Printable View
hehe, it seems like some of you would have been much happier if every character died or some sort of horrible, sad melodramtic ending were to ensue. What ever happened to a 'happy' ending being good?
Or is that too passe, unhip, and unreal for these days of mature gaming?
Personally, I loved the ending. It doesn't have the same impact the second time around, and you could see it coming a mile away, but the way in which it was done was awesome.
I didn't play all that much bet it seemed adequate. I would have played it but by the time it came out there were lots of much better RPGs in the US and I no longer felt the need. The biggest problems were the same problems all the FF games have. FF just isn't a stand-out among RPGs any more. IT's aged too much.
I can't say I've ever agreed with you more. The ending to this game literally brings tears to my eyes.Quote:
Originally posted by StriderKyo
But I'll be damned if I didn't have a huge smile on my face after that ending anyway. For whatever reason, it just worked, and is probably one of the most satisfying endings I've seen in a game.
Puzzles? I never getting stuck on anything...Quote:
I don't know, I figured 'em all out after a little while. It may have taken some messing around, but I never felt cheated by them like, say, Silent Hill's ridiculous brainsmashers.
Alright, as to why the battle system seems slow is for a number of reasons. For starters, they use the active time gauge, but characters don't attack right after you tell them to. Because the game loads the animations and effects for the spells and attacks on the fly, there's a pause that must be suffered before anything can happen. This is most noticable when the game seems to be completely paused, where you've chosen actions for your entire team and the enemies or boss is just sitting there, and nothing happens for a few seconds. It looks like a stand-off, and is highly annoying. Why the loading is so much longer in here then in previous games I don't know, but I think it has to do with the higher-quality effects and characters. Watch it in high-res on an emulator and you'll see how insanely gorgeous this game actually is (the only drawback being that the pre-rendered backgrounds aren't quite as good as the characters and the transition from FMV to static picture sticks out like a sore thumb), especially in battles.
However, the slower battle system is the only problem I have with this game, as I love almost everything else. The story, while not highly original, is well-done and beautifully told, keeping you in touch with everything else going on and wonderfully paced. The characters fit together perfectly, and never come off forced for their situations (Amarant's reason for joining is rather trite, but his thoughts and desicions later on help make up for it, not to mention he looks sweet as hell).
The soundtrack overall isn't the greatest ever (many tracks are instantly forgettable), but the major ones are incredible, there's some great, great stuff on there.
Haha! I see a Final Fantasy topic and you think I won't respond?
Actually, I really liked IX. The characters were a lovable bunch and really grew on me after a while. Especially Zidane, can you say "PIMP DADDY!!"? I knew you could.
Vivi was also a cool lil mo'fo. Especially when he got completely pissed off in that one cutscence that I'm sure everybody remembers.
Overall this was one of the better Final Fantasy games, but it wasn't without its faults. Namely, A) The slow ass battles. Not tediously long like FF8, but it felt like you were fighting in molasses.
B) Too much emphasis on PlayOnline. Cryptic clues and nonsensical hints helped nothing and arranging it so that there was no way you could possibly know how to obtain some of the more powerful items in the game without accessing PlayOnline killed any replay value this game could have had.
C) The ending. Yeah it was OK in a saccrine laced doughnut kind of way, but COME ON!!! I was utterly insulted by this brain-dead, Walt Disney, Smurf-flavored excuse for a conclusion. The whole thing reeked of extremely lazy writing and felt like one big, reeeeallllllllly lame cop-out.
Other than these bothersome points, I actually liked this game.
EDIT: I almost forgot one other thing I didn't like about this game.
The last boss. What the fuck was he and why was he even there? It made absolutely no sense why I was suddenly fighting him.
Yeah, I hated that as well. Especially since he was just a ripoff of other FF final bosses, with no new attacks (though they were all called something different, and had new animations, they all had the same effects as what came before), and the slow battle system was the worst here, as recovering from SuperNova- er, I mean Grand Cross was a pain in the ass.Quote:
Originally posted by Master of 7s
EDIT: I almost forgot one other thing I didn't like about this game.
The last boss. What the fuck was he and why was he even there? It made absolutely no sense why I was suddenly fighting him.
Sounds like FFX, but without the PlayOnline part...Quote:
Cryptic clues and nonsensical hints helped nothing and arranging it so that there was no way you could possibly know how to obtain some of the more powerful items in the game without accessing PlayOnline killed any replay value this game could have had.
Not every character. Mostly just Zidane.Quote:
hehe, it seems like some of you would have been much happier if every character died or some sort of horrible, sad melodramtic ending were to ensue.
It's all in the presentation. And like I said, it was just such a goofy, disney-style piece of manipulative tripe that I had trouble staying in my chair and watching it.Quote:
Or is that too passe, unhip, and unreal for these days of mature gaming?
Nice character animation, though.
Personally, I loved Final Fantasy IX. I thought it was the best of the Playstation Final Fantasies, and a nice throwback to the old days. The characters were very likeable, Zidane was the third best hero the series has had behind only Cecil in IV and Locke (I guess he was the hero) in VI. I also loved Vivi, that lil guy freaking ruled, black mage with personality ;)
Oh please, FFIX's ending kicked freaking ass compared to that of FFVI. It's been months since I last picked up that piece of garbage and it still pisses me off that Square ruined a great game with that piece of shit ending. However, back to FFIX, it was a pretty kickass game, however I agree with whoever said they wouldn't mind if Zidane died, he was a pretty shitty main character, Vivi shoulda been the main char. -.- :jest:
i didn't like final fantasy 9 because it felt forced. people were complaining about the sci-fi themes of 7 and 8, so square churns out a cliche ridden game more akinned to final fantasies of yesteryears.
because of this, the characters were overly cartoonish, the story too disney-esque. nothing about the game felt genuine. everything was produced like a boy band (translation: see what people want and slap all that together to make them happy).
ps - zidane, much like the poster on this forum, was very annoying to me. vivi wasn't that great either. and i swear, all the girls all the psx final fantasies are the same. i know they were all based off of the artist's girlfriend, but man, that's kinda lame when they all look nearly identical.
I liked FF9, imo it's the best FF game after part 3, at least of the ones I've played.
FF7 and 8 suck, 10 & 11 look awful, I still remember when square cared about quality and not just making $$$$$.
Sigh.