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My Two Cents (or perhaps two dollars)...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'll confess right up front: I liked Final Fantasy VIII. I really did. As far as sentiment goes, I liked VIII better than IX. But that's sentiment.

Technically, I have to admit that IX is in most ways superior to VIII. The biggest improvement is in the weapons and combat system; I liked VIII's GFs just fine, but having to draw magic from enemies got very tedious, and upgrading weapons didn't give many benefits that were worth hunting up all of the (sometimes incredibly rare) items to have it done. VIII's junction system also meant that the characters' abilities were only as unique as you were willing to make them. IX goes back to allowing you to equip weapons and armor, from which different characters can learn different abilities--the thief character can learn thief-like abilities (Detect, Steal, Flee, and the amusingly appropriate-to-the-character Protect Girls), while the black mage can learn destructive magic and the white mage can learn healing magic. This is accomplished by equipping crystals to the abilities you want to learn, similar to FFVII's materia; once they're learned, you keep them even when you switch armor, though you still have to equip crystals to them to use a lot of them.

Summons make a reappearance as eidolons, restricted to two characters this time; magic, likewise, is restricted to three of the characters, though every character has his or her own pseudo-magical abilities. Some of those are more effective than others--much of the Blue Magic used by the character Quina is mostly useless unless you know what it's *supposed* to do. On the other hand, the game as a whole can be played through without a strategy guide (I was very proud that I managed it), something that I never managed with VII.

The increasing pace of technological advancement shows in the graphics, which are vastly superior to VII's and a marked improvement on VIII's already-fantastic graphical accomplishment. Square wisely modified the summoning sequences during combat so that, after the first few times you summon an eidolon, the graphical sequence is cut short (another complaint against VIII, whose impressive but long GF summoning sequences eventually got repetetive).

Limit Breaks exist in IX, called Trances now; they more closely resemble VII's build-up system of limit break than VIII's version, but they last for several turns.

IX also once more allows players to rename every player-character in the game. I enjoyed the characters; Zidane, the hero, in particular was a refreshing change after the moody and intense Cloud of VII and the even moodier and more intense Squall of VIII. The other player-characters get more stage time than the rest of the characters in VII did; Orko--err, Vivi--the black mage has his own very strong sub-storyline, and Freya, an anthropomorphic Dragon Knight of a country called Burmecia, is underused but also quite cool. Not all of the charatcers are so likeable... Princess Garnet, aka Dagger, is mostly annoying ('Command Failed! Dagger can't concentrate!' Grrrr.), and Eiko (the other summoner) is even worse. The Knight, Steiner, is unremarkable. As the obligatory martial artist, Amarant is interesting but serves mostly as a foil for Zidane, and Quina seems to serve no real purpose.

IX is definitely a throwback to the very first Final Fantasy; the setting is more sword-and-sorcery than VII's technopunk or VIII's blend of fantasy and sci-fi. The black mages from the first game are back and look exactly the same--a lot like Orko from He-Man, hence my renaming of Vivi--and the white mage and red mage costumes make appearances as well. So does Garland, FFI's villain, and the Four Fiends who were bosses in the first game. If you played FFI way back when on NES, FFIX will be nostalgia city.

The plot is more cohesive than VIII's--as warmly as I think of VIII, the writers pulled a couple of blind plot twists that didn't work very well, something they thankfully did not do in IX. The tone, though, is mostly lighter, which tends to make it less engrossing until nearly the end of the game. The villain is more of a presence; Kuja, despite his... er... awfully womanly hips, manages some particular sinister moments, and I rather liked him. Unfortunately, they pull a final 'great big showdown battle' out of nowhere after the defeat of Kuja. I'd rather have had the battle with Kuja be more difficult (not that it was easy) and not had the extra end battle (which was plenty hard, thanks).

The ending sequence was sweet, and less abstract than VIII's got in places, but again was not (to me) as effective. Part of that may be that Square went back to the more cartoonish sort of characters in IX, instead of using the realistic sort of character featured in VIII. VIII's FMVs tended to look like an extremely beautiful silent movie; IX doesn't quite capture that. However, the game is full of FMVs and they're just as impressive as you could wish.

Like VIII, IX featured a song; it was pretty enough, with a lullabye sort of quality, but didn't quite reach the level that Faye Wong's "Eyes On Me" from VIII did. Still, the sweeter sound fit the lighter tone of IX well enough.

All in all, I did really enjoy FFIX, and I'm looking forward to X. I don't really understand most of the complaints against the game--but, hey, I liked FFVIII.

AWESOME game!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Final Fantasy IX has got to be my favorite game of all time. It's a wonderful role-playing game. I've beaten it 5 times and I still never get tired of it. The graphics are really good and so's the background music. There's a good plot going on, and the characters are really easy to like, especially Zidane and Vivi. Each character has a role and personality all their own, and they all add to the overall wonderfulness that is this game. There are several side-quests in the game which add not only to the fun, but also help in making your characters stronger (and that is ALWAYS a good thing ^,~). Not to mention, there are a couple of bosses who are extremely challanging--in fact, the hardest boss that you face in the game is an optional one, but I would highly recommend fighting him anyway because you get some pretty awesome spoils that prove to be very useful after you beat him. I raise my hat off to all the creators of this game for a job very well done! ^,^

This is to the people

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Look, I realize you are entitled to your opinions, as am I. So, let me get my two cents in. This is to the people who do not like FF( because only mages can use magic(like cure, fire, etc.). Stop complaining! Not only can Garnet and Eiko cure, but Amarant uses Chakra to cure, Freya uses a skill to cure, and so can Quina. This game DOES return to the roots which has only certain characters use magic. It makes it harder. Now, to those who claim this game is childish because of certain things. I am twenty-four years old, and I like this game a lot. My friends like this game. Even my twenty-eight year old brother likes this game. None of us think it is too childish.
To those who complain about the storyline, claiming a thirteen year old could do better. I've read the fan fictions people of such age write about the Final Fantasies; trust me, they ARE NOT BETTER. If you think you could do better, try it. By the RPG Maker, and DO IT! Betcha can't, though. If thirteen year olds COULD do better plots, you would think that such companies as Square Enix would hire them. Duh.

I still play this game all the time!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 27, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game has acceptable graphics for a PS1 game and the music is pretty good as well. The storyline is very well developed. I may only be 12 years ld but I've beat the game several times and it is a good game for any age as long as you can. This and FF 8 and X-2 would have to be the best FF games. In my opinion Vivi is the coolest.

Awesome Game, Just a Little Disappointing

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This was a great FF game. Even better than VIII in my opinion, and I was one of the camp who loved VIII. The story is great (though not as great as VII or X) and the music is incredible. I actually liked all the characters; usually there's at least one or two I don't like in the games (VII- Barret, VIII- Rinoa, X- Basically all of them). A must-have if you like FF.

Final Fantasy is at it again.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Once again Squaresoft has released yet another Final Fantasy that hopes to grab the attention of any gamers and have them buy it. I've been a hard-core RPG player for over ten years and I've always looked forward to any Final Fantasy game that is released however I noticed that the Final Fantasy series is beginning to slide.

In this one the over-confident over acheiving charactor Zidane (who reminds me a lot of Irvine from FF8 for the way he deals with "chicks") always seems to annoy me in the fact that he is overconfident and he has a tail. Other charactor developments were pretty good like Steiner, Beatrix and Rydia however the rest seem to drag like Dagger who you KNOW is not related to Brahme what so ever. The villian is a crossdressor which always disturbs me.

The graphics were good as to be expected and the battle system was better than FF8's in the fact that you had limit breakers again and you could have 4 charactors instead of 3.

Squaresoft claimed that the "Crystals are back" however there was only 1 crystal and it had an almost cameo appearance at the end therefore it completely disapoints the player. Now I know I seem rather strict but if you're a hard-core player you look for things like this but I finished the game which meant that I had enough fun to keep playing so I give it a 3

Real Fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

At Least! Good One from Squaresoft!
I've played a lot of game from Squaresoft, especially FF. From all Squaresoft's game, this one is the best!
You can see, good graphics, good characters, excellent sound, quite good long story, Very good mini-game, and blablabla...

Things I like:
-The Graphics, quite good 3D graphics

-The minigames, Oooh... I just looove the card games, the jump rope games, the strange Pop Quiz, Frog Catching and more other. They're fun to play after you played some stressful parts.

-The abilities. The abilities are very unique. To get the abilities, you must wear an item for short times. It's very different from the other FFs.

-The music, the sound quality is good, and the music is very good. I like it!

-The story, The story is quite good. It needs a long time to finish this game. It's fun! And the FF9's world is very interesting. You can do an adventure around the world and you can't stop find the fun things!! But the fun rate is going down in the end disc 4.

-CHoCoboS. This one is my favourite. This Chocobo is very cute and you can ride it around the world without found the enemy.
The other fun thing about chocobos is you can find the 'treasure' in the chocobo forests. Some of them are very useful. Sometimes, your chocobos can be 'upgrade' when you found a treasure. You can walk on water, climbing mountains (this is just my favourite), and others.

-The characters, each character has each personality and ability. Some of them are very useful especially when they TRanCe!! . Like Quina (eat), or Vivi with Steiner (Sword magic), and other unique fun things.

So,for this fun game, I'll give 9.7
Highly Recommended. Must Buy Item in PS 1.

Amazing game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

this game is one of my favorite final fantasy's. the only thing i have to complain about is that the pictures are deceiving. the copy that you will receive is the "greatest hits" version of the game. for most people this isn't a bother but for me it was a big deal. the disks didn't have the characters pictures on them like in the pictures. the game runs perfectly fine and i still love it, just telling everyone who cares that it's not an origional one

Amazing game, best FF to date, but

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There's no doubt this is by far the best Final Fantasy title I've played and finished to date (which excludes FF7 since I didn't finish it, yet). And I must say I'm surprised, to say the least, by the low ratings. This is possibly quite the most underrated game of all times.

However, I just wanted to point out that this is the "Greatest Hits" version. So, you'll get something a little bit different than the cover you see in the image. It's kind of uglier because of the green stripe and the discs are covered with plain text without backgrounds, but unless you're a collector I don't think it should be a big deal. And by the way, it works perfectly with the PS3 20GB and 60GB, just in case you're wondering.

Great Story Line

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

i really dont play video games that much, but i will play this Great game. This is one of my favorite all-time games. I just love the story line, nothing better. They should make a sequel to this game. i can imagine PS3's highly new graphics with a story line like FFIX. Itd would be cool. but yeah great game 5/5

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