Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation 4) Review

Final Fantasy IX opens with an air of mystery and intrigue. Unlike other entries around the time, the player gets the reins almost immediately, without watching long cinematics. The mystery is built naturally through the game's tutorial, as Baku tests Zidane's battle prowess. The combat feels like the same old, same old, but still manages to have an air of mystery about it.

Unlike the previous two titles, where you could mould characters into how you see fit, Final Fantasy IX gives each character its own class, fitting in with the earlier entries in the series. While Zidane is a sneaky thief, Vivi is a black mage, summoning chaos from the tips of his fingers. Although it may not feel like it's as easy to customize your characters, they are so varied that you'd be wise to customize your party around certain characters' strengths.

This re-release comes with some added features, like built in cheats. Now, for the purists out there, it's important to know they aren't mandatory. However, every purist owes themselves the chance to traverse this game maxed out at the beginning and moving at 3X normal speed. If you've already beaten the game before, consider it your reward. The cheats make the experience a joke in terms of difficulty, but it is amusing laying waste to enemies you used to have issues with in a turn or two.

A traditional staple of the series is a special move that only occurs so often, which is just overpowered enough to save you from the brink of decimation. Each character has their own set of rules and restrictions, but levelling them up means unlocking truly devastating moves, absolutely levelling enemies. Final Fantasy IX manages to mix this up a lot, giving each character a move set that, unlike other entries, truly feels unique to them.

Any good RPG will give little things to do when questing if the story grows dull. Final Fantasy IX may have some of the best side quests in RPG history. The reason for this is how incredibly different each one feels. While you can search the world for playing cards, you can also spend time with your chocobo, digging up treasures. The game did such a good job hiding its many treasures, one was only discovered a few years ago. For the speedrunners out there, there's a special reward hiding for those who can reach the end, or just about, in under 12 hours. It's truly one of the most diverse games in terms of side content, and could hold its own against the likes of Skyrim or The Witcher 3.

RPGs rarely make an impact without a good story, and here, again, FFIX delivers. While not every character manages to get a good backstory, they still feel like real characters. The backstories we do get are amazingly original, even by today's standards, ripping into your heartstrings as quickly as they make you laugh.

There's almost a chibi quality to the art style, while still managing to look like a living Victorian paint, at least in the city environments. The world really feels alive, but it could have gone off the rails on the world map. The older Final Fantasys had immense world maps for the time, and zooming out gives the world a real sense of scale. Where Final Fantasy IX excels is making that overworld feel real. Between thick fog and an arid desert, there's so much life here that you'll almost believe it.

It's easy to wax on for hours about everything that makes Final Fantasy IX truly incredible, but it's not perfect. Some of its side quests don't pay off in real tangible ways. A few of them simply give you "key" items that don't amount to much more than a name on a list, giving bragging rights to those who manage to collect all of the coffees, or what have you. One of the side quests only really pays off if you finish another, which is much longer and harder.

The biggest issue, though, is the balancing FFIX fails to achieve later on. The final string of bosses are nowhere near as hard as the bosses leading up to them, and the final boss is almost too easy. It would be unfair to say "Well, it's not as hard as Ultimecia or Sephiroth," but this game is wholly different than its siblings from the same era. Unfortunately, anyone who levels even moderately will feel the game ease on the brakes in the final few hours.