Screenshots :.
Final Fantasy IX
Retro
Matt
17-06-2008
"Zidane was an amusing little scamp."
"Some of the towns were fantastically well realised"
"Not quite sure what's being said here, if I am honest."
It’s all too easy for a reviewer to take a misty-eyed trip down memory lane when it comes to taking a look back at one of his/her favourite games, and the temptation to rabble on for hours on end about how much I love Final Fantasy 9 is all rather tempting. Perhaps it was the bobble-headed twee nature, perhaps it was the simple, back-to-basics game system; whatever the case may be, it was a game that I ended up completing at least three times, and one that I deemed suitable enough to order the soundtrack of as well as countless pieces of tacky merchandise.
Yet, the ninth instalment in the main Final Fantasy series remains somewhat of an enigma. Taking a peek over at the game’s Game Rankings page shows that it has the highest average score of any game in the series (yes, including 7), but ask many fans of Square’s foremost RPG series about their recollections of the game and you’ll probably get vague answers and admissions that they don’t remember all that much about it. Heck, even Square themselves seem set on avoiding the characters and setting of the game as much as they can; no Final Fantasy 9 characters were present in the first Kingdom Hearts game, and one made it to the second. Take a look at the recent run of Final Fantasy figurines and you’ll notice a heavy focus on 7, 8, 10 and 12, but very little in the way of Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and friends.
The game told the story of Zidane, a curious fellow with a tail, and his quest to save the world from a slightly mincing bad guy. Along the way he must rescue a princess, thwart a mental Queen and make friends with a small wizard, an alarmingly tall rat and a confused knight. It all sounds vastly odd, agreed, but it all played out wonderfully amongst some brilliantly memorable locations. At the same time it benefited greatly by not taking itself too seriously; more often than not the characters would find themselves in silly arguments and comic situations, and it made a refreshing change from the depressing, serious nature of the previous games in the series.
The same can definitely be said of the game’s setting and theme too, with things taking a step back from the steam punk of 7 and the futuristic 8 and planting itself firmly back in the wizards ‘n’ broomsticks dimension that older Final Fantasy games had. As a result much of the game was based around large cities with central castles and rural villages, all the time with a suitably whimsical soundtrack mixing between floaty waltzes and busy, dramatic orchestral pieces. It felt like a complete offshoot to the series in many ways, but importantly it was really very enjoyable.
Perhaps as a result of the backlash aimed at 8’s rather complex Junctioning system for abilities, 9 presented a simplified system for players to get to grips with whereby abilities were learned from weapons and equipment. This also had the knock-on effect of keeping your weapons and armour sets constantly cycling as each character could learn a whole host of spells, attacks and status-effecting abilities from pretty much anything, hence it ended up being rather satisfying when it came to completing everyone’s ability book.
Where 9 fell down for many, and where it is rather harder to defend it, is that some of the supporting cast of characters and the main evil were largely forgettable. Whereas previous and subsequent Final Fantasies had a decent ragtag bunch of personalities to discover and experience, 9 threw a couple of the most forgettable paper-thin characters ever to appear in the series our way in the form of moody renegade Amarant and strange fatso Quina. Neither were explored particularly well in the story and neither had any major plot or part to play in the proceedings, and as a result they felt rather unfulfilled and throwaway.
The game also had a rather hard time in establishing a focused point of evil, with no less than three different characters throughout the game who at one point or other seem to be your main enemy. This was then capped off in the game’s final battle, which suddenly presented you with some other enemy that supposedly had been behind the whole thing all along. It was rather like getting to the end of Return of the Jedi to discover that the Emperor wasn’t the bad guy at all, and that a malicious cloud of gas had been the real root of evil.
The above are very valid points, sure, but at the same time it fails to take away the fact that, throughout its four discs, Final Fantasy 9 entertained at a consistently high level. The levelling and ability system was well considered and a much appreciated move away from the complexity of the previous title’s effort, the story was interesting enough to keep carrying you through all the random battling and the settings, music and (most) of the characters were wonderful throwbacks to a previous generation of Final Fantasy games.
What’s more, it has also gone on to stand out as some kind of last hurrah for the bobble headed medieval style when it comes to the main Final Fantasy series. Subsequent titles have walked down the more realistic approach that 8 began to throw our way back in 1999, and with 13 looking much in the same line it is to the DS remakes of the older games and the Crystal Chronicles line of games that people hankering after a bit of super-deformed RPG goodness must turn when it comes to Final Fantasy these days. A shame, for sure, but for anyone wanting a nostalgia trip, 9 is very much more a viable option than you would perhaps have been led to believe.
Yet, the ninth instalment in the main Final Fantasy series remains somewhat of an enigma. Taking a peek over at the game’s Game Rankings page shows that it has the highest average score of any game in the series (yes, including 7), but ask many fans of Square’s foremost RPG series about their recollections of the game and you’ll probably get vague answers and admissions that they don’t remember all that much about it. Heck, even Square themselves seem set on avoiding the characters and setting of the game as much as they can; no Final Fantasy 9 characters were present in the first Kingdom Hearts game, and one made it to the second. Take a look at the recent run of Final Fantasy figurines and you’ll notice a heavy focus on 7, 8, 10 and 12, but very little in the way of Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and friends.
The game told the story of Zidane, a curious fellow with a tail, and his quest to save the world from a slightly mincing bad guy. Along the way he must rescue a princess, thwart a mental Queen and make friends with a small wizard, an alarmingly tall rat and a confused knight. It all sounds vastly odd, agreed, but it all played out wonderfully amongst some brilliantly memorable locations. At the same time it benefited greatly by not taking itself too seriously; more often than not the characters would find themselves in silly arguments and comic situations, and it made a refreshing change from the depressing, serious nature of the previous games in the series.
The same can definitely be said of the game’s setting and theme too, with things taking a step back from the steam punk of 7 and the futuristic 8 and planting itself firmly back in the wizards ‘n’ broomsticks dimension that older Final Fantasy games had. As a result much of the game was based around large cities with central castles and rural villages, all the time with a suitably whimsical soundtrack mixing between floaty waltzes and busy, dramatic orchestral pieces. It felt like a complete offshoot to the series in many ways, but importantly it was really very enjoyable.
Perhaps as a result of the backlash aimed at 8’s rather complex Junctioning system for abilities, 9 presented a simplified system for players to get to grips with whereby abilities were learned from weapons and equipment. This also had the knock-on effect of keeping your weapons and armour sets constantly cycling as each character could learn a whole host of spells, attacks and status-effecting abilities from pretty much anything, hence it ended up being rather satisfying when it came to completing everyone’s ability book.
Where 9 fell down for many, and where it is rather harder to defend it, is that some of the supporting cast of characters and the main evil were largely forgettable. Whereas previous and subsequent Final Fantasies had a decent ragtag bunch of personalities to discover and experience, 9 threw a couple of the most forgettable paper-thin characters ever to appear in the series our way in the form of moody renegade Amarant and strange fatso Quina. Neither were explored particularly well in the story and neither had any major plot or part to play in the proceedings, and as a result they felt rather unfulfilled and throwaway.
The game also had a rather hard time in establishing a focused point of evil, with no less than three different characters throughout the game who at one point or other seem to be your main enemy. This was then capped off in the game’s final battle, which suddenly presented you with some other enemy that supposedly had been behind the whole thing all along. It was rather like getting to the end of Return of the Jedi to discover that the Emperor wasn’t the bad guy at all, and that a malicious cloud of gas had been the real root of evil.
The above are very valid points, sure, but at the same time it fails to take away the fact that, throughout its four discs, Final Fantasy 9 entertained at a consistently high level. The levelling and ability system was well considered and a much appreciated move away from the complexity of the previous title’s effort, the story was interesting enough to keep carrying you through all the random battling and the settings, music and (most) of the characters were wonderful throwbacks to a previous generation of Final Fantasy games.
What’s more, it has also gone on to stand out as some kind of last hurrah for the bobble headed medieval style when it comes to the main Final Fantasy series. Subsequent titles have walked down the more realistic approach that 8 began to throw our way back in 1999, and with 13 looking much in the same line it is to the DS remakes of the older games and the Crystal Chronicles line of games that people hankering after a bit of super-deformed RPG goodness must turn when it comes to Final Fantasy these days. A shame, for sure, but for anyone wanting a nostalgia trip, 9 is very much more a viable option than you would perhaps have been led to believe.
9/10