Why Final Fantasy IX Is One Of The Best Games Ever

[Music] what makes a great role-playing game theme a strong set of characters a fun combat system maybe being able to explore an interesting world while setting upon the backdrop of a compelling story or is it the writing or how deep the magic system is most role-playing games only get a few of those elements correct I've only played a handful of games that have excelled at all of them in Final Fantasy 9 is definitely one of them my beloved Final Fantasy 9 released for the original PlayStation in July of 2000 a mere three months and around three weeks before the PlayStation 2 would hit the markets in October Final Fantasy was the Godfather of the JRPG dating back to 1987 with its original game it's easy to forget how prolific Square used to be so influential to this day Final Fantasy games were often replicated with little to no shame by other role-playing games especially coming out of Japan the turn-based RPG was the game of choice for a long time its popularity fractured only when the industry steered towards more action MMO and open world style role-playing games Final Fantasy today is a lot different than what it used to be the psychotic RPG franchise mostly held its roots in medieval fantasy and magic it explored a futuristic sci-fi approach with its first two entries on the PlayStation Final Fantasy 7 & 8 where guns giant robots technology and high rise buildings replaced the castles and fantasy of the prior games it was probably the start of the New Age modern Final Fantasy the iconic imagery of Final Fantasy airships crystals magic mages with pointy hats and an impressive presentation are the cornerstone to any game of the franchise and welcome us back to Final Fantasy 9 it was only when Final Fantasy 9 came out that the series would revive the classic magic based light-hearted themes of the original games it was a celebration Final Fantasy 9 took a step back to focus on what made the franchise well the franchise to begin with it stepped away from the emo storytelling of Final Fantasy 8 we're appealing to the youthful pop culture of seven instead dusting off and returning through its tried and true image of how Final Fantasy used to be it's a game centralized around a profound and comfortable feeling of nostalgia popping in Final Fantasy 9 into your PlayStation back in the day was such a special feeling it wasn't just another Final Fantasy game for me it was one of the best games ever one of the most memorable things about ff9 for me is that it's everything that I used to love about the first games and ditches everything accessory from the contemporary games that didn't need to be the junction system of eight is out out with materia and characters being able to learn anything they want and outs with the overcomplicated story that often ends with more questions than answers Final Fantasy 9 has one of the most straightforward and rewarding stories combat systems and ability systems of any game in the catalogue and that's what I love about it it's back to the class system and predefined roles are not optional there are eight main characters as well as a variety of secondary characters who pop in from time to time VV is the black page in the primary magic damage dealer [Music] Dagger and eco are white mages and healers or summoners Steiner was the tank and sword specialist Zidane is the quick and nimble thief etc each character self identifies with just one role bringing unique abilities to the party such as Quinta's blue magic an ability to eat enemies while many gamers prefer a more flexible class system in the lines of something like Final Fantasy 7 there are those of us who prefer having more structure I appreciate both systems and I think the rigid class system of 9 works fine because it's still customizable thanks to the item AP system it's not as complex as materia or Junction but it's still incredibly rewarding and intuitive one of my favorite parts about Final Fantasy 9 is that it starts off incredibly fun and interesting the game opens up in the beautiful city of Alexandria you play as a Dane and you're on track to kidnap princess Garnett who for reasons her crazed mother actually lets you do so during the escapee partaken a variety of conversations and meet a lot of different people you see some exposition you partake in a mini game and you stumble into Steiner and Vivi who eventually join you for various reasons it's just a really fun starts to the game Final Fantasy 9 story gets increasingly more interesting as you progress from city to city learning more about the conflict and like any good final fantasy game ultimately having to save the world from the Queen and of course Kuja himself one of the Lost Ark - the best Final Fantasy games is a strong identification of writing and story development above any game in the franchise ode say that 9 has one of the most coherent stories Lading with a strong theme of war friendship love and most importantly justice Final Fantasy 9 theme is about banding together in the face of destruction war and conflict despite the motives of any one particular character it all boils down to people coming together in opposition of something evil but despite that fact each character has strong internal struggles so Dame's struggle to find out what duty and self mean to him the personal struggle of Beatrix and Steiner towards finding out what's it means to be loyal and who to protect and of course dagger is quest towards becoming the queen we'll need to find out in the end what a queen is supposed to be versus what she thought it was ought to be the beauty of 9 is that each character has a beginning a middle and an end most of them undergoing personal or emotional transformations that make them feel more than just pixels on the screen but unlike something like Final Fantasy seven or eight none of them go widely misunderstood given the fancy names much more straightforward presentation and story the story beats put into place together provide the background for individual themes like finding out who you truly are as a person what you believe in we're discovering what you want to protect in life they come to the forefront with characters like Zidane dagger and Steiner and there is no mistaking VV VV is one of the coolest characters in this game let alone any game in the Final Fantasy franchise and his personal struggles with the Eidolons provides several standout moments in the game soon he discovers his life has a timer on it consistently giving him a reason to question his purpose in the world it's a very sad moment while Zidane is definitely the main character it's the personal story of evey to find purpose that echoes throughout the story it's felt was a Dane dagger and even the villain of the game Kuja as he struggles with the idea to find his own purpose amidst the idea that he may not be perfect after all it's the thoughtfulness to the characters in this way that makes the story so good and even the most unexpected playable characters like Quinnie or Eko are given proper screen time it makes the supporting cast of modern games like Final Fantasy 15 feel kind of underdeveloped and flaccid as characters such as Ignace and Prompto seem to end up in the same emotional spot that they starred in but not Vivi or Freya for example whose large transformations make the game feel grounded and personal a small and lonely mage feeling like he doesn't have a home growing into a character with purpose and friendship isn't unlike something some of us can go through in our lives - these themes carry through to us the world in sound creation is what make these experiences come to life the pre-rendered backgrounds of mine are so beautiful both in execution and in consistency to the main story the entire world of Final Fantasy 9 is light-hearted incredibly inviting and more colorful than any game in the franchise this isn't the dark and dingy city of Midgar Gaia is absolutely beautiful especially when seen through the lens of one of the game's many full motion cutscenes which are by far the highlights of the game for me traditionally speaking the FMB cutscene was your reward for completing a major section of the game arrive at a new location battle your way past some random encounters until you reach the boss defeat boss read some dialogue and sit back for a beautiful cutscene these cutscenes transport you into a movie just for a little bit they are where we see the character emotions beyond the textbox the overly pixelated character models are the pre-rendered backgrounds the FMV is fantastic and it's so well done especially when it comes to portraying how the characters actually feel and the soundtrack what can you say about it it provides some of the best music in the franchise another great part about nine is that it had some of the most amazing side quests and hidden things to do some of which are so rare that it took the industry 13 years to find them all my favorite side quest was the chocolate treasure hunt you can stumble upon spirits to give you access to Garnett's strongest summon should you take the time to finish the chain you can partake in mini games you can play blackjack by entering a secret code when the credits roll down there's optional bosses there's an auction house with an in-game economy you can speedrun the game to acquire Excalibur - by getting some memoria and under 12 hours you can get a chalk above you can fly in an airship play tetra master which is the in-game card game and you can come back to NPCs later on for optional dialogue there is so much to uncover in Final Fantasy 9 the beauty being that it's still wrapped in the most tightly woven package in the franchise for me if I'm a Fantasy 9 has it all a wonderful story and characters great world design humor concentrated gameplay a great AP system for personalization and a deep theme unique to 9 I'll always remember my first playthrough a 9 and the shock to the experience this wasn't a typical Final Fantasy game it was a return to the classic FF design Final Fantasy will always have its flaws from being plucked out of the world and thrown into a random battle which always seems to happen at the most inconvenient time to the combat system ultimately becoming routine and a little bit too easy by games in reading so much dialogue it can be draining and not everyone wants to play a game this long but Final Fantasy is becoming something different where action based gameplay is now replacing the ones turn-based combat system and the games are being made so much different some of the experiences now are dictated by a quest Journal a quest marker or a quest compass and some of them have been converted to MMO material but deep down Final Fantasy 9 was before all of that it was a time when Final Fantasy was at its core a JRPG a throwback and wonderfully nostalgic JRPG that reminded us how good fine fancy games could be and is one of the best I'll always remember my time with Final Fantasy 9 because the games have become so much different today I'll never get to go back in time to replay the game as it was back when I was 16 years old but I can tell you one thing I remember it just as fondly [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Downward Thrust

Views: 436,543

Keywords: best video game, best game ever, downward thrust, video game controversy news, new video games, final fantasy games, final fantasy 9, final fantasy IX, best final fantasy game ps4, best final fantasy, best final fantasy game, best rpg games, best rpg games for ps4, best rpg, best role playing game, best rpg for android, final fantasy square enix, final fantasy 7 remake, final fantasy 7, new final fantasy game 2018, new final fantasy 7, video game news, gaming news

Id: yW2GOhNLyxE

Length: 10min 26sec (626 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 21 2018