The greatest Final Fantasy game first launched 20 years in the past at this time.
Final Fantasy 9 hit shops in Japan on July 7, 2000 – and it couldn’t have been developed and launched at a tougher, transient time.
That Final Fantasy 9 is so fondly remembered is one thing of a miracle. Internally, it was developed concurrently and partially in the identical Honolulu workplace because the ill-fated Hollywood film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It was a wildly completely different game to its massively profitable PlayStation predecessors – much less lifelike grit and extra a cute, cartoon-like medieval fantasy.
Then there’s that launch date – a PlayStation game arriving in Japan 4 months after the PlayStation 2, on its launch day it was virtually inherently previous information. It doesn’t assist that it was introduced alongside Final Fantasy 10 and 11 – with voice appearing, super-realistic visuals and on-line connectivity in these games, FF9 appeared archaic from the second it was revealed.
And but it wasn’t! Final Fantasy 9 is an unbelievable game, and one frequently voted as among the best titles within the sequence. It feels as if it deserves to be invoked with the identical hushed tones as reverence and Final Fantasy 6 and seven; it’s among the many most holy. To the true scholar, it is also plainly the best one.
I is perhaps biased, although. Final Fantasy 9 turning twenty years previous is a deeply private anniversary to me, because the game marks my entry into the world of writing about video games, in a way. A die-hard fan of FF7 and FF8, I used to be desirous to be taught as a lot as I might within the run-up to FF9’s launch. That dragged me into the Final Fantasy group, and from there, at age 11, into content material creation for fan websites. I did this via faculty, via college, and, effectively – right here I’m. Still right here. You can all thank or blame FF9.
My private perspective put aside, FF9 is certainly particular for all these causes listed above. It is commonly reductively described as a throwback game, a tribute to previous Final Fantasy titles. While it’s completely full of references and winks for followers, it’s excess of that, nevertheless. It’s a novel Final Fantasy with its personal type and power that hadn’t fairly been achieved earlier than or since.
Part of that is right down to the game being made by a multicultural, worldwide workforce of builders. While in fact Japanese-led, an enormous quantity of FF9’s growth, notably its artwork, was undertaken in Hawaii, a US territory. The game’s employees included Americans, French, Germans and extra. These days, many Japanese games are made by numerous groups because of worldwide hiring insurance policies and outsourcing, however FF9 was forward of the curve.
That worldwide streak will be felt all through the game’s design, which isn’t simply the lovable medieval pastiche you discover in games like Dragon Quest, however one thing extra brimming with character and particularly each a way of cheekiness and contrasting darkness. This, says key FF9 artist Toshiyuki Itahana, was because of the numerous members of the game’s artwork workforce every bringing a unique perspective.
While the completely different approaches of its worldwide workforce, Final Fantasy 9 can be the final FF title to actually be pushed by the imaginative and prescient of sequence creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. While a number of later games would have his title hooked up in numerous roles, FF9 was the final the place he really outlined the game from high to backside, whereas criminally under-recognized director Hiroyuki Ito – who additionally directed FF12 and co-directed FF6 – ensured that imaginative and prescient was executed absolutely.
Producer Shinji Hashimoto places it greatest, saying the game was made “under Sakaguchi’s lead”, and that “Sakaguchi’s vision and the world he wanted to create really came through”.
While Final Fantasy 7 was the break-out hit second for the franchise, FF9 is the second every thing actually modified – after this game, there was a flip towards actually specializing in the newest visible know-how and cinematic presentation. After FF9 it’d even be honest to say Final Fantasy has spent the following twenty years looking for its soul – the closest it has come to reclaiming its true glory being its most recent release: a remake of its most famous title.
The game isn’t excellent, clearly. The battles are gradual, a consequence of stretched to breaking level PS1 {hardware} and Sakaguchi’s intention to evoke the true turn-based nature of early Final Fantasy. Some of its characters are much less developed than others – Amarant the chief offender. It might’ve achieved with out that Yoda quote from the ultimate boss. Tetra Master is admittedly no Triple Triad, both.
But for each minor miss like that there’s one thing that’s best-in-class for the sequence, like Zidane’s mid-game disaster of identification, composer Nobuo Uematsu settling into an actual assured groove together with his masterful use of leitmotif, and Beatrix, the best uber-powerful antihero in a sequence with a very robust pedigree in that class of character.
Other components of FF9 are so robust, just like the Active Time Event system that permits you to see a number of occasions going down on the similar time, permitting for a higher depth of exploration and storytelling in Gaia’s charming cities and cities. This cautious constructing of character of each the world and forged actually pays off – and when the time comes for the story to finish and for FF9’s themes to culminate in dealing with down mortality itself, it pays dividends.
In my thoughts, Final Fantasy 9 is without doubt one of the all-time nice Japanese RPGs. If you need the most effective, most tightly constructed and full Japanese RPG ever made, play Chrono Trigger. If you need probably the most culturally important, play Final Fantasy 7. If you need to be most moved, play Final Fantasy 6. All of the beforehand talked about are glorious – all-timers – however if you would like the most effective? Well, for my cash, that’s 9.
So right here’s to a basic at twenty years previous. For higher and for worse, it appears really unlikely there’ll ever be a Final Fantasy fairly like this once more. For that, Final Fantasy 9 will eternally be particular.
