Final Fantasy 9/IX - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IX (9) is an RPG style game and the ninth instalment in the flagship Final Fantasy series. The game was released by Square (Later to become Square Enix) in 1999. This edition of Final Fantasy was the last game to be released on the original Sony PlayStation. It was subsequently released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vista. The game was released with critical success, often cited as one of the best games of the series. The game returned to the roots of the franchise, bringing back themes and gameplay aspects abandoned in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII.
Final Fantasy IX Plot
The game is known to be quite unique in that it is less of a “save the world” type plot and more geared towards the character’s discovery of the greater world and themselves. It reintroduces the roots of Final Fantasy with a medieval theme, breaking with the previous two games in the series.
Taking place on the planet Gaia, the story begins with adventurers disguised as actors aboard a ship, their main goal to kidnap Garnet, the princess of Alexandria. In order to reunite with her Uncle in Lindblum, the princess escapes Alexandria aboard the same ship the adventurer’s used to travel to Alexandria, and, to add to the irony, Lindblum is where they wished to take her in the first place. Pursued by her mother’s army, Garnet befriends a kidnapper Zidane.
Players follow Zidane Tribal, Garnet and a growing cast of characters as they try to defeat Queen Brahne of Alexandria, who began the war between the kingdoms. The plot shifts when Brahne is discovered to be a pawn of a more immediate threat, Kuja, who has a common history with Zidane spanning two worlds. The party must defeat Kuja and Necron, thwart their plans of world destruction, and protect the crystal that carries the life force of the universe.
Characters
- Zidane Tribal- The main protagonist. He is a thief and a member of the Tantalus Theater Troupe, notorious for his flirtatious character.
- Vivi Ornitier- A black mage.
- Garnet Til Alexandros XVII- The innocent princess of Alexandria, and overwhelmed that she has to one day ascend the throne.
- Adelbert Steiner- A knight of Alexandria, and leader of the Knights of Pluto.
- Freya Crescent- A Burmecian Dragon Knight on a quest to find her first love, Sir Fratley.
- Quina Quen- A Qu and a gourmand in training who joins the adventure to experience the world’s cuisine.
- Eiko Carol- A young summoner that is one of the last members of her tribe.
- Amarant Coral- A bandit that accompanies Zidane to understand why he is so powerful.
Gameplay
Players gain experience by defeating regular enemies, and can gain new abilities by equipping new weapons and using ability points, reminiscent of the Esper system of Final Fantasy IIII.
Two types of abilities are action and support. Action abilities allow for magic/weapon skills and support abilities offer passive benefits, such as increasing damage to certain categories of enemies. The game utilizes the “Active Time Battle” system, whereby a gauge fills and depletes after characters carry out actions. Combat utilizes an alternative “Limit Break” system, whereby a trance bar increases as a character takes damage, and, once full, imparts special abilities otherwise unavailable.
Winning battles may result in gaining money (Gil), receiving Tetra Master playing cards, ability points, and items. Battle occurs at random, and players may choose from a variety of options during combat such as attack, summon, magic, and items. Though not explicitly stated, Final Fantasy IX brings back the classic job classes from the original games, wherein each character has a strong suit; for example, Vivi is proficient in black magic, Zidane in thief abilities, Dagger with white magic, etc. The moogles make a return in Final Fantasy IX in allowing players to save progress, use tents, buy items, and regenerate their party in a system called “Mognet”.
Development
Production of the game began before Square had completed Final Fantasy VIII. As usual, Nobuo Uematsu, a series veteran, scored the music for the game. In charge of production and written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the game was designed and written to appeal to the original themes and fanbase of Final Fantasy, reintroducing many original themes. The developer’s of the game wanted to bring back the ‘fantasy’ style of the game which was lost in the recent releases prior to Final Fantasy IX. Therefore Final Fantasy IX avoided a futuristic setting and opted to once again reintroduce the classic medieval setting.
The game was directed by Hiroyuki Ito. It was largely produced in Hawaii for the sake of US based developers. The game was developed with new aspects such as the "Active Time Event" cutscenes and "Mognet"/skill systems, but otherwise maintained gameplay staples of the Final Fantasy series.