RPG Diary

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX is another game that I've not played before (unless you count the first hour or so). This game seems to be popular and I've heard it's somewhat "retro", so I've always been curious about this one.

Title	Final Fantasy IX
Year	2000
System	PSX
Developer	Square
Publisher	Square

Final Fantasy IX is a very plot-focused game, and I was totally hooked once the plot started unfolding. I really liked the characters in this game — they are memorable and most of them show growth during the game. I also found the villain very interesting as they do some awful things and their motives are unclear. Overall, I would say the game has good pacing and the main plot keeps moving from start to finish. My only complaint is that the intro sequence at the very beginning starts off very slow with a lot of dialogue and few battles which is a bad first impression.

Once the battles finally started, they felt a bit sluggish to me. Final Fantasy IX uses an ATB system like the previous 5 games in the series. However, it seemed like I was often waiting for queued actions to finally happen compared to previous games which seemed to move more swiftly. Ultimately, I played with ATB speed on the highest setting, but this was still a minor annoyance at times.

Final Fantasy IX is a relatively simple game. For about half of the game, the party is fixed so there are no decisions about who to use. The only form of character customization is learning abilities from equipment, but this mostly comes down to efficiently rotating gear between party members. This may disappoint some, but I personally enjoyed it as it allowed me to simply focus on the plot and play the game without stressing over optimal builds.

My least favorite part of this game is totally optional: I found all of the mini-games to be somewhat tedious and annoying. Chocobo Hot and Cold is basically a metal detector game: you check for treasure and get a vague hint about how close you are. This concept is fine, but the game adds a time limit to it which makes it very frustrating when you cannot quite find the exact location of the treasure and some of the best equipment is only obtainable from this mini-game. Frog Catching is also another tedious mini-game that I perhaps did not understand how to play efficiently. Thankfully, the rewards for that mini-game are much less important.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game thanks to its simple gameplay and interesting plot. While I had a few complaints, they are all minor or related to optional content. One of the ultimate weapons in this game is locked behind a ridiculous time limit, so maybe I will try a speedrun of this game someday.

After completing a game, I add it to my overall enjoyment ranking which orders the games I've completed from those I most enjoyed to those I least enjoyed. It's a tough decision for me between this game and Final Fantasy V. Since I had more (admittedly minor) annoyances with this game, I'll slide this just under it.