Just a warning, this is a bit long :).

Final Fantasy IX has definitely been one of the more controversial games in Final Fantasy history in terms of enjoyment and popularity. Although the game was much more well-liked than Final Fantasy VIII, it did not gain as much popularity as Final Fantasy VII, which was the most popular game in the series up until the recent release of FFX. For some, the problem was the graphics � the characters were too short, they didn�t look their age, the graphics were cartoon-like, some of the people looked like/were animals. Others disliked the general idea of the storyline, the supposedly clich� �princess in distress� fantasy storyline. However, there were still many people that loved the game, and still love it even today. As a supporter of FFIX, I have searched for the reason of this discrepancy between viewpoints.
To first analyze this issue, I followed the Final Fantasy series, and really SquareSoft itself, back to its roots � the revolutionary Final Fantasy I game. SquareSoft really was not doing so well at the time financially and desperately needed a hit game. They saw their opportunity in the field of RPGs, where the current games were fun, but very basic. SquareSoft, with the release of FF1, formed a huge following of most RPG gamers of the time. A lot of things seen in FF9 can be seen in FF1 (Lich, Tiamat, Kraken, Necron looks a lot like Chaos, see footnote for more)1. The importance of this connection will be revealed later.
Its next several releases were also very popular (although many of them were not even released in the United States to the dismay of American RPG fans). SquareSoft was happy with the continued success, but then realized something � their market was limited. They needed a way to tap other markets of players who weren�t necessarily RPG/fantasy fans. Lo and behold, a new system had been put out by Sony, dubbed the Playstation, which supported fast rendering of 3D graphics. The child of these two ideas was Final Fantasy VII, a revolutionary RPG. This game was set in the future, included beautiful graphics and cinematics, and appealed to a very wide gaming audience. Final Fantasy VIII was then released, following the same theory (set in the future, beautiful graphics), although it was not nearly as popular because of how complicated the micromanagement portions of the game were. After the release of FFVIII, SquareSoft was to design its last game for the Playstation console, before moving on to the Playstation2 (there were even some rumors that this was SquareSoft�s last intended game in the series!). SquareSoft wanted to (paraphrasing) �take the Final Fantasy series back to its roots� and �take the best of the old Final Fantasies and put the best of the new into it.�
Final Fantasy IX was born. The roots were in Final Fantasy 1 � the hit game that made SquareSoft what it is today. The best of the new was the beautiful graphics and cinematics that enhanced the storyline in FFVII and FFVIII. There was one flaw with this though � the fantasy �roots� of Final Fantasy 1 appealed only to the hardcore RPG/fantasy fans that simply loved the genre and the fantasy world, not the players that had jumped on the bandwagon with the modern-type storyline in Final Fantasy 7. This accounts for the wide divide in opinions � the lovers of FFIX include the fantasy-type fans that had loved the series since the beginning, and the people who dislike FFIX include the players who loved the modern storyline and stunning graphics of FFVII. Here�s what I think: Square was basically saying to the hardcore RPG/Fantasy fans, �I know we�re making some changes in the series, and you guys probably won�t like them all, but here�s to you, and thanks for sticking with us.�
Well, thanks back at you SquareSoft. You released the most entertaining and enthralling RPG I have played to date (including FFX, although Auron kicks every characters� ass in the series). You designed a wonderful, Lord of the Rings-type fantasy storyline � the type that I have loved since FF1. And even though this type of game and storyline will not be in too many Final Fantasy games in the future, I can deal with that, because they�re fun as hell anyway. In the words of Zidane/Marcus � �no Cloud, no Squall shall hinder us!!�2



1. Breakdown of Similarities

FF1 FF9
Lich, Earth Fiend; Lich, Earth Guardian
Kary, Fire Fiend; (unknown name), Fire Guardian;
Kraken, Water Fiend; Kraken, Water Guardian
Tiamat, Wind Fiend; Tiamat, Wind Guardian
Chaos, Final Boss; Necron, Final Boss (looks like what Chaos would in 3D)
Gaia, the town; Gaia, the planet
Garland, the arch-enemy; Garland, the enemy that turns friend
Fighter, Ch. Class; Steiner
Theif, Ch. Class; Zidane
Wh. Mage, Ch. Class; Dagger + Eiko
Blk. Mage, Ch. Class ; Vivi
Blk. Belt, Ch. Class; Amarant
Red Mage, Ch. Class; Freya
Encounter and Victory Music very similar

I also have many other things that I thought looked remarkably similar, but there are too many to list here.

2. Significance of this line

This line was said by Zidane acting as Marcus in the ending, when he is speaking to his �love,� Cornelia. The connotations to FFVII and FFVIII are obvious. This is Square�s last little hint to us (the hardcore fantasy/RPG fans) that even though they�re moving on, they haven�t forgotten about us. (�The introduction of modern-age characters like Cloud and Squall to the series isn�t going to prevent true fantasy games from succeeding�).

A BiT LonG ?

Man U could HaVE WrotE a book with ALL that:o

Go to www.ffcompendium.com They've got a section in their 'External Crossovers' page which shows nearly ALL the references to the earlier FF games in FFIX.

That's really fascinating, actually. I never even made the connection to just about all of those till I read your post. I'll have to check out those links to find out more about that. I wonder how many recent games there are out there paying tribute to their very early ancestors....

Yup, made the connections when I played the game. I too have been a fan of the series from the first. I also think you worded it well. Bravo.

IT be easier to read if you spaced every paragraph...

More well-liked than FFVIII? I don't think so. Maybe more broadly liked. In other words, most everyone liked it to some degree. I think that no one really hated FFIX, like some people did with VIII. Though that's probably true, I don't think as many people really loved IX. I did, but I am just one person. Lots of people say that VIII is the best game ever, many say that all copies should be thrown in the trash. VIII was more a game of extremes, people either hated it or loved it. IX was more a game of moderation, for the most part. IX's my favorite FF, but I bet you could find a lot more people to say that VIII was the superior game.

I'm not sure how you see that FFVII appealed to a "wider gaming audience." I think it was just better promoted than any other. Hmmm. . .I don't think any before VII were actually promoted, but I might be wrong. VII is, basically, the same as all the others. I think it's just that people didn't really know much about the series before VII, and that the advertising campaign really made it known that there were these great games out there. Although, by then, all the older games were hard to find, so all they had was the games set in the future, and not the traditional fantasy backdrop. So, the new players were conditioned to the futuristic style, which they liked. When IX came along, they didn't know what to think. It was different then what they had expected and had come to identify the series as. So you're right that you say that the people that hadn't played from the beginning didn't (couldn't) like it as well as the preceeding two.

Aiya (as Quina says) those were long paragraphs. I'm all with you, man, on the subject of supporting FFIX.

Well....I've been playing FF since FFII or FFIV if you will.......I haven't played FFI, but anyways,I wouldn't say that if you didn't play the older ones couldn't appreciate IX,I've seen more people spitting out " I love FFIX, "and "FFIX is the best , it's my favorite!" more then I could count. For some reason, I've rarely seen complaints or people who disliked it,but I have seen a few.

Not only that, while it may have just been listed how much it shares with older titles, it shares only a little more than the others do. You can argue that it's made like an older game with better graphics and that why people who played the originals liked it, but it isn't , it doesn't get back to the originals roots other than the idea of old times such as castles and kings. other than that, I veiw FFIX as attemt at an older playing game by people who didn't want to make it that way,I'm not even sure if the people who made it know anything about older FFs,I know different peole worked on FFIX than FF VII,VIII and X, even though the game still turned similar to FFVII and FFVIII after all

Think about, when the game was on the way to being released, you heard talkof "No futurestic things ," and "back to the FF roots", but that isn't what they did at all,plenty of sci fi in there I think, guess people forgot that.I'm sure there are many who played the originals and like FFIX, probably a lot, but the majority of those who follow FFIX like a cult are young(9-14) and this being the first they've played, and veiw the older titles as being similar to this, which you know is not that true at all.

FFIX is jaded in a faslehood of what past tiles were like as though of by recent times, and is still more similar to recent titles ,and not as similar to older titles than most might admit.....

Interesting.. interesting..

This is my background as such.

My friend damian hates FF9, his favourite FF game is FF8 =) (above ff7)

I like ff9 MAINLY because of the humor in it. It was a very funny game. I didnt see much graphical improvements. I also had a problem with the fighting. At the end of the game i remember ALL i did was attack.. nothig else, zidanes limits were weak and his skills mainly useless. I used steiner who just attacked and all my other characters did the same thing every turn.. it got rather dull.
I think ff7 was so popular because of its ground breking graphics and awesome materia system. The story was also amazing, i remember literally hooked to it back in 1998.

I disagree with ff7 appealing to many people. I hardly knew anyone who liked it. Only 3 of my friends liked it and all of the people who liked more action games didnt give it a chance. They simply said it sucked... weird.

PS Another thing that links ff9 to the older games is the fact that you have 4 in a fighting party. ;0

Yeah I forgot the 4 party member thing,that was the biggest thing it had in common with older games,but, to me it seemed that people who played the originals, were really excited, and I know FFVII was the first game for alot of people to play, so maybe that's what seperates some peoples' veiws on FF,people who were playing FF before FFVII and people who played FF sometime after FFVII,I know I probably seem like I hate FFIX, and I don't, I could just never understand how anyone could honestly believe FFIX to be the best ,overall representation of the entire FF series.

I agree for most of that. A friend of mine who started out with the PC version of ff7 is a ff7 lover and he hates ff8 and 9, whereas another old school rpger friend - who has been playing rpgs since early ff's and up through games like zelda and SoM, he really liked the idea of ff9, i was in the middle, i couldnt wait to play ff9 but after playing it, i think it's story was its strongest part, and its story wasn't really as good as some of the others. Ive lost interest after ff9, i havnt played ff10, i dont have a PS2.

I should get a ps2 for ff10, 11 and tekken4, but theres a 95% chance i wont bother