An irresistible urge to replay a classic Final Fantasy has led me to buy up the recent release of FFIX on PSN.  Since I'm scheduled for a few extended trips this month, I figured it would be the perfect game to take along on the PSP.  I invite you to tag along as I take the retrospective journey back to the world of Gaia.

Can you believe we're on the game's tenth year anniversary?  Seems like only yesterday I played through the original Japanese import in July of 2000 for the first time, getting right up to around Pandemonium Castle before throwing in the towel.  The North American release was but four months away after all, a refreshing change of pace compared to FFVII's and FFVIII's seven month time frame windows.  It was a day-one purchase on November 13th, and I finished up the game proper on the eve of Thanksgiving.  Good times.

THE OPENING SEQUENCE ~ ALEXANDRIA TOWN:
Starting the game again, I remembered how strange it was back then to see the initial new art direction.  As we'd been exposed to Tetsuya Nomura's heavily drenched and heavily promoted art style for those past five years or so prior, Hideo Minaba's look was both at once distinct and refreshing.  The super-deformed stature and big hands look would be one of the most visually defining aspects of Final Fantasy IX.  It's also surprising to see such an anthropomorphic world: humans freely intermingle with rat kids, hippo townies, and upper-class bird women, and no one blinks an eye.

It's been a decade, but I still experienced a magnificently giddy thrill when the Final Fantasy theme boomed over the accompanying opening title in The Skies of Alexandria.  With the game serving as a heavy throwback to the Final Fantasies of old, it was the pitch-perfect touch to the rest of the scenery's return of airships, castles, and crystals.  We've not had the Final Fantasy/Prologue theme grace our presence as an introduction since Final Fantasy IV, have we?

Uematsu's music score for IX always stood as one of the brightest and best in the series for me, and getting to experience them in context once again is a joy.  The thematic resonance alone is particularly rousing; I love how that brief strain of the Theme of The Tantalus and We Are Thieves! melody creeps into the Strategy Conference. 

This dialogue exchange remains freaken hilarious to the day:

Zidane: That's when I kidnap Queen Brahne, right?
Baku: You bet!  You're gonna kidnap the fat-ass, butt-ugly, Queen.... alright, quit joking around!

The game itself is drop dead gorgeous.  Traversing the town of Alexandria as our little friend Vivi, I'm gobsmacked at how well the CG-rendered backdrops hold up today.  Maybe it's because I'm playing the game on the PSP, so my mind is counterintuitively telling me that a portable game can't possibly look this good.  They say there are limitations with using computer graphics as your main source of graphics; FFVII and FFVIII were restrictive due to their awesome looking but largely barren-to-explore landscapes.  FFIX remedies this problem by littering every section of scenery, both outdoors and in, with well-hidden goodies and collectables.  I'd forgotten how much fun it was to actually EXPLORE in these games again.

The animation on the character models themselves is pretty excellent too.  From Baku's guffawing leg slap, Vivi's adorable pointy-hat adjusting, to Zidane's subtle butt scratch, these little mannerisms really go a long way toward breathing life into these characters.

I've stopped short with beginning the I Want To Be Your Crow..... I mean, "Canary" play.  However, I managed a 489 skipping record on the jump rope mini game.  Who says age kills the reflexes?

My absolute favorite of the whole franchise - I just played through it again earlier this year.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, Angela!

Yeah, I remember picking this up the day it was released all those years ago. I even pre-ordered it and still have the plastic chocobo piggy bank I got for doing that.

Great game, but Final Fantasy IX is pretty infamous to me for another reason; it's probably the game I've purchased the most times. I'm on copy No.4, having it stolen, unreturned from a person borrowing it and sold off. Hopefully I won't have to buy it again (fingers crossed).

Oh, and by the way, Excalibur II sucks...! Why would you rush though such a nice game for a few more measly attack points? Steiner's gonna get a 9999 in a Trance or Shock regardless.

Between all the airships, and the demi-humans, it almost seemed like the Star Wars universe.

I liked how Baku throws the doll of the queen over his shoulder!

I liked FFVII and FFVIII enough, but I liked FFIX the most, because it didn't require the player to be such a level whore...FFVII and VIII were just MERCILESS about how much they required you to level up per boss battle, and there were a lot of instances in which you were stuck, and couldn't level up before a boss battle, if you were behind on leveling, which would require you to restart the game all over again...ESPECIALLY VII. Damn Ancient's Temple Demon Wall...

That's funny, I'd say it's the exact opposite.
I never once had to go out of my way to level in 7, and there's no point in doing it in 8 anyway since:
A: Enemies level up with you and
B: Leveling up does jack all for your stats anyway.

Now, 9, I found, actually had several bosses that I couldn't beat without spending some time levelling, right from the very beginning.

Cheers, Angie. FFIX  rocks hard. Music, art direction, game design and just about everything else about the title was top shelf. The game ended absolutely flawlessly as far as I'm concerned.

My little brother expressed an interest in pre-PS2 FF games and is endeavoring to get them all on his PSP.

I don't know about that. Personally not the biggest Kuja fan or Necron fan either. I kind of hate it when the last guy is someone you've never heard of or seen in the 30-40 hours you've played a game, almost as much as I dislike fixed and choreographed fights where you're forced to lose to advance the story.

There was probably no need to hide the name of the last guy in the game but I just wanted to be safe.

A lot of other people have complained about the final FINAL boss you mentioned, SPOILER: but Necron was supposed to be the grim reaper for all of existence, seeing as how Kuja destroyed the crystal, the very thing maintaining existence itself; the fact that you're able to fight and defeat Necron kind of says that the universe exists because of your own sheer force of will, and that of everyone else who lives. [/Spoiler]

It's supposed to be one of those really philosophical things, which, I caught a lot of philosophy from reading (heh, I make it sound like a novel, but it kind of is...) FFIX.

But, yeah, damn good ending: They showed what immediately happened afterwards, and then 9 years down the road from that; did a really good job tying off loose ends.

Oh yeah, for Vivi to have had as many kids as he did? What female Black Mage did he ever meet? And, wow, he really got his giggity on!

FFVIII, I never could've foreseen how they were going to end it, since none of the characters were ever developed (aside from maybe Squall), but just make some CG of the characters partying and celebrating, and you're done...

Yeah, I've read long articles - those founded on facts and those founded on theories - on why he fits into the story but when you need to go to such lengths to prove such an arguement I think you're fighting a losing battle.

There's an amusing, and amazingly interesting theory that Squall dies at the end of disc one, and the rest of the game is his dream or whatever.

ALEXANDRIA CASTLE ~ EVIL FOREST:
Moving on to the play, the one-two musical punch of Living by the Blade and Vamo 'alla flamenco makes this such a fun sequence so early in the game.  The game's penchant for throwbacks and comedy continues with the mock SFX-laden names dubbed for FF staple magic spells, such as Poly and Medeo.

My real life fascination with castles made exploring Alexandria's a joy.  It's a grandiose place that gave me a proper excuse to track down all of the members of the Knights of Pluto.  There's an underlying sense of female empowerment to FFIX, isn't there?  Alexandria, touted as one of the strongest kingdoms in the land, is comprised of an army of women and led by the mighty General Celes..... I mean, Beatrix.  The men, meanwhile, are relegated to a more "lowly" ranking.

The harpsichord-driven Decisive Action ~Search for the Princess~ is a thematically lovely piece.  I'd always thought that this should've been the theme categorized for Garnet, rather than going with the all-too-obvious (and extraordinarily tepid) variation of Melodies of Life found in Garnet's Theme itself.  On the other hand, two of my more favorite arrangements of Melodies of Life play up in the buoyantly adventurous Steiner Crashes and the tender and heartfelt Captivating Eyes.  You couldn't imagine my disappointment when I discovered that the former wasn't featured on the first release of the Original Soundtrack.  Thank goodness for FFIX OST Plus.

I managed a perfect performance on the Zidane/Blank duel, by the way.  Same for the encore.  Another point for aged reflexes!

Zorn and Thorn.  Gotta love this pair of antimetabole-speaking misfits.  I really dig Amano's rendering of these guys, and of course, their off-kilt waltzy theme Jesters of the Moonless Night.  It's been a while, but I'm almost positive there's some boss battle later where the two of them fuse into something awful and hideous.  It just seems like the obvious Final Fantasy thing to do.

I also really like Amano's version of Ruby.  A pity she doesn't play a bigger role in the game, to my recollection.

Oglops are the butt of a good set of jokes.  Practically nobody in the game likes 'em, which makes for that one priceless scene when they're all running wild in the engine room of the Prima Vista.  Forgetting their differences for that split moment, it was hilarious seeing both the Tantalus and Steiner running about in a mad panic.  The real kicker was that one oglop who leaps right in front of the screen for an extreme close-up before the scene wraps.  I can't wait to see Steiner give Regent Cid that accidental wallop later in Lindblum.

I think what impressed me most about FFIX was the well rounded personalities of the characters.  It helps that the main character isn't an aloof, uncaring jerk this time around; Zidane's a womanizer, but slightly more innocuous than that.  He cares for the well being of others, and those elements mixed together create an interesting rapport with the rest of the characters.  Zidane and the uptight "Rusty" constantly butting heads is a great dynamic, while Vivi at this point serves as a neutral buffer between the two of them.   Even the camaraderie between the Tantalus is keenly touched upon.  The Active Time Event (ATE) System provides an even greater means to flesh out these characters and their stories.

Who would have ever thought we'd hear Rufus' Welcoming Ceremony again? Acute listeners will immediately notice the presence of less synthy brass over the VII original.  I do like IX's version more.

I'd forgotten how huge Moogles are in this game.  The numbers that is, not the size.  The little critters are everywhere!  I always manage a smile whenever they hurl that Save Journal down to the ground before saving your progress.  Also, Mognet!  This aspect of the quest brings to mind the ill-fated PlayOnline system that Square implemented at the time.  Remember that bullshit with the Bradygames strategy guide?

I haven't quite numbed to the overwhelming beauty of the graphics just yet; Evil Forest's healing spring is a dazzling contrast to the equally well-rendered gloominess of the rest of the environment.  Blank turning into stone is a clear throwback for when the FFIV Mysidia twins made their sacrifice.  Verily, this is the first indication that the game can get pretty dark in the face of an otherwise lighthearted adventure.

And yet that is one of my favorite videogame endings EVER.

Maybe I was just glad it was over

FFIX is goddamn amazing! The battles are a little slow (especially when compared to VI and X), but I'd say it's the most well-rounded and the most fun to play after FFVI.

So I take it you don't like Squall either? Man, it was painful how they tried to shoehorn a love story into that game.

Another reason the game is soooo memorable. That rag wasn't even worth the paper it was printed on - to say otherwise would be an insult to paper.

Edit: Speaking of paper, I love how I spent $50 on printer ink but forgot to buy any paper on which to print!

I love the sound oglops make. I replayed FFIX at the start of this year; the storybook adventure feel in that game is both fresh and nostalgic. Lots of little extra touches and curiosities.

Same here, except I managed to get pretty far before I had to start grinding (for that fight with Lich where you have to use just Zidane and Quina - I hate that stupid thing and that jackass White Dragon at the entrance to Memoria.

As for the game itself, I like it a lot, but I do have some grumbles.
1. As good and brimming with character as (most of) the focal characters are, some of the other party members are just stupid, specifically Amarant and his Ronald-McDonald dreads (if you're going to have a member of the Queen's muscle join the party as a regular, why not Beatrix?), and Quina. Yes, I realize tactically all the things that make Blue Mages useful, but I don't have to like it.
2. Disc 3 is mostly rubbish. This is actually also true of the other PS1 FFs, but neither of the others did something as stupid as forced card-playing minigames - and Tetra Master is lousy compared to Triple Triad - or robbing a character of the ability to use magic for several hours and having her randomly ignore your commands because she's just so flustered. I've not played XIII yet, but barring that Garnet is probably the most irritating playable female in a FF. Yes, moreso than Rinoa, and largely for this reason.
3. I'm not as keen on the soundtrack as Angela, partly because far too much of it comes from arranging themes, ESPECIALLY The Place I'll Return to Someday (and also partly because some of the music just drives me crazy...looking at you, Cleyra). FF8 was a bit guilty of re-usage too, but I think it came together a little bit stronger thematically. FF9's recycling feels like it came from an impending deadline. It's not terrible though - Terra was a very nice arrangement of the title theme. Oielvert, not so much.

Now for the good.
1. As I mentioned before, many of the characters are brimming with character, and even most of the NPCs you encounter have punch. My favorites are Rani (another would've-been-better-than-friggin'-Amarant candidate, or at least would've been welcomed for more than one encounter) and the denizens of Conde Petie (to this day I'll frequently greet my sister for a lunch together with 'Sis! Ah'm hungert!'). Oh and my favorite throwaway gag comes from the moogle in Gizamaluke's place under the bell: "I'm kupo for kupo nuts!"
2. The story and presentation does a good job of feeling more spontaneous than the rest of the series; you feel more like the characters are going by the seat of their pants instead of the here's-a-new-town-where's-the-next-dungeon feel you sometimes get from the others
3. Boss marathons are awesome, and no game in the series is as entertaining on that front as 9. Facing Kuja immediately after Garland and his wyvern at the end of Disc 3 was an are-you-kidding-me moment I'll cherish forever.
4. Chocobo Hot & Cold!

So yeah, 9's a lot of fun. I don't see it as an 'antidote' to other Sony-era FFs so much as a breezy anime in game form, not unlike Megaman Legends.

Later tonight I'll probably share the story of my greatest ingame disaster, which was pretty much all my fault. Mostly.

THE MIST CONTINENT / JUST OVER THOSE HILLS:
Ahh, the overworld map: home of the designated "Main Theme of FF...." piece.  Save for FFVIII, of course, which basically shat on this time-honored tradition with Blue Fields.  Though now that I think of it, Eternal Wind bore very little thematic presence throughout Final Fantasy III.  Same goes for the Main Themes of FFI and FFII.  Huh, oh well. 

But none of that matters, because here we have Just Over Those Hills.  At this point, I would like to send yet another shout-out of thanks to the_miker, who so graciously provided us with those first few musical recordings of FFIX back when the Japanese game was released in July 2000.  The Original Soundtrack was still a good month away, but Mike was able to slake our appetite for the all-new Uematsu score with a drip-fed taste.  Placing his mp3 recordings onto a tape cassette (a few months later, I got my first ever CD burner!), it got one heck of a workout in my Walkman and car deck stereo all the way up to the OST's release.

Just Over Those Hills is, without a doubt, a strikingly unconventional portrayal of a Main Theme of piece.  Opting to forgo the usual overworld style of upbeat, adventurous, or epic, Hills soothes the heart and soul with its simple beauty, and lucid, dreamlike sensibility.  The thematically resonating Melodies of Life manages to seep into the listener's subconscious in the loveliest way.

So while we've got nirvana for the ears, the same unfortunately can't be said for the eyes.  See, framerate whore that I am, I had become spoiled on the smoother 3D engine of FFVII's and FFVIII's overworld maps.  That's why it was such a nasty shock when I first saw the Ragnorok take flight in FFVIII.  Wow, did that framerate slog.  And now with FFIX, that same rate applies even on foot.  Ah, the price to pay for extra texturing -- and the map still looks ugly as sin.

I've often wondered how well the unreleased Main would sound as an overworld theme.  It's a tad too optimistic for both the early AND later parts in the game, but I always imagined it to be a great staff roll accompaniment in place of Melodies of Life.

THE ICE CAVERN ~ VILLAGE DALI:
To touch upon the battle system, yes, it's as Zane states: the fights are noticeably slower.  From the transition from map to battle screen, to the pacing of the battles themselves, things move at a much more unhurried clip.  It's a shame one can't set the ATB Battle Speed to a higher setting, such as in FFVII or FFVIII.  One wonders just how much this has to do with the fact that we again have a four-party setup.  I love the sound effects for IX's battles, though.  Even Zidane's dagger slash is satisfyingly beefy. 

I'm not a fan of the new menu interface, especially in battles.  I LIKE getting to see the names of my enemies as I fight them; having to press Select to bring up the screen-hogging Mog Help menu is awfully cumbersome.  In regards to the ability system, I really like how there's a sense of permanence again.  My thoughts may change when it comes to having to juggle the importance of a weapon's strength over the abilities you can earn from them later on, but so far, it's a lot of fun.  Steiner + Bug/Bird Killer, coupled with his Minus Strike/Magic Sword attacks with Vivi = GODLY.

Shall we agree that, at least tonally, Battle 1 and Battle 2 are most similar to Final Fantasy V's?  The FF bassline intro marks a welcome return in the former, while the latter is a refreshing regression back to the malevolent mood that was missed from the three Final Fantasies before it.  Remember Preludio?  That album's arrangement of Battle 1 is SICK.  Also, yay to the return of the classic Fanfare, even if I'd heard it being described more than once as a clown's ensemble piece.  FFIX sure does love its flute instrumentation, doesn't it?

Neat Rydia fire reference in the Ice Cavern.  I had two laugh out loud moments here; the first when Vivi uses his fire to melt the ice encasing the frozen moogle, and the moogle responds, "You bastards!!!!"  And the other when the group falls under the sleeping spell of the Black Waltz.  Steiner takes a big drop, and Zidane goes, "Yo, Rusty! You're.... not alright, are you?"

The Sealion boss gave me a spot of trouble, only because I took the time to try to Steal his goods.  It must've taken about twenty-seven turns just to snag the freaken Mythril Dagger.

Village Dali is a quaint, lovely place above ground.  Below, it is freakishly unsettling.  I remember actually being perturbed by the going-ons happening down there; I think the lifeless, hanging bodies of the black mages was the kicker.  But Frontier Village Dali is a fair listen; it's FFVIII's Breezy with an actual melody, and a nice throwback to the style of FFIII's My Home Town.  Lots of great ATEs happening around here, too. 

Nice display of character themes.  It took Limited Time to make me realize how much I enjoy Vivi's Theme.  I've always liked Steiner's Theme, but the covert-driven Reckless Steiner is a most amusing take.  "Ooh, soft...." Zidane did NOT just grope Garnet's ass.   If I'm remembering correctly, this could be the one and only time they ever play Zidane's Theme - which makes the use of Unrequited Love that plays later on somewhat less impactful.

I wish there were more, deadlier Black Waltz boss fights later in the game.  It always seemed as though they shoehorned these three confrontations much too quickly in these early proceedings.

The reggae-esque One Danger Put Behind Us ends up being one of the most pleasant musical surprises.  What an addicting track.

Yup, that's the only time. And agreed. It's a shame because "Unrequited Love" is really lovely but it's missing the setup that could have been established.

Man, I should replay FFIX. It's been ages...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Frontier Village Dali actually a remake of FF1's town theme?
FFIX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPyNbti2eCw
FFO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSjBh71Im-M

The intro to the Origins rendition of FFI's Town does sound remarkably similar to the opening of Dali, but the latter's melody, I feel, is much more akin to FFIII's My Home Town.

In any case, I wouldn't categorize Dali as a remake of anything.  Despite the aforementioned similarities, it's very much its own musical piece - unlike, say, Gurgu Volcano or Let Me Know The Truth.

Now, you want a remake of FFI's Town?  Chocobo Racing's White Mage's Theme knows how to do it right.

Listened to the soundtrack in its entirety last night. It's wonderfully idiosynchratic. As soon as I'm done with Raidou Kuzunoha, I might replay the game again.

Let's not forget the heart-meltingly beautiful arrangement in "Scene III" of Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite (which flows flawlessly into an equally gorgeous arrangement of Matoya's Cave).

I really need to get back to this someday.  When it first came out I was all gung ho for playing it, but then didn't... started it twice.  Then 2 months later FFX came out and I dropped it completely for that.  Tried to pick it up a third time, but only got a little bit farther than the previous 2 attempts before other things got in the way.  I don't think I ever made it past the first third of disc 1.   

What I really need is to just win the lottery so I can quit my job and play everything in my backlog... (which stretches all the way back to 2000.... sigh)  =p

Seriously?  Pfft, you don't deserve Zidane and Vivi.  Give 'em to me.

Was wondering why there was a distinct lack of FFIX figurines in your collection.

I still hold Symphonic Suite's rendition of Matoya as one of the best.  My all-time favorite, surprisingly enough, is the "SFC Version" featured on FF Mix.  That deep SNES bass line harmony is to die for.