gender notwithstanding), I'd like to point out that the FFIX critics haven't really found a real flaw with the game. The biggest things I've seen are "chibi characters" and "trance suxx0rz." Prak already shot the "chibi characters" mess down, and I shot the limit arguement down.

You did pretty good on the Trance argument, although I thought Desert Wolf --- made a pretty good point in that thread:


Why would you have a "surge of emotion" against a fuckin bug?

Well, here (http://www.ffinsider.net/ff9/char.php) it says Vivi is 9 and here (http://www.ffcrystals.limited-chaos.com/ffix/ffix_characters_vivi.php) so i'd say they must've gotten that from somewhere yeah? I believe it's in the instruction manual :P

The ages aren't in the manual. Any of the characters ages. I'll give that Vivi did live with his grandfather for a while, but I'm not sure 9 years holds for me.

Why would you have a "surge of emotion" against a fuckin bug?

Who had the "surge of emotion?" Zidane. Why? Dagger was caught by the bug. Of course, I'm assuming you're speaking of the first Trance in the game...But if you're referring to Trancing on a random encounter, then I really don't know. Other than I've only Tranced on random encounters when I was doing some particularly heavy levelling-up or very soon thereafter.

But since some have bashed certain Trance abilities (other than Zidane's-imagine that...), I would like to address that.

Vivi/Eiko: Double Black/White-Honestly, what else do you want? Flare easily does 9999. Holy can pack a punch, as well. Of course, a nearly-wiped out party can be brought right back to fighting shape with a pair of Eiko's white magic spells. Real worthless...

Amarant: Elan-I think the common arguement is that since a trance isn't as powerful as KotR, it's worthless. Considering all Amarant can do in battle as is, being able to use his abilities on multiple targets at once is killer. In my current game, I was doing 2500-ish with No Mercy before Vivi got his 'aga spells.

Steiner: Okay, he doesn't even HAVE a Trance 'ability,' and I'm perfectly content with that. His attack power rises to about the Ionosphere while Tranced. Isn't that his whole point? To bash the crap out of enemies?

Freya: Spear-Okay...okay. This ability sucks. But then again, Jumping rather sucks, too. But when you can do 9999 with relatively few MP with Dragon's Crest...who cares?

Quina: Cook-Those of us who actually spent a little time gathering Blue Magic spells will attest to the irritation of having to get an enemy down to 1/4 of it's HP in order to 'Eat' it. Cooking actually helps once or...twice a...game, LoL. But this is sort of like Freya. When you can do 9999 for very few MP with Frog Drop, why does a Trance matter?

Ah if it's all over the internet it's gotta be in the game somewhere or they must have acquired it from something factual. 9 years old holds for me, maybe play the game again and look carefully?

And CyanCyde, you forgot Garnet's useless trance which is Eidolon. It doesn't seem to do anything except change the word Summon to Eidolon on the fight bar :P

It's got good cut-scenes, cool characters, great story line, it has Vivi and Freya and Choco and Moogles and FROGS!!!! It has stories inside the main story, it has 2 worlds, a card game, hidden treasures, side-quests. It's 3only faults are they don't talk, a beautiful princess has an ugly foster mother, and they have Eiko in it. Other than that, it's the best game ever made.

And CyanCyde, you forgot Garnet's useless trance which is Eidolon. It doesn't seem to do anything except change the word Summon to Eidolon on the fight bar :P

Then you've never used it for more than a round or two. What Eidolon does is after the initial summoning (which is no different than her un-Tranced summon), the summoned Eidolon will 'come back' every couple of rounds, for a freebie attack. I got her Trance fighting Necron, and I was getting freebie Bahamut attacks every few rounds, even after her Trance ran out. Useless? I beg to differ.

DK-I personally prefer that they don't 'talk'. In games where the characters 'talk', such as FFX, KotOR, and Morrowind, They never say the character's name. They dance all around it, and in the case of KotOR, when there's a character speaking something besides Basic, they'll occasionally put your character's name in the subtitle. That can be easily solved by not making the name changeable (or choosing between a small list-5 at the most).

Re Vivi --- I just did a little searching around and I'm seeing a lot of people saying that their manual says Vivi is 9. All I know is that my manual definitely doesn't list the characters' ages --- maybe they have a different version of the game?

Re Trances --- Vivi's double-black is okay, I guess, but I'm neither a big Vivi fan, nor a big fan of this game's black magic. Eiko's trance is wonderful, though. Amarant's Trance I think is potentially the most powerful in the game --- you can use his Revive to bring everyone else back to life, or there's another that will put Regen and Auto-Life on everyone. Freya, yes, sucky. Quina --- sorry, but sucky. Learning Blue Magic wasn't that hard and I couldn't be arsed to get hir into Trance in order to help with learning it.


In games where the characters 'talk', such as FFX, KotOR, and Morrowind, They never say the character's name. They dance all around it
The only name that they dance around in FFX is Tidus. And they're very clever about it too. And in FFX-2, there is a whole lot of "It's him" and "It was you," but I actually I found that kind of... forgive me... sweet.


Who had the "surge of emotion?" Zidane. Why? Dagger was caught by the bug. Of course, I'm assuming you're speaking of the first Trance in the game...But if you're referring to Trancing on a random encounter, then I really don't know. Other than I've only Tranced on random encounters when I was doing some particularly heavy levelling-up or very soon thereafter.
Well, I can only speak to the intentions of the original poster, and I would assume they're talking about a random encounter. And I dunno about you, but my characters Tranced all the time in random encounters.

The only name that they dance around in FFX is Tidus.

And isn't Tidus' name the only one you can change? It's been a long time since I played FFX.

Well, starting to get rather off-topic here, so I'm just gonna say "yes." Yes, his is the only one you can change. My point is that you talked about how they dance around the names, but his was the only one they danced around, and as I say, quite cleverly too. To the point where unless you're paying really careful attention it doesn't hit you that --- hey --- nobody's saying his name out loud.

Perhaps in future games, though, they'll have technology that's so good that it'll allow them to computer-generate whatever name you type in?

Well, starting to get rather off-topic here, so I'm just gonna say "yes." Yes, his is the only one you can change. My point is that you talked about how they dance around the names, but his was the only one they danced around, and as I say, quite cleverly too. To the point where unless you're paying really careful attention it doesn't hit you that --- hey --- nobody's saying his name out loud.

Perhaps in future games, though, they'll have technology that's so good that it'll allow them to computer-generate whatever name you type in?

yES, i'M FINALLY BACK!

Anyway, I found that the "dancing around" was done VERY poorly...

For ONE (of the many) example, At one point Lulu is calling Tidus and says "Hey! You!" Ridiculus!
This took place in the town with all the people like Seymour...sry i cant remember the name.

And anyway, they already have come up with the technology to pronounce names that are written in. For instance, if you have ever played an EA sports game and created a player (any year past 2003) than they will pronounce the last name... :)

I thought the name-dancing rather dumb, now matter how clever it got. The rest of the crew kind of acted like they didn't even know Tidus. I mean...all that time, and in no part of conversation do they mention his name? C'mon...

btw, WB Alelluia

I thought the name-dancing rather dumb, now matter how clever it got. The rest of the crew kind of acted like they didn't even know Tidus. I mean...all that time, and in no part of conversation do they mention his name? C'mon...

btw, WB Alelluia


Sry I feel EXTREMELY stupid! What does WB mean? sry lol

wb = welcome back

wb = welcome back

Oh, well thank you! lol sry 'bout that!

the mild humor, the child-ish (not cold-blooded) type character like previous series, minigames, and of course the soundtrack.... this is the best ff ever....

Man, has the Shrine always have this much thread revivalists, or it's a new fad?

I'm afraid it's pretty much always been like this, although they do sometimes seem to come in packs.


Um, anyway, yeah, FFIX --- great game.

yeah some people didnt really like this game, i think its great

I know that Sakaguchi likes this this one the best so I respect his opinion and anyone else who likes the game but there are several points on the game I was disappointed with.

1. Final Fantasy IX lacked an interesting battle system.

2. Some of the trance moves were cool but waiting for them to fill up was a pain.

3. The four-party battle system had many flaws with camera angles where characters were often halfway cut off the screen.

4. Even though I maxed out all the levels for my characters, their ATB bars still filled up so slowly. Even with haste the ATB bar still filled up slowly. On Final Fantasy VIII, you could adjust the battle speed in the configuration menu to speed things up which was just an awesome option and haste made it even faster.

5. Many of the enemies were animated poorly so it appeared that they were literally dancing to the battle music. (The spider enemies are some of the most obvous.)

6. The summon beasts sometimes showed the whole scene or a shortened version. Players should have had a choice like Final Fantasy X did in the configuration menu.

7. Final Fantasy IX only had one normal battle music even when you go to the other world.

8. The card system which should have not played a main role in moving on to the next scene because often players had no good cards to win the game with when they reached that section of the game and they couldn't win so they would have to spend a lot of extra time earning cards.

9. The four fiends were just recycled from the first Final Fantasy.

10. The last boss made no sense whatsoever. I can understand Kuja and his role in the storyline but the last boss had no real tie to anything. It seemed like it was just thrown in there to add a boss to lengthen the final battle. I went through the game a couple times and there is just no reference for the last boss.

11. Queen Brahme was seriously ugly and annoying as well as her little pair of jesters. You can't tell me that Quina was a great character either. If you are going to make a great game, make all the characters great characters.

12. Final Fantasy IX's sales in comparison also don't reflect that it was great game. Also, all the hate mail that Squaresoft received from fans of the series in Japan after the game was released really sums up many of the major pitfalls of the game.

On a positive note however, Final Fantasy IX has some really nice tracks here and there thoughout the game. Especially on the Final Fantasy IX Plus soundtrack which really made me take another look at the game's music. However, these tracks should have been included on the original soundtrack.

The architecture of some of the was extremely well done and some of the ennvironments were just downright beautiful.

Since I'm bored, I guess I'll respond to a few of these points.


1. Final Fantasy IX lacked an interesting battle system.

Are you, by any chance, claiming that other games in the series had better systems? Now certainly the first few were working with more technical limitations and deserve props for that, but the series' gameplay stagnated throughout the entire PSX era.


6. The summon beasts sometimes showed the whole scene or a shortened version. Players should have had a choice like Final Fantasy X did in the configuration menu.

You missed the point of it. The summons would mostly just send their effect without actually appearing. On the occasions they did appear, the effect was stronger.


8. The card system which should have not played a main role in moving on to the next scene because often players had no good cards to win the game with when they reached that section of the game and they couldn't win so they would have to spend a lot of extra time earning cards.

Winning wasn't necessary.


9. The four fiends were just recycled from the first Final Fantasy.

This is a rather stupid complaint about a game that contains so many homages to past games.


10. The last boss made no sense whatsoever. I can understand Kuja and his role in the storyline but the last boss had no real tie to anything. It seemed like it was just thrown in there to add a boss to lengthen the final battle. I went through the game a couple times and there is just no reference for the last boss.

There was a very interesting post made on this issue a while back that reversed my thinking on the matter when I looked at it much the same way you do now. Perhaps after reading it, you'll find it makes more sense.


Necron was nothing more than the personification of destruction or oblivion, an entity or rather, a force, with the only purpose of destroying the world entirely. Necron's appearance needed a trigger, and that was Kuja's desire to end all existence. Necron explained it himself: Kuja's wish to destroy everything was taken as proof that living things strive for being destroyed, and therefore.
This destruction is Kuja's wish, not Necron's. Necron doesn't use Kuja to reach this goal. Necron has no goals. He's not a person. He's more like a mechanism.

It is kind of funny that no one complains about the final battle in FFV, although it is essentially the same, though there are differences. The Void, holding powers that the main enemy would like to harness, consumes him, turns him into its own incarnation, and then announces that it would now destroy the world, all existence, and then itself. Everything. To complete the analogy, both of these final bosses uses the Grand Cross attack.

It's odd that people fail to complain about this one, but also go on about Necron. Because if anything, FFIX introduces Necron, or rather, the oblivion he stands for, rather nicely into the game's THEME. The theme is memories, and the gist is that as long as anything exists, you also live on in the memories of the world. Total destruction, what Necron stands for, is exactly what the characters in FFIX do not want.

By fighting Necron, by clinging to life, and probably also by Kuja's realization near the end, they prove Necron's deduction wrong: People still want to live, and want the world to live, and do not long for being destroyed.

It's more a metaphorical battle, and works very well with the game's theme.


12. Final Fantasy IX's sales in comparison also don't reflect that it was great game. Also, all the hate mail that Squaresoft received from fans of the series in Japan after the game was released really sums up many of the major pitfalls of the game.

Keep in mind that the series' fanbase expanded greatly after FFVII's release, and since FFVII completely disregarded many of the key traits of the series, the return to form was a surprise for these new fans, who wanted more of the same thing that they had become used to, yet which was actually a bastardization of the series. The original fans of the older games, for the most part, hold FFIX in very high regard.

I think that ultimately the reason people react badly to Necron yet think nothing of Neo Exdeath is due to the way their introductions are orchestrated. In FFV, the Void had been referenced constantly during the latter half of the game and its all-consuming nature was established as a major plot element. When Exdeath disintegrates at the end, the game clearly states that he was being consumed by the Void, which is supplemented by Exdeath’s final cries: “The Void was mine to command! How could it….UWAHHH!”. When Neo Exdeath then announces itself as an entity that exists to destroy all things, it’s quite clear that what the player is facing is the Void itself (its name suggesting that it has warped Exdeath into a physical body to fulfill its purpose). While this is never explicitly stated, it’s a logical conclusion based upon the dialog right before its appearance which ultimately makes sense to what had already been established within the game.

In the case of Necron however, the game gives substantially less information that the player can use to deduce its nature. Unlike FFV no ‘all consuming existence’ is ever established in FFIX, thus when Necron announces “I exist for one purpose... To return everything back to the zero world”, players are often left wondering where this malevolent entity has appeared from and are provided with few answers. In other words, the element that Neo Exdeath has that Necron lacks is a backstory. This is why people complain that Necron ‘just sort of appears’ and while it’s all well and good to say ‘it makes sense to the theme’, introducing a completely new character to act as the final boss with no clear foreshadowing is a rather questionable move on the part of the writers.

I agree with all of your other points though.

I'm not saying the handling of it wasn't flawed; just that it isn't as random or pointless as some people make it out to be.

Also, you might find this (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/657/657330p1.html) interesting. Whether we agree or disagree, I'm sure we can all laugh at how much time this guy has on his hands and how he must have no life at all to spend it on this.

Yeah, Squall of Seed and his Necron = Iifa Tree theory is fairly well known on a lot of forums. While it makes sense for the most part I think he, and the people who almost consider his theories to be canon, put too much faith in Square Soft's attention to detail (something I've come to terms with since writing ridiculous theories myself). Sometimes a character changes color just because the creators think it will look cool.

Indeed. It's pretty sad how some people (FFVII fans are really bad about this) are so desperate to believe their games have depth that they'll go out of their way to invent depth for it and then fanatically claim that their speculations are nothing short of absolute truth.

I think ff9 rocked (is my favorite FF afterall) the classic FF story,the balanaced characters and the Non God like dmg plus the story about 2 worlds was amazing imo

I'm not saying the handling of it wasn't flawed; just that it isn't as random or pointless as some people make it out to be.

Also, you might find this (http://faqs.ign.com/articles/657/657330p1.html) interesting. Whether we agree or disagree, I'm sure we can all laugh at how much time this guy has on his hands and how he must have no life at all to spend it on this.

Wait--wasn't Squall of Seed the same guy who popularized (if not started) the whole R=U nonsense with FFVIII?

As far as I know, he has only ever spoken against it (Thread 25525). I didn't get into the fandom until a few years ago though, so I don't know what his initial stance on the matter was when the R = U theory first gained notoriety.

Since I'm bored, I guess I'll respond to a few of these points.

1. Are you, by any chance, claiming that other games in the series had better systems? Now certainly the first few were working with more technical limitations and deserve props for that, but the series' gameplay stagnated throughout the entire PSX era.

Response 1. The battle system was much better laid out as far as the foundation went in Final Fantasy VIII. For those who took the time to learn the junction system, it worked much more flawlessly than anything I have ever seen and it got rid of the need for various weapons like the ice brand and flame sword because you could attach the actual elemental to your attack.



2. You missed the point of it. The summons would mostly just send their effect without actually appearing. On the occasions they did appear, the effect was stronger.

Response 2. If you are just going to use an effect, make it a magic or something and not a summon.



3. This is a rather stupid complaint about a game that contains so many homages to past games.

Response 3. Final Fantasy's bread and butter claim in Japan is that they use the the newest technologies and ideas for their games. This is what they often claim sets them apart from the rest of the gaming world. Reusing the four fiends was a bad move as far as I'm concerned since they didn't really have much in common with Final Fantasy other than the names so I don't see how they paid any homage to the original.



4. There was a very interesting post made on this issue a while back that reversed my thinking on the matter when I looked at it much the same way you do now. Perhaps after reading it, you'll find it makes more sense.

Keep in mind that the series' fanbase expanded greatly after FFVII's release, and since FFVII completely disregarded many of the key traits of the series, the return to form was a surprise for these new fans, who wanted more of the same thing that they had become used to, yet which was actually a bastardization of the series. The original fans of the older games, for the most part, hold FFIX in very high regard.[/QUOTE]

Response 4. The last boss was completely unnecessary in Final Fantasy IX. Final Fantasy V had a similar problem as well and that is what I would call plain low-level creativity. Just throwing in some boss to fill space is a waste of time for us as gamers. Bosses should be meaningful so when you beat them you can look back and say, "That was an awesome battle." Look at the last boss of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth compared to the last boss of Final Fantasy IX, whatever that random thing was...huge difference. Final Fantasy IX may have better graphics than Final Fantasy VII but Sephiroth's persona is far reaching beyond any other boss I know on any game for any system.

Well, it does have a simple equipment system, it's pretty staightforward. I really liked the cutscenes it had also, good graphics for just the playstation.

but Sephiroth's persona is far reaching beyond any other boss I know on any game for any system.
No, that would be Kefka. And you're never going to win that particular argument with Prak.

Response 1. The battle system was much better laid out as far as the foundation went in Final Fantasy VIII. For those who took the time to learn the junction system, it worked much more flawlessly than anything I have ever seen and it got rid of the need for various weapons like the ice brand and flame sword because you could attach the actual elemental to your attack.


The junction system was pretty shite in comparison. Drawing magic from enemies was a bore. "Oh a monster, wait i can't kill it right now because i have to take its magic first." Not to mention drawing one or two spells at a time from bosses made the whole experience even more horrible.

Then, if you had spells junctioned, using them would weaken the stat they were junctioned to. It was pretty great using a Curaga spell and then seeing your max HP go down.

But I suppose complaining about the junction system is useless, because the game could be beaten by using the Renzokuken alone.

Response 1. The battle system was much better laid out as far as the foundation went in Final Fantasy VIII. For those who took the time to learn the junction system, it worked much more flawlessly than anything I have ever seen and it got rid of the need for various weapons like the ice brand and flame sword because you could attach the actual elemental to your attack.

Better laid out? More like broken. I've never seen a game that made it so easy to destroy any semblance of difficulty.

And what's so much better about attaching upgrades to your weapons? It's a simple and mostly irrelevant design choice, not an industry standard.


Response 2. If you are just going to use an effect, make it a magic or something and not a summon.

-credibility


Response 3. Final Fantasy's bread and butter claim in Japan is that they use the the newest technologies and ideas for their games. This is what they often claim sets them apart from the rest of the gaming world. Reusing the four fiends was a bad move as far as I'm concerned since they didn't really have much in common with Final Fantasy other than the names so I don't see how they paid any homage to the original.

And as far as I'm concerned, you have no idea what you're talking about. "As far as I'm concerned" is quite a wonderful phrase, isn't it? No other allows you quite the same freedom to make claims you can't possibly substantiate.


Response 4. The last boss was completely unnecessary in Final Fantasy IX. Final Fantasy V had a similar problem as well and that is what I would call plain low-level creativity. Just throwing in some boss to fill space is a waste of time for us as gamers. Bosses should be meaningful so when you beat them you can look back and say, "That was an awesome battle." Look at the last boss of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth compared to the last boss of Final Fantasy IX, whatever that random thing was...huge difference. Final Fantasy IX may have better graphics than Final Fantasy VII but Sephiroth's persona is far reaching beyond any other boss I know on any game for any system.

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Silly Sephiroth fankid.

It brought Final Fantasy back to where I felt it needed to be. It had IMO the best ability system ever created for a Final Fantasy (i.e. better than materia, junction, sphere gird, etc.). It was also Nobuo's greatest achievement in his longtime involvement with the series.

Basically, if there is a way to define what Final Fantasy TRULY is, it was all in Final Fantasy IX.

My favorite FF before it was IV, and IX was like it in alot of ways for me, but so much better in every way...

The card game kicked serious ass.

Final Fantasy's bread and butter claim in Japan is that they use the the newest technologies and ideas for their games. This is what they often claim sets them apart from the rest of the gaming world. Reusing the four fiends was a bad move as far as I'm concerned since they didn't really have much in common with Final Fantasy other than the names so I don't see how they paid any homage to the original.

Keep in mind that the series' fanbase expanded greatly after FFVII's release, and since FFVII completely disregarded many of the key traits of the series, the return to form was a surprise for these new fans, who wanted more of the same thing that they had become used to, yet which was actually a bastardization of the series. The original fans of the older games, for the most part, hold FFIX in very high regard.

Okay, first, Final Fantasy IX IS INDEED a homage to the series. The producers "gave" this game to the fans as a gift, saying that from there on, everything will change. It was to be the last FF to be made using the traditional formula (seeing how FFX was overly formulaic and boringly linear, I had to agree to that).

The theme of FFIX is MEMORIES, so most aspects in the game are there to make the longtime fans nostalgic. You mentioned the four fiends, sure they aren't the four fiends of elementals from FF4, they are in fact the four demons from the ORIGINAL Final Fantasy and they're all faithful to there original version (Marilith, Tiamat, Kraken, and Lich) but to see that, you would have to play the first game which would probably be too primitive for your taste and of course your eye-candy needy eyes. Nechron is of course also reminiscent of Zeromus and to some extent, ExDeath.

Secondly, you say that FF VII disregarded a lot of what came before, and that with each new games Squaresoft (well at the time it wasn't Square-Enix yet) tries to come up with new ideas...
Then you say that the fans that got into the series with FFVII want more of the same thing... Am I the only one seeing this claim is contradicting itself?

If what you mean is that each FF noobies want some new ideas thrown into the next games like new battle system, new character progression, etc... then why the hell doesn't it feel fresh for these new fans to play FFIX?
It should feel entirely new to them, since they haven't experienced anything before VII!!!



Response 4. The last boss was completely unnecessary in Final Fantasy IX. Final Fantasy V had a similar problem as well and that is what I would call plain low-level creativity. Just throwing in some boss to fill space is a waste of time for us as gamers. Bosses should be meaningful so when you beat them you can look back and say, "That was an awesome battle." Look at the last boss of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth compared to the last boss of Final Fantasy IX, whatever that random thing was...huge difference. Final Fantasy IX may have better graphics than Final Fantasy VII but Sephiroth's persona is far reaching beyond any other boss I know on any game for any system.


Okay, as much as I like FFVII and Sephiroth... And I know you're entitled to your opinion... But you probably didn't play many games if you think he's the greatest.

As far as Nechron goes, he would appear totally random to a new fan of the series such as yourself. But for those who actually know the entire history of Final Fantasy, those who could experience the theme of FFIX (memories)to its fullest, Nechron makes a lot of sense and is far from random.

Keep in mind that the series' fanbase expanded greatly after FFVII's release, and since FFVII completely disregarded many of the key traits of the series, the return to form was a surprise for these new fans, who wanted more of the same thing that they had become used to, yet which was actually a bastardization of the series. The original fans of the older games, for the most part, hold FFIX in very high regard.

Hynad, I said this. Sophiris replied to me, but botched the formatting of the quote, so it appeared to be part of his/her post.

hahaha misdirected replies for the win.

Prak, my bad. Seems like Sophiris can't even use the quote function properly.

My point still stands though. :P

ltft Sophiris

Seph was one bad dude, i mean mentaly he wasnt all there but you have to admit his power was amazing, i loved IX due to its mid-evil feel and te graphics where really cool to, also the story was great and t was really cool to finaly have a FF that was Multiplayer, the idea that i could have a friend control2 of my 4 characters was inersting and with the real-time battle system it took aot of presure off of big fights ;-)

I liked it because it went against the grain of the previous 2 FFs and went back to FF roots.

Yeah its good to be old-school every once in a while, i also likes the the cinimatics, they where great and actionpacked and dripping with detail!

For the sake of making thing a bit shorter, I'll just focus on PSX games..

I've been a huge fan of most of the FF games I've played (8 being the exception), and I've enjoyed all of them a great deal. VII was so good because it was a huge advancement, but there was also a lot missing in terms of storyline. Because of this the story of it, fanfic, obsession, etc went CRAZY. Whether or not this was intentional is a moot point now, because of the lack of information the story became EPIC because people read soooo much into it. I admit that I got caught up in the research behind resurrecting Aeris, and seeing what the hell the point was for the missing world locations, etc. And because of this this game was wonderful. Now this wasn't the only thing going for it, but it's what pushed it beyond cult status. That's how I see it.


Final Fantasy 8 just wasn't that spectacular. I think it focused to much on relationship drama. Granted, the relationship factor is in most FF games, but this one seemed more like a highschool drama than an epic romance. I do need to play it again though. I was expecting a bit too much with this game after going FAR too overzealous with my FF7 fanboyism and looking "OMG I NEEDS TO RAISE AERIS <cries>". So my opinion on this one could be influenced by that. Now on to 9...


FF9, was very well done. I'm playing it currently after a few years, with an "older" perspective. And noticed a lot of pros and cons, but it's a really, really good game overall.

I liked the trance system, but jesus did I hate the fact that it ended after battle, as well as Quina's trance was basically useless after a while (you can debate whether or not s/he was after a while, but I enjoyed it). The disproportions of some of the characters were a bit bothersome, but this is consistent with many FF games. Character-wise, they were all pretty good. No real complaints, but they're all about a B+ (I'm very odd in terms of who I call great). I did love Kuja though, I mean "How can a world exist with out ME" I love it, it's so Kefka-esque. Very good game, extremely enjoyable music, good system, some quirks and issues, but enjoyable, and a compliment to the majority of the genre.


On a related note, I found all 3 main characters annoying to some extent or another. Cloud and Squall were really typical in their "aloof personality, and problematic mindsets",etc. And while Zidane was refreshing, he was too black and white, and cliche in his behavior. I would really enjoy a main character who's overall good, willing to save the world, altruistic, etc. But on an individual basis, I want a true bastard, but not the typical aloof sort of deal, I want them to compensate for their issues through grotesque, powerful, black humor.

But I suppose that may be going against some of the innate features of the final fantasy games :).

As far as I'm concerned Final Fantasy IX has never really been one of my favorite Final Fantasy games. My favorite has always been Final Fantasy VII although Final Fantasy X and XII come close it doesn't really match Final Fantasy VII. Maybe it was because it was the first Final Fantasy game I've played but it just stuck with me the most. The feeling, the characters, the world, I just found it to be the most interesting of all the Final Fantasy games I've played. The pseudo Medievel environments that the older ones had or what not just didn't really galvanize me as they were too fantasy and not enough science fiction. Final Fantasy VIII had potential (I liked the setting, environment and characters) but the junction system and some what blah-ish storyline didn't really do much for me. Although it did have it's moments of greatness like all Final Fantasy games do.

Well, sorry I believe FF8 Is better ONLY because it is more difficult than FF9 is by far, however FF9 is probably such a good game because of Amazing graphics i dont like the so called new PS2 and PS3 graphics FFIX has the coolest movie scenes and i dont like the characters having voices like FFX ruins your imagination and origional characterization of a certain person, also music, battle system, less esper/G.F./Aeon obsessed and a pure genius never repeated character of VIVI :)

Well, sorry I believe FF8 Is better ONLY because it is more difficult than FF9 is by far

You have got to be kidding me. How inept at gaming do you have to be to categorize FFVIII as difficult?

FFVIII's only more difficult if you have no friggin' idea what you're doing.

FFVIII is the easiest of the entire series by far (excluding the remakes of the older games). With any understanding of the junction system, bosses die in two or three attacks. The last boss was a complete joke.

How is FFVIII more difficult than IX? FFVIII is so disappointing to me because it is so damn simple because it's so easy to be 100x stronger than pretty much any enemy/boss through junctioning, mainly thanks to card-mod.

And god damn learn some grammar, your one sentence posts make you look fucking retarded!

Final fantasy IX s just brilliant plain and simple, I loved it.

For me, it was the best because it went back to the roots of a typical fantasy RPG. Unlike the previous two games in the series, it had plenty of humour and didn't try to be serious all the time. Plus, the characters were very in depth (except Amarant).

The only downside was that Beatrix wasn't a permanent playable character.

Plus, the characters were very in depth (except Amarant).

Then you simply weren't paying attention.


The only downside was that Beatrix wasn't a permanent playable character.

Because another Orlandu would've been awesome.

Cause you just can't help but love it. I am addicted, LOL.

FFVIII's only more difficult if you have no friggin' idea what you're doing.

Yeah maybe if you are blind and are trying to play it perhaps.

I liked FFIX because the story had a very nice flow to it. The opening movie wasn't too over the top and you started off with a nice glimpse of the characters. Then everything picks up and its off to adventure land. I also liked the fact that the game gave you an actual sense of traveling from place to place.

All that and going to Treno and buying everything at the auctions just to piss off the noble people.

lol, i liked that part. yeah FFIX is a really good game, but as far as FFVIII goes, it was far to easy. im not saying i didn't like it, but it lost big marks for the difficulty of it.

South gate is amazing, I love that part of the game. I miss part-time worker Mary :(

FF9 sucks

Yeah, it sucks your dick. That's why you love it so much.

I haven't much to say on this thread, but it's fuckiing hilarious.

FF9 sucks

Attention-whore. I call shenanigans!

I am truly sorry to bump such an old thread but I just had to respond to this thread. Something I have noticed in the recent years is that people's judgment of Final Fantasy seems to be clouded by Final Fantasy FFVII. I'm not sure of whatever reason but someone mentioned earlier in this thread how once the "coolness" of the characters in FFVII wears off you are no longer interested in what the game has to offer.

In fact, I was a little amused yesterday when I had a debate with someone the other day as to why Final Fantasy IX is better than FFVII when all he could say was "Sephiroth" and explain how great of a character he was.

I'm also very surprised that hardly anyone in this thread has mentioned Kuja at all. In my opinion I even found the game to revolve more around Kuja than some of the additional characters.

For starters I would just like to tell the Sephiroth fanboys and fangirls that claim FFVII is the best that Sehpiroth needs Jenovas cells and her, with out that his nothing. And why do people keep counting Sephiroth as a villain? I dont even count Sehpiroth as a villian, he didnt really do anything, it was really all Jenova. Guys, honestly look at the villains. Kuja didn't have to use a small black rock to do it. Sephiroth did not have the power to destroy the earth. The Black Materia can. Anyone that knows materia could theoretically use it to destroy the earth. Kuja had real power. Sephiroth just had physical strength.

Kuja was worthy of hatred. Sephiroth was not. The ability to hate them is what makes a character a great villian. Sometimes I wonder if Sephiroth was even a villain. All the other times (yes, that INCLUDES Aeris's death) were instead Jenova's torso which had shapeshifted into Sephiroth's form. Jenova made sure Cloud thought Sephiroth did all those things so he would follow Sephy to North Crater where he would give the real Sephiroth the Black Materia. Cloud thought he was doing the right thing by chasing after what he assumed to be Sephiroth, but instead he was just doing Jenova's dirty work.

Something I have definitely noticed is that fans of Final Fantasy IX seem to show a lower interest or like to Final Fantasy VII while fans of Final Fantasy VII show also show a lower interest for XI. These two games honestly seem like polar opposites and I never figured out why these two games have such different fan bases. I do seem to find out that fans who were familiar with previous FF's seem to like FFIX more. While those who started off with FFVII or were not very familiar with FF's before FFVII put FFIX lower on the list.

I cannot begin to tell you how many people I know who have only played FFVII or a combination of FFVII and FFX. There is certainly some sort of gap in fan bases between IX and VII.

For me at least I think FFVII just tends to overshadow the other Final Fantasy's especially IX. Someone even mentioned in this thread that being "first" doesn't mean you're the greatest. FFVII was the first out of the series to have it's updated graphics and new systems and create a new and bigger fan base for Final Fantasy but that doesn't make it the greatest.





Keep in mind that the series' fanbase expanded greatly after FFVII's release, and since FFVII completely disregarded many of the key traits of the series, the return to form was a surprise for these new fans, who wanted more of the same thing that they had become used to, yet which was actually a bastardization of the series. The original fans of the older games, for the most part, hold FFIX in very high regard.

Prakatron I think we would get a long very well. :) I would also like to add that as an original fan of the series playing many of the earlier games I do hold FFIX in very high regard.

Ghost, that revival was worth it. Hoping to hear more from you soon.

Yeah... and since I haven't posted in this thread I guess I'll add my two cents.

Besides the story and how Kuja was much better as a villain than Sephiroth or Ultimecia or Kefka, FFIX's system is put together much more carefully than VII's or VIII's in such that there isn't really any "cheap" trick.

But despite Ghost's claim that most people tend to have a leaning towards VII or IX (which appears to be true, everyone really likes either one and hates the other for some reason), I'm not one of them, for me it's VIII all the way. Between VII and IX it's IX not by much though.

I found VIII a lot more interesting with the interactive dream sequences and their effect on the story, and found it to have a better soundtrack and it didn't have a villain constantly taunting you, but instead a mysterious entity you didn't meet until the end. VII and IX weren't like that. Also preferred Triple Triad and had much more fun collecting all the cards and modding them there than in Tetra Master. I also enjoyed learning the limit breaks much more in VIII, found IX's the be a little lame. They all just make a certain command of theirs more powerful, and Steiner's strength just increases? Come on... well, at least it's better then VII's limits where everyone learns them the EXACT same way.
Also enjoyed using GF's more than Eidolons.

And I'll take issue somewhat with the idea that people that start with VII generally consider that their favorite. I, at least, am an exception. I started with VII, but I favor IX.

Besides the story and how Kuja was much better as a villain than Sephiroth or Ultimecia or Kefka, FFIX's system is put together much more carefully than VII's or VIII's in such that there isn't really any "cheap" trick.

I'm not sure whether fans judge Sephiroth's worth as a villain by plot or popularity. Though I'm inclined to seek an answer in the latter.

why do people keep counting Sephiroth as a villain? I dont even count Sehpiroth as a villian, he didnt really do anything.

I see sephiroth the same way as I see shylock from 'The merchant of venice', I think that sephiroth is a villain and a victim at the same time.

Ghost, that revival was worth it. Hoping to hear more from you soon.

Thank you. I hope to stick around. :)



I'm not sure whether fans judge Sephiroth's worth as a villain by plot or popularity. Though I'm inclined to seek an answer in the latter.

Agreed. I think this is another reason why there is such a rift and gap between the fans of FFIX and fans of FFVII. FFVII has this odd "cult following". Let's face it the number of 13 years old with the name "Sephiroth5439287" or "Sephy_ismy_bishie" is almost sickening to see..

Welcome! You should stick around :)

FF9 is the best.

No Contest.

As far as 32-bit Final Fantasy's go, FFIX is definitely the best, period. Squaresoft went back to it's roots and focused on a deep story and strong character development just like the classic Final Fantasy's. Garnet is one of the best female leads. Zidane is one of the best male leads. Garland is one of the best villains, because he was like a god. The only character I didn't care for was Kuja. To me he was an even more emo, effeminate, version of Sephiroth.

Fuck all the morons making a complain using the word "emo" everytime a character in a media display any human (as in "emotional") side.

Fuck all the morons making a complain using the word "emo" everytime a character in a media display any human (as in "emotional") side.


Talk about jumping the gun. If I thought someone showing emotion was emo, then all the characters and people in the world would qualify. Please, there's a reason I call Seph and Kuja emo. Me thinks you protest too much. ;)

Nah, the word is used way to much everywhere, it's ridiculous.

Kuja > Sephiroth.

FFIX was the best cause it was the last of the line b4 we went fully 3d and all computer graphics. There was still the old school feeling and care the went into the backgrounds on that game. Now its all done by some program that looks great but it just does not have the human touch. Plus of course it had Nobou...


"You lost that loving feeling..." - Hall & Oats

Fuck all the morons making a complain using the word "emo" everytime a character in a media display any human (as in "emotional") side.

Yes it does bug me how much this word gets used too.

Fuck all the morons making a complain using the word "emo" everytime a character in a media display any human (as in "emotional") side.

QFT.

I'm not sure whether fans judge Sephiroth's worth as a villain by plot or popularity. Though I'm inclined to seek an answer in the latter.

Well, obviously. I bet half the random outsiders don't even know who Ultimecia is or what she looks like. I was actually surprised at first, as I'd been on gaming forums years before I started playing any Final Fantasy, and I then started playing them and noticing a lot of familiar names like Sephiroth, Kuja, Cloud, Yuna, Zidane... and I was actually surprised when I played FFVIII since its supposedly an equally popular title, that I'd never heard of Ultimecia once. Later on after thinking about it it sort of made sense why. Hah...

But the funny thing is I hadn't even heard of any of the VIII characters at all except Squall (only ONCE though in some kid's username).

Isn't this whole "emo" thing just the standard nonsense when it comes to guys? Character / person x that is guy shows emotion = gets teased / is called "emo," "whiny," whatever other term someone can think of? I mean, I don't have much personal experience with it myself, but that seems to be the standard deal.

Or does the whole "emo" thing apply to women / female characters too? Although I personally can't recall seeing a female character called that.

Isn't this whole "emo" thing just the standard nonsense when it comes to guys? Character / person x that is guy shows emotion = gets teased / is called "emo," "whiny," whatever other term someone can think of? I mean, I don't have much personal experience with it myself, but that seems to be the standard deal.

Or does the whole "emo" thing apply to women / female characters too? Although I personally can't recall seeing a female character called that.

No you see guys dont ever get emotional. Too busy lifting weights and doing other manly stuff.:rolleyes:

On a note other than "emo is overused" (it probably is, but I digress), I'd really, really like to know how Kuja is in any way "emo." Unless "emo" become a stock insult for the teenyboppers?

Emo is a kind of music medium first and foremost. Lyrics usually involve some hopelessly angst-ridden message or self-deprecating diatribe set to a few power chords. Teens see this and think it's totally awesome so they mimic the emo image which consists of stiff, chemically treated hair, pants of asphyxiation, and varying degrees of eye liner. Emo girls, ironically, instead of being more sympathetic to other's problems, rather viciously insult anyone and everyone around them while contemplating how sad they have become. Emo guys usually focus on prostituting their sadness in the vain hope a girl will give him a pity hump, only to consider going bisexual when it doesn't happen.

The only character I didn't care for was Kuja. To me he was an even more emo, effeminate, version of Sephiroth.

Did you play the same FFIX as I did? Kuja hardly has any emotion through most of the game.

Emo is a kind of music medium first and foremost. Lyrics usually involve some hopelessly angst-ridden message or self-deprecating diatribe set to a few power chords. Teens see this and think it's totally awesome so they mimic the emo image which consists of stiff, chemically treated hair, pants of asphyxiation, and varying degrees of eye liner. Emo girls, ironically, instead of being more sympathetic to other's problems, rather viciously insult anyone and everyone around them while contemplating how sad they have become. Emo guys usually focus on prostituting their sadness in the vain hope a girl will give him a pity hump, only to consider going bisexual when it doesn't happen.

Roffle. That was freaking awesome. MOAR POSTS PLZ.

Emo is a kind of music medium first and foremost. Lyrics usually involve some hopelessly angst-ridden message or self-deprecating diatribe set to a few power chords. Teens see this and think it's totally awesome so they mimic the emo image which consists of stiff, chemically treated hair, pants of asphyxiation, and varying degrees of eye liner. Emo girls, ironically, instead of being more sympathetic to other's problems, rather viciously insult anyone and everyone around them while contemplating how sad they have become. Emo guys usually focus on prostituting their sadness in the vain hope a girl will give him a pity hump, only to consider going bisexual when it doesn't happen.

Just like Cyan said, that was perfectly stated. *claps*

I think FF9 is overrated. I mean, the plot seemed like rehash from pre FF V games and (in my opinion) the soundtrack was nowhere NEAR as good as the 3 previous ones...

And Kuja? One word: ASS

And Kuja? One word: ASS

Kujas meant to be an ass, he's the villain. He's not suposed to be a nice guy that everyone likes.

Kujas meant to be an ass, he's the villain. He's not suposed to be a nice guy that everyone likes.

I didn't mean ass as in "asshole"...I meant he's literally an ASS.

You mean, he's like you?

Why would you say that?

Is it 'cause I think FFIX is overrated?

Or maybe you have a Kuja fetish...lol JK

Why would you say that?

Is it 'cause I think FFIX is overrated?

Or maybe you have a Kuja fetish...lol JK

Or maybe 'cause you don't have a clue what you're talking about? I'd insult you properly, but since you're new and you have a killer av, I'm letting this one slide. ;) At FFS, if you're going to throw your opinion out there, do back it up; if Kuja's an ass, do inform us why he's an ass. How is FFIX's story a rehash? What makes FFIX's soundtrack inferior to the previous three?

I think FF9 is overrated. I mean, the plot seemed like rehash from pre FF V games and (in my opinion) the soundtrack was nowhere NEAR as good as the 3 previous ones...

And Kuja? One word: ASS

Without a plausible argument, prepare to be castrated by the board.

Metaphorically of course.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, entertaining opinion, but without anything to back it up, this is definitely one case where that's all it is -- an opinion -- if not simply a huge load.


Oh, and doomjockey -- I didn't wanna seem like I was bandwagoning before -- but amazing. That's definitely signature-quote worthy material, and I'd do it right now if I had room for it in my signature...

Fuck all the morons making a complain using the word "emo" everytime a character in a media display any human (as in "emotional") side.

Wrong.

Kuja dying at teh end - do you hear anyone calling that emo?
How about when Auron attacks Yunalesca?

No, displaying human emotions is not emo. Emo is Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith.


And Kuja? One word: ASS

Why yes, Kuja does have a terrific ass. Glad to see you retained something after playing the game.

The Anti-Existence, I think you didn't get a single word of what I was saying. You obviously didn't manage to get the obvious sarcasm.

Sarcasm is only obvious in text when you end statements with [/sarcasm] or you put things in caps or you use overly drawn out words.

Example:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo. Your hair looks WONDERFUL!!!! [/sarcasm]


Far as your post read, it looked like just another person complaining about how often the word is used. And ther eare a lot of those people.

In fact, there are too many people thinking they can correct people by building their ego like you that whatever you might reply to this I don't care, You'll end up as repeatitive as the general morons trying to make their place by interpreting someone else's comment to their apparent advantage.




But if you have to get something out of this:

Learn how to read.

My ego doesn't need the boost from correcting your post any more than it needs a boost from correcting a 5-year-old on a math problem.

Your ridiculous level of hostility over such a minor issue shows you're simply just another e-asshole who has some sort of personal obligation to attack anyone who questions them.

You fucked up. Get over yourself.

LMAO!

Re-read my prior post. ^^

I'd prefer not to.

Well, this has gone loosely off topic i think.

i shall mention the things that less ppl mentioned:

ff9 combines both themes that were dominant in all its predecessors: firstly, the kingdom theme (of earlier FFs) and the 'save the world' theme (in 7 and 8). i dont see why people should keep asking questions about the storyline of the characters not fully developed or whatsoever, if they paid attention (if any) to the dialogue and surroundings of the game. for example, it took me 2 minutes to figure out why quina was at the bottom of the invincible when they boarded it for the first time in disc 3, although this is a subtle thing not really meant to add depth to the storyline of the characters.

the ATE function was wonderful... a great concept i think.. in which u can change the outcome of the few following scenes in the game by watching ATEs in a particular fashion.

the strategy guide sucked =/ cos' of the playonline thing.

trance also left us wondering actually.. but after reading one of the posts, i gather that they had to relate the 'battle trance' to the MEANING of trance itself: the state of anger. someone posted that it was a disadvantage that the characters couldnt get trance after they were revived: well, that was the same thing with limt break in FF7 isnt it?


main bite: 7 is good because the storyline can be extended BOTH ways: into the past and into the future. (past: CC / BC future: AC / DoC)

other good aspects about 7:
-choco racing was a novelty
-choco breeding
-having aerith die (letting the player face the 'reality' of death in the game)
-being able to have both a submarine and an airship (and u can ride chocobo into highwind)
-the minigames were great

problems with 7:
-CC had characters using high-tech stuff (mobile phones, teleporters) which wasn't seen in the main FF7. i guess it just had to do with changing times, and it shouldnt be blamed on the chronological glitch of FF7 itself (remember, CC came before FF7)
-storyline wasn't well elaborated; for the average gamer, it would be kinda confusing.



main bite: 9 is good because the game allows the player to actually learn along with the game. the emotions of the character affect the player MOST in ff9, which i cant really explain WHY =/ so i guess it has a personal touch to it.

good aspects about 9:
-lots of minigames
-best / 2nd best soundtrack in the series (after ff6)
-each character existed in the PARTY for a meaning (oh, and amarant joined the party 'cos he wanted to learn zidane's character... how he could sacrifice himself for the sake of others. remember how he didnt kill amarant at madain sari? u could argue he did this for dagger but i'd say it "goes against [his] nature")
-choco CAN FLY
-first time i heard of the battle system that allows special skills to be used in the presence of another particular member (vivi n steiner for sword magic)
-the thoughts about journey through life makes me cry. (again, vivi's thoughts)
-cute european-styled characters make this oh-so-fantasy theme come true
-ATEs definitely
-many other stuff im too lazy to list down here

problems with 9:
-card game system (tetra master) was not fully explained; faired worse than triple triad in ff8
-trance system perhaps?
-strategy guide
-how can such a small kid like eiko (one of my 3 fav characters) understand so much about summoning and about love?! although im glad the game portrayed her as naive.

i've got alot more to say but i havent got the time so yeah i shall stop here for now...

ff9 combines both themes that were dominant in all its predecessors: firstly, the kingdom theme (of earlier FFs) and the 'save the world' theme (in 7 and 8).

Joking maybe?

Most of the FFs have this so called 'kingdom theme' which isn't a theme, but a classic RPG setting.

To say that only VII and VIII ask you to save the world is ridiculous. Every FF before it, and some after, combine this particular setting with an epic 'save everyone' quest. Hell, nearly every JRPG in existence does something similar so I'm not sure what's so special about that or why you feel it merits special distinction in FFIX.

but if that particular aspect does contribute to the storyline if u noticed to a large extent, i'd say it is more than just a setting. unless u could give a new word to describe it, i'll label it as a theme for now.

garnet: she is obviously tied-down to the responsibilities of alexandria and her mother (before the evil queen died, and thereafter when she had to face the challenges of making alexandria a safe haven for the people, in which she failed badly in)

steiner: his sworn fealty to the queen / garnet / kingdom (the lines are blurred) is evident in his decision-making process. is it because of his fear of their power or is it because he is indeed a noble character / stubborness? the game hints at the latter, but i dont have any qualms if both reasons are thrown in together.

freya: her kingdom (burmecia) was turned into ruins.. thanks to the black mages. although i dont see how freya adds much depth to the storyline after the cleyra scenes.

eiko: the villagers from madain sari are thought to have escaped from what is now known as alexandria some 500+ years ago, for some reason which i forgot why. it relates to alexander's dwelling in alexandria. i think it was because they wanted to separate the jewel and not accidentally or otherwise summon the powerful alexander.
thereafter due to garland's fear of kuja finding eidolons to become stronger and conquer himself, garland propelled the invincible and destroyed madain sari.


anyways, dictionary.com suggests that the definitions are as follows:

THEME:
a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic
a unifying / dominant idea

SETTING:
1. the act of a person or thing that sets.
2. the surroundings or environment of anything: The garden was a perfect setting for the house.
5. the locale or period in which the action of a novel, play, film, etc


HENCE, my argument is correct to a large extent ^_^
also, i dont see how the other FFs manage to get both themes to be as powerfully dominant equally. it was always lopsided, until FF9 came about. i guess it's squaresoft's way of ending the whole series with a balance of everything.

i dont know why FF9 holds to the strings of my heart so dearly. i guess its just the emotional flashback or the impressions of it that the game gives u, which probably makes u empathise with the characters more so wholeheartedly. different people have different life experience, emotions, styles and taste. thats why u dont find exact twins, not even in biological twins.

*more info can be dug up if u do a full plot analysis. somehow, because of the above reasons, all the things in the game sticks in my mind like the superslick.

nevertheless, thanks for giving me the chance to clarify this pertinent issue once and for all. and to end off my point, its either u see it, or u dont :]

Obviously, the characters draw from the setting because the entire story takes place there. This is common knowledge in drama. The problem is you're not using the word in context to accurately describe a dramatic work, otherwise you'd have easily chosen definition five of setting.

Also, I'm not trying to prove that IX is or isn't the best game since that's largely a matter of opinion. I did however, take issue with a statement that suggests IX is somehow unique solely for it's combination of the same setting and quest Square has used since the 80s. If anything, it's highly similar since it admittedly imitates the classic FFs. At the very least you've cleared that up a bit by saying FFIX handles both subjects equally, whatever that means.

Lastly, I'm still confused as to why you'd say the 'save the world theme' was present in only FFVII and FFVIII, which is obviously untrue.

My guess by default would be that he hasn't played anything before VII and therefore doesn't know anything of substance about them.

good guess! haha... although i've read the walkthroughs for everything up to 12.



The problem is you're not using the word in context to accurately describe a dramatic work, otherwise you'd have easily chosen definition five of setting.


dont understand what u mean by this. dont u need a theme to have a setting? or isit the other way around? lol. i think this is debatable.



Lastly, I'm still confused as to why you'd say the 'save the world theme' was present in only FFVII and FFVIII, which is obviously untrue.


it is the DOMINANT theme for 7 and 8. i never said that this theme didnt exist earlier; read in between the lines to infer.

the counter-argument is also true; the kingdom theme is weak or missing in 7 and 8. unless u'd want to refer to FF8's pre-game history (i.e. the esthar struggle, the infiltration of timber by Galbadia and etc)

would love to hear more from others as well?

good guess! haha... although i've read the walkthroughs for everything up to 12.

This is going nowhere fast.

At least play the damn games before you start comparing. I thought you'd have some common sense. This has been a big waste of time.

No wonder people get so angry with noobs.

playing doesnt equate to giving u common sense in any aspect relative to the game. i'd read about everything instead if i cant find the time at all. playing just gives experience. there are many people who played the game and still dont understand what the heck it is all about.

take an example: two persons are learning about quantum mechanics. person A has with him a book. person B has with him a book AND a video explanation. person B will generally understand the concepts and theories faster, but if person A is knowledgeable, he too can understand it almost as well / fast.

whats morally / ethically / socially wrong with not touching a game and evaluating on first-hand material from elsewhere? i am very sure u didnt do a full plot analysis of whatever u played, so what right do u have in criticising others' analysis? i didnt mention anywhere that i am superior in analysing FF1-6 in any ways; the theme is there, labelled, stuck with chop and stamped. if u want to go in depth into 1-6, thats fine with me, cos' i ain't gonna bother since this is a FF9 thread, NOT a FF summary thread.

and dont call others a noob (yesh i CAN infer that) when u couldnt prove ur points further, yea? its rude and uncalled for, and shows ur level of 'maturity'. u know ur limits better than i do.

plus, u didnt answer my question above.

Wow. You are the most colossal fuckwit to have passed through here in at least a few days.

You. Your. Learn these words and use them. Abbreviating them only accurately conveys your stupidity, which I'm sure you'd prefer to mask in any way possible.

Secondly, that old "If you haven't done something, you can't criticize the way someone else does it" line never counted for anything. By that logic, I can't say that someone makes a bad hamburger if I haven't ever cooked one myself, regardless of how many I may have eaten. It's retarded and you resorting to its use means that you are retarded.

You are a noob, incidentally. Yeah, I'm rude also. Fuck you if you don't like, and fuck you twice if you do for being a hypocrite.

ironically in a thread supposed to discuss about FF9 there is another example of an utterly rude being. i wouldnt even say ur a human. im here defending why FF9 is uniquely attractive and there u are scolding ur logic away in a blast of explosive fury. have some humility, will u? or maybe ur not human enough for that.

in what way is abbreviation a signal of stupidity? do the (FORUM) admins ban it? dont u sms with abbreviations? arent u stupid as well? flawed assumption isnt it, huh.

and i am sure u can tell a good burger from a bad one, no? theres no reason at all why a person should cook himself a burger if he can taste the differences in others. natural selection determines that the person would pick the better out of the two, ipso facto. ur argument is flawed right from the start. i shall not guess why u used burgers. quina would hate getting fat on them.

i'd rather argue with someone with a better temper than urs. good critics give feedback, and bad critics give rubbish. keep it that way and u'll probably make headlines. fast.

[an extract from the interview, which i finally found]

Q: Do you think that the international audience that is more accustomed to the realistically proportioned characters will have a problem with the change back to more super deformed characters?

Aoki: Going back to the fantasy-like world was probably a bold step by us, but after actually going through the process of creating the game, the characters that are non-realistic actually make you feel more familiar with them after you go through the game. As long as the users can still sympathies with the characters, we believe that this is the case, we feel that it's what's needed.

Q: What are your opinions of the Active Time Event system in FFIX and was it harder to create event scenarios with that as part of the game?

Kurosawa: When we were creating FFIX, there were two things that we kept in mind. Number one**, to make sure that we made a story that was easy to understand. And two, to create some specific personalities for the characters and sub characters and these were the two points we kept in mind when creating the Active Time Event system. With this, it is possible to understand what the sub characters have gone through, making the story and personalities of the characters more easily to relate to.

Q: Unlike the modern feel of VII and VIII, Final Fantasy IX returns completely to the fantasy genre...

[Hideo Minaba, art director]
A: This soon becomes obvious when you play the game, but the themes in the game are ones that fully apply to modern society as well, so the game can't be called strict fantasy. I assume you are referring to the game visuals, which are much more fantasy-oriented than other recent Final Fantasy games. As this is the last single-digit Final Fantasy, we wanted to give the feeling of a series watershed, a sort of grand collection of what has come before. Also, since the black mage known as Vivi is a key character in Final Fantasy IX, part of the world design was centered on him. These two things had a great influence on Final Fantasy IX's world design. To put it another way, if we kept showing the same futuristic images in Final Fantasy VII, and VIII, and the Final Fantasy Movie, I think people would get tired of seeing the same old thing again and again...at least that's something I was a little concerned about.


**ironically, some parts ("largely" the philosophical "bits" [this is not an oxymoron, sorry]) of the story were the hardest to grasp. but i assume that its just their style to program it this way.

My goodness. This hilarious and deserves dissection.


ironically in a thread supposed to discuss about FF9 there is another example of an utterly rude being. i wouldnt even say ur a human. im here defending why FF9 is uniquely attractive and there u are scolding ur logic away in a blast of explosive fury. have some humility, will u? or maybe ur not human enough for that.

Pure lulz.


in what way is abbreviation a signal of stupidity? do the (FORUM) admins ban it? dont u sms with abbreviations? arent u stupid as well? flawed assumption isnt it, huh.

Those who use such abbreviations don't realize why they're stupid. You cannot understand until you grow a brain.

We staff members don't ban it, but we do mock you for it.

No.

Nope.


and i am sure u can tell a good burger from a bad one, no? theres no reason at all why a person should cook himself a burger if he can taste the differences in others. natural selection determines that the person would pick the better out of the two, ipso facto. ur argument is flawed right from the start. i shall not guess why u used burgers. quina would hate getting fat on them.

Again, you fail at comprehension. The burger analogy was meant to represent YOUR mentality, not mine. Therefore, you are acknowledging your own arguments as flawed. Nice going.


i'd rather argue with someone with a better temper than urs. good critics give feedback, and bad critics give rubbish. keep it that way and u'll probably make headlines. fast.

Temper? I'm not mad at you. I find you funny in much the same way I find the noises a scraggly puppy makes when I kick it funny. You're a momentary amusement, barely worthy of my notice and certainly not worthy of my ire. I'll save that for beings who are at least close to being my equals.

Prak, I'm going to assume that you're going for shock value here and that you're not generally in the habit of kicking puppies. :)

I find you funny in much the same way I find the noises a scraggly puppy makes when I kick it funny.

Now it's been worth it.

I can think of at least three other instances where Prak used the kicking a scraggly puppy analogy.