Developer/Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: JRPG
Gameplay Stats: 63 hours, 76/85 Achievements
Replaying a classic game in 2021 and crossing off one of your gaming resolutions! If anyone else wants to play this game for the first time, I'd highly recommend the Moguri mod for FF IX Steam version. It updates the game to display in widescreen (most of the time), updates all the textures and character models, and changes the music to be symphonic instead of the older chiptunes. It was easy to install and I only had a single crash during my playthrough that was easily remedied (get it? Remedy!) by reading their FAQ. I didn't even lose any progress because of the generous auto-save system.
Visuals: Like I mentioned before, I can't really speak to the original graphics, but I really liked the updated graphics in the mod. I did see a couple screenshots side by side on the mod website and the mod does definitely make everything look prettier. I wouldn't say the game looks like it was released in 2021, but it doesn't look like a game released in 2000 either. It looks like a legit remaster with updated textures in the background and updated models in the fore. I had a hard time seeing some of where I was supposed to go in some of the screens, but it was a pretty minor issue overall. It seemed intentional because this was used to hide some secrets. I think the enemies and characters looked pretty cool, but I don't think their designs communicated much about the characters themselves. The animations looked a bit chunky as well, nothing to write home about from a visual standpoint.
Audio: The music in this game is beautiful! Orchestral music often is. I'm thinking about the music right now as I type this up and I'm remembering it fondly. There is no voice acting in this game, I don't think that was common in the PSX era. The sound effects are very repetitive though, I find that to be fairly common in JRPGs. I think maybe I get annoyed by that a little easier than average by these kinds of things though. The enemy barks were pretty standard here too. I don't think varying these things was a priority when this game was released and it definitely makes the game feel a little dated. Which it is! Luckily, I was able to independently turn down the sound effects in the launch menu for the mod so it didn't become too grating.
Plot: This is where this game shines. All of the main characters and a few of the side characters go through some crisis akin to a midlife crisis. Everyone's values and goals are challenged here and it's done in a realistic way. I really appreciated how there wasn't any melodrama that seems very common in JRPGs today. The characters communicate in a more believable way, it's almost breezy compared to a lot of modern games. In addition, a lot of the games plights seem a bit more adult than I'm used to as well. Many more modern games seem to focus on characters that are just settling into their roles/goals in life and that is used as a platform for the character development. In this game, the majority of the characters are already settled in and that makes their growth that much more rewarding and interesting for the player. This might be my favorite plot in a JRPG that I have played to date
Gameplay: Pretty standard JRPG fare here with an active time battle system. The most unique thing here is probably that your characters learn their abilities through their equipment, it seems like the foundation for later games like Final Fantasy Tactics with similar mechanics. I like this a lot and wish it was used more. The player gets to feel a bit more active in how their characters develop over the course of the game. Another unique thing here is that there are cutscenes you can view of what your other characters are up to when your party splits at various points in the story. It's really neat and I wish more games emulated this. It saves the text dump when the party reunites!
I think that this game is a stellar, if dated, example of what JRPGs can be. Playing this and Chrono Trigger really make me wish that more modern JRGs took more lessons from these games. The dilemmas seem a bit more adult and like they are handled better for an adult audience. It feels weird to say because in a lot of ways the gaming industry is growing up with me. But I think there were a lot of lessons about storytelling that were lost somewhere along the journey and I hope they are learned again soon. [8/10]
Comments
Post a Comment