Coming from someone who has never played Final Fantasy 9 nor

>>2928002
It's generally considered one of the best. It blends the production values of the other PS era Final Fantasies with a more traditional setting and leveling/combat system. The characters are each unique but can be customized to a degree.

It did have backlash when it came out, but that's always true for Final Fantasy now. VII and every one caused a shitstorm when it came out.

It is generally considered good. it may just be me but I get really bored of the game around disc 3 and drop it every time.
combat is super slow too.

>>2928002
It's one of the better Final Fantasy games overall, but moves painfully slow... which has a lot to do with being a Playstation game.

I don't think there's a consensus. There's no fanbase more divisive than Final Fantasy.

Some people enjoyed FF9 for its story and characterization, while others loathed the slow pacing, lack of character customization, and bullshit sidequests.

My own opinion is that this is the only mainline FF game that I don't want in my collection.

>>2928023
>loathed the slow pacing, lack of character customization,

Funny cause I liked IX a good bit, despite that but have never liked IV for those same reasons. It's the only (retro) mainline FF I don't keep in my collection. II, III and V are my goat.

Most people consider VIII the weakest of the PS Final Fantasy games. IX is my favorite of those three by far. It looks great, I love the characters and the plot's pretty decent. I would recommend playing on emulator so you can fast forward through the slow as fuck battles though. Panning across a bunch of rocks all the time is the worst part of the game.

It's a great game if you want to get into FF, although I'd say VI is even better in that regard. To me it felt less dated than VII , and VIII is a nonconventional FF title in that it's got a pretty weird combat/spell system.

I dunno about consensus, but my opinion is that is a good but bland game, with slow ass combat (probably the worst in the series speed-wise) and forgettable battle system. It's not a blunder like FF8 or any FF post 10 but it's far from the best entries in the series. It tried to be charming but somewhat it didn't succeed in the task.

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>>2928031
>It's not a blunder like FF8

top kek

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>>2928002
It's my favorite. Perfect mix of old and new FF styles, and overflowing with charm. Some people find it slow, but that has never bothered me.

>>2928038
FFVIII is objectively a bad JRPG, where do I start: shit story, flat characters beside Squall and Rinoa (and who likes them? Exactly, nobody), bad pacing, level scaling, junction system renders stats meaningless, no loot cuz junction system, battles are broken (limit breaks whenever you want, exploiting the level scaling) and boring (use attack all the time because using magic makes you weaker and GF are long as shit and weaker than normal attacks) bad sidequests are asinine padding. There's no way someone can play it as an adult for the first time and think it's a good FF, let alone RPG. For all the shit that FF7 gets with that "you only liked cuz nostalgia", FF8 is really the one that you won't like if you didn't play it as a 13 years old

>>2928031
>literally the fastest-selling retro Final Fantasy title
>earned over $50 million in the U.S. in its first few weeks on the shelf
>estimated 8.15 million units sold (not even counting re-releases)
>average review score of 90%

>"It's a blunder!"

This meme needs to stop.

>>2928053
This is all true, but I still like it more than FF9 because at least it tried something new. FF9 is a throwback to previous 3rd/4th gen FFs, only now with added load times and slower animations. There's no good reason to play FF9.

>>2928023
>There's no fanbase more divisive than Final Fantasy.

I'd say that title goes to Zelda. People in the Zelda fandom will argue their favorite Zelda games to the death.

>>2928053
>>2928053
I think it's like II in many ways. It's systems aren't very well balanced and it's pretty easy to go a little out of your way and completely break the game for yourself. But if you don't go exploiting the level system, limits and everything else I think it's quite interesting.

Also aside from II it's the FF I use magic in the most often. Which is completely counter to what many people do which is just stockpile and never use, but I do the opposite and really like it.

I agree with you on the characters though. Squall is by far my most hated FF protagonist and Rinoa is up there as well. But that said I've known people, even friends who liked and connected with him. And I like most of the rest of the cast, Irvine and Selphie are both great and Laguna and friends are fantastic. I would have loved the game be more about them.

It's certainly one of the more divisive games in an already highly divisive series. But calling it an outright blunder is pretty funny.

>FF8 is really the one that you won't like if you didn't play it as a 13 years old

Finally as for this, I was 16 when it came out. Enjoyed it a good deal and have replayed it several times. Story is junk, but that's par for the course. I play it for the interesting leveling and combat. A super low level game and a super high level game were both very different and interesting plays.

I get why it's not for everyone though. And with II as my favorite, I'm used to having people shit all over my personal picks.

>>2928074
Or Castlevania. Actually most genres are like this when you start to delve into the fanbases.

>>2928076
>Finally as for this, I was 16

Was this a typo or weird 4chan filter? We shall see. Meant to say 26, not 16. Though now I sometimes wish I was a decade younger....

>>2928053
>shit story
It's a Final Fantasy game.

>flat characters
It's a Final Fantasy game.

>bad pacing
Elaborate

>level scaling
The game is as easy or challenging as you want it to be. That's part of its appeal.

Besides, level scaling did have some function beyond just tuning the difficulty of random battles. Monsters dropped exclusive items at higher levels, or gave you other benefits such as stat-ups when you used the Devour command. Hence the LevelUp and LevelDown command skills that your GFs could learn.

>junction system renders stats meaningless
No it doesn't. Sometimes natural leveling is more practical, especially if you equip the stat bonus abilities that some GFs have. These abilities were triggered at level up, causing your stat gains to be increased.

>no loot
There's plenty of loot? Enemies drop items all the time. These items are refined into spells or other items, modded into equipment, or used to teach Quistis new Blue Magic skills.

>limit breaks whenever you want
Don't abuse limit break spam.

>use attack all the time because using magic makes you weaker
Only if you're junctioning every spell in your inventory, which seems unlikely. Just don't junction the spells you feel you need to use in battle.

>GF are long as shit and weaker than normal attacks
GF attacks are useful until you master the junction system, but even then, some of them have niche purposes, like using Doomtrain to drop the enemies' defense power. You're nonetheless right that GFs (in battle) quickly become outclassed.

>bad sidequests
Elaborate

>There's no way someone can play it as an adult for the first time and think it's a good FF
I'm 31 and it's my second-favorite game in the series.

>>2928002
FFIX is my favorite FF, as for a long time was my favorite game ever. I'm undoubtedly biased because I played it when I was 12 and it was my first JRPG, but it's story hit me in a way that no video game story has done before or since.

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>>2928023
Basically this.

>say something positive about FFIV
Go kill yourself nostalgiafag!
>say something negative about FFIV
Go back to FFVII you underage piece of shit!

>say something positive about FFV
Kill yourself you pretentious hipster piece of shit!
>say something negative about FFV
Fuck you, it has the the best version of job system and is the most fun FF!

>say something positive about FFVI
Kill yourself hipster, FFVII is where it's at!
>say something negative about FFVI
Kill yourself you FFVII fanboy!

>say something positive about FFVII
You only like it because it was your first FF!
>say something negative about FFVII
You only hate it because it's popular!

>say something positive about FFVIII
HURR Squall is dead!!!1! R=U!!!1! DURR
>say something negative about FFVIII
You didn't play the game correctly and/or didn't understand it's story you casual piece of shit!

>say something positive about FFIX
FFIX is a slow piece of shit! FFIV / VI / VII is better!
>say something negative about FFIX
Fuck you, it's the best FF because reasons!

You honestly think you are going to get a general consensus that most of FF fanbase agrees with from any of the FF games? That isn't going to happen and everytime someone uses expressions like "generally considered" they are simply saying "this is _MY_ opinion thereforce it is the general consensus".

It's the best and purest Final Fantasy experience there can be

>>2928146
This guy gets it.

Also who gives a shit about consensus? Try a game, if you like it great. If you don't, try another! Who cares what someone who isn't you thought of it?

>>2928002
I think the reason its wasn't received so well was the departure from the edgy cyber/steam punk style of 7 & 8 to a more whimsical traditional fantasy setting.

The casuals that didn't like 9 for this reason have now moved on and the general consensus seems to be 7>9>8

Best Final Fantasy, hands down

>>2928092
>It's a Final Fantasy game

We're comparing Final Fantasy games dumbass, this defense doesn't work. All FF stories might be shit but VIII could still have the worst.

>>2928173
>All FF stories might be shit but VIII could still have the worst.

That's completely subjective though. And worthless to try to reach a consensus on.

FFIX is a good solid game but:

Battles are way too frequent.
Battles take forever to load.
Battles have a completely unskippable cinematic intro that makes you wait before you take control.
Battles are hideously slow, even with max battle and text speed. Inexplicably even the characters preparing to attack take forever to do so.
Trance is completely worthless. Ito was stupid for breaking the limit break mechanic like this.
The ability system in this game is awful. You have to wear substandard equipment for ages in order to get useful abilities. And some are strongly recommended. Combine this with very low AP per battle (and the aforementioned battle issues) and you have a problem.
The cast is unevenly cared for. Quina, Amarant, and Freya get almost nothing. Contast that with VII where even the optional characters got substantial amounts of attention. Freya only has ~100 lines from the Cleyra event to the end of the game. What a promising character and side-plot utterly neglected. Amarant was one of the most contrive additions to your team I've ever seen in a JRPG.
The card game is worthless, which makes all those card rewards you get worthless as well. The game actually fails to communicate exactly how to play the damn game.
Speaking of mini-games all of them suck ass and apart from Chocobo's hot and cold don't even give any useful rewards to you from playing them. Seriously few Ethers or Phoenix Downs would be nice.
The plot is one of the weakest parts of the game and goes full retard when Terrans become a major plotpoint at Oeilvert.
SUDDENLY NECRON. Yea, I know him being a death incarnate, kinda fitting the game theme and possibly being a homage to Cloud of Darkness and/or Zemus. That still doesn't make him good or interesting final boss.

That said none of those flaws kept me from enjoying it.

8 is high school tier story wise, thought it was mature and deep when I was younger, tried giving it another playthrough last week and it was cringeworthy. gave it to my younger cousin who might enjoy it.

>>2928176
>SUDDENLY NECRON. Yea, I know him being a death incarnate, kinda fitting the game theme and possibly being a homage to Cloud of Darkness and/or Zemus. That still doesn't make him good or interesting final boss.

I don't think that's quite accurate. Kuja's idea at the end of the game is "I'm going to die one day anyway, so I may as well just kill myself now," and Necron is the personification of that philosophy. The final battle with Necron is the struggle against that philosophy; the struggle to continue living even in the face of absurdity and meaninglessness.

>>2928201
>8 is high school tier story wise

Can you name an FF that isn't?

>>2928176
>>2928205
I thought Necron was literally a joke about Zemus. As in when he appeared I put my hand over my mouth and started laughing. I see all of FFIX as essentially a comedy.

>>2928176
are you me??

>>2928239
That's a fair interpretation. It's certainly the most comedic FF of all the post-VI games.

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>>2928201

I went through the same phase as you but then I realized the characters can actually be pretty realistic and memorable at times. These characters have arguments with each other, have passive aggressive emotions, are unsure of themselves a lot of the times. The story becomes harder follow when Squall becomes the headmaster because it no longer has that highschool feel, but FF8 generally holds up if you stop caring about what people will think of you for liking it.

>>2928283
It even has the villain end up not really being all that villainous and a big wedding at the end.

>>2928176
FFIX would be a pretty spectacular game if:
> Had the limit break system from FFVII
> AP grinding requirements for abilities were lower
> The game wasn't chugging along trying to jam in four characters and high end graphics on the PSX.

>>2928053
>flat characters beside Squall and Rinoa (and who likes them? Exactly, nobody

in the same sentence you say "objectively" and then say the story is bad "cuz I couldn't relate to the charcters xd". you're a complete mongoloid.

>>2928002
Easily one of the best in the series and my personal favourite

>>2928002
it's the best FF. Simple as that.

>>2928002
FFIX is mediocre, through and through. The plot is basically just FFIV's, the gameplay is subpar, the soundtrack is only just okay.

>>2928081
Every fanbase is shit, there is no difference in how many games in the series. Look at EB and UT for good examples of this.

It was my first Final Fantasy, and I really liked it. Never managed to play through it, because my memory card wiped my save 2 times as I was on the start of disc 4. I'm looking forward to the steam release.
I really enjoyed the skill system and round-based fights.

>>2928507
>Look at EB and UT for good examples of this.

I don't even know what games those are. But you are correct.

>>2928541
Earthbound and Undertale, I'm guessing. Although the latter could be Unreal Tournament as well.

>>2928541
Earthbound and undertale.
I see games with one game only that are awesome but the fanbases are fucking lunatics.

>>2928074
I thought Zelda fans just argue about nuances while they mostly agree on what are the better and what are the worse games.

>>2928507
The fuck's wrong with the UT crowd, they're way less annoying than DOOM or CoD.

>>2928579
Ahhh that makes sense I thought like this guy >>2928550 UT may have been Unreal. I thought you were talking about series. It seems it's series games that bring out the worst in people.

>>2928176
>The ability system in this game is awful. You have to wear substandard equipment for ages in order to get useful abilities

This is strategy and personal preference, memefriend. You have to choose between wearing the best equipment and learning fewer abilities, or wearing lesser equipment and learning more abilities. It makes things interesting.

>>2928312
>FF9 has a big wedding at the end

C
I
T
A
T
I
O
NEEDED

Final Fantasy IX is a throwback in terms of gameplay, which a lot of people find bland and slow. Even so, it's worth a playthrough for it's memorable characters and soundtrack. It doesn't really reward repeat playthroughs like 7 or 8 do because you can't "break" the game or attempt crazy, fun exploits in the character building system.

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>>2928002
I wish I had played FFIX when I was younger, I probably would have loved it.

By the age I played it it was just far to slow for me to get into.

On the plus side I really loved the main menu, having the charater splash screens roll is comfy.

>>2929507
No. No it doesn't.

What would have been interesting would have been if they'd implemented some kind of skill or stat building system that wasn't so fucking 2 dimensional.
"stats or skills" doesn't cut it, unless you get a LOT better perks in one area or the other or more options. And this game doesn't do either. AT ALL

You either get slightly better stats, or slightly worse, and have to have an item equipped for far too long just to learn a simple skill. So the whole thing feels like a huge waste of time either way.

FFVII did it better, because skills were equipped ON weapons and such. And if they wanted to make you choose, they'd give you a weak weapon with a ton of slots, and then a strong one with only a few. The turn around there is faster, and the results more noticeable. But FFVII didn't corner itself solely with this gimmick, so in most instances, there were third, fourth, fifth and even tenth options.

FFVIII made you pick noticeably better stats over very useful spells. So if you used a spell you had junctioned, your stats would drop. That's a far better implementation of what you're talking about here. And once again, FFVIII offers SO many more alternatives to the "stats, or skills?" idea. Like finding another spell or ability to get the job done.

All FFIX did was build an entire game on that moronic idea, allow for NO alternatives in most instances and then make any differences so negligible that no one gave a fuck.

It's a boring, shallow waste of time.

Granted, it went down like that because of the reaction to FFVIII being so "mixed". Square wanted to get the normies back, and it kinda worked. But it wasn;t the right choice, either way. Weather you like it or not.

>>2928002
Fucking terrible game. The characters are flat and have no development. The plot is entirely forgettable. The world it's set in makes no fucking sense with major defining characteristics of towns going completely unexplained. The combat system lacks the complexity of the Materia system of 7 or the Draw/Equip system of 8 while being slow as fuck and forcing you to grind with shitty equipment to learn skills from it (yes, you learn skills from using equipment). The damn thing forces you to endure a number of terribly designed minigames as part of the plot. And even if you understand how to read the cards for the card game (I seriously regret how much time I put into that venture) math is fuzzy at best and about 70% luck.

Easily the worst FF game on the PS1, including the ports of 4, 5, and 6.

>>2928312
>big wedding at the end.
Do you believe that Zidane and Garnet lived happily ever after? Here is something to think about:

Kuja is an Angel of Death genome, created with the sole purpose of funneling souls to Terra by sowing warfare. As such, he's given powerful combat abilities and installed with a life limiter in case he turns traitor. Zidane is created as a replacement for Kuja, for the exact same reason, and it would be fucking idiotic for Garland not to limit him in the same way. The only evidence for him not having a life limiter is Garland telling him he doesn't, in the same speech when he lies about two other things, and is aware Kuja went off the rails when he found out about his limiter, so the smart thing to do would be to lie. Garland has a replacement unit for Zidane already lined up and ready to go. Assuming the limiter kicks in at the same age, and taking Kuja and Zidane's ages into account, the maximum Zidane has to live post ending is around 3 years.

Also the entire theme of the game is that nothing lasts forever, it's seen in Vivi, Terra, etc.

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>>2930061

Shit opinion. I loved learning skills from equipment.

don't listen to this fag OP, the game is my favorite out of the PS FF games.

>>2930042

woah hey, another shit opinion.

Anyway, I love the game. Haters gonna hate.

>>2930061
The card game is almost completely optional. And ff7 had some shitty minigame moments too, although they weren't always called minigames: pressing those buttons at the exact same time or having to jump to that goddamn cable for example.

>>2928359
fuck you the soundtrack is outstanding

>>2930168
>almost completely optional
>a mandatory card tournament that takes a signifcant portion of the main story

Yeah fight me mate.

>>2930186
>almost

And honestly the tournament is not hard and takes like five minutes. Hardly a "significant" portion and the reason I said "almost".

Anyways you don't even have to win the goddamn tournament. There's two battles you have to win (but you can save in between and they're really tremendously easy) and the third you can lose, you just miss the accessory if you do.

>>2928053
>muh flat characters
I don't get why people get so butthurt about characters not having enormous baggage to be dealt with.

>>2930186
>takes a signifcant portion of the main story

Did you skip 99% of the story then? The card shit is a tiny segment.

>>2930186
>card tournament that takes a significant portion of the main story

>significant

Anon, it's not a good idea to use words if you don't know what they mean.

It was a love letter to the series prior to making the leap out of the PS1 era and into what would become the "new" style of Final Fantasy.

Like all love letters, it's filled with good memories, melancholy, smiles and even some decent laughter, and your reaction to it is largely dependent on how much you like what came before.

I loved it, like I've loved all of Final Fantasy. Others feel more sad or disappointed or regretful, and that's also valid.

I just feel strongly that it was Squaresoft saying a heartfelt goodbye to the series, and preparing to begin a new one.

>>2930042
>"stats or skills" doesn't cut it, unless you get a LOT better perks in one area or the other or more options. And this game doesn't do either.

Then why are you complaining about it? Why are you making such a big deal about it if, as far as you're concerned, the GAME ITSELF doesn't make a big deal about it?

>You either get slightly better stats, or slightly worse, and have to have an item equipped for far too long just to learn a simple skill. So the whole thing feels like a huge waste of time either way.

No it doesn't, because at the end of the day you learn skills permanently and can use them for the rest of the game regardless of your equipment. That benefit is not a waste of time.

>All FFIX did was build an entire game on that moronic idea, allow for NO alternatives in most instances and then make any differences so negligible that no one gave a fuck.

Then stop giving such a huge fuck about it already.

>But it wasn;t the right choice, either way. Weather you like it or not.

Your memes are dank, but they're so dank that they're blinding you from the fact that some people like things that you don't like.

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>>2928002
Personally I think IX would have been the best in the series if it kept up the momentum it had on discs 1 & 2. It started out great, set up an interesting world and created a cast of memorable characters. But then it revealed the world to be made up of mostly wastelands and deserts on thin, snakey continents, and the cast members development was either uninteresting, stifled, or it simply stopped abruptly. The game was also absurdly linear, and you got the airship way too late in the game(which, considering the classic feel they were going for doesn't make much sense). The only things that stayed nigh perfect throughout were the presentation and the battle system.

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I attribute the decline in quality to the game sometimes going out of its way to reference older FF games, especially in the second half. They didn't need to include the Four Fiends or the Crystals(the one world crystal they set up would have sufficed), they didn't need to dwell on the airships and the queen as long as they did, and they certainly didn't need create Necron as a final boss as a nod to FFs III and IV. The references were fun in the beginning, but once they started inserting shit into the story as important plot points that only served as homages to the older games, that is where I feel the game really lost direction.

>>2930091
But wasn't Zidane "perfect?" From the way everyone talked in the crystal world, it seems like Zidane would have been the apex of the Genomes, but when Kuja went nuts and Zidane lost his memory Garland had no choice but to create another because he couldn't find Zidane/Zidane was no longer mentally suited for the task, and not because Zidane had any of the genetic pitfalls Kuja did.

Had the best art direction and localization.

>>2931101
I think by the 3rd disk they started running out of budget as I heard the 4 shrines were supposed to be actual dungeons instead of a cutscene with a boss.

Would of been cool since you had to split the party up and you could of had some extra development thrown in between the pairings.

I still think 9 has some of the best development though, might be because of the ATE system they had in towns.

>>2931101
>>2931169

For some fucked up reason, Square thought it was a great idea to develop FF9, 10, and 11 at the exact same time.

I could be wrong about this, but only in that maybe it was 8 instead of 11. They definitely developed 3 FFs at the same time. Square has been making stupid decisions for a long time now.

>>2931138
My fucking sides. Are you serious? The bobblehead bunch = best art direction? Sit your dumb ass the fuck down. They couldn't even keep the style consistent among the party members, let alone the world. It had the refined art styling of a 5th grader.

>>2931101
The entire game is plagued with points that have caused people to stop and just let out a sigh of, "I just don't fucking care". I often lost all give-a-fucks once the writing went all History Channel on us with the aliens angle, but others I know have had multiple playsthroughs grind to an immediate halt around the ice caves on disk 1. I don't know why, but that place seems to be a common stopping point for many players who never pick it up again. Another point is when you have to deal with the hedgehog alarm system in disk 2 or 3 (i honestly forget).

This game also suffers from the bullshit plague that FFX2 did where, if you don't have a step by step guide to check before every action, it's easy to be permanently locked out of finishing some quests you began. The bitch of it being that unlike X2 that could be burned through in a few hours, this game takes for fucking ever. What? Were you trying to do that coffee bean quest? Well you missed one in that hut that you would have needed to backtrack for an hour to get to so now you need to redo 15 hours to try again.

>>2930186
I was going to say, "exactly", but the shitty tourney did take pretty much no time, especially since you can just lose round 1 and have it not matter. Regardless, that card game was fucking broken on a mechanical level.

>>2931351
7, T, 8, and Ergheiz (while not an official FF game, did have strong FF7 plugs) were all the same time. I believe 9 was in dev near the end of 8's development. I know it ran on a different graphics engine.

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>>2931760

Hate all you want. Your criticism boils down to "I don't like the thing and you're an idiot for liking the thing!".

I love the game. Best FF.

>>2931778
With all due respect, that's how you, and several others, are arguing this. I'm pointing out specific issues I have with the game. Care you try defending specific issues or is "ermahgerd, muh game" the final stance you're taking?

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>>2928002
It's definitely my favorite of the numerical three that were on PSOne (I like Tactics more than any of them of the era, but that one's ending makes me cry a little). I'm unafraid to admit that this is because of how much of a nostalgiafag I am, almost cripplingly so, especially with the love I have of IV, which it seems they reference the most of the earlier games.

Having Eidolons be a significant part of the plot is one of the better story aspects, if you ask me. I've always loved the idea of primal, godlike beings that, while they don't typically run the actual world, their power makes them the real movers and shakers, even in a world amongst other powerful beings. It's inspired me to actually make my own little setting for Final Fantasy d20, which is largely a mashup of the different FFs, and a focal point in its history is a war between Eidolons from Gaia and from Luna (the remnants of another planet that was salvaged after being smashed into by a series of Meteors, turned into a shuttle that currently orbits Gaia) from twelve centuries ago. It's still in-progress at the moment, but you're welcome to leave suggestions if you wish: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f6os5ecLSdNS6qJ-ifzpvSFhaYX1aM62fZLilf1Mpo0/edit

As most people here , though, I will admit that it goes painfully slow, especially combat, but I'm typically very patient with RPGs; for fuck's sake, I play D&D, combat taking forever is really no problem for me. I'm also a huge fan of Dragon Quest, so the grinding for all the abilities, while understandably irksome for many, is also not much of an issue for myself.

Basically, if you have the patience to deal with a slow game or have at least a great deal of respect, if not love for VI and earlier, you'll like IX, and even if those two aspects don't appeal much, there's still a chance that you'll enjoy it, since it's a solid RPG in its own right.

Here, have a doodle I made of Agrias (Tactics) dancing with Beatrix (IX).

>>2931101
IX is my favorite FF, but I think you're right in some of your criticisms, especially your observation about the world being thin. The first few towns are so vibrant and detailed, and then they really phoned it in for the other continents. I've always felt that Square's ambitions for FFIX outstripped their resources. I think the game could have been even better if it had been moved to the PS2 and given another year or two of development time.

I have to disagree with your assessment of the story though. I loved everything all the way until the end, including the crystals, Necron, etc.

It's the last great Final Fantasy, though personally I would put it behind 8, 7, 6, and even 5.

I never played 12 or 13, am I fucking up?

>>2931778 and
>>2930114
see
>>2931802.

This is how you write a dissenting opinion to an argument without sounding like an idiot.

Sir, I disagree with your over-all stance, but you make a good argument. As someone who started JRPGs well before the PS era, I actually did not like the FF series. 4 was the earliest one I did like and I didn't get the chance to play it until after 9 was released. In 9, the laden combat system and unappealing art direction was a constant struggle, but I eventually put it down when I realized a number of things:
1. I don't relate to any of my team or like any of them beyond utilitarian reasons.
2. I don't like the world it's set in and actually think the apocalypse would be a step in the right direction.
3. The tedious battle system grew more tedious as late game enemies had group attacks began to often include status effects which were OP due to strange dev decisions, like if everyone gets put to sleep or ejected from battle, you lose; despite having living characters.

I will say that their use of Eidolons as a central plot point was interesting though for a time and the segment surrounding Garnet's return and the unleashing of a few specific ones was the most compelling story telling of the game. I just feel they became too much of a deus ex once we had another summoner pushed into the group.

On that note actually, can we at least all recognize how many superfluous characters we had in the party? I mean, regarding the plot, there was Freya, Amarant, Quina, and Eiko who really did absolutely nothing for the plot that the others weren't already doing. I even have to stretch to say that Steiner wasn't just comic relief.

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>>2931784

How am I accusing others of being an idiot for disliking the game?

I love the game. It resonates with me. I can't really find anything I remotely dislike about it other than I wish there was more optional bosses and shit.

The games characters are developed just fine. It's kept simple like in old FF games, and the main 4(Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, Steiner) get the most time and I'm okay with that. I understand people are disappointed with characters like Freya, Amarant, and Quina, but I just think of them as a support cast.

I mean in FF7 it isn't like Yuffie or Vincent are integral to the main plot. But yeah dude, I don't really have to defend much else, because most of the complaints I'm seeing are subjective as fuck. You debating is not going to change how I feel about the game and I don't really think its perfect, but its one of my favorites.

>>2931824
12 is worth a play, but not worth forcing yourself to finish if you aren't taken by it. 13 is a waste of everyone's time.

>>2931837
Oh ok. Your last response just game off flippant to me. Like you walked into the conversation and went, "Naw, you're gay. It's great." Honestly, I will say I had to take the other 4 characters as supporting cast as well, but unlike Vincent and Yuffie, these were forced into the party. They were not optional side-arcs. As for the main four, I know Steiner has his fans, but I couldn't take him or anything he did seriously. Vivi, I thought got too short of an arc.

>>2931839
This, pretty much. I had a hard time swallowing XIII, but I won't lie, I absolutely love XIII-2. It distinctly reminds me of the Chrono series, Cross in particular. It would probably be worth your while to just watch the cutscenes and such from XIII on YouTube or something so you can get context. Lightning Returns, judging by what I've been able to stomach, is the worst writing in the franchise, but inversely has some of the very best mechanics in any JRPG I've seen.

>>2931875
If you think the writing for that was bad, just remember that Squareenix is now unabashedly pimping out lightning for whatever revenue they can sell her for. If you need proof, check the new louis vuitton ads with her in it.

Also, XIII was nothing but a weak ass movie with liner and boring gameplay in between countless cutscenes. You will get more from watching the cutscenes together on youtube than you will from playing it. Kinda wish I was joking about that.

>>2931903
So they are pimping her to a single revenue but according to a /v/ meme she is now sakaguchi's waifu.

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>>2931903
Not gonna lie, I actually kind of like the idea of using fictional characters as models, so long as the body types are realistic enough. I mean, even Hope looks like he could get a date here, and I love Sazh's suit, although Noel's shirt is a little tacky (I think it's the red collar that does it).

However, just how much they've focused on Lightning for stuff like that is what bothers me. I mean, come on, you have all kinds of characters you can utilize to show off stuff, you don't have to stick with the pink-haired ball of elbows and knees.

Digressing, though.

>>2931813
FF9 would have been so, so great if it had been the first FF on the PS2 assuming they didn't ruin it with voice acting

>>2928359
>The plot is basically just FFIV's,
How is the plot anything like FF4s..?

>>2931968
People overgeneralize it to one kingdom uses its airships and the magic of a new mystery man tries to take over the world, which turns into the guy actually being an alien who ends up putting the world in danger of destruction.

>>2931903
It's better that Lightning appear in Louis Vuitton ads than have Louis Vuitton ads appear in Final Fantasy, anon.

That FF7 remake isn't just going to pay for itself.

>>2931991
Actually, I remember Midgar having a number of highly stylized billboards in the background that, although generic and not actually mentioning a product or service, could easily be replaced with Louis Vuitton ads. I'm not saying I think it's a good idea, in fact I think that devs need to quit being such fucking money hungry sellouts, but that would be a plausible way of doing it without detracting from the game. Hell, have some of their posters in the Shinra building. They advertise all sorts of shit. For that matter, replace the weird 3-wheel pickup truck they escape in with a the new tesla SUV. We've already lost all integrity.

I liked the game, but it has my least favorite mechanic in it-- letting you have a crippled character. For a good portion, dagger essentially has "homesickness" from earthbound, and that sucked.

>>2931903
>Squareenix is now unabashedly pimping out lightning for whatever revenue they can sell her for
They've wanted to do this for a long time. Aki from FF:TSW was supposed to be a virtual actor used in lots of productions. Canceled because TSW lost so much money.

>>2931760
How was the card game 'broken', though? It had rigid rules and I think it works as a card game. I wasn't a fan but I don't see how is actually broken.

Major problem is just that the rules are not intuitive and you can't really look them up.

>>2932442
Even after spending countless hours looking into the system and learning to read the letters and numbers, the amount of health a card has is pretty random and not the same from game to game. I understood it beyond that but a card starting with 2hp or 9hp is a huge swing. I think there were other things that annoyed me too, but it's been a while.

>>2931760
>This game also suffers from the bullshit plague that FFX2 did where, if you don't have a step by step guide to check before every action, it's easy to be permanently locked out of finishing some quests you began
Examples?

>>2928002
The hipster thing was to like it for a while, but now it's cool to hate it. I was hating it before it was cool, you know.

It's just got barely any of what makes FF good. A laugh that it is touted as a 'return to the roots' game when it is closer in FF10 in design than the games it is supposedly tributing.

>>2931836
Well most of the characters are supposed to be more comical than previous FFs so stiener being a parody of a knight is expected, I think he had is moments in Alexandria during disc 3.

Development is a little sketchy on the later characters (Amerant and Quina especially) but I think the ATEs showed enough about the characters without trying to force it into the main plot arcs.

I love it.The whole world map and every place in it is comfy as hell, it has a great soundtrack, and a great story.

>>2932656

>closer to FF10 in design

What world do you live in?

Here is your (you)

>>2928154
People just want to fit in!

>>2932737

>fitting in
>with /v/ or /vr/

fuck that shit

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Shut up and post FF9 art

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>>2934043

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>>2935894
Nice, never seen that one before.

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>>2936607
I had found it when I was looking for art of Agrias x Beatrix for /u/; sadly, I'm one of, like, three people who ships them or something. Pretty much everything I've found of them that isn't a sloppy mess is mine (and even then, I don't really regard much of my stuff that highly).

>>2932442
>Major problem is just that the rules are not intuitive and you can't really look them up.
Exactly.

>First time playing through the card game tournament in Treno
>Fight a guy who has a Ribbon
>amazeballs 200+ HP, kills everything I throw at it while taking less than 5 dmg each time
>Lose six times in a row
>Fluke a win on the seventh attempt
>Get his Ribbon card
>Use Ribbon card in next match
>It has 3 HP
>Fluke win in tournament final
>Never touch Tetra Master ever again

To be fair, Triple Triad can break the game once you know how to abuse it (like everything in FF8, really). Tetra Master does shit for you outside of that one tournament.

@2936863
jesus fuck how fucking garbage "art"

>>2928002
Disc one is comfy.

>>2936905
There's a board in Treno that explains some of the rules and it updates as the game goes on. Nobody knows the rules, the cards interact by themselves.

>>2937318
>Nobody knows the rules, the cards interact by themselves.
Calvinball: The Card Game

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>>2936863
>shipping two characters who have never met each other, aren't in the same game, and aren't even in the same universe

>shipping at all

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>>2937470
I've said it before that I spend an ungodly amount of time on /u/. Crack shipping within a franchise has become habitual.

>>2937295
Comfiest part of the game for me was probably the journey through the Outer Continent on disc 2. Even though the story had started to ramp up at that point, there still wasn't a big sense of urgency in the party's journey; it felt like they were just having fun exploring the world, and Conde Petie and Madain Sari were very tranquil places.

>>2928002

My favorite of the PS era final fantasy games. It felt like a tribute to the series' history up to that point. I mostly loved it for it's atmosphere. It's combat system wasn't particularly special, it felt like a remix of a bunch of other FF games (which was the point) and it's story kind of felt like a mishmash of ideas seen before in the series (again, kind of the point). Above all else though, it felt rather ... modest, yeah, that's the best word to describe it. It didn't feel like the game was made to show off new hardware or a new graphics engine, and it didn't feel like it was trying to appeal to a new demographic either with flashy new styles of character design or mind blowing new settings or radical new gameplay systems. It felt like a game just trying to be entertaining for fans of the series.

Notably, there was debate during development of this game as to whether or not it should have been released as a numbered entry or a spinoff

>>2938108
From what I know, it was going to be a spinoff, but Square was contracted to do three numbered FF games on the PS1.

>>2938126

Yeah, that was it, I read that way back before the game was even released, so my memory was a little hazy

>>2938108

This.

I felt like this game was a love letter to me. i don't really care what other people think. It's a masterpiece to me.

>>2928002
Its generally considered one of the worst games in the series

>>2928002
IX was a bad Final Fantasy. It had absolutely terrible equipment, skill, and ability systems that allowed no room for players to shape their characters in any way. The trance system going off outside of your control was even worse designed than VIII's limit spamming. The combat was slow and boring and the only interesting mechanic AT ALL was the dynamic between Steiner and Vivi, and it didn't really add anything to the game at all. It had a terribly boring setting that's only praised by "classic fans" because it didn't emphasize sci-fi, completely disregarding that Final Fantasy has used sci-fi elements from the start of the series. Your cast consisted of characters like Freya who were completely forgotten by the plot after their usefulness to the story was up, characters like Quina who basically just showed up whenever the game felt you needed a 4th party member and didn't do ANYTHING of any relevance, and characters like Amarant who I'm still trying to figure out why he was added to the game. The protagonist and antagonist being "space alien grim reaper brothers" is by far the worst plot twist in the series, much worse than either the orphanage in VIII or "You're a dream Teedus" could ever hope to be.

The worst part of all? In a series that's known for its innovation in its genre, Final Fantasy IX bitched out and actively BACKTRACKED to boring, outdated, mechanics. At least the early games it was a callback to were innovations of their time like the ATB system in IV, and at least for the PSX titles VII, VIII, and Tactics all tried to do new things with turn-based RPGs, storytelling, and world building even if it didn't please everyone- whereas IX actively decided to say fuck that, and appeal to idiots who want video games to stagnate.

It was boring and had nothing unique going for it. In fact, nothing about the game is particularly memorable. It has no sense of identity for itself and just takes after previous titles.

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Y'all niggas need to post more art.

>>2928158
>i dnt no wut casul means so il just use it for things i dunt wike

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We did it lads!

>>2928053
>objectively
Your post is objectively shit.

No idea why people bitch and complain about it having characters that aren't important to the plot while simultaneously sucking the dicks of the older games, like 4 (yeah Edward the Bard was PIVOTAL) 5 (half of the cast is just "along for the ride" and "I wanna save the world" with no personality beyond that) and 6 (you can literally beat the game without gathering up any other characters, and that's to say nothing of how useless most of them are to the plot (Setzer, Umaro, Gogo, Mog, Relm, the old man, and Gau, just to name a few)).

Another thing is that everybody bitches about this game's lack of customization, but I think it strikes a perfect balance of letting you choose your abilities while also making sure each character has a fairly unique identity in battle. I mean, FFV is certainly "customizable" but gameplaywise, the whole party might as well just be 4 of the same person. Nothing is unique about them, because everybody is fully customizable. This is the same in 7 and 8, minus limit breaks, so it really baffles me that people shit on this game's systems.

>>2941283
Fuck the Random rule. Lost so many good cards.

>>2941338
>this entire post

Are you me?

>>2941402
>>2941283
>Get rid of all the garbage cards in your collection via refining

It's a shitload easier to win when the game doesn't pull 5 fucking Geezards and is playing GF-tier or better.

>>2941635
>not having at least one of every card

>>2939994

Here is your (you)

your opinion isn't fact buddy

>>2939982

Posts in this thread, reviews, and sales indicate otherwise.

>>2941930
Why the fuck would you reply to that post?

>>2941981
Why the fuck would you reply to that post?

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>>2938618
Love letters can be some of the best games out there. Look at Dragon's Crown, and compare it to The King of Dragons or Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom. If you're into something, love letter games for it just feel like the best.

>>2936905
It can still be fun. I usually just go and nick all the Bahamuts and Alexanders and Arks from the Eidolon card guy that I can and cherry pick out of those the best ones. I still almost lost to Cid and his oglops.

>>2940198
Right you are, Ken.

>>2942025

Because I want them to feel validated, obviously

god anon, use that big ol' brain of yours

What the FUCK happened to Fratley?

Lost his memory, doesn't get it back, zero explanation or resolution.
Freya just gets well and thoroughly fucked over. Easily the least ambiguously well meaning character and everything she touches turns to shit.

>>2942438

The "why" doesn't matter. What matters is how Freya reacts to that scenario and what that says about her, and then what message the player can get from that.

>>2928062

being popular doesn't make it good

>>2930091

isn't zidane 16? kuja was set to croak at 25.

a nine year difference.

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>>2942438
She's the most tragic character in the game for sure.

>>2942438

Kuja did have a torture chamber full of potions and magic stuff in his desert base, and he seems to hate Freya's species for some reason, which is weird because they don't seem to even know who he is.

maybe a wandering rat got in and ruined something important, and that's why Kuja decided to kill them off first

>>2942793
And your opinion doesnt make it bad so hey we are 1 for 1 now arent we?

If you dont have anything to add to the discussion, there are other threads for you to take part in. Enough with the shitposting.

>>2942793
It most definitively makes it not a blunder though.

ITT: We respond to argumented opinions with a "fuck you!", that sure will teach them to change their minds

>>2942996
This is 4chan, you always have to sift through those people. There's been good discussion in here, just obviously not everyone agrees or wants FF to be the same thing.

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I like FF9.

Fite me.

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This thread is not allowed to die until I get more FF9 art.

>>2942895

are you flirting with me?

>>2944496

Y-yes

>>2944383
I think that's the same artist who did the Beatrix one I shared earlier, yes? What's their name? I wanna check more of their shit out.

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Honestly, I just liked FF9 because Dagger+Zidane a cute.

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>>2944516
I dunno man. I just like dat rat.

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>>2944528
Dammit.

Freya is pretty awesome though, I almost always use her in place of Steiner or Amarant for my big hitter, alongside Zidane (who gets pretty fucking powerful weapons for a Thief).

Someone on /u/ ships her with Beatrix, I remember, and after I went and pointed out that Freya's face would make a few things kind of difficult, they couldn't stop laughing at the thought of the two bumping noses like, five times before they finally kiss right.

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>>2944704
>I almost always use her in place of Steiner or Amarant for my big hitter, alongside Zidane

The correct party, whenever the game lets you use it, is Zidane, Steiner, Freya, Amarant. Ungodly damage with minimal MP usage and plenty of healing potential.

>>2944523
This is the cutest Dagger I've ever seen.

>>2944726
I mostly use Zidane, Vivi, Freya, and either Garnet or Quina, if only because I like to have some variety and also because Vivi's kinda cute. Sometimes I'll have Amarant instead of Vivi, because Garnet does have great nuking potential, and Amarant can just keep pumping her full of mana.

>>2944704
Also, hey, I found the artist for this one: http://c-rowlesdraws.tumblr.com/post/96041173477/amarant-coral-you-piece-of-trash-i-dont-ship

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>>2928002

This turned a lot of people off.

The blatant cash grab was nauseating.

>>2945880
Only idiots bought strategy guides in the first place. It's a JRPG. You really don't need a book to tell you how to win. I remember people complaining about this and just laughing at them.

>>2945908

I was like 13 or 14 at the time and so were most of my friends.

Also I liked to read them too :3

>>2944726
I like Zidane, Steiner, Vivi, Garnet. Though sometimes I swap Garnet for Freya as I really like her. Elixers and crap are pretty easy to come by, so MP use really isn't an issue. Vivi and Steiner make such a good combo. Nuke nuke nuke!

>>2945910
Okay, for 13 year old I feel a little bad that they got one of the worst strategy guides. But even still, I was playing Wizardry when I was 13 with no guides. Kids were kind of robbing themselves relying on guides.

I wonder if that's why we get these threads around here with people asking the best way to play a game before they even start it. It's like the concept of just playing something to discover it for yourself has disappeared.

>>2945915

Nah, I agree with you. If I could go back I would of played those games without the guide.

In my school and group of friends, the guide was something to bring to lunch and to share. At the time, we didn't think it was taking away from the experience of exploration.

>>2945908
I buy guides if I like the games enough, even if I don't use the guide to help me as I play. Those guides sometimes have cool art & other shit in them. Or they used to, anyway. I can't remember the last time I actually bought one.

>>2945915
>Wizardry
Fuckig muscle memory cost me being able to make a party of two Lords, two Samurai, and two Ninjas in less than a day.

>>2945941
That's why people just buy artbooks nowadays instead. Vanillaware ones are fucking awesome, but then again, so is George Kamitani's art, it's a shame most of his stuff is retro enough for us to talk about.

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>>2946064
Artbooks are where it's at. Pretty much the only reason I ever went to anime conventions back in the day was looking for Japanese game art books.

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>>2946064
I don't suppose anyone in this thread has scans from the FF9 artbook lying around somewhere...

>>2945908

The amount of missable and obtuse content in FFIX is pretty staggering, though.

You'll only understand ff9 if you can appreciate the series from its inception.
Ff9 is by far my favorite in the series. I used to fantasize and obsess over possible garnettxzidane scenarios and would write oodles of slightly lewd stories that I would submit to fan fiction.net

>>2945880

That Strat guide was the worst one ever created.

>>2947940
Cute!

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>>2948391
Pretty much.

>>2930550
I agree that FF9 is a little too retrospective. It's great in that regard, but my favorite of the ps era is definitely Tactics. It really gets the job system right, which is definitely a throwback to 5 and earlier.

>>2949642
but the story of Tactics relies less on nostalgia for the older titles than 9. The nostalgia is all in the world building (job system, item names, chocobos, etc.), but the game's story introduces its own elements too (like the zodiac stones and the Ivalice lore that they continued in other games).

>>2928002
FFIX is everything a Final Fantasy game should be.

>>2949749
grindy?

>>2950160
Charming.

>>2950190
It is charming. Vivi was my favorite character in a FF game since FF6.

>>2947940
>that GIA logo in the bottom right

ow, my nostalgia

>>2928074
That's true, but around here at least people will argue to the death about their favorite version of their favorite game.

FF splits hairs a lot.

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>>2928048
>People still think it's called Lifa tree

>>2944726
Correct party is Zidane, Quina, Freya and Amarant, you almost got it right

>>2928002
It's the best ps1 Final Fantasy.
>doesn't have the stupid storyline of VII
>it has romance but in a good amount (unlike VIII)
>best world
>some of the party members are meh but others are great
>fun skill system with the crystal mechanic (I don't remember the exact name but you know what I'm talking about)

>>2928146
>You honestly think you are going to get a general consensus that most of FF fanbase agrees with from any of the FF games?
Maybe they agree that FF II is shit because it is

>>2941283
Few guides around on how to manipulate the RNG so you can consistently fuck with the rules how you want.
Wish there was a way to do it that influenced what cards they played so it'd make getting a fuckton of Elnoyle's easier.

>>2928053

I love all three PS1 FFs

fight me

>>2951805
Quina can be mega-useful but I can't get over how retarded the character is.