And of course, Squaresoft amazes us once again by releasing the final Final Fantasy on the PlayStation, the wondrous game known as Final Fantasy 9.
FF9 starts you off as a young man named Zidane Tribal who is plotting to capture the princess of Alexandria with his gang type organization known as Tantalus. They succeed in capturing her, but strangely enough, she willingly accepts her fate, and lets Tantalus take her from Alexandria (I would go into detail about why Tantalus is doing this, but for the sake of others who have not yet played the game I wont, to avoid spoilers). Her fate and the rests' lies uncertain.
One of the greatest parts of FF9 is its amazing story. The game does start off a little slow, but increasingly grabs your attention as the story progresses. It's one of the most impressive scripts I have ever experienced as a Final Fantasy fan, not to mention one of the most comical. The story is definitely one of the stronger points in the game. The fact that Squaresoft pays attention towards each character instead of one makes the story much more interesting.
The story isn't the only great part to FF9, don't think it for a minute. FF9's gameplay is excellent as well. Chalk full of fun filled mini games and fast-paced action, FF9 will leave you glued to your controller. Back is the card game, refined and easier to play than ever. Also returning are chocobos which are given more emphasis in 9 than in the previous game. The numerous side quests the latest installment offers will increase the longevity of the game giving you more reason to turn on your PS everyday.
One of the biggest parts to any FF game is the battle system and FF9 probably has the best one to date. Remember the times in previous Final Fantasy's where you could just hold down the attack button and finish a fight in a matter of seconds? This is not the case with FF9. Every character has different abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, all of which need to be carefully crafted to have a good strategy in order to defeat your enemies. The system basically has you equipping various items to your characters which unleash dormant abilities your characters can learn. You will be surprised to see the Game Over screen pop up more than previous FF�s. In addition to this, Square has gotten rid of the burdening long summoning sequences that plagued FF8. Now, the summons, now referred to as Eidolons, have random sequences, sometimes showing the full version of the attack or a shortened down version. Either way, this new median is excellent.
Many said FF8 maxed out the PlayStations capabilities graphics wise, but with Squaresoft's newest installment, they couldn't be more wrong. Final Fantasy 9 outshines FF8 graphically in almost everyway. The battle graphics are superb, with literally amazing visuals that will leave you in total awe. I was totally shocked to see how much better the visuals were in FF9 then in previous FF's.
FF9's full motion video is a good as ever, with awesome action scenes to peaceful and tranquil moments. Although the FMV's are excellent, they are not as realistic as Final Fantasy 8's CG sequences were. It really just depends on your CG quality preference.
Everyone who has played at least a few of the Final Fantasy titles will know that the music in these games is trully remarkable. Nobou Uematsu (the musical composer of FF9) has shown himself true once again. FF9 is filled with wonderful music, like the FF9 battle music for example. The theme created for FF9 was sang by Emiko Shiratori, title "Melodies of Life", which is a beatiful piece of music, even outshining Final Fantasy 8's "Eyes on Me"
Final Fantasy 9 is not a title to be overlooked. It is a remarkable game by anyone�s standards, and no doubt lives up to the name, "Final Fantasy".