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Is FF9 the only FF game cursed to be lost in oblivion?

R

Rawket Lawnchair

Member
My question is legitimate.

Squeenix are doing their best to re-release most major FF titles in newer platforms so they don't die and are accessible to new audiences and newer technology. The PC and mobile ports in particular, have gained an actual fighting chance to not be lost to old hardware, and will be available years from now (the PC audience will find a way to make the games compatible with newer hardware, whereas I doubt this will ever be a problem with mobile ports; unless of course the jump to actual 3D is ever made). The company will also make sure to re-release the games in newer consoles with every generation, and charge a pretty penny.

FF9 however seems to be the game that is destined to be forgotten in limbo, simply because it never was released in a platform other than PS1. There's also a pretty bad rumour out there, which I don't know if it is true, that Squeenix have lost the game's source code, and thus every sort of re-release is impossible.

And that's a true shame, because it's a great game, and one of the best FFs ever made (if not the best). Squeenix must find a way to breathe new life to this long-forgotten and forlorn gem.

I saw Mama Robotnik's art thread just a while ago on the front page, so that's why I wrote this.
 
Eh. Right now its very easy to play if you have a ps1, ps2, ps3, psp or vita. It will probably come to other platforms at some point. Not being on pc is not the same as being 'lost to oblivian'.
 
Rawket Lawnchair said:
My question is legitimate.

Squeenix are doing their best to re-release most major FF titles in newer platforms so they don't die and are accessible to new audiences and newer technology. The PC and mobile ports in particular, have gained an actual fighting chance to not be lost to old hardware, and will be available years from now (the PC audience will find a way to make the games compatible with newer hardware, whereas I doubt this will ever be a problem with mobile ports; unless of course the jump to actual 3D is ever made). The company will also make sure to re-release the games in newer consoles with every generation, and charge a pretty penny.

FF9 however seems to be the game that is destined to be forgotten in limbo, simply because it never was released in a platform other than PS1. There's also a pretty bad rumour out there, which I don't know if it is true, that Squeenix have lost the game's source code, and thus every sort of re-release is impossible.

And that's a true shame, because it's a great game, and one of the best FFs ever made (if not the best). Squeenix must find a way to breathe new life to this long-forgotten and forlorn gem.

I saw Mama Robotnik's art thread just a while ago on the front page, so that's why I wrote this.
Click to expand...


I don't think so. You just need to wait even if it is for a iOS port
 
It's still on your disc or on your PS3 or PSP or Vita. You can always rip the disc and play it better than ever on pretty much any PC at this point.

I feel you though. It's my favorite FF and deserves a lot more love from SE than it's gotten. But it's far from lost in oblivion. It lives on in our hearts, burning brightly for ever more.
 
Megatron said:
Eh. Right now its very easy to play if you have a ps1, ps2, ps3, psp or vita. It will probably come to other platforms at some point. Not being on pc is not the same as being 'lost to oblivian'.
Click to expand...
You can still play it on PC. I wouldn't call the lack of official port lost.
 
I never got a chance to play this one, and I would like to some day. I don't have a PS1, are there any other legitimate ways to play this? Or is emulation the only option?
 
FFIX needs an upgraded port at the least. It's a fantastic game marred by just being so slow. Speed the game up a bit, focusing particularly on the battle system with some other minor tweaks and it would be amazing.
 
It's a shame that it barely seems like it matters to SE. Still my favorite Final Fantasy and I'd kill for something along the lines of the FF7 PC port for it.
 
It has a PSN release so it's ahead of a lot of games as is. Probably depends on how PS1 releases fall out on PS4.

And a lot of Japanese game companies have lost source code over the years. It's really very vexing, and the likes of Bioware lose assets too.
 
It's terrible if they lost the source code and that's not acceptable for any game but I think FF9 is one of the worst FF games ever released.

The positive is that at least it's released as a PSone classic so it's at least available to purchase.
 
Megatron said:
Eh. Right now its very easy to play if you have a ps1, ps2, ps3, psp or vita. It will probably come to other platforms at some point. Not being on pc is not the same as being 'lost to oblivian'.
Click to expand...

This is true, thread is a little dramatic. FF9 is beloved by a large audience, it's not exactly collecting dust in a corner.
 
It would be very sad if true. It's my favorite RPG of all time. It underperformed relative to FFVII and FFVIII, which I think is why they never bothered porting it to PC.

At least it's on PS1 classics right now. They've got something, not necessarily the source code. If they can emulate a PS1, they can deliver FFIX.
 
I was having this discussion with co-workers yesterday. FF IX is the only one in the series that we know that doesn't have haters. Everyone enjoyed the game yet no one asks for remakes, or HD upgrades, or trophy support (I know people do, but its not vocal like with others in the series). It's so good, but not ground-breakingly good that it's sort of stuck in this weird limbo phase of everyone acknowledging its goodness without anyone clamoring or demanding more of it.

If they released this on PS4/Vita with 3X and trophy support I'd be all over it. I still have a beef with that stupid Ozma boss....
 
I'd buy it again as a PS1 classic on PS4. Already have it on Vita. That'd probably be about the fifth time I've bought it over the years.
 
GOOCHY said:
I'd buy it again as a PS1 classic on PS4. Already have it on Vita. That'd probably be about the fifth time I've bought it over the years.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. It's one of the PSX's most beautiful games and would look amazing with that upscaling they have for the PS2 games. I hope various PSX titles like FFIX and Vagrant Story get the same treatment.
 
KibblesBits said:
How does a company lose the source code for a video game?
Click to expand...

It happens more often than you'd think. Same thing happened to Sega with Panzer Dragoon Saga. Everyone thinks someone else is looking after it and then it gets tossed out when they upgrade their PCs or move offices or what have you.

Fun fact: the same thing happened to the first Toy Story movie when they were nearing completion. It only got saved because one of the staff members had happened to have copied the entire project to a drive and took it home to work on it over the weekend.
 
RocketRacoon said:
This is true, thread is a little dramatic. FF9 is beloved by a large audience, it's not exactly collecting dust in a corner.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's no Front Mission (besides 3), Xebosaga, or Breath of Fire 3.
If I wanted to I could play it on the vita within the time it takes to download and at a reasonable price.
 
KibblesBits said:
How does a company lose the source code for a video game?
Click to expand...

aerts1js said:
Pretty sure same thing happened with the original Kingdom Hearts.
Click to expand...
Storing text is super expensive. You have to buy an HDD (cost millions back in the day), compress everything (text compression was until recently a proprietary technology, and cost a lot), and then produce multiple copies and make sure none of the storage devices is eaten by hungry wolves that roam the server room.
We should be happy that we could save anything back from the IT stone age.
 
KibblesBits said:
How does a company lose the source code for a video game?
Click to expand...

When cheap (hosted) servers weren't a thing back in the day, you could have the project sitting on one machine in the dev team's closet, if not just on their workstations. Then the project is finished, released, and years later someone finds this piece of junk machine which gets thrown away.

That's just one way but it happens.
 
Perhaps it's for the better. Would love to have trophy support and the same FFVII-esque mods from the PS4 version, but any other alterations (ala FFVI) would leave me forever salty and I would never forgive S-E.
 
It's not alone.

Final_Fantasy_XII_Box_Art.png
 
No remake is necessary. Just release it again at 3x speed as said. And we're all good.

Also, LOL FFIX the only FF game cursed to oblivion. FF2 says howdy.
 
Yeah, this is one that has to maintain its original integrity other than speeding up battles. No voice acting, no real time combat, just better graphics and trophies. Drooling just thinking about it.
 
FFIX had so much care and love put into the world design, architecture, landscapes, etc. that it deserves much more attention IMO.
Then again, it's not like FFVIII got that much more attention other than a Steam release.

If Square truly lost the source code like some rumors suggest, then it's truly a pity. Not sure they'd want to invest money into reverse engineering that old game. :(
 
It'll probably get whatever treatment FFVIII ends up getting... I expect an upres of both games in the coming years
 
It's my favorite FF game, and I recently replayed it so my nephew could experience it. The only negative thing about the game for me is the battle speed being too slow, otherwise it's a perfect game to me.

I'm OK with it being left alone, I don't want modern Square touching it anyway.
 
In any case, don't worry. FF9 will get a remake when they're done with their current projects. It'll be mobile only, the font will be messed up, it'll use 4 different art styles all of which are blurry, and have Kingdom Hearts style combat, but it'll get remade.
 
You can buy it for Vita and PS3 right now. That's better treatment than most older games get. Period.
FF12 is the real "lost" main FF game. It'll probably be a PS2 Classic in the future, but that's about it.
 
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