NipplesAndToes23
Member
What was it like going back to your favorite game after a long hiatus?
It's been about four years since I last played Final Fantasy IX. Prior to that I always played it at least one year. I've been absent from it in recent years because I was on my way graduating from a community college and proceeding into a university where I obtained my bachelor's. While I was at school I felt that I didn't have much time to play games and I had a lot of other distractions so my gaming habits were mainly confined to multiplayer games. I did however beat Dino Crisis 2, Brutal Legend, and The Last of Us during my stay, but I found that I could play those in shorter bursts. An RPG, you have to take your time with.
During my academic adventure my PS2 and PS3 died and I had lost two of my four copies of Final Fantasy IX. I naturally decided to just play it on an emulator, but I could never get it to work even with help online. I called a friend for help and he said "yeah, he could only get it to work one time" and I should just play it on my PS3. I did not have a PS3, but fortunately, my little brother got a PS3 for Christmas somewhere during this time. I knew I only had access to two copies of the game and remembered how some of them are scratched to a point of being unplayable, but I decided to take the chance and start up a new file.
It felt like I was home again. All kinds of feelings and memories swept over me when I saw that first FMV. Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game. Every playthrough is precious and this one was no different. It's something that I remember where almost each hidden "!" item is placed and remembered what bosses had the stuff worth stealing. I also found myself doing the same strategies in certain fights like using a tent on Gizamaluke to make him blind and silent, thus making him ridiculously easy, but the thing I enjoyed most this time was the thing that made it my number one game, the story.
The story of Final Fantasy IX is charming, solemn, and also romantic. The story starts off playful and adventurous, but by the end of the first disc things start to become serious. The game never becomes entirely gloom, though it has plenty of seriousness, it also has comedy to break up the tension. Final Fantasy IX is one of the most well-written games I've played. I admire how well the dialogue flows and how the characters play off each other. Despite being a man of crime, Zidane is carefree and goodhearted. Garnet is determined and naive, Steiner is chivalrous, Vivi is cowardly, Freya is brash, but also hurt, Quina is also carefree, Eiko is rambunctious, and Amarant is solemn. They all grow over the course of the game and I love almost all of them except for Amarant, while not bad, but I felt that he could have been integrated better into the story.
Even almost fifteen years later there are things in the game that I did not really fully recognized until this playthrough.
After the events of Disc 3 were over, my game came to halt temporarily. My disc 4 was messed up and I couldn't get past the first FMV. Switched to my other disc 4 and that one didn't work either. I was furious! Thankfully a kind Gaf member hear was gracious enough to provide me a code so I could buy it and download it off of PSN. I was going to finish this playthrough.
The game's theme revolves around
In contrast to IX, I say that X's theme was death.
On the gameplay side of things, it is serviceable in terms of combat. I know many people feel it's too slow, but I never had an issue with it. The Trance system is a little irritating, but it doesn't kill anything for me and it shows up enough in boss fights for me. Most status effects don't last long enough in this game. Sleep, Haste, Protect, and Shell are the particular ones I'm talking about. Out of all the FF games I've played I felt that Haste is the least useful in this one. I really don't use it outside of the Auto-Hast ability. The game does exploration pretty well and I love Chocobo Hot & Cold. I still never remember where the majority of the chocograph locations are despite the many times I've done them.
All in all it was so great to play this game again. This game lead to my decision of becoming a writer and to own my own game company. Recently after playing through this I feel that my first novel isn't good enough anymore and I should do some moderate rewrites because I didn't quite catch the essence that made IX great. This game also lead to me picking up drawing and even writing rhymes, which I think I'm going to start getting back into.
Have any of you gone back to playing your favorite game after a long hiatus and what did that experience do for you?
It's been about four years since I last played Final Fantasy IX. Prior to that I always played it at least one year. I've been absent from it in recent years because I was on my way graduating from a community college and proceeding into a university where I obtained my bachelor's. While I was at school I felt that I didn't have much time to play games and I had a lot of other distractions so my gaming habits were mainly confined to multiplayer games. I did however beat Dino Crisis 2, Brutal Legend, and The Last of Us during my stay, but I found that I could play those in shorter bursts. An RPG, you have to take your time with.
During my academic adventure my PS2 and PS3 died and I had lost two of my four copies of Final Fantasy IX. I naturally decided to just play it on an emulator, but I could never get it to work even with help online. I called a friend for help and he said "yeah, he could only get it to work one time" and I should just play it on my PS3. I did not have a PS3, but fortunately, my little brother got a PS3 for Christmas somewhere during this time. I knew I only had access to two copies of the game and remembered how some of them are scratched to a point of being unplayable, but I decided to take the chance and start up a new file.
It felt like I was home again. All kinds of feelings and memories swept over me when I saw that first FMV. Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game. Every playthrough is precious and this one was no different. It's something that I remember where almost each hidden "!" item is placed and remembered what bosses had the stuff worth stealing. I also found myself doing the same strategies in certain fights like using a tent on Gizamaluke to make him blind and silent, thus making him ridiculously easy, but the thing I enjoyed most this time was the thing that made it my number one game, the story.
The story of Final Fantasy IX is charming, solemn, and also romantic. The story starts off playful and adventurous, but by the end of the first disc things start to become serious. The game never becomes entirely gloom, though it has plenty of seriousness, it also has comedy to break up the tension. Final Fantasy IX is one of the most well-written games I've played. I admire how well the dialogue flows and how the characters play off each other. Despite being a man of crime, Zidane is carefree and goodhearted. Garnet is determined and naive, Steiner is chivalrous, Vivi is cowardly, Freya is brash, but also hurt, Quina is also carefree, Eiko is rambunctious, and Amarant is solemn. They all grow over the course of the game and I love almost all of them except for Amarant, while not bad, but I felt that he could have been integrated better into the story.
Even almost fifteen years later there are things in the game that I did not really fully recognized until this playthrough.
Gameplay-wise I didn't realize that the Zaghnol that shows up during the Festival of the Hunt shows up in districts other than the Business District. At the end of Disc 3 I think I didn't quite pay attention to or comprehend the dialogue that Zidane had when he confronted Garland. Zidane and the rest of the genomes except for Kuja are all immortal. The genome Vivi talks to in Bran Bal tells him that they do not possess age and Garland states to Zidane "Forget all that. You are destined to live among the stars for all eternity." The sequence of Zidane walking through Bran Bal leading to this was powerful as you could see how this had really affected Zidane how really great his friends are. The "You Are Not Alone" scene is one of the best moments in gaming period. Uematsu really set the tone with that score for that scene.
The ending scene of this game is what really hits me though. Seeing Vivi's children, Steiner hooking up with Beatrix, Freya returning to her love, and Quina dropping knowledge was so heartwarming. I mourn for Vivi.
The game's theme revolves around
life. Kuja was given life for the purpose to end life and ended up finding out that his life had a limit. Zidane was also created for a similar purpose and had an urgency to preserve the life of others. Garnet's life was altered by Garland and Kuja. Garland destroyed her home and killed her mother which lead to her ending up in Alexandria and being raised as a princess. Kuja pushed Garnet's new mother and supplied her with weapons, which ultimately lead to war and her mother's death. Vivi found out that he was created with the intent to end lives just like Kuja and that his own life had a limit. During the course of the game Steiner came to terms with how he wanted to live his life. He was previously naive just like Garnet and was blindly devoted to Queen Brahne until he saw that Garnet's life was in danger, this goes true for Beatrix as well though she started to show signs a little earlier than Steiner, when she found out that Brahne did not appreciate her retrieving the stone from Cleyra. Freya represents the sorry in life. Her love went up one day to travel the world and she never heard from him again until he springs up on the day of Cleyra's destruction and discovers that he doesn't remember her. She also witnesses her home being destroyed and her race almost being wiped out. Quina is representative of joy in life. Quina never gets sad or truly angry and always makes way by the simplest things in life. She is never bothered by the troubles of the world. Eiko is also someone who had a lot taken away from her and she makes a very important realization early about making choices for yourself and not for what other people want. Amarant's is a little funny to me. He ties into seeing the importance of company in his stride basically
On the gameplay side of things, it is serviceable in terms of combat. I know many people feel it's too slow, but I never had an issue with it. The Trance system is a little irritating, but it doesn't kill anything for me and it shows up enough in boss fights for me. Most status effects don't last long enough in this game. Sleep, Haste, Protect, and Shell are the particular ones I'm talking about. Out of all the FF games I've played I felt that Haste is the least useful in this one. I really don't use it outside of the Auto-Hast ability. The game does exploration pretty well and I love Chocobo Hot & Cold. I still never remember where the majority of the chocograph locations are despite the many times I've done them.
All in all it was so great to play this game again. This game lead to my decision of becoming a writer and to own my own game company. Recently after playing through this I feel that my first novel isn't good enough anymore and I should do some moderate rewrites because I didn't quite catch the essence that made IX great. This game also lead to me picking up drawing and even writing rhymes, which I think I'm going to start getting back into.
Have any of you gone back to playing your favorite game after a long hiatus and what did that experience do for you?
