Review of: Final Fantasy IX

Reviewer: David Lam

Title: Final Fantasy IX

System: PlayStation

Genre: RPG

The world of Gaia is on the edge of war. The kingdom of Alexandria has become dangerous and Queen Brahne has become power hungry trying to dominate the world. Queen Brahne has a plan to dominate the world and this conspiracy is hidden from the public until you the main character discover the plot. Like all Final Fantasy games you are the agile, young, hero destined to save the world. Alexandria is dangerous and the ruler of the city of Lindblum has sent a team of rogues or mercenaries disguised as a theatre group to enter Alexandria and kidnap Princess Garnet. She is the niece of the ruler of Lindblum known as Cid. You are Zidane a member of the group of rogues and you help kidnap Garnet. Like all Final Fantasies the main character and main female heroine have an intimate relationship. As the story progresses you gain new weapons, abilities, and characters to join your group. You go on a quest to help Garnet and along the way you gain characters who each have their own reason for joining your group. Steiner the knight follows the princess in order to protect her. Garnet decides to be free of royal life and experience the world. Vivi the orphan mage befriends the group and also joins. All of them have their own history which you can find out through easter eggs and playing the game. Like usual you travel through towns and cities on foot and later by airship or land vehicles. Every character has a special unique ability like Zidane's steal ability or Vivi who casts offensive black magic spells. Other specialties include summon spells , white magic (defensive spells) and various others. You can control up to eight characters and you eventually learn the many different connections the characters have to each other or the history in the game.

                The game play is like all other final fantasies yet the story is great and Final Fantasy IX is known as one of the best among the series. The seventh one tends to be at the top yet Final Fantasy IX is not far behind. The game play may be near the same but the battle has more action. The summons known as Eidolons are a source of power for the cities and you gain more as the game progresses. The cinematic for them is shorter so this allows for you to spend more time attacking the enemy instead of watching your TV screen like in Final Fantasy 7. Also you can play a card game which happens to be fun although it does not suit the types of players who enjoy action. Although I don't see why those player would be reading a review for an RPG game which tends to appeal to those who appreciate good story lines or quest games. There are several mini games although not as many as the ones found in Final Fantasy 7. Once again you see Moogles and Chocobos which allow for more Easter eggs. there is a Moogle island and the moogles act as letter carriers. the chocobos can be trained and your chocobo can learn how to fly and swim through the ocean. The secret chocobo area requires the flying skill and it is in the sky.

                The sounds and music are probably the highlight of the game besides the dark plot which involves some comedy. The music is excellent and the most well known pieces are Kuja's Piano theme and Garnet's theme. As usual Nobuo Uematsu's music fits perfectly in every scene and setting in the game. The graphics are excellent and although in this new age it would look bad to most players it was actually one of the best game graphics for the play station one. Every character has a reason and part to play in the story. Some provide comical relief like the Knights of Pluto. Others provide the dark tone this story has like Kuja a major antagonist. One flaw concerning the plot is that at some times things are not explained and there will seem to be a hole in the story line. It is hard to follow the origin of Zidane and it is also hard to understand why the final boss showed up. He just kind of shows up and wants to kill you which is strange since you would think that after defeating Kuja the main antagonist the game would end. With Kuja's defeat the world domination plan fails and peace is brought back but suddenly you fight this boss who is a god and you think ummm....what....the. So now you fight this boss and you don't understand the reason as to why he is even in the game. Nonetheless once defeated you get that happy ending and the game ends. Final Fantasy IX gets a B+ for having a decent story line (it needed some work) and having exceptional music/ graphics.