This review contains spoilers
Way back in November of 2020, I made a short, mixture of joke/serious review for Final Fantasy 9. I don't exactly give a shit about my pre-2022 reviews, since they're old and truthfully contain a bit of charm because of the juxtaposition between them and a majority of ones I write now, but since this has become one of my favorite RPGs, and games as a whole, every time I'm reminded of it I get second-hand embarrassment. This is the review I want people to see? Nah, this doesn't say much of anything! Time for a refresh. Before I wiped it though, I figured to be courteous and archive it, in case anyone is curious enough to know what it was.
Anyway uh, time to quickly go over the negatives. Battles suck. No it's not just because of the slow speed or the Trance mechanic being a baffling attempt of 'balancing' FF7's (and from what I've heard, FF8's) Limit Breaks, though those are certainly factors of it, it's because it's easy to figure out. At least with prior titles and even a few of the ones made after, you had a pool of resources and ideas to figure by yourself, or even make into a challenge run if you wanted. Sure, FF10 allowed for an instant swap of charters in a tri-form party, but that's not taking into account that you can spec Tidus into Auron's role of a hardhitting warrior while he's meant to be a DPS rogue due to how the Sphere Grid is formatted both in a gameplay sense, and as meta-commentary regarding the party's relationship. 7 is has a focus on what 'role' each character is regulated as, but that doesn't stop you from giving Barret magic, Red XIII commands, or Yuffie support/independent materias. FF5 and FF12's mechanics and systems are built entirely around personal, synergistic compositions, to the point each one were able to cultivate an entire event or numerous challenge runs dedicated for the diehard masters.
FF9 has... purely dedicated class roles. Zidane's a war- oh I'm sorry, "thief with unusually high attack", Vivi's a Black Mage, Garnet/Dagger's a White Mage, etc. etc. You know their tricks, what they offer, and how to utilize them. I make it sound like it's a complete detriment to the combat, and it isn't, but it's a lot more compact and streamlined if you catch my drift. It's also part of the reason the Ability system in this game is a double-edge sword, cause while it IS very cool to pick up an item and grind out its little knick-knack bars and permanently attain its power to better prepare and give armament to each character, it also means more often than not you're gonna pick up those anti-ailments, some auto-Life, Haste, and Regens, and the occasional Do More Damage to X Enemy Type. It also doesn't help this game has easier bosses and prep time than not, but to its credit the last half or so do tend to up the ante by a decent bit. Still, it's fine as it is, and far from the worst system I've dabbled with in a FF title cough FF3 and 13 cough.
Along with that, I gotta echo the common consensus and say some characters got the chuck, although the severity of it is something I find to be hyperbolic. Quina doesn't really need a full arc considering they're fine the way they are and were more so meant to be the comic relief archetype (which they succeeded in spades, btw), and Eiko's whole dilemma gets established in Disc 2 and rather frequently becomes elaborated throughout up until Disc 4. Freya and Amarant though? Yea, it's wild to see the former get a whole arc displayed in Disc 1 and some moments in Disc 2 before just dropping off entirely, and the latter gets a couple of scenes, a grand sequence in Ipsen Castle, then... nothin. The line blurs between what was the intention, and what were the remnants of the bubbling, deepening project being made yet spilling out from the papers.
Though, to be quite honest, can I really lament and mull over this when the character quotes so eloquently and sharply display their personality and qualms? Should I really bemoan and criticize their lack of presence, when the game makes sure to give them the time to shine? Will I truly come to grips with this negative aspect, when they were the reason I was reminded I'm never alone? It's not like there isn't bones to pick apart here anyway; you don't think the setup of the simpler Act 1, the character-driven Act 2, and the climactic and escalated Act 3 with a large focus on the crystals being the center point of life as we know it, and a man named Garland foolishly and arrogantly using their power to further his own needs, aren't just reminiscent of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiroyuki Ito, Nobuo Uematsu, and some of the other team's time with the franchise since the NES days was just a coincidence, do you? Even if you want to disregard that admittedly hackneyed examination, it's hard to deny Zidane could be examined as the personification of this growth of the franchise, starting out as the go-getter that rises above his belts and obstacles, yet gets peeled more and more about his true origin as you progress.
Fondly, I enjoyed my time trying to do nearly everything the game had to offer thanks to the Jegged guide, learning about the different and optional ATEs, the expansive world of the industrial medieval and harsh sci-fi, not as a "throwback" but because it's always been this way. Plus, you gotta admit, this game has some of the sickest summons and secret bosses to uncover. On that note, I enjoyed doing most of the side content, shit I'll even defend Tetra Master... not the Chocobo stuff though, again that's just immensely tedious and boring. It's great fun, and it really sold me on how uniquely iterative Gaia is. The eeriness of Oeilvert, the coziness of Black Mage Village, the serenity of Daguerreo, the chilling yet oddly callous nature of Esto Gaza before the bustling and clear homage to an area from the first game, the solemn memorial and distilled recompense of Memoria, this is next to Spira as the most captivating and fulfilling world I've explored in an FF game yet, and I truly don't understand when people knock the OST when it's just as differing, just as engrossing, just as willing to subject you to imbroglios, and just as eager to show off the many influences of genres Uematsu's clearly fond of, especially prog rock. By far the best OST of the PS1 era of the franchise, you can't convince me otherwise.
It's not like battles truly get tedious anyway. Honestly, there's a certain rhythmic dopamine hit when it comes to going through these areas of wildly different environments, seeing what type of creature lays in store, be it friend, foe, or some combination of the two. It's at least nice you get a certain level of customization with the weapons for each character, like daggers or swords for a 'thief', the rackets and flutes, forks, claws, what have you. Certain ones can be more beneficial depending on the circumstance even outside their ability gains, which granted isn't something wholly unique to this game, but is appreciated nonetheless. I wouldn't put it past Square to realize how the limitation of character-specified jobs would be too simple, so the interchanging entourage between events in each chapter is greatly appreciated, always keeping you on your toes as to what will happen next before The Grand Reunion.
Ultimately, it reminds me of home and the melodies of life. At this point, as a wayward soul that can barely muster the thought of what they want to do for a living, that's all I can ask for. Do try this out with the Moguri Mod if you have the PC for it, it makes an already whimsical game even better.
Anyway uh, time to quickly go over the negatives. Battles suck. No it's not just because of the slow speed or the Trance mechanic being a baffling attempt of 'balancing' FF7's (and from what I've heard, FF8's) Limit Breaks, though those are certainly factors of it, it's because it's easy to figure out. At least with prior titles and even a few of the ones made after, you had a pool of resources and ideas to figure by yourself, or even make into a challenge run if you wanted. Sure, FF10 allowed for an instant swap of charters in a tri-form party, but that's not taking into account that you can spec Tidus into Auron's role of a hardhitting warrior while he's meant to be a DPS rogue due to how the Sphere Grid is formatted both in a gameplay sense, and as meta-commentary regarding the party's relationship. 7 is has a focus on what 'role' each character is regulated as, but that doesn't stop you from giving Barret magic, Red XIII commands, or Yuffie support/independent materias. FF5 and FF12's mechanics and systems are built entirely around personal, synergistic compositions, to the point each one were able to cultivate an entire event or numerous challenge runs dedicated for the diehard masters.
FF9 has... purely dedicated class roles. Zidane's a war- oh I'm sorry, "thief with unusually high attack", Vivi's a Black Mage, Garnet/Dagger's a White Mage, etc. etc. You know their tricks, what they offer, and how to utilize them. I make it sound like it's a complete detriment to the combat, and it isn't, but it's a lot more compact and streamlined if you catch my drift. It's also part of the reason the Ability system in this game is a double-edge sword, cause while it IS very cool to pick up an item and grind out its little knick-knack bars and permanently attain its power to better prepare and give armament to each character, it also means more often than not you're gonna pick up those anti-ailments, some auto-Life, Haste, and Regens, and the occasional Do More Damage to X Enemy Type. It also doesn't help this game has easier bosses and prep time than not, but to its credit the last half or so do tend to up the ante by a decent bit. Still, it's fine as it is, and far from the worst system I've dabbled with in a FF title cough FF3 and 13 cough.
Along with that, I gotta echo the common consensus and say some characters got the chuck, although the severity of it is something I find to be hyperbolic. Quina doesn't really need a full arc considering they're fine the way they are and were more so meant to be the comic relief archetype (which they succeeded in spades, btw), and Eiko's whole dilemma gets established in Disc 2 and rather frequently becomes elaborated throughout up until Disc 4. Freya and Amarant though? Yea, it's wild to see the former get a whole arc displayed in Disc 1 and some moments in Disc 2 before just dropping off entirely, and the latter gets a couple of scenes, a grand sequence in Ipsen Castle, then... nothin. The line blurs between what was the intention, and what were the remnants of the bubbling, deepening project being made yet spilling out from the papers.
Though, to be quite honest, can I really lament and mull over this when the character quotes so eloquently and sharply display their personality and qualms? Should I really bemoan and criticize their lack of presence, when the game makes sure to give them the time to shine? Will I truly come to grips with this negative aspect, when they were the reason I was reminded I'm never alone? It's not like there isn't bones to pick apart here anyway; you don't think the setup of the simpler Act 1, the character-driven Act 2, and the climactic and escalated Act 3 with a large focus on the crystals being the center point of life as we know it, and a man named Garland foolishly and arrogantly using their power to further his own needs, aren't just reminiscent of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiroyuki Ito, Nobuo Uematsu, and some of the other team's time with the franchise since the NES days was just a coincidence, do you? Even if you want to disregard that admittedly hackneyed examination, it's hard to deny Zidane could be examined as the personification of this growth of the franchise, starting out as the go-getter that rises above his belts and obstacles, yet gets peeled more and more about his true origin as you progress.
Fondly, I enjoyed my time trying to do nearly everything the game had to offer thanks to the Jegged guide, learning about the different and optional ATEs, the expansive world of the industrial medieval and harsh sci-fi, not as a "throwback" but because it's always been this way. Plus, you gotta admit, this game has some of the sickest summons and secret bosses to uncover. On that note, I enjoyed doing most of the side content, shit I'll even defend Tetra Master... not the Chocobo stuff though, again that's just immensely tedious and boring. It's great fun, and it really sold me on how uniquely iterative Gaia is. The eeriness of Oeilvert, the coziness of Black Mage Village, the serenity of Daguerreo, the chilling yet oddly callous nature of Esto Gaza before the bustling and clear homage to an area from the first game, the solemn memorial and distilled recompense of Memoria, this is next to Spira as the most captivating and fulfilling world I've explored in an FF game yet, and I truly don't understand when people knock the OST when it's just as differing, just as engrossing, just as willing to subject you to imbroglios, and just as eager to show off the many influences of genres Uematsu's clearly fond of, especially prog rock. By far the best OST of the PS1 era of the franchise, you can't convince me otherwise.
It's not like battles truly get tedious anyway. Honestly, there's a certain rhythmic dopamine hit when it comes to going through these areas of wildly different environments, seeing what type of creature lays in store, be it friend, foe, or some combination of the two. It's at least nice you get a certain level of customization with the weapons for each character, like daggers or swords for a 'thief', the rackets and flutes, forks, claws, what have you. Certain ones can be more beneficial depending on the circumstance even outside their ability gains, which granted isn't something wholly unique to this game, but is appreciated nonetheless. I wouldn't put it past Square to realize how the limitation of character-specified jobs would be too simple, so the interchanging entourage between events in each chapter is greatly appreciated, always keeping you on your toes as to what will happen next before The Grand Reunion.
Ultimately, it reminds me of home and the melodies of life. At this point, as a wayward soul that can barely muster the thought of what they want to do for a living, that's all I can ask for. Do try this out with the Moguri Mod if you have the PC for it, it makes an already whimsical game even better.
5 Comments
fax!
@headwound idk about the whole series but the dialog during that stretch are for sure fantastic, especially in Burmercia, Treno and Madain Sarin
The best Final Fantasy game, some would say (me)
Not only one of the best Final Fantasy games, but one of the best reviews for said Final Fantasy game :)
BlazingWaters
1 year ago
If you should play this, do so with the Moguri mod if you have the PC to do so. It remasters and touches up the backgrounds for extra shine, has proper widescreen, allows for numerous options thanks to the use of the Memoria Engine like 30fps FMVs, speeding up the battles via the speed and decreasing the load swirls, original(ish) font instead of the remaster's plain, and more. For now, this is gonna be the best way to experience one of RPG's finest outings.