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Final Fantasy IX Retrospective


Laclipsey

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So I did that post on Nsider2 about Final Fantasy VII when I first played it back in 2015. I was convinced I had a unique perspective, never having played anything Final Fantasy until then. Recounting my experience of the game oft praised as the greatest RPG of all time through a set of eyes weathered by RPGs not from Square Soft was a lot of fun, and I figured I'd do it again when I got around to playing another Final Fantasy, to sort of chronicle my journey through the most historically important series of my favorite genre. So here goes. Be warned of late-game spoilers. This isn't a review, just my organized thoughts on the game. Truthfully, I don't really even care if anyone reads this. I just had fun writing it.

 

In recent months my experience with Final Fantasy VII has retroactively become- in my own mind- decidedly holistic. As it stands now, it very nearly reaches the transcendental heights of some of my favorite RPGs like Radiant Historia, Chrono Cross, and Xenoblade Chronicles. It isn't often I develop nostalgia so quickly for a game, but despite its shortcomings, VII became something truly special for me. I closed the book on Final Fantasy VII faced with the strange reality that I actually care about the fate of the dubious upcoming remake. That is a weeeeird place to be for someone like me, to whom Final Fantasy for so many years was just a name repeated to the point of self-parody. Suddenly I understood all of the ranting and raving over this PS1 classic, and though I don't share the fanbase's rabid fanaticism or the desire to explore the other games in the Final Fantasy VII subseries, I do have a deep love for the original game. So as time went by I began to yearn to recapture the joy of Final Fantasy, and there is yet a lot ahead of me.

 

Fast forward. Late summer, 2017. Enter Final Fantasy IX. While it doesn't carry the legacy of its predecessor or the pedigree of being the first of its kind, this one was built up for me over a period of years by a few of my dearest friends. Coming away from it, my experience was one altogether more candid than my experience with VII. Admittedly, a lot of that has to do with the fact that not as much of IX has been absorbed into the inescapable lexicon of pop culture, so I was able to experience it as it was meant to be, without major plot points having been spoiled for me years before picking it up.

 

I was not surprised to find the ATB system of Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger fame in play here. I've always appreciated the sense of urgency this approach brings to battles, though the frequency of its random encounter system is still a little on the high side. Fortunately, I quickly began to notice that IX fixes one of the bigger issues I had with VII. Contrary to VII, where any character could more or less fulfill any role depending on Materia loadouts, each character in IX serves their own function in a greater team, and feels like their own distinct class due to them having a unique moveset learned from equipment as well as an innate ability that costs no MP. This is a welcome development on the gameplay side of things, and I do prefer this to VII's dominant strategy of bottlenecking each character into a jack of all trades just in case a character leaves the party.

 

On the other hand, Trance is a mechanic I can take or leave. I thought Limit Break was a more usable mechanic, since it comes into play more often. I'll take a marginally less useful mechanic that I can control over something that can trigger due to no fault of my own and be wasted right before a boss (or, for that matter, waste a boss by accident while trying to steal a rare drop). But I do have to admit, when the stars align and it triggers when you need it, it feels amazing.

 

if Final Fantasy IX has a real weak point, it's the card game element. The rules, which are never really explained, are esoteric and at times feel arbitrary. Each time I thought I had it figured out and worked out my master stratagem to claim the opponent's cards, the game would show me just how little I understood about the minigame's mechanics, and I'd lose an important card. To be honest I gave up on it early in Disc 1. It only ever comes into play in the plot once at the beginning of Disc 3, and while I appreciate the idea of tying it into the plot, it can be won easily by picking the cards with the highest numbers on them. Even so, in this case I was glad to leave it well enough alone. But if the weak point of the game is some silly diversionary minigame, I think we're doing alright.

 

Learning abilities through items is a refreshingly unique idea, and I do prefer it to the Materia system, even if it does facilitate grinding more than VII. Granted, some of the item and ability descriptions are really unhelpful, giving you a pretty poor idea of what something does until you actually use it, but more importantly, it mitigates the effect of having precious equipment closed off to you when you need it most, as most items grant abilities on a character-specific basis, meaning if you don't have access to a character, their equipment would likely be useless to you, anyway. This all but eliminates the problem I encountered in VII, when a character would leave my party and take all of my best Materia with them. The game takes very special care to make sure you always have access to a well-balanced party. In this way it's a more guided experience than VII, and though there is something to be said for the freedom offered by the arguably more versatile Materia system, it feels to me like less is wasted here.

 

One of the ways Final Fantasy IX accomplishes this is by telling its story from multiple characters' perspectives, making use of all of the playable characters in both its storytelling and gameplay. VII was content to let you pick a party of three and stick with it for the most part, allowing each party member to have his or her episodic moment of character development and then letting them fade into the background. There were rare exceptions- I still hold that Tifa is one of the best supporting characters in the series- based on what I've played- because the story doesn't toss her aside once she's shown some character development. Her arc is spread over the entire game, and her development is central to fleshing out Cloud's foggy past in Disc 3. Unlike say, Cid, whose shenanigans in his hometown culminate in Cloud's party gaining access to the obligatory airship, after which his arc levels off as the story narrows its focus on Cloud and Sephiroth.

 

In contrast, IX achieves the best of its character development in a few different ways. It not only forces you to play as different characters when the party splits up, but lets you listen in on what the other protagonists are doing while you're in town, offering a different perspective and reinforcing the idea that your allies have lives outside of what they do in the game. The all-encompassing quest you've undertaken together is but one small part of the stories of their lives, even if it is the defining moment therein. They came from somewhere. They had a history that led them to the exact moment in time they became your ally, and that history has fundamentally shaped the way they view the world.

 

In this way IX treats its characters as ever-changing people, and their arcs happen all together as the story's events affect them each on an individual level. Vivi constantly wrestles with his own mortality, and despite his youth sees the game's events through the eyes of a dying man, desperate to find some meaning in his life that will affirm his right to exist. Steiner faces the quandary of doing his duty versus doing good, even when they're not one and the same. And poor Freya has everything taken from her- her home, her lover, and her people, and constantly fights to stave off despair. Even Amarant- whose entire arc as the group's resident edgelord is defined by slowly realizing how much weaker he is when he closes himself off to others- undergoes a gradual change that feels organic and real, and becomes rather likable toward the end of the game. Each of the characters in IX feels more like a Tifa, and less like a Cid or Vincent. The game isn't afraid to take its time unpacking its characters. The result is an arguably more natural flow in both writing and plot structure.

 

I'm quickly beginning to discover that even among its contemporaries, one of Final Fantasy's strengths as a series is its ability to create a natural sense of story progression for characters that feel like ordinary people. Where modern RPGs like Bravely Default and Fire Emblem beat you over the head with grandiose save-the-world plots and tried anime tropes, Final Fantasy takes a calmer, slower, more nuanced approach to building narrative. Nothing is overblown, everything happens at its own pace. Your main character is not the warrior chosen by fate to save the world, or the hero of a great war with unmatched combat prowess. You're not as special as all of that. You're more relatable than that. You're Zidane Tribal, a philandering thief with a heart of gold posing as a humble play actor. You keep company with a nervous street urchin with a penchant for magic, a princess constrained by the sheltered life she's led, and a duty-bound but uptight royal guard who sees you for the lawbreaker you are. There's more to each of them, of course, but in a genre that favors war heroes and living weapons, they all come off as fairly ordinary and profoundly relatable, even where those tropes do come into play. This reinforces the idea that they're just people whom events pushed together, and who save the world in the process of discovering their own place within it.

 

This is especially true- and rightfully so- of characters like Zidane and Garnet, who throughout Disc 1 and 2 travel together for decidedly circumstantial reasons. Indeed, the beginning of Disc 3 explores what happens to a party of adventurers after the adventuring is all over. What happens when the last boss falls, and our heroes must return to normal life? They don't always become best friends forever. We find that sometimes the adventure is the only thing uniting our heroes. Royals immerse themselves in the politics of coronation and reconstruction. The thief falls back in with his old gang. The knight errant sets out to rebuild the remains of her kingdom. They see each other around, but their friendship was built on the quest they undertook. With that gone, they no longer have anything in common. But those relationships served as the basis of their lives for so long. Each of them feels appropriately lost, disconnected as much from the world as from their dearest friends. This served as perhaps one of the most true-to-life moments in an RPG I've experienced. Zidane's plight- the aimlessness of not knowing how to go forward after the adventure of a lifetime- feels emotionally crushing. Especially given that he desperately wanted his friendship with Garnet to blossom into something more, only to have it cut short by her early coronation. A lesser RPG would have ended at Disc 2, and never fully realized its narrative potential.

 

And I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about our hero. On the surface, Zidane is the polar opposite of someone like Cloud. Zidane is plucky and friendly where Cloud is standoffish and anti-social. But there is a fundamental similarity they share that turns them each from merely good protagonists into fully believable characters. More than demeanor or disposition, it is the way in which they both come to terms with loneliness and self-doubt that defines them. And in this, they have a lot more in common than meets the eye, as both Cloud and Zidane spend much of their adventures trying to hide their insecurities behind a mask. And although there isn't as much brooding navel-gazing on display in Final Fantasy IX, Zidane, too, must come to terms with an uncomfortable truth about who he believes himself to be, and it nearly destroys him. For the first three discs, Zidane acts like the kind of protagonist you'd want to hang out with. He's selfless and protective, always ready to lend a helping hand. He offers friendship to the outcasts, preaching of the give and take of friendship. He's most comfortable when he's supporting his friends, and is always willing to be the pillar of strength when someone needs it. This is who he is. But at the end of Disc 3, when it comes time for him to lean on someone else, he can't bring himself to let them get close, can't stand to place a burden on them. To do so would go against his caring, supportive nature. Because he's always been the protector, allowing himself to be protected is naturally difficult for him. In this way Zidane feels more human than the vast majority of RPG protagonists, and I certainly feel more kinship with Zidane than even someone like Cloud, who is brilliant in his own way. Where Cloud had amnesia and a life's worth of fabricated memories to service the story, Zidane's vulnerability stems from his own personality. It doesn't make for as dramatic a reveal, but it does make him a better character.

 

The music, as always, shines as a high point and beautifully realizes the world of Gaia, and there are quite a few standout tracks for me. The foreboding weirdness of Gargan Roo. The utterly pleasant jangly mandolin of Eiko's Theme. The majestic, delicate mysticism of Esto Gaza. The raw power of the synths in Mt. Gulug. The ethereal, serene sense of mystery in Terra and the despairing heroism on display in You Are Not Alone, which plays over perhaps the most emotionally charged moment in the game.

 

So how does it stack up against Final Fantasy VII? At the risk of copping out, it's difficult for me to say at this point. VII has the benefit of two years' burgeoning nostalgia. But IX has the benefit of being fresh in my mind, and the game I'm still sort of riding the kick from. VII has a better story, with a fascinating lore that is instantly engaging, and a roller coaster plot that continuously blindsided me despite my knowing the biggest twist was coming. IX has better characters, speaking broadly, and takes its time to unpack them in a way that avoids the gamey pitfall of episodically compartmentalizing character arcs. VII has Cloud, who serves as an allegorical stand-in for the player's own latent self-doubt and underlying fear of rejection. XI has Zidane, who displays the complexities and contradictions of a real person, and represents stoic protectiveness and selflessness, but also intensely relatable self-loathing and fear of vulnerability. I might give a slight edge to IX for its earnest storytelling and the sincerity of its characters, but it's a close call. That doesn't feel like an objective analysis, however, so I may need to let time weather my impressions of VII and IX.

 

Perhaps it's telling that I don't consider myself at liberty to definitively choose a favorite at the moment- It's little wonder this series became the apotheosis of the genre. Between these two different flavors of this classic series, I've been able to identify what I like best about each, but more importantly, I think, I've gained an understanding of what it is they share. Video games are such a surface-level medium. We often talk about things we can see, hear, and palpably feel, and gloss over important through-lines such as tone and character. When one talks about what defines the soul of a game- or of a series, for that matter- we don't have to mean familiar gameplay elements or a continuing story. Despite tackling the genre with a completely different tone, Final Fantasy IX has something in common with VII that defies common explanation. It's less straightforward than simply having the same gameplay mechanics or the same composer. All of the game's elements come together in a very specific way that other RPGs can only mimic, and the result is something that is unquestionably, profoundly, simply Final Fantasy.

Edited by Laclipsey
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i played ffix for the first time about a year or two ago, and it bored me to tears. i unfortunately dreaded the (easy) gameplay because it was really slow and unengaging, especially compared to other FF games like VIII or IV. story was pretty hit and miss for me. beatrix was a mary sue that never faced any punishment for genocide, and while certain characters had some really good moments (any scene with garnet or vivi as the focus), but then had some really low ones (amarant was woefully underwritten and eiko was a nightmare detour).

 

all in all i feel like i missed the hype bus on this game since i think it's overwhelmingly OK and i've yet to see anyone speak ill of it.

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1 hour ago, Bearissoslow said:

i played ffix for the first time about a year or two ago, and it bored me to tears. i unfortunately dreaded the (easy) gameplay because it was really slow and unengaging, especially compared to other FF games like VIII or IV. story was pretty hit and miss for me. beatrix was a mary sue that never faced any punishment for genocide, and while certain characters had some really good moments (any scene with garnet or vivi as the focus), but then had some really low ones (amarant was woefully underwritten and eiko was a nightmare detour).

 

all in all i feel like i missed the hype bus on this game since i think it's overwhelmingly OK and i've yet to see anyone speak ill of it.

To each their own, I suppose. I will grant you that the PS1 Final Fantasies in general move pretty slowly. Having to wait for the camera to finish panning before each battle, having to wait through each summon animation, not being able to skip cutscenes after a game over... It's all common among PS1 RPGs, and so I've acclimated to it. Your point about Beatrix is spot-on, too, though I guess I just thought about it less than you did. Amarant's not the best by any means, but as a character I think he's leagues better than his FFVII parallel, Vincent, who had no arc at all. The rest I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree. Anyway, thanks for wading through that monstrous wall of text and sharing your thoughts. ;) 

Edited by Laclipsey
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Glad you enjoyed it. IX is stuffed to the brim with references and such to the older games, though. I definitely recommend you come back after you play the others in the series that you're interested in, because you'll appreciate it so much more if you do.

Also, cards are #A## with the first number being attack, the letter being attack type (P for physical, M for magic, X for "it uses whichever type the other is more vulnerable to). Third-spot number is physical defense, last number is magic defense. It's that simple, although RNG comes into play somewhat, so nothing is guaranteed.

Edited by Pichi
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FFIX is my favorite of the PS1 era games, though I admit I played all three long after their initial releases, and I'm sure if I hadn't seen it spoiled a hundred times over by the time I actually played it the big event in VII would have had a bigger impact on me. I think what I really like about it is that it just feels more like the older FF games like IV and VI, even through little gameplay aspects like having four characters in the party instead of three (I always feel like three is too limiting for RPG parties). And I never really liked the Materia system for the way it makes characters almost completely interchangeable; I much prefer the character classes in IX. Something about the story and characters clicked with me more in IX as well. Even when it got dark it didn't have quite the emo attitude of characters like Sephiroth or Squall. I didn't really take to any of the mini-games in VII, VIII, or IX though; they all felt like distractions from the main game rather than fun diversions.

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