Retrospective: Final Fantasy 9
I was going to write my next blog post on Spider-man: Homecoming, but it took me so long to dwell on it that I would just be repeating what everyone else has already said; it’s a great movie and you should go see it.
Anyway what I want to talk about today is Final Fantasy 9, since I picked it up on Steam during the Summer Sale, and I’ve had a change of heart on this game.

See I’ve always referred to 9 as my favourite Final Fantasy, apparently assuming I would never play any of the others, and to some degree that statement is still true; in terms of world, story, and atmosphere it is my favourite JRPG. It was the first game I played in the series (incidentally I played 7 around the same time) and I remember being so charmed by the aesthetic that the nostalgia has stuck with me all this time.
It no longer holds the title of “favourite” anymore.
I didn’t actually own and play the game fully until 2012, however, and I played it poorly…
I never read any of the tutorials relating to skills, or how to equip them. For those who don’t know; each item you equip to a character in FF9 has a set of skills, which your character can equip to use in battle. Once you remove the item the skill goes away, unless you earn a certain amount of Ability Points (AP) after each battle. Once you have “levelled up” an ability you unlock the skill permanently.
This is a cool idea, since a lot of these abilities are useful passives that give your characters damage boosts, immunities, and more. It’s a double-edged sword, however, since it means you’re encouraged to keep weaker gear equipped in order to unlock abilities, thus making the combat artificially harder, which is the opposite to what you want in a JRPG.
Although this is slightly counter-balanced by how you obtain your gear. Your main character, Zidane, can Steal items from enemies and bosses, giving you early chances to gain powerful items. If you don’t succeed these steals you will get another chance by searching though chests, before eventually being able to buy the majority of items from vendors.
At the end of this cycle if you have left over items you can Synthesise them, a basic form of crafting, which gives you an even better item.
I praised this system a lot, when I sussed out how it all worked, since it rewarded players for putting effort in. If you happen to be someone who loves optimisation, and equipping the right items at the right times in order to get the best skills and damage, you’ll love this system.
For people who don’t want to mess with gear too much and play for that wonderful world and story, however, it makes the game incredibly slow. Having a character (main character no less) spend every turn attempting to steal is kinda dull. There’s a reason why people don’t like Locke in the early game of FF6.
Speaking of which, I’ve come to really dislike Zidane. While many people dislike Cloud and Squall’s lack of true personality, they’re written in that way on purpose; to allow the player to become immersed in the world and story. It’s easier to observe the characters and plot around you when you can see through the eyes of the MC, and immersion is super important in narrative-driven games.
Now you can have MC’s that have strong personality and still work, normally because they’re relatable or likeable in some way. Zidane is neither of these things for me, and it’s annoying when the rest of the characters in this game are cool and interesting with amazing story arcs. Arcs which all tie up and move aside so that Zidane can have the spotlight for the game’s ending.
This immersion clash, along with the sluggish gameplay, has certainly removed the nostalgia goggles from my eyes with FF9, and has thus demoted it from the favourite Final Fantasy position.
This isn’t all bad, though; see considering I could never stick with 9 any time I came to replay it, I never thought I would enjoy any of the others, even though I loved 7. I have, however, beaten FF15, been playing through 6, and am looking at 10 and 12 HD remasters, as well as looking at other JRPGs like Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts.
Every cloud and all that.