Final Fantasy 9/IX - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy IX (9) is an RPG-style game and the ninth installment in the seminal Final Fantasy series. The game was published by Square (later Square Enix ) in 1999. This edition of Final Fantasy was the last game to be released for the original Sony PlayStation. It was later released for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vista. The game was released to critical acclaim, often cited as one of the best games in the series. The game returned to the franchise's roots, bringing back themes and gameplay aspects abandoned in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII .
The plot of Final Fantasy IX
The game is known for being quite unique in that it is less of a "save the world" type of story and more of a story focused on the characters discovering the world and themselves. It reintroduces the roots of Final Fantasy with a medieval theme, a departure from the previous two games in the series.
The story takes place on the planet Gaia and begins with adventurers disguised as actors aboard a ship whose main goal is to kidnap Garnet, the princess of Alexandria. In order to find her uncle Lindblum, the princess escapes Alexandria aboard the same ship the adventurers used to travel to Alexandria. And to top it all off, Lindblum is where they wanted 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 group of characters as they attempt to defeat Queen Brahne of Alexandria, who has sparked war between the kingdoms. The plot shifts when Brahne is revealed to be the pawn of a more immediate threat, Kuja, who has a shared history with Zidane spanning two worlds. The party must defeat Kuja and Necron, thwart their plans for 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 member of the Tantalus theater troupe, known for his seductive nature.
- Vivi Ornitier - A dark mage.
- Garnet Til Alexandros XVII - The innocent princess of Alexandria, distraught at the thought of one day having to ascend the throne.
- Adelbert Steiner - Knight of Alexandria and leader of the Knights of Pluto.
- Freya Crescent - A Burmese dragon knight in search of her first love, Sir Fratley.
- Quina Quen - A Qu and a gourmet in training who joins the adventure to discover the cuisine of the world.
- Eiko Carol - A young summoner who is one of the last members of her tribe.
- Amarant Coral - A bandit who accompanies Zidane to understand why he is so powerful.
Gameplay
Players gain experience by defeating regular enemies and can acquire new abilities by equipping new weapons and using ability points, reminiscent of the Esper system from Final Fantasy III .
There are two types of abilities: action and support. Action abilities allow the use of magic/weapon skills, and support abilities provide passive benefits, such as increased damage dealt to certain categories of enemies. The game uses the "Active Time Battle" system, in which a gauge fills and empties after characters perform actions. Combat uses an alternative "Limit Break" system, in which a trance bar increases as a character takes damage and, once full, grants special abilities otherwise unavailable.
Winning battles can result in money (Gil), Tetra Master playing cards, ability points, and items. The battle is randomized, and players can choose from a variety of options during combat, such as attacking, summoning, magic, and items. Although not explicitly stated, Final Fantasy IX brings back the classic job classes from the original games, in which each character has a strength; for example, Vivi is proficient in dark magic, Zidane in thief abilities, Dagger in white magic, and so on. Moogles make a return in Final Fantasy IX, allowing players to save their progress, use tents, purchase items, and regenerate their party in a system called "Mognet."
Development
Production on the game began before Square had completed Final Fantasy VIII. As usual, series veteran Nobuo Uematsu composed the game's music. With production lead and written by Hironobu Sakaguchi , the game was designed and written to appeal to the original Final Fantasy themes and fanbase, reintroducing many of the original themes. The game's developers wanted to bring back the "fantasy" style of the game that had been lost in recent releases before Final Fantasy IX. Therefore, Final Fantasy IX eschewed a futuristic setting and opted to reintroduce the classic medieval setting once again.
The game was directed by Hiroyuki Ito. It was largely produced in Hawaii for the benefit of the US-based developers. The game was expanded with new aspects such as "Active Time Event" cutscenes and "Mognet"/skill systems, but otherwise retained the core gameplay elements of the Final Fantasy series.
