ZombieG
05-01-2007, 10:21 PM
Is it just me, or does any Final Fantasy installment always get rave reviews the week it comes out? It's only until a few months afterward when people come back down to the actual plane of gaming existence that they realise they've been had. Essentially, Final Fantasy has done that to us since Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy IX is not that much better.
I don't pretend to be any sort of RPG veteran, but the Final Fantasy series is one that I am particularly familiar with. The game has always been based around fantastical settings, occasionally delving into the world of sci-fi with mixed results here and there. However, it seems that Final Fantasy have become too afraid to venture away from one story progression to the point where every new release makes it that much more cliched. It's always a love story between two unwitting and usually out-classed characters hindered by some mundane fact set against a story of political intrigue, and somewhere along the lines, you're given a twist that redefines the central character's take on existence. This same story is present in Final Fantasy IX. Except this time around, you're Zidane, a failure of a ladies' man who is part of a group of thieves named "Tantaulus." You're sent on a mission to kidnap the princess of the nation of Alexandria, Garnet. Guess what the ensuing adventure leads to?
Of course, the cliches don't end there. You'll meet up with a cast of characters whose attitudes are recycled from past characters. You've got the cold, silent type much like Shadow from Final Fantasy VI, Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII, and Squall, the central character from Final Fantasy VIII. The "I swear revenger!" character much like Loki from Final Fantasy VI, and of course, someone always vows to protect someone else. Now we're at the point where you can formulaicly create a Final Fantasy before it hits the market.
While, Final Fantasy IX's system is a bit of a return to form from the intensely mathematical stylings of Final Fantasy VIII, there is a lot left to be desired in over-all game-play. Such obstacles exist in the system where, say you have a sword that inflicts poison(Which is another gripe, there are millions of status effects on Final Fantasy IX, a lot of which are pretty much the same thing with a new name...) and you equip this on Zidane. Your sword cannot inflict poison unless you have added the "Add Status" ability to your current catalogue of useable abilities. Minor things like this can be an extreme hindrance to a plan of combo'd abilities.
Beyond the system, there are moments where Final Fantasy IX will make you want to kill yourself from being so brain-numbingly anti-"Giving-you-any-help-at-all." For instance, you'll be stuck in a mountain path or dungeon against monsters strong versus elemental attacks, and you're stuck with one physical fighter, two white mages and Vivi, the black mage. Naturally, the player thinks: "I'll just change my party." Incorrect, in Final Fantasy IX, you start being able to actively select your party on the third disc. Which means, farming produces extremely unbalanced groups of characters. Your level 30 team with Zidane, Garnet, Eiko and Vivi will reunite with Steiner, level 19, and Freya, level 21. Add that to a game that seems like it's too short to reach level 60 by the end of the game, and in the end it kind of seems like your RPG abilities have been capped.
However, all this is not to say Final Fantasy IX doesn't have it's upsides. For instance, the card game is amazingly fun. Without a doubt, the most addicting part of the game, hands down. Other than that, the return to a more fantastic theme gives your characters an extremely unique appeal. One of my favorite characters for instance, is Freya, the rat-woman Dragoon Knight. Though, part of her story is extremely disappointing, she remains one of the more, if not the most useful character in the game, next to Steiner who is a major dolt and blunderbuss of a musclehead.
In the end, all of Final Fantasy IX's pitfalls score it an average rating. While, most consider it a return to form for Final Fantasy because of a consistent theme regeneration, it tends to bore more often than it does amaze, and can be quite a hindrance in some portions of the game. Definitely has a bit of personality, though. I've rarely heard a character use "poop" as a derogatory insult before.
(6/10)
I don't pretend to be any sort of RPG veteran, but the Final Fantasy series is one that I am particularly familiar with. The game has always been based around fantastical settings, occasionally delving into the world of sci-fi with mixed results here and there. However, it seems that Final Fantasy have become too afraid to venture away from one story progression to the point where every new release makes it that much more cliched. It's always a love story between two unwitting and usually out-classed characters hindered by some mundane fact set against a story of political intrigue, and somewhere along the lines, you're given a twist that redefines the central character's take on existence. This same story is present in Final Fantasy IX. Except this time around, you're Zidane, a failure of a ladies' man who is part of a group of thieves named "Tantaulus." You're sent on a mission to kidnap the princess of the nation of Alexandria, Garnet. Guess what the ensuing adventure leads to?
Of course, the cliches don't end there. You'll meet up with a cast of characters whose attitudes are recycled from past characters. You've got the cold, silent type much like Shadow from Final Fantasy VI, Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII, and Squall, the central character from Final Fantasy VIII. The "I swear revenger!" character much like Loki from Final Fantasy VI, and of course, someone always vows to protect someone else. Now we're at the point where you can formulaicly create a Final Fantasy before it hits the market.
While, Final Fantasy IX's system is a bit of a return to form from the intensely mathematical stylings of Final Fantasy VIII, there is a lot left to be desired in over-all game-play. Such obstacles exist in the system where, say you have a sword that inflicts poison(Which is another gripe, there are millions of status effects on Final Fantasy IX, a lot of which are pretty much the same thing with a new name...) and you equip this on Zidane. Your sword cannot inflict poison unless you have added the "Add Status" ability to your current catalogue of useable abilities. Minor things like this can be an extreme hindrance to a plan of combo'd abilities.
Beyond the system, there are moments where Final Fantasy IX will make you want to kill yourself from being so brain-numbingly anti-"Giving-you-any-help-at-all." For instance, you'll be stuck in a mountain path or dungeon against monsters strong versus elemental attacks, and you're stuck with one physical fighter, two white mages and Vivi, the black mage. Naturally, the player thinks: "I'll just change my party." Incorrect, in Final Fantasy IX, you start being able to actively select your party on the third disc. Which means, farming produces extremely unbalanced groups of characters. Your level 30 team with Zidane, Garnet, Eiko and Vivi will reunite with Steiner, level 19, and Freya, level 21. Add that to a game that seems like it's too short to reach level 60 by the end of the game, and in the end it kind of seems like your RPG abilities have been capped.
However, all this is not to say Final Fantasy IX doesn't have it's upsides. For instance, the card game is amazingly fun. Without a doubt, the most addicting part of the game, hands down. Other than that, the return to a more fantastic theme gives your characters an extremely unique appeal. One of my favorite characters for instance, is Freya, the rat-woman Dragoon Knight. Though, part of her story is extremely disappointing, she remains one of the more, if not the most useful character in the game, next to Steiner who is a major dolt and blunderbuss of a musclehead.
In the end, all of Final Fantasy IX's pitfalls score it an average rating. While, most consider it a return to form for Final Fantasy because of a consistent theme regeneration, it tends to bore more often than it does amaze, and can be quite a hindrance in some portions of the game. Definitely has a bit of personality, though. I've rarely heard a character use "poop" as a derogatory insult before.
(6/10)