Written By: Bernard Julius Paje
Title: Final Fanasy IX Digital Edition
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: RPG
Price: $20.99
Firstly, allow me to narrate to you a short history of role playing games—RPG's as they are more commonly known in the gaming industry—and my most fond experiences with the genre. An RPG by definition is a genre of games where a player assumes the role of a character (or group of characters) in a fictional setting. I was captivated by the concept of an RPG because it puts you in the center of the narrative and gives you control to some aspects of a story in a way books or movies cannot do as immersively. I have been playing games from the genre ever since my high school days, and during that time Final Fantasy 6 (which was released as Final Fantasy 3) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES) practically cemented my love for the genre (and for SquareSoft, who was at the time not yet merged with Enix).
The next console generation after the SNES was rather special to me as well, as the sudden entry of Sony's first console the PlayStation—in a market dominated by Nintendo and Sega back then—brought with it a literal deluge of quality RPG's. The game that opened the floodgates for the RPG genre to attain a kind of mainstream status in the US was the direct sequel to one of the games I mentioned above: Final Fantasy 7 on the PlayStation. This game was well-received by almost all critics and gamers at the time, and with its success came the sudden boom of the RPG genre all over the world. I think the genre wouldn't have been as successful today internationally had it not been for Final Fantasy 7, for RPG's used to be a niche genre that most gamers just batted their eyes at. Case in point: Prior to Final Fantasy 7, only 3 of the 6 Final Fantasy games were translated to English and came out in the US (hence why they called the sixth Final Fantasy game as Final Fantasy 3 when it got an English localization). Had it not been for the success of Final Fantasy 7, who knows if other high profile RPG's would have gotten released outside of Japan. I myself loved Final Fantasy 7 so much, but do not consider it as my favorite Final Fantasy game on the PlayStation—that honor goes to the Final Fantasy game which is the true star of this review... One of my favorite RPG's, and my favorite among the trio of original Final Fantasy games released on the PlayStation: Final Fantasy 9.
Final Fantasy 9 follows the adventures of Zidane Tribal, a member in a band of bandits called the Tantalus Theater Troupe. Aboard their airship, the Prima Vista, they masquerade as the said theater troupe and early in the game their mission is to kidnap the princess of Alexandria, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII. Little does Zidane realize that their mission will trigger a chain of events that could lead to the end of their world as they know it, so it is now up to him and his party to make sure that does not happen. Along the adventure, Zidane will meet many allies that will help him in his adventure. Each character in the game has a unique character class, which dictates the special skills and abilities available to him or her: Zidane is a Thief, Vivi is a Black Mage and Steiner is a Knight, for instance. The story starts out too slowly for my personal taste, but once it picks up a few hours in get ready for a roller coaster ride.
The 'Active Time Battle' (ATB) system used in Final Fantasy since the series' fourth installment makes a return in this game. Each of the characters' readiness in battle is represented by a bar (called the ATB Gauge) that fills up over time, and when a character's ATB Gauge is full he or she can select which action to take in the battle. You can also choose between Wait and Active modes in battles. The former is the default mode, wherein time stops when you are selecting abilities or items to use during battle, while the latter mode makes battles run in real-time (meaning enemies can attack you even while you are fumbling through menus) for a tougher challenge. Your characters can also learn skills and abilities by equipping weapons and armor and earning Ability Points in battle—this is very similar to what Final Fantasy 6 did with learning magic via Espers/Magicite.
The game's graphics are in a similar style to its PlayStation predecessors, consisting mostly of 3D character models on top of static, pre-rendered backgrounds during exploration. For battles, character models are placed on a small polygonal battle area with dynamically panning camera angles, giving the action a cinematic feel. Considering the graphical limitations of the PlayStation, I think that Square Enix did a great job in making the game look good at the time. The game's soundtrack, for me, is one of the best works of regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu. The game's main vocal theme, Melodies of Life—performed by famed Japanese singer and songwriter Emiko Shiratori—is still considered by many Final Fantasy fans to be among the best vocal themes used for the series. Uematsu also remixed some parts from older Final Fantasy music for the soundtrack of this game, making some songs sound both familiar and new at the same time. The game also features a lot of various minigames integrated into the main adventure. Some of them are accessible just at specific places (like the Jumping Rope minigame in Alexandria and the Auction House minigame in Treno) while others are more widespread and will require you to explore the world to fully complete (like the Tetra Master card minigame and the Chocobo Hot & Cold / Treasure Hunt minigame). The latter duo of minigames I mentioned are very fun and have pretty deep mechanics, and both can stand as separate games by themselves with minimal tweaks—especially the Chocobo Hot & Cold / Treasure Hunt one.
The recently released HD Remaster of the game on the PlayStation 4 features some improvements that make replaying the game today a lot better via the addition of some modern gameplay features (similar to the ones included in the HD Remaster of Final Fantasy 7). The main character models look a lot better because of the increase in resolution, but the static backgrounds did not seem to have been re-rendered (making them look blurry and low-res in contrast to the improved 3D assets). There is also Trophy support, which is a requirement for all PlayStation games to have nowadays. On that note: One Trophy will require you to jump 1000 times in the Jump Rope minigame to obtain it, so good luck with that. The game now also autosaves itself every time you enter an area, a modern-day gaming staple implemented by almost every game today. Auto battle can be initiated at any time during battle by pressing R2—all that the AI will do is select the Attack option every time though, making this useful only for weaker enemies. You can now also skip any of the CG cutscenes, a feature not available on the original PlayStation version. A rather small but very welcome gameplay addition is the ability to instantly see if an NPC is willing to play the Tetra Master card minigame against you—this will be very helpful in your quest to complete all the Tetra Master cards.
There are also some additional options available during battle when you pause the game: Battle Assist mode instantly fills the ATB Gauges of all characters and keeps all of their HP and MP always filled; 9999 mode will enable all attacks you make deal 9999 damage, as well as make all healing magic and items always restore 9999 points; High Speed Mode makes everything play in fast forward and speeds up gameplay to at least twice as fast the normal speed; and Safe Travel disables all random encounters on areas with enemies. Enabling any of the above can be done without any penalties to the game, so you are feel free to use any (or all) of them if you get stuck on a difficult area. Some further cheats, called Boosters, are available in the configuration screen. At any time you can master all abilities, level up all your characters to 99 with max stats and have the maximum amount of Gil (money). Enabling any of these Boosters has a downside though, as you cannot earn Trophies in-game once they are active. I highly recommend playing through the entirety of the game without using any of the above during your first playthrough for maximum enjoyment.
Overall, Final Fantasy 9 is a great game today no matter how or where you play it. I still think that among the three Final Fantasy games released on the PlayStation, this is the best among all of them. It has great graphics, an awesome soundtrack and integrates elements from some of the older Final Fantasy games that came before it. If you have not played this game before, then do yourself a favor and play it via the just-released PlayStation 4 HD Remaster. It is currently the best and easiest way to play this game on a console today.
YAY!
- This game is timeless; it is still highly enjoyable even when played via the original PlayStation version.
- Borrows from several of the best elements of previous Final Fantasy games.
- New HD Remaster features makes the game more accessible for new players.
- Game starts off at a kind of slow pace.
- The pre-rendered backgrounds look dated despite the boost in resolution.
- One Trophy could frustrate those aiming for a Platinum in the HD Remaster version.
REVIEW SCORE: 9.6/10
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