FINAL FANTASY IX

Amazing game, best roster of characters of any final fantasy with them each being memorable and interestingly designed (except maybe you mr. Red, sorry.) Definitely play with Moguri mod though.

Final Fantasy IX is one of the last great creations of Squaresoft before their merger with Enix. After exploring sci-fi themes and more complex storytelling in the previous two games, the 9th revisited fantasy, telling the tale of a thief, a princess, and a band of misfits plunged into war-time by forces beyond their imagining. The result is at once tragic, beautiful, and woven together with hope, creating one of my favourite games of all time. The work brings together the talents of director Hiroyuki Ito (creator of the ATB system), alongside producers Hironobu Sakaguchi (FF series) and Shinji Hashimoto (co-creator of Kingdom Hearts). On the design side you have Kazuhiko Aoki (FF3, FF4, CT, FF7) and Yasushi Kurosawa (Parasite Eve), with Sakaguchi writing, series regular Nobueo Uematsu composing, and artists Hideo Minaba, Shūkō Murase, and Toshiyuki Itahana responsible for the game's iconic and vivid depiction. A power house of talent for the time. Together they brought to life an entry that returns to the series' fantasy roots and pays a great deal of homage to the earlier entries in the final fantasy series, but you'd never know it if you were unfamiliar. From the outset you have a lot of fun and interesting characters all hiding secrets and out to double-cross each other. Drawing on elements of Shakespearean theatre and the series' own iconic classes, themes, and staples IX sets itself up for hi-jinks and mischief, comedy and tragedy, and carries those elements throughout with twists and turns you won't see coming. From the heady highs of airship chases and skulduggery, to the brutal lows of war and existential crisis', IX runs the full gamut of emotion and rarely does it miss its mark. The art direction, sound design, and music are stunning and represent some of the most beautiful art you'll see on the PSX, with the vast world of IX rendered beautifully through a mix of paintings and 3D rendered backgrounds layered to immerse the characters and featuring cleverly animated portions that prevent the world feeling as static as VII and VIII did. The way the environments are represented, the beautiful period architecture, and combination of fantasy and steampunk, inside and out from multiple camera angles brings an incredible level of detail and polish to the work that makes it feel like a real world you're exploring. All the while accompanied by some of the best music Square has produced, from the plodding horns of Vivi's Theme to the furore of the Vamo'alla Flamenco, remixes of series favourites like Aloha de Chocobo and the dulcet tones of A Song From Her Memory, the music at once gives IX such a distinct sound that feels Gregorian and classical, yet contemporary and familiar in a way no other classical fantasy themed RPG has managed. On the gameplay side you're immersed in a fairly linear story with moments in social hubs to chat with local NPC's and engage in mini-games. I will say IX feels uniquely linear compared to most FF entries, with only a handful of locations available to access at any given time and many areas not being possible to return to (largely for format reasons). The writing doesn't suffer for this however, and it does keep the story moving at a good pace; Though I find there is a lull once you hit the end of Disc 2 and the story takes a pretty big turn that's somewhat divisive within the fan base. That said, I personally enjoy the events from start to finish, and there are plenty of battles and puzzles along the way to keep you busy. Within combat things will feel familiar to anyone whose played the FF series before, making use of the ATB system where bars fill until you can act. Each character has a baked in class but their abilities are learned from equipment rather than at set levels. You can have four characters fighting at once which makes for some raucous encounters so opponents can be fierce and make liberal use of status ailments to disable your characters in different ways. There were only a couple of points where I felt like I needed to grind a little just to get neglected characters up to the same level as the other team. As long as you're fighting every battle you encounter you should be okay. The ability system is something I love in principle. Each character has a number of gems to 'activate' abilities granted from equipment, and while active you gain AP from each monster defeated that contributes towards permanently learning that ability. So for example your weapon might grant a spell, your accessory might grant a status-affliction immunity like anti-poison, and you have to keep those equipped until the ability is learned, then you can use it even while the gear is changed. It's a very elegant way to get you to make use of all your gear, and since much of your best equipment is created by fusing older pieces together through 'Synthesis' it also challenges you to strategically recycle gear rather than treat it at shop fodder (you get plenty of money to make up for this). I think the downside is that you won't ever know what ability combos are best for a given fight until you've had it or lost to it and reloaded. Equipment also doesn't make a huge difference to your performance besides elementla resistances, but those only matter more towards the end of the game. There's also a lot of tedious menuing to unequip gear you're learning from to gear/equipment you want for a given boss fight. But it's often the case that the right equips will just make a battle easier rather than deciding if it's possible. You can exhaustively unlock all the abilities but there's no need since so many are circumstantial. I think as long as you approach the system from the perspective of just unlocking what you think looks or sounds cool you'll do okay. There is also the Trance system, this game's version of the Limit Break where as characters take damage (or at set points in the story) their emotional gauge will fill to full and they enter Trance - an explosion of emotion that allows them to tap into inner power. For Zidane this allows him to use 'Dyne' skills that deal damage, Steiner gets a damage boost, and Vivi can double-cast black mage spells. They can be useful, but the choice to have it activate automatically means you'll almost never deploy it when you need it; Plus many of the trance abilities tend to be underwhelming compared to earlier entries. Thankfully this is something you can mod on PC letting you trigger trance once the bar is filled. Combat in IX is also justifiably criticised for being slow, but on PC there's the Memoria mod which offers HD graphics, bug fixes, modding, and a ton of extra settings for camera, framerate, audio, controls, UI, and more. Down this path you can find gameplay tweaks, extra characters, extra encounters, card game changes, and AI upscaled backgrounds & FMV's (if that's your thing). At the very least Memoria allows the game to feel like an HD remake. So overall the game is very tightly linear, but that's not to say that your choices don't matter, just that the game wants you to enjoy the story without worrying about the mechanical nuances. If you aren't vibing with the first 30 minutes you're probably not going to enjoy the rest. The cast is varied and colourful, each with deep and interesting backstories, dealing with emotional and difficult circumstances that fully utilise the setting, locations, magic and technologies to full dramatic effect. The interpersonal drama and writing really bring out a lot of fun Shakespearean / theatre tropes, and it feels like a whole game set inside FFVI's throw-away theatre production. So if that sounds like fun to you then I'd definitely say to give it a try, because there's so much here to fall in love with, and very little to hate. A game very much deserving of an encore.

Final Fantasy IX Review: An 8/10 Classic Adventure If you are looking for an excellent RPG that captures the true magic of classic gaming, Final Fantasy IX is a wonderful journey, earning a solid 8 out of 10 from me! Personal Opinion. Not 10 but 8. Right off the bat, the main character guy is kind of annoying at first, but you slowly get used to his antics as the story rolls on. What really surprised me, though, was how much romance is packed into this game. I honestly didn't know there was going to be so much love in the air! Usually, I am not a fan of love stories at all, but since I literally named my characters Barron and Kai, it suddenly made all the romance scenes completely cute, funny, and endlessly entertaining. The highlight of the experience has to be the Chocobos. I am completely obsessed, and I actually managed to grind all the way up to the legendary Golden Chocobo! The mini-games are so addictive that I would sometimes play them way too much and completely forget the actual purpose of the main quest. As someone who easily gets dizzy with first-person 3D games, I was so relieved that this game is not that bad at all, the fixed perspectives and camera angles make it pretty good and comfortable to play. It is very easy to control and play. While I still like Dragon Quest more overall, this one is definitely good too and totally worth your time if you are RPG Person.... and there is love story so remember to name properly.... You can either name yourself and your partner or celebrities you like cuz it gets cheesy a bit.... and if you dont like the names, it gets annoying. LOL

один из лучших jrpg в которую я играл, моментами игра очень заточена на гринт (как и все jrpg), но сюжет как и у всех игр "Final Fantasy" просто великолепен. Слава богу счастливая концовка) солидная 8/10

Play this game. This game is/was a love letter from the OG creators of the series; It was the last one that felt like it was made for the fans; and everything after feels like a shift in the brand. I was basically raised by the turn based FF games (and tactics) and this was the last one that "felt right" to me. I love FFIX. It's my favorite RPG in the turn based category hands down. Also, don't pay any attention to my time. I've beaten everything about this game at least a dozen times. This port feels great; I haven't run into any issues so far. The MOGURI Mod makes this an even more unforgettable experience than it was the first time for those of us that were there for this game at launch. It makes it match that 26 year old nostalgia floating around your gourd; so shout-out to the devs of that beautiful work as well.

muito bom

Absolute classic, but the raw steam version is pretty garbage. Also crashing randomly without any error message, just closing every now and then.. classic PC port for square enix! But if you download the mods for the game, it becomes an absolute GEM, with graphics looking super fresh in 2026, some voice mods are coming out and they are already amazing but once they're finished it becomes a must play (again!). Also the UI, sounds, fonts etc are reworked to make the game just as perfect as I remembered it to be on PS1.

best classic FF, squeenix made a serviceable port. I recommend the moguri mod if it's not your first time playing