Final Fantasy IX (PS4)

[drahkon]

5 hours in, just reached Lindblum.

I love this game

[drahkon]

...

Another dude from Germany asked me the same question...

But here's the most amazing message I got:

 

I guess it's time to live the dream...make money by playing video games...

 

I've ignored all of them...

*goes back to the Festival of the Hunt*

Edited September 22, 2017 by drahkon

[Happenstance]

Hey @drahkon I've got a favour to ask.....

[drahkon]

Almost done with Disc 1.

Not sure if I want to try and beat Grand Dragon now...I remember doing it on my PS1 but it requires quite a bit of luck

Spent a lot of time in the Chocobo Forest. My Chocobo has blue plumage now

[Glen-i]

On 9/21/2017 at 7:37 AM, drahkon said:

People keep sending me messages asking if I can do the 1000 jump trophy for them

Wow, that's hilariously sad. (The messages, not you actually pulling that off, you utter nutter!) It's not like you even get anything in-game for it. Geez.

Seems quite timely, I played through this for the first time not long ago. Here's what I thought of it.

 

[Esequiel]

So, never played IX but loved most of the other FF games from SNES upto PS1, this one worth getting?

[drahkon]

10 minutes ago, Esequiel said:

So, never played IX but loved most of the other FF games from SNES upto PS1, this one worth getting?

Yes.

[Jonnas]

18 hours ago, Esequiel said:

So, never played IX but loved most of the other FF games from SNES upto PS1, this one worth getting?

Absolutely

[drahkon]

17 hours in.

If I remember correctly I'm near the point when the game opens up a lot more. Can't wait to get back to the Chocobo mini game

 

[bob]

@drahkon

 

 

 

[drahkon]

Fuck...busted.

[drahkon]

Just finished it.
Not gonna lie, I shed manly tears during some of the scenes at the end...the nostalgia, the memories, the song, the experience...

Sorry, Super Mario World, but you're tied now for my favourite game of all time.

 

This little guy is probably my favourite video game character ever:

 

His journey throughout the game is wonderful and quite relatable in some places. 

 

Oh man...people, if you enjoy JRPGs do yourself a favour and play FFIX.

 

I'll save the Platinum for a rainy day or two Might be a good thing to do during Christmas.

Edited October 6, 2017 by drahkon

[Jonnas]

I came across this cool video today (spoilers for all y'all who didn't finish this gem yet). It's all about a single music track. You know the one.

 

[Glen-i]

Yeah, I was shown that video yesterday.

Sure, I heard this on Theatrhythm first (Good song to play), but when I got to this bit, I thought that I finally found a moment in the Playstation Final Fantasy's that could rival FF6. And just like FF6, it's the music that makes it. Helps that Zidane is a much more likable protagonist than Cloud and Squall.

But yeah, awesome moment.

[Julius]

So yeah. This is the JRPG I've been wanting to dig into these past few days (well, weeks, if I'm being honest!), and I finally decide to take the chance to start tonight. Just a couple of hours in so far having made it through the Ice Cavern, so still very early goings. 

But I'm really liking it so far. It doesn't quite have the hook or urgency at the start that VI or VII had, in my opinion, but honestly, I'm appreciating the change of pace because I feel like I have a better grasp of these characters than I did the casts in the other games by this point. I can appreciate a slow burn when done well, and there have definitely been a couple of seeds planted early on which I'm sure will see some form of payoff way down the line. 

I think a lot of what I'm liking comes down to just how expressive characters are in the FMV's, which are certainly a step up in so many ways when compared with VII's. You just get such a good feel for the characters and the world they're in (loving some of the pre-rendered backgrounds here, though some I'll admit look a little faded), and this goes hand in hand with Uematsu's soundtrack (because it's never too early in a Final Fantasy game to bring that up). Speaking of which, so many call backs to older games and classic tracks, I know this is something of a love letter to earlier FF games but man am I all about hearing Uematsu return to that. 

Look, all I'm saying is that expressing just how timid and somewhat clumsy Vivi is early on, and how in awe he is by an airship flying overhead without any dialogue, just an orchestra and some animation work which is over two decades old by this point, is something pretty incredible. I was instantly connected to and had a solid understanding of this short kid in a funny-looking hat - this will never not be awesome. It's something which the other two Final Fantasy games I've played so far managed also, but that doesn't make it any less incredible. 

I'm also a big fan of the Active Time Events, or ATE's. It's so fun to just see what's going on elsewhere, especially when it's not mandatory. It all just feels so relaxed, and I'm happy about that. Favourite one so far is absolutely hearing the band playing Rufus's Welcome Ceremony in VII, got a good chuckle from me. 

Only real issue so far I think would be just how slow battles are. I know there's a speed boost option (which I'm making good use of), but the fact that I go into battles wanting to not use it (even boss battles!), then finding myself almost needing to very shortly after just to keep things moving, is the only thing I'd highlight as any sort of negative. Boss fights I've had so far haven't been incredibly interesting (Ice Cavern one especially so...), but again, still very early on; I'm sure that will change. 

Last thing I have to mention...

Spoiler

...the last thing I expected from this game was a Moogle shouting "You bastards!"

All bets are off for what happens from this point on. 

Looking forward to making some more progress with this tomorrow!

[drahkon]

21 hours ago, Julius said:

Only real issue so far I think would be just how slow battles are.

That's a fair point.
When I played the game as kid, this was never an issue. Even playing it years later was fine. But now that there's the option of speeding the game up...once you do it, you can never go back

It gets better once you have access to Haste (or even better: Auto-Haste).

[Julius]

Put some more time into this today, just got to the point where I'm waiting patiently at the station as Dagger and Steiner to start making my way back down into Alexandria. Still very much enjoying it.

Yeah, so I mentioned music yesterday, but I have to again today, because I'm humming the battle theme and the overworld theme constantly. Festival of the Hunt is my favourite full track so far, but the occasional line or hum or la-de-da we get of Melodies of Life / A Place to Call Home (which I've heard before a few times listening to the Distant Worlds albums) is constantly sending chills down my spine. Was borderline tearing up earlier with that scene at the top of Lindblum. And again - this is a track I've heard before. Plenty of times. 

Uematsu 

Quite surprised at how linear an experience it's been so far, at least thinking back to VI and VII, because I'm sure it had opened up by now. Not a complaint at all, it's been quite nice having it be so strongly directed and linear by this point because it just means I'm getting beat after beat with these characters and noticing glimpses of growth...but one side of my party is definitely much more powerful (like literally double the amount of levels...) than the other right now! 

Only other real issue I've come up with since is, similar to VII, traversing the pre-rendered backgrounds can definitely take a bit of getting used to. Not a real problem, but I'd be lying if I didn't say it does feel a bit awkward at times! 

I've only wiped once so far, which came against this ridiculously OP dragon above Burmecia. Sure, the Moogles warned me something dangerous was up ahead...but they were also running from the Black Mages, who have been a cake walk so far, so how I supposed to know?! I'm guessing that was the Grand Dragon @drahkon mentioned in one of the posts above from a few years back? 

Oh and just need to mention how monstrous The Ogre is. Heck yeah I'm happy with slaughtering monsters with that thing!

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

That's a fair point.
When I played the game as kid, this was never an issue. Even playing it years later was fine. But now that there's the option of speeding the game up...once you do it, you can never go back

It gets better once you have access to Haste (or even better: Auto-Haste).

Yeah, I'm in a weird spot with it when it comes to speeding it up. On the one hand, it just makes things faster, and yeah it's a bit on the slow side, so this should be a great thing. But on the other, I quite like the concept of ATB, and having the speed boost on only seems like it would effectively if using Wait instead of Active (which I might end up using, but am choosing not to right now, because...ATB ). 

As I found out when being immediately humiliated in the Festival of the Hunt after not realising there wouldn't be much of a chance for prep, went into the first battle on relatively low health, and very, very barely scraped by after going in with that boost on 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

24 minutes ago, Julius said:

I'm guessing that was the Grand Dragon @drahkon mentioned in one of the posts above from a few years back? 

That's the one

Has a very weird name in the German version: Tatzelwurm.
Gives a whooping 36k exp (IIRC). Not necessarily worth it, though, unless you want to be a little OP for a while.

 

[Jonnas]

I could swear the Grand Dragons were above Lindblum. Memory must be trickin' me.

Grand Dragons are good for grinding once you figure out how to kill these Level 50 beasts... with a specific exploit.

Spoiler

Level 5 Death is a spell that kills any enemy whose level is a multiple of 5. There is a way to get this spell well before you're supposed to overpower Lv.50 enemies.

 

[drahkon]

7 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I could swear the Grand Dragons were above Lindblum.

Hm, now I'm not sure.

I just remember climbing a vine out of Gizamaluke's Grotto and getting my ass wrecked by a Grand Dragon thinking: WHAT IS HAPPENING?

[Julius]

37 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Hm, now I'm not sure.

I just remember climbing a vine out of Gizamaluke's Grotto and getting my ass wrecked by a Grand Dragon thinking: WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Yeah, that's exactly where I encountered them for the first time too, en route to Burmecia, but maybe you can encounter them elsewhere? Guessing that's probably the earliest you can encounter them, though. 

Hope I don't run into anymore...

Edited September 7, 2020 by Julius

[drahkon]

2 minutes ago, Julius said:

Guessing that's probably the earliest you can encounter them, though. 

That's correct.

Reading your posts makes me want to play one of the old Final Fantasy games I never played Final Fantasy VI (and 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) but I hear that it's supposed to be pretty good. Might be something for when I'm done with Final Fantasy VII Remake.

[Julius]

23 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Reading your posts makes me want to play one of the old Final Fantasy games I never played Final Fantasy VI (and 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) but I hear that it's supposed to be pretty good. Might be something for when I'm done with Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Having played VI for the first time back in March earlier this year, I would heartily recommend it.

It's got a stellar cast of characters, most of whom have an awesome arc, world class soundtrack (guess that goes without saying!), snappy battle mechanics, great sprites with charming animations, and a really well told story. It's aged very well, which doesn't hurt much either! 

I love VII, but that last third of the original does go a little bit off the rails, and I do think VI is a bit more cohesive in that regard. 

I'm looking forward to one day diving into the older games (before VI, the original, IV, and V are probably what I'm most interested in checking out; of course, X is high on the list of FF's I want to check out too!), but for now, I'm really enjoying IX. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about that scene at the top of Lindblum, it's been such a charming and beautiful experience so far. 

Can't wait to dig into it a bit more this evening! 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Julius

[Jonnas]

3 hours ago, drahkon said:

Hm, now I'm not sure.

I just remember climbing a vine out of Gizamaluke's Grotto and getting my ass wrecked by a Grand Dragon thinking: WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Ah, Gizamaluke's Grotto, that makes sense. Neither Burmecia nor Lindblum, the truth lied somewhere in the middle

By the way, @Julius, I might be alone in thinking this, but I love that part with Dagger&Steiner that you're about to play now. Really like it when RPGs allow parties to split up for a different character dynamic.

[Sheikah]

Speaking of FFIX, has anyone seen the Moguri mod for the Steam version? The work that has gone into redrawing the backgrounds in HD is sublime.

FFIX was my first Final Fantasy game and it's nice to see it get this update from fans. If I had the Steam version and a reasonable PC setup I'd be all over this.