Why Final Fantasy 9's opening is genius
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- Final Fantasy IX has one of the best openings in the series. In this video I take a look at how, in the game's first hour or two, SquareSoft expertly lay the foundations for good storytelling and character while balancing gameplay mechanics.
It makes me so happy when I find people who love Final Fantasy IX the same way that I do. Lovely video, going to dog into your others :)
I can almost cry watching this, wonderful game, love the community too, we all together here
Please let the algorithm pick up your channel, your videos are amazing.
Thank you!!
I simply cannot like this video enough. You did the highly underrated Final Fantasy the justice it deserves. I’ve replayed this countless times but these moments never get old. I miss Squaresoft.
I believe 9 is without question the most relatable and character-driven of the golden age. Its about finding identity and purpose and what happens when living beings no matter how complex or simple they are struggle to find meaning in life. Even the last boss is true to the themes of this game because it is under the assumption that the non existence is preferable to negative feelings. You aren't just fighting to stop the bad guy, your fighting for the right to exist at all.
I appreciate your love for the franchise 🌸
Great analysis! I absolutely love this game and feel like it deserves a replay soon.
I love how it introduces all the main players and kicks off their stories. I also noticed recently the Forest represents how out of their depth the characters are and how the world is much bigger than they imagine. At first we think it’s all warring factions and cities but we realise nature is the real central plot here and the very survival of the planet is mimicked, foreshadowed, when they destroy the heart of the forest.
Thanks for watching! Love your thoughts on the forest - I never thought about that :)
Instantly subscribed. You’ve just inspired me to make longer videos with narration. Keep up the great work.
content right up there. addicted to your videos and resonant arc!! couldnt be happier with your analysis and think its right on the money!!
Thanks Edward! Very much appreciated!
What a wonderful love letter to a great opening. You've led me to appreciate some details that I never considered before, like the shrewd storytelling technique in Steiner discovering the Garnet doll.
Great video and beautiful analysis, as always. I believe a video of your analysing Final Fantasy X would be great, because the story has multiple highlights and emotional twists (we have the "Sin is Jecht", the "Yuna is going to die", the "Final Summoning is a fraud", the "Tidus is a Dream", Auron's "Now! This is it: now is your time to choose" moment, and of course the ending), that I would LOVE to hear being commented by you.
I'm not cryin, ur cryin 😭
I will definitely be replayin ffix off the back of this vid. Fair play 👌
I've always felt the name Zidane was based around the legendary footballer and pronounced as such. Zinedine Zidane was on top of the sporting world back in the year 2000. Surely it's not coincidence?
Yeah I think I'm probably in the minority with how I pronounce most FF names. Most of the time spent making this video was trying to decide how to pronounce certain names :D
I LOVE FFIX. It's by far my favorite. The story, the world, the characters and my God the music. I get so happy hearing people talk about it. When I was a kid I always wanted to watch it as an anime series.
Thanks for watching! An anime series is a great idea :D
I am confident this channel is gonna garner some cult following. Enjoyed all your FF videos so far, including the critique videos btw.
Subbed for more quality releases.
Thanks! Really appreciate that.
Awesome video, IX is my favorite, and this just explains why so well.
Great Video on a great game. Next youll have to talk about the FF9 Coca Cola advert ;p
Really fantastic video. I'm heavily impressed by your script here. It's clear that you have a deft understanding of script writing as well as what points should hit when. Also, you've definitely convinced me that FF9 has the best opening. Makes me want to go back and play it again! Keep up the fantastic videos.
Hey! Wow thanks a million for this comment. I really wasn't sure if people would like the video. Thanks again - I seriously appreciate it.
Final Fantasy IX is such a classic. My favourite RPG of all time!
That was a brilliant appreciation video, and I hope to see more content like this in the future. As Sakaguchi said, he wishes for us to continue thinking about the story for his games, even when we turn off the game console, and this game is certainly no exception, especially with that beautiful art appreciation video essay you did.
I also want to say that I really need to finish this game, but I gotta start from scratch since I lost the memory card data from playing it on a PS1 emulator on my low-end, dead laptop, though I remembered that I stopped right when I was forced to complete a Tetra Master tournament and that's probably why I never got around to ever completing it due to my strong dislike for Final Fantasy card minigames (at least in their games, haven't played the actual physical Final Fantasy Trading Card game yet). Seeing story bits of Sakaguchi's new game, FANTASIAN, echoes FF9's brevity and sense of adventure (in a much lower budget, of course) as if he is giving it his all, for one final time before retiring and enjoying life on the beach shores of Honolulu, Hawaii forever, not having a care in the world for what happens (as he made clear he doesn't actively follow current gaming trends anymore, especially the business side of things). He gave it his all during his tenure at Square and Mistwalker, and I wish him and Uematsu the best of health moving forward.
Thank you for this, I'm definitely going to give FF9 another playthrough and hopefully I'll finish it this time.
Thank you for this amazing comment! So happy you enjoyed it. Sakaguchi's work seems to speak to the soul - together with Nobou's incredible soundtrack and direction from Hiroyuki Ito, this game left a huge impression on me. It didn't reach Europe until February 2001, a good few months after North America. I remember counting down the days, and then becoming mesmerized by the opening (and actually I think the entire first disc is particularly strong). I remember the Tetra Master tournament, and I can understand why you stopped around then - I could never get into that card game (had more fun with Triple Triad personally), but that's great to hear you'll try out the game again.
I really like the look of Fantasian. Just a pity it's on iOS which makes it a bit trickier for me. It does feel like this is Sakaguchi's swansong (perhaps Uematsu's too unfortunately) - fully agreed, I wish them all the best. A dynamite duo.
FFIX was the pinnacle of Jrpgs, not just the FF series. This game had everything. From a cool aesthetic to having a secondary antagonist nuking a city as his entrance to the story.
Loved the video but when the forest petrified you missed the part where Blank actually saves Zidane and helps him escape!
Thanks for watching! Ah yes, I ended up cutting this out for some reason. But you're right it's such a cool scene :)
I love your Final Fantasy vids! Subscribed.
I love this game. Best ff, hands down, imo. I loved 10 cause it was my first. I loved 11 for different reasons but I was extremely disappointed with 12. I had never played the ps1 games and didn't want to cause no voice acting. But my friend brought 9 over. All it took was watching the demo movie and I just had to play. I don't think I've ever been captured by something so quick, especially being almost 30 at the time.
Watching your video made me also think of the similarities between Steiner and Squall. Both are the knights loyal to their princesses (To the Forest Owls' rebel "princess", the daughter of the top military leader of their enemy -like Brahne-, Squall is first tied with a SeeD contract, then with the urge to protect her). Both Garnet and Rinoa are powerful sorceresses inheriting ancient, much feared powers. Garnet inherits from her biological mother while Rinoa inherits from Squall's foster mother. Squall becomes the sorceress knight but just like Steiner, he cares too much about his duty. Both are overly serious and solemn, creating a contract with their cheeky, belligerent and blonde rivals with whom they are in conflict for a good part of both games, even when they have to work together. In a meaningful contrast to Seifer's old romance with Rinoa, Zidane is the romantic rival who gets the girl in the end. Although Steiner is obsessed over Garnet, he shows no sign of romantic interest to her, but neither did Squall to Rinoa for the most of their story. In a way, Steiner is an alternative story of what would happen if Squall didn't come out of his shell and remained platonic to Rinoa.
Masterfully done.
just want to add to the grandiosity of the FMV, the music at 3:27 to 3:34 is playing the first, very first part of the franchise's theme
Yes. More final fantasy content brother. Subscribed.
You legend!! Thank you!
Square Enix...Final Fantasy franchise has brought us amazing stories akin the the movie industry. Yet we get to play through and enjoy the emotion through these games rather than watching actors...and the musical score is better.
Welp, rumours that 9 is getting remade next. Honestly i'd be less devastated if they fucked it up too, because this game has aged way better than 7 has. This truly is an incredible opening and establishes imo the strongest cast in the series.
Cast ain't the best outside of Vivi.
@@metastase895 by ff standards that’s a lot
FF9 was the best one learning abilities with your weapons and keeping them, a huge grind but worth it
can't wait until your series of rants about the FFIX Remake vs the FFVII Remake :)
Brilliant :)
I bought 9 a few weeks ago. And now I get an ad about why its good? UA-cam is trying to tell me something I guess!
Everyone wants a remake of FF8 when FF9 has such a more interesting world and lore IMO
I like them equally as theyre tonally completely different. But I do consider IX as the pinnacle of final fantasy, I love the most that it tells such a deep and serious story wrapped in a child like aesthetic, it’s themes and story only get more poignant the closer we get to death ourselves. Pure genius
The perfect ad.
My 2nd most favorite FF game after X. Just wish you could delete Zidane and make Vivi the main character.