As the title would suggest, this is my favorite Final Fantasy game, along with VI. I get strange looks from people when I tell them this, and the occasional "but VII is so much better!" comment. Either that, or they've never played it at all. And then I want to slap them with a smallmouth bass.

The story is great, the characters are wonderful, and it's just plain fun to play.

I love how it goes from a typical "Let's kidnap the princess!" plot into something far greater.

Zidane has got to be my favorite hero-- he's a genuinely nice guy without being an idiot. He doesn't have that invincible "Superman" status that a lot of game and anime heroes have (*COUGH*KIRAYAMATO*COUGH*), and he's most definitely flawed. His character was well-developed and just plain well-done in my opinion, and that's why I like him so much.

And then there's Garnet. I will never understand why people hate this girl, but that's just me. One of my favorite game heroines of all time (second to Rinoa; don't shoot me!), she has what may be the most development in the game, as we see her gradually grow from being very naive and "princessy" into a sassy, gutsy and smart young woman (thank you, Zidane!) with a wit sharper than the blade she chose her nickname from ("My talent's up to snuff, but that name isn't.")

Everyone else is well-done too (Steiner in particular), but I felt the need to elaborate on the main hero and heroine, as they are who the story revolves around. :D

I know a lot of people I've spoken to don't like this game because they think it's too easy. Sure, okay, I'll give them that-- it was pretty easy, indeed (with the exception of Ozma, who is optional, and the Lich fight when you don't have the damned Float status). But even so, it was still fun. Because it was quite easy, you were able to get to the next plot-related event and see what happens next in the story quicker than you would if you had to spend hours leveling up for a single boss fight. I, for one, prefer the dialogue bits to the actual fighting-- even I though I love battling and leveling up, there's nothing more fun to me than watching the characters interact. It's like playing a good book.

Okay, this post is getting a bit long. I'll wrap it up before I lose your interest (although I'm pretty sure I already have XD). I applaud you for making it this far, and I thank you for your general interest in my opinions. XD

I agree with you, this game is a real gem, and my favorite 3D Final Fantasy game. My only complain is that combat is too slow :(

I agree with you, this game is a real gem, and my favorite 3D Final Fantasy game. My only complaint is that combat is too slow :(

I agree with you, this game is a real gem, and my favorite 3D Final Fantasy game. My only complain is that combat is too slow :(

Yeah. The combat is a bit slow, but it never bothered me. :3

even I though I love battling and leveling up, there's nothing more fun to me than watching the characters interact. It's like playing a good book.

I think this is the part I enjoy most of RPG's and I think IX did the best job of it. That is why it is also my favorite.

I especially enjoyed it when Zidane killed Steiner during the wrestling match at Balamb Garden.

yeah i like it 2

Definitely my favorite Final Fantasy. I never get tired of playing it.

Great picture Soulcage! can't stop laughing now

Yep, my favorite, too. Loved it waaaay back then when it came out and still love playing it to this very day.

whats cool is characters who seemed like low life thieves were really a band of do-gooding heroes. i like that, when the baddergood guys are gooder than the goodest of guys and i can use words like that

I loved the art style. And the character's proportions I found interesting. It had a rather disturbing darkness to it, too. Creeped me out when I was younger.
I agree, my favorite FF game as well, although ff12 comes very close... that game it just the rococo of game design.

Got It the day it Came Out, and Still Playing it Now. My Favorite FF.

yes mine to. the first game i played from ff series, and will always be in my heart the coolest game ever.

FF9 is my most favourite ff game, I got it when it first came out and I'll still play it today. I just loved the characters that are in it and the story.

Yeah, it's pretty much my favourite too. 2nd to FFVI.

to be honest this game was not suikoden ii

Haha..received Cancer XD. I love this game, too. It's definately my favourite FF! The story is so beautiful, the characters..ahh, makes me want to play this game again so badly.

my fav final fantasy game hands down! Final Fantasy 9 gotta one of the best game I played. I love it in every way. I played on PSX, I played it on PC, and I played it on PSP , and soon on my PS3 when it arrives at the end of the month.

Final Fantasy "Creator" Hironobu Sakaguchi said multiple times himself, Final Fantasy 9 was his favorite. It represents what Final Fantasy should be.

Final Fantasy IX was a gem of it's time, complete with gorgeous graphics and a great musical score that paints on the canvas of my imagination. I was swept away by Final Fantasy IX years ago when I played it, they did good, Dagger was cute. I can't help but to feel a bit ostracized when I find Zidane to be an annoying character. His "person", if you will- just does not click with me. He's probably my least favorite FF main character of all time.

IX is not my favorite, though - and had one of the worst end game plots I have ever seen in my life.

the most romantic ending in any Final Fantasy game.

and had one of the worst end game plots I have ever seen in my life.
uhhh...I don't think so.

So, why was the ending so horrible to you?

Why ask? He'll be just another peon who hates Necron because it was so sudden and "unexpected".

Why ask? He'll be just another peon who hates Necron because it was so sudden and "unexpected".

Necron was gay. I beat this guy with a Dark Matter I bought from a freakin random auction.

My favourite FF game with V coming very close. Brilliant story, characters and music (gameplay was kind of average).

Necron was gay. I beat this guy with a Dark Matter I bought from a freakin random auction.

I fail to see the relation between the difficulty of Necron and his relevance to the plot. I understand if you felt disappointed about the battle if it was so easy as you say, but that hardly has anything to do with the storyline.

Yu Yevon was easy as shit (impossible to lose, in fact) but that didn't change anything regarding his part in FFX's plot. He was still the bad guy, although I fully understand the complaints about how disappointing he was. I felt the same way too, back then, but how about getting your head straight before attempting a post? As in, out of your ass, ngWho.

I really joined this thread to antagnize IX... but it's proving futile.

Edit: Though I can elaborate on the biggest flaw of the series, Zidane. Zidane was a sub standard character.

Now that I think of it, the main characters are going "trance" the whole game, then at the end you fight some villian named "Trance Kuja". The game started off really strong, and maintained a steady pace all throughout the first disc into the second. It slowed down a bit on disc 3, but still stayed fun for the most part and I spent hours just chiliing around Esto Gaza cause I thought it was just beautiful, and was really into the game back then.

The game started to loose potency on disk four and kind of fell to shambles near the end. The ending felt forced to me, is probably what I should have said at first. I forgot what allowed Kuja to go "trance", and never knew what allowed the other characters to "trance".

Also, Queen Brahne was just a dummy character created to drive the plot home. She contributes a major part to the idea of "Kuja" actually making sense.

I really joined this thread to antagnize IX... but it's proving futile.

True, your trolling abilities are not up to scratch.


Edit: Though I can elaborate on the biggest flaw of the series, Zidane. Zidane was a sub standard character.

Wait, even more so than the cast of FFI, Firion, Maria, Guy, Leon, FFIII cast, Squall and Vincent? Zidane was refreshing. He had an entertaining personality and was very fun to watch. Also on a less serious note I can only remember him saying '...' once or twice.


I forgot what allowed Kuja to go "trance", and never knew what allowed the other characters to "trance".

The souls captured by the invincible allowed him to trance. As for the others I don't know either.


Also, Queen Brahne was just a dummy character created to drive the plot home. She contributes a major part to the idea of "Kuja" actually making sense.

Maybe it's because of me being tired but what are you trying to get at here? I don't get it.

As a matter of fact, I can in fact speak with utter contempt about nine but I dont want to, it would go against what I really feel as I did like the game. My goal here isn't to win an argument. I actually came in thinking I could honestly write why I didn't like the game and how flawed it was, but reading through I realized how great the game was -- I haven't played it in years. As for Zidane, I couldn't relate to him then and even now I still can't relate to him. He's just annoying, from his face to his attitude, to his tail... Please excuse me for pushing your "I-love-Zidane-and-really-find-him-refreshing" button, but seriously to me he's more of a putrid stench than a refreshment of any kind.

Edit: Just because I don't like him should not make him flawed. His character design was cloudy leaving the player clueless to his origins. The plot seems to mention something about Zidane and Terra, failing to mention one of his parents crossbreeding with a real monkey. His dialog also lacks impact, and he really does not leave a lasting impression with anything he does. He's also annoyingly half witted, and I didn't appreciate running around playing the role of a monkey boy idiot with a dagger who plots to kidnap princesses to feel important about himself.

Though he was pretty cool in the You are not alone scene. "..."

I forgot what allowed Kuja to go "trance", and never knew what allowed the other characters to "trance".

Your opinion of the game is null and void (heh remember that one) because both those things are mentioned and explained in the game. As Vaati already pointed out, Kuja absorbed a ton of souls, thus achieving Trance.

As for the rest of the cast, Steiner says while fighting Soulcage in the Evil Forest that Trance is caused by "a surge of emotions". Zidane went into Trance because he really wanted to save Garnet. Later, Vivi automatically goes into Trance because Black Walttz #3 had just destroyed all of the black mages aboard the cargo ship. As the final example, take Mog, who went into Trance to protect Eiko, who was being tortured by the jesters. Kuja even acknowledges this.

So basically, you're going on and on about things you don't even remember or are classifying as mistakes because you weren't paying attention while you were playing.

The rest of us can rest easy in knowing we can dismiss everything you say about IX because you've just proven how much garbage you spew out, despite the fact the issues you address don't even exist.

That's a bit unrealistic. I mean, I haven't played the game in years so spare me on the plot you probably just got through cutting the game off before you wrote that. And why did you avoid what I said about Zidane like the plague?

That's a bit unrealistic. I mean, I haven't played the game in years so spare me on the plot you probably just got through cutting the game off before you wrote that. And why did you avoid what I said about Zidane like the plague?

Tremendous fail for assuming I played the game recently just because I remember more of it than you do. Not that it's any of your business but I don't play games anymore. I just don't have the time. If I find a few minutes to spare, I try to play new games.

Another reason why I have no choice but to assume you're nothing more than a skidmark on humanity is your excuse of not having played the game for years. Why are you mouthing off about it, then? To purposefully look like a damn fool? Good job then.

Not tuching anything you said about Zidane because that's what you think of him. I'm not trying to change your opinion about anything. If you found him annoying, good for you. All I can say about him is my own impressions. I thought he was an ok character, without looking like an emo loser like squall and Cloud, and without being overly cheerful. Plus, he had personality: he liked women (something the game does push in your face too often to get some cheap laughs, I'll admit) and had principles which he stood by. Consistent is the word I'd use to describe Zidane.

Ok, I made it very clear that I actually did like the game. It seems we are having a communication issue right now because you're failing to comprehend very basic statements. Never did I assume you have played the game recently -- you just like to spew out facts about the game as if it were your brainchild or something. You claim to have not played recently, but you've got one heck of a memory. I don't know when you quit playing games but you speak of IX as if you were a raging hormonal teenager with an untamed FF fix. Your little spat also shows that you fail to listen in arguments. I never said anything bad about IX. Everything I've said about IX was either a complement or a question. Zidane on the other hand got the bad mouthing he deserved and I'm not gonna say anything else about it.

Excuse me for pissing in your coffee, but dude, its just a game.

Ok, I made it very clear that I actually did like the game. It seems we are having a communication issue right now because you're failing to comprehend very basic statements.

hahaha oh excuse me, I thought we were addressing each other's posts here. Boy, is my face red. I mean, let's take a look at what basic statements I misunderstood:

You said you forgot what allowed Kuja to achieve the tranced state and claimed you didn't know what caused the rest of the characters to do the same. I explained.

You then basically said "oh i haven't played the game in years so it's no wonder i forgot". I agree, so you should have just shut up instead of mentioning anything about Trance in the first place.


Never did I assume you have played the game recently -- you just like to spew out facts about the game as if it were your brainchild or something.

Oh wait, you never implied I played the game recently, and that's why I remember more of it than you?


You claim to have not played recently, but you've got one heck of a memory.

I have no idea what that is then!


Your little spat also shows that you fail to listen in arguments.

What arguments have I failed to listen to? No really, what arguments? What you think about Zidane? No, I think I covered that when you thought I was avoiding what you said about him because you probably thought I couldn't think of anything to say. I gave you my thoughts about him. What else do you want? An essay?


I never said anything bad about IX.

I never said or implied you did. I'll dismiss anything you say whether you love or hate the game because you constantly prove yourself to be an utter waste of space everytime you post. I suppose that says something about me, because I'm always replying to you, but I'll save that for my therapist.


Excuse me for pissing in your coffee, but dude, its just a game.

Ooooh a last minute attempt at making me look like some rabid fanboy, even though I never showed any signs of it, and actually addressed your posts correctly, although you claim I failed to listen to your arguments?

Yeah, not gonna fly, dude.

That's a bit unrealistic. I mean, I haven't played the game in years so spare me on the plot you probably just got through cutting the game off before you wrote that. And why did you avoid what I said about Zidane like the plague?


All I've done here basically was provide my opinion about the game and one of its particular characters. Yes I do attest that I don't remember this game after not playing it for four years. In it's place I've remembered different more important things. No way I'm going to come here and erupt an entire plotline after not touching the game for years, and you're doing it. -- Why would I not think you're abnormal? All in all though you've brought solid, valid points to support your argument, and you've pointed out my flaws. I feel really bad and am going to curl up in a ball and cry in a corner next to the Christmas tree. I've been completely honest in this thread, and I've got nothin else.

Since you're on fire, explain the relevance of Necron and how he ties in to the story. I didn't even understand this while playing the game. Either I overlooked that too or it was just all buried under a jungle of useless subversions that have no relation to the actual plotline itself. I liked IX, but I never understood it. Is that because of my pure idiocy, or could it be poor construction of a plot which paints unclear pictures for the player?

Edit: I'm glad you're going to tell your therapist about me.

Since you're on fire, explain the relevance of Necron and how he ties in to the story.


Kuja was not controlled by Necron. Not a puppet of Necron.
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.

Search feature FTW.

Search feature FTW.

Dude what a lame badger tactic, a search feature would do you no good in real life so it loses in reality. Thanks for ruining my life.

See what I mean? Cyancyde just handed you your own ass and you choose to ignore it, instead of admitting Necron actually served a purpose within the game's storyline. The best you could've done was debate the post or admit you were wrong. You continue to be this ungodly stench we can't seem to get rid of.

Thanks a lot, Cyancyde, I remember that was the post that changed my mind about Necron all those years ago and made me see IX in a new light.

No see what I mean, you cant listen Espanha. I didn't want Cyan to explain I wanted you to explain. I was pointing out the fact that no one having a face to face argument cant use some forum search feature. If you weren't being so critical, defensive and an anal retentive moron you could obviously see that I was joking. That post did answer my questions, but whats the point of a damn debate if you're just going to go search through the archives and resurrect another person's idea.

Edit: Espanha you can't read.

oho looks like Doris' feelings were hurt hahaha. Maybe you should PM me again because I'm being too mean to you.

hahaha what an awesome member.

You make me want to hurl data.

whats cool is characters who seemed like low life thieves were really a band of do-gooding heroes. i like that, when the baddergood guys are gooder than the goodest of guys and i can use words like that

make some fuckin sense bro.

No see what I mean, you cant listen Espanha. I didn't want Cyan to explain I wanted you to explain. I was pointing out the fact that no one having a face to face argument cant use some forum search feature. If you weren't being so critical, defensive and an anal retentive moron you could obviously see that I was joking. That post did answer my questions, but whats the point of a damn debate if you're just going to go search through the archives and resurrect another person's idea.

Edit: Espanha you can't read.

First off, seeing as we're not having a face-to-face, your little fact doesn't much matter. Also, again, seeing as we're not having a face-to-face, there's no "listening" to be done to catch a joking and/or sarcastic tone. Seeing as you've only been around a month, we just don't know you well enough to figure out when you're being serious or joking without at least a little help. My knee-jerk reaction to your post was "wtf? that dick!" Does that make me a critical, defensive, anal-retentive moron? Finally, why should I (or anybody else for that matter) be arsed to come up with a new explanation for something when a perfectly good one already exists? It took me, like, two minutes to find that post, far less time than it would have taken me to come up with my own explanation and make it at least a little bit sensible. While we're on that tack, it's not like your gripes about the game are new by any stretch. You simply skipped the step of searching the forums. What's the point of a damn debate if you're just going to resurrect another person's idea, only wording it slightly differently?

Wow, you guys. o_o;; I wasn't expecting to come back here read two pages of debate. (Okay, 1 1/2.)

Calm down, we're all entitled to our opinions. XD

Edit: Though I can elaborate on the biggest flaw of the series, Zidane.

Please do. I'd like to laugh at any more inane drivel you can muster.

Lol i love reading debates like this.

There are so many reasons why I love this game but one person I wish had a bigger role in the game is Blank, I like his character. I love all the character but I have to say that vivi, or spook as I call him is my fav.... I like Steiner a lot but I had to name him Putts cause I just think it fits him.... anyways I too could go on and on about this game but I will leave it at that... LOL....

failing to mention one of his parents crossbreeding with a real monkey

lolwut

My First FF Game in PS1. One of my favorite also.

Fixed Character Jobs and Uniqueness.

Also resembles a True Final Fantasy Game.

I like all the characters.

FF9 is also my favorite. . .

Only Complaint? Man it's hard to go back to those muddy looking PS1 Graphics now. I cringe every time I see Zidane's pixelated form in the opening scene. Same for Vagrant story by the way.

Man, I wish Square would have a remake of Final Fantasy IX/9 for PS3.

The plot seems to mention something about Zidane and Terra, failing to mention one of his parents crossbreeding with a real monkey. His dialog also lacks impact, and he really does not leave a lasting impression with anything he does. He's also annoyingly half witted, and I didn't appreciate running around playing the role of a monkey boy idiot with a dagger who plots to kidnap princesses to feel important about himself.

Did you not pay attention to the plot at all? In Terra you learn about Zidane's origins and what he is. I'm not going to spoil anything but, my friend, don't enter an argument unless you know what you're talking about.

IX is my personal favorite too (XII almost beats it though...) I found that the cinematic elements of the game are the best in the series, battles are fun, characters are unique and interesting, story is top-notch, presentation is good.

Yea this game was great!! The story was excellent, the game play just down right fun. definately one of my favorites...for life! I almost cried when i played ff10... it was horrible

Man, I wish Square would have a remake of Final Fantasy IX/9 for PS3.

And yes a remake would make me the happiest person alive... Can't wait for ff7 though

Hmmmm :rolleyes:

FF9 definitely needs some remaking attention. FF7 i think is seriously over-rated judging by the NUMBER of remakes they gave to it (AC / BC / CC / DoC, dont they just sound like ABCDs?) haha...

we look forward to more stuff for FF9, and are tired from so much of stuff for FF7. thats the main thing people are feeling now, no?

for those who are gonna say smth like "FF7 is better", do remember that too much of a good thing is never a good thing.

Seeing that they pretty much fucked up Final Fantasy VII for a lot of people by making all of these games, I say no to more FFIX. Yeah, let's ruin yet another Final Fantasy by throwing it in peoples faces.

I reckon they should re-release every FF for the DS.

Just like III and IV.

Seeing that they pretty much fucked up Final Fantasy VII for a lot of people by making all of these games, I say no to more FFIX. Yeah, let's ruin yet another Final Fantasy by throwing it in peoples faces.

haha... ur the 'we'll just leave it at that' type of person. im a perfectionist. so i see the need for a remake ^_^

and speaking about the earlier FFs (1-6), have they remade them all for PS yet? i only know that 5 has been remade.

What does perfectionism have to do with anything? The game wasn't perfect - thank God for that! Also, you misunderstand; I never said that a re-release would be bad, but adding more games to the universe certainly would be. I know a lot of people who held FFVII in high regards, but when all of the spin-offs came, they pretty much ruined the FFVII universe.

And yes; all of the early Final Fantasy games have been re-released and re-vamped for other systems.

ah. haha.. i thought over it for awhile. maybe they didnt want to change anything after all (perhaps people / skeptics would get angry over the changes? i dont know =/)

consider this point: nobuo uematsu declared ff9 to be his favourite. adding things to the 'best possible' equilibrium point for the game may produce less-than-excellent results (think of this as a theological concept: too little of a good thing is bad, and too much is bad too, leading to market saturation)... so i think ur argument has a point there.

so i THINK he would've voted against a remake given the chance. but then again, given enough time i'd go consult him over his website or whatnot to ask about this.

*some of my personal thoughts: nobuo mentioned it was the best piece of work, but ironically, the timeframe for him to produce all 160 soundtracks was wayyy too short. during the initial stages of production, they were rounding up on FF8 and stuff, and then nobuo was given some days off from work to visit european cities and 'gain inspiration'. to compose 160+ soundtracks within a year must have been a tiring (and PERHAPS uninspiring) task. therefore, i wonder if that statement he made was to undermine his 'tiredness' from all that work? i dont know. its just a conjecture thus far with insufficient evidence.

PS: thanks for the info on the revamp!

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.


*does anyone need the interview record? i think it can be googled.

I love this game so much.
I love the cute romance, the lack of angsty main characters, and the throw-back-to-the-past style.

Zidane was the best.