SheaD
06-03-2005, 01:07 PM
I am re-playing this at the moment so I thought I would do a review of the Final Fantasy IX cities and game world.
Alexandria-
This city was really great. The visual style was very relaxing and incredibly beautiful and inventive in places. You have a real feel for the place when you are in Alexandria and there are a decent amount of NPCs and mini-games.
Alexandria castle is quite extensive and there is a lot to explore.
Overall, I give Alexandria a near perfect
9/10
Dali-
Dali is a great place and it serves a purpose. The interiors available are decent. The Inn is beautiful and the music is too!
Once again, you really get a feel for the place when there. You feel immersed, you are in the country, in a frontier village.
Both Dali and Observatory mountain are really quaint and overall, beautiful, quaint places that I wouldn't mind holidaying in!
9/10 4.5/5
(Burmecia- We never see the real Burmecia because of it being attacked but it seems like a fairly nice city, but it is basically a dungeon in function.
I would give it 7/10. Very atmospheric and the caslte at the end only adds to this) (3.5)
Clerya-
What can I say!?
Even the characters say it is beautiful. This is, without a doubt one of my favourite places in all Final Fantasies.
The pre-rendered graphics and animations (like the windmills) are purely breathtaking. The background of the sandstrom is incredible and this village is probably the highpoint of graphics on the PSone. It is so upsetting when it is obliterated as this is the most beautiful place in Gaia.
It still takes my breath away even now, a perfect
10/10
Lindblum-
Right from the FMV sequence with the airship entering Lindblum, you know this is a special place. The layout and the idea of a huge city within this castle is very inventive and makes for an incredible place.
The panoramas in the background of huge slopes crowded with buildings are wonderful and once again, give you a feel for the place.
The number of enterable buildings is actually quite good when you consider the castle, aircab stations etc. However, just like Esthar in FFVIII (though not to such a huge degree), the city is so immensely big that we only see a fraction of it. This is not a problem however as the beauty of the city and the castle make up for it somewhat. Unfortunately, some becomes unaccessable after Alexandria's attack so -
8/10
Treno-
This night-time city is full of great architecture as Garnet is well aware when she comes. The card hall is particularly impressive. There is also variety in that both slums and nobles exist in the city.
The atmosphere, I feel, is not quite as good as the other cities. It is a night-time so it seems slightly quiet and laid back.
The canal idea of the city is good and it is quite impressive when Garnet, Marcus etc go to steal the Supersoft, going along the canals. Unfortunately, we don't see much of the noble's houses.
This city has quite a good variety, there is a card hall, an auction (a very good idea) and the Knight's monsters to fight.
Overall, I would give the city-
8/10
Now, towns outside of the Mist Continent.
Daguerro-
An inventive place to be sure. It is quite small so it can't score such high marks as the places before it but it is a pretty and inventively constructed and situated small settlement.
7/10 3.5/5
Conde Petie-
I was generally disappointed that the other continents were not very populated and this place fuelled the disappointment. It is generally Ok but the colour is quite dull, it is not that big and it gets cut off because of the roots of the Iifa tree! It serves its purpose and it actually an Ok village.
6/10 - 3/5
Maidain Sari-
This village is much like Burmecia in that it has been attacked and there is nothing going on. However, it is more attractive and the feeling of ancient-magic etc can really be felt here (that sounds so stupid...) Its panoramas, waterfall etc make this a good place considering it is not populated (well, except by Eiko)
7/10 -3.5/5
Black Mage Village-
Ironically, this is somewhat like Clerya. Incredibly beautiful, quaint and visually pleasing place. It really is another wonderful, leafy place. The Black Mages are quite funny sometimes and the whole layout and the graphics of the place are astounding. Another
9/10
Terra- A spooky, atmospheric place that I consider as a settlement. It is of a decent size and it is a great place for the Terrans to come from.
8/10. 4/5
Game world-
This is an incredible game world, so varied and so busy with things to do.
To name a few- Chocobo's paradise, Gizamaluke's Grotto, Esto Gaza.
There are so many dungeons, shrines etc in this world, it somewhat makes up for the lack of population outside the mist continent.
A definite 10/10 = 20/20
As you may have seen, I have put final scores out of 5, 10 or 20.
This relates to the relevance and size of the settlements so the main ones will affect the score more.
So- adding them up gives the FFIX game world-
82.5/100!
That gives 82.5% (that beats FFVIII by a whole 20%!)
Alexandria-
This city was really great. The visual style was very relaxing and incredibly beautiful and inventive in places. You have a real feel for the place when you are in Alexandria and there are a decent amount of NPCs and mini-games.
Alexandria castle is quite extensive and there is a lot to explore.
Overall, I give Alexandria a near perfect
9/10
Dali-
Dali is a great place and it serves a purpose. The interiors available are decent. The Inn is beautiful and the music is too!
Once again, you really get a feel for the place when there. You feel immersed, you are in the country, in a frontier village.
Both Dali and Observatory mountain are really quaint and overall, beautiful, quaint places that I wouldn't mind holidaying in!
9/10 4.5/5
(Burmecia- We never see the real Burmecia because of it being attacked but it seems like a fairly nice city, but it is basically a dungeon in function.
I would give it 7/10. Very atmospheric and the caslte at the end only adds to this) (3.5)
Clerya-
What can I say!?
Even the characters say it is beautiful. This is, without a doubt one of my favourite places in all Final Fantasies.
The pre-rendered graphics and animations (like the windmills) are purely breathtaking. The background of the sandstrom is incredible and this village is probably the highpoint of graphics on the PSone. It is so upsetting when it is obliterated as this is the most beautiful place in Gaia.
It still takes my breath away even now, a perfect
10/10
Lindblum-
Right from the FMV sequence with the airship entering Lindblum, you know this is a special place. The layout and the idea of a huge city within this castle is very inventive and makes for an incredible place.
The panoramas in the background of huge slopes crowded with buildings are wonderful and once again, give you a feel for the place.
The number of enterable buildings is actually quite good when you consider the castle, aircab stations etc. However, just like Esthar in FFVIII (though not to such a huge degree), the city is so immensely big that we only see a fraction of it. This is not a problem however as the beauty of the city and the castle make up for it somewhat. Unfortunately, some becomes unaccessable after Alexandria's attack so -
8/10
Treno-
This night-time city is full of great architecture as Garnet is well aware when she comes. The card hall is particularly impressive. There is also variety in that both slums and nobles exist in the city.
The atmosphere, I feel, is not quite as good as the other cities. It is a night-time so it seems slightly quiet and laid back.
The canal idea of the city is good and it is quite impressive when Garnet, Marcus etc go to steal the Supersoft, going along the canals. Unfortunately, we don't see much of the noble's houses.
This city has quite a good variety, there is a card hall, an auction (a very good idea) and the Knight's monsters to fight.
Overall, I would give the city-
8/10
Now, towns outside of the Mist Continent.
Daguerro-
An inventive place to be sure. It is quite small so it can't score such high marks as the places before it but it is a pretty and inventively constructed and situated small settlement.
7/10 3.5/5
Conde Petie-
I was generally disappointed that the other continents were not very populated and this place fuelled the disappointment. It is generally Ok but the colour is quite dull, it is not that big and it gets cut off because of the roots of the Iifa tree! It serves its purpose and it actually an Ok village.
6/10 - 3/5
Maidain Sari-
This village is much like Burmecia in that it has been attacked and there is nothing going on. However, it is more attractive and the feeling of ancient-magic etc can really be felt here (that sounds so stupid...) Its panoramas, waterfall etc make this a good place considering it is not populated (well, except by Eiko)
7/10 -3.5/5
Black Mage Village-
Ironically, this is somewhat like Clerya. Incredibly beautiful, quaint and visually pleasing place. It really is another wonderful, leafy place. The Black Mages are quite funny sometimes and the whole layout and the graphics of the place are astounding. Another
9/10
Terra- A spooky, atmospheric place that I consider as a settlement. It is of a decent size and it is a great place for the Terrans to come from.
8/10. 4/5
Game world-
This is an incredible game world, so varied and so busy with things to do.
To name a few- Chocobo's paradise, Gizamaluke's Grotto, Esto Gaza.
There are so many dungeons, shrines etc in this world, it somewhat makes up for the lack of population outside the mist continent.
A definite 10/10 = 20/20
As you may have seen, I have put final scores out of 5, 10 or 20.
This relates to the relevance and size of the settlements so the main ones will affect the score more.
So- adding them up gives the FFIX game world-
82.5/100!
That gives 82.5% (that beats FFVIII by a whole 20%!)