Haven't read part 1? Do so here.

Welcome back to SarahsKnight's and my Final Fantasy retrospective series. This is part two of four. If you haven't read part 1 yet, you can do so here. From here, we will finish up all the classic Final Fantasy titles and move on to what will eventually be the modern entries to the series. As mentioned before, at the end of this all, we will find the average of all of these games and have a definitive value for the series as a whole. So I guess we'd better get going. And like in part 1, this contains spoilers.



SK: This, sir, was my first Final Fantasy ever played, and really my first experience with an RPG period.

Lantis: This was my either third or fourth. And you'd think that since this one goes back to no switchable job classes, that I wouldn't like it as much as, say, V. But that's far from the case. I really don't even know where to start when it comes to VI. It's just so good in just about every aspect. The opening alone is a thing of legends.

SK: Oh, yeah. I was blown away at the seeming drama and integrity of the opening sequence where Terra and the two soldiers are trudging through the snow towards Narshe. I had no idea what to expect from an RPG at this time, but FF6 set the bar high. I rented it repeatedly hoping just to get to the end of the game, but little did I know that when I asked my fellow RPG enthusiast at school how much of the game there was left after the Phantom Forest sequence (about 5 hours in), that the game wasn't even 1/5 of the way over.

Lantis: Oh right, you didn't know yet at the time just how long RPGs are... seeing as it was your first. Also, this was the first female protagonist in the FF franchise.

SK: Yeah, so there is a sentiment factor tied to this review, but that doesn't make it any less great than I'm making it out to be. Terra is one of the best, too. Empathetically speaking.

Lantis: Actually, one of the things I truly appreciate about the game is that Terra Branford is arguably the main character. The other character are so well developed and plot-centered, that you could debate it. Like Celes Chere.

SK: Most of them, anyway, which isn't easy to do considering you have 14 playable characters in all.

Lantis: Right. That's probably my ONLY gripe about the game. The cast of characters is a little too large. And some are genuinely bad. You have throw away characters that have little to no background, or make you want to throttle them in their sleep. Like Umaro and Gau, respectively.

SK: But hardly so much that it ruins your enjoyment of the depth of the characters that DID have depth. That's the great thing here. It's not all centered on Terra; for every character (except the two or three optional ones) you have the game focus on their personal story for a dungeon or so at least twice, like with Cyan and his quest to come to terms with the personal tragedy he endured.

Lantis: Technically, all but four characters are optional after world of ruin.

SK: Like you can possibly beat the game with just the four you have to recover in the second half. So to me nearly all are not optional, ya know?

Lantis: Regardless how hard it is, they are still missable. I'm sure there are people out there who've beaten the game with just them.

SK: And speaking of World of Balance and World of Ruin, that's another nice feature of FF6. It has the best looking overworlds yet, mainly due to the Mode 7 viewpoint. And also the overworld theme was the best score so far.

Lantis: To add on to that also, this is the first and really only RPG where the bad guy does it. Where he gets away with world destruction. And you beating the game is really just vengeance. It's not called the world of ruin for nothing.

SK: Okay, so, on the villain, that's where I thought you'd say your only gripe with the game is, because that was pretty much my only one. We both hate Kefka, right?

Lantis: Yeah, he's a terrible person and a terrible bad guy with no motivation.

SK: I mean, if a bad guy is simply just insane or a bad person period, that's fine if delivered well. But with Kefka, I see no real drama and on top of that, the clown outfit is just stupid. He's one of the most ridiculous and boring villains ever.

Lantis: Well, not so much boring... I mean, the things he does is truly heinous. I mean, openly poisoning an entire castle water supply and seeing Cyan watch his dead child's body roll out of the bed motionless on the floor. And his outfit is at the very least memorable.

SK: Sorry, but I disagree with that one, other than the fact that his actions at least contributed to the drama of the scenes he performed a crime in.

Lantis: Or what about the fact that he's the only antagonist that actually manages to destroy the world. He met his goals. And became a god.

SK: The world of ruin is a much worse place than it was before, yes, but I wouldn't call it destroyed. In fact, most of the towns are still there, with many people living in them. It really just became uglier, is all.

Lantis: The entire world was devoid of any signs of life outside those towns though. It was barren. Not even plants survived. Everything was burnt to a crisp.

SK: Well, in any event, I hate the villain.

Lantis: Noted.

SK: Okay, so, on to battle system.

Lantis: I do actually like the battle system from V more than VI, but VI has it down pat for not being a switchable job class system. Each of the 14 character has a kind of fixed job. And the huge amount of different types of weapons and equipment is larger than any FF before. Not to mention the relics you can equip. Which even further adds depth to the system.

SK: Yeah. Not a huge deal either way, but I do like it when there is a wide variety of weapons and accessories yet they are pretty distinctly named in such a way as to give you a good idea of how they rank.

Lantis: But the core of it, is really the espers. Basically, characters would never learn magic. But by equipping the soul of an esper that has passed, you can learn their spells. Once learned you can equip another one, and the spells you previously learned are yours to keep. Great idea.

SK: Espers were a great way to learn new abilities. And even better, according to power and usability of the spell, you learned them at a certain rate of growth.

Lantis: Not to mention while you have an esper equipped, you can summon that esper once in a fight. And on top of that, you get bonus stat growth based on which esper you have. One could offer more max HP upon level up. Or another, more strength.

SK: Good stuff. Although perhaps a bit complicated for one who is entirely new to RPG's as I was.

Lantis: Oh, and the character's specific unique abilities were awesome. Like Sabin's blitz.

SK: Special moves that don't cost you anything but merely require that you do a button combination correctly to execute. It was nifty.

Lantis: A lot of them were super useful and unique. But again, because of the excess number of characters, there were a few that were just forgettable. Celes' runic got little to no use outside of the one boss fight that required it to survive.

SK: True, but at least it was a good idea on paper.

Lantis: Setzer's slots, and Mog's dance were also hardly used.

SK: Really? I loved Mog's dances.

Lantis: It's a complete crap shoot. And half the time it doesn't even work! Which is just about as dumb as Umaro being 100% uncontrollable in fights. But I will say that out of all the games that feature a lot of characters, this is the only time it really works. Generally, RPGs should have around 8 characters MAX. Any more than that, and there just won't be enough game to develop them properly.

SK: But to me FF6 managed to pull it off.

Lantis: Well, if you count having a few crap characters 'pulling it off.'

SK: I do. There wasn't anyone I REALLY hated, to like where I just couldn't stand having them onscreen.

Lantis: As I said, the characters was my only real gripe. But even then, it only pulls the game down for like, half a point for me. Everything else is just so amazingly well done.

SK: Yup. Overall, FF6 has the best in nearly every broad category of all the games so far in the series: variety in battle system, story and empathy for the characters, emotional value in scenes, and graphical presentation.

Lantis: Like the music for example. Which I don't think we touched on yet.

SK: Oh, the music! Hell YEAH. What about the ending theme alone? Twenty or so minutes of straight goodness.

Lantis: A medley of all the main character themes and stellar tracks of the game. Blending into one masterful track. And the ending too, man.

SK: Yeah, the ending was one of the best ever. Although, I did find it a little strange that the world of ruin looked vaguely as though it had been fully restored.

Lantis: Ha! I know. I never got that. I guess they just wanted to have a deus ex machina ending. But for that being it's only real plot hole, I'm not going to hold it against it. For me, this is it. This is the peak of the mountain that is Final Fantasy. There are only just a couple of non Final Fantasy RPGs out there that are better than this. As a game alone, it is a masterpiece.

SK: Honestly, it's my third favorite, and I believe an absolute must for an RPG fan to play. It's easily one of the best SNES games of all time. Square struck a true homer with this one.



Final Fantasy VI final scores:

SarahsKnight: 9.5 out of 10
Lantis: 9.5 out of 10


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SK: Okay, now this is the one Final Fantasy installment everyone knows. After the success of FF6 and the steady popularity of 4, it seemed that fans were expecting huge things with the next game in the series to come out on Playstation. Square hyped it up a good bit, and when the release date came, I and surely every other RPG fan on the planet was blown away.

Lantis: Yes. Regardless if you like this game or not, it had made an undeniable impact on the genre and gaming as a whole.

SK: In fact, it was in GameTrailer's 10 best games of all time list a few years ago, and was also beaten out only by Zelda: Ocarina of Time on GameFAQ's best games of all time poll. It is both mine and Lantis' second favorite Final Fantasy in the series.

Lantis: Right, and it's very deserving of all the praise it gets. But I think Square kind of let that get to them, because it spawned so many spin-offs that it's to the point of stupidity.

SK: Yes. If there's one major drawback to the game, it's that right there. But let's not get into all that, now. First off, for me, in terms of personal impact it had on me, with the absolutely stunning CG movie at the very start of the game and the feel of the first dungeon alone, it's like I knew I was in for epicness. I just felt right away that something grand was happening in the story arc.

Lantis: Likewise. There are some games that translate well from 2D to 3D environments. And Final Fantasy was one that did it with grace. Even with the incredibly boxy character models outside of battle. The pre-rendered backgrounds, effects, and CG cutscenes lent very well to the overall product.

SK: And remained impressive seemingly all the way until the next generation of consoles came out.

Lantis: Right. And that same care that went into the visuals for the game also went into the story and the battle system. For me the story was about as good as VI. Because, it was pretty much the exact same story.

SK: You thought so? Well, at it's core - how it starts out - it basically is the tale of a rag-tag group of rebels trying to in their eyes save the planet from ruin at the hands of an evil corporate entity (or a global empire in the case of FF6), but the story got more complex soon enough, and is to date the most nuanced.

Lantis: Yes, the story is basically the same. I submit to you, this:



SK: Oh, right. Fair enough. I remember that. If there's nothing else on story, I'd like to close that topic with a high compliment to the number and gravity of emotional scenes in the game, much like with FF6, only imagine them so in even better graphics for their time. And of course, as everyone knows, Aeris' unexpected demise at the hands of the villain has made her a star and recognizable character for gamers everywhere, to this day, in one of the widely assumed most impactful scenes of all time in video games.

Lantis: I agree completely. While some of the cast of characters are questionable, they work well enough for the story that I was fully invested in it. I really couldn't ask for much more. Speaking of characters, VII was the last one to feature optional characters you could recruit.

SK: It is, isn't it?

Lantis: Actually, thinking on it, VI and VII are the only two that have optional characters at all. Out of the main series anyway.

SK: And on characters, I'd like to say that we have a pretty good and entertaining crew overall, from reticent lone soldier to cheerful girl with iron hands to a mock vampire with a tortured past to a feline robot sitting atop a moogle robot.

Lantis: To be fair, there are problems with a good few of them. The main offender being the main character.

SK: Yes, and honestly, I have to admit that with me I don't even think it's really Cloud himself that I hate so much - although there are things to think him a total dork and an unrelatable character because of - but more because of the fact that everyone seems to worship him as one of the "coolest" VG characters of all time, to where he unreasonably overshadows everyone else except maybe Aeris. The game just focused a bit too much on him and his problems, when at least five other characters had their own reason to be in the spotlight.

Lantis: Honestly, the only characters I didn't have a gripe about was Barret, Red XIII, Cid, and Vincent. But that's still majority, so overall it's all good.

SK: You didn't like Tifa or Aeris? Well, barring the fact that they both have bad taste in men, I mean.

Lantis: Well, what I said was that those were characters that I didn't have a problem with. The ones I do are kind of nitpicks. Like how Tifa is all over the angsty emo Cloud and her obvious inclusion of being there for T and A. Emphasis on the T.

SK: Well, that's the weird thing. In that day and time it was a more innocent VG age, so I personally couldn't even think of her as a sex object, and it seemed to me that many loyal fans defended her for having a true connection to the story and being an inspirational heroine in spite of the triple D's. Of course, we all love that about her, too, but still, she's a favorite of mine.

Lantis: Oh, I still think she's a good character and integral to the story. So I'm not going to be too harsh on her. But we could go on for days on the characters really. And I don't think anyone wants that. So how about some battle?

SK: For me, FF7 bore my favorite learning system in all of the core FF games: materia.

Lantis: It was like a different take on espers. By equipping something, you'd learn it, but it STAYS on that materia. You give it to someone else, and those spells go with it. Also, you can equip several of these. Mixing and matching spells, abilities, and stat buffs of different types.

SK: Which is cool. Also, like with Espers, depending on the type of materia, you could gain stat bonuses and decreases.

Lantis: Right. Personally, I think its a little lame that you can't truly teach a character anything in the game. Making the only thing that truly makes them different are their stats and their limit breaks.

SK: And the weapons they equip.

Lantis: Right. Actually, not a lot of people know that some of the weapons have some really unique abilities.

SK: Actually, it seemed FF7 was the most distinct in what characters had as their weapon of choice. But yeah, do you refer to the ability to grow materia at a double, triple, or zero rate in the weapons?

Lantis: What I am referring to are things like Tifa's Powersoul. Like, if Tifa's HP is critical the weapon's power is doubled. If she is in Death Sentence status, the damage is quadrupled. And these two abilities can stack. But yes, the growth of materia as well. Also, some materia could combo with others. Like you can put the all materia with cure materia and now you can target all your party members with cure spells. Or the ever so broken final attack and summon phoenix combo.

SK: Good stuff. It made for a lot of decision making and strategizing when selecting party members for the next dungeon and deciding on what materia should equipped on them and where in their weapons and armor. Yet it didn't make the game feel tedious. I always enjoyed doing it.

Lantis: Oh, and as a side note, best overworld theme of all time.

SK: You know it. It was like an entire orchestral score being played for the most dramatic scene in an opera. To this day it is in my top five favorite VG songs of all time.

Lantis: It's very well deserved. As is the game overall. It came so close to being better than VI, but for me there are some flaws that make it fall just short.

SK: Such as?

Lantis: Aside from the things we've already mentioned as gripes, I think Sephiroth is just as bad, if not worse than Kefka.

SK: Really? Now, I do think it's rather easy to find individual things to make fun of about Sephiroth, but I thought he was a pretty good villain overall, at least in terms of impact. For instance, I almost dreaded meeting him in person for the first time after seeing that scene where the party comes across a giant monster impaled on a large jagged dead tree by Sephiroth's very own hands. And when you could see his strength in battle for yourself in Cloud's flashback scenes, whew!

Lantis: He's a momma's boy. He also didn't manage to destroy the world like he wanted. And his weapon is just as retarded as the buster sword. At least Kefka made sense too.

SK: I thought it was awesome. I'm all about the long blades.

Lantis: His goals, while minimalistic, were easily understandable. The whole thing with the reunion and Jenova was lame.

SK: I liked it. I didn't know we differed in opinion on story particulars.

Lantis: Oh, the story had its moments too. Remember that lovely point in the game where you had to go into the mako poisoned Cloud's mind? You won't find that kind of crap in VI.

SK: I had mixed feelings on that. On one hand, I was like, geez, again with this guy? Who cares about him? But on the other hand, I was glad to finally get some insight into whether he truly was a real human being with real memories or just a mad scientist creation from Jenova techno babble.

Lantis: The whole plot twist with Cloud actually being Zach was taken right from M. Night Shyamalan handbook too. And while I'm coming off harsh, it's really not so bad that I would take the game down a lot. These are all, again, mostly nitpicks.

SK: I guess I didn't mind it since this was before I realized who Shyamalan even was.

Lantis: That really doesn't change the fact it is what it is, though.

SK: Well, dude, we could probably go on forever on this one, but I think we've covered most of the necessary points.

Lantis: Right, I guess we've gone on long enough for just one entry. And we still have so many more to go.

SK: Well, as an SK Final Thought, I loved this game like 99% of all other RPG fans do. Like VI, it's an essential in the RPG collection, and revolutionized the gaming industry in many ways we probably don't even know, as well as having really accelerated the PSX's popularity to ultimately become one of the most successful consoles of all time. It is truly a masterpiece, and while sometimes elevated just a bit TOO high on account of nerdy fanboys, it deserves most of the praise.

Lantis: I agree. This was yet another masterpiece.



Final Fantasy VII final scores:

SarahsKnight: 9.5 out of 10
Lantis: 9 out of 10


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SK: All right, so, Final Fantasy VIII. You didn't seem to get around to this one until a couple of years after me, but after being blown away by 7, I was darn near first in line to get it for $50 after it came out. I was expecting more greatness like 7, but didn't see how Square could possibly achieve it after 6 and 7 for a triple-haloed angel of divine pleasure, so to speak. Remember, Lantis? A few days of playing and I told you I was ALMOST convinced that FF8 was even better than 7.

Lantis: I think we've all been there though. Things you want to like so much, that you lie to yourself till you believe it.

SK: Now, this isn't to say 8 is bad at all. Overall, I think it's still worthy of the franchise name. It's just ... FF8 was really the first to seriously break a lot of new ground, especially in terms of story development and number of individual plot points. First, let's start with the good about the game.

Lantis: Right. This game gets a lot of hate when you look at it. And I think some of that hate is well deserved. But I think it's aimed at the wrong areas. For example, one of the things I think makes up part of the good of the game is the junctioning system. Yes it's weird and hard to get used to. But once you did, it works. And figuring out which spells best boost stats was pretty fun.

SK: True. The weird thing is, at first seemingly the only thing I hated about the game was junctioning, but once I took the time to figure it out, I liked the system itself, only the mere concept sounded ridiculous (where does one JUNCTION magic to themselves to make them stronger) and unfortunately if you knew what you were doing and took the time to store up vast quantities of magic, you could make the game really easy.

Lantis: But to be fair, junctioning compared to materia, espsers, or job classes is a far cry from what I generally prefer from FF.

SK: Yeah.

Lantis: But Square always tries to do something new with every entry, so you know, at least props for trying to keep it fresh? At least for now.

SK: And besides, even if the player didn't care for micro-managing, the game allowed for you to automatically junction all your magic in favor of a preferred general strength, such as going for what would give you the highest max HP, or highest attack strength.

Lantis: So yeah, if you don't like it, you don't really have to deal with it. Convenience!

SK: Pretty much everyone wins that way. Okay, so, on to other battle-related stuff. The summons. Also a very new thing to the franchise.

Lantis: Right. And the way you can grow them. And teach them new things. Really cool.

SK: This time your summons were known as Guardian Forces, which you could acquire by fighting them or actually drawing from boss monsters. With the ability points you gain in battle along with experience and money, you can learn a very wide variety of command, passive, and junction abilities on each of them, and in the order you choose yourself. It was a GREAT idea. And you could interchange equipping them on the party memebers at any time you wished, so long as you were fine with the idea of potentially increasing the amount of time it would take to summon them in battle with the new party member due to the issue of what is called compatibility, which naturally rises as someone spends more and more time with that GF equipped.

Lantis: They dynamic of limit breaks changed here too. Instead of filling a bar, any time you are in critically low HP, you have a chance to have your attack become a limit. So it became kind of a gamble. Do you risk staying on low HP to deal potentially massive damage? Or do you heal up and play it safe?

SK: And also, this time you could have some button interaction to affect the quality of your limit break with all characters except Rinoa and Quistis, such as Irvine's number of shots fired depending on how fast you can press R1, and button combinations to do different moves in Zell's martial arts combo. A small plus, but nevertheless cool.

Lantis: Right. The only thing I can really say I didn't care for in battle was how long it took to manually draw magic spells. Aside from that, it's good.

SK: Yeah, and in the end if you were willing to take the time to draw the max 100 quantity of magic, well, you never had to worry about conserving in the final battles, which I am sure for that very reason is why the final boss has FOUR forms and the final two are well over the previous average of 50,000 to 70,000 HP Much more than what you're used to.

Lantis: Right. And while we are on the topic of good aspects, I really enjoyed the world of FF8. The world in general and the idea of the gardens was a really unique idea. And I rather liked it.

SK: Me too. The Gardens were a strange but creative idea, and fit well into the story as a needed place you can and will return to often. So, what are the Gardens, Lantis?

Lantis: Basically, they are schools. Built to train people who will eventually be known as SeeDs. That, to the best of my knowledge, just kind of protect the world from monsters and such.

SK: And the titular "Cid" character in this installment is none other the Robin-Williams-looking headmaster of the Balaamb Garden, where the story begins. He was awesome. This is my favorite version of Cid.

Lantis: I think I like of like 6 and 7's Cid better. But after that, they tend to become quite forgettable.

SK: Each of the three Gardens on the planet are beautifully built structures great for exploration (well, I assume Trabia was beautiful before it got nuked). And you as the party of the best of the best SeeD's to ever graduate from the schools can even take exams any time you want asking questions about the game to test your combat knowledge, in which passing them at 100% gives you a boost in your rank as a soldier and greater pay. Just like you were in a real military school - except I doubt soldiers in the U.S. military forces actually achieve greater pay by taking written tests.

Lantis: Answers of which you can easily google online and just rake in money.

SK: True, true. But I NEVER did that. I'm a GOOD little intercontinental mercenary. So, honestly, Spoony's specific observations in his scathing FF8 review and the story's final turn notwithstanding, I actually liked the story. Up until what you found out your ultimate goal was, I was fascinated by it. To try to sum it up, the party consists of five young SeeD soldiers and one inexperienced rebellion leader on a quest to rid the world of a dangerous and historical threat known as the Sorceress, women throughout time who have been known to - through various means such as geneology or supposed fatalism - acquire an immense amount of magical power and so forth represent a tyrannical threat to the world in some way.

Lantis: I, on the other hand, think this was probably the worst story next only to one we'll get to eventually. At no point did it really make any sense. In fact, there is a fan concept called the Squall is Dead theory that would have made the game make much more sense. And I wish that were the case, really.

SK: True. I did like that theory, actually.

Lantis: And come on. The big climax at the end being some scheme for time compression? At least for me, the story is the game's biggest failing. Next only to its lacking of any good playable characters.


SK: Oh, I'm getting to that. The time compression plot on behalf of the ultimate villain is precisely the part of the story I hated. You start out as the main character Squall, who picks up two other companions at the beginning of the game through his taking of the final exam to become a SeeD. Squall is pretty much an unlikeable pessimistic bastard, but we'll get to that. After successfully becoming SeeD's, the three main party members are sent out on their first mission to a faraway region to help the main heroine Rinoa launch an offensive against the tyrannical Galbadian empire, in which it turns out that Headmaster Cid wanted Squall and his friends all along to eliminate the threat of the Sorceress who has taken control over Galbadia and now wishes for world domination, and it goes on from there to, unfortunately, end in a terrible twist to defeat the Sorceress of all Soreceresses, Ultimeica, who wants to achieve time compression for the world, and don't even ask us what that is or means.
Let's just say it makes a lot more sense if you perceive everything that happened after the end of disc one to be Squall's memories and unfulfilled ambitions and desires as flashing before his eyes before dying.

Lantis: Right. But I HIGHLY doubt that was the case. I'm pretty sure that whole train wreck of a story was all actually real as intended by Square. Like I stated a moment ago, this is probably the worst collection of characters the series has seen. And the reason for any of these characters to join your cause for saving the world isn't a huge desire for justice, no lofty back story. There's not tales of woe or injustice. It's just... they were ordered to. So here they are.

SK: Well, I don't see it so much that way. It's easy writing, yes, but it's still a good reason, in my opinion. And besides, who else is going to do it. SeeD's are the only ones who can defeat the threat, right?

Lantis: Since when was lazy writing ever good writing?

SK: I didn't say it was very good, but genius in compared to a lot of games I've seen. *cough* FFXIII *cough* So it's hard for me to put too much fault with it.

Lantis: This is one of those cases were we disagree entirely. The party is so uninspired and boring. They have no motivation or drive other than "Just doin' my job."

SK: Well, let us not forget the one other motivation: to hopefully save the soul of someone they all loved as children, the one Sorceress they were fated to fight against at the time. I don't know; I know that big scene in Trabia was AWFULLY, HORRIBLY convenient, everything being set up to where the entire party other than Rinoa finds they were all raised in an orphanage by the same woman, but somehow it personally appealed to me in spite of the convenience problem. I saw emotion in the situation where some people understandably cannot. But it's personal opinion.

Lantis: I don't think that's a very good point in the favor of the characters, really. If anything, that's another reason I don't like them or the story. Though even with my opinion of the overall story and the lack luster characters, I still find this game to be good. The music is great.

SK: Yes. In fact, EVEN better than FF6 or 7.

Lantis: The world, awesome. Battle system, fun. All the makings of a good RPG are present.

SK: It's just, honestly, our opinion lowered a bit after seeing Spoony's review on it, at least mine was. Because he did bring up a few genuinely good points on why Squall sucks and why the story is a mess of ultra-convenient plot points. I tell you what, though; when I first played the game and went through the opening scene in which Wynona Rider and Ryan Gosli - I mean, Squall and his game-long rival Seifer were sword fighting to some epic god chorus music in the background, I was taken up instantly. And I'll be honest; as many problems as you can legitimately find with the game, it has much nostalgic value with me, which is why I still give this - after taking into consideration Spoony's negative viewpoints - a 7.75.

Lantis: I think we both view this game much higher than the general public. This game does have many flaws. Ones that you may be able to filter out through nostalgia. But I think there are genuine points of the game that are good enough to make this not only a playable game, but a re-playable game. Even with the bad story and characters.



Final Fantasy VIII final scores:

SarahsKnight: 7.75 out of 10
Lantis: 6 out of 10


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SK: All right, well now, Final Fantasy IX. Lantis said he'll let me lead this one off since FF9 is my baby. .... And indeed it is. In fact, not only is this my favorite installment, but I believe it is also my favorite game of all time. Not that I don't have a complaint or two about it, but we'll get to that. This is the last FF installment on the PS1, and, while 7 and 8 were well received in spite of their creative detours from the rest of the core franchise so far, Square saw fit to give us a nostalgic old-school walk down memory lane with 9, except with better graphics. IX returned to a lot of the series' roots. And what a way to go.

Lantis: Absolutely. I really liked how geared towards the classic entries this was. And actually, it's the last in the series that has certain components of what we expected from the classics. Such as world maps. Haven't seen another legit world map since IX.

SK: I heard they were going back to world maps with XV, but, whatever. Why'd they wait over a decade to do it, huh?

Lantis: XV hardly looks like an RPG anyways.

SK: Well, if you're wanting an RPG with a real fantasy feel, IX is a perfect example.

Lantis: Absolutely.

SK: So, let's talk characters first.

Lantis: Honestly? A better collection than VIII, but not really by much. I like how they tried to make up for the angsty emo personality of the last two main characters... and completely over compensated.

SK: And that's the thing. See, I actually don't personally like the majority of the party this time, but in spite of this fact (which you think would alone be enough of a reason to bump this title off of my number 1 spot), I find that they work well together as a group and fit the atmosphere of the game with their varied and mostly childish personalities well, so the game really doesn't lose points on character likeability with me in the end.

Lantis: I wish I could say the same.

SK: And most of all, unlike the last two main protagonists, while Zidane is an irritating little monkey-faced blight on the face of the cosmos, as Lantis just said, at the least he wasn't emo. He was actually quite interesting and dynamic. It's just that with me interesting doesn't always equal likeable.

Lantis: But answer me this. What the hell is Quina?

SK: Oh, yeah, that too. Quina is another party member who doesn't have much of a reason for joining other than thinking Zidane can lead him/her throughout the world to find the best food culture, and just looking at the creature, you have no idea what where he/she falls in the taxonomic structure of Gaia's living inhabitants. But again, it's what I expect from a game with this kind of atmosphere, so it doesn't bother me so much.

Lantis: Honestly, Dagger and Freya were the only decent party members of the bunch. But that's two more than VIII, so good on you, Square.

SK: Hah. I also loved Dagger and Freya, and hold them to a high esteem as some of the best, most likeable and mature female protagonists in games. Dagger, especially, for her role as a responsible princess who seeks to save her kingdom from growing power hungry and self-destructing. And in terms of sheer coolness, Freya is my main lady.

Lantis: And the story this time around is so much better than the previous entry. Not only because it actually makes sense, but because it's legitimately good.

SK: I was all down with it. Following a botched kidnap attempt in which the princess willingly lets herself be kidnapped, Zidane and friends are now on the run from a kingdom rampaging the rest of the continent with the power of summon beings called Aeons (and they are your typical summons like Shiva, Ifrit, Bahamut, etc.). From there it becomes a darker and more sinister plot by otherworldly beings and our heroes band together through a series of memorable, imaginative, and sometimes endearing events to stop the world from becoming a desolate place where no life exists, as once again at the core of it all the crystals and their power are in jeopardy. And like in FFVI, it seems oftentimes that self-discovery is a core theme in the game's events. Also, attention seems to be more evenly divided between Zidane and Dagger with a decent amount given to the rest, unlike in 7 or 8, where all too much of the focus is on Cloud and Squall.

Lantis: Right. And I really love how they introduced Garland into the story, which is kind of a shout out to the very first Final Fantasy. It really drives home the whole "going back to the roots" thing that Square was setting out to do.

SK: Garland and Kuja were excellent villains.

Lantis: They were.

SK: With the most believable motivations and coolest designs. Kuja was a bit flamboyant, of course, but it added to his appeal.

Lantis: At least he didn't dress like a clown or had clinical mommy issues.

SK: Exactly. Now, on to music.

Lantis: What's to say? It's great.

SK: On par with VI, VII, and VIII.

Lantis: A ton of memorable pieces all throughout.

SK: Especially Melodies of Life. EVERYONE knows that song. Because it contributes to the BEST ending sequence in all of RPG's. It owns you.

Lantis: You know, I generally like the lyrical pieces in the franchise, but I still prefer those without. Memories of Life is still a great song though.

SK: I really don't know how to better relate how great the music is in precise terminology or knowledge of instruments or anything, other than to just say, in 80% of the tracks in this game, I'm just picturing the orchestra hired to perform this music recording the tracks in the Square studio right now, and I like what I see. While not all of them may be personally very likeable, FF9 sports some of the most memorable characters in the series to me, with the best-looking locations and ear-tickling musical pieces yet. Aeris' Theme? Pshww. Grab yourself some of FREYA'S THEME.

Lantis: Is aight. So how about some battle?

SK: Okay, so the concept in battle retains the simulated 3D aspect of the previous two entries, but is entirely simplified in terms of learning system. Much easier to utilize than materia or junctioning.

Lantis: In fact, it's incredibly simplistic.

SK: So, I call it simply the "abilities system". In this system, you can learn various combat and passive abilities through gaining AP in battle, and you have a chance to learn said abilities according to what weapon, armor, or accessory you have equipped at the time. For instance, with Steiner's Broadsword, you can learn the command ability Minus Strike, in which Steiner will hit an enemy for a damage amount that is equal to the difference between his max HP and current HP value. It costs a certain number of AP to permanently learn, and until you do, you must keep that sword (or whatever other sword allows you to learn it) equipped until you gain enough AP necessary, which is easily and clearly shown to you. After that, the ability is free to be equipped from a pool of permanently learned abilities thus far. Which in itself is limited (but fairly so, in my opinion) to a certain max value of skill points that grows as characters level up. To me, it's a great way to distinguish characters from each
other according to use in battle, while keeping them all somewhat useful. But again, that's how I see it. I think Lantis had a less forgiving attitude than I did, though. Lantis?

Lantis: Right. As I said before, it's super simplistic. To a fault actually. What gets my goat is how often in the game you will forego the better equipment so you can try and learn abilities that you can only get from certain pieces of equipment. And that drives me crazy. And on top of that, once you do learn it, you may have to go into your abilities of things you already painstakingly grinded out and disable them to fit in the things you've just learned. It feels kind of like a waste really. And I do understand that if they didn't limit the amount of things you could learn at a given time, it would really break the game, but I don't really like the way it is handled now either. It just feels flawed. I just think the things you learn should be separate from your equipment. They really shouldn't have anything to do with one another. In the past there were other things that acted as this medium like materia, espers, or specific job classes. And that's great. But making what you learn and
your equipment one in the same just doesn't work for me.

SK: It did for me. Somehow the programmers had the consideration to put certain abilities that cost a lot of AP to learn on multiple pieces of equipment, and they always seemed to turn up in a shop at the right time for me to be able to learn the skill at a pretty linear pace, rather than, say, having to drop learning MP Strike (a nifty ability where you can expend MP to up the damage you do with your normal attack; highly useful for characters like Zidane who do not use MP for much else) for a few game hours because I found a better weapon that doesn't teach it, only to come back to learning it much later. I just never got inconvenienced by the system, it seems. And it made for good - not too much to where it became a chore - amount of time spent strategizing deciding what party memebers needed what permanent abilities they've learned equipped for the next dungeon or boss fight.

Lantis: For me, there was always at least one character (if not more) that had better equipment they could have on at the time, but I couldn't use it because I was trying to finish up learning something on something older. Like a piece of armor or something. It was never like, multiple things at one time. But enough to get under my skin. Just another one of those things we won't see eye to eye on.

SK: But anyways, that's the learning system for you. Also, party members each had their own natural abilities in battle according to their life profession, much like how it is stressed in FF6. Zidane is a thief, so he is the only one who can steal. Dagger and Eiko, a princess and sheltered descendent of a magical race of creatures respectively, can do certain white magic and summons, and Amarant as a vagrant merc has learned abilities reminiscent of a ninja and a monk from FFTactics.

Lantis: Right, fixed job classes, basically. And it adds a lot more personality (like what made them unique as far as battle goes) to the characters than say, VIII. Where literally you can copy a setup from one character to the next. They were all like blank slates. Nothing that made them unique other than limit. Speaking of, limits are back.

SK: Limit breaks in IX are utilized as they are in VII, the only differences being that this time they are called "Trances" and cannot be carried over to the next battle if your bar fills and you don't use it.

Lantis: Not to mention that it's not a one time attack. It's like a mode you can stay in for a few turns. Which was awesome.

SK: Yeah. It made up for not being able to carry over trances to the next battle if you wanted to save them.

Lantis: They just really felt powerful to use too. Which is really important for any kind of FF limit break system.

SK: Really the only Trance that did not feel useful was Quina's, in which he/she is made more easily able to take down an enemy instantly with his/her unique "eat" ability, learning that monster's blue magic skill if it had one. So, what? I can learn a likely worthless new blue magic spell without having to work for it as hard? Whatever.

Lantis: I never used Quina if I could help it. She's a terrible character personality wise. And she's a blue mage on top of that. Which, outside of VII's enemy skill materia, I never really used.

SK: But now, let's wrap this up, shall we? And that's with the trademark mini-game within FF9 ... the Tetra Battle card game.

Lantis: Tetra Battle was Square saying: "You know? Triple Triad was great. We should expand upon it!" And then proceeded to ruin everything.

SK: "And make it impossible to understand how to play!"

Lantis: Right. Like, in VIII, I actually enjoyed playing the game and collecting the cards. It was fun to challenge NPCs and such. Not in IX.

SK: But here, not so much.

Lantis: Yeah, it's just a hassle to try to understand... so I never did. There are multiple Youtube videos out there that try their best to explain exactly how it works. And that alone should speak for how unnecessarily complicated it is.

SK: Yeah, you can just watch a YT vid of it, rather than have us try to explain what the hell the numbers on the cards mean in terms of how they hold up against each other in the card battle. Just know that it was a big step down from VIII's signature mini-game.

Lantis: So. I think it's time to discuss... it.

SK: ..... What?

Lantis: Necron.

SK: Oh, yes. Forgot that. And how could I? He explains what his origins are, but he just appears so literally out of nowhere after what you think is the final battle with Kuja that it doesn't make enough sense. I liked the intensity of the fight with Necron himself, but, man .... They might as well have just left it with the Kuja fight alone.

Lantis: Exactly! Like, it would have been the best way to wrap up the end of the game.

SK: Even if it meant breaking the tradition of the final boss having multiple forms.

Lantis: Necron was flat out one of the dumbest mistakes IX made.

SK: This faceless blue bastard with a giant circus hoop perpetually rotating around him just comes onto the scene after you defeat Kuja, and says that he was born inevitably of the four Crystals or something as an emergency life-eraser button should the world sustained by the Crystals not go according to plan. And Kuja's hatred of himself and humanity and the negative views of the futility of life and all that jazz awakened Necron to do his life's duty. So it's a battle to stop the world from being erased completely. Why bother, Square?

Lantis: Unfortunately, questions like those are going to pop up even more frequently as this retrospective continues.

SK: Hah. But hardly ever so much as with the last game in the series. But for now, final thoughts?

Lantis: Square set out to try and create a game based on the classics, and that's exactly what they did. They made a classic. But like all games, it has its flaws, but it's still a must play for fans.

SK: And with me, everything just blends so well together, even the majority of my complaints on the game, that it created the ever-perfect RPG experience for me. Yes, even somehow with the fact that Zidane personally annoys the ever-loving hell out of me, I just don't know if I would have it any other way. .... And, I heard, this was the at-the-time Square director's personal favorite in the series, too. So I think that gives FF9 enough street cred. Enough to hang with the big boys, anyway. SK gives it the ultimate Protector's game stamp of approval. Damn near perfect.



Final Fantasy IX final scores:

SarahsKnight: 9.75 out of 10
Lantis: 8 out of 10


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And with that, our retrospective is mostly complete. We still have a few games to cover and then our final thoughts on the series as a whole. So look forward to that and thanks for reading.

Link to part 3.