Final Fantasy IX coming to the PS4

[dope_danny]

Can we actually talk about FFIX?

I began to play this game but left it for some reason. Im glad that I have the chance to play it again, so in-detail opinions of the game without spoilers will be appreciated.

Pay attention. The game is not what it appears to be in the first disc and this includes genre of rpg it is. Its really on replay you notice most of what is teased in the first act but it pays to make sure you look for whats actually happening beyond 'fantasy game' so you appreciate the story more when the reveals happen midway.

[Al Gorefiend]

As much as I love it (it's my nostalgia favourite also), FF8 probably has some of the weakest characters in the series. I think Squall is great for all the reasons you mentioned, but he's not a particularly effective protagonist because he comes across as so unlikeable and out of touch with humanity for most of the game. It's no surprise that you find a lot of people saying they wish Laguna had been the protagonist of FF8, since he's just plain old fun to spend time with, despite not being anywhere near as fleshed out as Squall.

The rest of the cast are the real weak links in FF8, though, which is really weird considering it has a smaller cast than most of the other games. By all accounts they should've been able to jam pack those characters full of personality, but they didn't. No one really has an arc that isn't either over before it has the chance to shine, or vague and muddled in with the development of the other characters. Their personalities are pretty weak, and the small amounts of depth they do get are rarely expanded upon. Laguna and his pals are fun to spend time with, but they're ultimately pretty shallow and lacking in screen time overall.

I also think FF8 has a very shaky major plot once it hits disc 3 (although admittedly a lot of Final Fantasy games go off the rails at around this point), unless you view it from the perspective of Ultimecia being a future version of Rinoa, which is almost certainly not something you'll do on your first playthrough. I do adore that theory, though, since I feel like it turns a simplistic and boring plot/villain into an absolutely awesome one. It makes all of the sorceress stuff with Rinoa in disc 3 so much more compelling, and adds a real weight to the final encounter that just isn't there if you assume Ultimecia is some generic weirdo from the future who wants to do bad things cuz evil.

But yeah, for me it's mostly the characters in FF8 that are its real weak point. Rinoa is mostly just a love interest for Squall who only becomes interesting with the Rinoa = Ultimecia theory. Like a lot of the characters she has some good stuff in disc 1 as the rebellious freedom fighter who's really just a rich girl out of her depth, but many of the major changes she undergoes are all forced upon her via external sources rather than being things she acts upon herself. Rinoa has so many scenes that exist purely as characterisation for Squall, with her being either passive or completely helpless as he takes the lead.
Zell is a broad and comical character who might've had a little more meat on his bones if they expanded his relationship with his parents and the revelation that he's adopted, but that's mainly relegated to a throwaway scene mid way through the game.
Selphie is uh... I guess she's the bubbly girl. She is sad when her old child soldier school gets blown up I guess. To her credit she's a lot of fun during the missile base segment, but again that's the only real moment she gets to shine.
Quistis is pretty interesting right at the start since she's the only one who apparently understands Squall and seems genuinely fond of him (they even have some pretty fun chemistry together), but as soon as Squall heads off on his own she's basically forgotten for the rest of the game and takes a back seat to everyone else. She probably would've made for a far more organic and interesting love interest than Rinoa, but that thread is also dropped half way through disc one before it can go anywhere.
Irvine is probably the most fun guy in the main cast since he's a tryhard suave ladies man, wearing his personality on his sleeve and letting you know what he's all about right from the start. He gets a lot more interesting when you find out about his anxiety issues and realise that the suave front is probably compensating for something, but yet again that arc gets dropped almost as soon as you find out about it. Irvine is still a bit more interesting given that his loyalties are slightly more ambiguous in the early part of the game, but much like everyone else he never really develops as the game progresses.
I can't remember if there was anything more to Seifer beyond just being a babby who wanted to be a big cool knight for a sorceress. I don't think they ever expanded upon or resolved that singular motivation for his character. He just got beat up a lot and then decided not to be a bad guy any more. He was a terrible rival character.

Ultimately I think the reason for all of these underdeveloped characters in FF8 is because the game just becomes the Squall and Rinoa show at around the midway point. Couple that with Laguna's side story vying for screen time, and no one else gets the chance for much proper ongoing development. There are also multiple points in the game in which you're given a lot of freedom over who you put in your party, which constrains the writing into smaller, more generic roles for the characters that can be switched around to account for them being on the opposite side of the plot in different playthroughs.

It's really interesting to contrast all of this stuff with FF9, which does almost the exact opposite in every area and succeeds in creating far stronger characters as a result. Zidane is about as charismatic and likeable as a protagonist can get, character roles are fixed most of the time when the party splits, there aren't any weird deviations from the main plot, and everyone has a very strong and clearly defined personality from the outset with additional layers of depth revealed as the story goes on. Most importantly, everyone has an arc of some kind (although not all of them are resolved as cleanly as they could be).

FF8 also has weird gameplay that struggles with some unique issues compared to other games in the series, but since the Final Fantasies of that era are so defined by the story, characters, art, and music, I don't really consider that to be a big part of it.

Sure it had flaws, it was never built up as the GOAT of the FF series.
But it was still a chapter in FF's history regardless of it being good or bad. 7 and 9 had dumb aspects to it as well, and 7 has already had a full remake (or two? Or was that a sequel?) and I think a movie? It wasn't THAT much better than 8.

For 8 to be COMPLETELY SKIPPED as if Sqeenix wants everyone to forget about it kinda drives me up a wall. It had a crappy port that was hardly a remaster and launched with broken audio half a decade ago. They just don't give a shit about 8 and it's my favorite one. Grrr.

And for all the flubby attempts at slow storytelling in 8, it had some good action scenes. The Galbadia vs. Balamb fight when they discover their schools are magical airships and they crash them into eachother, and you had to grapple from school to school, that was cool.
The scene where Irvine tries to assassinate Eden in that city I can't remember the name of, and they fail despite the odds. That was cool.
The scene where you charge into the prism with the Ragnarok jet, also cool.

[Wondercrab]

Sure it had flaws, it was never built up as the GOAT of the FF series.
But it was still a chapter in FF's history regardless of it being good or bad. 7 and 9 had dumb aspects to it as well, and 7 has already had a full remake (or two? Or was that a sequel?) and I think a movie? It wasn't THAT much better than 8.

For 8 to be COMPLETELY SKIPPED as if Sqeenix wants everyone to forget about it kinda drives me up a wall. It had a crappy port that was hardly a remaster and launched with broken audio half a decade ago. They just don't give a shit about 8 and it's my favorite one. Grrr.

And for all the flubby attempts at slow storytelling in 8, it had some good action scenes. The Galbadia vs. Balamb fight when they discover their schools are magical airships and they crash them into eachother, and you had to grapple from school to school, that was cool.
The scene where Irvine tries to assassinate Eden in that city I can't remember the name of, and they fail despite the odds. That was cool.
The scene where you charge into the prism with the Ragnarok jet, also cool.

Oh I agree, I adore 8 despite all of the issues I spent that whole big post talking about. It's easily one of my favourite games in the series, probably moreso than 7. It has probably the best action set pieces in any of the games, as you mentioned, and its integration of FMV with gameplay was mind blowing at the time. The whole assassination sequence at the end of disc 1 is just beautifully put together. FF8 has some of my favourite music in the series, the best card game, and a lot of weird and interesting ideas that set it apart from other Final Fantasies.

While 9 is my favourite overall, it's also incredibly standard and safe compared to 8. It does a lot of very basic tried-and-true storytelling things and nails them brilliantly, but it rarely takes big risks (and when it does, the results are questionable). 8 is just weird and unconventional from start to finish, and I really appreciate that. FF7 was a hard act to follow, and rather than trying to one-up it, they tried something completely different.

I don't think Final Fantasy has ever done a futuristic setting as well as FF8 did, or shaken up the gameplay formula as significantly. If nothing else FF8 is incredibly unique and memorable, and for me that alone puts it head and shoulders above all of the bland FF7 spin-offs and unnecessary sequels that came out in the post-PS1 era.

Also the sorceresses in FF8 are the coolest thing ever.

[Deleted]

The Black Mages subplot and the music themes are one of the best ever in RPG history.

[tehealadin]

Can't believe that I only just found out about this. Downloaded it instantly, my favourite of the FF games. With the no encounters and speed mode, I might finally do an Excalibur 2 run.

[dope_danny]

Sure it had flaws, it was never built up as the GOAT of the FF series.
But it was still a chapter in FF's history regardless of it being good or bad. 7 and 9 had dumb aspects to it as well, and 7 has already had a full remake (or two? Or was that a sequel?) and I think a movie? It wasn't THAT much better than 8.

For 8 to be COMPLETELY SKIPPED as if Sqeenix wants everyone to forget about it kinda drives me up a wall. It had a crappy port that was hardly a remaster and launched with broken audio half a decade ago. They just don't give a shit about 8 and it's my favorite one. Grrr.

And for all the flubby attempts at slow storytelling in 8, it had some good action scenes. The Galbadia vs. Balamb fight when they discover their schools are magical airships and they crash them into eachother, and you had to grapple from school to school, that was cool.
The scene where Irvine tries to assassinate Eden in that city I can't remember the name of, and they fail despite the odds. That was cool.
The scene where you charge into the prism with the Ragnarok jet, also cool.

I dearly love 8. It was my first FF, my first Playstation game and the first game i bought myself rather than bought for me by my parents. I loved the world, the music, all the set pieces you really only notice on a replay. Like how they frequently mention one reason war is largely back to small ground based battles is because long range communication doesnt work because for some reason tv and radio hasn't worked for years. Then when they start to turn them back on in Timber for the speech all the tv's you run past show the signal thats blocked all communication and its screaming something like 'you did this to me' or something on repeat. As a kid i never got that but on repeat i did. Aside from a really anime as fug 'we all knew each other as kids' twist in the final act there is a lot of things it does really, really well.

BUT the problem with 8 is a big one. Its combat, leveling, spell and junction systems are all broken AND they all conflict with each other. Every enemy scales with you so you dont actually need to grind. Only as enemies scale they have more things you can draw/steal so to get the best stuff its mandatory to grind to get them to certain thresholds. THEN some are only easily beaten through junctioning which requires spells to be attached to stats. Which means you can't cast them or that stat gets weaker.

It was a very bold experiment but ultimately the systems are all so conflicting its just too big a job to fix. It would need an entire from the ground up system redesign. All the 'fast forward' style chests would only compound the problem not solve it. In the age of marketing not just to core audiences but the 'light user hyper casual' -especially taking modern journos that dont like or play games into account- it would get so much bad press from people that simply do not understand how it works.

I mean shit could you imagine the people raised on modern 'follow the waypoint and skip every cutscene' crowd to be able to deal with the SeeD exams? It was a product of a different time and one SE doesnt like to market to much anymore. So 8 is probably as forgotten a gem as crystal chronicles at this point.

[zito]

Could be worse. could be XIII. of the modern generation ones, it is best.

It is worse than 13 because the game wasn't even finished. They are still patching fixes to this day. A quote

"This game will be good in 2 years when they finish all the DLC and fixes"

[FobManX]

So how do people feel about this on PS4 now? I'm thinking of getting it as I loved FF9. I know it's been available on PC but I just don't like playing FF games on PC, it just seems so much more natural on a console and controller.

[dope_danny]

So how do people feel about this on PS4 now? I'm thinking of getting it as I loved FF9. I know it's been available on PC but I just don't like playing FF games on PC, it just seems so much more natural on a console and controller.

Its okay. The models are clean but the backgrounds are the same and that can clash. Also on PS4 its not real analogue movement but a strange emulation of D pad movement using the analogue sticks so when you transition screens diagonally it can flip out a little like tank controls. Also the battle ui has changed and looks like a mobage version like the 6 port which seems ugly and uneeded.

But they gave Beatrix jiggle physics so swings and roundabouts based on the player i suppose.

[kasuke06]

It is worse than 13 because the game wasn't even finished. They are still patching fixes to this day. A quote

"This game will be good in 2 years when they finish all the DLC and fixes"

As opposed to XIII which was thoroughly terrible, and never patched with direly needed things, such as likeable characters, good writing...

[zito]

As opposed to XIII which was thoroughly terrible, and never patched with direly needed things, such as likeable characters, good writing...

You're implying ff15 had good writing and like-able characters

[Zigrifid]

#vivigangforlife

[kasuke06]

You're implying ff15 had good writing and like-able characters

Never said that, just better. then again, it's like saying DMC2 is better than DmC, both are objectively inferior to other entries in their series, and both are competing for "who's the least terrible" between themselves.

[Wondercrab]

But they gave Beatrix jiggle physics so swings and roundabouts based on the player i suppose.

I had no idea that was new. If they specifically put that in then that's kind of amazing considering the lack of other changes.

Incidentally, Beatrix is also one of the reasons I love FFIX the most. I can't think of a cooler boss/rival character in the series, especially given where they take her by the end of it.

[Deleted]

And I just bought the Vita Version of it -_-. Looks like I'm gonna double dip. For that physical box alone.

[unfilteredJW]

Last FF where the characters were worth a damn and the story wasn't garbage.

Only one that's come close to being as good as 6.

8/13 were the only ones that were so bad I didn't bother to finish. 10 was close.

[hellhamster]

If 9's combat wasn't so goddamn slow it would definitely be equal to 7 and 6. Great feel, characters atmosphere, music, even the story is much deeper than most people think. People who whine about the last boss, they weren't really paying attention to the story and the overall mood of the characters. They also never played the older games to notice the recurring theme.

7 > 6 > 9> 10 > 4 > 3 > 8 > 12 > 1 > 2 > 5.

Haven't played 11, 13, 14 and 15.

[Darkarath]

I finally finished FFIX HD. The models look nice, the rest doesn't look that good but you get use to it, so, graphics weren't a problem to me, I actually enjoyed the ''old school'' FF art. The turbo thing, max damage and stuff like that are a VERY welcome feature, especially the turbo thing, because some parts of this game are very grindy. I couldn't imagine get to Beak Level 99 with my chocobo without the turbo. Trophies are a cool addition, I'm still trying to platinum it but hell, some trophies are too much (10000 enemies killed o_O, don't even get me to talk about the King of the Rope one).

Focusing in the game, I enjoyed it, it really feels like an ''old school'' FF (for me, FFX, XII, XIII and XV are a different thing, I'm not saying that they're bad, but they are just not what I would like a FF to be). I have mixed feelings about the game though, FFVII and VIII are far superior to me, let's see why:

- Story: I liked it a lot until a certain point. When it was about the war waged by Alexandria it was simple and cool. When Terra comes in I honestly think that it goes down the hill. And the end, while emotional, it's a disaster IMO, so many things untold, without and answer. NOT COOL.

- Characters: same feelings that with the story. At the beginning I love them, but I hated that they were separating my group ALL THE TIME, and there is a point where they just stop developing them, most of them are very irrelevant. Let's take a closer look:

Yitan: fun at the start, boring at the end. He's so good just for no reason. Between angels like him and mentally fucked characters like
Cloud and Squall, I prefer the later.

Dagger: I liked her. She has pretty funny moments and a clear development as a character. A solid character.

Vivi: one of the most adorable characters of all time. You just have to love him. Really cool character with a nice story.

Steiner: I cracked myself up with this guy, he is amazing at the beginning. A shame that there are parts of the game in which he's
nowhere to be seen. I expected him to be more emotional at the end, but he's a true soldier. It's a satisfactory character, but I would have
liked to see more about him.

Quina: a secondary character, fun at times, she only cares about food. MEH.

Eiko: a child, some funny moments too. It was ok but her end was very surprising to me, it came out of nowhere.

Freya: as many things in this game, she was cool when she first appears and after a while she completely dissapears. I don't get why
they didn't give us more about her lover. He just appears a few seconds and nothing else until the end.

Amarant: terrible. If he wasn't in the game no one will miss him. He made no sense to me.

Beatrix: she's alright. She didn't surprise much but it's a likeable character.

Kuja: the main bad guy was a huge dissapointment. Cool and ruthless until mid-game, and then he transforms into an angry child, and
after he fucked everything he changes again to be a good guy for no reason.

There are more characters but I don't want to analyse each one of them. In general I would say that they are fun but most of them lack development.

- Combat, summons and skills: combat is very similar to FFVII and VIII, but with a TERRIBLE trance system, I don't get how they did it like that. The way in which you gain skills its good and bad; good because its fun (at least to me) to ''collect'' skills from your gear, it incites you to get them all, but bad because its annoying to change gear at all times to get the different skills. Summons are important, I really like how they weave them into the story, but best summon system IMO was FFVIII.

- Music: good as always. Main theme is truly amazing.

Well, those are my impressions, hope that you enjoyed. My advice, if you haven't played it and you miss ''old'' FF, its a must.