IX is Enough

Miss me?

I have gotten back into Final Fantasy IX, possibly the most overlooked of the "regular" Final Fantasy games(MMOORRPPGG Final Fantasy XI doesn't count, nor do any of the other "freak" titles like Mystic Quest, Crystal Chronicles, X-2 or any of the exceeding lame VII spin-offs). After the more "adult" themes of VII and VIII (adult by visual design only, best as I can tell), IX is a throwback to the swords-and-sorcery roots of the series, with castles, airships, mages and knights, among other conventions. However, in keeping with the traditions of the other two PS1 Final Fantasy games (VII and VIII), the story is borderline ludicrous, an extremely-difficult-to-follow mess about dual civilizations and harvesting souls and magic beings called "eidolons" (read: summons, guardian forces, espers, etc). Please don't try to explain it to me, either; if it has to be explained by a third party, then it's a bad story. Live with it.

But the game is good. I guess that's the thing about Final Fantasy; the games play so well (to me) that I can look past the story elements (or lack of cohesion of such) and just enjoy the game. Yeah, all that tedious level-grinding and seeking of rare items and trying to get this thing or that thing after hours of set-up and effort? I like that stuff. Don't ask me to explain why. I don't feel like I have to justify my likes or dislikes to anyone for any reason.

There are two things that must be said about Final Fantasy IX, for they are absolutes. The first is that Tetra Master, the trading card game within the game, positively blows. It's played similar to the card game from VIII (which was excellent and VERY addictive), only with a bizarre set of rules that are never made inherantly clear. In fact, at several points in the game, NPCs (non-playable characters) will flat-out TELL you that the numbers and indicators scrawled across the cards are not undertsood by anyone within the game! You know they mean something, but you'll never be told, and everytime I think I've got it, it turns out to be wrong. Sure, I could look it up on the Intertron, but I shouldn't have to. No card game should have rules that oblique.

The second absolute is that this game contains one of my all-time favorite video game quotes, a statement made even more profound given that it's delivered by Final Fantasy IX's most bizarre cast member, the frog-like, tongue-wagging Quina Qu, who speaks thus:

“Why you care about small things? World very simple place. World only have two things: Things you can eat and things you no can eat.”