Okay, this topic has got to be older than my dead grand mother but it's been a question that I've had on my mind for a good while now.

So, could someone tell me why everyone hated final fantasy nine? I honestly don't see why no one liked the game. I really enjoyed the game. I thought the game had beautiful graphics, a good battle and leveling system, and unique characters. . . except Dagger. I also liked the vast areas and the story line.

A final fantasy game I disliked the most would have to be Final fantasy eight. I just didn't care for any of the characters, especially Squall. I also detested the leveling system in that game. You gain another ten levels but the enemy grow just as strong as you do. So having your characters level to 99 was pretty much pointless. The weapons were nearly non existent in the game as well. You'd only have three or four weapons for one character and nothing else. No armor shops or anything that could have defend your characters. Just mind numbling difficult quests to search for the pieces you would need to make the weapon, like Lionheart.

I will admit though that some of the music was pretty, but that's about it.

Sorry for bringing dead news back to life, but if you could give me your honest opinions and answers. I'd be grateful.

Bigfatstupid:
Okay, this topic has got to be older than my dead grand mother but it's been a question that I've had on my mind for a good while now.

So, could someone tell me why everyone hated final fantasy nine? I honestly don't see why no one liked the game. I really enjoyed the game. She was kinda annoying. I thought the game had beautiful graphics, a good battle and leveling system, and unique characters. . . except Dagger. I also liked the vast areas and the story line.

A final fantasy game I disliked the most would have to be Final fantasy eight. I just didn't care for any of the characters, especially Squall. I also detested the leveling system in that game. You gain another ten levels but the enemy grow just as strong as you do. So having your characters level to 99 was pretty much pointless. The weapons were nearly non existent in the game as well. You'd only have three or four weapons for one character and nothing else. No armor shops or anything that could have defend your characters. Just mind numbling difficult quests to search for the pieces you would need to make the weapon, like Lionheart.

I will admit though that some of the music was pretty, but that's about it.

Sorry for bringing dead news back to life, but if you could give me your honest opinions and answers. I'd be grateful.

Because a lot of people (and they're all afraid of admitting this because it'll make them seem 'less hardcore') started with 7 which had a very serious melancholy tone and the whole sci fi theme. The shift to talking rats really threw me.

I started with FF6 and I loved 9. I suppose the reason not many like it was that most FF players started with 7 or 8 while 9 was more of a throwback to the first 6 games. Many people were also put off by the character models.

FF9 was my first and I never went back only foward......although that dosn't mean I didn't skip FFX-2 :P

Great, just great.

You go and post a thread asking "why did everyone hate FF9?!"

Then, when I respond with, "I fuckin' loved FF9! It was my favorite Final Fantasy!", people think I'm just some twat who is trying to be cool.

Thanks a lot.

I do hear every now and then that people hated FF9 when it was released. Didn't make sense to me either, and I am one of those drones whose first Final Fantasy involved a spiky blond dude with an ergonomically oversized sword. Love that one too.

But yeah, I guess the FF7 bandwagon would have a big contribution to the hate. It was darker, dirtier, and generally a more somber experience, which fell right in line with the changing interests of gamers. Then came cartoony, big-headed folks and animal people. Oh yeah, and whatever the hell Quina is. The big irony here, though, is how big a change in direction FF7 itself actually took. I guess sometimes you hit a homer, other times you swing and miss.

I also want to point out the faulting of FF9's strategy guide, which implemented a completely asinine extra step to getting some decent insider info, at an attempt to plug Square's playonline website. That was just bullshit.

HSIAMetalKing:
Great, just great.

You go and post a thread asking "why did everyone hate FF9?!"

Then, when I respond with, "I fuckin' loved FF9! It was my favorite Final Fantasy!", people think I'm just some twat who is trying to be cool.

Thanks a lot.

Seriously though.

I'm sorry, but the truth must come out! DX

I started with FF9 and instantly loved it (maybe because, as some people already said, I havenīt played 7 before) and went backwards from there. Actually I think 9 is one of the best parts in almost all aspects (I even have the soundtrack running on my computer right now). The only FFs I didnīt like are 8 and 1 (havenīt played X-2 so I dunno about that one) and 9 is probably my favorite, although I get told about the superiority of 7 again and again.

...man I wasted HOURS on Tetra Master (or whatever itīs called)...

My first Final Fantasy was VI, and I absolutely loved FFIX because it went back to its roots. The story was cliche, but it was fun and all the characters were really likeable I thought. There was nothing wrong with FFIX, it's just that people wanted more tragic tales of lonely heroes rather then a band of actor thieves kidnapping a princess.

I only completed IX about a month ago, after never actually having bought it when it came out. I loved it, im re-playing VIII now, and it pales in comparison to IX, FFIX is just a much better game with better character and better gameplay. And despite the fact that its set in a fantasy world with talking frog people things, the whole world somehow, seemed more real than that of FFVIII

I just remembered that FFIX also took a neat approach to equipment, having it double as the medium for learning new abilities. It brought an interesting new twist on deciding which new weapon or piece of armor to wear in battle. Too bad that this system is only revisited in Tactics Advance anymore, which baffles me, considering the amazing Job System from the original Tactics. But that's an entirely different story.

Also, I think IX was the first to split up the armor pieces and give them each one stat to focus on improving. I'm talking about how body armor increased physical defense while helms increased magic defense and armwear bolstered evasion, unlike before where defense boosts were equally cumulative. It was a neat idea that was further improved in XII.

Yeah, there was some genuine goodness to this game.

I like FFIX.

Hell I even liked FFX and FFXII to a degree.

I dislike FFVII.

That make me an outcast?

Not at all, but your opinion for everything else ever is now null and void. :P

Damnit!

Uh, I guess I'll pick up the 'didn't like it' end of the conversation. I've played every game in the series and 9 annoyed the hell out of me.

There wasn't really a character I could focus on if I didn't want something cartoony. They weren't bad, but in 6 I had Sabin, 5 I had Kane, y'know, someone dark and badass.

Kuja was the first androgynous man-girl character that I encountered in a JRPG. It was hate at first sight and not in a plot-developing kind of way. Looking back I kinda see it with Sephiroth but everything was so pixelacious that I guess I missed it.

The Summon system was core to the entire game...but personally I was getting sick of watching those videos. X did a great job of reinventing how it worked but IX just stuck right on with it. The Trance system just kinda went off randomly and I couldn't use it strategically as easily as with VII or VIII.

Worst last boss in a Final Fantasy game.

And...before the nitpicking starts...it's a great game compared to any other JRPG. But you gotta compare it to all the other Final Fantasy games. After playing IV, V, and VI...you realize it just kinda feels like a rehash of those concepts and characters.

Dude, are you kidding? I love FF9. I wrote a pretentious artsy-fartsy retroview of it, I love it that much.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.53858#381906

FF9 has to be one of my favourite games ever. It's got superb designwork, a story that's both cliced and moving, characters that are actually fun... it's just a great all round game.

FF9 was pretty sweet, definitely focused on the storytelling. Almost reminded me of Suikoden 3 with the level of comic goofiness. Plus, a backstory for the black wizards was pure awesomeness.

7 is my favorite (actually tied with the original Tactics game), 12 was good... enough (that shit with the zodiac spear was pretty retarded though) and it had a nice homage being based in the world the GBA tactics title (wost game ever)
8 was pretty damn weak, a bunch of emo characters with really no likeable personalities. X was just the weakest, whiniest, side-tracking crap story ever told.

11... doesn't exist imo. They should just peg 12 and the upcoming 13 down a number and call that MMO piece of crap 'FF universe' or something. At least, if they ever want to release a canon series set, they'll have a hard time pushing that.

I've personally become pretty disillusioned with the whole FF series. It no longer calls out to me and forces me to run to the store on launch just to grab myself a copy. More and more I find myself being drawn to open ended RPG's where I can actually take a story in a different direction. FF stories are all very predictable now and are more based on flashy characters than telling a good story. I stopped really enjoying FF games after 3 on my SNES.

Shajinn:

...man I wasted HOURS on Tetra Master (or whatever itīs called)...

This is one reason I hated FFXII... with FF8, Triple Triad was pretty neat, in FF9 Tetra Master was awesome, and in FFX Blitzball was addictive as crack... so of course I was expecting some kind of awesome minigame to play when I was sick of grinding in XII, but was severely disappointed.

The only thing I didn't like about 9 was the final boss fight, had you fighting a completely unrelated monster just to add difficulty.

I hated 8, the story sucked, all of the characters were unlikeable, the combat was just horrible you ether collected magic for hours on end to make your melee better (wtf? what happened to just getting a better weapon to make your melee better), or you did nothing but summon every turn watching the CS for them fully each time. but hey the FMVs were well done for its time

12 was just ehh, I keep trying to get myself to the end of it, but the gambit system makes it seem like your not playing the game but rather mucking around with a bot program to play the game for you like your a RMT in a MMO. THe license system was just unforgivable, you would have to buy every item and spell from each shop and risk not every being able to use it, would find a good weapon or armor but then realize that you don't have the license for it unlocked or even know ware its at on the board, wasting points to find it.

I really enjoyed 1,4,6,7,9,10 (even with its bad voice overs at times) I have a love hate relationship with 11 played it for years on and off but I wouldn't call it a FF game, much like the movie it was just named it to sell. I keep meaning to give X-2 a chance but the j-pop theme is just to hilarious to take seriously. Ive played all the FF when they came out in the states, for some reason I can't get myself to pick up 2,3 and 5

Story in IX was terrible.

Characters in IX were terrible with the exception of Vivi and Zidane.

Customization system in IX was terrible mainly because it was piss-easy and hardly offered you any customization at all.

Art direction, while unique, did not appeal to me.

I loved IX as well, eyyo!

Because 7 and 8 had dark, emo-esque characters/storyline while 9 was light-hearted and cartoony.

6>all of them in my opinion. Great storyline, characters, bosses, and the Final Boss (Kefka) was a fuckin evil Clown-Black Mage-Angel hybrid!

*EDIT* I loved 9, btw. It had some funny moments blended with serious ones, and I loved the real-time combat, and it even had MULTIPLAYER!!!

Don't be silly. Everyone hates FF8.

Castrate the Heathen:
Don't be silly. Everyone hates FF8.

QFT.

Yeah, the story, graphics style, characters, and battle system of FF9 were okay. The chocobo system, on the other hand, was fan-fucking-tastic. I often found myself moving the plot forward just so I could play more Chocobo H&C. Absolutely amazing. FF9 was a big departure from FF7 and FF8, which were most people's first FF experiences, with its more lighthearted tone. I didn't really care, though, because I started with FF before the Playstation generation. FF9's limit break system left a little to be desired, but I liked the esper-like ability learning system they used. Also, the inclusion of the "race to the end dungeon in 12 hours" challenge, which I'm still working on, added much to its lasting appeal.

I'm one of those freaks who doesn't love 7. I found its dystopic setting just dull, its characters irritating and unsympathetic and the system just plain bad. I tried to like it, I really did, because I heard Sephiroth was an absolute bad ass, but honestly its fucking ages before you even lay eyes on the cunt.

Nine did something similar villain wise in that you don't see Kuja for a while, but it makes more sense to the plot here. Kuja is much more of a shadowy manipulator than Sephiroth and so it makes sense that he spends most of the game out of sight. The quirky aesthetic amused me without being sickening, the battle system worked a lot better (even if Sods law did dictate that Trance would go off right before you finished a monster off) and the abilities being tied to equipment I found really interesting.

FF9 had the best gameplay mechanics of any of the FF games I've played (4-10). It also had atrociously bad writing and characters. People try to excuse that by saying that it was a 'throwback' but what does that really mean? That they made it moronic intentionally?

FF6 is still my favorite and I'll readily admit that it's characters are not much deeper than the ones in FF9, but they also didn't force you to listen to Terra & Co. jabber on and on through nearly every second of the entire game. FF6 had significantly fewer, much better designed scenes split up amongst a much larger, rotating cast. FF6 also didn't have a godawful deus ex machina final boss and ending either.

I quit playing FF9 after around fifteen hours because I just couldn't take their inane jabbering anymore. I was tired of spending any time I wasn't in combat or menus either bored out of my skull or rolling my eyes in irritation.

Its still far better than FF8 at the very least.

Lvl 64 Klutz:

Shajinn:

...man I wasted HOURS on Tetra Master (or whatever itīs called)...

This is one reason I hated FFXII... with FF8, Triple Triad was pretty neat, in FF9 Tetra Master was awesome, and in FFX Blitzball was addictive as crack... so of course I was expecting some kind of awesome minigame to play when I was sick of grinding in XII, but was severely disappointed.

I always thought the minigame in FF12 was the Hunting Clan sidequests thing. Maybe not, whatever, Gilgamesh boss battle was pretty sweet.

Yeah, 9 sucked balls compared to previous FF's. It's just a copy+paste of older FF games with none of the greatness, and alot of lame characters. Except Vivi, that little guy was awesome.

I really couldn't follow the storyline of Final Fantasy IX as well as I would have liked to. BTW, who the hell is NECRON and when did he come into play, anyway?? I understand that you had to have one Final boss after Cuja, but fighting THREE bosses in a row (the mini-boss bird thingy right at the end??)? And could you have found something a little more interesting than the "living epitome of evil"??? That got used up with Mumm-Ra and the Thundercats!!

I began my FF career in FF1, but hadn't played any others until 7. FF7 was and forever will be the first 3-D FF, and earns extra admiration for being the original, much in the same way FF1 will never truly be outdone by any of the sprite FF's (2-6).

7 is the best IMHO, because the story was epic in scale and with so many subplots of great interest to enhance it. As well, the Materia system used in 7 is to date my favorite, the lack of a defined "job/class" for any character made it so much more replayable and enjoyable, and the minigames were both numerous and enjoyable.

8 is a sack of crap dressed up in pretty colors. I find more often, the people who actually LIKED 8 are the same who hated 9. It's Steampunk vs Cyberpunk, StarTrek vs StarWars, Rap lovers vs people with taste... 8 wasn't entirely worthless, the Ragnarok was a wicked ship, Gunblades are a cool (if pointless) invention, and the visuals were again a step up from sprites, improved over 7's first try. But FF8's story was subpar, the music not nearly as good as previous or successive titles, the characters were the worst in the series, and everyone was so similar looking and bland.

9 was a riot. Yes, going more cartoony-looking wasn't the best idea, but it worked and fit well in the long run. Blue magic was pointless, and the game wasn't all that original compared to 7, the boss was an emo pussy (as always), and the game just lacked the gripping nature of 7. But those bad points aside, the story was terrific, Tetra Master was a definite high-point, there was a certain humor in the game that I always found fit well. The characters were actually quite different from one-another, the world was quite unique looking, the monsters were a refreshing change from the norm (especially the Gargants) and the new race of anthro-rats was something I liked because like in 7, it's nice to not always be all humans. More than most FF's, 9 was very airship-oriented and that was a MASSIVE plus to me, and if there was ever a reason 9 cannot be hated, it's Vivi. GODS DAMNIT, why won't ZeStuff get more plush Vivi's in stock, I want my lil black mage plushie! He'll look so cool next to my plush Richard from LFG.

I'm one of the few people it seems that actually enjoyed 8. I guess I should just hang myself now then.

Mauller:
I'm one of the few people it seems that actually enjoyed 8. I guess I should just hang myself now then.

Yeeeah I liked 8 a lot...It's like my favorite Final Fantasy...I don't HATE IX. It's much better then X, but I liked the characters/story/fighting system/art design/music in 8 better. Whether you like or hate Squall (the general consensus seems to be hate but oh well -_-) the characters in 8 were all colorful and set up some fantastic contrasts (Laguna (my favorite) contrasted in Squall is hilarious)

9 looked very nice and some of its characters are neat (ex. Steiner was well developed and Dagger was a well constructed character) but others were almost completely pointless when compared to the story (ex. Quina...wtf...and Amarant, mr. I have like 3 lines). The last boss came literally out of nowhere and made no sense whatsoever. There's more but those are my biggest problems.

Ach, all this 'WTF where did Necron come from!!!???!?!' Are you people dense? Let uncle j-e-f-f-e-r-s explain:

Kuja's ultimate goal in the game is to destroy the crystal that creates all life and meaning in the universe. You face him in the crystal world but fail to stop him doing so (as he is such an awesome villain). In essence, he destroys the universe. Now, Necron is the agent of oblivion. His sole purpose is to return the universe to nothingness. Therefore, when Kuja destroys the crystal, Necron arrives to complete his work. Zidane and co wake up at the gates of oblivion, and have to defeat the big N if they wish to restore everything to the way it was. You defeat Necron, universe gets saved.

I'll admit it was a little left-field, but his presence does make sense (in a very grand, fantastical sort of way).

Final Fantasy 9 was a game with Fantastic Characters and some very good Moments, the overall story was just nothing special and completely fell apart in the third disc. I didn't like how the story started as a very personal one, and then grew into pointless granduer.