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Final Fantasy IX Mini Review


For some backwards ass reason, one of my goals this year was to play through the PS1 Final Fantasy games that I missed out on (was deprived of?) as a child. I could have worked on my grades. I could have exercised more. I could have gone out and made more friends. But this was the choice that I made. Perhaps I need to straighten out some of my priorities.

I’m not going to meet my goal, but at the least I did complete Final Fantasy IX. And it was truly delightful.

In a somewhat refreshing change of pace after the perhaps convoluted 12th and 13th entries in the series, Final Fantasy IX is just a whole lot more simple. And I mean simple in the nicest way possible, not in the same way that I like to refer to the girls who went to high school with me that went on to become hairdressers. Bless them.

Rather than dealing with the humanitarian issues involved in cloning, raising elite armies of child soldiers, not-so-subtle religious undertones or some George R.R. Martin levels of political intrigue, FFIX is a charming tale about a band of performing thieves, a princess and her knights, a wizard who has lost his memories and their quest to save the world. Nice and to the point. Parallel dimensions are kept to a bare minimum too, a feat worthy of applause in any Final Fantasy game.

That’s not to say that the story lacks in substance. By stripping away some of the more complicated, and often times just downright bizarre, elements that have become a modern Final Fantasy staple, FFIX can get down to what really matters – the characters. Vivi’s story in particular is a highlight, though each cast member is charming in their own way.


The game plays pretty much how one would have expected a Final Fantasy game to play at the time. There is a big old world map to traverse. There are cities, caves, dungeons and palaces to explore. There are even some trees and cities made out of trees to venture into, which is cool in it’s own way. I like trees. Enemies are randomly encountered while walking around. Battles take place using the ATB system, a battle system that I believe to be even older than I. But who’s to say it doesn’t work? If it ain’t broke…

A welcome addition is the new system for learning skills. Each item comes with a handful of associated abilities, and by equipping this item for long enough, the skills are retained forever, freeing up space for a bigger and more badass weapon. It’s a refreshing little twist on the formula that can lead to some interesting branches of character development. Just make sure that you have actually learned the skill before discarding the item. Don’t be the dumbass who throws out Dagger’s starting item before she has learned Cure. Don’t be like me.

Final Fantasy IX is perhaps the most “traditional” entry into the franchise yet. I can see why it didn’t cause the shockwaves or revolutionize industries like VII did at the time, but thirteen years later the game still holds up very nicely, if not even better than VII. Sometimes it’s nice to spend forty or so hours playing through a straightforward story and becoming involved in the adventures of a loveable cast of misfits as opposed to having an encyclopaedia on hand, frantically trying to remember the difference between l’Cie and fal’Cie. Yes, flashy can be nice. But sometimes there is charm to be found in slightly less extravagance.