My Review: Final Fantasy IX (PS1)

My Review: Final Fantasy IX (PS1)

It could be said that each generation of consoles put a unique spin on its particular batch of Final Fantasy games. This is particularly evident with the Playstation trio of Final Fantasies VII, VIII, and IX, which are among the most influential games of their genre. Final Fantasy IX is, in many aspects, the end of an era for the series: afterward, the series would go through many radical changes, and IX does seem to be the most recent ‘traditional’ Final Fantasy game. Perhaps this is because Final Fantasy IX was made as a throwback to the classic style of Final Fantasy, but with the design of the PlayStation entries, blending more lighthearted tone and colorful aesthetics with the storytelling and technological panache we expected from Square at the time. Final Fantasy IX isn’t just a great game- it’s a swan song for the entire series, as well as one of the best Playstation RPGs ever made.

STORY

Final Fantasy IX takes place in the world of Gaia, a land enshrouded in a Mist made from the spirits of the dead. In the Kingdom of Alexandria, Queen Brahne lists for power, and is waging war on neighboring kingdoms in order to expand her domain. When Zidane Tribal, a monkey-tailed member of the theater group Tantalus, kidnaps Princess Garnett of Alexandria, he discovers that she intended to escape from her mother, and wants to discover why she is behaving in this manner. Along with Garnett’s loyal knight Steiner, the young black mage Vivi, and a host of other colorful characters, Zidane becomes embroiled in a quest to save the world from Brahne’s ambition, as well as to free Brahne from the influence of an arms dealer named Kuja, and eventually discover the secret of another world linked to Gaia…

Final Fantasy IX presents a more lighthearted tone than the darker storylines of the other Playstation Final Fantasies, but it still tells an epic and complex tale. The writing is often humorous, but thanks to a superb cast of in-depth characters, the story always stays engaging. Zidane seems like a breath of fresh air after brooding teenagers like Squall; Zidane is an enthusiastic and wisecracking ladies’ man, and a very entertaining protagonist. That’s not to say that every character you encounter is great (Quina has got to be the weirdest character I’ve ever seen in an RPG, and I put up with a ninja-mobster-kitty in Shadow Hearts), but for the most part each character has a very involved arc and develops nicely over the course of the game. With Active Time Events, small cutscenes that can be triggered at certain moments, we see what other characters are doing at any given time in the story. These scenes can contain humorous exchanges between characters, or they can explore a character’s backstory or reveal personal information about them, but ATEs provide an interesting extra element to the story.

Two characters in particular stand out in my mind. The first is Princess Garnett, or Dagger as you will come to know her. I’ve always found it funny that her relationship with Zidane is a more realistic and well-developed romance story than that of Squall and Rinoa was in a game that was purposefully telling a love story. Dagger has one of the best character arcs in the game, and Final Fantasy IX is as much her story as it is the story of Zidane. The other is Vivi, the young black mage who discovers early on that he was manufactured as a weapon of war, and has a limited lifespan. Vivi coming to terms with his own death and what it means to really live is one of the most moving, tear-jerking subplots I’ve ever experienced. In fact, Final Fantasy IX’s entire story explores how we make our lives meaningful, in the face of the death we will all one day face. Final Fantasy IX has the usual power-hungry villains, world-destroying threats, and ancient civilizations one finds in epic RPGs, but at the end of the day, it’s the characters that turn a good story into a truly great one. When the player can laugh at Steiner’s stubborn arguing, cry at Vivi’s first encounter with death, or smile when two lovers are reunited, a story becomes more than just a story- it becomes a memorable experience that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. Final Fantasy IX rests comfortably with VI as one of the greatest stories in the series.

GAMEPLAY

                                        Classic gameplay at it's finest.

Final Fantasy IX shares it’s gameplay with its forebears. It’s a traditional RPG with a large overworld, towns, dungeons, and the Active Time Battle system. It does away with some of the more contrived innovations from Final Fantasy VIII such as level scaling and the Junction System, returning to a more traditional experience point system and a better balanced level of difficulty. The dungeon design and puzzles are very clever, and I rarely found myself needing a walkthrough to get past a particularly obtuse puzzle. Final Fantasy IX is in many ways the culmination of Final Fantasy’s classic game design, but it does have the usual innovations that come with each new entry in the series.

Final Fantasy IX’s method of gaining abilities is probably the most unique aspect of the game. Characters’ abilities are tied to their equipment- by equipping a piece of armor or a new weapon, they gain the abilities attached to that weapon. When a character earns enough AP through battle, they can keep the ability without needing that equipment. Some abilities can be used in battle and others are passive that increase a character’s stats or provide immunity to status ailments, although there is a limit on how many passive abilities a character can have through the use of Magic Stones, with each equipped ability taking up a certain capacity. It’s a nice system, and it encourages players to hold onto their older weapons in order to earn all of the abilities. Some experience grinding may be required in order to learn some abilities when you need them, but overall the game’s difficulty is fair enough that excessive grinding won’t be necessary.

Final Fantasy IX also has the Trance system, the game’s version of limit breaks. When a character takes enough damage, they enter a powered-up state known as Trance. When in Trance, characters gain new abilities and receive a massive stat boost. The problem with Trance is that the player has no way to control when Trance activates, and because it takes so long to build up, it’s very aggravating when Trance is wasted in a random encounter. This may be a way to balance out how powerful Trance is (Trance Zidane can often win boss fights on his own), and later on there is an ability that builds Trance up faster, but it can still be annoying, although this certainly isn’t a dealbreaker.

Final Fantasy IX’s gameplay is, for the most part, one of the best iterations of the series’ classic formula yet. It may not be as experimental as prior games, and the Trance system isn’t perfect, but as a whole Final Fantasy IX’s gameplay is rock solid.

PRESENTATION

Final Fantasy IX”s more cartoony aesthetic put me off at first, but as I played the more I got used to it. The colorful architecture and the design of the characters may hearken back to a simpler time, but make no mistake, Final Fantasy IX is one of the most technically stunning games on the Playstation, at times rivaling Chrono Cross. The numerous FMV sequences are, as usual, beautiful, but the in-game graphics are still very impressive, even today. Every pre-rendered background is lush and full of detail, the Overworld is vast and wondrous, and both in FMVs and out the character models are incredibly expressive. The series has come a long way since Final Fantasy VII. Musically, Nobuo Uematsu once again composed the score with one of the best soundtracks to grace a Final Fantasy game, and I know I say that a lot, but trust me when I say that the music in this game is fantastic. Final Fantasy IX’s presentation is the icing on a delicious cake.

CONCLUSION

Final Fantasy IX is the type of game I play video games for. It is, in many ways, the ultimate Final Fantasy game, taking the storytelling and technological achievements of its predecessors and outdoing them tenfold. Its story and characters are deep and involving, the gameplay is as well-designed as I could hope for, and the presentation is wonderful. But even with all of these great elements, Final Fantasy IX is the rare game that overcomes critique of its individual pieces, becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Few games can claim such a feat- Final Fantasy IX is a true masterpiece.

SCORE: A