A Traditional Final Fantasy
First and foremost, the thing that’ll appeal most about Final Fantasy IX to players is how it sticks to the original identity of what Final Fantasy was. In fact, this may be the most “Final Fantasy” game of them all, especially after following the darker sci-fi routes of VII and VIII. This means that Final Fantasy IX is all about a world filled with magic, kingdoms, mystery, and more. Gone are the technically advanced worlds found in the other two PS1 titles, in favor of a lighter world. Everything about Final Fantasy IX is the realization of the series’ themes and settings. Moogles save your game, summoners play a vital role in the story, and different races inhabit the world of Gaia.
This idea applies to more than just the story, however, as Final Fantasy IX is also traditional in the sense of characters and battles. Each of your party members has a distinct role to play in battle with specific abilities and strengths. This ranges from the Black Mage Vivi to the Dragoon Freya. This is a big change from the systems of Final Fantasy VII and VIII, opting for a more traditional job-based approach, except this time your characters “jobs” are all predetermined. If classic Final Fantasy is something you love, you should definitely be playing IX.
A Lovable Cast of Characters
Probably the most appealing aspect of Final Fantasy IX, is its stellar ensemble cast. These are lovable characters that change and grow as you make your way through the game, but who each are flawed or deal with some major issue. The main character Zidane Tribal, is a bit different from the archetypal teenage JRPG hero. He’s a young adult confident in his abilities, a little too much so sometimes, who also has a way with the ladies. Yet behind his bluster and pomp lies a character that’s afraid to be alone and can wallow in his insecurities. He values friendship above all else, but doesn’t want to impose his problems on his friends, choosing to do things alone. Each party member in the game is multifaceted and believable, helping add gravitas to the overall story and drawing you in.
The important thing about Final Fantasy IX though is that the game isn’t afraid to show its characters as vulnerable. Sure these are lovable people, but you’ll see them hit with deep depression and questions about their life or their place in the world. The game takes its characters seriously and wants you to care about them, but also wants them to grow and change as the story does.
Active Time Event System Fleshes Out the Story and World
One of the most effective storytelling tools Final Fantasy IX uses is the Active Time Events system, which honestly should have been taken by more games. Known as A.T.E., this system periodically pops up as you play, giving you the option of seeing story scenes outside of the main quest. Now all of these scenes are optional, you don’t have to watch them, but boy should you. While some games are laser-focused on their main story, Final Fantasy IX uses A.T.E. to flesh out the story and world even more.
The system shows you what other characters are doing while your main party travels, or even what other party members do when you’re split up. There’s some really great character development that happens in these scenes, and it all helps to build the believable fantasy world that IX presents.
A Lighthearted Story With Serious Themes
As we said before, Final Fantasy IX sticks to a more traditional style of Final Fantasy, and that includes a more lighthearted story and world than its predecessors. However, that doesn’t mean that Final Fantasy IX doesn’t get deep, and even downright dark at times. One of the big themes of the game is existence – what it means to exist, how you find your place in the world, and dealing with death. Multiple characters question their existence, should they even be alive, and what do they deserve. Final Fantasy IX uses existentialism more than any other game in the series and it’s better for it, allowing characters to go through some serious soul searching moments. The interesting thing too is that almost every party member has a big moment, a big event where they have to realize something about themselves or their place in the world.
Final Fantasy IX may not overall be as dark as VII or VIII, but it certainly takes some inspirations from them for big story or emotional moments.
Phenomenal Soundtrack by Nobuo Uematsu
Everything in Final Fantasy IX is backed up by an incredibly memorable soundtrack composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the father of Final Fantasy music. There’s an interesting fantasy and almost Celtic tone to many of the songs featured in the game, mixed with elements of rock in some cases. The game has an eclectic soundtrack that helps add even more personality. At the same time, Final Fantasy IX is one of the largest soundtracks of the entire series coming in at 110 songs. That’s surprisingly large, even when you compare it to a later game like Final Fantasy XII, which consisted of 100 tracks. This means you’ve also got a nice diversity to the music you hear in the game.
Tried and True Turn-Based Combat
While other Final Fantasy games have tried to implement unique spins on turn-based systems, Final Fantasy IX sticks with the tried and true formula. This is the series’ Active Time Battle system at its core, but that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have its own unique spin as well. The highly different party members allow for multiple strategies in battle, with quite a bit of variation. You’ll want to have the right skills for each battle. Ate the same time there’s a brand new system known as “Trance,” that functions a bit like a limit break. Each character has a gauge that fills up as they attack and get attacked in battle, when full they enter a Trance state, highly increasing their damage and unlocking powerful special abilities.
Trance is unique, however, as when a character enters it they’ll stay in the mode for a  couple turns, instead of just using a one-off ability like the Limit Break in Final Fantasy VII. The game also explains Trance storywise by stating its a phase a character enters when they experience an overwhelming rush of emotion.
Unique Equipment and Ability System
A unique aspect of Final Fantasy IX’s systems comes in its abilities and equipment. Like many JRPGs you can equip various items for armor, headgear, boots, etc. The twist comes, however, as each piece of equipment will teach your characters abilities. Of course, you’ll need to earn AP through battles to hit the required amount and learn a skill, but that’s how each and every character does so. One piece of equipment might also teach skills to three or more different characters, meaning you’ll have to mix and match and figure out what to prioritize. As you level up you also gain more AP to equip abilities, which can be incredibly useful doing things like making your characters immune to poison or making Zidane cause damage when he steals.
It’s an interesting system that makes it more important than ever to pick up treasure chests, search out different shops, and try synthesizing weapons.
Tons of Content and Minigames
Outside of a lengthy main story, Final Fantasy IX has a ton of optional content to undertake. Along with A.T.E. There’s the Chocobo Hot and Cold minigame, a frog catching minigame, a staged swordfight, the Tetra Master card game, and more. There’s also an entirely optional area in the game with a secret boss that you can fight. It takes a bit of work to get to, but it’s definitely worth it. The best part of Final Fantasy IX’s mingames is that the game often finds a way to work them into the main story, switching up gameplay a bit outside of the exploration and combat loop.Â
A Graphical Style That Still Works Well
While Final Fantasy IX is an original PlayStation game, it’s easily aged the best out of the PS1 Final Fantasy titles. Where Final Fantasy VII had its odd polygonal characters, and VIII just had a lot of muddy character textures, the advancement of technology with IX allowed the game to age better. While character models can still be a bit rough, they look much better than Final Fantasy VIII, feeling crisper overall. Of course like VII and VIII the pre-rendered backgrounds featured in the game are still gorgeous to look at, along with the lavish CGI scenes placed at big story moments. In the grand scheme of games from the PS1 days, Final Fantasy IX has age remarkably well in the graphical department.
