|
|
|
lifelike experence!!!! | | Paul from Georgia says (15/Feb/2001): | I started playing FF VII and it really got me into the rpg
wave. When I got FF IX i was amazed with the story
line. I was upset because FF VIII didn't have the same
Type of system for abilityes. I am glad how FF IX got
back to the roots with alot more oldschool things
like black mages. The hero Zidane is truly a hero.
| Final Opinion | | KB from charlotte, nc USA says (14/Feb/2001): | the final fantasy series is one of the best series available to play. Final fantasy 9 did "feel" as though it lacked something that the others had accomplished. All-the-while it is still a good game. I find deeper meanings in all of the series, and i believe that if anyone plays only for face value then they have missed out on some important lessons. Regardless of how the game looks, plays, or differs from others, you can always find a facinating story to follow by. Final fantasy 9 is a good mix of the old and new of the series, but I did feel more from Final fantasy 8. Each character can be identifies with according to different peoples life experiences, and allows you to place yourself within the game. I didnt enjoy the graphics as much as 8, but it does have originality.
| Something Not Quite Right | | Patrick.H from Toronto, Canada says (8/Feb/2001): | Of course everyone else would blatantly praise the merits of Square's latest mega-hit, but not I.
I became an avid Playstation fan due to the hooking storyline of FF7, and a year after, 8.
There was something subtle missing in FF9, I was not "drawn in" or "hooked" as I was in the prequels.
An unimaginative storyline and not-so-animated characters, I suppose.
The graphics and FMV are blameless, however.
An uninspiring game that lacks something precious in the FF formula.
| I enjoyed it!!!! | | Kari Masaharu from USA says (29/Jan/2001): | I really enjoyed the game immensely. I like the mini stories concerning the characters, you understand the characters more and I think it makes the game very enjoyable.
The way the game is put together is really nice, instead of just rushing through the game, you enter little stories on the side. I also really like Vivi and the other Black Mages.
For some odd reason, I really liked the Black Waltz 3, I kinda thought he was funny.
I actually kinda felt sorry for him in the final battle, he stops the train that Steiner and Garnet are on and when the Waltz steps out, he can barely stand....I guess if you nearly got blown up in South Gate, you wouldn't look so hot either.
Anywhoo, I really loved the game and the graphics and the music. I hope Squaresoft makes another game like that.
P.S hey Squaresoft...put more of those cute littlew Black Mages in there!!!!!
| Abosotluly the Elite game | | Sean from Ontario says (19/Jan/2001): | this game is awsome, the cinematics are great and the abilty to make your own decisions to change the course of the game keep you wanting to play more. It has a challenging length to the game and is the best RPG i have ever seen. The reason i gave it a nine was because it sometimes has extensive dialogue which is annoying, but other than that it is force to be reckoned with!
| Not what I expected | | Arty(RT) from CANADA says (16/Jan/2001): | I've played every game squaresoft has ever made and I'm finding
their other games are beginning to be funner than the Final Fantasy series. The Graphics in FF8 were far better than FF9 although it did add more background the characters needed more work. I beat this game in 8 days. Which surprised even me. It took me 6 or 7 to get to the 3rd disc and only a couple of days to complete it. The music was the best yet, mixing all the old tunes and a few new ones. This game had the same plots as almost all the other FF's. All in all I think people should give square sometime to finish their game instead of rushing to meet a deadline.
| Final Fantasy IX brings the best of both worlds. | | thetrudude from Calgary AB Canada says (9/Jan/2001): | This should be simple. Final Fantasy IX did what Square said it would. It took the best of the old, and the best of the new. Like most gamers, I didn't find the post-SNES FF's very interesting, with a futuristic plot, and loss in a sense of magic systems. In FF9, Square took the medieveal world of FF6 and earlier, and mixed in the Animation, graphics, and familiarity to newer FF gamers if the Post-SNES era, and gave Gamers a new game with the best of both worlds. the ATB battle system is as good as ever, the class-magic system and the exp. system both make returns, and the Ability Junction system is much simpler, making it an easy task to Junction abilities instead of 40 min. (FF7) or 30 min. (FF8) it shouldn't take much longer than 30 seconds to junction all your abilities. In short Final Fantasy IX delivered, and square yet again achieved what they said they would do.
| Good but Short | | A gamer from Huntington,Wv,usa says (7/Jan/2001): | I bought this game expecting to be playing it for a couple months like the previous ones, but didn't expect it to last 3 weeks. The game still has the same cinematics but was still fun to play. If I had to change one thing, I would make human characters for once.
| Nothing new about FFIX | | Helios says (30/Dec/2000): | I'll be blunt. There's absolutely nothing new about FFIX that you won't find in the other FF series. As far as the plot goes, it's still pretty immature (you'd think that after all this time Square could have plenty of time to 'grow' and make something new and refreshing). There's that lingering 'save the world' stench about it as usual. The combat system is still pretty much the same thing with the previous two FF's (wait for bar to fill up, hack and slash, use magic, bla). Characters are nothing great to write home about. They're just the basic 'I AM WHO I AM!!!' people. And as usual, Square packed far too much FMV into the game, making it 60% cinematics, 39% gameplay and of course, 1% super-long credits. At some points, the game gets uninteresting and downright dull. I got bored with FFIX at the second disc and stopped playing it at the beginning of disc four.
On the plus side, FFIX does offer Final Fantasy fans a taste of the 'medieval'(somewhat) setting dominant in the older FF games, new characters to explore and the return of the class system. Graphics shouldn't be criticized because Square has already given the best you can get on the PS at its max processing limit. FMV's are as always, pretty good. Music, composed by the all famous Nobuo Uematsu is also worth your while. Summary: Get it if you're a FF/rpg fan. Don't waste your money on it if you THINK it's nice.
| This could be one of the best games I've ever seen | | Ryan from Wilmington, NC, USA says (28/Dec/2000): | I think that this game is actually pretty darn good. Although I think FF7 is the best game of all time, if you combine this game with sephiroth, materia, and the character development from ff7 it quite possibly would be the best game in the world. FF9 basically sucks all the rest of the goodness out of the playstation. It is a welcome change from the futuristic look of FF8. BTW, did I mention that FF8 was one of the worst games possible? Confused me to no end. Although princess Garnet does look a lot like Rinoa. The only REAL problem I see with FF9 so far is the fact that normally, the characters are all lopsided, like Dagger's head is bigger than most of her body. Come on guys, FF8 even had good looking normal characters. Anyway, this is an awesome game. Keep up the good work. You could only improve from FF8 anyways
| Finally, we get back to basics! | | Chris from Rochester, NY says (28/Dec/2000): | I have been playing Final Fantasy since I got the 1st one on the NES many years ago. It was a great game at the time(still is fun to play), then the 2nd one came out and it just got better. Things went down hill after that. FF3(6 in Japan) was a great overall game but the technology was starting to creep into the game then came FFVII. FFVII was a great game all around but I thought there was to much technology. FFVIII came out and I was thoroughly dissapointed. It just left an overall bad taste especially after having to fight the end guy 4 times. FFIX comes out and all of a sudden my FF interest is renewed. From the moment I turned it on, I was impressed. Gone was the technology, airships and crystals are back. Black mages with pointy hats and did I mention limited technology? The medevil feel is back, this game is like FF1 & 2 rolled up into one game. I am only on disk 2 but I am loving the game. If only the last one could have been this good. I am also realizing that most of the people who dislike this game have NOT grown with the series. They picked it up when it hit the playstation. They never went through the NES & SNES years. If you went through those years, then you would truly have an appreciation for Fianl Fantasy XI. Excellect job Square.
| Didn't Reach It's Expectations | | Anonymous from Ontario, Canada says (28/Dec/2000): | I expected this game to be great like Final Fantasy VII and VIII but they changed alot of the things in the game to make it worse such as Trance instead of Limit Breaks. Limit Breaks were much better because with Trance you dont get to use the full potential of it unless your in a boss battle. You get it at the end of the battle and dont really get to use it. The use of Chocobo and the fun you have with them is nothing compared to Final Fantasy VII. Also the battle isnt as great as the other games because the enemy gets too attack way too much. The FMV's and graphics are just as good or better than expected. The storyline was pretty good, and I also liked the Active Time Events. Another part that wasnt as great was the Moogles. I liked Saved points better for some reason. On the World Map transportation isnt as easy, overall this game is satisfactory and receives a 7 out of 10. Final Fantasy and Squaresoft are still my favourite game creators and series. Anyways, gotta run, see ya later.
| This is a great addition to the Final Fantasy series! | | NO NAME from USA says (27/Dec/2000): | Final Fantasy 9! I have been waiting for this since I threw Final Fantasy 8 in the trash because it stunk and since I beat the boring Final Fantasy 7. The game goes back to where the Final Fantasy series belongs...In the past! The gameplay is incredible. The fights are more important than in previous games. Fighting is the key to getting money, which is the key to getting weapons to make yourself stronger. Which you have to do because you level up and your strength does not increase. THAT ADDS CHALLENGE!!!! I love the story line is very very good and also it has depth this time. The characters are more likeable in this game. I mean come on who else didn't want to kill Barret on FF 7! Movies also make it a very fun game. All in all this is the game that will revive the greatest series ever...FINAL FANTASY!! GO buy the game!!
| Good for Diehard FF Fans | | A gamer from Canada says (26/Dec/2000): | Although I've been playing the FF series ever since the first one on the NES, I cannot for the life of me understand why fans would display such an eager and overwhelming emotion about the return of the fantasy setting. Okay, fine I understand that keeping within the tradition, the game should keep within the original theme behind the creation of the series, but one thing I have trouble comprehending is why anyone would not play FFVII or FFVIII simply because of the futuristic theme? If you are diehard FF fan, you would most likely also be a Square Fan. In this case, you would be motivated to at least try any game that Square turns out. Additionally, I think it's quite unfair to berate FFVII or FVIII simply on the basis of the setting. Every game has its strengthes and weaknesses. And I believe that all of the FF games have strengths that overcome the weaknesses. I'm sure that the Aeris theme in FFVII should have pull some heartstrings and the FMV's/graphics in FFVIII should receive some applause.
Anyhow, don't get me wrong, I did enjoy FFIX as much as many other fans and I did notice the come-back of several previous elements such as the Black Mage look of which I was delighted to note. ( I think Vivi is cute.) However, several things: I did not enjoy the way the game took over almost all control of the game. I'm on the beginning of the second disc and I feel a bit winded. I felt like I was fighting one boss after another. I did pause to level up in some places, but it seemed like the bosses would become exponentially harder to defeat. Also the ATE things were nice, but sometimes annoying. Why does everyone have to split up every time you go in a new town? It's so much harder to buy items for them. The exclamation marks does make it easier to find things, of which could be good or bad. Good so you don't waste time finding things, bad for experts who don't like to be fed with a spoon. Another thing, I agree with another fan that the discs were too short. Perhaps it's because of the increased quality of the graphics that is taking up disc space? I find it queer that each new FF game shows an increased quality in graphics and a greater ability to utilize the system to its fullest potential, but the system wasn't changed. Oh well, all in all, FFIX turned out to be within my expectations....much better than Secret of Evermore (does anyone remember that pile of c*$%?)
| Great graphics, average battle system, and very crappy storyline. | | KOF_BOY from Singapore says (24/Dec/2000): | Hi everyone...anyway i have played this game and now i am still dealing with the disc 3.
Let's start with the bad points first. I must stress that do not expect that this greatly acclaimed best rpg games ever is gonna have a stunning and impressive storyline cus it's not. In fact i find that much of the story is about the characters themselves and about how they feel and blah blah blah.
Example, the princess Garnet...the story will be abt how she feels abt herself as a princess, abt her evil mother, abt friends and so on...it's ok at first...but when it comes to the part where u see like all they starting talking abt all the members are with her and she does not have to feel lonely anymore and stuff liek that...u definitely will feel that the story really sucks...! it was like i have been hearing the princess talk abt how she feels for so many times from disc 1 - 2 that I shouted at the tv screen that i dun give a damn to how u feel abt urself just cut the crap and get on with ur stupid so called adventure...! Yeah...that's really how i felt...real long-winded and crappy.
Second character will be that little black mage named Vivi. He too at first has an interesting story background. He did not know what he was until those evil black mages that looks a bit somewhat like him starting going around and uses firs magic to kill people and destroy town. Those black mages were created by Kuja, (an evil handsome guy) who wanted to be the most powerful person...(blah), and so Vivi disturbed by those black mages that looked like him, wanted to find the truth about them and also hopefully abt his real background. And then when the story proceeds, once again you will hear abt how he complains abt how he feels abt those black mages and their existence, and also the purpose of why vivi exists, and blah blah, and you will Vivi says stuff like he wants to find out more so that he can protects people n his friends and blah blah...(disc 1 - 2). just this 2 character will give u Goosebumps abt how they talk as if they will die is they dun stick together.
I guess part of the story line will be abt the friendships and feelings...but then they make it sound as if they must be there for each other ALWAYS, if not they will not be able to survive this situation. Geez...it's giving me goose bump cus if they know abt true friendships...they will not react that way.
anyway my point is i dun like they way they keep on talking abt how they feel...it's ok at first...but slowly u will feel like killing them cus i was a bit lost at the end of disc 2...i was lost wondering are they really serious abt saving the world? or are they only interested abt complaining abt how they feel and why they feel this way and blah blah...
50% of the storyline sucks...good storyline will be kinda like Legend of Legaia, where u know why u are there fighting and who u are dealing with...good story and characters, or maybe chrono cross, u need to understand the first part of the story to understand the second...Rpg should have a good storyline and definitely not a storyline like this that keeps on talking abt their emotions and blah blah blah while they are trying to defend Gaia (Earth) and fight off the demons...
Characters are okay and the game proceeds well...graphics is very good...3D environment...but frankly what is so surprising that it's 3D? it's nothing stunning or impressive to me really...as I am a multimedia art student that deals with 3D animations and Video...to me it's just okay...
here comes the battle system...i really have to say it's okay...the fight doesn't bore u out...but the trance thingy could have been improved someway...trance is like once in a while if u accumulate the trance point and when it is full, u released a very power energy inside you...the monkey boy and the metal soldier is most powerful while in trance mode...but then again trance goes off in a while...and also kinda like appears in the end of the fight...that when ya full with the points...and u just released it....kinda wasted....
but still....after playing the game....i must say i dun really enjoyed that much with this game...it's okay....no little games for u to play with...and the card game was stupid...u dun get anything even if u win...u just win some god-damn cards that's all...
That’s why I am gonna give this game 6 out of 10 for having such a poor storyline…and also no little games, and also typical battle systems, and also the characters that appeared sometimes makes u wonder is there really a need for such a character to appear in the game…like Quina that frog eating freak…somehow I just feel that squaresoft is not doing a good job for this particular game…to them making an rpg game is chicken feet…with their many years of experience in rpg games, they should have created one rpg game with the real punch in them and not just come up with a crappy story, cool 3d animations and gameplay and expect it to be one of the best rpg games ever…rpg games also means a good storyline since ya playing that role of the characters in the game…if the story is crap, why would I wanna play that game for? Like now I am stopping at disc 3, and playing new games like Donald duck….much more interesting than this rpg game and can definitively entertained me better….
From KOF_BOY
| Pretty good FF game. | | Zenas a.k.a. Zyna from Hawaii, USA says (22/Dec/2000): | well when I first got this game I didn't know what to expect but when i played it it was amazing. The graphics and CG scenes were incredible. the downside to this game is that I don't think your stats raise when leveling up, just your HP and MP. But that's ok because it makes it more challenging. I always like a good challenge. i really like the music and sounds. They're excellent. Overall this game is the best FF ever. I didn't think they're would be a game that would match or better the FF7 game. Get this game NOW!!! Unless you are not an RPG fan.
| GREAT COMBO FROM SQUARE BUT STILL SECOND BEST FF | | luis gutierrez from Tijuana,B.c., Mexico VIVA MEXICO CABRONES!!! says (22/Dec/2000): | I think this game everything like great grapihcs and fmv!!! square took the playstations 32-bit to the MAX!! couldnt have been better. I think this games a comobo since they used the same type of gameplay (job classes ) as FFT, they reused the MP from FFVII which they had taken out from FFVIII and fromVIII well they didnt have to use anything from that game since it has been the easiest in all FF history "my point of view". I also enjoyed very much the ATE (active time event) that makes the game have very differnets point of views for the game such as: a boy trying to find out who he is where he came from, another trying to save her mother from doing any evil, one trying to fulfill his duty as a knight protecting the princess, another trying to make his the girl of his dreams , and one coming up to his honor having lost to you since yu spare his life is now yur companion , and others just looking for food . thats what makes this game so great but for something extra : if yu whant a good game buy final fantasy tactics. and please dude put my review up i think peopl should know about the really godd ff which is tactics later VIVA MEXICO
| Oh Yeah! | | A gamer from Hartwell, GA U.S.A. says (18/Dec/2000): | I believe this to be the best Final Fantasy yet. Others may not like the ATE system, but I think that it adds depth to the plot. One of the other aspects of the game that I find quite interesting is the ability to fight with four characters. I think that it enables you to have a vast number of options when it comes to the battle sequences. One thing that disappoints me is the fact that you can not simultaneously switch characters like in the more recent ff's. this makes for more difficult gameplay, but also makes for a far greater adventure.
| Probably the greatest ff game since final fantasy 6(aka 3) | | ben from ca., usa says (14/Dec/2000): | Final Fantasy 9 is probably the best final fantasy game since ff6. Now let me just say that this game is magic, as it is able to capture the feel of our beloved ff games. The beginning of the game is reminiscent of ff6... a great intro that throws you into the game without any confusing battle system. The game is easy to start, with the final fantsy 5&6 style main page.
The characters are innocent in the beginning, almost making us believe that this game was meant for "12 year old girls" with its simplicity, but as you progress through the game and get more intimate with the characters, you begin to realize the complexity of the game. Take for instance Vivi; in the beginning we make out Vivi as a young adolecent that seems to be light-hearted and shy, but as the game progresses, we subtly begin to see Vivi's past and what is in store for him.
The graphics on this masterpiece is vivid and wonderful. Each rendered background draws us into the game, capturing the moment. I would say that this is probably the playstion1 at its finest as this game gives the system a thorough workout! The CG's are just marvelous and beautiful, helping the story advance.
Another part of the game that i believe truely sticks out is the music. When i first got into a battle in the game, it sent a cold shiver down my spine as the fimilar bass sound that started battles in ff5&6 makes a triumphant return and the original score of the game is just outstanding.
This game will go up there in rpg legend as one of the greatest game ever. It makes us feel like a kid again and i use it in a good way. This game just brings back memories of the battle with kefka in the tower of doom, the emotional death of Aries, and the emotional sacrifice in ff2 as the heroes of the game are revived with the prayers of the people that cared and helped them, so that they my fight and save the world. It'll rightfully go up there with games such as The Phantasy Star Series, Chrono Trigger, and the Dragon Warrior(quest) Series!
| Its like the 8 bit version on NES, ONLY ALOT BETTER! | | Clint Chapman from Avon, Indiana, USA says (14/Dec/2000): | How can anyone say this game sucks? You must not have played the first final fantasy (first in the US) I think its good that the people are divided in classes, because the way FF9 is set up, if you built your levels up, and had everyone learn the same items, EVERYONE could summon powerful eidelons. Now, what fun would that be? As far as the story line goes, Its the same as almost every rpg, every movie, every fiction book, good vs. evil. A group of unlikey heros, bands together to destroy a common foe. Its time tested and true, the characters in this game are as lovable as the other ones. Except NO bad guy will ever come close to sephiroth, and personally, im glad the relationship between zidane and dagger wasnt gone into that much depth, you could tell they wanted each other, if you paid attention, there was no need to go into great detail. Overall one of the best games i have ever played, and ive had EVERY system from a Jaguar, to the NES, to the PS2. Now when FFX comes out, I'm sure it will be unlike any game before.
| | |
