Final Fantasy IX is indeed my favorite game of all time, and I've played a great many RPGs. There's just something amazingly charming about this game that I can't quite put my finger on. I've played it multiple times and I never get tired of it. Overall, this game simply excels.

Graphics (score 9/10): Some people are put off by the large-headed characters, but it didn't bother me. Overall, I thought the graphics were detailed and likable.

Music (score 10/10): I love the music in this game! Many of the tracks have a meideval sort of feel to them, but in an upbeat kind of way. Alot of it just feels...cozy. I can't think of any other way to describe it. Everytime I listen to the game's soundtrack I just feel like curling up with a relaxing cup of tea. I guess that if you prefer action-packed music this wouldn't appeal to you though.

Characters (score 10/10): The characters are well-developed and everyone is just so darn quirky and likable. I really became attached to Freya--I'm not even sure why. Square really did a good job with characterization without using voice-overs. For example, Vivi can be seen fiddling with his hat in many scenes, portraying a nervous habit. It's just little details like these that make the characters so enjoyable.

Story (score 10/10): The storyline too is also very enjoyable. I found many parts of it to be very relaxing, although exciting moments are in there too. Overall, the narrative is well-crafted right to the very end (with the exception of the final boss, where did he come from?) By the time you've finished, you'll feel like you've been on an epic journey and all the characters have become your life-long friends.

Battle System (score 10/10): The battle system is turn-based, and pretty easy to learn. You learn skills by keeping weapons equipped until the skills are learned. This is the only irritating part of the system, because it can get annoying when you want to learn a skill but have a much better weapon you could switch to. But this is only a minor gripe, as the rest of the battle system is excellent.

Gameplay (score 10/10): This is a bit of a catch-all category for me. Where to begin? Well, there's nothing wrong with the camera system (thankfully). Oh, there are plenty of minigames and side-quests available to please everyone. I especially enjoyed the Chocobo Hot&Cold game.

Overall (score 10/10): NOTE this score is not an average, it's my subjective overall score. I really highly recommend this game to all RPG fans. I think it really deserves it's 10/10 score, especially compared to other games (and I've played a lot). This is definately my favorite game out of all of them. Considering it's current affordable price (about $15 as of now), I suggest any RPG fan pick it up.

I do not want to call this game over-rated because I do not want to take away from what other people think of this game, but I did not find this game to be very good. It is not awful but compared to other RPGs of the time this one fails in too many places to be one of the greats. There are quite a few problems I had with this game that are so very hard to overlook.

First this game is short!!! Do not let the 4 disc package fool you. It is entirely possible to beat this game in under 12 hours. I wonderd why they even needed 2 discs because it was so short and not overly filled with any of the FMVs or detail to take up all that space.

Second the character developement was subpar. Only a few of the characters really get developed to any extent while the others remain empty faces on your team.

The storyline was also very unoriginal and childish at times. The story moves along sluggishly with predictable cliches. There is little that leaves you wondering what will happen next until disc four. In disc four all of a sudden they throw a million pieces of vague information at you that I found out of placed and rushed. It seemed like they knew the story was predictable and tried to add a twist at the last minute, but it only confused me and left me wondering why.

This game was also way to easy. Granted I used a strategy guide for some of the games tougher moments but it was still way too easy. The "hardest boss" in the game...an optinal boss named Ozma was an unrewarding and painfully quick battle. I defeated him at level 65ish and had very little problem. This left me discouraged to even want to finish the rest of the game.

Finally the sidequests. One of my favorite things about RPGs are the sidequests. This game had very few sidequests and I had no desire to complete them. The only sidequest that was worth doing was the chocobo sidequest. Unfortunately it was boring and very frustrating. The other sidequests were equally as boring and offered little reason to complete. For example one of the quests involved running back and forth all over the world several times only to get a cheap ad-on that you already have 3 of at the point when it gets completed.

Certainly not the best Final Fantasy. My favroites are FF7 and FF12

one of my favorite, a nice comeback of the old ff's, a good pick meup from 8, which was solid at most, i think they were tryin somethin different on that chapter of this series, tho as everythins not perfect best we can do is hope that things turn out for the better after a chip in somethin, which things do in time, id cal IX a recall of the old days of rpgs, replays good storyline good, battle system good, overall id recommend this, tho as most would say its not as good as 7, and well considering 7 was first rpg to hit 3d graphics n all its not worth the fuss of either bein called cool or put down for discussing over something thats really stupid to discuss, most ppl who post threads on this series arent really soaking in whats important, the gameplay,feeling, they turn to it and squash it for poor graphics, cmon you brats this game is 10+ yrs old, those polygons were a big thing back in the 90s...enough of that, although ive posted this 7 was good, id recommend it to a friend or random person, but not without noting about all the other great titles of this series, gotta let them explore ya kno ;)

I bought this game for my daughter and she loves it. She had played it and now finised the game but still plays it over and over again in between other games.

Final Fantasy IX is everything a final fantasy should be. This game really takes you back to the roots of the series in a way only final fantasy can. the animation is beautiful the cgi cut scenes are great the summons look great. the battle system is easy and fun with the combination of synth shoppe makes the game more complex and deep. the story is amazing the landscapes are breath taking and the airships are beautiful.
This is one of my faviorate Final Fantasys I could Play this one over and over and never get sick of it.