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The lost art of Final Fantasy IX (Mama Robotnik Research Thread)

vareon

Member
What a beautiful game. Thanks for the research, Mama Robotnik.

I also remember seeing some artworks waaay back then...like a dark-skinned character and a "chocobo copter". Are they related to FF9 somehow?
 
I actually get a little emotional when I think of this game and my childhood at the time. This was a beautiful game. I loved the characters and the gameplay was spot on. I thought the story was a low point but still worth many play through
 

Paskil

Member
OH MY GOD, I LOVE YOU FOREVER! This is without a doubt my favorite in the series (yes, I rank it higher than 4 and 6 even those I played those in my earliest gaming years). One of my top games of all time. Is any of this stuff being included in The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy? I pre-ordered the reprint in January and was disappointed when I got an email saying the shipping date has been pushed back to August 8.
 
That is amazing! Imagine if VII and VIII also had an archive of highly detailed backgrounds? If Square were a better company we would be getting HD collections of their PS1 Final Fantasy games.

VII's art direction was sort of all over the place though. I guess it would still be interesting to see, regardless.
 

aceface

Member
Looking for the concept art that The GIA unearthed before this games release that no one believed. Left disappointed.

I want the sexy dwarve!!! Anyone remember that?
 

trmas

Banned
I loved this game. Though not as beautiful as the artwork playing the game on ePSXe at higher resolutions is great.
 

DarkPanda

Member
I always suspected that Square did this with FF VIII & IX; the worlds are far to detailed to have been constructed at the PSX's native resolution. It's nice to finally have confirmation. If only Square had kept the original render files they could do HD remakes for an insanely low cost.
 

Roge9

Neo Member
Great thread, great game.

imo if they ever go back to the classic gameplay style they should take FF9's gameplay and just improve upon it.

overall, I enjoyed things like:
-learning abilities from an item, this could give you another reason to wear weaker equipment
-Character diversity, one major thing FF7 and FF8 lacked since every character could do..Everything. Too much customization in FF games can simply result to using the best attack over and over again.
-Unbalanced parties, this forces you to use everything, like if you didn't have a white mage, you'd have to use items more often.
-Having a cast of very enjoyable and relatable characters unlike certain other FF games..Zidane is one of the best FF main characters imo

Things I didn't like:
-Random battles
-How slow the battles were. Had to turn the speed up.
-gargan roo
-the character models, some were unappealing to me

Overall this game is definitely in my top 10. It did touch me emotionally, especially when the credits started rolling.
 
Amazing work.

IX is my favorite game in the series, and seeing all of those images both filled me with nostalgia as well as blew me away in terms of the amount of care put in that release. There's some incredible work there.
 

Espada

Member
Fantastic work in finding these. There has to be some way we can use these when emulating FFIX. It's a damn shame we can make the models look good but this wonderful art is stuck in low res hell.
 
Du48mZR.jpg
This is when you know that someone has a buckle fetish.

Still my favorite FF.
 

jrush64

Banned
Hands down the best Final Fantasy game ever. My favorite game of all time. I love this game so much, I just can't seem to finish it.
 
FFIX is a very special game for me, and one of my favorite FFs, so this thread is especially appreciated by me. Thanks! Can't wait to actually read most of the OP instead of skipping around for the images.
 

Ydahs

Member
Remarkable threads as always, MR. I need to play this game.

I wonder if something similar exists for Chrono Cross...
 
Looking for the concept art that The GIA unearthed before this games release that no one believed. Left disappointed.

I want the sexy dwarve!!! Anyone remember that?

I was so excited when I saw that. I remember one piece showed a life meter for a boss and made it look like it might be an action RPG. The game also seemed to have a job system, as the main two were shown in male and female dragoon armor in some of the art. I adored FF9 for what it was, but I always loved the job system more than any other.
 

randomkid

Member
OH MY GOD, I LOVE YOU FOREVER! This is without a doubt my favorite in the series (yes, I rank it higher than 4 and 6 even those I played those in my earliest gaming years). One of my top games of all time. Is any of this stuff being included in The Sky: The Art of Final Fantasy? I pre-ordered the reprint in January and was disappointed when I got an email saying the shipping date has been pushed back to August 8.

Nope, The Sky is Amano art only. It's amazing, but you'll be disappointed if you're expecting the kinda stuff that's in the OP. The Memorial Ultimania (also fantastic) will probably be more up your alley.

Also this is way off topic but I just picked up Marchen this weekend and I need to share this.

LeAdhCB.jpg


Amano does Dragon Quest haha.

On topic: FF9, still amazing.
 

mothball

Member
And they put this out a year after FF8, while also releasing SaGa Frontier 2, Parasite Eve 2, Front Mission 3 and Vagrant Story in between FF8 and FF9. Now they can't even make a single good FF in an entire generation's time.

Their downfall hurts so much.
 

Savitar

Member
Reminds me when The Gia back in the day first showed art concepts of this game, was a hell of a scoop for him and got them a lot of publicity, PSM even linked and mentioned them. Not sure any of the pieces they showed there were shown here but it was some good stuff.
 

Owl

Neo Member
Wow, this is amazing. Final Fantasy IX is my favorite Final Fantasy and it's nice to see this sort of information shared about it.
 

DR2K

Banned
I believe they have background art with this detail for VII and VIII, but apparantly VIIs was lost. Would be interesting to see if you could dig up VIIIs.

Makes me want to play IX again.
 

ronito

Member
Incredible OP.
I really wish I could experience FFIX for the first time again. Now I just find myself wishing that there was a way to speed up the battles. The pace is just so glacial. Still good memories.
 
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