Let´s replay Final Fantasy: FINAL FANTASY IX

[buddhafied]

Wow guys! Awesome stuff you are all doing and posting!
@buddhafied : that was hands down the greatest post yet in this thread *hands you a medal*

YAAAAY *happily jumping up and down with medal on neck*

...well except for the part where you implied I would be stalking people (I simply noticed the names of people that I knew were particpating in the online list, its not like I checked for them and I remembered the names when I wrote down who had yet to check in so relax, buddy. Aint nobody stalking anybody here)

Oh I know ha ha ha I might have typed a bit too fast. I meant it FELT like being stalked, I know you aren't and my little icon was probably green to show I'm online but haven't had posted. I know you care about this discussion, it's all good

I disagreed with what you said about Squall and Cloud (Cloud is my favorite male FF character and Squall is probably the most complex main FF character there is with an incredible arc and character development. Without him i would not be a FF fan today).

I think over the years I have a love hate relationship with Squall (I like Cloud, he is up there for me with Lightning and the casts of VI; my only issue with him was I wish his character development started slightly earlier instead of being too "I'm just who I am". That said, we all need to give him a break because... he did end up being quite complex as we find out about him later). I think my biggest problem might not be him per se, it's the quote-like internal dialogue that the game choose to present him in. If it weren't for that, I think I would've enjoyed his character a lot more.

Oh and I am BEYOND jealous that you got to see the Distant World Concerts!! I am a MASSIVE fan of the FF music myself (especially Uematsu). I have all the soundtrack albums of FF VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2 Last Mission, XI, XII, XIII, XIII-2, Advent Children and XIV plus the piano albums , the re-arranged albums, the Black Mages albums and the live concert albums (including the Distant Worlds albums and the newest which was released early this year). I especially love the live concert stuff, many songs are so much more powerful in their orchestra versions (particularly my all time favorite To Zanarkand and Aeriths Theme). Distant Worlds is finally coming to germany soon too so I will hopefully get to go.

... I won't tell you how many times I've been to them then... I flew to Chicago last December for the 25th anniversary concert... it was expensive as I'm from Canada but I just couldn't missed it. I wore a mog hat ha ha ha I highly recommend if you have a chance to go. The concert DVD and CDs really captured the moments though, so if you can't make it to them, you are not that far off from the experience, I promise.

Btw my favorite songs in FF IX are:

Melodies of Life
Loss of me
Terra
You´re not alone
Battle Theme
Hunters Chance
Dark Messenger

Wow, you know a lot more about the songs than I do. I'll pay attention and give you a run down of my favourite when I finish the game

Uematsu is the god of FF music and FF IX is one of his best works. Its also the last offline FF where he composed all of the music.

Generally I especially love the piano albums. Rose of May (piano version of Loss of me) is so unbelievable. man I could talk FF music all day

Ha ha ha couldn't agree more! FFIX was one of his best work indeed, at least from the scores that I've listened to.

and yeah Final Fantasy IX is a massive tribute to the Nintendo-era FF games. Later in the auction house in Treno many of the objects there are actually objects from FF I - VI, there is a character named Garland who appears later in the game (named after the villain Garland from the first FF) and Garnets birth name is actually Sarah which is a tribute to Princess Sarah from the NES FFs. Vivis design of course is taken directly from the black mage class in FF V and so on. There are countless nods like these to the Nintendo FFs in FF IX, it really was a loveletter to the sprites-classics. But there are at least two references to FF VII as well such as the prima Vista band playing "Rufus welcoming Ceremony" and later in Lindblum if you check out the big sword in the weapon shop , Zidane makes a reference to Cloud

I will come back to this post for this!

I also love the EAT system where you can check out what other characters are doing. Tip: Always watch the EATs because sometimes you will get special items. Later in treno you can get a Black belt which you will only get if you watch certain EATs. But we´ll note that once we get there, I am sure.

Thanks! Note taken.

Anyway, great post by you buddhafied. Thats what I call quality indeed.

as for me, I finally have the time and am starting now! Thank god I waited or I would have missed the 10.000 gil thing Thanks again, Leon.

Thanks! I tried

AND NOOOOOOOO I MISSED THE 10K GIL!!!

 

[Omegaflare]

No its cool that you have been too many concerts. Any true FF fan should have experienced them in some way. And a moogle hat? that is just awesome, Kupo!

yeah I know a lot about the FF music, I just love them. I could name every single track from FF VII - X and most of XIII. XII not so much cause...well the music wasnt very good or memorable to be honest (Lack of Uematsu is painfully showing). I also heavily recommend the Black Mages albums - they were a metal/rock band who covered FF battle songs. They released three albums and Uematsu himself was a bandmember. They did some AWESOME versions of songs like:

Clash on the BIg Bridge (FF V - Gilgamesh bossfight)

Battle Theme (FF VI)

Decisive Battle (FF VI Boss battle)

Those who fight further (FF VII boss battle)

Force your way (FF VIII boss battle)

Otherworld ( FF X opening and Jecht battle but in this version sung by female singer!)

Maybe I am a lion (FF VIII Ultimecia/Griever boss battle)

J-E-N-O-V-A ( FF VII)

There are many others from FF I - XI on the three albums. The Black mages also performed on FF live concerts such songs as Rocking Grounds (FF III) or Maybe I am a lion.

They were actually the ones to create the new Rock versions of the FF VII songs "J-E-N-O-V-A" and most notably "Advent: One Winged Angel" (where Cloud fights Sephiroth, the greatest FF battle theme of all time if you ask me) in the Advent Children movie.

especially their versions of the FF VI battle themes are MINDBLOWING with all the guitars and such. just wow. Epic . I heavily recommend them.

Back to FF IX:

@Leon Aether: when I battled Baku I performed Steal 3 times and each time was successful: first the wrist, then the mage masher, then a potion They didnt fail stealing once.

Oh and everyone, who else got the chills when the words "Conceived and Produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi" appeared on the screen. For those who dont know: Sakaguchi was the creator of Final Fantasy and FF IX is not only his favorite FF but the last FF that he actively worked on (he was executive producer with FF X but really didnt do anything in the game since X and IX were produced at the same time). He left SE after the disaster with the Spirits within movie. So FF IX really was Sakaguchis final work in the series. End of an era. Got chills when his name popped up.

 

[Azuardo]

@buddhafied I went to Distant Worlds in London last year. Was an incredible experience.

 

[APZonerunner]

@Azuardo When they next come here we'll have to do a Mognet/UFFNet meet-up. May even be able to make some things happen, I snuck a few folks in to meet Uematsu and Roth last year...!

FFIX is hands-down my favourite Uematsu soundtrack, followed by FF8, then Lost Odyssey, then 6 and then 7. Everything else sort of files in indiscriminately after that.

 

[Azuardo]

@Azuardo When they next come here we'll have to do a Mognet/UFFNet meet-up. May even be able to make some things happen, I snuck a few folks in to meet Uematsu and Roth last year...!

FFIX is hands-down my favourite Uematsu soundtrack, followed by FF8, then Lost Odyssey, then 6 and then 7. Everything else sort of files in indiscriminately after that.

That would be something.

And would have to agree - FFIX seems to be the most complete soundtrack from Nobuo.

 

[APZonerunner]

Now we actually have a forum, I'll be able to do some stuff for the UK audience some more. Like, we gave away tickets to the FF 25th event and the KH 1.5 launches on twitter, but it'll be much better to do that stuff here.

 

[Omegaflare]

Ahem guys....discussions about Distant Worlds concert is cool and all but getting seriously off topic. remember why we´re in this thread please. It begins to seriously deviate from the playthrough project. 4 posts in a row that are not at all about the playthrough is a bit too much....

I am gonna have to restart my playthrough from scratch. I didnt get the 10.000 Gil Apparently you need to impres all 100 Nobles for that, I only got 91. seriously how fast do you need to be? But I want this to be the perfect run so O´ll do it all from scratch (I didnt save at a moogle before the minigame....)

 

[Azuardo]

lol you were talking about FF music and characters for a while ;] We always come back on topic of course :]

Anyway, you can just restart the sword fight right after it ends. You don't need to start a brand new game, but I take it you continued on anyway.

 

[Omegaflare]

But you´ll notice that if I talked about characters and music it was always in a post that also contained stuff related to the playthrough whereas you guys were not even talking about the playthrough at all anymore. APZonerunner isnt even particpating or talking about the playthrough at all. And I felt it getting out of hand. FF music is a GREAT subject to discuss and if someone doesnt open a thread about it I sure will sooner or later but this thread shouldnt turn into a Distant Worlds discussion thread where nobody talks about the playthrough anymore. Please understand.

No I was already past the swordfight (you only get money after you end the minigame) so I cant go back and I didnt save before it so I have to restart. Damn it!

Also did you guys get all the items in Alexandria with Vivi? There is some good stuff to be found such as Ether and Remedy.

I am thinking about re-naming the characters for fun^^ maybe use some names from other FFs including XV^^

 

[Azuardo]

So you didn't know that you needed to impress 100 nobles? 'Cause it tells you how many you had then asks you if you want to replay the fight.

I did get all the items in Alexandria. Scoured every nook and cranny. Not going for perfect 100%, though. Requires a guide and a lot of time and effort. Will likely try to do all side quests and bosses, though. So a perfect game in that sense (just not every single item, chest and card).

 

[Omegaflare]

ha I discovered that I still had a former save file which wat at the first moogle in the belltower at 22 minutes. So I could just use that one, am back at the sword fight. I am trying it countless times but I cant get over 95. How in the hell do you do this. I am really fast but its just not enough. How the F*** did Leon do this????

 

[Azuardo]

Well he used the PAL version, which is easier because you have that slightly longer time to hit them quickly. You just have to hit them practically as soon as you see them. It can be annoying but it can take a few goes.

 

[Omegaflare]

I read in another forum where someone achieved this after trying for 6 (!!) hours. They also said that basically you need to go on instinct and cant hesitate for a fraction of a second. This might actually take me a while....

 

[Azuardo]

That's some seriously bad luck, then. But it does prove that it's far easier to achieve on PAL.

 

[Omegaflare]

Grml thats it, I have given up. tried it for over two hours and I never get over 95. screw this crap, man I am really pissed off. This really slowed me down too. I´ll save with Steiner at the moogle in the castle now and continue tomorrow

On a much more exciting note: BEATRIX (my favorite FF IX character) just got introduced! Beatrix and Steiner FTW!!

 

[Zack]

Milestone achieved.

I don't much care to do the 100 Nobles bit. Got 92 out of 100 and was fine with that. Good for the person who accomplishes it, but money is never an issue in RPGs. I can just sit and grind for it if need be. lol

 

[Omegaflare]

hope you guys didnt forget to assemble all of Steiners troops and speak to Brahne to get Elixir and Silk Shirt (if she was impressed by the sword fight)

@Zack: well the people in those forums said that if you do a lv. 1 challenge playthrough getting the 10.000 gil at the start is a must since as you yourself pointed out, you cant grind Gil in battles if you wanna do the the lv.1 challenge So I thought you especially would be all over that.

Hmm looks like me and Nikolasvanitas are the only ones left. I wasted too much time with this Nobles thing or I would be at the checkpoint already myself. Sry everyone wont be there before tomorrow. But we´ll need to wait for nikolasvanitas anyway. Kind of wird that he hasnt checked in yet. I was writing with him today and told him that we had started and he said he´ll start himself today and will check in with us here later. But havent heard anything from him ever since.

 

[Leon Aether]

Well, I have played this game so many times and I have practised in this 10000 gil thing countless of times too, to achieve it. Plus I did download FFIX for my PC (emulator) back then and it definitely shouldn't have been the PAL version as the game was extremely fast for me. I completed the game around 7-8 times on my PC and I still managed to achieve that nobles thing many times. Believe me, now on my PSP the game really goes somehow slow (as back then on my PSone) that sometimes during battle players get stuck looking at the enemy just waiting for the ATB gauge to get filled. That's one of the many reasons I so push it hard to get Auto-Haste as fast as possible! And I always change the "ATB Wait" to "Active" from Menu. It makes things faster. And I know where is every ability during battle so I don't care if I get just one extra hit from the enemy...

I also did take everything from Alexandria that's available, even from that house where a little girl is inside waiting for that "spoiled brat" Vivi to exit the house, but she mades the tragic mistake to also leave so that gives our black mage the opportunity to get in and get... 3 gil! Seriously, you try so hard to become a professional thief and that's the outcome...

As for the music, I have to agree that IX has indeed one of the best OSTs of the series, along with the XIII saga.

 

[Nikolasvanitas]

Ok i have reached the first checkpoint,some screenshots from my favorite moments

 

[Leon Aether]

Ok i have reached the first checkpoint,some screenshots from my favorite moments

This game... So many moments... It's difficult to decide which are the best...