Why does everyone skip over this game when referring to Final Fantasy? Sure, it borrowed a lot of stuff from other Final Fantasy's, but it's still unique enough to be its own game. Every character goes through development on the journey. The bad guy actually kills the party (though he does revive them afterward). This game has several great aspects that don't deserve to be ignored.

FFIX? Ignored? Never heard it referred to as such.

The only time I can think of it being close to "ignored" was when the first Kingdom Hearts had characters from all the Sony generation games but that one.

FF2 seems to be the most ignored to me.

I don't know. You really don't here much about FF V. FF IX was my favourite one out of them all, and all my mates had it. Definetely not the most ignored.

Some people were introduced do Final Fantasy through VII and VIII, and were probably expecting IX to be a teenage melodrama of some kind. Pretty ironic how it felt weird for them seeing something more fantasy-like in a game called Final Fantasy.

Personally I love 9 and I don't understand how anyone could ignore it. I've always loved them but I guess I may just be into the Final Fantasy's that don't have a horrid fan boy base like 7. Bleck. What happened to the good old days where gamers were actual people who were cool and now everyone just makes them into comic-con side shows who only love one game out of a giant game series?



"I think I was born in the wrong era" - Ben Johnson/Me

FF2 seems to be the most ignored to me.

+1

Most ignored? Nah, I don't really think it is. But, remember, this game fell right in-between the hugely popular FF8, and the highly anticipated FF10, which definitely did not help it.

FF X was brilliant. Well, I think so anyway. Let's Blitz!

Why does everyone skip over this game when referring to Final Fantasy? Sure, it borrowed a lot of stuff from other Final Fantasy's, but it's still unique enough to be its own game. Every character goes through development on the journey. The bad guy actually kills the party (though he does revive them afterward). This game has several great aspects that don't deserve to be ignored.

It's definitely not ignored in these forums! I think IX has to be the general favourite around here. But I don't find IX the one that is ignored very much - perhaps anything earlier than VI?

I don't know about that, as they have already re-made FF 1, 2, 3 and 4 with 5 and 6 on its way, and most people have gooten back into them.

I have to agree that 2 is the most ignored, with 5 probably being runner-up in that category.

I could never ignore this game it's brilliant, however I love 7 but i wish everyone would ignore it for awhile.... God that's a horrid fan boy base

II is rightly ignored~

Nice Neg. I lol'd

Allen likes it, but I've never seen anyone else who has. Choosing to not initially port it was probably the best decision ever made regarding it.

I mean, kudos for trying to innovate, but still, any system that lets you get 9999HP before leaving the first town is broken beyond belief.

I've never played it. I would like to at least be able to read a script for it online, but there doesn't seem to be one available.

IX is one of the best FF ever!! i think it�s ignored because of the time of its release (just when the PS2 came out)

You really aren't missing a super lot, Agent. If you really want, you can have my copy of Origins.

FF Origins. You can't have Travis or Wolverine :mad:

fuck yeah solidsnake hi5

Neg - for free? (minus the shipping cost?)

Yeah for free. I don't charge for shipping, either.

PM me your address.

:) Thanks, Neg! Okay, I'll send it now...

lol lucky!
I'm trying to get my hands on all FF's does anyone know a good site to buy games?

Do you have an account on eBay? They can generally be found on there, sometimes for good prices. If you're uncertain about any particular auction or listing, you can always ask here. I have purchased FFs from eBay more than once. You might also try Amazon.com.

I was going to use ebay until they asked for paypal i don't use paypal because I hate that shit

Just about everybody on eBay requires PayPal. If you don't wanna use it, then I'm afraid you're probably not going to be able to shop there. Maybe Amazon, or GameStop.com, or any other major merchant that sells games.


P.S.: What is wrong with Paypal-- I've never understood why so many people hate it.

sweet thanks

I'll probably use a friends ebay

Not sure if you saw my edit, but why do you dislike Paypal?

I hate it because for the longest time I needed to get a credit card for ebay then I finally got on and it requires paypal. So I go on paypal ready to buy the stuff I won the bid on. I put in my credit card and it requires bank info. I stopped there said fuck it and now I can't use that ebay which is fine because the stuff on there I found cheaper.

Yeah, I guess they do require a lot of verification. It works for me, but I can see how some people would be annoyed by it.

maybe I'll check out paypal and maybe give it another shot but S&H on a product u have no clue if it's good or not sucks

Like I said, report back if you see something you like and we can let you know if it's a good deal or not.

final fantasy 1-6 on there
and maybe a Tidus outfit lololol

Paypal has never given me any trouble.

shut up Neg you suck.
Just because everything goes right for you

Paypal has never given me any trouble.
x2
I use it all over the net from eBay to Barnes & Noble and anyone else who accepts it. I don't understand the hate it gets either.

FF2
FFMQ
FFCR
FFCD
FFL
?

I just don't want to put bank shit in it takes to much time and is pointless

It takes all of 2 minutes to link it to your bank account and allows you to easily move cash between accounts. Have you ever actually used it or are you just prematurely jumping on the hate bandwagon?

I tried using it but I don't have my checkbook yet so how can I put my freaking bank info in.
Why should I even have to put my bank info in. I put a credit card in for christ's sake

You say you don't have a checkbook, but do you have a bank account?

yeah

Paypal has never given me any trouble.

Same



II and V sprinkle a bit of III.
ALSO SH4!

yeah
Then just talk to your bank and ask them for your information.

I know most of the info but it ask for like some 3 digit number, my bank uses 2 digits

Couldn't you just email their support staff?

Also, you don't have to verify to use a credit card. Well, you didn't used to. Maybe I got grandfathered in? They always harass me to verify but I haven't ever done it.

I have received payments before from people who are non-verified, and recently too.

damn you guys

We suggest you ask their staff for help and you say 'damn you guys?'

You have been overly hostile last night and today, for no clear reason. Pull yourself together. Drama happens in GD, not the subforums. We were sincerely making conversation and trying to help you.

I have received payments before from people who are non-verified, and recently too.

Likewise Agent.

The PayPal verification as far as I understand just increases the amount of money you can send and receive in a given time frame. Which is only particularly useful if you operate a business via PayPal. All of which is anti-money laundering jizness.

eBay doesn't even require a credit card. You can set up a sellers account on the back of a debit card. I do not know anyone with a bank account who does not have a debit card.

We suggest you ask their staff for help and you say 'damn you guys?'

You have been overly hostile last night and today, for no clear reason. Pull yourself together. Drama happens in GD, not the subforums. We were sincerely making conversation and trying to help you.

Sorry if you took the "damn you guys" as an attack I mean it as like in cartoons in a quirky damn I wish I had that.

Sorry again

It's alright. You're new, and we don't know when you're kidding yet. You realize that, now, so it's all good.

I'll just put a :p when I'm kidding for awhile so u guys know I'm not really pissed off I'm just playing around

also this is going to sound dumb but wat game is you sig from?

Silent hill 2

lol nice.

and yours?

... Silent Hill 4

lol Silent Hill boys huh.. Cool

You know I was playing Homecoming recently, I have been far too distracted with RE5 though to keep it up but seems like a very good game.

don't put RE5 down or you'll never pick it up again

Lies. I just picked it back up. The magic is still there in a very big way. I am proud of my decision to put it in my top 5 and stand by it.

Well I love RE games I just found I put it down while playing with a friend and a week later on a bad day we tried finishing and I just found I couldn't start again, it just wasn't in me.

Weird.

I have not picked it up since last time, Neg, but that isn't because of the game... its because im not on my PS3 that whole much...
Sorry Ari I didn't get on to play some RE5 with you.

Still bummed that my data can't be transferred.

Yeah it's a good game just hard to start again

Most ignored? Nah, I don't really think it is. But, remember, this game fell right in-between the hugely popular FF8, and the highly anticipated FF10, which definitely did not help it.

So true.
I played IX once, sold it for $40 to my neighbor within five minutes of beating it. So I didn't ignore it, I sold it to my neighbor at a profit of $30. =D

I still didn't like it, just felt I had to beat it.

So true.
I played IX once, sold it for $40 to my neighbor within five minutes of beating it. So I didn't ignore it, I sold it to my neighbor at a profit of $30. =D

I still didn't like it, just felt I had to beat it.

Really!? 5 whole minutes!!!???

It is my personal favorite in the series. I liked the innovation of it yet with some of the old elements of the previous titles mixed in with it to deliver an interesting package. My taste doesn''t really vary. It is just there and I like what I like, though not in an infatuated way.

I mean, kudos for trying to innovate, but still, any system that lets you get 9999HP before leaving the first town is broken beyond belief.

I guess that means FFVIII is broken beyond belief, eh? What with the beating the Diablos Guardian Force then using him to draw Curaga's and junction them to your HP stat and all? (or something to that effect, it's been about a year since I last played.)

Yes.

Neg, you're going to have to explain to me again how you did that, because I couldn't get that to work for me. I mean, attacking your own characters, etc., is pretty much the only way to go, but 9999 HP? I couldn't get close.

I just kept doing it. Make sure you get them as close to death each battle that you can, and make sure you are ending the battle with them in that state.

Remember when I first joined and said I got my characters to 99 in V? I'm not sure if that was true, but I did max the jobs for everyone. That was what I meant to say to you.

THIS, however, I am absolutely sure of. I did do that. I also did it for the 4th permanent member when he finally showed up. My memories of how long it took might be fuzzy, but I did do it.

I used the Dawn of Souls version, but I don't THINK that'd matter at all.

Hrm. Okay, I'm going to try ending every battle with them in critical and see if that's the key. Because unless it's giving an HP boost after pretty much every battle, it just seems like it would take forever and wouldn't be worth it. And there were a lot of times where I attacked my own characters and still didn't get any HP bonus. But I'm gonna give that a go.

Hmm, I always got an HP bonus, every battle doing that.

Okay, noted. I'll be continuing with II soon because I'm doing a script for the game and I'll try it then. Been doing FFI at the moment, though.

I don't think FF9 is terribly ignored. Other forums do nothing but praise and rave over it. 2's ignored, but that's probably because the battle system was terrible.

Although it's fact that compared to 7 or 10, it's terribly overshadowed. Shame because I think it's the best of them all.

i think IX is the worst final fantasy but it's probably the only game i'll admit that it's good. i just hated the damn battle system and couldn't enjoy it. It's overshadowed because of it and for a good reason. My god it sucks. Great storyline, great soundtrack was it really that hard for square to make a good battle system and make it the best?

What in particular did you not like about the battle system? I didn't really have any major problems with it. And at least it isn't quite as easily breakable as certain other FFs I can think of.

well mainly the way the ATB works and of course Trance.
ATB NEVER stopped during anything. Now you might mention that it's the same with the SNES FF's. however there is one big difference. the SNES FF's didn't have long animations so the ATB never stopping wasn't really a problem. however when casting a single spell takes at least 20 seconds in IX you can see my point. I get seriously irritated when i have to wait 3 minutes for a character to execute a command. I won't say anything further for fear of misunderstanding.
and here we have Trance, the lamest ultimate attack system of any FF, if not game in general. Seemingly ordinary at first and very helpful during the fights against Black Walzt #1 and #3, as i played the game i never got to use it again. And i'm not talking about against a boss, I'm talking in general. Now why does this happen you may ask? BECAUSE IT FUCKING ACTIVATES ON ITS OWN!!! I SO HATE THAT!!! WTF?!!! didn't Square see what MIGHT be wrong with that?! i'll tell you what. it activates during random encouters because like it or not i get attacked. as much as i would want to there is nothing i could do against that. and then trance of a character activates and i don't even get to use it against useless monsters, much less bosses, because ironically they get killed by the rest of the party before i even get a chance.
I don't care what any of you say. IX had THE WORST battle system of them all and was the worst of them all.
up until disc 3 i felt like i was being tortured. then i died. and by the end i felt like i was being tortured after death in hell. YES IT WAS THAT BAD. games are supposed to be fun. IX wasn't. not even slightly. I don't want to think "NOT AGAIN!!!" before each battle begins.

So yeah that's my problem.

well mainly the way the ATB works and of course Trance.
ATB NEVER stopped during anything. Now you might mention that it's the same with the SNES FF's. however there is one big difference. the SNES FF's didn't have long animations so the ATB never stopping wasn't really a problem. however when casting a single spell takes at least 20 seconds in IX you can see my point. I get seriously irritated when i have to wait 3 minutes for a character to execute a command. I won't say anything further for fear of misunderstanding.
and here we have Trance, the lamest ultimate attack system of any FF, if not game in general. Seemingly ordinary at first and very helpful during the fights against Black Walzt #1 and #3, as i played the game i never got to use it again. And i'm not talking about against a boss, I'm talking in general. Now why does this happen you may ask? BECAUSE IT FUCKING ACTIVATES ON ITS OWN!!! I SO HATE THAT!!! WTF?!!! didn't Square see what MIGHT be wrong with that?! i'll tell you what. it activates during random encouters because like it or not i get attacked. as much as i would want to there is nothing i could do against that. and then trance of a character activates and i don't even get to use it against useless monsters, much less bosses, because ironically they get killed by the rest of the party before i even get a chance.
I don't care what any of you say. IX had THE WORST battle system of them all and was the worst of them all.
up until disc 3 i felt like i was being tortured. then i died. and by the end i felt like i was being tortured after death in hell. YES IT WAS THAT BAD. games are supposed to be fun. IX wasn't. not even slightly. I don't want to think "NOT AGAIN!!!" before each battle begins.

So yeah that's my problem.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOTALLY AGREE DUDE! XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.....

you forgot the lame skill system

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOTALLY AGREE DUDE! XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.....

you forgot the lame skill system

The whole "learn skills and spells from your equipment with points" bit? That's why I didn't like FFT for GBA, that and I didn't think the gameplay was very good. Yeah, I don't like having to get a certain weapon to get a certain skill or spell... I thought the battle system was just dandy in FFIX, as well as the world. I love the airships and the humor.

In other words I rather enjoy 9, except for kuja...the.....man?

well mainly the way the ATB works and of course Trance.
ATB NEVER stopped during anything. Now you might mention that it's the same with the SNES FF's. however there is one big difference. the SNES FF's didn't have long animations so the ATB never stopping wasn't really a problem. however when casting a single spell takes at least 20 seconds in IX you can see my point. I get seriously irritated when i have to wait 3 minutes for a character to execute a command. I won't say anything further for fear of misunderstanding.
and here we have Trance, the lamest ultimate attack system of any FF, if not game in general. Seemingly ordinary at first and very helpful during the fights against Black Walzt #1 and #3, as i played the game i never got to use it again. And i'm not talking about against a boss, I'm talking in general. Now why does this happen you may ask? BECAUSE IT FUCKING ACTIVATES ON ITS OWN!!! I SO HATE THAT!!! WTF?!!! didn't Square see what MIGHT be wrong with that?! i'll tell you what. it activates during random encouters because like it or not i get attacked. as much as i would want to there is nothing i could do against that. and then trance of a character activates and i don't even get to use it against useless monsters, much less bosses, because ironically they get killed by the rest of the party before i even get a chance.
I don't care what any of you say. IX had THE WORST battle system of them all and was the worst of them all.
up until disc 3 i felt like i was being tortured. then i died. and by the end i felt like i was being tortured after death in hell. YES IT WAS THAT BAD. games are supposed to be fun. IX wasn't. not even slightly. I don't want to think "NOT AGAIN!!!" before each battle begins.

So yeah that's my problem.

Each to their own I guess.

Reading your post however, I feel I have to clarify a few critical points you have raised about FFIX's battle system.

Firstly, the ATB system. Yes, I admit FFIX's battles were a little more subdued in pace than FFVII and VIII, but I think that was because the development team were attempting to make each battle more cinematic.

As for the ATB gauge not stopping, I presume you have it set for 'Active' mode rather than 'Wait', which you can easily change in the Config menu. Additionally, try increasing the Battle speed in Config as well to speed up the ATB gauges in battle (although doing this also speeds up enemies too).

Secondly, Trance. Um, I'm not sure what FF game you're thinking of, but FFIX uses a similar system to FFVII's Limit Breaks. Below each character's ATB gauge is a Trance gauge which fills each time a character takes damage from the enemy. Once this gauge fills, that character goes into Trance mode. It's not random at all, despite what you said.

Unlike FFVII and VIII though, you couldn't manipulate this system to increase the times Trance executes by using items or spells (like Hypers in FFVII and the Aura spell in FFVIII), meaning players couldn't develop an over-reliance on it. Trance is meant to be a lifeline in a tough battle, and not a standard ability after all.

This is further illustrated by the fact only some characters have particularly useful Trances (Zidane's being probably the best, although Vivi's Double Black Magic could be devastating and Eiko's Double White Magic is helpful in tough situations).

Really, if you think FFIX is hard, you have obviously never played FFXI. Personally I found FFIX to be one of the easiest FF games (sure, it had some tricky battles, but I usually managed to overcome them).

I don't think he was saying that the activation was random, so much as that it's so easy for it to come up in random battles that ends up losing the purpose that you described as being a "lifeline" for the tough ones. If you wanted to "save it up," really the only way to do it was try to keep a particular character from being attacked so that the Trance bar is close to full, but not quite there. And Zidane's Trance may be the best earlier in the game, but later on it becomes near-useless, since it can never do more than 9999 damage, and Thievery can be easily powered up to do that. That, plus the fact that while the higher-MP cost Trance attacks look cool, beyond a certain point they just waste more MP to execute when the lower-cost ones also do 9999.


Oh, and yeah, I always up the battle speed to full-- it's way too sluggish if you leave it on the default setting.

As for the ATB gauge not stopping, I presume you have it set for 'Active' mode rather than 'Wait', which you can easily change in the Config menu. Additionally, try increasing the Battle speed in Config as well to speed up the ATB gauges in battle (although doing this also speeds up enemies too).


You misunderstand. The Wait option in the ATB makes the ATB stop while I'm selecting a target to attack, or choosing magic and stuff. That's not my problem. I'm talking about the fact that IX's ATB doesn't stop during anything else. Like when somebody casts magic or even attacks or summons. Much like the SNES FF's like i mentioned earlier. Of course in those it wasn't a problem because there weren't any long animations, and nothing lasted more than 6 seconds max, much unlike IX, In which it takes at least 15 seconds for Vivi or anyone else to cast a simple magic spell.

Trance was indeed somewhat of a secondary skill, considering you could easily deal the max 9999 using other means. To that end i would much rather there being no Trance at all, than having one and it going to waste ALL the time.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOTALLY AGREE DUDE! XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.....

you forgot the lame skill system

thanks for agreeing with me, although the skill learning system wasn't that annoying for me. if they fixed the ATB and Trance I could easily live with it.

Secondly, Trance. Um, I'm not sure what FF game you're thinking of, but FFIX uses a similar system to FFVII's Limit Breaks. Below each character's ATB gauge is a Trance gauge which fills each time a character takes damage from the enemy. Once this gauge fills, that character goes into Trance mode. It's not random at all, despite what you said.

Um, what...?

Please use the edit button to add to your post if no one has replied. Triple posting :notgood:

Please use the edit button to add to your post if no one has replied. Triple posting :notgood:

Sorry I'll keep that in mind.

I don't really feel like it's ignored. I remember when it came out a lot of people said it was the best one yet. It's like a Final Fantasy Greatest Hits album. Plenty of people were turned off by the sprites, but they were the same ones who had only ever played VIII, so what can you do? IX wasn't really for them.

It was a love-letter to long-term fans. And like real love letters, you may read them occasionally, if you're creepy enough, but you sure as hell don't constantly talk about them. Or something.

I like Final Fantasy IX.

When I first got Final Fantasy IX, and after playing it, I didn't like it one bit. Idk why, but I just couldn't get to like it. However, a few years ago I went back and tried again.

True there are gripes about this game... but I can appreciate how in it's own right it is a good game. Maybe not be the best ever or the absolute perfect (IMO, there is no such thing as a perfect game. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder, what one person considers perfect may not always be the same to another), but it is a good title and a good part of the FF series.

I have to agree with Mistaeff, it wasn't a game for those who started out with FFVII and FFVIII, it's enjoyed more by the classics fans. I think one of the biggest turn-offs was the graphics style, most say that they're too childish looking. They don't bother me, or a lot of others, but those that started out with VII and VIII had the more "realistic" graphics (I think VII looked like lego's personally) but that's the argument I usually hear. Also, as annoying as "wasted" trances were, they made you rely on your actual skills instead of easily whipping trance out on a boss (one reason I found FFX really easy); it's an added bonus when you get trance during a boss fight.

I never enjoyed the "lego" look of FFVII. FFVIII was sweet, and I prefer FFIX over FFVII anytime, graphics-wise.

I thought FFIX battle system is rather interesting, but the need to have certain equipment to learn certain skills/spells does get real annoying later on. Sometimes I would skip over equipment because it is not much of an upgrade over what my characters have and quite an expense. But then, I end up going back for it because it offered the chance to learn a new skill/spell I have yet to see anything else offer.

I'm starting to feel like picking up this game again. n__n
I'm starting to miss Final Fantasy lately; I haven't played videogames for some time now, much too long as a matter of fact. =P

FFIX was ignored years ago. Since then I say in the "core" FF fandom it's become the single mos tpopular title with VI it's only real competition.

II is the most ignored. V used to be hated on if it was discussed at all but I've seen a lot of Evil Tree cocksucking on forums I attend. Honestly don't get the appeal of V.

P.S.
I started out with FFVII. And IX is still my favorite and has been for years.

FINALLY!! Someone who thinks like I do about this game!!! I couldn't agree more; FFIX is one of the best gems of the series, and all anyone ever remembers it as is "the one that brought the series back to its roots, by having castles and dragons and stuff". Okay, why don't we all just call FFVII "The one that brought the series to futuristic cities and robots and stuff" and mention NOTHING about ITS plot? FFIX gets so little attention or respect from so many people, it makes me sick! To me, it's the most emotional and engrossing plot of the WHOLE SERIES!! Even X doesn't quite tie in! The only gripe about the game itself I've ever had is, "DAMN YOU TRANCE METER!" but aside from that, this game is the cream of the crop when it comes to this series! It's everything "fantasy" should be! Why is FFVII considered the best? I thought the series was Final FANTASY, not Final Futuristic Fairytale Failure!

I never, EVER use this phrase, but it must be said; FFIX FTW!

I too feel that this particular installment in the FF series didn't get the same fan fare as the others. I am a game junkie and belong to a few forums and it never seems to make the topic of discussion.

I loved this FF and Have played it through several times. It's one of my favs.

I too feel that this particular installment in the FF series didn't get the same fan fare as the others. I am a game junkie and belong to a few forums and it never seems to make the topic of discussion.

I loved this FF and Have played it through several times. It's one of my favs.

Then you just won 1000 points of awesomeness! Every FF title deserves equal praise, not just one or two that are hailed as "the best".

ATB NEVER stopped during anything. Now you might mention that it's the same with the SNES FF's. however there is one big difference. the SNES FF's didn't have long animations so the ATB never stopping wasn't really a problem. however when casting a single spell takes at least 20 seconds in IX you can see my point. I get seriously irritated when i have to wait 3 minutes for a character to execute a command. I won't say anything further for fear of misunderstanding.

If you used auto-regen, you'd probably just laugh about this because a clever player would exploit that to keep everybody full or nearly so without an actual healer.


BECAUSE IT FUCKING ACTIVATES ON ITS OWN!!! I SO HATE THAT!!! WTF?!!! didn't Square see what MIGHT be wrong with that?! i'll tell you what. it activates during random encouters because like it or not i get attacked. as much as i would want to there is nothing i could do against that. and then trance of a character activates and i don't even get to use it against useless monsters, much less bosses, because ironically they get killed by the rest of the party before i even get a chance.

So you're raging because you couldn't "save" your trances like you could in FFVII and unleash a shitstorm of roflstompage at will? While it is annoying that sometimes a Trance will go completely wasted due to a random mob getting killed (which isn't irony, btw), I'd rather be annoyed every once in a while than having limits trivializing pretty much every encounter save the "optional bosses."



I don't care what any of you say. IX had THE WORST battle system of them all and was the worst of them all.

That's just a shitty attitude to have.

If you used auto-regen, you'd probably just laugh about this because a clever player would exploit that to keep everybody full or nearly so without an actual healer.

Big deal. Auto-Potion would work the same, just waste even more of my time.


So you're raging because you couldn't "save" your trances like you could in FFVII and unleash a shitstorm of roflstompage at will? While it is annoying that sometimes a Trance will go completely wasted due to a random mob getting killed (which isn't irony, btw), I'd rather be annoyed every once in a while than having limits trivializing pretty much every encounter save the "optional bosses."

If you want to look at it like that, fine. But there are better ways to make a game challenging. I don't like anything going to waste, especially if I can't even do anything about it.
And in my epxerience it's not just every once in a while. It's all the time.


That's just a shitty attitude to have.

That's my opinion. I'm not trying to enforce it to anybody. I'm saying don't bother trying to convice me otherwise.

So you're raging because you couldn't "save" your trances like you could in FFVII and unleash a shitstorm of roflstompage at will? While it is annoying that sometimes a Trance will go completely wasted due to a random mob getting killed (which isn't irony, btw), I'd rather be annoyed every once in a while than having limits trivializing pretty much every encounter save the "optional bosses."


I think that making it auto-active, loses it's utility & straegical value reducing it to be useful only if you're "lucky", and seeing that activating on a common battle before a boss battle, which can happen a lot, is like the game is mocking you & that's what pisses me off a lot.

As Smarty said there are much better ways to make things challeging, a good example would be if it's conditional (assuming that the conditions are hard to accomplish) rather than just making the way they did it on IX.

Final Fantasy IX was one of my favorites in the whole saga. If there ever was a Final Fantasy thats being REALLY ignored I would say it would be FF Mystical Quest for the SNES.

I was an ok game. But it was really different from the rest of the saga... and too easy to beat. On the brigth side, the weapons you got could be use in the areas to open paths and collect items.

Final Fantasy IX was one of my favorites in the whole saga. If there ever was a Final Fantasy thats being REALLY ignored I would say it would be FF Mystical Quest for the SNES.

There's a reason Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is ignored. It's terrible.

I don't think FFIX was ignored really. For some reason people don't really talk about it in conversations about Final Fantasy. I always thought it was one of the better games of the PSOne generation because it perfected everything FFVII and FFVIII tried to do and made them better. It looked stunning and the story was a refreshing experience after not 2 but 3 installments based in a cyberpunk setting if you include FFVI.

But FFVI wasn't 'cyberpunk' anyway, more 'steampunk' than anything. Hell, even technically FFVII was steampunk originally (Midgar had streets paved with cobblestones, buildings made from brick and timber, gas lamps and steam trains). The Compilation titles though tried to make it more gritty and futuristic however.

But FFVI wasn't 'cyberpunk' anyway, more 'steampunk' than anything. Hell, even technically FFVII was steampunk originally (Midgar had streets paved with cobblestones, buildings made from brick and timber, gas lamps and steam trains). The Compilation titles though tried to make it more gritty and futuristic however.

Yeah I suppose you're right. I'll give you that one. lol

FFIX is not ignored in the FF fanbase, it is one of the more popular ones.

just read some stuff on the last page about the lame battle system. What lame battle system? FFIX had one of the best battle systems in the series, sure trance was unreliable but just saving up limit breaks in FFVII made the game mega easy. and the skill learning system I really liked. It's better than buying them from shops, or through materia (very similar though) or through the god awful draw system.

FFIX is not ignored in the FF fanbase, it is one of the more popular ones.

just read some stuff on the last page about the lame battle system. What lame battle system? FFIX had one of the best battle systems in the series, sure trance was unreliable but just saving up limit breaks in FFVII made the game mega easy. and the skill learning system I really liked. It's better than buying them from shops, or through materia (very similar though) or through the god awful draw system.

*rant*
What lame battle system!? THIS LAME BATTLE SYSTEM:
I found the skill system on IX the most anoying thing ever, I have to stick to a certain equipment to learn a skill, that's bullshit man, what If I don't like the equipment? what If I found something better, but I need the skill to be learned? I'm obliged to stick with this shitty equipment until I learn, you know what that screams?
GRIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let's not forget the case that if I want to go on in the game & I still didn't learned that skill that I need, they'll kick my ass for two reasons:
1- I don't have the skill I want
2- Shitty equipment.

Buying Books, Draw Magic & Collect Materia is 9999999999999^99999999999 times better than the skill system that's applied in IX, because they don't oblige/force me to stick with something that I don't want to use.

We already talked about Trance.

And the battles are also very very very slow, I suffer everytime I see the ATB bar fill, it fills so fucking slow.

The animations in the battle are long(surprisingly except for the summons) & the charge between normal exploring & entering battle is also long.
No I don't like FFIX Battle System I HATE IT SO MUCH THAT I PREFER TO PLAY DIGIMON WORLD.

*rant*

Okay that's my issue with FFIX's gameplay.

Speed it up if you like. Also it doesn't take that long to learn most abilities so it's not grind, grind, grind as you're suggesting. Also you'll find more useful abilities and spells will be with more powerful weapons so using shitty equipment doesn't factor into too much.

As for Drawing magic being better? LOL.

Speed it up if you like. Also it doesn't take that long to learn most abilities so it's not grind, grind, grind as you're suggesting. Also you'll find more useful abilities and spells will be with more powerful weapons so using shitty equipment doesn't factor into too much.

As for Drawing magic being better? LOL.

Okay, let's be honest, maybe Drawing magic isn't the most brilliant thing ever, but I found it less annoying than the worse shit/trash skill system on IX & also there's a way to avoid Drawing magic, Refine magic through the Items, Of course this requires that you GF have learned certain skills, but that's no problem since you can get them pretty fast.

Refining magic requires certain items and you can't choose which magic you get from them so it is unreliable and down to luck.

Drawing magic is a boring chore, plus once you junction it you can't use it otherwise it lowers your stats, how lame is THAT?

For me, it's pretty much the same in FFIX. Even though I'm wasting valuable magic by using them in VIII, I'm wasting so much valuable TIME casting spells in IX. I have to think twice before casting spells in IX, for fear of wasting even more time than I already do. That game isn't Final Fantasy IX, it's SLOW MOTION FANTASY BULLSHIT(that's my original FFIX name). Everything takes hours. The ATB system is lousy and has a mind of its own. As in, it never stops. The animations for everything take forever. I get it that they tried to make like the classics on the SNES, but man did they fail. Who came up with that brilliant idea anyway? I order my character to attack, after 6 minutes he remembers that he's supposed to attack.

And of course there are more abilities that'll help slow the process even more. My favorite of all: Auto-Potion. In theory it's useful. In practice it takes about 5 seconds for the character to throw the potion in the air, another 5 for the potion animation, another 3 to show and apply the HP regeneration, and another 5 for the game to think "Oh yeah there's that battle I'm supposed to get back to". Plus I'm wasting potions left and right. Enemies totally benefit from this process. Basically any single enemy has an advantage against a group (that's the party btw). Fucking fantastic. Let's not raise their stats and make their AI's smarter, no, let's let the battle system make the game difficult.

You know I'm disappointed. They could have made it much worse. Throw every bullshit idea they have against the players. Why not make it so that only one character's ATB gauge is filling while the others sit around scrathcing their smelly balls(that's what they do anyway)? Yeah, that would do the trick.

I like how in IX I casted Slow on every boss, but they still managed to get at least 2 moves before any of my characters got any.

Look, FFIX's battle system sucked balls. I can understand people liking IX because of the graphics, music, characters etc. But saying that the battle system is better than the other games?! NO. That's just NO!

And that's just the ATB. Let's not forget the most brilliant addition to IX: Trance. But I'm not going to elaborate any further. I am sick of ranting about IX.

Back me up here, topopoz.

turn eidolon animation off. that will speed things up. you can also speed up the ATB *for enemies too of course* therefore making your slow motion rant invalid.

I really liked the battle system, one of my favourites.

I need no back up.

Speeding the ATB makes it worse. Makes it much worse. Why? Because they waste so much more time now, since more time passes after I input the commands. I wish the animations could be sped up. That'd be something.

And where exactly did I mention anything about Eidolons in my post? I was talking about the animations of the magic, and as far as I know that can't be turned off.

Back me up here, topopoz.

*rant*rant*rant*rant*rant*rant*
I don't know how can I back you up here anymore xD, we already covered all the bullshit about FFIX gameplay(Trance,Skill System, ATB), nice obsevation though, I didn't realized that they were trying to literally bring ATB SNES to this FF, really that Idea is one most sucking sick shitty trash I've ever seen in modifying gameplay, I didn't see that kind of idea since Castlevania 64(Bringing literally 2D castlevania to 3D, bad idea.. xD)
I remember a few months back when I was trying to complete FFIX, it was pure suffering, the sheer force of will that I need to finish that game is something not from this world, I was playing in a real PSX so no Frame Skipping, when I reached CD3 I said "ENOUGH!" & I give the game to a friend.
Trying to "go back to it's roots" it's a complete failure, because they combined the worse aspects of boths system, the classic & the modern(yeah, back then it was considered modern).
FUCK FFIX, in 2000 Squaresoft released other two masterpieces that tear the shit out of this fucking game in gameplay, music & storyline, these two games are none other than Chrono Cross & Vagrant Story...
Also there was another game released by square that wasn't a masterpiece but it's certainly better than FFIX.
Legend of Mana.
*rant*rant*rant*rant*rant*rant*

About FFVIII use of magic: The only magic that it's worth to not junction to me is only, Aura, Full Life & maybe Cura, the other ones I junction them pretty much, because they don't have much use, the other resources are much useful, If you want Haste, you summon cerberus, Ultima is not worth casting, I prefer to gather as much Ultima and Junction to STR, then Kick some asses. I really didn't have any problem about saving the magic and not touching them, because the magic in FFVIII is practically not useful.


EDIT:

Refining magic requires certain items and you can't choose which magic you get from them so it is unreliable and down to luck.

It's not Unreliable and not down to luck, certain items give you certain type of magic, search for some formulas about refining, it's not random shit, it's specific & it's much more reliable than trance or stick around with disgusting equipment so you can get a skill. Sorry I can't help to talk bad about IX.

I didn't see that kind of idea since Castlevania 64(Bringing literally 2D castlevania to 3D, bad idea.. xD)

Oh god, that was awkward... At least Leon Belmont didn't have that kind of problem in Lament of Innocence.


I remember a few months back when I was trying to complete FFIX, it was pure suffering, the sheer force of will that I need to finish that game is something not from this world, I was playing in a real PSX so no Frame Skipping, when I reached CD3 I said "ENOUGH!" & I give the game to a friend.

I was hardcore enough to finish it. Twice.

Oh god, that was awkward... At least Leon Belmont didn't have that kind of problem in Lament of Innocence.


Yeah Lament of Innocence did a somewhat good job about that, but I would prefer that the 3D castlevania weren't so similar to God of War & Devil May Cry..



I was hardcore enough to finish it. Twice.

I applaud your hardcoreness...XD.
To save me the trouble, I asked another friend about the rest of the storyline that was left for me to play.

So if we assume the fact you're just being petty with ignoring the fact you can turn off Eidolon animations and speed the ATB up... your biggest gripes are what?

Trance
It's basically FFVII Limit Breaks... only you get to use them more than once. Trance is just an added bonus to a fight, not a reliance.

Abilities
FFIX, is possibly... the easiest FF with regards to Abilities. You have a piece of equipment... you get a certain amount of AP, you learn it's skills permanently or you remove the equipment for another one and the ability to use the skills it has. And you want a world where... you... just learn the ability whatever the equipment is you wear? That's like the only drawback to the entire system anyway?

Battles as a Whole
Eidolons... status debuffs? Honestly... I was... 13... when I obtained FFIX and completed it. I tend not to use summons, I sure as hell don't use Slow or Haste. Actually, that said... I recall Ark needed some differing tactics.

Either way, the only place I ever HAD to grind for, was Gizamaluke, because his default attack basically punished my group. Aside from that? Everything was just a fun challenge.

Memoria was all kinds of awesome! In fact, you're making me wonder if I should stop my current FFIX playthrough to attempt a speed-run...

I want that challenge back, baby!

Most ignored FF? Mystic Quest, and probably for good reason.

MQ wasn't that bad...

MQ wasn't that bad...
Never played the game, but Mystic Quest isn't a proper Final Fantasy game... it was made for the same dudes that made the SaGa games at the time. Also, the game was know as "Final Fantasy USA" in Japan for what i know.

...so, yeah. >_>

Never played the game, but Mystic Quest isn't a proper Final Fantasy game... it was made for the same dudes that made the SaGa games at the time. Also, the game was know as "Final Fantasy USA" in Japan for what i know.

...so, yeah. >_>

Neither is FFT or FF7DoC or any of the other non-numbered.

Don't forget about the FFL and FFA series.

^Heh, i see what are you trying to say. But still. :V

Yawn, it's been...how long since I came back to these forums? And I see scrubs who faceroll through every RPG trying to say FFIX was bad? ROFL...

GAMEPLAY: Battles:

I assume this will go on for a long time but why don't we start with the fact that you (Smarty) have an issue with the spell casting going on too long and your ATB gauge fills as you're casting and you're "WASTING TIME".

1) Looking at the game now, Zidane's windup before charging is approximately 1.5 seconds as opposed to Cloud's instant hit and opposed to Squall's instant hit. So this 1.5 seconds of windup is resulting in your impatience? The fact that the Fira animation takes 4 seconds to show is bugging you? Final Fantasy 10 spent the same amount of time, did that bug you too?
2) Things such as a more detailed casting animation has nothing to do with a battle system being good or bad. The bottom line is that most of the boss fights, assuming you didn't severely outlevel the requirements were fairly interesting, involving you to do more than just physical attack and heal. There was a fair amount of buffing, of curing, and of magical casting, depending on the enemies you fought. The enemies in a dungeon were always varied and never really boring making the battle system fairly interesting.

Here is the bottom line for the Original poster: Smarty is pretty much an impatient biased reviewer of the dynamics of the battle system, and doesn't really compare it to other games such as Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 1-6, Xenosaga, or even Final Fantasy 10 (which by the way had one of the most dynamic battle systems with incredibly long spell animations). If he did he'd realize he has no real base to his arguments other than rant. And rants don't really mean anything other than being a massive pile of tears on the floor about your personal oh so important preferences about minor details.
Also, if you feel that I'm incorrect in your assumption bring up your problems with the games I listed above so this generalization I made about you can be confirmed.

Onto the Trance System: Limit Break system that is limited by being sometimes triggered when you don't want it to, in the words of Smarty "WASTING MORE PRECIOUS TIME", and in the words of Topo:



I think that making it auto-active, loses it's utility & straegical value reducing it to be useful only if you're "lucky", and seeing that activating on a common battle before a boss battle, which can happen a lot, is like the game is mocking you & that's what pisses me off a lot.

Pretty much sums up my point that you essentially want to go through a game, save up your Trances and unload them on the boss to start off? Is that your definition of strategy? So pretty much the game is mocking you because you don't have the ability to run away from said "common" battle and save it for the boss fight?

I personally feel that the Trance system is flawed somewhat in that it shouldn't work like a limit break system (since it doesn't work like it) and should instead fill up differently for each character. But honestly, your points are such irrelevant jokes that they don't really need to be repeated but why not.
1)OH THEY AREN'T STRATEGICAL. I am sure FF7 was so very strategical where you can just go back to playing FF7 and save omnislash till the boss and use it (strategically of course) till your balls finally drop because you feel like you accomplished something by doing 1 million damage.
2) THEY ACTIVATE RANDOMLY. Yeah...no they activate due to damage dealt to you and so it's really easy to save it for boss fights considering Zidance has flee and that move usually takes priority. If you really want I can get you a helmet so you can play this game without seriously injuring yourself. In fact, why don't I just come over and play for you since scrolling down and pressing Flee is so difficult? Or is it because you're too busy crying and lamenting over the SLOW battle system that you can't wait for to end, that you don't have time (GASP?) to scroll down to flee?

On another note: Ah yes, the strategical utility of Overdrives makes sense too. Save them for the boss, do a million damage and...profit? I love games where i can play half blind and deaf and STILL win! Man if only pac-man was like this too.

Think of Trance like this: If you're not part retarded, you'll figure out how to save it for the boss and use it. If you ARE part retarded and don't know how to save it for the boss, then good job, you wasted it on the grand dragon and will probably cry about how the boss fight without a crutch was so incredibly difficult. Speaking of which...if that fight happens to go on long enough that your get to the point of crying about its difficulty, Trance will probably be up for you again :).

I'm not going to get into the storyline until you're done frantically thinking up more responses to my argument that amount literally to : My opinion of this game isn't really based off the merits of the game but based off the fact that I am so used to doing millions of damage due to saving ultimate moves for bosses (strategically of course ;)), and as a result I am incapable of working with any other system that isn't really fundamentally flawed without crying endlessly about it. Furthermore, my qualms with a slow animation doesn't really hold true due to the fact that brilliant games such as Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy 10 and yes, even Final Fantasy 7 (in the case of the summons that cannot be shortened), have very slow and detailed animations as well. In conclusion I am dumb and I eat poo and I feel that pokemon was so much better because the casting animation was so quick. Cheers!

Oh yeah, let me know when I can start about abilities. I didn't want a huge page of text to smack everyone in the face harder than my previous one did.

If Mystic quest had been left and only being called Mystic Quest i'd probably love it.

But because they tossed the Final Fantasy name into it, for me, it put it on a whole new level of expectations and thus i was disappointed. But all in all it was nice.

As for Final Fantasy 9? I personally have no gripes and I disagree with all you fools who think the trance system sucks or the ability system is lame.

They really aren't that different from say Final Fantasy 7's Materia System.
Should you drop that certian Bangle for more Materia slots and less stats? It works on that same principle. Make a choice to use crappier gear to learn the better Abilities.

One of the Best plots, most insane Music score and infact it was the most Nobou ever did for the Final Fantasy Series and it was the best. The characters are all memorable for there own reasons even the little side characters that get sucked up into it.

But again if you're crazy about Final Fantasy 7 and 8 but hate all the rest, then this game definitely isn't for you. The Draw system sucks horribly as stated in previous posts. It was soo easily abusable it was sickening. Like Refining Tents into Curaga's so at level 12 or so you could jump to 4k HP? that kind of lameness only existed in FF2 before. but at least in FF2 you can use spells without having to grind your "MP" back.

I'm just sayin.

Also, Dragoncurry, I read your post and you are my new hero. Well Said!!! I couldn't agree with you more.

FFVIII

Texico, Ilu.

I wouldn't say it was ignored, it was my favourite ff personally.

What I hate is that seven is the most referred too; I think that eight and nine deserve so much more credit. *shunned*

I recall a Christmas in which i received a deluge of ff games. Played through Anthology followed by 9. And i felt 9 did a terrific job relating the feel of those classic FF games. Which was one of Squares intents at the time.

To me, IX does not capture the feel of earlier FF titles. It is what it is; it's a great game on its own merits. It has a totally, totally different feel than any other FF game. It's the truest to the name fantasy, IMO. While I will admit, the game is not as memorable for its story (although the story is still amazing) as X, or IV, or VI, it still packs a punch that leaves the final moments of the ending in your mind for days on end.

To me the Final Fantasy that makes justice to the name "FANTASY" is IV...

IV is a fine slice of the pie as well, as are VI and X when trying to define 'fantasy', but I guess for me, IX has the most power to take me away.

Pretty much the same for me...! :P

To me the Final Fantasy that makes justice to the name "FANTASY" is IV...

QFT. IX has it's moments, but for a 'fantasy' style game, IV sets the standard.

FF IV follows a standard set by previous fantasy games, it does not really set one. IX is a game in the fantasy genre by its own rights and it exhibits strong fantasy and science fiction elements throughout the game, in some spots stronger than 4 and in other spots weaker. For me, as well as some other people here (this is purely opinion), Zidane's uplifting charisma and personality makes FFIX a more enjoyable experience than 4, 6, or 10 although those games were extremely enjoyable in their own respects.

In the end though, both are decent titles.

No one knows about my Final Fantasy Adventure games...

which was secret of mana 1, actually.
and the legends games on the gb were the first SAGA games.
no relation to final fantasy whatsoever

Bitches don't know 'bout my Final Fantasy Adventure games...

Fix'd

The class system is Secret of Mana 3 was fucking cool.

Chocobo Racing anyone?

Chocobo Racing anyone?
Good game, shame the controls weren't that tight.

FF IV follows a standard set by previous fantasy games, it does not really set one. IX is a game in the fantasy genre by its own rights and it exhibits strong fantasy and science fiction elements throughout the game, in some spots stronger than 4 and in other spots weaker. For me, as well as some other people here (this is purely opinion), Zidane's uplifting charisma and personality makes FFIX a more enjoyable experience than 4, 6, or 10 although those games were extremely enjoyable in their own respects.

I really like your take on the whole thing. That's a major part of what makes IX so enjoyable, but not the only thing. Maybe what makes it so enjoyable for me is this youthful, free-spirited nature it expresses. It brings out the kid in me for the most part. It isn't so harsh and dreary in the realism department like a lot of games are. Which is fine, but sometimes it's nice to get away from it all, and I guess for me, IX exhibits that the best. I dunno, that's about as best as I can describe my feelings on this game.

Oh it definitely isn't the only thing. Everyone plays the game differently. What was most impressive to me was the connection the game had with the Eidolions. Not only has no other FF directly used them this way, but also you feel for them in the same way you feel for the characters (for example, Bahamaut in the Iifa Tree scene). The game captures what incredible power they have and incoporates them as a direct plot device in the story rather than going, "Here is a magic stone you found on the ground that summons a giant dragon."

The only other game that did this to a lesser extent was FF4 in my opinion because FF4's edilions were involved with just your party, while the ones in FFIX were involved with both the villains as well as Dagger, showing that they may have been reluctant but in the end had no choice to follow its master's wishes. I think their raw power was very effectively portrayed in FFIX. Again FFIV was awesome in that respect as well, where the Eidolons play major roles in the story and interfere directly, which is to be expected of beings with great power.

This sort of unified, grand theme that ties everything together on a level that is more than just "we're summoning you cuz I found this cool rock" is really really nice.

What do you think of the involvements of the Espers/Summons/Eidolons on VI?

You guys are right! It's nice to see the Espers/Eidolons/Aeons/Summons become integrated with the story, not just used as simple game mechanics to improve your capabilities in battle. I think VI and IX both exhibit this equally well.

I can not comment fully on FF6, because I haven't played that game to full. I played to the Ghost Train part, before I lost my emulator (damn macs), and haven't bothered to start over. However, from what I remember we did not fully get into it from where I was in the game. The structure for that storyline was just being developed by the Ghost Train I think, in that Terra and the party did not really have too much interaction with the Espers yet. Espers were important for reason X and people were after Espers for reason Y but they did not really get into it because they were developing the other characters. I assume (and expect) they created more interaction later, driving home a connection between Terra and the Espers, but I haven't played through it enough to be able to draw a conclusion on it.

If I hadn't gotten a PS3, it would be really high up on my list of things to do. Moreover, with the PS3, I can buy FF6 on Playstation Online, so after I finish Tactics (which is one of my regrets for never trying), I will finish up 6.

I loved every moment of VI. Seriously Dragon, if you have a SNES, pick up the game for that system, because it's the definitive version. You have to experience it in full at least once.

Yeah, I made a vow that before this year is over, that shit is happening. I am definitely just holing up in December and playing it straight beginning to end.

6 is the FF where the Espers play the most important role....

You're playing Tactics? One of my fauvorite games ever.

I highly encourage it. You'll have to let me know how you like it, too! The thing you have to keep in mind going in is that the storyline is not terribly complex by any means; what makes the game so memorable is how deep it is, how much time and care the creators put into every little scene, every character, every piece of music, to make all of it stick out in your mind even years after you've played it (trust me, it still has that effect on me after I first played it in '05). That said, I really hope you enjoy it. If you can get ahold of the GBA version, go right ahead with it too, but just know a lot of it just doesn't feel as authentic. You can't beat the SNES version of FFVI.

I think the Anthology version is the same. Storylines don't need to be necessarily complex to be good. A well executed story is good regardless it's simplicity. Perfect example? Uncharted 2. It's Indiana Jones but what makes it so good? The exact thing you said:


what makes the game so memorable is how deep it is, how much time and care the creators put into every little scene, every character, every piece of music, to make all of it stick out in your mind even years after you've played it

Thanks for the recommendation.

Oh yes, I always forget about the Anthology version, which I haven't tried out yet tbh :O At any rate, glad I could help! ^^

This is my favorite FF, and I agree that it's overlooked. The PS2 came out around the same time, so I guess not many people picked it up with all the hype about the new console.
I also wouldn't say it's the most overlooked. I'd personally say 3 was, especially before the DS remake.

I agree; the PS2's overshadowing made IX a very overlooked title. It all has to do with placement; if IX had come when VII did, nobody'd give a crap who Cloud and Tifa and Barret and Sephiroth are.

Then Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, Steiner, Eiko, Amarant, Freija and that oversized freak Quina would be runnin' the series :)

Heh. So true! Oh, and I agree that III could very well be the most ignored / overlooked Final Fantasy. I myself haven't played it in a long time and barely remember anything about it.

The fact that they decided to opt out of putting Luneth as FFIII's representative in Dissidia sure doesn't help FFIII's case much either :( The Onion Knight annoys me.

So, after playing through Final Fantasy IX again for the umpteenth time and recollecting all the various aspects of the story, there are a few flaws (a couple I've always known about) that I feel like mentioning.

Okay, I have to say that as much as I LOVE the Trance system, I HATE HATE HATE HATE HAAAAAAAATE IT!!!! Entire Trances become wasted when a battle ends before a character has the chance to use it, and it takes, I think, ridiculously long for the gauge to fill back up. I've counted TWO Trances for Vivi since I started 32 hours ago. The game doesn't require a whole lot of grinding until roughly the end of disc 3 before Terra, but it's the only way I can ever seem to get my characters to Trance when I need them to. In FFVII, the Limit Break worked nicely because you stayed Limit Break'd even after the battle ended, and the bar filled up at an adequate pace; not too fast, not too slow. But let's be honest; IX's Trance system is a bitch.

Also, the story, amazing as it is, seems to come to a screeching halt throughout the majority of disc 3. I understand there's places where not a lot has to go on, but Oeilvert, Ipsen's Castle and the Desert Palace all seem to be kind of jammed together one after the other just to add unneeded length. The XP is welcome, but they could've placed a little more story in and around those. It's there, but they feel too drawn out. Maybe it's just me overreacting (likely so).

And the biggest one of all has to be the all-too-convenient placement of Hilda right there in Mount Gulug; it seemed like almost a let down to see her appear right there in the very place the party happens to be going next. Yes, it moves things along, but ultimately it only feels like a half-baked idea that was thrown in at the last second. I guess I haven't played that far in for so long that I forgot just how that all came about, but Cid's betrothed running away to live in a decrepit, abandoned old mountain full of monsters on a desolate, icy island is a little too hard for me to believe. Nobody ever bothers to ask, 'WTF WERE YOU DOING THERE?! HOW LONG WERE YOU THERE? WHAT DROVE YOU TO GO TO THAT PLACE?' If someone cheated on me, I don't care how much I might love them, I am not going to run away to a distant island and live in a cave inside a mountain full of deadly monsters. Just not gonna happen.

And Quina; Square, you could've given me a better character to fill the eighth character slot than that unfunny blob of annoyance. Quina IS useful in battle with enough Blu Magics, but I'm more of a storygoer myself, so Quina's place in the party just doesn't appease me much.

But above all that, it doesn't change my love of FFIX and it remains my favorite of the series. It's jam-packed with years of memories for me just like all the games are, but it just hits the biggest spot for me.

Hilda? The impressions I got wasn't that she ran away to the mountain. I was under the impression that she simply ran away, but at some point she ended up in Kuja's clutches, and then he took her to the mountain, and told her his "master plan," which she found "tiresome."

Ahh, perhaps you're right. If so, then that makes more sense. But it was 3:AM when I played that part, so I could have missed something :p I'm going to assume that must be how it really goes then, because that's a lot more sensible than my interpretation, which is that she was already in the mountain when Kuja and his black mages stormed in and made themselves at home there.

But you must be right, because Hilda had the Hilda Garde III (or was it II?) and Kuja commandeered it most likely with her already onboard, thus she became sort of temporarily his prisoner, even though she claims he was kind to her (probably because she never put up a fight).

A couple years back I gave FF IX a try and to be honest I didn't like it. My problems are mainly graphical, I didn't like the bobble head look of everyone. I know they were trying to make it look like the old games but I don't think it translated well. Characters in the pre-ps1 games had big heads and small bodies because they had to. If the sprites were made bigger or more detailed then it would take up too much room in te memory. I felt that because of this reason I just couldn't care about the story. I hear all the time that the story is awesome but the character's look make any seriousness fly away for me. Also I hated how the trance system worked, but mostly I hated the Zidane turned into one of the most homosexual looking thing in the game besides Kuja. I did like the having classes and having a specific purpose, and I also liked the four character teams. The mini games being integrated with the story were great as well. I've been on the fence about trying this game again, but I just don't know. I will say though that Vivi was absolutely amazing, he was the only character that looked right in the game.

Ahh, perhaps you're right. If so, then that makes more sense. But it was 3:AM when I played that part, so I could have missed something :p I'm going to assume that must be how it really goes then, because that's a lot more sensible than my interpretation, which is that she was already in the mountain when Kuja and his black mages stormed in and made themselves at home there.

But you must be right, because Hilda had the Hilda Garde III (or was it II?) and Kuja commandeered it most likely with her already onboard, thus she became sort of temporarily his prisoner, even though she claims he was kind to her (probably because she never put up a fight).

it was actually the first hilda garde. the second one didnt run well in disk 2 and the third one was used throughout disk 3.

I will never understand how anyone correlates IX with the old games. I'm sorry, but there is zero similarity whatsoever. The 3-d, highly detailed environments of IX versus the pixelated, flat environments of, say, the original IV, or V, or even VI? Comparison is invalid. No game is perfect, but IX is close enough. Tweak the Trance system, maybe throw a little more story into the middle of Disc 3, and in my book, that's about as flawless as a JRPG can get. DON'T ARGUE WITH ME!!! LET ME HAVE MY GLORY!!! FFIX needs its fans too! And this is fan #1! (< obscure FFIX reference only I will get)

---------- Post added at 01:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 AM ----------


it was actually the first hilda garde. the second one didnt run well in disk 2 and the third one was used throughout disk 3.

OHHH, thanks Ace! I forgot about that. Sucks how you lose it after Bran Bal :(

good thing i still have a good memory of this game. hee hee. it doesnt suck that bad since the invisible lands in certain areas the hilda garde 3 didnt. like vile island where the dreaded yans are...

Man, that sure is one nice feature! I like to land at Oeilvert and go back to get all the chests I missed the first time. I'm finding, this time, that I have a hell of a time choosing on my party. I used to hate Quina, but now I'm finding him/her far more useful. Everyone is at least level 50; before, it was just Zidane, Vivi, Garnet and Steiner I'd work with but now I'm keeping my party as equal as possible. My party right now consists of Zidane, Freya, Amarant, and Eiko. I'm level-grinding in the first room of Memoria before I proceed to storm the place and go whip Kuja's girly ass. I begin every battle the same way; Zidane casts 'Annoy', then Eiko 'Haste's herself so she can Haste everybody else quicker, Freya 'Reiss's Wind's everybody for Regen, then Amarant throws a 'Curse' at the enemy. Then, it's go-time; Freya jumps, Zidane attacks, Amarant has his 'Healer' ability so he just slices some HP into the wounded, and Eiko keeps up all the spells necessary to keep us all in good health and keep the bad guys cut down to size for added vulnerability. The result? EPIC WIN.

From what I heard and saw it looked to me like the graphics were trying to mimic the older style of the games.The bigger heads and small bodies just seemed to be a 3D counterpart of the old sprites. And if you look at VII and VIII, they characters could do anything that anyone else could. Sure some were better than others at certain things but it wasn't by much. So giving the characters obvious classes from the old games seems like trying to get back to the old ways. Zidane was a thief, Vivi...come on he IS a Black Mage, there was the knight who was the fighter (can't remember his name) The girl who looked like a red mage was a Dragoon, the correlations are everywhere. I'm not saying the graphics were bad nor did I say that IX is awful I just didn't particularly like it when I tried it. Unlike many people I respect people's opinions of games if you like IX then by all means shout your praise to anyone who would ask. And believe me IX has fans, I'm the only one in my group of friends who doesn't really like it, but I am willing to give it a try but I don't want to actually buy it in case I don't like it again.

u cant go to oeilvert in disk 4. its blocked by the roots.

u cant go to oeilvert in disk 4. its blocked by the roots.

Shoot, it is, huh? I forgot about that. I was planning on visiting there to see if I missed any chests, but you're right, it's one of the places that's blocked off. At least I scoured out Mount Gulug before it got sealed off :D

i dont think the chests r anything special, anyway, except for an elixir, i think. refer to a walkthrough at gamefaqs.com for more info.

From what I heard and saw it looked to me like the graphics were trying to mimic the older style of the games.The bigger heads and small bodies just seemed to be a 3D counterpart of the old sprites. And if you look at VII and VIII, they characters could do anything that anyone else could. Sure some were better than others at certain things but it wasn't by much. So giving the characters obvious classes from the old games seems like trying to get back to the old ways. Zidane was a thief, Vivi...come on he IS a Black Mage, there was the knight who was the fighter (can't remember his name) The girl who looked like a red mage was a Dragoon, the correlations are everywhere. I'm not saying the graphics were bad nor did I say that IX is awful I just didn't particularly like it when I tried it. Unlike many people I respect people's opinions of games if you like IX then by all means shout your praise to anyone who would ask. And believe me IX has fans, I'm the only one in my group of friends who doesn't really like it, but I am willing to give it a try but I don't want to actually buy it in case I don't like it again.

Yeah, it does, I admit, hold a lot of little references to at least I, III and V, and the villain Garland has the same name as I's main antagonist, but aside from that the similarities end for me. It's a great game of its own right and I just tire of people only remembering IX as 'that one that brought the series back to castles and magic and stuffz'. I mean yeah, it does all that very well, but that's not all the game is. It has one of the best stories of the series (next to IV, VI, and X), best soundtracks (and the longest total of the whole series, counting the Plus songs), best casts of characters, and in my opinion, THE single best ending. And for me, every moment is as memorable as the last. It's the most enticing and enjoyable world to come out of the whole series and holds the most charm for me. And I love the caricature-esque designs; they stimulate my imagination a whole lot more than any of the other games' higher level realism do.

But I respect your opinion right back and hope you will give the game another try :) One thing's for sure; there's a FF for everybody.

---------- Post added at 01:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 AM ----------


i dont think the chests r anything special, anyway, except for an elixir, i think. refer to a walkthrough at gamefaqs.com for more info.

Yeah, you're right; Elixirs and Ethers are two of the rarest but most valuable items in the game! Those, I gotta have :D

ethers aren't that rare. they can be synthesized by hades in memoria. forgot what u needed, though.

WH-CH-WHA-REALLY??? I may not have ever even done that! Thanks for the tip, Ace :) I remember Hades; it's been long enough now that my memory's a little hazy on that. I'm gonna level-grind some more but I'll go keep a lookout for Hades.

hes in the underwater area in memoria behind rocks. mash the x button till u get a dialogue message.

If you defeat Ozma first, the dialogue you get when you fight Hades is pretty funny.

Ozma is a pain. can hardly get by without gettin meteor'ed/cursed.

A couple years back I gave FF IX a try and to be honest I didn't like it. My problems are mainly graphical, I didn't like the bobble head look of everyone. I know they were trying to make it look like the old games but I don't think it translated well. Characters in the pre-ps1 games had big heads and small bodies because they had to. If the sprites were made bigger or more detailed then it would take up too much room in te memory. I felt that because of this reason I just couldn't care about the story. I hear all the time that the story is awesome but the character's look make any seriousness fly away for me. Also I hated how the trance system worked, but mostly I hated the Zidane turned into one of the most homosexual looking thing in the game besides Kuja. I did like the having classes and having a specific purpose, and I also liked the four character teams. The mini games being integrated with the story were great as well. I've been on the fence about trying this game again, but I just don't know. I will say though that Vivi was absolutely amazing, he was the only character that looked right in the game.

These are the same feelings that I had for this game before the hype made me hate the game.

The artwork was initial failure to make me interest, I just couldn't ignore it like I did with the previous titles, I felt it repulsive.
And believe me the gameplay has plenty of design failures & I'm not just talking about the Trance System, it was great to have 4 characters again, but the ATB has delay issues, the animation for the spells are damn long & the loading times between battles are long as well & the encounter rate is pretty high for that kind of loading times, I can totally handle that, but it's tedious & to me that's not a good thing at all.

The other big issue that I had for this game is the total lack of customization, 98% of the fun of III & V is the customizing, 55% for VI & VII, 70% for VIII & 20% for Tactics(And Tactics is a game well known because of the replayability found on the customizing system but to me that just 20% of the awesomeness of that game, because the storyline & characters are just that great to me), the poorly replacement for that in IX is the tedious grindtastic -weapon-gives skill- system that's totally poor & boring.

Surely they wanted to go simple, but for a 2000 game it's not what I expect, simple can be good, but slow & simple together is insulting to me.

I agree Vivi was the absolutely awesome thing that looked just right for the game.



From what I heard and saw it looked to me like the graphics were trying to mimic the older style of the games.The bigger heads and small bodies just seemed to be a 3D counterpart of the old sprites. And if you look at VII and VIII, they characters could do anything that anyone else could. Sure some were better than others at certain things but it wasn't by much. So giving the characters obvious classes from the old games seems like trying to get back to the old ways. Zidane was a thief, Vivi...come on he IS a Black Mage, there was the knight who was the fighter (can't remember his name) The girl who looked like a red mage was a Dragoon, the correlations are everywhere. I'm not saying the graphics were bad nor did I say that IX is awful I just didn't particularly like it when I tried it. Unlike many people I respect people's opinions of games if you like IX then by all means shout your praise to anyone who would ask. And believe me IX has fans, I'm the only one in my group of friends who doesn't really like it, but I am willing to give it a try but I don't want to actually buy it in case I don't like it again.

The game was initally developed as an spin-off title that serves as a tribute to the old days, the final product ended up for the main series & Yeah, IX has plenty of fans out there & even more these days CC & it's still growing in popularity.

You can totally go & play it I highly encourage you, you might end up liking it, some of the scenery is beautiful & some concepts that the game brings plays perfectly.

I personally don't like the game, to me the Storyline & Characters are as good as the gameplay & art design, the game could've worked much better for me if it got a totally different treatment.

Some scenes are plain awesome others are Unsettling but in the good way, but the dialogues are just facepalmtastic for me, Amarant had the most memorable lines to me & that character is another filler as Quina.

Beatrix the character with more depth among all, but it's not on your party & they kinda ruin her awesomeness on the 3rd disc.

I understand what you mean, topo. I always wondered exactly what you disliked about it, and I agree about Trace; I HATE how they did that. The loading times in between battles I just kind of got used to, honestly. But when I think about it, it is kind of tedious; back in the first six games, transitions were almost instantaneous. But on VII, VIII and IX, there's just too much to load; battlegrounds should've been kept even simpler than they are. :O

i wouldnt complain too much. it was a ps1 game after all.

In VII & VIII the battles were fast-paced, the animation sequences weren't long, except for the Summons, & the loading times weren't as long as IX with the menu Navigation counted.
Sure I understand that it was a PS1 game ergo CD games & reading Disc Delay & stuff, but play Suikoden & there's almost not loading times there & that game is from 1995, Parasite Eve is a 1998 & it looked better graphically than IX & the loading times are as long opening up a menu in any FF.

It's no excuse man & Believe me I love the PS1 is my all-time fauvorite console.

It's no excuse man & Believe me I love the PS1 is my all-time fauvorite console.
Totally wet! I'm with you on that.

Also, when did FFIX become the most ignored Final Fantasy? I thought that honor went to FFII and III.

Totally wet! I'm with you on that.

Also, when did FFIX become the most ignored Final Fantasy? I thought that honor went to FFII and III.

=D

III is the most ignored indeeed.

Yea, I agree; even with the release of the DS remake, I still never hear much about III. It's awesome how they gave the main characters names, personalities and backstories, but even still, I never hear or read anything about the game. The game sold like hotcakes upon its DS release and still does sell well as far as I know, but still it remains unpopular :O How ironic, and sad. I think it's a great game :D

I'd love to play it again sometime, when I have the time and opportunity. I remember almost nothing about it.

I'd still say the FF GB games are the 'most ignored'.

Maybe even the Chocobo ones like Racing and Story.

I'd still say the FF GB games are the 'most ignored'.

Maybe even the Chocobo ones like Racing and Story.

Those are from the SaGa series, not FF.

Those are from the SaGa series, not FF.

They were released under the 'FF' name, at least in the west, at first...so...yeah, they count.

They were released under the 'FF' name, at least in the west, at first...so...yeah, they count.

Well, to you... Not for the developers.

I'm totally with Tanis on that; I forget those ones even exist until somebody mentions them.

Well, to you... Not for the developers.
And the people who played them that way first.

If the devs didn't want them known as FFs they shouldn't have released them so.
:P

And the people who played them that way first.

If the devs didn't want them known as FFs they shouldn't have released them so.
:P

Publishers, not devs.

The other big issue that I had for this game is the total lack of customization, 98% of the fun of III & V is the customizing, 55% for VI & VII, 70% for VIII & 20% for Tactics(And Tactics is a game well known because of the replayability found on the customizing system but to me that just 20% of the awesomeness of that game, because the storyline & characters are just that great to me), the poorly replacement for that in IX is the tedious grindtastic -weapon-gives skill- system that's totally poor & boring.

Pretty sweet percentages brah, I'd love to know where you dug them up. Also materia leveling was worse than "grinding" weapon skills considering you got them as you leveled up.


And believe me the gameplay has plenty of design failures & I'm not just talking about the Trance System, it was great to have 4 characters again, but the ATB has delay issues, the animation for the spells are damn long & the loading times between battles are long as well & the encounter rate is pretty high for that kind of loading times, I can totally handle that, but it's tedious & to me that's not a good thing at all.

Yeah, I don't believe you. ATB has no delay issues. The animation for the spells aren't long. You're ignoring the story and characters, which is possibly the only way you could say this game was bad.

Pretty sweet percentages brah, I'd love to know where you dug them up. Also materia leveling was worse than "grinding" weapon skills considering you got them as you leveled up.

Wanna keep arguing huh?

Measure storyline vs gameplay, pretty easy thing to do.

Materia Lvling worse than Grinding Weapon Skills? Well I can't say that Materia LVLing is fun, but it's pretty easy to do it well & it doesn't oblige me to stuck with poor equipment.




Yeah, I don't believe you. ATB has no delay issues. The animation for the spells aren't long. You're ignoring the story and characters, which is possibly the only way you could say this game was bad.

Well don't...
The Animations for the Spells are long.
I haven't ignored the story or the characters & it isn't the only way to say the game is bad...
If you like androgynous furries for art, good for you.
If you like your regular androgynous flamboyant excuse for a villain, good for you again.
If you like your regular Thief with a Heart of Gold conquers the heart of the Damnsel that wishes to go for an adventure, Good for you.
If you like that the storyline twist is that your protagonist & antagonist are both the Anti-Christ that came from another dimension/world & that they were created by a guy that comes out of nowhere, well, good for you again.
Throw up a few wonderfully created unsettling & fantastic world with some of the great special effects ever to come up for the PS1 & you have FFIX in a nutshell.

I don't like the storyline or the characters & the gameplay is even worse.

Of course we won't agree, if you like the game 100%, then be happy with it.

To me it sucks, that's final.

Arguing opinion V Opinion doesn't work...let's just quit this already. o.o

Arguing opinion V Opinion doesn't work...let's just quit this already. o.o

Well I didn't wanted to continue arguing...

Wanna keep arguing huh?

Considering you never responded to my initial argument, I am technically still waiting for a response.


Materia Lvling worse than Grinding Weapon Skills? Well I can't say that Materia LVLing is fun, but it's pretty easy to do it well & it doesn't oblige me to stuck with poor equipment.


Yeah, because equipping Apocalypse for Triple materia XP bonus instead of my No Growth Ultima Weapon didn't oblige me to stick (not stuck) with poor equipment. Wait, yes it did.


Measure storyline vs gameplay, pretty easy thing to do.

This sentence makes no sense.


To me it sucks, that's final.

We call this a copout, where you don't really have the literacy to argue to a point. That's essentially what you mean by "I have an opinion and I want to stick with it in the light of various other shit."


The Animations for the Spells are long.

FFx and FF VII have longer animations, you're dumb.


If you like androgynous furries for art, good for you.

Zidane, Quina, Amarant, Vivi, Garnet, Steiner and Beatrix aren't androgynous furries. Neither is a majority of the "art".


If you like your regular androgynous flamboyant excuse for a villain, good for you again.

Regular? Other than Kefka, I haven't seen a villian like Kuja in a while. Also, the trend for you to act like a homophone is shining through. Moving onwards...


If you like your regular Thief with a Heart of Gold conquers the heart of the Damnsel that wishes to go for an adventure, Good for you.

She didn't want to go on an adventure, she wanted to save her kingdom by traveling to Lindbulm and talking with her Uncle. What happens later is a result of character growth and change. Furthermore, Zidane is a womanizer that doesn't think more of Garnet other than "just a pretty girl" until later in the story. Also something we call "development." Considering you can barely survive the casting animations I doubt you had the patience to last that long.


If you like that the storyline twist is that your protagonist & antagonist are both the Anti-Christ that came from another dimension/world & that they were created by a guy that comes out of nowhere, well, good for you again.

Cuz Zeromus in FF4 was totally predictable. Cuz the Cetra/Jenova experiment was totally explained. Cuz the ending to FFX wasn't a stupid WHOA I WOKE UP FROM A DREAM theme. Didn't really stop them from being good games.


Throw up a few wonderfully created unsettling & fantastic world with some of the great special effects ever to come up for the PS1 & you have FFIX in a nutshell.


Yeah, sounds good. And I know we don't agree. But your inability to defend your points against the ones I'm making basically shows you have no idea wtf you're talking about and should quit giving people your 2 cents. I also love your statistics. Does it have bits of real panther in it? 60% of the time, does it work every time?

Yeah, because equipping Apocalypse for Triple materia XP bonus instead of my No Growth Ultima Weapon didn't oblige me to stick (not stuck) with poor equipment. Wait, yes it did.

True but you haven't taken account of this:

Ultima Weapon & Apocalypse aren't essential for winning the game, they're both pretty Optional & they only exist for the sake of challenging the Weapons or to complete the game.

In IX if I want to learn a skill & I get a new equipment I had to stuck myself with the old shit.



This sentence makes no sense.

Ask a question, don't judge...


We call this a copout, where you don't really have the literacy to argue to a point. That's essentially what you mean by "I have an opinion and I want to stick with it in the light of various other shit."
FFx and FF VII have longer animations, you're dumb.
This is what we call argumentum ad hominem, an attempt to link the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of the person advocating the premise.

If you want to tell me something, let it all out, in a Private Message.


Not Here.




Zidane, Quina, Amarant, Vivi, Garnet, Steiner and Beatrix aren't androgynous furries. Neither is a majority of the "art".
True but the Artwork is still horrible to me.




Regular? Other than Kefka, I haven't seen a villian like Kuja in a while.
Kefka, The Emperor from II, Sephiroth would almost count, but he's a bit less flamboyant & not so androgynous.


Also, the trend for you to act like a homophone is shining through. Moving onwards...
argumentum ad hominem



She didn't want to go on an adventure, she wanted to save her kingdom by traveling to Lindbulm and talking with her Uncle. What happens later is a result of character growth and change. Furthermore, Zidane is a womanizer that doesn't think more of Garnet other than "just a pretty girl" until later in the story. Also something we call "development." Considering you can barely survive the casting animations I doubt you had the patience to last that long.
I've finished the game with 40-45 LVL in my party. Yeah the characters develop, so what?, we could also say in how many ways Garnet is similar to Rinoa.
What I was trying to say is that the characters aren't that surprising.



Cuz Zeromus in FF4 was totally predictable. Cuz the Cetra/Jenova experiment was totally explained. Cuz the ending to FFX wasn't a stupid WHOA I WOKE UP FROM A DREAM theme. Didn't really stop them from being good games.
I haven't played X.
Zeromus achieved his purpose because the storyline of IV is what we call a classic fantasy adventure, where our heros go & fight the ultimate evil.
And IV doesn't need to get any deeper than that.
Cetra/Jenova, well you made a pretty good point there.
No, they didn't stopped them from being good games, mainly because it's gameplay wasn't slow & dense.



Yeah, sounds good. And I know we don't agree. But your inability to defend your points against the ones I'm making basically shows you have no idea wtf you're talking about and should quit giving people your 2 cents. I also love your statistics. Does it have bits of real panther in it? 60% of the time, does it work every time?

argumentum ad hominem

Keep getting agressive on PM, not here.

Or in a more methaphorical way, continue your Crusade & Witch Hunting somewhere else, not here.

EDIT: Also Smarty & Me, aren't the only ones that think that IX is slow. http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197338-final-fantasy-ix/55430775/611383480

FFx and FF VII have longer animations, you're dumb.

Noooooo, they don't. Not by a longshot.

argumentum ad hominem

Nowhere did I try to link the argument's validity on your idiocy. You saying "To me it sucks, that's final" and me saying that you're retarded for making a point like that has nothing to do with the validity of my argument, nor was I trying to make it one of my points.


True but the Artwork is still horrible to me.

K, so everything about androgynous furries you mentioned earlier was false. Point 1 conceded.


Kefka, The Emperor from II, Sephiroth would almost count, but he's a bit less flamboyant & not so androgynous.

Sephiroth was not androgynous and if the emperor was, then he'd be one of 3 in a 13 game series atm. So hardly regular. Point 2 conceded: aka Kuja is not the everyday villain.


Also, the trend for you to act like a homophone is shining through. Moving onwards...

Has nothing to do with my argument scrub


What I was trying to say is that the characters aren't that surprising.

Surprising characters aren't necessary for a game to be good. As proven by Final Fantasy 4. And Chrono Trigger.


Zeromus achieved his purpose because the storyline of IV is what we call a classic fantasy adventure, where our heros go & fight the ultimate evil.
And IV doesn't need to get any deeper than that.

The storyline of 9 was built to pay homage to the classics while remaining a modern twist. So it shouldn't need to get any deeper either.


Or in a more methaphorical way, continue your Crusade & Witch Hunting somewhere else, not here.

Or in a literal sense, come up with legit points and don't run away the second someone offers a differing POV. This is a forum, not a massive circle jerk with the buddies you agree with.



Noooooo, they don't. Not by a longshot.

The only thing I'll concede is that their response times are a bit faster. On MAX ATB Gauge, the difference is minimal and the animations are just longer. Aka Knights.

I ain't going to take the time to answer you in anyway that satisfies your needs, I'll only focus on one thing in particular.




Or in a literal sense, come up with legit points and don't run away the second someone offers a differing POV. This is a forum, not a massive circle jerk with the buddies you agree with.

I offered my Point of View, you don't like it, you've comed and assaulted everything that explained my POV & you're not trying to be the least polite while answering so there's no point in continue the cycle. And you didn't brought your POV. This has nothing to do wether somebody else agrees with us or doesn't.

Have it your way... I don't like the game, nothing you've said so far makes me like it.

This is a thread about the most ignored Final Fantasy, not about debating the merits or lack of for Final Fantasy IX. As has been said, it should be taken to PM.

SOMEBODY STOP THE MADNESS!!!

:popcorn:

http://www.gifmania.com.au/movies/stargate/stargate-1.gif
Apophis is not amused.

Regardless, it'll always be MY personal best game of all time. :3

I'll defend it to the death. DEFINITELY NOT IGNORED NO MO.

Regardless, it'll always be MY personal best FF game of all time. :3

Why does everyone skip over this game when referring to Final Fantasy? Sure, it borrowed a lot of stuff from other Final Fantasy's, but it's still unique enough to be its own game. Every character goes through development on the journey. The bad guy actually kills the party (though he does revive them afterward). This game has several great aspects that don't deserve to be ignored.

I agree with you that FFXI has some great aspects to it. I don't think it really gets ignored but it probably doesn't get as much credit as it deserves.

Now a Final Fantasy title that really gets ignored from most of the player base is Final Fantasy XI (11). Although it has its' own pretty well sized player base, a lot of FF fans skipped over it because of its online aspect.

9 is my second favorite FF ever. 7 takes the cake for me though, just perfect story line and perfect characters.

7 takes the cake for me though, just perfect story line and perfect characters.

There are better games than FFVII... still, to each their own.

You really don't here much about FF V. FF IX was my favourite one out of them all, and all my mates had it. Definetely not the most ignored.

I would have to agree with that-- I recently heard FFV described as the "black sheep" of the series due to the high level of difficulty it's said to have.

FFV is great for those who enjoy the 'Job System' from FF3/T/ect.

Beyond that, I do think it's rather hard - at least the GBA version was harder than any other game in the series.

Yeah, and Final Fantasy V is also made a goat because of its rather light-hearted and not all-that-complex plot. But I actually rather like Final Fantasy V and the fact that it doesn't take itself so seriously.

FFIX is my favorite ^^ Great characters and a great story, I can't complain :)

I like FF9 best but yes, all of the general talking are FF7 and 8 (for PSone of course). they said FF 9 is childish!
Well that's true since FF 9 chara are like in chibi mode. And the concept of "Back to Basic" really push this one like back to land before time.
See how technology advanced FF 7 and 8, and look how primitive FF9.
generaly all ppl i asked say those thing.

And... no offense i kind of insulted how they treated FF 7. Sequel on next platform? Movie? Wow! I envy that one. I hope FF9 will get one too someday but that's impossible.
Look at FFX-2
I think that was crap. FF never ever need any sexiness or fanservice to be the best. WTH with that outfit, i mistaken them for Dead or Alive o.O (really, no offense i just saying my opinion about "sequeled FF series" due to their popularity.

Once i wrote a fan fiction about FF9.
How they're doin after 5 years.
I lost all the copies (PC formatted T_T)
But when i thought if my fanfic were to made a movie or so, it's an OVA with 50-70 mnt duration lol

All I can say is, poor FFIX came out at the most wrong possible time. I like what they tried to do with it, but as it is my favorite FF in terms of story, setting, mood and characterization, I really hate to see it get blown as being "just a bunch of references to the other games," and its amazing story gets ignored. And those "references" to the past FF games are freakin' retarded; they're so subliminal and vague, I'm amazed people just sit and nitpick at it to try to give credence to them. I never thought of FFIX as just a Pandora's box of FF references until that's all I heard it described as online. And I still don't see it :-/ But as I said it got released at the worst possible time. Had Square released it before FFVII, it might actually get the respect it deserves.

It still does, CC. it's one of the best final fantasies on the planet. just think how rare it is to find it.

I remember reading a magazine a few years back(think it was game axis) with a small section that rated FF IX to be one of the worst FF games. It was a shock to me as IX was my first and my favorite of the FF series :D. It wasn't considered good many chose VII and VIII over IX :x.

considerin that game informer gave it a nearly perfect rating when it was reviewed, i wouldnt trust almost any other source.

It still does, CC. it's one of the best final fantasies on the planet. just think how rare it is to find it.

You know it brudda!! I'd imagine an original copy would go for a hundred bucks or more on any major site like Amazon or Ebay ^^ Not that I'm selling mine though; it means too much to me :) Even if we're a devout few, us FFIX fans must let our voices be heard :D

the game isnt THAT rare. u can get a new copy on amazon for only 15 bucks.

Knowing it isn't that rare is a very pleasant surprise :p

All I can say is, poor FFIX came out at the most wrong possible time. I like what they tried to do with it, but as it is my favorite FF in terms of story, setting, mood and characterization, I really hate to see it get blown as being "just a bunch of references to the other games," and its amazing story gets ignored. And those "references" to the past FF games are freakin' retarded; they're so subliminal and vague, I'm amazed people just sit and nitpick at it to try to give credence to them. I never thought of FFIX as just a Pandora's box of FF references until that's all I heard it described as online. And I still don't see it :-/ But as I said it got released at the worst possible time. Had Square released it before FFVII, it might actually get the respect it deserves.

Completely disagree of course in regards of the game's content. Because the game was indeed a pandora's box of references, just looking at the structure of the storyline and characters you can see that. And I'm not talking about the cid's statues or little shit vague references like that. I'm talking about the core structure of the storyline.

But getting more to your point, the game didn't came out in the most wrong possible time. I'll admit that in that time Legend of Mana(Great Game), Chrono Cross(Masterpiece), Vagrant Story(Magnum Opus) and Threads of Fate(who cares about this game?) were released indeed.

In terms of sales IX carried the torchlight. And it was obsenely advertised, more than any FF period. Surely VII still holds as the most recognized, but it didn't have any advertisement compared to FFIX.

And if you don't believe me on this, check the coca cola commercials of FFIX.

This game isn't ingored and by all means it's not the most ignored. The attention it got is the one that Square wanted.

As far as most ingored, FFIII, V and XI get the prize for the most ignored ones. Specially III, suprisingly enough it's the one that launched the Infamous Job System.

What I meant was that the release time for this game alienated it. It was right after FFVIII launched fans into space; they didn't wanna come back to medieval FF. VII and VIII pushed for a more futuristic vibe, then IX backtracked, and a lot of fans were pissed about that (unlike me ;D) but my feeling is, had it sold before VII, more people would be accepting. Instead it's passed off as being "that FF game that brought the series back to its roots" which, yeah, okay, it is, but what else is it? I respect your opinion on this game Topo, but I just don't agree. I admit the story falters in disc 3, where not much goes on save for dungeon grinding. But Sakaguchi himself considers this game truest to his vision of 'fantasy' and I side with this notion whole-heartedly. So there's some tiny, petty references . . . they're too vague >.< I know you're gonna be thinking, 'WHAT?! I just said they were major parts of the storyline!' Well, I'll give you the Garland one; it is stated that 'Garland once tried to take over the world but failed.' Only problem is, totally different design, personality, and if IX's Garland had a different name this reference would be null and void. Zidane and Kuja have been compared to Cecil and Golbez; both brothers, both of a higher race and manipulated by an overseer of this said race for destruction. Okay, maybe. But I still consider this a paltry comparison if you consider how much about IV is similar to II. (Thread 72310) IX has a shop called Polom's something or other, yet XIII has a town called Palompolom. ZOMG XIII IS JUST ONE BIG LUMP OF REFERENCES TO THE REST OF THE SERIES!!11!11!!!!! There's a Mysidia in two games. There's a Cid in every game. There's a protagonist and an antagonist in every game. There's supporting characters. There's primarily the same character archetypes in each game. There's airships in each game. There's job classes in most games. There's chapels (another supposed lame reference to FFI in this game, being chapels). There's prominent villains under the will of a more obscure villain in the background. FFIX is no more a reference to the rest of the series than IV is a reference to II, or III to I, or V to III to I or VII to VI (after all, VII has steampunk stuff. ZOMG SO DOES VI!!) or VIII to VII or X to VII or XII to Tactics. FFIX is its own game that people either like or don't like, but it is more than just a collection of references to earlier games. People do not give it the chance it deserves because Square made a bad move by 'returning the series to its medieval roots' just to then jump forward to futuristic again in X, and now all IX is to most people is 'the FF reference game.' Seeing as how I love IX, I AM GOING TO DEFEND MY FANBOYISM OF IT TO THE DEATH!!!! But no hard feelings, of course ;D

I see your point, but that doesn't take the fact that the game was a blender of every previous FF structural storytelling and major plot element.

You may see the story awesome and almost perfect, light-heartly with carebears, happy festival fireworks and stuff. THE Final Fantasy.

But in my eyes, the story of the game is as generic as a Robin Hood type fairytale, the characters in my eyes, as developed as they might be, they're as generic as, well again as Robin Hood.
The world, had it's share of good stuff and terrible stuff. But if I want light-hearted fantasy with a few twisted twists, Give me the Mana series, Tales series or SaGa series every day.
Not going to give any other word about the Gameplay or the Art Design.

So you see, FFIX is not a game that caughted my attention because there were and there is some many other stuff that interested me more for many reasons.
So when people talk about how this game was """ignored""", it gets me on the nerve, I just can't believe how hard-faced these people can be.

I mean, Greatest Hits PS1, killed the sales of any of the other games that I've mentioned before. Had advertisement with FuCKING Coca-Cola. Vocal Song. Considered to be the last good FF by MANY.

How much more attention do you want for this? FFVII like? I'm sure if FFIX gets the attention that VII got, it would be the MOST OVERRATED RPG EVER SUCKZ LULZ, and would have the same quantity of fanboys and haters that VII got. Because it will be the Prom Queen of JRPG just like VII was. So if people wishes more popularity of any other FF, I see it as something negative. Because VII has become so overrated that as of right now it's an underrated game. That doesn't live to it's Hype it gets.

So FFIX Fanboy comes and tells me how awesome the game is and how ignored it was I react as follows:

Is this the best FF? No, hell no, the game has tremendous flaws. Your fauvorite one? Yes.

If you ask me which is the best FF? I'll tell you IV without giving second thoughts. But If you ask me which is my fauvorite, I'll give you a totally different and elaborated answer.

No hard feelings of course ;D

But no, this game wasn't ignored by all means.

Yeah I completely failed to mention in my post above, I have seen those Coca Cola commercials :) I guess I don't think the game was ignored, per se, just more like blown off because people didn't like the direction it took. Each game deserves its own special attention, and I defend them all equally when needed :) Of course, lots of people do the defending for me on the topic of FFVII so I seldom speak up on it :p But to see someone who dislikes FFIX say it's more popular than I thought is an interesting vote of confidence :) I'll always be stubborn when it comes to this game >.<

Thing I don't like about FF9 was how 'forced' the ending was.

Hey, Kuja isn't 'evil' he's misunderstood....................and everyone accepts it because they're the good guys................
W-T-H?


Also:
Never been a big fan of 'chibi'.

I thought the ending was pretty good, but I sure didn't agree with Zidane running back in to save Kuja :-/ I don't care that that's his brother; if that were my brother and he did all the stuff Kuja does, I'd leave his spiky ass there to die! Kuja destroys entire civilizations by proxy of a fat queen and even destroys an entire world. That's more than three strikes; he's more than out at the old~, ball~, gaaaame~!

in the end, though, kuja helped the party escape from that dungeon.

in the end, though, kuja helped the party escape from that dungeon.

Yeah, but he should have just remained evil.
>_>

Redemption for one of the final villains is not necessarily a bad thing. It also doesn't happen in a lot of Final Fantasies (except 4 where it happens to be a super strong theme).

I thought the ending was pretty good, but I sure didn't agree with Zidane running back in to save Kuja :-/ I don't care that that's his brother; if that were my brother and he did all the stuff Kuja does, I'd leave his spiky ass there to die! Kuja destroys entire civilizations by proxy of a fat queen and even destroys an entire world. That's more than three strikes; he's more than out at the old~, ball~, gaaaame~!

i get your point.
But I think that just shows how damn caring Zidane is. LoL
Even his psycho-world haters brother can't make him turn his back.
Although i have little simphaty for Kuja despite the fact that he is the true villain of the story.
I remember in Smallville, if Kal-El never adopted by Kents, and instead by Luthor, the world will face its doom.
So is our Hero. If He's not raised with Tantalus, Gaia will done for good because according to Garland reference, Zidane is far more superior than Kuja when he is riped. I can't Blame Kuja for his behaviour, I just blaming his action.

Im a big fan of FFIX and agree that it doesn't get as mutch recognition as i believe it diserved. ( my best friend and i wagged school to go buy this game the day it was released ) My other best mate who is also a big fan of the series has never played Nine. He regrets this now however, and has said that the 'cartoony graphic style' as he called it in those days, was what originally put him off.

I have found that a few people i know also didnt like/or play Nine because of the graphics style.
I find this funny now because FFIX is the one i can go back and play the easiest because the graphics dont feel like they have ages that much to me, mostly due to the 'Cartoony' as my friend called it, graphics.

A lot of people seem to ignore this game because it was at the end of the PSone era and the beginning of the PS2 era.
It is not hugely overlooked, but compared to the PSone FF games. This is the step-child of them.

Now in my opinion, this is the best Final Fantasy.

But the most ignored is obviously FFIII, it took years for it to finally come to NA. And that was full 3D remake on the DS (later iphone and android).
And I hear tales it will be released on the PSP (not the Vita, but the PSP)

The creators of FFIX themselves, feel that FFIX is the better of the series and some of them even wanted to make a sequel. With all these offshoots of game, who knows, that may happen.

But I understand how you feel, a lot of my friends never played FFIX and never do plan on it because they say it "sucks" compared to FFVII or FFX.

Because of two reasons

1. The graphics style. A lot of people were turned off to how the graphics were done compared to VIII and VII.

2. The main character was different personality wise compared to VIII and VII. People wanted another tough guy who was a jerk along with being devoid of any sort of emotion I guess.

its sad that SE never showed FFIX much love, despite the fact that many fans still love the game very much... many new to FF might also put off by the graphic style and all, but to be frank i dont think the character really look that bad in game. zidane is probably my favourite FF protagonist of all time, sure he doesnt have good look like laguna, squall, balthier, basch, cloud, seifer, kain(and the list goes on) he has a tail that i really wanna try grabbing, his trance is so ugly but seriously, apart from all that, who would not like him?

ff9 is awesome def not the most ignored........most ignored is definetely that one for the WII that nobody ever played and doesn't even have a section on the forums anywhere, obviously the most ignored

From the main series, maybe IX is the most ignored FF.

I think there are 2 reasons:

1.- No teenagers, gay-looking guys or pretty girls (VIII, XIII, VsXIII...), no stupid fightning scenes and no fashion.

Today's anime is full of garbage too.

2.- The people who said that FFVII is the best game ever ignored FFIX.

FFVII was considered the best game ever because it contains complex elements, but FFIX got complex elements too: Kuja's look and behaviour, genomes, the Invinvible... The theme for both games is life but both titles got something hard to understand :/

General Final Fantasy?

What about Crystal Chronicles, Echoes of Time, Rings of Fate...?

IX is by far the most beloved in the franchise for me. While both VII and VIII have their places, it was the focus on droll and angst-ridden protagonists that ultimately make these two seem less attractive to me.

I don't think it's the most ignored, but I do think some people at first glance think it's too kiddish. Personally I think the game is amazing, the art style, the music, the story. It's just an awesome game.

---------- Post added at 02:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:20 AM ----------

Also if anyone's interested, I've reviewed a vivi figure :D

Final Fantasy Stuff Episode 3 - Vivi Figure - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUvrznADyMw)

The problem FF9 has, is that necron came out of nowhere.He is even less developed than zeromus is, and zeromus got a little bit of development during the very end.its hard to develop a villain with good reason to be a villain when he has little development.If there were to be more rumors about him, or perhaps little hints during the entire game, that would have helped a lot.

Well i am certainly not a huge fan of Kuja but i am sure that he is not an evil.

I don't think this title is ignored at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Along with VI, VII and VIII, IX is often cited as one of the best in the series. The true underrated ones in my opinion are III and V. Both great games that don't get the credit they deserve.

I feel like VI and IX are the most ignored with IV just behind it... It's kinda sad really. And not just more neglected by the fans, but by the creators as well. I feel kinda sad that VI and IX have almost no merchandise at all and they are two of my favorites in the entire series. Not to mention it has a beautiful cast of characters that get pushed back behind characters like Cloud and Squall whom while are good characters (in most people's opinion), get too much damn attention.

I definitely feel like V and IV get ignored the most, a little bit of IX too. Sure IV has gotten ports and stuff but, generally when talking about classics it's ignored for VI or VII, which I love both but... IV was my first so it holds a very special place in my heart. In terms of merch I think IV/V/VI all are ignored though. Especially VI.

From the main series, maybe IX is the most ignored FF.

I think there are 2 reasons:

1.- No teenagers, gay-looking guys or pretty girls (VIII, XIII, VsXIII...), no stupid fightning scenes and no fashion.

2.- The people who said that FFVII is the best game ever ignored FFIX.


1. Half the cast are teenagers. I'm not sure what you mean by "gay looking guys" but both Zidane and Kuja are extremely feminine looking. Would you not say Garnet or Beatrix are pretty? As for stupid fighting scenes and fashion, I'm not all too sure what you mean.

2. FFVII is the best game ever in my opinion, and I didn't ignore FFIX. It is one of my all time favourites.

I think FF IX is possible the best Final Fantasy ever. I do think it was more popular then Final Fantasy VIII and less popular then FF VII and FF VI; but this is based on my own experiences, not hard data analysis.

It's not the most ignored. Only the second most – second only to that heap of festering drivel, XIV.

Neither one is the Almighty Lord & Saviour, FFVII, therefore their neglected, scorned existences in the annals of obsolete history is deserved.

By me number III

Does Tactics count?

Well, ten years later I think FF9 might be the most popular game in the series in the west now. Go figure.