For the past few entries in its rather lengthy list of games, Final Fantasy has, one might argue, moved a little too far away from the fantasy. Steampunk futures and sci-fi military schools... they're interesting settings, no doubt, but ought we go back to a more fantastical setting?
Final Fantasy IX takes players back to a setting more akin to the brand name, as we follow the inevitably epic adventures of Zidane, Vivi and whoever else will come along for the ride through the skies on sailing ships that fly.
Couldn't agree more, ol' man, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's see what Final Fantasy IX is all about.
Fun Times
A few intro credit sequences show us the brave new old world of FFIX. Skyboats, nautical maps, cities that look grander and more wonderful than anything I can remember seeing in an FF title. An art style that is some kind of weird blend between the abstract caricatures of FFVII and the realistic look of FFVIII. Everything I've seen so far looks great. I think I may be more interested in wanting to play this than those previous games, and I wanted to play them - FFIX is much more of an unknown to me.
We start life as a character who I can only describe as David Bowie with the proportions of a monkey, tail included, and so instead of leading with Zidane, we're clearly going to rename ourselves to something more fitting.
We're aboard a ship in the sky, chugging through the clouds via some sort of magic, I guess. The details don't matter. It's the sense of wonder that's important here. Like, I wonder what this is...
Oh, it's a fight. That's good. How does FFIX do things differently?
Commands, HP, MP, bars that have to fill up before you can do anything... it's certainly familiar, but it's more frantic than I remember. The action doesn't stop, as my foe leaps for my buddies as I navigate my way through the menus. Not that I got very far through them - attack is all you need here.
It's just our boss, keeping us on our toes. What for? Time for a meeting.
So we're thieves, are we? Kidnappers, even? Despite its bright colours, FFIX seems to want to paint us in darker tones. I wonder how long we'll make it as criminals before having a change of heart, or perhaps we're the kind of thieves that follow Robin Hood, stealing only from the rich. Stealing an entire Princess might be too much of a stretch for that, though. Anyway, onwards with the plot.
As our ship sails into town, we switch over to the childlike Vivi, a... well, I don't know what he/she/it is right now. A Jawa from Star Wars crossed with the Strawman from The Wizard of Oz. Vivi isn't having the greatest of days.
Our ticket to the fancy kidnap cover-story show is fake. We've been scammed. There's no way in without a ticket, and it's the fanciest gig of the year. The only one, maybe. The only one that matters, at least. The townsfolk have been saving up for this very moment, and what do we have? Nothing.
Though we are given some consolation playing cards for Tetra Master, the Triple Triad-like minigame of this world, for those who dig card games.
I'm desperate for a ticket, but I'm not stupid... Let's see what the town of Alexandria has to offer.
After heading all over town, I think I've done more to see the sights than to find a legit ticket. I've looked in bushes, I've gone through shops, I've played jump rope with kids (record number of jumps: 1), but I just don't know what I need to do.
Alright, I admit it. I'm stupid.
Accomplice to a crime and I've just been mugged. FFIX really wants us to feel for Vivi, doesn't it? Nothing is going well for a character who couldn't look more innocent if it tried.
With the aid of a stolen ladder, we've broken into the venue for the show of a lifetime, where we hop back into the lavish CGI world of FFIX for a moment, to see what I assume to be the Queen and the Princess looking on, only one of whom showing any interest.
I wonder what's going on in that head of hers, but not for long, because gameplay has resumed and we've got a show to put on.
Another stage fight allows us to get used to the controls and the way combat works in general, but I resorted to pressing X whenever I had the chance, to just attack and get on with it. I've not done anything else in the menus yet, and there hasn't been a tutorial for anything, mostly because you don't need one right now. Just put on a show.
In a change from the norm, an unexpected quick time event sequence takes place to dazzle the crowds. It's not strictly timed, so far as I can tell, but it does seem necessary to do well.
FFIX has been impressing me so far, especially with its looks, but also with its pace. Ok, I fumbled around the town for a while, but we're straight into doing something big, and being swept along for the ride, ready or not.
The game has absolutely grabbed my attention and I want to see this kidnapping through, but there is one glaring problem that means I need to bring this to a halt. Has anyone spotted it yet?
Frustrations
I'm emulating the PlayStation original, and despite the wonderfully painting backgrounds and well-designed characters, I simply can't continue when I float in the air, or walk on buildings, or descend invisible stairs just a few feet next to the real ones.
For some reason, my characters are shifted away from the backgrounds to such an extent that it snaps me out of this fantasy world in a second. I can't get absorbed into this world no can I invest in these characters in I have to do some mental gymnastics trying to work out what part of the background the invisible wall I'm bumping into is supposed to represent.
It's most likely a solvable problem, but I'll have to call time on FFIX until I have a solution, either an emulation tweak or, perhaps more likely, looking into the rereleases on various systems over the years, which I read have quite a few quality of life improvements on top of what I also read to be a solid entry to the series.
Final Word
And so, despite having played Final Fantasy IX, I'm going to insist that I haven't. I've certainly not played it as intended, by the developers or by myself. I want to see more of this story with my own eyes, where the characters line up with the background and everything looks brilliant. Right now, it just looks awesome.
I didn't think I'd like the character designs as much as I do. I don't usually go for wonderfully jolly looking games but this Alexandria is a town I want to be in - it's quite literally a work of art in some places.
Will I persist with all the weird systems and magic mechanics in place? Are there even any systems in place? I don't want to Junction anything for the rest of my life if I can help it. I'm expecting random encounters, I'm expecting levelling up to the point of dealing 9999 damage in a single hit, I'm expecting all kinds of confusing plot threads and bucketloads of characters to keep track of, but all of that is to be expected from any Final Fantasy. What makes FFIX different?
I just don't know. Yet.
Fun Facts
The game may not have been released as a numbered Final Fantasy entry on account of it going back in time from the futuristic settings of FFVII and FFVIII, but it was to become FFIX and, in the words of producer Hironobu Sakaguchi, the closest to his ideal view of what a Final Fantasy should be.
Final Fantasy IX, developed by Squaresoft, first released in 2000.
Version 'played': PlayStation, 2000, via emulation