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FFIX is the perfect Final Fantasy

I don't like the game much at all, most of the good things about it was the very good fanservice to the franchise. The actual game's story is not very interesting and has problems when trying to go beyond an ordinary story. The battles, loadings and animations are very slow, so it is definitely not a game I would consider perfect within the franchise.
 
It's a good game (much better than 8), but I still prefer 6 and 7 as my favourites, and contenders for the best Final Fantasy game in the main timeline.
 
shit, thought u said X, actually IX is the few of the bunch i least like. first time i played IX i said: wow we are a money, i bet we transform in full monkey and then we will find out we are from another planet aka dragon ball. turns out true and then i though i wasted all my time playing it
 
FFIX was nice due to the characters and music. I really good FF game for sure.
The slow battle system was hard to love..


Best FF battle system of all time goes to FFXII. The Gambit system was just brilliant and entering a fight was even fun.
 
Too me, it is FF VII. Great characters, story, music, art and pace. Tons of things too do and stuff to collect.

FF12 on the other hand is a bad final fantasy but a amazing game.
The game lacks good characters, story and music. And becuse of that there is no charm or soul in it, the way a FF game has.

But it is a fantastic game! Tons of weapons, armors, sidequest, giant world map, cities, summons, fast paced combat and overall just so much to do. From a gameplay standpoint, this game kicks so much ass.

It is so ironic that FF13 was the opposite. Almost no world map, very few things to do, bad sidequests and overall boring gameplay. But great music, decent characters, average story and it has its charm.
 
I can't for the life of me understand why they made ATB so slow in FFIX. It's pretty awful until you get auto-haste. If they'd just increased the speed of the combat it would have been my favorite PS1 FF.
 
I love the first disk of Final Fantasy IX as much as I love anything video game related in the world. It's just so good.

I love how it's paced. I like the graphics (the character design doesn't bug me at all), the soundtrack is excellent. The whole thing strikes this up-beat optimistic feel that felt (and still feels) so fresh. The FMVs are the best ever IMO.

Alexandria, Lindblum and Treno are the GOAT cities in JRPG history, particularly the latter two (Midguard being more of a setting to me, as you only get to explore a very small part of it). It's the game that understands, better than any other, that there needs to be regular calm-before-the-storm periods.

It just kind of loses me a lot by the time we get to aliens and sci-fi planets.

.
Shrike_Priest said:
I can't for the life of me understand why they made ATB so slow in FFIX. It's pretty awful until you get auto-haste. If they'd just increased the speed of the combat it would have been my favorite PS1 FF.
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This is why running it on an emulator at 80fps is the ideal experience
 
The charm and soul XII is a different beast. It's hard to explain in words, all I can say is: Matsuno. If you don't like Tactics Ogre or Vagrant Story world you won't like FFXII and FFT world, there is not much else to say.

And yes, Trance system is really bad design.
 
Famassu said:
Far from it.
-story copies a lot from FFVII, as far as the more major themes/storylines go, yet goes for
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Oh give me a fucking break. The game deliberately draws from literally every mainline final fantasy. The big confrontation at the end of the third disc has more in common with FF6 and FF4 than anything else and takes place in fucking Pandemonium, which sure doesn't bring to mind FF7

And the last boss is the Cloud of Darkness. Sure, a reference completely loss on the western audience, but that's what they were going for and it's doesn't put me off too much because it's as deliberately placed as just about every other reference and element in the game.

FFIX is probably the only FF where I really think the designers, outside of the horridly slow battle system, set out and accomplished just about everything they wanted to do. Everything just fits, even if the individual parts may be a bit cliche or poorly done in places. Nearly every bit of the game is a brazen reference to something else but nothing ever really feels out of place. Interweaving nostalgia into a coherent whole under a theatrical theme, there's a real impressive sense of purpose that just courses through the design of the game and you just don't see that in many of the other games in the series or in general.
 
Famassu said:
Far from it.

+grand adventure
+chocobo mini-game
+Vivi
+I kind of like the idea learning skills from equipment, though the horriburu battle system made grinding for skills a chore
-I don't like a lot of the character art (though, I have now been schooled that's the way the game was always supposed to look and it wasn't a hugely bastardized chibi-ing of Amano's art), the main horriburuuuu culprits being Zidane, Steiner, Eiko and Quina (Beatrix is perhaps the best, Vivi, Amarant and Freya are cool as well)
-slow-ass battle system + random battles that can happen a bit too regularly often makes the game a chore to play
-some pretty cliched stuff (princess falls for the thief that kidnaps her etc.)
-story copies a lot from FFVII, as far as the more major themes/storylines go, yet goes for a more clichéd way
-shittiest version of "limit breaks" ever, completely worthless
-stupid final boss and lack of strong villains (they do some "cool" horrible things, but as characters they are mmmmmmmmmmeh).
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1. And VII copies a ton from VI.

2. So Kuja wasn't a "strong villain?" He's the only one in the series with character development.
 
Played this a couple of months ago, also on Vita..it's far from perfect.

It has charm and soul, but the mechanics are some of the worst of any FF game and outside of Vivi the characters are annoying(Eiko), boring(Amarant) or just not fleshed out enough(Freya).
 
RevenantKioku said:
Congratulations on naming the three worst Final Fantasy games in your opening post!

FF9 is a bad game. I will admit it offers a fair dose of charm and interesting characters, but I have trouble understanding how any of these could help being up the fundamentally broken and slow battle system and dull growth system. I can understand if someone would prefer watching a speed run or let's play of FF9 to any other, but not actually playing it. At that point you are doing a disservice to the art that is game design.

12 is just a clusterfuck of bad and as I have said before, calling Tactics your favorite FF is like saying your favorite fruit is the tomato. Just because you are technically correct in being able to do so does not excuse you from your madness.
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I've played a lot of bad games in my time, and it really doesn't describe IX and XII very well. 'Flawed', maybe.

At the time I played FFIX, I adored it, as I was used to slow PAL games and lengthy summon animations and battle load times. Replaying it, I now find it very, very slow, but 'bad'? Not at all.

Personally I love the characters, particularly Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Freya. It was so pleasant to go from the teen angst of Squall back to upbeat adventuring again, and even then the inate sadness of Vivi and Freya's storylines made me really feel for them.

As for FFXII, it's a game with lots of options. I chose to limit myself a bit with the gambits and had a blast. My biggest complaint was that Vaan and Penelo add sod-all to the storyline and their motivation (we want be sky pirates!) is pretty much solved the minute they meet Balthier. You could remove both of them (and Fran for that matter), begin the game as Ashe on the run, and you wouldn't miss anything. I suppose, being purposeless characters, they give a reason to go on monster hunts etc, whereas Ashe and Basch are the only ones with a reason to pursue the plot.

I have a hard time narrowing down the FF games, I can just about put them into the camps of the ones I really like (IV, VI, VII, IX, X, XII) and the ones I don't (I-III, V, VIII, XIII). That's one of the strengths of the series for me, they change it up often enough that even when I don't get on with an entry, the next one will probably change what I dislike. The only problem for me was when they doubled down for years on Lightning and her cohorts, it's been 8 years since the last one I enjoyed at this point, unless you count the X remaster or Bravely Default.
 
FFIX holds the title in my eyes. VII and VIII were amazing too. Such a great run of games. VI and X bookend them perfectly. It was truly a golden era of FF. I miss good Final Fantasy. It's one of the reasons I want a vita...to replay them handheld style.
 
Yep, this is my fave "new" FF in the PS1 days. I know FF7 is regarded as the most popular one, but FFIX had all the best elements of FF games and had awesome visuals, too.
 
FFXII is one of those strange quality games where it's almost explicitly obvious that something realllllll fucked up happened during development. I'm pretty sure by the time I was wandering to Archades for 15-30 hours I knew something was up
 
It has a classic FF story and design, but I remember not enjoying it as much as some of the other titles. Never cared for Zidane much.
 
I still think that VI is the best entry in the franchise, well I actually consider it the best game ever, but IX is still a wonderful game.

Oddly enough I never felt frustrated by his slowness as most of you are pointing out, but I guess it has been a while since my last gameplay, so maybe I wouldn't enjoy it as much right now.

I still don't get how so many of you love FFXII though... Vaan ruined the whole game for me, by the end of the game I couldn't even stand seeing him anymore.
 
Agreed Op, its the peak of the series, it has its faults (battle speed/random encounters) but its tone, style and consistency with its story are perfect in my view.

In all fairness though X was great if not a little linear, XII had great potential but the changes ruined what could have been a great game (though i hear the international version makes some good alterations)
XII is where it went of a cliff and tarnished the series more than VII did and their continued reliance on Lightening as some sort of mascot....i'm glad XII-3 isn't a main title they should have the entire XII series as a spin off altogether
 
redcrayon said:
I've played a lot of bad games in my time, and it really doesn't describe IX and XII very well. 'Flawed', maybe.
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Semantics.

At the time I played FFIX, I adored it, as I was used to slow PAL games and lengthy summon animations and battle load times. Replaying it, I now find it very, very slow, but 'bad'? Not at all.
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A game is a sun of all its parts, to be sure, but gameplay matters. 9's battle speed is unacceptable.

Personally I love the characters, particularly Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Freya. It was so pleasant to go from the teen angst of Squall back to upbeat adventuring again, and even then the inate sadness of Vivi and Freya's storylines made me really feel for them.
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And if you enjoy that, great. But it cannot cover up the stench of the gameplay. The "perfect FF" should have damn fine gameplay to go along. You could pick any FF (this of course includes Mystic Quest and excludes insults such as Tactics and the MMOs) save 12 and dare I say 2 even though I love it and find better underlying game. 1 is a bit of an unlucky goat since it was first but even it offers more enjoyment (in its remakes I will admit) than 9.
The gameplay must come first. Everything else is the toppings which you will enjoy or dislike at your own pleasure.

As for FFXII, it's a game with lots of options. I chose to limit myself a bit with the gambits and had a blast. My biggest complaint was that Vaan and Penelo add sod-all to the storyline and their motivation (we want be sky pirates!) is pretty much solved the minute they meet Balthier. You could remove both of them (and Fran for that matter), begin the game as Ashe on the run, and you wouldn't miss anything. I suppose, being purposeless characters, they give a reason to go on monster hunts etc, whereas Ashe and Basch are the only ones with a reason to pursue the plot.
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A lot of unnecessary options surrounding one of the most insulting game play mechanics ever. A snore of a game.
 
I'd say Final Fantasy Tactics is the closest to perfect of all the Final Fantasy games, but IX is great.

I will say though that charm and soul is something definitely present in IX that was severely lacking in The XIII trilogy. I think that certain something that's undefinable in certain games like the best Final Fantasy games can actually make up for more tangible flaws. I wish Square Enix would realize this. If the graphics are just good and the story has some plot holes I can overlook that if I can connect to the characters and their motivations.
 
It's weird but I agree with you in that FFIX is the combination of all things good from Final Fantasy's before it executed well, but for some reason it's not my favourite Final Fantasy.
 
I have yet to finish any FF (started VII numerous times), played several on android (actually the only games I like playing on my phone apart from stuff like igo) but after a while it just gets a bit boring I think the progression is just to slow. I bought the FF X HD collection and I really like it (and I will finish it), plays very well on the vita and looks great. I really hope they will do the XII HD version. I think they will as they said they would if X sells well and it did. So atm X is my favorite because of the pacing of the story.
 
I really want to play this game, but the battle system does seem pretty slow... is there any way to make it faster? I know there's a ROM hack that makes the ATB gauge fill up faster, but is there anything beyond that? Like, does increasing the disc read speed on PS3 / PSP (not sure if Vita has that feature) or bumping up the CPU speed of the PSP via the CFW recovery menu do anything?
 
Worst of the PS FFs by far for me, better then any FF afterwards though. From X onwards FF was screwed up badly.
 
Yeah, 9 and 12 are my favorites too. Followed by six. Tactics is kind of rough since Tactics Ogre just did it all so much better for me.

I'd say 9 has the least annoying cast in the series. Everyone had a role and an arc. Except for that one guy. The plot mixed personal and political conflicts really well. For whatever reason, the story seems longer then most of the series, even if it could be done in inside of twenty hours. My only real complaint was the blasted stealing mechanics. What a giant pain in the ass that was.

That said, 12 remains the most replayable game for me. It has little to do with the characters or the plot, but more the mix of setting, battle system, exploring, and farming/rare drops. Hopefully SE will manage something similar someday.
 
FF9 has one killer battle system flaw (which could've been fixed if they'd gone PS2, which they originally considered) but besides that absolutely offers the best overall interpretation of the spirit of (Sakaguchi's) Final Fantasy. I love it; it's one of my favourite games of all time.
 
The last final fantasy before the series started going to shit.
It will always have a special place in my heart. I loved the characters.
 
Oh yes, let's not even get into the whole making the main character a thief, making multiple steals available per enemy and then making Mug the most awful implementation of the move in the entire series.

Lots of strange, strange choices in 9.
 
Krustentier7 said:
I really want to play this game, but the battle system does seem pretty slow... is there any way to make it faster? I know there's a ROM hack that makes the ATB gauge fill up faster, but is there anything beyond that? Like, does increasing the disc read speed on PS3 / PSP (not sure if Vita has that feature) or bumping up the CPU speed of the PSP via the CFW recovery menu do anything?
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I seem to remember dipping into the options menu and setting anything that made the speed faster to MAX.
 
Amarant-ffix-battle.png


Die in a fire you piece of shit character. Freya and Vivi were too good for this game.
 
The shitty battles not only ruined this game from being good, they ruined the beauty of random battles and after this game there was the call to end them and how they're archaic.

A Dragon Quest battle can be done in 10 seconds. That's a third of the way through the battle introduction (and that's being generous).

I wonder if people who forgive the battles like RPGs for story only, and not actual RPG elements.
 
Also replaying it right now on Vita, hadn't touched it since the PS1 days and yeah, it's definitely my favorite FF. So much charm and charisma.
Also my first time playing it at 60hz which combined with the fast battle speed setting makes the game much more enjoyable.
Great cast and beautiful world, wish the franchise had more protagonists with Zidane's spirit.
 
I would like FFIX better if not for its battle system, which was terrible (it's the one thing that dissuades me from replaying it). Too slow, too many idiotic status effects, and Trance was a joke. It deserved better than to be weighed down by such garbage.

VII served as a gateway game for me with RPGs, I'm one of the few who enjoyed VIII in spite of its flaws, and it wasn't really until last year that I came to appreciate XII. I despised XIII.

EDIT: May as well throw in my two cents regarding X while I'm at it. Not my favorite, but I liked it well enough.
 
I've always found FFIX to be simply good. FFX is the only one I've ever replayed--not because I like it particularly, but just how it has happened--so is possible my opinions would change from replays.

FFIX, for me, has less impressive visuals than VIII, a forgettable story, some of the ugliest characters in the series with Steiner and Zidane, and misses the "wow" factor that VII had.
 
Ferrio said:
The slow ass battle system alone excludes it from being the best.
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This. I only got to the beginning of disc 2 back in the day but my save corrupted so I never went back. The game moves like molasses, and I'm not that big of a fan of the way the characters are modeled after play FF8.
 
But it also contains Quina as a character, and therefore loses a vast amount of respect. I can deal with Yuffie, I can just about live with Selphie, but Quina?

I mean really Square.
 
The only PS1 FF I didn't finish because of the slow-ass battle system.

Quit at the start of disc 2.

I'm also on the (apparently minority) opinion that the character design for this game is awful.
 
FFIX was horrendous. God awful storyline. Battle system was subpar. No real fun sidequests or anything.

Was bad. Was a nice homage to the past from SE, but just felt like the game was tossed out there.

Perfect Final Fantasy was FFVI. I am playing through that game again off and on currently. Perfection.
 
Never made it past the first hour, the 90 second camera swoop was too gamebreaking for me in a time where I had other stuff to play.

Also, the main character has a tail
 
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