So I replayed FFIX

[Defeated Detective]

Thanks to one of Jim Sterling's episode, and my faith in one anime I revere as a classic is put to the test.

The similarities with FFIX and Last Exile is astounding, this even becomes more apparent plotwise with Last Exile's "sequel". I used to think Last Exile, despite being good and praiseworthy with it's well-done execution, is something you'd call as a poor man's LoGH, now I think it's pretty much a poor man's FFIX.

 

[alphamalet]

Final Fantasy IX was great! The only complaint that I had with the game was that it gets fucking insane toward the end. Fighting aliens in medieval armor? Come on! But besides that, the game was amazing! Definitely in my top 3 Final Fantasy ranking.

 

[scorptatious]

As you can tell by my avatar, I freaking love Final Fantasy IX. It is easily one of, if not my most favorite JRPG. I've played it for the first time only two years ago and fell in love with it. I even played through it again just a few weeks ago.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Played and finished it on release and since then have played to the third disc twice and then stopped most recently of October last year.

I dont mind IX but it was never one of my favourites I disliked the Chibi art style and its regressive mindset and I especially hated the god awful combat it reminded me of playing FFIII (not a good thing but better than FFII)

I liked some of the characters but didnt care much for the story although its not terrible but it didnt grip me all the way through also why oh why did they do that at the end they did it in FFIV and it was shit then and its shit now.

Not attacking anyones opinions and I know this site has a love of FFIX, Chrono Trigger and Persona 4 despite hating most JRPGS in general it seems but personally my favourite FF games are IV , VI, VII and X and yes I have played and finished all the main numbered entries (excluding the mmo games) with the exception of FFXIII-2.

 

[Random Argument Man]

FF9 is my favorite of the series. I understand that some are put off by the art style when it comes the characters. However, I think that it added to the overall feeling of the game. Everything is bright, colourful and has life in it. The characters also reflect this. It adds more weight when something tragic happens to them. Honestly, FF9 goes in very dark areas with concepts like genocide, slavery and much more. I'm not saying that the other Final Fantasys don't do that either. It's just so well presented in this version.

It also has flaws. The combat feels dated. The aspects of grinding are more focused on getting abilities from your equipment. When it comes to levelling your characters, it isn't a big problem until disc 3. Disc 1 and 2 are more story focused and adapts to some characters...until disc 3 which is pretty much saying "Before you go to the next dungeon, get 5 more levels". Disc 3 also requires you to level up the entire cast of characters because certain story parts divide the cast and they each battle a certain level of monsters. How many of us were stuck levelling Quina and get him/her the skills required? Another flaw is some of the secondary characters in the game were pretty important in the beginning and they barely contribute near the end.

The game is amazing, but it has certain flaws. Then again, what Final Fantasy doesn't have flaws?

 

[Epona]

Final Fantasy IX used Necron! It's super effective! Wait, what?
I liked the game despite issues like that. The artstyle threw me off a bit. But it's an enjoyable jrpg romp otherwise.
It's a game built around the designs from the older Final Fantasies (I-IV)
A good number of people were still very attached to the steampunk and futuristic aesthetics set by VI, VII, and VIII when it was released.

The setting wasn't the problem, it was slow gameplay, the worthless trance system and the broken ability system.

 

[Maximum Bert]

Final Fantasy IX used Necron! It's super effective! Wait, what?
I liked the game despite issues like that. The artstyle threw me off a bit. But it's an enjoyable jrpg romp otherwise.
It's a game built around the designs from the older Final Fantasies (I-IV)
A good number of people were still very attached to the steampunk and futuristic aesthetics set by VI, VII, and VIII when it was released.

The setting wasn't the problem, it was slow gameplay, the worthless trance system and the broken ability system.

I hear ya to me that was by far the worst part of the game the combat was just bloody awful after FFII I would say its probably the worst combat in the series or at least up there with I and III really it wasnt until IV where things started to come together V did a good job and they continued on until IX where they just made it shit again. Luckily it went up again with X.

Also maybe its just me but IX never felt like the older FF games. I III and V felt like the exact same game only slightly better each time II was an abomination I never hope to see again and my own personal worst FF game while IV was pretty good but the one thing that characterized the older FF games in fact the whole series except IX is that they were/are continually experimenting and trying to push forwards (sometimes it works other times it dosent) but with IX they didnt and werent they just sat on their hands and played it safe or rather not even that they copied one of the worse things about the older games the unresponsive and generally rubbish combat.

Also the art style is nothing like the old games just saying I know the graphics would be different but the whole look of the game is different to any FF game except Vivi ofc who is a classic Black Mage character in design.

This makes it sound like I am hating on the game so I will shut up now I have my beef with this game as others likely have with my favourite FF games I suppose like most people I get a bit tetchy when I see a game I dont adore getting praise which I judge other games in the series more worthy of.

 

[Epona]

Yeah, I never saw this "going back to basics" stuff either in FF9. I've never been a huge fan of 4 either and I wish they would quit re-releasing it and spend some time releasing 5 and 6.

I could live with a re-release of 8 too.

 

[SwimmingRock]

Thanks to one of Jim Sterling's episode, and my faith in one anime I revere as a classic is put to the test.

The similarities with FFIX and Last Exile is astounding, this even becomes more apparent plotwise with Last Exile's "sequel". I used to think Last Exile, despite being good and praiseworthy with it's well-done execution, is something you'd call as a poor man's LoGH, now I think it's pretty much a poor man's FFIX.

So, a few questions:
1. Why would Last Exile be a poor mans LoGH?
2. What is LoGH?
3. Why is either connected to FFIX?

Seriously, aside from actual FFIX, I have no idea what you're talking about. Please explain those animes in spoilers, so people who haven't watched actually know what this has to do with FFIX.

 

[iblis666]

FFIX was probably one of the best games of the series the only thing lacking was its combat system, now if FFIX had the FFX-2 combat system it probably would have been perfect

 

[Cheesepower5]

Final Fantasy IX used Necron! It's super effective! Wait, what?
I liked the game despite issues like that. The artstyle threw me off a bit. But it's an enjoyable jrpg romp otherwise.
It's a game built around the designs from the older Final Fantasies (I-IV)
A good number of people were still very attached to the steampunk and futuristic aesthetics set by VI, VII, and VIII when it was released.

Necron is the embodiment of death, dealing with the loss of death is a major theme in the game. You are literally fighting the embodiment of the theme of the game. I thought it was pretty meta.

It's also worth noting that Necron's presence was hinted at in the Iifa Tree too, by that freaky demon thing that may or may not have been an "aspect" of Necron.

Captcha: always there

And speaking of death... Holy fucking shit, Captcha.

 

[feeback06]

FFIX was the last great Final Fantasy game, at least in my eyes. I enjoyed the characters and the arcs they went through, the story kept me interested and it's also has my favorite FF soundtrack.

 

[krazykidd]

It's not a bad game . Although zidane was annoying as fuck , the card game was terrible , half the cast was useless , the story from what i remember made no sense , the bosses give no exp ( seriously guys wtf ) . It was fun while it lasted , and theres tons of secrets and fun stuff . But my favorite will always be ff6.

 

[Tanakh]

So, a few questions:
1. Why would Last Exile be a poor mans LoGH?
2. What is LoGH?
3. Why is either connected to FFIX?

Seriously, aside from actual FFIX, I have no idea what you're talking about. Please explain those animes in spoilers, so people who haven't watched actually know what this has to do with FFIX.

1. There's really no reason to say that. Both series have SciFi elements, some drama and war settings; besides that they share little tbh.

2. Legend of the Galactic Heroes, a 80's manga/anime based on a novel, decent space opera, sadly way too heavy on the soap opera elements to my tastes, still had some great action sequences and spaceship design.

3. Humm, Last Exile and FFIX have both steampunk elements?

Spoiler

They both have arks used to travel through space for colonization?

Both are common elements in japanese SciFi tough...

BTW, if you haven't seen Last Exile or Galactic Heroes, both are worth your time, neither are great, but both are very good.

PD: It's amazing how much off topic this thread has gone.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Final Fantasy IX used Necron! It's super effective! Wait, what?
I liked the game despite issues like that. The artstyle threw me off a bit. But it's an enjoyable jrpg romp otherwise.
It's a game built around the designs from the older Final Fantasies (I-IV)
A good number of people were still very attached to the steampunk and futuristic aesthetics set by VI, VII, and VIII when it was released.

The setting wasn't the problem, it was slow gameplay, the worthless trance system and the broken ability system.

Final Fantasy IX actually has my favourite art and maybe even setting in the series, but I still couldn't call it my favourite for exactly these reasons.

The story also lost it's way in the second half.

 

[Lunar Templar]

FFIX was a good game, had to grow on me for some reason though, I originally didn't like it, for some reason. I choose to chalk it up to being an idiot when I was younger.

anyway, the totally worthless trance system aside, (it might as well be random like in NMH for all the good it does.) and some of the characters being worthless, it was good, should fire it up and play it again.

 

[Defeated Detective]

So, a few questions:
1. Why would Last Exile be a poor mans LoGH?
2. What is LoGH?
3. Why is either connected to FFIX?

Seriously, aside from actual FFIX, I have no idea what you're talking about. Please explain those animes in spoilers, so people who haven't watched actually know what this has to do with FFIX.

1. There's really no reason to say that. Both series have SciFi elements, some drama and war settings; besides that they share little tbh.

2. Legend of the Galactic Heroes, a 80's manga/anime based on a novel, decent space opera, sadly way too heavy on the soap opera elements to my tastes, still had some great action sequences and spaceship design.

3. Humm, Last Exile and FFIX have both steampunk elements?

Spoiler

They both have arks used to travel through space for colonization?

Both are common elements in japanese SciFi tough...

BTW, if you haven't seen Last Exile or Galactic Heroes, both are worth your time, neither are great, but both are very good.

PD: It's amazing how much off topic this thread has gone.

Actually, you're close, if you think about it, the 2 seasons of Last Exile as a whole actually seems to be a copy of FFIX. Let's abbreviate Last Exile to "LE" and carry on:

Spoiler

2 nations are coerced(4 in FFIX) into war by a third party(the Guild in LE and you know who in FFIX), Mist being a core element of the plot(The Grand Stream which hides the Grand Exile in LE and how Mist isn't just a source of energy for airships but the most important element in Terra/Gaia's cycle of life), Airships(Powered by Claudia in LE and powered by Mist in FFIX), two planets with intertwined fates(Terra and Gaia in FFIX and Anatoray and Disith in Last Exile) and the climax, in which LE pilfered two things fro FFIX, 1)the airship battle(where its Cid Fabool and his airship armada against the Silver Dragons in their attempt to defend the Invincible in FFIX and Vincent Alzey and his armada of vanships in their attempt to defend the Sylvana against the Grand Exile in LE, they even took that one scene in FFIX where Beatrix uses the Red Rose as a cover for the Invincible, in LE Vincent Alzey uses his Urbanus class Airship as a cover for the safe passage of Sylvana) and finally, the Grand Exile's defend mechanism which happens to be gigantic tentacles, which happens to also be the self-destruct sequence of the Iifa tree where its roots go out of control

I'm not even done yet, that's just Season 1, as for Season 2, Gonzo's thought process must've been: They needed to make a new anime, especially since not only were they losing funds, they even had to cut off their games department to preserve as much of the company as possible, someone in Gonzo apparently thought it was a good idea look back at LE and make a new season out of it, this likely led them to look at FFIX again for ideas for their next season. Here's FFIX, and Last Exile's second "season":

Spoiler

Exiles are just like Eidolons especially with their ability to transform into weapons of war(Like Ark, each civilization that went back to Earth has an Exile that can transform into a titan with immense powers that will do the bidding of chosen individuals, akin to summoners of Madain Sari), the return of 2 planets, 1 that's dying and 1 that's alive as a core element of the plot(Where civilizations fled through Exiles due to Earth being a dying planet), Exiles being turned against the very civilizations they're supposed to protect(reminiscent to how Kuja uses the Invincible to assimilate Bahamut and turn him against his very summoner, Also the destruction of Madain Sari), the villain using an assimilated Exile against another civilization(The use of Bahamut against Alexandria).

I could rag on and on, but if the subject of politics and war is taken off LoGH and the setting of the plot is taken off FFIX, I guess Last Exile's only original aspect are the characters, something the first season was excellent at and something they ultimately failed to pull off in the second season.

 

[excalipoor]

I could live with a re-release of 8 too.

I've never understood people who want to see FF6, FF8 or FF9 remade over FF7.

FF6 is pretty much 16-bit perfection, so the only thing you can do to spruce it up is to increase the resolution (me, I love them pixels) or just full-blown 3D. I doubt the latter is going to happen anytime soon, unless it'll be in the FF3/FF4 DS style, which in my opinion didn't add much to the experience at all.

In the same vein, FF8 and FF9 look AMAZING for being PS1 titles. Though while FF9 has some obviously flawed mechanics that could be easily fixed, I don't think junctioning in FF8 is salvageable for those who didn't like it without scrapping the concept entirely. They could enforce stricter rules on what can and can't be done and get rid of enemy scaling, but there's some who would hate that just as much. Some of us love messing with the system as it is!

FF7 on the other hand looks pretty fucking dated, has by far the worst translation, and a couple of completely inexcusable bugs (like Magic Defense not doing anything at all).

Also, there are a million and one shout outs to previous games in the series. Google it sometime. It's amazing how many references there are to pretty much every game in the series within IX.

I'm going to save everyone the trouble and leave this here. [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_IX/Allusions]

 

[Colour Scientist]

Final Fantasy IX is easily my favorite game of all time, it grabbed me like no other, was the first Final Fantasy I finished all by myself (all others were played with my dad and sister) I played it as a child and no game can surpass it for me.

Yup, yup, yup.

I actually replayed it a few months ago for the millionth, billionth time. I have memory cards full of FFIX saves.

Never got Excalibur II though. I bring it up in every FFIX thread but it's still a sore subject for me.

Last time, the reason I brought it out was so my boyfriend could play it, because he never had, and I don't think he got to hold the controller once.

[sub] He'd play it wrong anyway [/sub]

 

[Colour Scientist]

Final Fantasy IX is easily my favorite game of all time, it grabbed me like no other, was the first Final Fantasy I finished all by myself (all others were played with my dad and sister) I played it as a child and no game can surpass it for me.

Yup, yup, yup.

I actually replayed it a few months ago for the millionth, billionth time. I have memory cards full of FFIX saves.

Never got Excalibur II though. I bring it up in every FFIX thread but it's still a sore subject for me.

Last time, the reason I brought it out was so my boyfriend could play it, because he never had, and I don't think he got to hold the controller once.

[sub] He'd play it wrong anyway [/sub]

Actually, on the subject of Excalibur II, apparently (I am not sure about this one) that since I am only able to play the European version, I am even more hard pressed to get the sword (never got it either, getting it requires skipping through the game, which is a crime) but the PAL version runs faster (or something like that) which makes getting Excalibur II nigh impossible (more so than it already is)

Of course, you could always just leave the game running for 2 years and wait 60000 or so hours for the clock to reset, of course, doing that requires vast amounts of insanity (unless you hack the game or play it on an emulator I guess, since you can toy with the settings that way)

I've only played the European one too, as far as I know anyway!

Yeah, my games normally clock up at 30 hours or so before I get to Memoria so it's just never going to happen. I get too distracted by shiny things, chocobos and shiny chocobos. Mr. Morrid's coffee is way more important than some crummy sword.