Not to forget our past, but to learn from it – Final Fantasy IX

[For this guest post, I am once again handing over to Shoot the Rookie, who has a website of the same name and is on twitter as @Pix1001. She previously wrote about Tekken 3.]

**Final Fantasy IX** (Square, PlayStation, 2000/2001)

As I sit in my kitchen pondering what to write about the classic that is Final Fantasy IX, a thought occurs to me. The year is 2020. That means that 20 years have passed since the first release of this much loved title. 20 years since the world met Zidane, Vivi and all their companions. That 20 years has seen the release of many more mainline Final Fantasy games, but the release of Final Fantasy IX marked the end of one era for the series as the last game released on the original PlayStation.

Whilst many aspects of the Final Fantasy series remained in later releases, even FFX saw a big departure from the previous entries with its introduction of voice acting. Final Fantasy IX, then, marked the culmination, perhaps even the pinnacle of that era for the series, and as such was a celebration of all that had gone before.

On their website, Square Enix are keen to highlight this celebration, stating that Final Fantasy IX is the best possible type of fan-service. It has many nods to previous titles – names, places, quotes, even design elements such as the Black Mages, which would all be picked up by long-serving fans of the series. These are nice touches and later games in the series have continued to re-use earlier ideas, but yet Final Fantasy IX is so much more than that, and those elements do not explain the game’s ongoing popularity. For that you must look at how the game created something unique that stands alone as one of the greatest games of all time, regardless of its heritage.

Final Fantasy IX was the first entry in the series I played, and I played it in my mid-twenties – a long time after the game’s release. As such the game held no expectations for me as it may have done for those who played it at the time. I couldn’t compare it to the previous titles as I had no experience of them. It was the game that introduced me to some of Final Fantasy’s most recognisable elements and in that context will always be in my heart as the game where I learned of Chocobos, Moogles and so much more! It remains my favourite Final Fantasy game despite the fact that I can now see how it was influenced by some of its predecessors.

Having now played a couple of the previous titles and many of the later ones, what is it about Final Fantasy IX which keeps it special? One thing that really leaps out about it compared to the other titles I’ve played in the series is the game’s warmth, sense of humour and fun. When you meet the protagonist Zidane it is clear that he is quite different to earnest and moody characters like Cloud and Squall. He is a nice mix of caring and mischievous and has a certain lovable charm. You might even call him cheerful!

The entire cast are really interesting when compared to the games which came immediately prior to IX, as they have a much less military and combat focussed feel. Some of them do come from military backgrounds of course, but a thief posing as a theatre actor, a naive princess, a shy but inquisitive black mage, a weird chef and a lonely little girl are hardly an obvious fighting force.

Particularly in the opening hours, the atmosphere of the games’ world is similarly distinct from some of the previous titles. As the game opens and Vivi wanders the streets of Alexandria on his way to see a play, you immediately feel a sense of culture and community. This is no dystopian sci-fi story, but one in a medieval fantasy setting full of the hustle and bustle of society. Whether it is the theatre of Alexandria, Lindblum’s Festival of the Hunt or Treno’s Card Stadium and Auction House, this world is buzzing with a culture that includes both high society and a seedier underworld, and this gives the game a very distinct sense of place.

It is undoubtedly a sillier game than many of its predecessors and probably all the games that came after, and its silliness and use of humour serve to make it feel more real. Even in the most serious circumstances, real life is not usually devoid of humour and one of the game’s greatest achievements is its ability to combine a sense of fun with an exploration of some of life’s darkest and most important themes.

Without inserting game-ruining spoilers, the themes of identity and the meaning of life are key to the personal stories of the cast. The game tackles the idea of identity in a number of ways including saving a big identity crisis moment until quite near the end. We see the struggle to understand one’s own identity and purpose, we see an established identity turned on its head and we see questions on what identity really is and what it means to be alive. It is bold in tackling these themes and the individual stories are made even more compelling by the character’s personalities, which come alive in part due to the game allowing them to have humorous, light-hearted interactions as well as serious ones.

The fact that Final Fantasy IX holds up 20 years later should surprise no one given its many qualities. It uses what had come before to great effect whilst not losing itself to nostalgia. It is equally accessible to old time fans of the series and first time JRPG players. Yes it is a fantastic celebration of an iconic series, but perhaps it deserves to be celebrated for its own unique qualities within the series, and I think the creators of future instalments could do worse than look to the charm of Final Fantasy IX for inspiration for the next 20 years.