Final Fantasy IX has been hyped, and hyped, and then amazingly, hyped some more. Square has been talking about this game from the time that Final Fantasy VIII was released. They were talking about it being ‘old school’. They were talking about it being one of the best games graphically one the PSX ever. Basically, they wanted us all to think it was the best thing since sliced bread. Frankly, I think that most people believed it too. Of course there were some skeptics, who said that they can’t make an ‘old school’ game anymore, because everything is ‘new school’. Really, I have no idea what that means. I guess they thought Square can’t strike gold twice. Haha, boy were they wrong. This is one of the best Final Fantasy games yet. There were many things that were wrong with Final Fantasy VIII, those things were readily fixed in this game, something that pleased me greatly.
Speaking of improvements, the Final Fantasy series has been fine tuning for years. From Final Fantasy 1, all the way to Final Fantasy VIII, they have been making improvements. In every game they use a new idea, and see what the people like. Then, as every game is made, Square took those accomplishments, and improved upon them. With Final Fantasy IX, that has reached a climax. The improvements are really taking form.
One of the major improvements made in this game is the changes to the abilities the characters have. In Final Fantasy VIII, the way to gain abilities was junctioning abilities, this was a system that got some mixed reactions from gamers. In this game, the way to gain abilities is through the weapons and armor you are equipped with. Each one has certain abilities. These abilities are separated into two categories: status abilities, and fighting abilities. When you equip something, you will automatically get that ability to use. The status abilities will be things such as ‘insomniac’ which prevents the status effect sleep. The fighting abilities are usually magic, and techniques. These abilities are shown on the fighting screen, as things you can utilize in battle.
You may now be wondering how you keep the abilities after you un-equip the equipment. Well, each piece of armor or weapon has a number of AP on it. After every battle you get a small amount of AP, if you fill the requirement of AP needed before you un-equip it, then you can keep the ability forever. This is one of the most enjoyable features in the game.
There are really three different ways you can learn abilities; The diligent way, where you learn every ability you equip, the situational way, where you equip weapons and armor that have abilities that are helpful or the situation, and then there is the lazy way, where you just equip the optimal equipment, and forget about abilities. As you can tell the diligent way requires a lot more work, but is more beneficial because with the other two ways, you may have to refrain from equipping the best things, so you can have the proper abilities. Each method suits a different person, I personally used the diligent way, but only with important skills.
But, along with that system, there are also restrictions and requirements for the abilities learned. Each characters has a class, much like the older games. I think this may be one of the main things they did to make the game ‘old school’. Anyway, Basically, each character can only learn one type of ability, depending on who they are. For example, Zidane is a thief and a fighter, so he learns abilities that have to do with stealing, and fighting. Then, Vivi is the opposite, he is a Mage, meaning he casts black magic, such as fire, fira, and blizzaga. Accordingly, he learns only abilities having to do with magic, and spell casting. The classification system was a welcome feature.
This game, being the RPG it is, runs on the same system as most other games of It’s type when it comes to towns. You navigate a world map, either on vehicle, or on foot, and you enter the towns from there. When you enter a town, most of your usual necessities are there. These necessities are usually item shops, weapon shops and inns in RPGs. But, this game, being the revolutionary game it is, has something more. Most towns also have a synthesis shop. These shops are different from the others. In this shop, they take old weapons, armor, and items, them merge them together to make a new piece of equipment that you can’t get in any other store. These are usually accessories, but are sometimes weapons and armor as well. I liked this extra addition, because it gave me something useful to use my old equipment for.
This game also sees the return of the random encounter system. What this means is that as you walk through the world map, you will engage in a battle with an enemy. When you get a random encounter, the screen goes into a spiral, and you arrive in a new screen This screen is the battle screen where you choose how you want to kick some ass (or get your as kicked). There are two basic options for you in the battle screen; Attack, and Items. They are exactly what they sound like, physical attacks, and use healing items or the like. Then, depending on the character you are using, there are other options. These options range from summon, to magic, to skill, to steal. Each character will have his/her own options. The thing with these battles though, is that they sometimes occur too often, if you are trying to get somewhere, it may take a long time because of the many battles.
Now, while in battle, what characters do you use? Well, they are: Zidane, the thief, Garnet the princess wrapped up in a world she doesn’t understand, Steiner the sworn guardian of the princess, Freya protector of Burmecia, Quina of the gourmand, only out to find new food as s/he says ‘The world only have two things, things you can eat, and things you no can eat’. Then there is Eiko the small summoner child, Amarant bounty hunter and thief, and finally, Vivi the black mage who’s life is engulfed in mystery.
While walking around, you will only see the leader of your party, and the other characters aren’t shown unless a story sequence is occurring. One other thing happens as you walk. There are little icons that can appear above your head. There are three icons, the hand which is used to show the location of your character, the exclamation point which appears when you are near a treasure chest or the like, finally, the question mark which appears when you are near something that can be adjusted, or read. One needs to pay attention to these icons because some of the things they point out are vital to your success in playing this game.
The story of Final Fantasy IX is a good one, but it had the potential to be a little bit more. Perhaps if they expanded upon it, or made it a little bit more engrossing I could give it the perfect score. Basically, you take control of Zidane Tribal, a thief and member of the outlaw group Tantalus. You are on a mission to capture the princess of Alexandria. But, this princess is different, she doesn’t like her position as princess. She tries to escape just as she is being captured. Basically, she was willfully kidnapped. From there the story progresses with Zidane and Garnet’s quest to find the truth and find love, with each other or otherwise. Along the way they meet all of the players, and the purpose changes dramatically. There were some nice twists in the story, and the character development was sufficient. What I would’ve liked was a little more emphasis on the side characters. At times, characters like Quina are totally ignored, and seem like they weren’t even meant to be there. Also, the side characters didn’t have as much character development as I would have liked. They did evolve nicely, but not as much as the main players in the stage of this game. Speaking of them, I liked what was done with them. They evolved greatly, and the story sequences and the way they act really helped everything. In order to develop the story in a more efficient fashion, Square included the Active Time Event (ATE) system. At points, if the characters are split up, or something like that, the Active Time Event icon will appear on the screen. When you press select, you are able to choose from some ATEs. These are basically side stories to help give a deeper insight into what the characters are like. Some ATEs are mandatory, and some are optional. I suggest viewing them all though, because they make the story line 100% better.
The graphics in this game are simply astounding. The regular scenery is beautifully presented. The detail put into every little nook and cranny of the backgrounds is very good. Take the trees for example, they have leaves on them right? Well, unlike some other games where the graphical team may have been slightly apathetic and it was just a large green object with lines and indentations in it, this game shows every leaf. The different object in the backgrounds look like FMVs from the early PSX games, it simply shows the advancement in on the PSX, in the RPG genre, and in this game in general.
Also, within the backgrounds, we see many moving and interacting objects. In some games the backgrounds are stuck in their original positions and different natural factors don’t seem to move them at all But, that would never be enough for Final Fantasy IX. In this game different things affect the backgrounds greatly. Take the grass for example, when you walk by the grass patches, the wind makes them waver and rock. One couldn’t ask for a lot more than that from a background.
Also, the characters are very well designed too. As you walk around and perform different tasks in the game, you may expect the features of the characters to be a little bit choppy (Can you say FF VII?). But, in this game, all characters are properly smoothed out and rounded. No jagged edges, a lovely thing.
The Full motion videos (FMVs) are truly the best part of this game though. They display a level of three dimensionalism and detail never before seen on the Playstation, they push the limits of the system. The images look totally rounded, and properly designed The detail put into each sequence is very good as well. They show small movements, small details, and when involving people, even facial expressions a never before seen aspect in FMVs. They are just so hard to explain in detail. It is like you are watching Toy Story, or another Computer Generated movie, but even better. With the PS2 now moving in, I predict these are the best graphics we will see on the PSX.
The sound quality in Final Fantasy IX is another masterpiece. I am usually very critical with the sound sections of games, and frankly, I was here too. It’s just that there are really no problems I need to gripe about. The music is fully orchestral, using all of the instrumental sections I love orchestral music, and I think that mot any game can benefit from it’s usage. When the orchestral sound is used at as high a level as it was here, it fills me with joy, literally. Also, the clarity of the music is pristine. you can never hear a slight glitch in the sound, or mixed notes, or anything of the like. Almost always in a game, the orchestral music loses some of it’s impact upon translation to game, but here, none. I loved that.
The sound effects are another hit. They add to the gameplay and enjoyability greatly. The standard effects you hear are the battle effects such as the sound of an attack Sure these help too, but because they are a necessity, I cant be overjoyed about them. That I can be overjoyed about is the secondary effects, the ones that didn’t need to be included, but were For example, the murmur or citizens having discussions as you navigate a town, or the sounds of your equipment as you walk or run. These type of sound effects are not usually seen, and are a testament to the high level of though placed in this game.
The replay value of this game is another great area. There are so many things you can do by replaying the game. Side quests galore, many of them the type of quests where you can’t do in once shot, making another play through a very good idea. Also, this game is just so fun that another play is an enjoyable prospect. The story, usually a factor lowering the replay value, doesn’t affect it at all in this game. It has the kind of story that isn’t boring to go through again, truthfully, it can be fun and interesting.
Once this I didn’t like was how this game was not challenging enough for my taste. It is way too easy. You basically get your task from one of your allies, and go and do it. Unfortunately, when you go perform these tasks, you encounter almost no resistance. It’s just way too easy. Granted, there are many side quests that can be challenging to complete. But, when I formulate an opinion on the challenge, I always look over everything, and the challenge of the side quests doesn’t even come close to equaling the simplicity of the main quest.
Overall though, I found this to be a very well made game. All of the different areas were well done respectively, and when combined into one game it naturally comes out very well. The best parts would probably be the graphics and sound, followed very closely by the gameplay, story, and replay value. The only area with major flaws would be the challenge, but with the other good areas, this game evens out nicely. Overall, very well done, another Final Fantasy destined to be a legendary game, Kudos Square, you did it again.
