Final Fantasy IX (2000)

This Final Fantasy entry is a beautifully crafted love letter to the series’ origins, a heartfelt blend of medieval fantasy, charming characters, and profound storytelling. Developed by Square near the end of the original PlayStation’s life cycle, the game stands out for its return to classic Final Fantasy aesthetics after the more futuristic tones of VII and VIII.

The MC is called Zidane, a roguish thief with a golden heart, who becomes entangled in a grand adventure alongside Princess Garnet, Vivi, and a colorful cast of allies. What begins as a lighthearted tale of kidnapping and rebellion soon evolves into an emotional exploration of identity, mortality, and the meaning of life. Each character faces personal struggles that give the narrative surprising emotional depth, particularly Vivi’s existential journey as a sentient black mage.

Gameplay stays true to the series’ roots, featuring turn-based battles and the Active Time Battle system, alongside a simple yet engaging ability-learning mechanic tied to equipment. Exploration across lush towns, mysterious dungeons, and a beautifully rendered world map gives a strong sense of adventure. The visuals, though limited by the PlayStation hardware, are charmingly stylized, with detailed pre-rendered backgrounds and expressive character designs that make the world feel alive.

The OST is one of the finest in the franchise, from the whimsical “Melodies of Life” to haunting battle and world themes that elevate every scene’s emotional weight. While its pace can feel slower compared to later entries and the battle load times occasionally drag, this game is more than compensates with its warmth, humor, and timeless storytelling. It remains a standout entry, not only as a nostalgic farewell to the classic era of Final Fantasy, but also as one of the most soulful RPGs ever made.

This is one of the best JRPGs, RPGs and Final Fantasy of all time, definitely a must-play for fans of the franchise, the genre or even if you even slightly like this kind of game. And although I don't consider this one to be the best Final Fantasy, it is for me very high up there. This is partially because I never had any nostalgic feeling towards the classic titles since I didn't played them back in the day when they were popular, but I can totally grasp the feeling of people that thinks this way.

Final Fantasy IX is a classic JRPG that takes place in a medieval fantasy world with swords, magic, monsters and a grand story of gods, creation, morality and more. The intro to the game alone shows that you're about to play an epic - and there truly is no better word to accurately describe it.

Gameplay-wise, it doesn't differ much from any other turn-based JRPG. There is a relatively complex ability system consisting of passive and active abilities gained by equipment and forever learned by leveling up, without taking off the piece of equipment that grants the ability. In my personal opinion, this ability system is superior to the materia-based system of FF7.

In order to become powerful enough to beat the game, one has to do a lot of grinding. I therefore recommend playing a version of the game that allows speeding it up (like the Switch version). I am actually one of the few people that enjoy grinding in video games, so this was most enjoyable.

Story-wise, like most JRPGs, the story starts out as something relatively small, but quickly evolves to lore and events greater than humans, humanity and even the planet itself. I loved the story of FFIX, up until the very end of the game, where it really blew out of proportions. Classic JRPG syndrome. IMO the last boss was completely unnecessary. This is just my opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt.

The music is great, as with most FF games, consisting of classical pieces composed by the great Nobuo Uematsu. Every song is great to listen to, and maybe more importantly, perfectly fits the part of the game where it's playing.

I've seen a lot of people complain about the playable characters, calling them annoying and deprived of any personality. I must mostly disagree with that statement. Out of the 8 playable characters, I've found 6 of them great, with unique personalities, strengths and weaknesses. One of them I can describe as "having an aura unmatched by most video game characters". Had her in my party for the entirety of the game and enjoyed every second! That being said, I do think that 2 out of the 8 characters are bland and annoying.

With all of that said, I will now address two things that I heavily disliked about the game. First of all, throughout the game, you are more often than not forced to play specific parts with specific party members. The party members who are in reserve don't level up with the party members you're currently playing with. Unless you make extra effort to keep all your characters leveled up and equipped with the best available equipment, you will end up in extremely difficult, or even impossible to beat situations. At one point, my main character was teamed up with a character whom I barely kept in my main party, leading to a difference of 22 levels between them. Granted, this was just for one boss, but the underleveled character died in the first turn, and I never bothered to revive them.

Second thing I didn't like is that some sections that don't feature any action, especially in the first half of the game, are unnecessarily prolonged. Best example is the party's first arrival in the second major city. I won't go into any spoilers or detailed description - it's just that that part of the game contains no battles, no free movement, and lasts for about 2 hours.

It's not a perfect game. Despite all the flaws, I still loved it enough to earn a 5* rating from me. If you're a fan of epic fantasy, I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

Love when a final boss fight ends up telling its own unique story for your party. In my final battle, my entire party ended up getting wasted save for Steiner, who went Berserk. However, he also had Auto-Regen, so he just kept swinging away automatically and always healed enough to avoid perishing with his friends. He must have dealt 20 or 30 thousand damage before snapping out of it, finally allowing me to use Phoenix Down to bring back Eiko, who brought the rest of the party back by summoning Phoenix. It wasn't long after that that the party was able to bring down the mighty Necron.

A good final boss fight always leaves me with a good feeling after a long game, but I wasn't always so high on this game. Overall, I really enjoyed Final Fantasy IX and would recommend it, but I don't think it'll be one of my favourites in the series. I think my issues with it really boil down to pacing.

Despite being weird and confusing at times, I enjoyed the story. I'm not going to get into it, but if you want to know the story without playing it, watch this:

Unfortunately, because this game is so story focused, other aspects of the game suffered somewhat. Not only are there hours and hours of cutscenes, but there are also hours and hours of gameplay without any combat. I would get really excited about finding a bunch of new equipment, but then I wouldn't be able to use it for a long time. Sometimes I found new equipment that made the old stuff obsolete before I even got to use it.

The first ten hours or so of the game are also a little frustrating because the story forces you to use certain characters in your party. I don't mind that generally, but some of the forced party combos didn't feel balanced, and it took away from me being able to enjoy the battle system. However, this wasn't a problem later on when you had more access to your party members.

I'll only comment on two of the game's mechanics: trancing and the ability system.

In my opinion, Trance was a straight-up downgrade from the Limit system in FF7. Though it functions in a similar way, characters Trance automatically and then get more powerful for a few turns. I just felt like most of my Trances were wasted because they would happen in meaningless fights and then the battle would end before I could even use it.

The ability system is similar to the Materia system in FF7 in that you can customize the abilities a party member has. The difference is that the abilities are built into weapons, not add-ons, and not every character can learn every ability. I actually liked it for the most part, as it gave you a reason to use different equipment. However, I sometimes ran into the problem of being forced to use worse equipment for a while until the character learned a new ability. This happened most often when the pacing was off and I didn't get enough action with a new piece of equipment. It basically forces you to grind.

Still, I had fun with this game. Final Fantasy fans that haven't played it yet should definitely do so. A warning though: the Switch version freezes a lot. Like, more than Final Fantasy VII did for me. It rarely caused any real damage though, because the game has a super handy auto-save function. Just something to watch out for.

As a side note, finishing this game means I've officially spent more time with my Switch than my 3DS, making the Switch the system I've spent the most time with in my adult life.