ITT FF IX

[Anonymous No.1562996]

30' into the game and I can clearly see how superior is to FFVII and FVIII in graphics and gameplay, don't know about the story yet.
Also, very clever fun mini games,
How come this game is so underrated?

[Anonymous No.1563001]

FF9 is the only final fantasy I've tried to play but I just couldn't get into it.

I beat fucking 10-2, but this just bores the piss out of me for some reason.

Haven't touched one after 12 though.

[Anonymous No.1563009]

I really do love this game a lot, but goddamn is it fucking slow.

[Anonymous No.1563018]

If the game is too slow and you're not playing on original hardware, consider the ATB patch.

[Anonymous No.1563028]

>>1563018
I think he means the game's progression is slow, I can play it fine on epsxe with all the effects and shaders enabled.

[Anonymous No.1563029]

>>1563018
>>1563001

FF9 has very, very serious pacing issues. It's when the team got so huge and lost focus on what they should be doing. They focused on narrative (too much of it), lots of talking, and pretty movies.

Just take the intro. It takes FOREVER for you to do anything.

>Long video that has no relevance to anything
>Zidane fights his boss for no reason
>long talking
>Vivi

This game seriously needs an editor to go through it and streamline it.

[Anonymous No.1563038]

>>1563018
I wasn't even aware that was a thing. Thank you.

>>1563028
No, I meant the gameplay is really slow. Battles take ages compared to 7 and 8. The pacing is kinda slow but it doesn't bother me that much.

[Anonymous No.1563045]

>>1563038
>Battles take ages compared to 7 and 8.

reasons:
>slower ATB for some reason
>long intro animations that serve to hide loadings

Remember 7? Part of its charm is that it has the right balance. Battles are pretty fast. There's some story and dialogue but it's not overwhelming.

[Anonymous No.1563051]

>>1563029
Plus more content for Freya and Amarant during the midgame. Amarant has no plot to himself and Freya's is resolved with minimal battle. Both of them fall way behind in skills and abilities if you don't ram them into the party despite Steiner, Zidane, Vivi, and Dagger being way ahead, and Dagger is likely to be replaced by Eiko when she winds up useless for practically an entire disk.

[Anonymous No.1563115]

I am tired of your FF discussions, by your /vr/ standards,so far, I have read that FFVII is too casual to be the best, and FFVII battle system is a mess (plus the main char has no charisma), now the FF IX (which has a metacritic score of 92 and user score of 9.1) isn't also worth playing because is too big?
there will never be a perfect game, you know
hope OP enjoy the ride.

[Anonymous No.1563137]

How do you get 30 feet into a Final Fantasy game?

[Anonymous No.1563145]

>>1563115
Calm down, nobody in this thread said the game "isn't worth playing". It has a lot of flaws, and I say this as someone who holds it as one of my favorite games ever.

[Anonymous No.1563208]

I think it gets overlooked because it was a return to form. FF7 brought in a LOT of new fans, including myself, and many of them just didn't get the oldschool traditional fantasy vibe. Personally, it's my favorite Final Fantasy.

[Anonymous No.1563261]

>>1563208

I don't see how it was a return to form. The eras they emulate are totally different. FF1-5 are medieval fantasy. FF9 is like Shakespearean era and later.

[Anonymous No.1563269]

>>1563208
What this guy said:
>>1563261

FF4 is all 80s anime with knights in flashy armor with headbands and robots (just because).

FF5 is kind of similar.

FF6 is some sort of steampunk post apocalyptic setting.

9 is nothing like the SNES games. It doesn't feel like them, and it doesn't play like them. I guess I can see why it has fans. The music is excellent and the graphics are very good for a psx game. But "slow" is the adjective that I'd use to describe it.

[Anonymous No.1563278]

>>1563269
>FF6 is some sort of steampunk post apocalyptic setting.

6 is when they really started to change the standard medieval setting. 6 is kind of like steampunky early 1800's tech. They got trains and airships and stuff.

[Anonymous No.1563303]

>>1563278
The previous games aren't really medieval settings though. They are period anime settings. Underneath the castles there are giant robots, probe droids, and spaceships.

[Anonymous No.1563323]

>>1563303
Does that really negate the setting of most of the game though? I mean, Ultima has spaceships and shit like that, but those games are pretty damn medieval.

[Anonymous No.1563331]

FF IX is boring and forgettable. The cherry on the shit sundae is the final boss which has nothing to do with anything.

Chocobo hot and cold is the only redeeming factor.

[Anonymous No.1563335]

>>1563323
Well, have you played FF4 recently? Enough of the dungeons take place in futuristic military facilities and have you facing mechas or robots that it certainly gives off the impression of an anime where stuff is just there because its cool, rather than some sort of medieval setting. Some of the enemies even look like gundams or shit. It feels consistent, though, because it feels like a damn anime.

In any event, it isn't the superficial stuff so much that makes FF9 feel way different so much as the incredibly slow pacing. FF4 is fast paced and the exposition comes quickly and goes likewise. 9 feels more like FFX and its wordswordswordswords.

[Anonymous No.1563353]

>>1563335
>Well, have you played FF4 recently?

Honestly, I haven't. There must have been more robots and shit than I remember. The first 3 games are more what I was thinking about in terms of a medieval-ish setting.

[Anonymous No.1563360]

It was towards the end of the PS1 so it sort of gets overshadowed by FFX. The combat is much slower and the trance system kind of blows. Tetra Master isn't as fun as Triple Triad. Those are really my only gripes. It's probably my favorite game in the series.

The characters (especially Zidane and Vivi) are a lot more likable and fleshed out, and the ones that get pushed to the periphery (Freya, Amarant, and Quina, basically) are still fun at times.

I liked that that the characters abilities were based on their own skills and that it wasn't just a bunch interchangeable people with different limit breaks like the previous two games. I also liked the equipment system. It had a ton of customization and gave you a lot of incentive to learn abilities from items that weren't necessarily as good as what you had. Synthesis was fun as well. It also has my favorite side quests and mini games of any FF. If you're planning on doing them all you might want to use a guide since unfortunately some of them can't be completed once you get past certain points in the game.

[Anonymous No.1563380]

>>1563353
It takes a bit of time for it to kick in, but there are 3 futuristic facility dungeons in the midgame. It isn't a particularly long game, and they make up most of the middle of the game. Then there's the giant spaceship and you go to the moon to fight the final boss in a crystal palace that isn't particularly futuristic, but is anime as fuck.

[Anonymous No.1563392]

>>1563380
Oh, and you fight Gundams and robotic skulls in the crystal palace.

[Anonymous No.1563403]

>>1563380
>>1563392
Now that you mention it, I remember that whole tower thing and going inside a giant fucking robot.

[Anonymous No.1563418]

>>1563380

You don't even have to go that far. You get a damn hovercraft like 2 hours into the game.

[Anonymous No.1563526]

>>1563360
The Mr.Zidane/Master Vivi/Crusty Steiner development and relationship between them is still the best made to this time in all FF series.
It just feels really nice and extremely well thought, it may feel "not real" for some people, but it's perfect for the setting of IX.

[Anonymous No.1563539]

>>1563029

>Hating the Vivi part

What are you some kind of faggot who dont like to skip and find cats?

[Anonymous No.1563547]

People seem to forget that sci-fi has always been a part Final Fantasy. I mean, the flying fortress was essentially a low-orbit space station. Hell, a robot gives you a "warp cube" in order to enter the damn place. And of course there's a few robotic enemies like soldier, guardian and of course the "secret" miniboss WARMECH.

[Anonymous No.1563647]

>>1563547

Sci-fi/Fantasy may as well be fucking they're so close. How many books tores have tem in the same section?

[Anonymous No.1563652]

I enjoyed ff9 for its story. The whole thing is a play, that both ends and begins with a play. This is my favorite game.

[Anonymous No.1563654]

>>1563360
>Zidane
> likable and fleshed out
At the beginning of the game, I would agree with likeable. But his character became stagnant and soon after annoying. He was portrayed way over the top. And, by all means, he wasn't fleshed out in the least. Only in disc 4, I think. Where they went to Terra

[Anonymous No.1563658]

>>1563654

That was disk 3 where they go to Terra. Zidane isn't as fleshed out as other main characters but the rest of the cast gets more development than most other FF games, except for Amarant. I dont know why that dude joins you

[Anonymous No.1563667]

>>1563658
That's because Zidane is what you see. Hes a genuine type of characher, the least deceitful thief ever, although Tantalus seems more like special forces for hire then anything else...

Hell when his soul gets stolen, he gets angsty for what? All of 5 minutes? Then even without a soul, he just bounces back like it was nothing.

He wears his personality on his sleeves and does exactly what he wants when he wants.

[Anonymous No.1563671]

>>1563667

I know, he reminded me Locke and Bartz. Yeah Locke had some sad shit in his past but it wasn't constantly in your face

[Anonymous No.1563678]

>>1563671
The characters all have their outward reason why they are doing things, but for this character archetype the real reason they are doing shit is, well, just because! It interests them, they feel like doing it ect ect ect...

They are in it for the adventure as much as the end goal, and their nearly constant positive attitude drags the rest of the party behind it, like a massive event horizon sucking in all their negativity.

His optimistic attitude saved the party multiple times; from the ice caves, to the very end when they engaged Necron. He is the leader because he is the most real character.

[Anonymous No.1563694]

I have a strange love/hate relationship with FFIX, I feel I should love it but it still up being a very mediocre FF game in my eyes and I generally feel FFIX is a good but somewhat failed attempt to combine the best from both old and modern FFs:

They tried to make the characters as likable and straightforward as the ones in early FF games yet they gave them sordid pasts and personal demons we are forced to deal with just like with Cloud, Squall and their buddies.
Some people see going back to the medieval setting as "going back to the roots of the series" but apart from the setting the game feels and plays like modern FF game.
Cool, you get to control more than 3 characters in battle just like in older games! Fuck, battles are now so goddamn slow now! Also FFIX's take on limit breaks is by far the worst in the series.
Speaking of battles they combined the encounter rate of older games with the loading times of newer FFs combining the WORST from both worlds.
Etc...

As someone who actually has been playing the FF games ever since the first game (instead of finding the series with FFVII) my main complaint about FFIX is that it didn't really bring anything new to the series and generally felt like a tired rehash of the other games in the series. ATE system, FFIX's sole innovation unique feature really wasn't used to it's full potential, hell it was barely used at all after the first disc.

Finally FFIX is far from being underrated, while it's nowhere as popular as FFVII, VIII or X are it's generally well liked game among the FF fanbase and is actually the highest rated one of the PSX games on many sites. Over/underratedness is more about quality of the feedback game gets and not about quantity of it.

[Anonymous No.1563706]

>>1563694
Still. that story was beautiful. I really felt like I was on Gaia. In a very real way, ff9 made me the man I am today.

[Anonymous No.1563721]

>>1563667
>He wears his personality on his sleeves
>on his sleeves
>sleeves

What sleeves?

[Anonymous No.1563741]

>>1563678
You described Zidane positive attitude (totally different from Cloud or even worse Squall) perfectly.
Final Fantasy IX is a long and overall happy experience, you can feel "the fantasy" in this game more than any other.

[Anonymous No.1563742]

>>1563706
> In a very real way, ff9 made me the man I am today.

A souless puppet?

[Anonymous No.1563746]

>>1562996
>very clever fun mini games
The what now? Tetra Master is just a shittier version of Triple Triad and the jump-rope and running mini-games with Vivi are hardly fun. Also you wouldn't "like" or even give a fuck about the chocobo mini-game if it wasn't for the god tier items you get for doing it.

>>1563029
FFIX has a much bigger and much more serious pacing issue than that, FFIX starts out strong and apart from some scenes possibly needing streamlining the first disc has a great pacing with more enough shit going on to keep you entertained and interested about the game's world. However after the hectic first disc the action slows down and never regains its momentum. This wouldn't be that big of a problem if FFIX wasn't as linear and actually allowed you to fuck around and explore the world but it barely allows for any freedom to do so until you finally get an airship at the later stages of disc 3.

[Anonymous No.1563751]

>>1563746

Final fantasy IX is one of the least linear in the series. You dont need the airship to get around the world, you get a fucking boat and you can get a gold chocobo really early to fly around with if you know what you're doing

Linear shouldn't even be an FF complaint when everybody here sucks IV's dick harder than a rent boy in a phone box

[Anonymous No.1563753]

I'm just in it for the background art, shame there will never be a way to replace the textures with higher-res ones without reimplementing the engine.

[Anonymous No.1563756]

>>1563742

[Anonymous No.1563772]

>>1563208
Return to form? NOPE, just like >>1563694 said FFIX is a failed attempt to combine the old and modern FFs and me and many other people who actually grew up with the pre-FFVII FFs would much rather play those older FFs because they actually are what FFIX pretends to be, old-school FF games.

I also feel many of the reason people like FFIX are questionable at best:
>It's a throwback to the older games in the series!
I swear to god that most people saying this only "like" FFIX because doing so allows them to pretend they like the old FF games which they have never played.

>B-but muh references to the other games!
The ones you never played? Also those references alone don't make it an old school FF game.

>B-but it has crystals and medieval setting!
It has ONE crystal we see for few seconds at the end of the game. Where are those other crystalS you keep talking about? Also as >>1563694 said apart from the setting FFIX doesn't feel or play like an old-school FF game.

>B-but it's a lighthearted adventure unlike FFVII and FFVIII!
So are Grandia and FFV, why not go play them instead since they do the lighthearted adventure thing better than FFIX?

That said apart from the painfully slow battles FFIX is good solid game but it will NEVER be an old-school FF game that the FFVII generation often mistakes it to be.

[Anonymous No.1563846]

>Elements of the past and the future, combining to make something not as good as either.

[Anonymous No.1564136]

>>1562996
I'll post this here since i didn't get any help anywhere:
>Can someone tell me how to properly set up epsxe to play FF9 the best way possible? So many graphic options avaible that im getting headaches

[Anonymous No.1564138]

i wouldnt say FF9 is underrated at all, at least on /v/ it is widely praised and most people seem to agree that it is better than 7 (and obviously 8).

unfortunately i thought it really loses steam, and more importantly its charm, about halfway through. people often said the same thing about FF7 but for some reason i never had a problem with the the latter half of FF7 whereas FF9 really starts to drag for me.

also, FF9 has extremely limited customization as far as characters go, which was always a turn off for me. once again, FF7 doesn't do a *ton* in this regard but something about it just felt...better.

[Anonymous No.1564141]

>>1562996
>how is this game under-rated

Late era PSX game when everyone and their cousin was pimping out the PS2, and even Square was going "Hey yeah FF9's a thing BUT GUYS CHECK OUT FFX IT'LL BE HIZZLE"

[Anonymous No.1564143]

>>1564136
I just started replaying it a few days ago, these are my settings (Pete's OpenGL2 2.9 on ePSXe 1.8.0). It lagged a bit in the opening fights, but Evil Forest randoms didn't give me any issues, so it may have just been the backgrounds or something.

I fired up Chrono Cross earlier with the same settings and it lagged in the same way, but my friend tried it and didn't have any issues, so it may just be my hardware.

[Anonymous No.1564153]

>>1564143
thanks based anon ill test it right now

[Anonymous No.1564156]

>>1564138
I think that Final Fantasy VII's plot is much better, and doesn't lose that much steam, or it does, just not permanently.

When you consider that the first disc is about 60% of the game, and the whole game is a rising pitch up to the City of the Ancients, and then keeps on for a good few hours more, until it drops a little for the Huge Materia quests, then rises again for the Cloud revelation, the final attack on Midgar, then the Northern Creator, then you're at the end.

Compare that to Final Fantasy IX where the game rises for about the first disc, then stops and starts from then onwards, as soon as you leave the Mist Continent it starts stuttering and never gets its momentum back.

[Anonymous No.1564258]

>>1564138
>>1564156
All of the PSX FF games suffer from the same problem: they start out wrong, then loses their stream and then fall apart storywise.

Some people say that Midgar is the only good part of FFVII and it goes silly storywise after your first visit at the northern crater.
Many people (even many of the haters) say that the first disc of FFVIII is some the best shit ever in the entire series and the game goes full retard storywise on 3rd disc.
As said in this thread FFIX loses it steam after the first disc and at least IMO goes full retard storywise when the Terrans (FFIX's equivalent to FFIV's moon people) are brought up as a major plotpoint at Oeilvert.

[Anonymous No.1564516]

So, by /vr/ general consensus:
1-FF IX
2-FF VII
3-FF IV
4-FF VIII
5-FF III

got it right?

>>1564143
I think this is a better configuration if you want the best graphics possible

[Anonymous No.1564910]

>>1564516
>III
>IV
>VII
>IX
>VIII

Fixed.

[Anonymous No.1566490]

So, what's the general consensus about Necron nowadays?

Some random fucker that comes out of nowhere?
Manifestation of Kuja's fears and angst? IIRC this is the "official" explanation
The crystal's pissed off dark side?
Don't tell me people still buy the Necron = Iifa Tree bullshit?

[Anonymous No.1566502]

>>1564516
>So, by /vr/ general consensus

No.

[Anonymous No.1566513]

>>1566490
It´s an edgy Death, awoken by Kuja´s shenanigans. It attempts to format the universe, so no one will fuck with the crystal again, and can finally go back to sleep.

[Anonymous No.1566554]

>>1566490
Comedy is intended to show the worst of humanity, Drama is intended to show the best.

It's common for a final fantasy game to have villains that are either silly and laughed at or sympathetic and over-complicate the plot.

The problem with the sympathetic boss is beating the never feels like a victory, so a sudden upset enemy like Zeromus, or that thing at the end of Final Fantasy 3, or in this case Necron.

Since everything in Final Fantasy 9 is a throwback to older Final Fantasies, I'd say he's a combination of Zeromus, Jenova, Chaos, and whatever was in Final Fantasy 5. Canocally, it's definitely from Terra, and it probably had some connection to the Iifa Tree. A byproduct of all the soul harvesting that had been happening, or maybe the last burst of concentrated Myst.

[Anonymous No.1566586]

So I am the only one that loved every minute of this FF, aren't I?
>and whatever was in Final Fantasy 5
yup ;_;

[Anonymous No.1566654]

>>1566586
I kept putting it off thinking they would remake it for DS like 3 and 4.
By the time I realized that wasn't going to happen I'd already lost interest.

[Anonymous No.1566661]

>>1566586
FFV is my favorite of the series. I love that the job system is so versatile you can go through the game with just about any combination of dudes, making every playthrough unique.

[Anonymous No.1566696]

>>1563751
>>1563751
I can't actually point at any specific individual with this, but I find it strange that the most typical complaint people give about X is that is linear, while the most typical complaint about VI is that WoR ruins it by being non-linear.

[Anonymous No.1566707]

>>1566490
Kuja destroyed the world crystal, thus ending all life.

Zidane survives somehow and the "Wish to live revives the three other members" to join in the fight, Necron is some deity beyond gods that see the living things on Gaia with no will to live, that they only kill others, start wars and are sad/depressed. And that there would be no more grief if there were no living things, he also got pretty pissed that the crystal was destroyed.

Zidane and the gang are the "weakest" in any of the Final Fantasy games I know, getting their ass handed to them by Beatrix, Kuja and so on. FF 7-8-9 all have questionable endings, if you don't count EE, then in 7 we're not sure if humanity survived meteor or if they moved away from Midgar.

In 8 it isn't entirely clear if they fixed the time travel mumbo jumbo or if Ultimecia got everything stuck in a time loop.

In 9 they fail to save the Terra and Gaia/crystal, Necron came to finish the work that Kuja started when the crystal got destroyed, but Zidane and the gang showed him their will to live, so he restored everything, Kuja later understands the wrongs in his actions and ask for forgiveness, which kinda striked me a bit as off, knowing how he had no care at all earlier.

Kuja was going to be the angel of death and end all life, but he was also a failure as his purpose also swayed away from Garlands goal, and Zidane was supposed to take over, Zidane also failed with this.

Necron is either "death" or a godlike being.


Also it's not entirely clear if Zidane regains his memories after Garland erases them on Terra.¨

Fuck I could go on about this for too long, gotta end the post.

[Anonymous No.1568978]

Necron was the personification of the game over screen