Final Fantasy IX Remastered

I must confess, I’m not actually a Final Fantasy fan. I’ve never been keen on the approach of turn-based combat nor the strong emphasis on storytelling when I was much younger. I did play FF7 and FF8 and appreciated certain elements of their design; I didn’t find the overall experience to my liking. But as I’ve grown up my tastes have broadened and now it’s time to visit a classic in the series and see if my attitude has changed. Regarded as one of the best, FF9 has been remastered and is subject to criticism by a non FF fan.

The story is that of an epic quest after a failed kidnapping of a famous princess. You play as a young rogue-like character who’s part of a large group of mercenaries under the guise of professional traveling actors. They attempt to kidnap a princess from her home and things go horribly wrong, resulting in our heroes and the princess becoming caught up with one another as part of an epic journey. What is presented to us is a fluently written and rather touching tale of friendship and good values as our heroes go through some epic battles and tough situations that test them to extreme measures. The worlds created are stunning to observe and the depth and rich back stories for many of the characters are fantastic.

With some great aesthetics, including a beautifully crafted game world and a fantastic soundtrack, you’ll find yourself becoming deeply immersed. Great flow and pacing, and you also get to receive the view of the story from several different characters.
I will admit that some of the dialogue and comedy is rather cheesy, even for a Final Fantasy game. The plot elements of a young, charming boy falling for a princess who wants to break free from her responsibilities and his tacky one liners feel extremely dated (and this originally came out in 2000). Some characters, such as the Jesters, Zorn and Thorn, become really annoying particularly during some of the longer cut scenes.

Final Fantasy IX offers some engaging and yet simple/easy gameplay mechanics while staying true to a strong JRPG. The game is highly customisable, meaning if you’re here for the story or are new to turn-based combat, there are plenty of options to help you integrate better into the game’s flow. The game’s mechanics are easy to learn and the game adapts well to new players, allowing for ATB styles to be switched from active to wait. But the game goes through a whole act before mentioning this and some other elements are brought up only after several battles. However, this could also be because throwing it all at the player at once would probably be too much to take in.

Combat is easy to understand, even with some complexities such as abilities, they become second nature as the game guides you well, even if for the first act it doesn’t clearly explain some of the core concepts at all. Overall, the first act is rather slow and things don’t start kicking off until after the first main chapter. It may not sound long but it’s a lengthy couple of hours if you’re new to the game. It’s still better than FF8’s test, though.

There are some good set pieces including a staged fight scene in a play and a few other epic set pieces that break up the fighting and menu-scrolling rather nicely, along with some other interesting gameplay elements such as the card game. It’s easy to learn and fun to play compared to many other modern day card games you see. It can also be a welcome break from the epic quest every once in a while.

The one main complaint I have is with the extremely annoying victory music which makes a return from FF7. It’s so painful to listen to every time you win a battle and it plays every time you win a fight. Not to mention various fights have a prolonged entry or mini cut scene that will show every time you play it. So if you suck at a certain boss battle, be prepared to watch it over and over.
There aren’t as many secrets and hidden rewards as FF7 and with a more linear approach, players often won’t revisit or feel the need to revisit the open world which feels a little empty in most cases.

So, has Final Fantasy IX converted me to the classic JRPG formula of gameplay and turn my hate into love for FF? Well, I’m still not a fan of many FF games yet the one I can say I did actually enjoy was definitely this title. This made me feel welcome to play it and didn’t alienate me knowing I’m a complete noob at turn-based combat. I liked the story, the beautiful artwork and rather enjoyed the complexities of the turn-based combat, along with the big set pieces and fights the game had to offer. In fairness, I did notice the lacking of secrets compared to FF7 and then some rather annoying elements that have stuck around. But I’m happy I played FFIX and for anyone who’s like me and wasn’t a fan to begin with, give it a go. It’s more accustomed to non-JRPG gamers and does a good job at bringing you in and making sure you are left enjoying what there is.

I can see why so many claim it to be the best and indeed for a non Final Fantasy fan, it was certainly the one I enjoyed.

+ Great aesthetics - wonderful visuals and soundtrack
+ Simple and easy to immerse yourself into
+ Some fantastic boss battles and set pieces

- Lacks the level of secrets and hidden rewards as FF 7 had
- Some rather dated and annoying plot elements
- That stupid victory music

A Steam code of Final Fantasy IX remastered was provided by Square Enix for the purpose of this review