Final Fantasy IX

Torrie

astray ay-ay-ay
Not quite what I expected, but it's super fitting :D

Someone has went and translated the ultimania to a degree. I almost bought it back went I saw it at Momocon last yr.

Ultimania Translation
Despite playing FF9 on PS1 lots of times, I never realised what position in space the two planets had relative to each other, but TLS and Ultimania gave me another a-ha moment. I should probably replay this game asap and feel old compare my old and new impressions.
 

Fade

SHR
Despite playing FF9 on PS1 lots of times, I never realised what position in space the two planets had relative to each other, but TLS and Ultimania gave me another a-ha moment. I should probably replay this game asap and feel old compare my old and new impressions.

Yeah, it doesn't come through too clearly in the text, but luckily Mortal Kombat gave me a decent frame of reference at a young age for the idea of metaphysical realm-mergers as opposed to what actually happens when one planet tries to fuse with another.

IX offers a lot of little a-ha moments. For instance, it took me many years to realise that IX is essentially a kind of meta-remake of every game up to VI. Pretty much all the plot points are there, remixed in one form or another, plus all the obvious nods, winks, and references. (That and the plot of Dragonball Z, for some reason.)

It's really no wonder IX landed strangely for so many players at the time. For most Westerners, "Final Fantasy" was the general setting and tone shared by VII, VIII and maaaybe VI. It's always a bit of a shame when newer fans finds themselves baffled when a long-running franchise pulls off a return to its roots. You can really appreciate it a lot more in the context of the franchise. It's like the first glimpse of the extensive crossover stuff that defines half the spin-off games, along with XIV. An Avengers to their Infinity War, if you like.

The moral of the story is, man, FFIX is great.
 
Pretty much all pre-FF7 references in FF9 went over my head when I first played but I absolutely adored this game anyway. FF8 was a big disappointment to me because it felt so stale, lifeless and non-fantastical compared to FF7. Returning to a fantasy- and cartoony style with FF9 was exactly what I wanted.

One main reason I avoided FF10 for so long was because the poster of Tidus reminded me of Squall from FF8, so my instinctive reaction was "Ugh, are they going back to FF8 style? No thanks." :wacky:

Played FF10 many years later and while I do prefer the combat there over FF9's combat, I pretty much prefer everything else in FF9 so picking which one to replay would not be difficult. :monster:
 

Torrie

astray ay-ay-ay
IX offers a lot of little a-ha moments. For instance, it took me many years to realise that IX is essentially a kind of meta-remake of every game up to VI. Pretty much all the plot points are there, remixed in one form or another, plus all the obvious nods, winks, and references. (That and the plot of Dragonball Z, for some reason.)
What a sad realisation for those players who haven't played the titles before FF7 and therefore can't recognize any of them. But, luckily, the observation Zidane makes about Cloud was pretty obvious and absolutely hilarious :D
 

Kuja9001

Ooooh Salty!
AKA
roxas9001, Krat0s9001, DarkSlayerZero
Kuja contains trait in some form of every villain before him.

He might be financially the richest villain within the Final Fantasy series if Emperor Mateus isn't counted. He owns an underground palace, dresses elegantly, based on his concept art, he’s likely a noblemen, and might be the owner of Treno’s auction house and he seems to be a regular buyer.
 

LivingLegacy

Pro Adventurer
I just booted up my old PS1 yesterday and put FF9 in. I probably haven’t played this game in at least 15 years, maybe 18. I never beat it the first time around either. I remember I got a little girl (eiko...I think?) and I stopped playing shortly after that. I’m excited to see what I think of it this time around!

Right of the bat, I don’t remember this game being this funny! Some of the quibbling between Zidane and Steiner has been cracking me up, along with Garnet trying to act like common folk (alrighty!). I just reached village Dali and am quite pleased with how much I’m enjoying this this time around - probably moreso than I did when I was younger.
 

LivingLegacy

Pro Adventurer
I just booted up my old PS1 yesterday and put FF9 in. I probably haven’t played this game in at least 15 years, maybe 18. I never beat it the first time around either. I remember I got a little girl (eiko...I think?) and I stopped playing shortly after that. I’m excited to see what I think of it this time around!

Right of the bat, I don’t remember this game being this funny! Some of the quibbling between Zidane and Steiner has been cracking me up, along with Garnet trying to act like common folk (alrighty!). I just reached village Dali and am quite pleased with how much I’m enjoying this this time around - probably moreso than I did when I was younger.

Well, I made it to disk 2, only to have the game completely freeze on me when I enter Treno. Tried to clean the disk, but nothing has worked.

I thought "well, I'll play FF8 - i haven't played it in over 15 years too, so it'll be fun to revisit this as an adult with a new perspective." Couldn't even get past the opening cinematic without it freezing :rage:. Man I wish I would've taken better care of my PS1 games as a kid.

I hope this isn't a sign of what 2021 is going to be like :salute:
 

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I don't have this newest update, but yes I have it. It's fantastic. I wonder how easy/possible it is to update without having to start a new game.

Extremely possible and easy, turns out. Simply installing the newest version and loading my save worked perfectly, and indeed even fixed some problems that were previously happening. The new version letting you simply toggle features on and off on the splash screen that comes up every time you start it is super handy. And it includes the PS1 font without having to install a separate mod, which I had to do before.

I then of course continued the playthrough that I had been in the middle of. Going from around Madain Sari to Esto Gaza, as well as some sidequesting. And it just looks fantastic. And the OST tracks that they've redone are really tastefully done, imo (though they can also be toggled). Been having a blast, IX is just a lot of fun.

One thing that occurred to me while playing, though, I am ALWAYS turned around on IX's world map. Of course I don't know the map like the back of my hand the way I do FF7, but still, anytime I set off for a destination I always originally head off in the wrong direction. And even looking at the map it it takes me a couple seconds to even place where something like Alexandria is. And I tried to figure out why this is the case.
Is it the artificially short draw distance you have for awhile due to the Mist? Is it a more severely angled camera? Is it just that you go through a lot of areas that mean you emerge on the world map a distance away from where you actually were?

I guess it must be that last one. After leaving Alexandria, you go through the Evil Forest before you reach the World Map. Then you go through the Ice Cavern, and a emerge in a completely different area. Then you leave Dali and arrive at Lindblum via cutscene. Then when you leave Lindblum you leave through the Dragon's Gate which isn't actually very close on the world map to the actual city. And then you're bouncing around the world through the Gargan and Fossil Roos.

I dunno, I'm just dreadful at navigating that world and found it interesting to think about. Especially since if you told me to go to Rocket Town I could navigate there more easily than I can navigate my house :lol:
 
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Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
Extremely possible and easy, turns out. Simply installing the newest version and loading my save worked perfectly, and indeed even fixed some problems that were previously happening. The new version letting you simply toggle features on and off on the splash screen that comes up every time you start it is super handy. And it includes the PS1 font without having to install a separate mod, which I had to do before.

I then of course continued the playthrough that I had been in the middle of. Going from around Madain Sari to Esto Gaza, as well as some sidequesting. And it just looks fantastic. And the OST tracks that they've redone are really tastefully done, imo (though they can also be toggled). Been having a blast, IX is just a lot of fun.

One thing that occurred to me while playing, though, I am ALWAYS turned around on IX's world map. Of course I don't know the map like the back of my hand the way I do FF7, but still, anytime I set off for a destination I always originally head off in the wrong direction. And even looking at the map it it takes me a couple seconds to even place where something like Alexandria is. And I tried to figure out why this is the case.
Is it the artificially short draw distance you have for awhile due to the Mist? Is it a more severely angled camera? Is it just that you go through a lot of areas that mean you emerge on the world map a distance away from where you actually were?

I guess it must be that last one. After leaving Alexandria, you go through the Evil Forest before you reach the World Map. Then you go through the Ice Cavern, and a emerge in a completely different area. Then you leave Dali and arrive at Lindblum via cutscene. Then when you leave Lindblum you leave through the Dragon's Gate which isn't actually very close on the world map to the actual city. And then you're bouncing around the world through the Gargan and Fossil Roos.

I dunno, I'm just dreadful at navigating that world and found it interesting to think about. Especially since if you told me to go to Rocket Town I could navigate there more easily than I can navigate my house :lol:

I’m the same. Considering how many chocograph’s I’ve dug up, you’d think I would know the world map intimately...

Reaching the end of Disc 1 on my Moguri playthrough. My god, it’s gorgeous.
 

Torrie

astray ay-ay-ay

Square Enix and Cyber Group Studios announced today that a Final Fantasy IX animated series is underway! French production team Cyber Group Studios is co-producing the series with worldwide distribution and handling merchandise. The animated series adaptation is aimed at introducing 8 to 13 year olds into the world of Final Fantasy IX while still catering to old fans alike. According to Cyber Group Studios CEO Pierre Sissman, production for the upcoming series ends around the end of 2021 to early 2022. Fans can expect the FFIX animated series to arrive next year.

finalweapon.net
 

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
Memories of life working on Final Fantasy IX. Ft Kazuhiko Aoki (game designer)

Development tidbits:
  • At one point in the story, the party splits up to take on four shrines. Initially they planned to make the player use each group of characters to fight, but due to the CD-ROM data limit they ended up only including the Zidane and Quina battle.
  • They had three months less than planned to make the master copy of the game, making polish incredibly tough.
 

Sephiroth Crescent

Way Ahead of the Plot
  • They had three months less than planned to make the master copy of the game, making polish incredibly tough.
And still incredibly polished. :mon:
I guess them working overtime was worth it, as always. (please note: not that I endorse that, but that's how things were most of the time back then in Japan)
 

Ite

Save your valediction (she/her)
AKA
Ite
It’s so funny, the way the sequence is set up I keep forgetting that it’s only one fight. I always misremember and prepare four parties :P
 

Odysseus

Ninja Potato
AKA
Ody
I was always confused by that part. You fight the four fiends again in Memoria anyway, so I guess it's no big loss.
 
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