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Unfortunately, I cannot give it 5 stars

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: December 15, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The game is a great game...it has a good story, interesting characters, and does not get boring(like FF 8 does at times).

THe graphics are simply incredible and the sound..although not even approaching what the PlayStation is capable of...is enchanting as well.

Every RPG Player MUST get this game...you will NOT be wasting your money on this game.

THe biggest reason I cannot give it 5 stars is that it fails in what it tries to do...it does not recapture the grandeur of the old games. It does come close, but the "Feel" of the old games is simply not there.

One big problem I have with the newer FF games(7,8,9) is that the games tend to lead you around by the nose too much, there is no sense of exploration. I remember in FF2 and FF3(on the SNES) that part of the game was exploration and finding out what was over the moutain range...or in the tower or in the cave....you might even have to complete some task or recover some item to be able to explore more. Now it seems as though the games focus too much on figuring out what you have to do to get from one scene to the next, there is not much freedom in where to go or what you can do at anyone time.

To get a feel of what I am saying...grab a copy of Final Fantasy Anthologies and play through one of those two games (if you can handle the old 16 bit graphics)...and then imagine a game like that with the graphics of FF 9...that is what Square Soft needs to do.

So The jist of this review is that If you liked FF 7, FF8...you will like this game. If you liked FF7, FF8 but wished the series would leave the whole "SCI-FI" thing behind and return to a more "Fantasy" Feel...you will like this game even better that FF7 and FF8. If you are looking for a FF game that rivals the scope and grandeur of the old games....this comes close, but you will be somewhat dissappinted.....except for the superior graphics and sound.

Wonderful.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Not since Chrono Trigger have I played a game for ten hours straight, taking time to get drinks,snacks, and others duties. I have not finished this game yet and I'm amazed. Mini-games that are addictive as nicotine, FMVs that are like a miracle of some god-like diety, maybe a little less than that. The storyline is wondeful and the character are better than that of VIII. At times I feel sad for ViVi, happy for Blank, and a melting pot of emontions for others. Although random battles can drag it down at times, you can go through them quickly. The on-line strategy guide is another nice thing. I recommend this game to any interested in RPGs or fans of the series, if you are a fan of the series why haven't you gotten it yet? ...

Great, but not the Greatest

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Final Fantasy IX is a very fun game that is worthy of the Final Fantasy title. All the aspects of the game are superb for a PSX game and any RPG fan will enjoy this game thoroughly. It is not a very challenging game, nor does it consume as many total hours as some of the other games in this genre, but FFIX still boasts a very solid foundation that, though would not be a good game to get introduced into RPGs, is a nice game for RPG veterans to get into.

There are plenty of side quests that can hold interest for many hours and there is a sturdy storyline that follows through the length of the game. FFIX is no Final Fantasy VII though; leveling characters to 99 and playing for 70+ hours is not necessary, the optional "tough guys" are relatively wimpy compared to my old friends Emerald, Ruby and even Omega and the final summon is downright disappointing. Omnislash(VII) and Lionheart(VIII) were the limit breaks that got your adrenaline pumping but the final "trances" in IX are embarrassing and pale in comparison. I was even a bit annoyed that the Golden Chocobo had little limitations that got on my nerves.

FFIX is a great game, don't get me wrong, I was addicted to the game until i beat it and completed the side quests that I was interested in. There is nothing ground breaking or revolutionary about this game, but Squaresolf was successful once again in putting out a great RPG that many people will enjoy for an abundance of hours. (On a personal note-As of this date, I still have not defeated that damn Ruby Weapon in VII...one of these days though, my day will come!)

I would give it more than 5 stars if I could

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This was by far, I thought, the best final fantasy ever created. Well, that IS if you look over 7. A couple reasons,

One, this is the one final fantasy where you FINALLY get to throw away all the realism that was put into FF's before it, and just be entertained by the storyline.

Two, the adventure that square has created is incredable! You start out not knowing whats going on, and you gradually become more and more attracted to the story as it progresses. You become entertained by its comfortable scenery right from the beginning of the game. The story is easier to understand than most of the other final fantasy's whether that be good or bad (depends on who you are) but most people wouldn't care.

Three, the overall Fantasy of the game has been brought back into a wonderful story with beutiful cutscenes. Just play through 10 minutes and you'll be intriged by beutiful flashing lights :D ...

Four, the story always seems to split into exciting and entertaining twists. You would never expect what happens next because your always brought into different unfamilliar fantasy-like places.

For all the fans of Final Fantasy 6 who won't let go of how they were taken by story and overall feel of the game, I say just get this game and forget about anything else you've ever played.

For everyone that HASN'T played Final Fantasy's before, dive in!

To each their own I say!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There is nothing wrong with Final Fantasy 9. As many have stated the graphics were not the CGI of 8 and 10 for example. But in ways were smoother and more realistic than those titles. I of course love FF7, it had the single best bad/feel sorry for villian I had ever seen. No game may accomplish how we understood why Sephiroth done what we know we may have done in our own hearts ever again.
FF9 takes out a lot of the stupid mini games.I don't mind mini games but 7 and 8 had lots of stupid ones that are simply annoying. 9 also had a more real character development and story while also keeping open extreme possibilities.
I'll also say this....I'm tired of writing right now, but thought I would review this because I'm sick of all the people who say it is too kiddy. This game has the best and most real ending of any of the Final Fantasy games. I love 7 but its ending was wacked and 8 just needed help. 9 kept it in perspective with something every human really wants. The perfect ending for our lives. Love

best Final Fantasy ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: December 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

i bought this game at a mall 3 1/2 weeks before its release date and i knew since then i didnt waste my money buying it!! i think its perfect because it has a sense of humor and it kinda has a medievel look which i am pleased to see because the last FF i know of that has a medievel look is Final Fantasy 2 which was released about late 80's!! also none of the charachters are like real reality based like Final Fantasy 8(fictional looking charachters) like the main charachter is a normal boy but what seperates him from the rest is he has a tail and one of the other charachters is a black mage and the game also has 2 white mages!! so i highly recommend this game for anybody who likes RPG's!!

The Best Yet

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: March 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Fian Fantasy 9 has go to be the best one out of the series so far. The graphics on this one are far superior to the previous outings, as they seem more crisp and and there is more attention to detail. The control method is the same as in the previous ones so any of the old fans will be able to jump right in from the start. There are plenty of new weapons and new magic which eill keep any fan happy until Fianl Fantasy 10 comes out on Playstation 2 (I cant wait)

Why do so many people love this game?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: March 05, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I can't even begin to understand how anyone could even like this game, let alone call it one of the greatest RPG's ever. I've given this game three stars but was actually tempted to give it two. Almost every imaginable facet of this game turned me off.

I'll begin with the graphics. I hate the super-deformed characters and fantasy-land type locales. The reason that earlier FF games had super-deformed characters (excluding 8) were graphical limitations, not because they were tradition. While dated graphics don't usually bother me, (I throughly enjoyed FF2 and 6) I still take a story more seriously when it's coming from realistic characters than from deformed masses of polygons. Also, I like modern or fututistic RPG's a lot, so the fantasy style of this game was a dissapointment. Plus, I wasn't too impressed by the CG's because of the two aformentioned characteristics. Still, the graphics are decent.

The sound doesn't fare any better than the graphics with me. This is one of the worst videogame scores ever. I understand that Uematsu wanted to create remixes, but the tracks really stink. The music fails to immerse a player in the game world, and this has always been an important part of the FF games.

Of course, sound isn't the most important factor in an RPG, and neither are the graphics. The most important factors are the story and gameplay, right? Unfortunately, the gameplay is no better than the graphics or sound, and neither is the story. I'll begin with gameplay. Take the battle system, for instance. This is particularly important since you'll be getting into random encounters every three seconds or so (when will squaresoft learn not that nobody likes the current system of encounters?). The system is unbelievably sluggish. It takes forever just to execute a command. There is no strategy involved (the addition of a fourth character does very little to increase the amount strategy involved), and all you have to do is use the same moves over and over. The only way this game is more difficult than FF7 and 8 is increased hit point totals of your enemies, which makes battles quite tedious. Leveling up is near impossible, and gaining new abilities can take forever. That raises yet another issue. Because abilities are gained from equipment, and since many payers lack the paitence to gain abilities, once they gain better equipment, they are left with a huge predicament: keep the current weapon on and have a pathetic physical attack, put on the better one and not gain the ability, or spend forever getting the ability, and then putting on the new weapon? And until the second disk, you have to buy ridiculous amounts of healing potions. Also, the world map is too big, considering the number of towns in this game, and consequently, a lot of the world map is just plain empty.

In my opinion, the most important part of an RPG is the story. In fact, this is almost the only reason I even bother to play them. Unfortunately, FF9 let me down with one of the worst stories ever concieved. The plot is nearly identical to FF6: an evil monarch decides to start attacking nearby towns in an attempt to take over the world. How original. The game takes far too long to explain things that should have been explained from the start, like why you need to capture the princess in the first place (if you forgot, Lindblum wasn't even mentioned until you crash into Evil Forest). Even worse, the game starts off with one of the worst introductions ever. Exploring Alexandria and capturing the princess will take up the better part of two hours, and the game is so boring at this point that some people will not feel compelled to continue any farther. Then there's the fact that you mindlessly follow directions for a large part of the game. For example, after leaving Lindblum with orders to find Kuja, you don't find out anything else about the story until you finally get to Madain Sari. The story was uninspired in general, and there are no huge plot twists until disk three. I'll admit that the story picked up after finding Cid's wife, but that's halfway into disk three, far too late to save the game. The characters were the one bright spot, although some annoyed me. Dagger, for instance, annoyed me at the start with her lack of common sense, then when she left Lindblum, it was because of her blind loyalty to her mother. Once you get to disk three, its's her self-doubt and seemingly constant state of depression until she cuts her hair. Eiko is pretty funny, I'll admit, though her summoner heritage (and Dagger's, too) should have been expanded on more.

Great but not so great....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: February 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

My title says it all. I started playing the Final Fantasy series with FFVII. I've played VIII and XI but they just couldn't compare to VII. FFVII had a very unique storyline, good gameplay, graphics (first of its kind), summons, and especially the characters! It was just perfect! I came to expect a lot from VIII and XI after that. FFVIII, although with improved graphics & FMVs with very likeable characters, just wasn't the same. It needed a little more comedy. FFXI can't really compare with either of them. Here's why:

Boring storyline. Everything was just kinda predictable. I thought there might some major twists and turns like the Death of Aeris in FFVII but there wasn't. The end isn't the best ending either. As I said, predictable. Characters I didn't really care for except maybe Vivi. Even if it did have likeable characters, I think the storyline could have included more about their past. For example, with Garnet and her being a summoner. I think it could have been more thorough with the Summoners. The whole learning abilities system was just annoying. I kept finding myself constantly switching equipment back and forth, back and forth. I wish chocobos would have played a bigger role. They were part of a sidequest but it was a sidequest I would have never known about if I didn't read a strategy guide.

It does have its good points though. If possible, the graphics and FMVs are breath-taking and better than ever! In fact, the best in the whole FF series so far. It does have many mini games and sidequests. FFXI was definitely more comedic! Very humorous at times. and the main character, Zidane. I liked the fact that the main character finally isn't this shy, silent person.

Overall, FFXI is game I wouldn't play twice unlike FFVII. Once seemed more than enough. Buy this game if you want to see superb graphics but go for FFVII, if you haven't already, if you want to play a truly remarkable RPG.

A return to greatness

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Final Fantasy IX is here, and all that is old is new again. Square's developers have once again outdone themselves as far as technical execution and visual artistry, building a fantasy world that I could be content to simply stare at, remembering years past when all these things struck an internal chord for the first time and wondering how a game console could hold images this beautiful. This installment of the series has perhaps been the most anticipated among die-hard fans of the series, signalling as it does a brief return to some of the visual designs, gameplay elements and overall spirit of the FFs we grew up on, and they won't be disappointed in the slightest. In that regard, this game combines the finest of the past and present, the fantastic themes of the classic games brought to life by the technology of the PlayStation. In terms of its gameplay and structure, Final Fantasy may be showing its age, or perhaps more precisely a lack of evolution to suit that age, but the series' trademark formula has hooked fans on three generations of consoles now, and it looks prepped and ready to conquer a fourth in short order.

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