Final Fantasy IX
is a
console role-playing game developed by
Square Co., Ltd. in
2000. It was published in
Japan by Square, in
North America by
Square Electronic Arts, in continental
Europe by
Infogrames, and in the
United Kingdom and
Australasia by Square Europe. It was the last original game in the
Final Fantasy series to be produced for the
PlayStation. The game was developed alongside
Final Fantasy VIII, but took a completely different path in line with fan's requests to return to the series roots via castles, allusions to other games in the series, and deformed character designs. Although primarily designed as a closure to the series,
Final Fantasy IX introduced the Active Time Event, Mognet, and a revamped equipment and skill system.
Set in the fantasy world Gaia,
Final Fantasy IX's plot centers around a queen's desire to dominate the world. Players follow a young thief named Zidane, who teams up with others to defeat the Queen. Soon after embarking on their quest, they discover that the queen's campaign is merely a coverup for a greater plot involving parallel worlds and Zidane's past.
This incarnation of the series was influenced heavily by the original
Final Fantasy, and the game subsequently has nostalgic qualities for long time fans. Reviews were generally positive, and the game was voted the 24th-best game of all time by readers of the Japanese magazine
Famitsu.
Gameplay in
Final Fantasy IX is based on the same formula as most RPGs. Players navigate characters throughout the game world while fighting enemies and advancing the plot.
Exploration
In
Final Fantasy IX, the playable character is fully visible as it is navigated throughout the game world. Most of the game occurs in towns, dungeons, caves, and similar areas, collectively referred to as the "field screen." To aid exploration on the field screen,
Final Fantasy IX introduces the "field icon," an exclamation mark appearing over their lead character's head, signaling that an item or sign is nearby. Players speak with
moogles to record their progress, restore life energy with a tent, and purchase items — a deviation from previous installments, which used a save point to perform these functions. Moogles may request that the player character deliver letters to other Moogles via "Mognet".
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The field icon indicates that an object can be inspected, as is the case with this ticket booth |
Players journey between field screen locations via the
world map screen, a three dimensional, downsized representation of
Final Fantasy IX's world presented in
top-down perspective. Players can freely navigate around the world map screen unless restricted by terrain, such as bodies of water or mountains. To overcome geographical limitations, players can ride
emu-like
Chocobos, sail on a boat, or pilot
airships. Like previous
Final Fantasy installments, travel across the world map screen and hostile field screen locations is interrupted by
random enemy encounters.
Final Fantasy IX offers a new approach to town exploration with Active Time Events (ATE), which provide character enrichment, special items, and prompts for key story-altering decisions. At specific points, the player may view events that are occurring simultaneously in different locations. ATE is occasionally used to simultaneously control two teams when the party is divided to solve puzzles and navigate mazes — a concept based on events in previous series installments.
Combat
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In this early boss battle, Steiner attacks the enemy while Zidane awaits the player's input |
When a random encounter begins, the environment shifts to the "battle screen," where the player's characters and
computer-controlled enemies line up on opposite sides of the playing screen to attack each other. A character's action is limited by the
Active Time Battle (ATB) gauge positioned along the bottom of the battle screen; only a character with a full gauge can be issued commands. The character's command list is presented in a
window opposite the ATB gauge list; while all characters can physically attack the enemy or use an item from the player's inventory, they also possess unique abilities. For instance, the thief Zidane can steal items from the enemy,
Eiko and
Garnet can summon "
eidolons" to aid the party, and
Vivi can use
black magic to damage the opposition.
These character-specific commands change when the player goes into "
Trance mode," which is activated for a short duration when an uncontrollable gauge fills as character sustains damage in a style similar to Limit Breaks in
Final Fantasy VII. When the gauge is full, the character's strength is amplified and the player can select special attack commands. Zidane's "Skill" command list, for example, changes to "Dyne," allowing him to execute extremely powerful attacks, and
Vivi's "Black Magic" command evolves into "Double Black," allowing him to cast two magic spells in a single turn.
A character's performance in battle is determined by numerical values ("statistics") for categories such as speed, strength, and magical power. Character statistics, in turn, are driven by experience; when players win battles, they are awarded "
experience points," which accumulate until characters gain "experience levels." When characters "level up," the statistics for their attributes permanently increase. Winning battles also awards the player money (
Gil),
Tetra Master playing cards, and ability points (AP).
Equipment and abilities
Final Fantasy IX deviates from the relatively customizable characters of the last two titles and revives the character class concept. Because characters are less customizable, players are forced to weigh the mission objectives against their character's abilities; if players travel to an area with an anti-magic field, they are best suited to bring warriors rather than mages.
The basic function of equipment in
Final Fantasy games is to increase character attributes; arming Zidane with a Mythril Vest, for example, increases his base defense statistic. In
Final Fantasy IX, equipment also supports character development through an ability system. Abilities are character skills embedded in weapons and armor, which the character may use once the item is equipped. Once the character accumulates enough ability points in battle, the ability becomes usable without having to keep the item equipped.
Abilities are classified into action and support categories. Action Abilities consume
magic points (MP) and include magic spells and special moves that can be used in battle. Support abilities provide functions that remain in effect indefinitely (e.g., the support ability "Antibody" nullifies poisonous attacks), and must be equipped with magic stones to be functional. The maximum number of these stones increases as the character levels up.
Setting
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A geographical map of Gaia |
Most of
Final Fantasy IXs plot unfolds on the fictional world of Gaia, which is divided into four continents. Most of the world's population resides on the Mist Continent, named so because the entire continent is blanketed in thick mist. Lands outside the Mist Continent — the Outer, Lost and Forgotten continents — are uncharted territories. Gaia is essentially a dying planet; only sparse vegetation dots the lands outside of the Mist Continent.
In Final Fantasy IX
, the game's developers sought to make the game's environment more "fantasy-oriented" than its PlayStation predecessors. The game's distinctly medieval setting breaks from the "futuristic images of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII." The advent of steam technology is only just beginning to rise; the population relies on hydropower or wind power for energy sources, but sometimes harness Mist to power more advanced engines. Continuing with the medieval theme, the game's setting is inspired by Norse and Northern European mythology. According to director Hiroyuki Itou, "We're attracted to European history and mythology because of its depth and its drama."IGN FF9
At 5,000 years old,[Garland: This is the birth of Gaia. / Zidane: That's Gaia...? / Garland: Over 5,000 years ago... (]Final Fantasy IX
) Gaia is relatively new. At the time of the planet's birth, a much older planet, Terra, reached the peak of its prosperity, but the people realized that their planet would soon collapse upon itself and they would be destroyed. As they had done before,[Mikoto: What else can there be? Terra has always absorbed new planets to survive. (]Final Fantasy IX
) they planned to save their civilization through the assimilation of another planet, and they turned their sights toward Gaia. A Terran named Garland was created to deal with Terra's plight and oversee the assimilation.[Garland: See for yourself. Terra reached the peak of its prosperity at this time. The people believed that their future was secure. Ultimately, that very hubris led to Terra's demise. Thus, I was created to deal with our plights... (]Final Fantasy IX
) For Terra to absorb the planet requires that Gaia â€" which, in its infancy, is vibrant with life â€" be weaker than Terra. Garland's first forceful attempts at destroying Gaia's life failed, so he waited until Gaia's civilization evolved enough to gain the power to use destructive "eidolons,[Mikoto: Once, Garland tried to use a more forceful method, but failed. / Zidane: Then he should just quit and leave Gaia alone! / Mikoto: Because of his failure, he was forced to wait a long time....To wait until Gaia's civilizations gained tremendous power: The power to use eidolons. (]Final Fantasy IX
) summoned beasts of incredible strength. Garland proceeded to create an entity known as Necron, physically manifested as the "Iifa Tree," whose purpose was to block Gaia's souls from returning to the planet.[Garland: That is why I wrapped up the light in the Iifa Tree, to prevent the cycle of the judgment of souls on Gaia from inside the planet. Such is the Iifa Tree's true purpose, its true form. (]Final Fantasy IX
) Deprived of its vital cycle of souls, Gaia would eventually weaken enough to allow Terra's souls to fill the void. The Iifa Tree's secondary function and the complement to Garland's master plan was intended to speed up the delivery of souls to Necron: the Tree channels the stagnant souls through its roots in the form of "Mist" which, in turn, spawns monsters, foments abnormalities in the human mind, and stimulates the fighting spirit, all intended to increase the likelihood of war.
Garland also created "Genomes," superior humanoid beings designed to serve as vessels for the souls of Terra's people.[Garland: I constructed the Genomes to be vessels for the souls of the people of Terra when they awaken. But 24 years ago, I gave life to a Genome that was very much like you. His will was too strong to make him into a proper vessel, and I even considered discarding him. But then I thought that I should put his strength to use. I sent that Genome as my servant, to disrupt the cycle of souls on Gaia. (]Final Fantasy IX
) Twenty four years prior to the game's events, Garland gave life to a defect Genome whose strong will and ambition were unbecoming of a proper vessel.[Garland: I constructed the Genomes to be vessels for the souls of the people of Terra when they awaken. But 24 years ago, I gave life to a Genome that was very much like you. His will was too strong to make him into a proper vessel, and I even considered discarding him. But then I thought that I should put his strength to use. I sent that Genome as my servant, to disrupt the cycle of souls on Gaia. (]Final Fantasy IX
) Rather than discarding the Genome, Garland used him to his advantage and sent Kuja, his "angel of death," to wreak havoc upon the world, speeding the process of reaping souls and further draining the planet of its life.[Garland: I constructed the Genomes to be vessels for the souls of the people of Terra when they awaken. But 24 years ago, I gave life to a Genome that was very much like you. His will was too strong to make him into a proper vessel, and I even considered discarding him. But then I thought that I should put his strength to use. I sent that Genome as my servant, to disrupt the cycle of souls on Gaia. (]Final Fantasy IX
) Kuja, however, was designed only to last until a worthy Genome â€"- Zidane â€"- came of age.[Garland: I built you to last only until the worthy Genome, Zidane, grew. It was too dangerous to let you last any longer than that. (]Final Fantasy IX
) Unable to see a Genome with more power than his own, Kuja discarded Zidane onto Gaia, the world he would destroy.[Garland: When you received the gift of life in Bran Bal, Kuja could not bear it. He could not bear to see a Genome with more power than his own; he felt threatened. Kuja discarded you. He dropped you onto Gaia, the world he would destroy. (]Final Fantasy IX
)
Eventually Garland grew to fear the power of the eidolons he had longed for,[Garland:]' I feared Gaia's eidolons more than anything...However, I decided to deal with them before they became a major problem. (
Final Fantasy IX) and so he destroyed the summoner's village of
Madain Sari with his warship,
Invincible. One of the summoners, Jane, managed to escape the destruction with her young daughter, Sarah, and sailed to the kingdom of Alexandria. Jane didn't survive the trip, and Sarah was taken in by the king and queen of Alexandria, who noticed that the girl looked remarkably similar to their own recently deceased daughter. The king and queen adopted the girl to raise her in their daughter's place as Princess
Garnet Til Alexandros XVII.
Characters
Neither Zidane nor Garnet are left with recollections of their past. After his arrival on Gaia, Zidane is taken under the wing of
Baku, the leader of a band of thieves called
Tantalus. Under that brotherhood, Zidane grows up as an impulsive, cheery, and flirtatious youth. Eventually, however, Zidane searches the continent for his true birthplace. In his travels, Zidane meets
Freya Crescent, a dragon knight from
Burmecia, and the solitary vagabond
Amarant Coral. Garnet lives the life of a princess, unaware of her summoning powers; she is protected by
Adelbert Steiner, a pompous and overly principled knight in Brahne's service. One of Kuja's golems, a prototype black mage named Vivi, is another character, who is raised by one of the Qu tribe. Another Qu, Quina Quen, is a chef. Finally, Eiko Carol is a summoner from
Madain Sari.
As the enemy of Gaia, Kuja is the game's primary antagonist. Using the dregs of souls pumped out by the Iifa Tree's roots, he creates an army of black mages. One of these black mages, Vivi, is taken in by a Qu named Quayle. To fulfill his role as Gaia's grim reaper, Kuja approaches the militant nation of Alexandria. Under Kuja's influence,
Queen Brahne (Garnet's adoptive mother) provides means for his army of
black mages (one of which is Vivi), and she prepares to extract powerful eidolons from Garnet.
Cid Fabool, regent of the technological superpower Lindblum, recognizes the potential signs of war and upholds a promise made to Garnet's surrogate father â€"- to protect her in times of danger â€"- and so dispatches Tantalus to "kidnap" Garnet.
Plot
The game opens as Tantalus, undercover as a theatre troupe, fulfills Cid's request and kidnaps Princess Garnet. Zidane immediately falls for the beautiful princess. During the operation, Steiner accompanies her in his attempt to protect her, and Vivi becomes involved through circumstance.
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Brahne harnesses the power of eidolons |
Although Tantalus is successful in kidnapping Garnet, their plan soon backfires, leaving Zidane in charge of the operation. Brahne dispatches elite black mage soldiers to retrieve Garnet, who has adopted the name "Dagger" to conceal her identity. When Zidane, Dagger, Steiner, and Vivi finally reach Lindblum, Brahne launches an offensive on the kingdom of Burmecia. Freya learns of the news while in Lindblum, and Zidane and Vivi accompany her to Burmecia to battle Brahne's army. Garnet returns to Alexandria with Steiner to negotiate with Brahne, but they are captured and Brahne begins extracting eidolons from Garnet. Meanwhile, Zidane's party is defeated by
Beatrix, an Alexandrian General, and the Burmecians retreat to
Cleyra, a kindgom shielded by a perpetual windstorm. Alexandria's ground forces invade the city and steal a precious jewel capable of summoning Odin, a powerful eidolon. After the attack, Zidane and company follow the army back to Alexandria through telepods, and Brahne uses Odin to obliterate Cleyra. At Alexandria, Zidane's party work with a disillusioned Beatrix to rescue Garnet and escape Alexandria Castle.
Afterwards, Brahne attacks Lindblum with eidolons and her army, and Cid surrenders to spare the lives of his constituents. With Cid's help, Zidane and his allies plot to destroy Kuja, the architect of Brahne's military campaign, who is based on the Outer Continent. On the Outer Continent, they discover a secluded village of renegade black mage soldiers. Vivi wrestles with his limited lifespan, and Garnet begins to reciprocate Zidane's affection. At the village, the party learns that Kuja was sighted at the Iifa Tree. En route, they meet the sole survivor of Madain Sari's tribe of summoners, Eiko, who offers to guide them; and Amarant, a battle-hungry mercenary who follows Zidane to understand his strength. At the Iifa Tree, the party destroys the Tree's mechanism for distributing the mist, thus stopping its flow. They spot Kuja being pursued by Brahne, who wishes to destroy her only rival in power. To destroy him, she summons Bahamut, an eidolon and the king of dragons. Kuja uses the Invincible to turn Bahamut against Brahne, which destroys the entire fleet and kills Brahne.
Zidane's group returns to Alexandria, where Dagger is crowned the new queen. Shortly after Dagger's coronation, Kuja uses Bahamut to launch an attack on the city. Dagger and Eiko summon the forbidden eidolon Alexander, who defends the city and and defeats Bahamut. Thrilled by Alexander's display of power, Kuja attempts to capture him with the Invincible, only to learn that an angry Garland has assumed control of the ship. With it, Garlan destroys Alexandria castle, but Zidane saves Dagger and Eiko in time. With the help of Cid's naval vessel, the party once again searches for Kuja. Their pursuit eventually leads them to Mount Gulug, where Kuja learns of Trance's incredible power and the party learns of Kuja's plan to destroy the world.
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Zidane and Garnet embrace in front of an ecstatic crowd |
After Zidane and his comrades learn that Kuja is from the parallel world Terra, they break the seal of the Shimmering Island, the gateway between Gaia and Terra. There, they teleport to Gaia, but also allow Kuja to attach to the slipstream of their journey. In the Terran city of Bran Bal, Zidane learns the truth of his origins. Confused and distraught, Zidane succumbs to Garland's will as his war machine. However, with the help of his friends, Zidane overcomes his inner struggle and challenges Garland and Kuja. Afterwards, Kuja is ecstatic over finding the power of Trance, and kills a weakened Garland. Garland's spirit informs Kuja of his limited lifespan, causing Kuja to go berserk and destroy Terra. The party uses the Invincible to escape and return to Gaia, which is covered in mist.
The group flies to the Iifa Tree to stop Kuja's plans for destroying the world, and battle their way into Memoria, a place created out of memories. There, they travel billions of years through
spacetime to the genesis of the universe, which was born out of the Crystal, the harbinger of life. Zidane and his friends face Kuja, who seemingly destroys everyone with Ultima. Surviving, the heroes find themselves in the presence of Necron, a powerful entity who appears after Kuja destroys the crystal with Ultima. By destroying the crystal, the ultimate eidolon that the summoners of yore tried to contatin, Necron, is unleashed. Necron seeks to return the world to what it was before existence. Upon defeating Necron, Zidane stays behind to find Kuja. The others believe that Zidane is dead, and Garnet, now the reigning queen of Alexandria, attempts to cope with her new life. In the closing moments of the game, Zidane appears before Garnet during a performance of a play in Alexandria. The queen runs through the crowd of people, and leaps into his arms.
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The development of Final Fantasy IX was kept under wraps |
Production for
Final Fantasy IX began before Square had finished development on its predecessor,
Final Fantasy VIII. As the series' last game on the PlayStation, Sakaguchi envisioned a "tribute" to the series that went back to "the old-style
Final Fantasy." Sakaguchi's vision was consistent with players' feedback. In its conceptual stage, however, the game's developers made it clear that the title would not necessarily be
Final Fantasy IX, as its break from the realism of
Final Fantasy VII and
Final Fantasy VIII may have alienated audiences. This led the Gaming Intelligence Agency to speculate that it would be released as a "gaiden" to the main series. By late 1999, however, Square had confirmed that the game would indeed be published under the
Final Fantasy IX title, and by early 2000, the game was nearly finished. In the meantime, more details on the game's storyline, gameplay mechanics, and character details trickled in.
Final Fantasy IX's release was delayed, however, to avoid a concurrent release with rival
Enix's much-anticipated
Dragon Quest VII. When it finally did release,
Final Fantasy IX received positive reviews from
Famitsu.
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In this illustration, the guide's list of armor urges readers to log onto PlayOnline for a complete listing |
Final Fantasy IX was also the benchmark of Square's interactive
PlayOnline service. PlayOnline was originally developed to interact with
Final Fantasy X, but as those plans fell through it became a strategy site for
Final Fantasy IX. The site was designed to complement BradyGames' official strategy guide for the game, where players who bought the print guide had access to "keywords" that could be searched for on PlayOnline's site for extra tips and information. This caused fury among buyers of the guide, as they felt cheated for the expensive print guide. The blunder made GameSpy readers' "Top 5 Dumbest Moments in Gaming" list, and Square dropped the idea for
Final Fantasy IX. The original site is no longer accessible through PlayOnline.
Final Fantasy IX is the last
Final Fantasy game with music composed exclusively by
Nobuo Uematsu. It was also his most prolific score, as the original
soundtrack for the game had a whopping 110 tracks, and an additional soundtrack was released with 42 more new tracks. Many people speculate that the reason why Uematsu no longer composed game soundtracks on his own after this game was that he was simply overworked.
Much of the music in the game revolve around the themes of the
J-pop ballad,
Melodies of Life, which was composed by Uematsu and performed by
Emiko Shiratori. The song itself was sung in Japanese for the Japanese release of the game, and in English for the North American and European releases of the game.
Final Fantasy IX, though a top seller at the time,
did not sell as well as
Final Fantasy VII or
Final Fantasy VIII in either Japan
or the U.S.
There are several reasons why this game allegedly failed to live up to the sales of
Final Fantasy VIII. It must be noted, however, that these failures were mostly considered from people who started playing the series starting from
Final Fantasy VII and thus were more accustomed to the two entries preceding
Final Fantasy IX.
First,
Final Fantasy IX was seen as an attempt to return the
Final Fantasy series to its
fantasy roots, after the other two
PlayStation incarnations featured many
Sci-fi elements and were darker than the older pre-Playstation versions. Although this appealed to older fans, fans of the newer games were likely turned off by the change in direction; in particular, Zidane was more cheery and hyperactive than
Cloud Strife from
Final Fantasy VII or
Squall Leonhart from
Final Fantasy VIII. Additionally, the game returned to the
super deformed style as opposed to the more realistic designs in the previous game; and was more colorful than
Final Fantasy VII.
Final Fantasy IX also re-introduced non-human main characters like Zidane, Vivi, Freya and Quina; whereas
Final Fantasy VII and
Final Fantasy VIII had predominantly human casts.
Second,
Final Fantasy IX was released shortly after Sony's next-gen console, the
PlayStation 2. While the PS2 could play old PlayStation games, people who bought the new system spent their money on new games to get the full power out of it, instead of older titles.
The strategy guide was also criticized. With its release, Square tried a new marketing push for its
PlayOnline service, by releasing a stripped-down
strategy guide that had links to the web site to get more in-depth info. In Japan, there was no strategy guide at all, and all the info was on-line. The European strategy guide, while being a completely different guide created by Piggyback Interactive, included codes which could be input on the official European Final Fantasy IX site for in-depth info. This was widely regarded as a bad move, as people buy strategy guides to have the info conveniently collected and in front of them while playing; this was especially true for
Final Fantasy games, because of the many secret locations, side-quests and hidden items. The US book's given links are no longer accessible on the PlayOnline website, yet the European Final Fantasy IX site is still up.
Finally, there were other concerns people had over the game. Some felt the game used too many
FMVs, the vast majority of which never reaching the length of one full minute. The Trance system was considered to have shortcomings (see
Gameplay), and the battle system was generally considered slower than the battle systems in its two predecessors. The Mini-game
Tetra Master was also seen by many fans as inferior and confusing compared to
Final Fantasy VIII's mini-game
Triple Triad, as the rules for it were only vaguely explained in the game and there were very few rewards earned from playing it despite its extensiveness.
*
Official Final Fantasy IX site @ Square Enix (North America)*
Official Final Fantasy IX site @ Square Enix (Europe)*
Final Fantasy Wiki category list for
Final Fantasy IX
