FFIX Review

Final Fantasy IX

I'm going to be very straightforward here: I'm an extremely hard reviewer. If you really like this game and you see something in here that you completely disagree with, don't get upset or feel awkward when playing your cherished game. The controversial world of gaming is full of differing opinions, and you have a right to your own. The following is riddled with my mostly facts from the game and has very few opinions within the total text.

This entire page contains several SPOILERS. Consider yourself warned.

Content : 8.0/10

The content was very good, but I’m afraid that it was too much like that of Final Fantasy IV’s. The dramatics were also done very well, and everything that happened seemed to occur chronologically.

The plot was slightly predictable, but incredibly enjoyable. Zidane added so much more flavor to the journey than Cecil did to Final Fantasy IV.

Sound : 9.5/10

Melodies of Life, You Are Not Alone, Song Of Memory, Loss Of Me, Ukulele Chocobo, and Consecutive Battles, Ruins of Mandain, Wall of Sacred Beasts. Wow. Those were all incredible, memorable songs. Almost all the others in the game were really great, too, but would you like me to name ALL of them?

However, the reason why I gave the game an 9.5 out of 10 was because the main song Melodies of Life was used way too many times! It was remixed into the world map theme, added La-La to be Garnet and Eiko’s theme of recognition, remixed again to be Garnet and Zidane’s romantic theme, and then lyrics were added to be the ending theme. I loved the song, but come on, Nobuo! You’re so much better than that.

Overall, the music was so well done, but Melodies of Life was overdone.

Maaan, was I lenient! At first, I had it down as an 8.2 out of 10. But I was just listening to some Final Fantasy IX songs and I loved them all.

Graphics : 10/10

Come on, now; who can complain, really? So what if the characters were smaller than usual? The graphics were still really beautiful. Even with the regular graphics the characters blinked and their necks moved when something caught their eye! Amazing.

Battle : 7.5/10

Hmm… Well, I remember the characters being extremely slow. And only specific characters could use specific spells, like Eiko was the only person that could use Dispel and Vivi was the only one that could use Flare and such. That made me sad, and it made the battles even harder. I love hard battles, but not tedious ones in which you have to use a Hi-Potion on so-and-so with Zidane’s turn, use a Phoenix Down on so-and-so with Vivi’s turn, and then finally use a Cure with Garnet’s turn and then you can only attack after this is done several times and everyone has a fair amount of HP.

Later on in the game, however, I really liked battling. Of course, everyone had the best spells and was equipped with Auto-Haste. At that point, I liked the battles MUCH more than I did in Final Fantasy VII. In the beginning, though, it was somewhat of a letdown.

Skill Factor: 10/10

Wow. I don't remember this game ever being too easy for me. It also wasn't impossible, either. Great job, Square!

Overall : 9.1/10 (Not an average of the previous grades)

The game was truly worthy of its Final Fantasy title. Excellently done.

I may add more later.