IX Just had the most unmemorable and boring characters of any Final Fantasy I've played so far. After experiencing such awesome characters in VII and VIII, I was just incredibly disappointed. Characters such as Quina, and Steiner? Wtf..I just really disliked the character art-style. The world was much more impressive than the characters however.
But despite being 4 disks long, I finished IX in about half the time it took me to finish VII and VIII. The gameplay was alright, but I just felt like the game finished much earlier than I thought it would. Very disappointing game, BUT it had its moments, (as every Final Fantasy does).
OT: VII and VIII. Can't go wrong!