I have been a Final Fantasy fan for pretty much my entire life. I remember watching my mom (Phenixx Gaming’s Managing Editor in fact) playing Final Fantasy VII at a very young age. One of my favorite entries in the franchise though is one I feel is often overlooked. Final Fantasy IX is a visually distinct, classic RPG, and now that it is on Switch I can dive into it all over again.

Final Fantasy IX originally released in 2000, details the story of Zidane, a thief who kidnaps the Princess of Alexandria, only to find himself in the midst of a struggle far greater. I won’t go into too many more details on the plot since most people know of the story, have played it, or want to experience it themselves on Switch. It is important to note, however, that the Switch version is actually a port of the mobile version and because of that it retains a few notable changes from the original PlayStation version.

The first change is obvious. Most of the cutscenes have been changed to a higher resolution, the textures are a little crisper, and the character models look great in docked or tablet mode. The second change is also fairly obvious for players of the mobile version. Final Fantasy IX provides an autosave function that allows you to close the game and continue where the game last autosaved, rather than your last save point.

The problem with this new autosave system is that it doesn’t tell you when it autosaves. As an example of why this is a problem, during an early part of the game I decided to grind for money and AP. After I got the desired total I saved the game, but rather than hitting Load game, I hit “continue” without realizing it. Since I had done the grinding the day before, I didn’t think anything of it when I noticed that Zidane was in a different place than I remembered saving. It wasn’t until later that I realized that the autosave was earlier than my grinding.

The frustrating part of that is, I had already saved over the file since then. I was forced to do all that grinding over again, and it was absolutely infuriating once I realized the problem. The autosave could have been a nice touch, but without an alert that tells you when it saves, it causes issues.

The other main addition to Final Fantasy IX is the concept of boosters. Boosters are cheat options designed to make gameplay faster or easier for players who aren’t normally fans of the slow pace of RPG’s. You can speed up the action, max your characters’ abilities, levels, gil, and even eliminate the random encounters altogether if you just want to max your stats and enjoy the story of Final Fantasy IX. However, once you turn a booster on, you can’t turn it off, so keep that in mind.

Personally, I don’t use the boosters because I feel like it waters down the experience somewhat, but I can see why people who lack the patience for a slow-paced RPG might find them appealing. Now that I have explained some of the main enhancements though, let’s take a step back and talk about how Final Fantasy IX actually plays.

I previously mentioned that this version of Final Fantasy IX is a port of the PC and PS4 versions, which in turn are ports of the mobile version. Because of this, I know many people are aware of the issue surrounding many of Square Enix’s ports of classic RPG’s. I personally know of people who have had issues with the music bugging out, as well as crashes and other problems. I myself have not experienced these bugs, but you should be aware that people are reporting them nonetheless.

Final Fantasy IX plays like a typical classic JRPG. You explore areas, cities, and dungeons, buying equipment for your characters, fighting enemies, and leveling up while you progress through the story. The combat utilizes the Active Time Battle system, which should be familiar if you’ve played a Final Fantasy title prior to the year 2010.

Where FF9 sets itself apart from its predecessors (and most RPG’s since) is in regards to how character abilities are handled. Each of the playable characters in Final Fantasy IX has a pre-defined class, and a pre-defined series of abilities they can learn. Abilities are learned via equipping gear and accumulating AP through battles.

Every piece of gear in the game has different abilities attached, and as long as you have the item equipped, you can make use of the ability. Alternately, if you have accumulated enough AP while wearing a piece of gear, your character will learn that ability and you can swap the equipment out for something else while still being able to use that ability.

Abilities are split into two categories, passive and active abilities. Passive abilities must be equipped, but each character only has a certain number of “crystals” to spend on equipping abilities. As they level, this amount rises, but many times you will find yourself swapping abilities around to be prepared for a battle. Passive abilities can range from immunity to certain status effects, to character-specific abilities like the Bandit ability which increases Zidane’s chance of stealing.

Active abilities are usually character-specific, things like white magic and summons for Garnet and Eiko, Black Magic for Vivi, and abilities pertaining to each character’s pre-defined class. Keeping equipment on long enough to learn all the abilities on your gear is important if you want to be able to use those abilities later on.

Limit Breaks from previous Final Fantasy games were replaced with the Trance system. After taking a certain amount of damage (or in certain scripted circumstances) your characters will enter the Trance mode. Each character’s Trance form is different, but all of them are powerful in their own way. Zidane gets powerful Dyne attacks, Vivi can cast black magic twice in a turn, and each character can do unique things while in Trance.

Outside of battle, you can do plenty of other things in addition to exploration. There are mini-games, Chocobo breeding, equipment synthesis, and tons of other bits of content that will keep you playing for a long while. I used to go back and play Final Fantasy IX every few years on my PS3, but now I can do so anytime I want on the Switch. The replay value is immense.

If you previously loved Final Fantasy IX, then you will probably feel right at home playing it on the Switch. I personally love the way it controls, and I love that if I wanted to, I could take it with me and play it on the go. I personally adore the story of Final Fantasy IX, as it carries on the tradition of each Final Fantasy game having a “Theme” of sorts.

Final Fantasy VII, for example, had a more “eco-centric” theme, saving the planet etc. Final Fantasy IX, on the other hand, deals with “Personal Identity” in many ways. Each character has their own journey, and their own unique version of “self-discovery.” Between the theme, and the rampant theatre references and stage-play themes, it hits all the right notes for me.

I would also be willing to speculate that Final Fantasy IX is probably one of the easier entries for new players to get into. Things seem a bit complex, but compared to entries like Final Fantasy VIII, this one is much more user-friendly. In fact, with the boosters, even someone who can’t stomach the grinding that a lot of RPGs have could still enjoy the storyline.

My only complaint aside from the autosaving issue is that the battle UI (designed for mobile since this is a port) is a little bit ugly. If you own it on PC or PS4, there’s not much of a reason to buy it on Switch aside from the portability factor. With that being said, the Switch version is a great port; though I did not experience the bugs others have reported, so keep that in mind.

In summary, I greatly enjoyed my time with Final Fantasy IX on Switch, and I intend to dive back into it soon. You’ll get a lot of time out of this, easily 100 hours or more, so it is well worth the investment. Whether you are a veteran of the series, or a newcomer looking to get into it, this is a great option for the JRPG enthusiast in your life.

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Final Fantasy IX

$20.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• Great Story and Theme
• Portable for Gaming on the Go
• Great Combat Mechanics
• Lots of Mini Games and Replay Value
• Boosters for RPG Newcomers

Cons

• No Notification or Separate Slot for Autosaves
• Ugly Battle UI