Final Fantasy IX
Playtime: 60.1 Hours
It's disappointing how much I wanted to love this game, but it just kept falling short.
So I had very high hopes for this game. I have played 6-10 of the mainline Final Fantasy series and this is definitely my least favorite of the bunch.
This game had such a spectacular opening few hours. I was hooked, I was ready, I was honestly expecting this to be the best Final Fantasy game I played. But it slowly started to disappoint me.
Combat is the same as usual Final Fantasy's, I found this one to be the hardest that I've played so far, but I've nothing really to say that's any different from my usual gripes with this type of game. Random encounters are annoying and that about sums it up.
It feels like the story for this game doesn't know what it wants to be. There is a lot of things happening in this story, but only the first third of the game feels like an interconnected story. That being said, the characters in this game are really good. Your main party is really well written (except Amarant), and there is some great chemistry between characters in individual scenes. The main character, Zidane, is a fun character to play as, though it felt his character arc was really rushed at the end of the game.
Music is spectacular as always. Nobuo Uematsu is brilliant at making music that fits the setting you are in. I recommend binging a playlist on Youtube and give it a listen. It's very good.
I used a guide for both of my playthroughs, One so I would get an achievement where I had to view what is basically 80 optional cutscenes, and one so that I would be able to get the Excalibur 2 for another achievement, (which is basically beat the game in about 12 hours.) That is something that might have affected my enjoyment while playing the game. It's a very meticulous & tedious game to 100%, with a much worse card game than Triple Triad.
I can't give this a good recommendation because even though the world is well made with some beautiful scenery, the main reason I play a Final Fantasy game is to enjoy a fantastic story. The first third of the game is that, but it doesn't keep that level of brilliance throughout. You play certain games to enjoy certain things. You play a Call of Duty game expecting great moment-to-moment gameplay, and while other things like story & music are important, it's not why most people buy those type of games. I bought Final Fantasy 9 for the story and I was left disappointed.
Please try a better Final Fantasy game.
