General Gaming Beat it - Small rant about Final Fantasy IX.

[Bacon]

Until recently, I had only heard good things about FF9 for years, but I gotta say that I haven’t been exactly enjoying my time with it so far. I am currently on disc 2 and I have reached the outer continent. Just putting out my thoughts as they come to my head so shit is just kinda coming out at random, maybe. 

 

The game starts out pretty good. Zidane, Vivi, and Steiner have good introductions 

 

The sudden plot point with the Eidolons comes out of nowhere. As far as I could tell, there was nothing even foreshadowing their importance. I had just assumed I didn’t have enough MP to use them. Not once did Garnet mention how she didn’t want to use her summons. I don’t think the other characters even knew she had summons. Game never even called her a summoner, it just had an unusable summon ability.

 

Garnet says she never met Cid and yet they act like regular ol chums, and Cid just has the knowledge that he needed to have it set up for Garnet to get kidnapped for some reason. Nothing so far has indicated that he needed to rescue Garnet nor did he know of Brahne’s exact plans to extract the eidolons. Garnet says she hasn’t been to Lindblum since she was a child, and hasn’t been back since her father died. She claims to have lived in Lindblum for a while but never met Regent Cid. That just seems ridiculous, especially since she “remembers that mustache” and Cid says “I am delighted to see you again, Garnet. You have truly become a fine lady.” Maybe this is a mistranslation, maybe this is plot related and you are supposed to realize that what the characters are saying doesn’t line up with reality. If that is the case then wow they are doing a bad job of not making this seem like poor writing. And then Cid wanted to kidnap Garnet simply because her mother is acting weird because of a promise he made to her father to protect Garnet, and Garnet wanted to leave because her mother was acting weird. I mean, yeah, it was right of them to both behave this way because of what happens later, but fuck man the whole reason the game started was so flimsy. Oh, but Cid does know that Brahne is after the Eidolons! He mentions so right after his city gets fuckin’ Atomos’d. And yet he never mentioned that to Garnet or at least never mentioned it to Garnet while the player was watching. Would have made much more sense for him not to know that. 

 

While it makes sense for Steiner, why in the fuck is everyone so set on serving as loyal protectors to this random princess? Zidane comes across as a massive simp. Now I wouldn’t care except for the fact that he basically claims to be a bit of a lady's man (at 16 lol) and the second he meets Garnet he starts crushin’ mad hard for what feels like no reason other than to make him into a character that will always protect Garnet. 

 

Zidane also kinda sucks. So far, he is offering nothing to the story aside from often being the most worldly guy in the room. I think he fails at being an MC so far. He knows much more than pretty much anyone else in the party so the player often isn’t learning along with the MC, but rather with Garnet. He also isn’t particularly interesting and blends in with whatever party he is in. He feels like a background character taking the front stage. Fucking Marcus is more interesting and cooler looking and I wish he was the MC. I’m not saying he should have been a blank slate for the player to self-insert as, but he also lacks characterization. He either needs to be more like Vaan(blank) or more like Balthier(well-defined) but he is in this middle place that I can’t get behind. That or he needs some mystery like Cloud or something special like Cecil. Or he needs to have a moment to rise up from being the everyman into a main character. Everyone so far has some fish outta water qualities except for Zidane who, despite being a teenage thief-bandit, masterfully navigates every encounter like he’s bratty Auron. Maybe that’s a bit much, but he has about as much relevancey as Yuffie to the plot, or at least it feels that way about halfway-ish into disc 2. 

 

Now, I can forgive Quina’s introductions since they are weird, but what in the fuck were they thinking with Freya? Zidane walks into a bar, Freya says it’s been three years since they last met - making him only 13 at the time, and then she is basically just in the party right after. That’s pretty much it. The hunt happens, rat town gets BLACK MAGED, and she’s in the party. Like fucking what? That said, damn her theme is fuckin’ bangin’. 

 

Vivi is endearing. Who the hell doesn’t like Vivi? That said, he looks fuckin’ human?!?!?! I had always thought Vivi was some kind of automaton/golem/void creature. Like a Japanese Pinocchio. Now, I do know that he was made but I never thought he actually was supposed to look human. And like, that scene on the airship with Black Waltz 3 killing all the other BLM’s had no emotional weight for me. Fuckers look like Oogie Boogie took up farming. They are about as human looking as a Tonberry. 

 

Garnet is fine. Pretty much just a standard princess trope type-b variant-2. Nothing to praise, not much to complain about except that her character is pretty boring. Quina is whatever. Won’t use them when I won’t have to. Don’t hate’em, just feels like a 4th wheel. 

 

Steiner is great tho. Sure, he is a bit obnoxious, but man people are assholes to him for fuckin’ no reason. The guy is just trying to do what he feels is right and 9 times outta 10 he would be right. Zidane almost feels like a bully. I love his level of respect for Vivi and he is wiser than most characters give him credit for. AND HIS ARMOR AIN'T EVEN RUSTY!!!

 

Overall, I feel like the plot is barely there at this point. This adventure feels super half-assed. So much of the game so far was just getting to Lindblum which resulted in nothing at all. Princess ended up getting kidnapped, Rat Town is on fire, Rat Tree is now a crater and we got this mystery guy who is probably behind the queen’s heel turn. Pretty week start when other games have an Ex-Soldier joining an Eco-terrorist group and you spend the first disc taking on the man, or a Dark Knight doing Dark Knight things who then wants to not be the Darkest Knight, or where you end up plaything the brother of the guy who just died in the prologue and end up getting involved in political intrigue. The characters just seem to be meandering in the right direction to advance the plot and the game hasn’t given a strong plot thread to follow. Kuja is obviously going to be the big bad or one of the big bads with him being a proto-Seymour but man the Kuja thread is just a thin thread to follow even though it is obviously the right choice. 

 

The music could be better. Shit has got some major bangers, but can’t say I’m a fan of the world theme, and my god the boss music is just sooo bad IMO. The regular combat music is fine. It sounds pretty good actually, until you compare it to other themes and then it feels lacking. No town themes have really stood out yet either. Oh, and I appreciate the mellow Chocobo theme, but I can’t say I prefer it to the more classical style. 

 

Combat is just way too easy. While this really is a symptom of all FF games, just attacking is better than any magic other than Bio or exploiting a weakness. But like fuck man, I can’t even steal a boss's items unless I just have characters waste their turns. And this is even after I decided to cheat and turn on 100% stealing because if a boss has three items, it will always die before I can steal three times. Bio fucks’em up. Never even died except for right after I got Quina and my damage was too high so it made getting Blu spells hard and trying to get to that 20% range was a pain in the ass. And I don’t think I actually died there either. I just reloaded because three party members died. Sure I could have killed the enemy but the point was to learn the blu spell which I could do now. I wish there was just a mod that made it so stealable items were just 100% chance drops. Never been a fan of the steal command as it always just has you either resetting or doing nothing until you get all the items. Maybe it’s more of a me problem but I’m not just going to ignore the stealable items. I know it is a classic option but I dislike it. I know I am making combat easier by turning on the 100% steal chance cheat, but if I wasn't doing that combat would end EVEN FASTER because now Zidane can actually hit the boss. There is no way I would have kept up stealing items. Way too annoying and not fun.

 

So yeah, that’s it for now. May update as I go or if I remember something I forgot. 

[thedarkstark]

FFIX is super overrated, it's mainly just the people who say FFIV is their favorite in the series heaping praise on it, those people seemed to despise FFVII because of the cinetmatics and the massive popularity. IX is a bit of a throwback to the older games.

 

Having said that it is still a great game but it takes several steps backward for the series.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

It's been a long time since I played it, but I usually rank IX as my second favorite, behind VI.

[eventide11]

I really liked IX the first time I played it but it didn't age well. I wondered what I liked so much about it the when I went through it a second time. FF8 on the other hand, didn't like it much at all the first time and loved it the second time. 10 on the other hand.. Would rather just strike that one from existence. Same with 10-2. Hated it. 12 Got it back on track then 13 derailed it again. I don't have any faith in Squeenix anymore. They're a sad shell of what they were IMO. 

[Paperclyp]

1 hour ago, thedarkstark said:

FFIX is super overrated, it's mainly just the people who say FFIV is their favorite in the series heaping praise on it, those people seemed to despise FFVII because of the cinetmatics and the massive popularity. IX is a bit of a throwback to the older games.

 

Having said that it is still a great game but it takes several steps backward for the series.

This take is out of touch with reality and how the game is / was perceived at the time. 
 

It was released a few months before the PS2 launch and of the 3 PS1 games is by far the least discussed and praised. 

[gamer.tv]

This thread both makes me want to plug in my PS3 to actually play this, not bother, and also re-buy it on Switch. That’s a pretty sizeable conflict of emotion.

[Paperclyp]

As for the OP: 

 

A) Nobody is gonna accuse FFIX of having a super coherent story, and if you think that already, welp, buckle up because you're gonna hate it by the end. But perhaps you're holding it to a weird standard because none of the 3 FF stories are any good if you hold them up to much scrutiny. 

 

B) Could easily argue Zidane is not the main character, similar to Vaan. But if you were wanting him to have some mystery to him, well buckle up again I guess. 

 

C) FF9 has some of the hardest bosses in the series

[thedarkstark]

32 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

This take is out of touch with reality and how the game is / was perceived at the time. 
 

It was released a few months before the PS2 launch and of the 3 PS1 games is by far the least discussed and praised. 

I didnt say it had the best sales or won the most awards you are jumping to conclusions.

 

However among FF diehards I see IX ranked in the top 2-3 way too often and most of those peoples list looks something like this: 4>6>9>>>> the rest

It's fine to like the more traditional games but that's a bad take & a lot of those people are just being hipsters "I liked RPGs before they were cool!"

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I don’t know I’ve ever seen someone say IV was their favorite. I mean, it’s up there for me, but I’d rank VI and IX first, maybe even V. 

[Bacon]

14 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

As for the OP: 

 

A) Nobody is gonna accuse FFIX of having a super coherent story, and if you think that already, welp, buckle up because you're gonna hate it by the end. But perhaps you're holding it to a weird standard because none of the 3 FF stories are any good if you hold them up to much scrutiny. 

 

B) Could easily argue Zidane is not the main character, similar to Vaan. But if you were wanting him to have some mystery to him, well buckle up again I guess. 

 

C) FF9 has some of the hardest bosses in the series

 

A) If it goes really off the rails that might be ok. Right now the story is both whack and mundane. Mundane really feels like the beast descriptor, atm. If it gets crazy that might make it OK. I might actually have a weird standard. I hadn't played any FFs in a long time then I played 14 and fuck man I fuckin love that game and its story. 14 is what is making me go back and play the FFs I haven't played and replay the FFs I have beat. FF12 was the first FF I played after 14 and I was let down by that overall except for the gambit system. FF12 was another game I had only heard good things about from FF14 fans and was encouraged to play it due to my enjoyment of FF14. With the Pixel Remaster, I finally played 1 and 2 for the first time. Totally fine games. Basic, but fun and it was neat to see where a lot of the series-wide themes and iconic elements originated from in person. It was surprising how much of the series staples have been in since the very first two games. But I had low standards for those games. Then I replayed FF3 3D remake. For the longest time, I said it was my favorite FF. It is still a charming game, but god is it basic as fuck. Surely people would have assumed I was crazy any time I mentioned that was my favorite FF. I had intended to play FF4 3D remake next except after I found I had been playing on was basically easy mode I lost all desire to continue at that time and now I have skipped all the way to FF9 cuz it was another FF game that I had basically only heard good things about. I didn't really go in with super high expectations, but I had assumed the story would be far better than what it was. I also loved FF10 when I was a kid. Makes me wonder how I'll feel when I get around to replaying it.

 

B) Maybe you could but I'd just say I don't feel that way this time. And if he gains some mystery then cool, but it doesn't make him any more interesting now. Big mistake to make what is the defacto player character a boring non-blank slate at the start imo. At least with Vaan, the player was as uninformed as him so the player learned about the world with him.

 

C) Well not right now it don't. I'm killing bosses in under three turns(ATB fills) with Zidane often not even getting any attacks in. If the bosses actually get harder then thank fucking god man. The first boss in FF7 is harder than any boss in FF9 so far. The last boss I fought was the chick with the axe and she died/fled after four turns, so Zidane actually got to attack once lol. Getting the 1000 needles Blu spell was more of a challenge.

[crispy4000]

5 hours ago, Bacon said:

 

A) If it goes really off the rails that might be ok. Right now the story is both whack and mundane. Mundane really feels like the beast descriptor, atm. If it gets crazy that might make it OK.

It will.  But like 4 and 5, it takes its sweet time to get there.  The last 3rd of the game feels very different.

 

I don’t think it’s a weird standard you have either.  FF7 has a much more interesting plot throughout, with better written dialog and characters.  I haven’t played FF8, so I can’t compare that one.

 

I beat FF9 recently, had some different gripes than you, but generally feel the same.  It’s slightly edges out FF5 for me.  I do enjoy the art style and aesthetic though.  Wish we could get a modern FF that could preserve that.

 

[Bacon]

Oh yeah the art style is fantastic. Easily my favorite style considering most tend to go for the high fidelity approach instead of stylistic. On top of that, the Atomos scene was fantastic. I think the imagery of a summon that looked like it could swallow the city whole will stick with me for awhile. 23 years later and that scene is quite the  spectacle upon first viewing.

[Paperclyp]

If you are killing bosses that quickly there is something off with the version you’re playing / you have some cheats enabled / you are super over leveled. 

[Paperclyp]

1 hour ago, thedarkstark said:

I didnt say it had the best sales or won the most awards you are jumping to conclusions.

 

However among FF diehards I see IX ranked in the top 2-3 way too often and most of those peoples list looks something like this: 4>6>9>>>> the rest

It's fine to like the more traditional games but that's a bad take & a lot of those people are just being hipsters "I liked RPGs before they were cool!"

I don’t know what circles you’re hanging out in then lol. 6 and 7 are most commonly cited as peoples favorites I would say, with 10 and even 8 sneaking in there and then it’s just a hodge podge. I mean people aren’t going to frequently list 1-3 as their faves, and iirc 5 was hardly available outside of Japan until not that long ago. 
 

It’s hard to say any of them are particularly “overrated” as nebulous as that term can be, outside of 7 of course (which is my favorite but was certainly overrated). 

[Bacon]

12 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

If you are killing bosses that quickly there is something off with the version you’re playing / you have some cheats enabled / you are super over leveled. 

I shouldn't have any cheats on except for the 100% steal rate that is an option with the moguri mod. I shouldn't be super over leveled either. I think my highest level character is 21 and I have just visited the dwarf village. I haven't grinded at all except when it was just Steiner, Garnet, and Marcus. And I was grinding there for ability points. In my current party I think Garnet is the lowest level or tied for lowest. I'll post my characters and maybe record me fighting that axe chick boss tomorrow.

[Paperclyp]

2 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I shouldn't have any cheats on except for the 100% steal rate that is an option with the moguri mod. I shouldn't be super over leveled either. I think my highest level character is 21 and I have just visited the dwarf village. I haven't grinded at all except when it was just Steiner, Garnet, and Marcus. And I was grinding there for ability points. In my current party I think Garnet is the lowest level or tied for lowest. I'll post my characters and maybe record me fighting that axe chick boss tomorrow.

Hmm interesting. Well there are some true challenges in the game, some of them being optional bosses but it has one of the hardest in the series. 

[Bacon]

Actually, I'll try to find a video tomorrow and see if I am doing comparable damage too. It is possible that something fucky is going on. I'll even turn off 100% steal in case it is doing something to fudge the numbers, but I didn't start the game with that on either.

[Fizzzzle]

"SMALL RANT"

[Keyser_Soze]

7 hours ago, Bacon said:

Steiner is great tho

 

@Paperclyp is pleased

[Phaseknox]

8 hours ago, thedarkstark said:

FFIX is super overrated

It’s my favorite in the series, and VIII is my second favorite. I personally think that VII is super overrated myself. 

[BloodyHell]

15 hours ago, Paperclyp said:

This take is out of touch with reality and how the game is / was perceived at the time. 
 

It was released a few months before the PS2 launch and of the 3 PS1 games is by far the least discussed and praised. 

You're take is definitely out of touch with reality too.

 

IX is beloved, it's a fantastic game, and FFVIII is BY FAR the least praised (and most reviled) PSX Final Fantasy. IX is beloved in the community, VIII is pretty much ignored except for a tiny fraction of people. 

 

It's definitely one of the best of the first 10 games. For me it would be 6, 4, 9, 7, 5, 3, 10, 8, 1, 2. 

[BloodyHell]

14 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

I don’t know I’ve ever seen someone say IV was their favorite. I mean, it’s up there for me, but I’d rank VI and IX first, maybe even V. 

I would put IV just slightly behind VI. I absolutely love that game. Played it so many times I know almost every secret passage by heart. 

[BloodyHell]

17 hours ago, thedarkstark said:

FFIX is super overrated, it's mainly just the people who say FFIV is their favorite in the series heaping praise on it, those people seemed to despise FFVII because of the cinetmatics and the massive popularity. IX is a bit of a throwback to the older games.

 

Having said that it is still a great game but it takes several steps backward for the series.

I mean, it took a bunch of steps forward compared to 8. 

[Bacon]

Ah, another thing that was just brought up like it was explained in detail was "The Mist". Shit is magic fuel and can fuck shit up and it was totally glossed over and treated like it is nothing special. Can I get some fuckin' lore(from the game, not you fellow D1Pper *tips fedora*), plz?

[BloodyHell]

8 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Ah, another thing that was just brought up like it was explained in detail was "The Mist". Shit is magic fuel and can fuck shit up and it was totally glossed over and treated like it is nothing special. Can I get some fuckin' lore(from the game, not you fellow D1Pper *tips fedora*), plz?

It's a fog that covers the Mist continent, and it twists all the animals it touches into monsters. I don';t know theres a lot of lore behind it, except that it's a force, not fog, and it is malevolent. 

[MarSolo]

Speaking of FF games, I’m playing the Pixel Remaster of VI on the Switch and I LOVE the redone opera scene with actual vocals.

[Bacon]

Just now, MarSolo said:

Speaking of FF games, I’m playing the Pixel Remaster of VI on the Switch and I LOVE the redone opera scene with actual vocals.

This post is not spoilers, but in case this post does spark discussion of VI or other FFs please do openly talk about spoilers. Even for very minor stuff. For example, I know nothing of FFV and hope to keep it that way until I play it.

[Keyser_Soze]

16 minutes ago, Bacon said:

This post is not spoilers, but in case this post does spark discussion of VI or other FFs please do openly talk about spoilers. Even for very minor stuff. For example, I know nothing of FFV and hope to keep it that way until I play it.

 

At the end of FFV they blow up the white house.

[Bacon]

Just now, Keyser_Soze said:

 

At the end of FFV they blow up the white house.

Banned 😡

Honor this ban by not posting for 3 days, thanks!

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Bacon said:

Honor this ban by not posting for 3 days, thanks!

 

[Paperclyp]

3 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

You're take is definitely out of touch with reality too.

 

IX is beloved, it's a fantastic game, and FFVIII is BY FAR the least praised (and most reviled) PSX Final Fantasy. IX is beloved in the community, VIII is pretty much ignored except for a tiny fraction of people. 

 

It's definitely one of the best of the first 10 games. For me it would be 6, 4, 9, 7, 5, 3, 10, 8, 1, 2. 

I never said 9 wasn’t beloved. It is. But it is one of the least played ones since 7. And 8 has had a renaissance in the last 10 years or so.  It is bordering on overrated at this point. 

[Bacon]

 

 

No video but there are my stats and such.

[Dodger]

I do find it funny you're ranting about IX having a shallow story and the main hero's motivations being basically he wants to fuck the hot princess, but the plot of VII literally is Cloud making up his entire back story and joining the rad eco terrorist group.... because he wants to fuck his childhood crush. At least what happens because of that is more interesting than whatever crap is going on with Kuja. 

[thedarkstark]

1 hour ago, Dodger said:

I do find it funny you're ranting about IX having a shallow story and the main hero's motivations being basically he wants to fuck the hot princess, but the plot of VII literally is Cloud making up his entire back story and joining the rad eco terrorist group.... because he wants to fuck his childhood crush. At least what happens because of that is more interesting than whatever crap is going on with Kuja. 

Bro what? You guys focus way too much individual characters the story isnt about Cloud just like xii isnt about Vaan. The story is about the corporatons/government destroying the planet.

 

Spoiler

And Cloud didn't join Avalanche for funsies or because he wanted to fuck Tifa, in fact he abandoned her to join the military. He became a merc after his service because that's what a lot of ex-military do and his path just happened to cross paths with Avalnche. He wanted nothing to do with them except to be paid until he met Aerith and started to believe in the cause due in part to it to involving Sephiroth who he wanted revenge for burning down his village.

 

It's not going to win any Oscars but it's a hell of a lot better than most of the FF stories

[Dodger]

Bro he runs off to join the military for the normal macho want to be strong or whatever common theme, and to impress Tifa.  Like literally in the flashback scenes when you have to put his memory back together he tells Tifa he wanted to be strong for her. Then he can't hack it and he steals Zack's story and accidently runs into Zack's ex. But yeah the general theme is bigger than all of that, at least it feels like the game has a point.