Final Fantasy IX

[Mr. Sean Nelson]

I decided to play it again last night.

For as long as it has been out, I found it to be my favorite.
Many elements from the previous Final Fantasy titles are included, as well as many cameos.

The music is great, and the battle system is wonderful.
The limit break system was actually kind of crappy though, imo.
Trances were induced via a bar, and it was very difficult to manipulate.
Also, by the end of the game, there wasn't a whole lot of use for them.

I always found the storyline to be exceptional, and I found the characters to be fully developed.

So, I'm really asking two things.

1.) What do you think of Final Fantasy IX?

The second question has to do with a challenge in the game.
The Excalibur II is a sword for Stiener that can be unlocked if the player makes it to almost the very end of the game in 12 hours.
This is a very difficult feat.
More importantly though, one cannot view cutscenes, get one time only items, and enjoy the plot when doing a speed run like this.

I never found this to be worth it, so I've never done it.
My final question is.

2.) Is it worth it to try for the Excalibur II?

[Kapus]

Final Fantasy IX is my very favorite Final Fantasy and one of my favorite RPGs period.

My good friend Lakister recently streamed the game while naming all the characters after his friends and various cutstuff members. Good times.


You can try and get the Excalibur 2 if you want, but I wouldn't do it. Rushing through the entire game in under 12 hours doesn't sound very fun, even if it does grant you bragging rights. You just don't get to experience and enjoy the game as much.

[Nostalgia]

Hmm...
Bought FFIX for $15 at a local game store, played it a bit, it was pretty good...
Never got too far, though.

[Sora]

FFIX is and will always be one of my favorite SQ-EX RPGs (It would be my favorite FF game out of all of them if there wasn't FFX).  I loved how it had the feel of the medieval FF games (FFI - FF5), but still had an awesome storyline (FF6 - FF8).  So yeah, in short, I really like it.

Also, I had never heard of Excalibur II before...I'd say it's probably not worth it, due to the fact you'd miss all the story and items along the way.  Plus, I never really used Stiener that much when I played it  

[Dr. Freeman]

Final Fantasy IX is my favorite game that I have played ever.

Sure it helps that it was the first game I ever played ever.
Also Vivi is amazing in a bucket of ...awesome?
I got nothin.

I'm aware of the Excalibur II challenge thing I just never tried it.

Most likely because I'm a bit OCD and I hate skipping things.

The only 2 main issues I should address with it are

1. The Battle speed. Which only bugs me a little bit because it was the first game I played so the slow battle speed was normal for me.

2. Trance can be a bit annoying if it activates too early. Also some trances are completely useless (Quina) while others ARE AMAZING SAUCE OMGROFLLOLSUP (Zidane)

I still love the game though.

[Mr. Sean Nelson]

Yeah, there are a LOT of drawbacks to the Excalibur II, which is why I've never tried for it even though I've played this game WAY more times than I'd care to admit.

- By the time you get the sword, chances are that with MP attack, Steiner will do 9999 damage anyway.
- It doesn't teach anything that Steiner can't learn otherwise.
- Obviously, you miss the game's storyline.
- I believe that there are things you will miss in speedrunning that would affect 100% completion.
- You don't need the Excalibur II do get the S rank in treasure hunting.

But all in all, it's just a huge pain is the ass for just a sword.
It would be a different thing entirely if you could save the sword and use it in a new save file, but you can't.

I liked Vivi, but I find he isn't always entirely worth it.
Physical attacks are much faster than magic and don't use MP, and at the mid and end of the game, they are doing about the same damage.

BTW Sora, Steiner is a freakin' BOSS!
Best character in the game, imo.

[Kapus]

Steiner becomes a game breaker by the time he learns Shock.

Quina will forever be my favorite, though.

[Mr. Sean Nelson]

Hell, by the time he learns MP attack, the guy is a machine!

But yeah, I think I'll play with Quina in my party this time.
I don't know if I ever have before.
I wasn't too impressed by Blue Magic in that game.
Also, the fork is annoying.
If I remember correctly, it randomly chooses between a weak hit and a critical one.

P.S. I'm in the Ice Caves. ^.^

[Kapus]

Forks seem to do completely random damage.

I try to use all my party members equally, but I never take Quina out of my party once I get him/her.

[Yuri Sakazaki]

As Kapus previously mentioned, I recently played through this game again and finally beat it for the first time in the 11 years I have owned it. And now it is favourite RPG I have played.

Steiner and Eiko were my two favourites throughout my playthrough~

[KnightMan]

I have never played this game ever.

Does that make me a bad person?

[Yuri Sakazaki]

Not really. But I highly recommend that you try it out if you can find it!

[Mr. Sean Nelson]

I was just wondering...

You know how no one knows if Quina is a he or a she?

Well there is an ability in the game called Protect Girls.
You'd think that if someone protected Quina with the ability, then Quina would be female.
If Quina were a male, he would never be protected.

(Currently leaving Dali on a cargo ship)

[Myroc]

Amusingly enough, Zidane doesn't protect Quina with the ability. That doesn't necessarily mean that Quina's a male, it only proves that Zidane's confused by the whole matter himself!

[Kapus]

For those of you that are interested, here's a link to Lakister's Livestream.

http://www.livestream.com/lakistreamers

You can find the entire FFIX playthrough there.

Quina was named after me!