Hey everyone, thanks for your patience with this one! Final Fantasy 9 has always been a game I’ve been meaning to tackle and I’m so happy to finally get this one out. Please expect many tangents and a video structure slightly different from my other stuff! I hope you all enjoy it, get hype for Part 2 and support me over on P@treon if liking and subscribing aren’t enough. 🙂 (I also stream over on my second channel which you can find in the description, ooo!)
My beloved. FF9 was my first ever JRPG I played, and it along with The Legend of Dragoon and Xenonlade Chronicles are my current favorite games of all time. Not counting FF14, which I feel is unfair to compare with 10+ years of build up.
@@StewNWT I believe I was 9 or 10 years old when I got FF9. Pretty sure it was a christmas present and I was so stoked. I immediately loved the characters on the cover art.
Clemps, you adorable little man. I'm just happy to see you again. I don't spend a lot of time on twitch. Do what you gotta. we're around in some form or another.
This is great! You did awesome, and I'm even more excited to see Part 2! I was really happy to see the Memoria project talked about. As an aside, here lately I've been liking older games getting remastered, or maybe those HD 2D remakes, like Star Ocean 2 is getting. But an all-around full makeover or remake, like you can almost imagine or bring yourself to wish for when looking at something like Memoria or heck, like the Chrono Break fan trailer. It really sparks the imagination, and leaves you wanting to see it become a real thing. Well, at least that's my feelings!
FF9 was my first RPG ever at the age of 8. I'm Polish, so I didn't even understand English without sitting with dictionary, but still I've still feeled what characters was feeling and what story wanted to tell me with music and atmosphere. Still my fav FF ever, even after I played it again on PS4
Makes me incredibly happy to still see people talking about this game so many years after its release. It's also my favourite game of all time and probably the single thing piece of media in the world that actually feels like a part of me. Thanks for making this, Clemps. Glad to see someone else find as much joy in this game as myself!
More than anything else, I just want Freya's arc to be completed and for her not to be forgotten by the story. The fact that she sits through her home and sister nation's invasion and obliteration, has her boyfriend forget her to her face, and doesn't tie into the Trance system - the super mode about fucking STRONG EMOTIONS - kind of shows that they just weren't thinking about her in the grand scheme of the story and game.
Freya's arc would feel a little more complete if she and Fratley encountered each other in Alexandria when everyone started getting romantic. Maybe have the beginnings of a rekindling of their past relationship but have it be done in a personal way to them like hunting a rare beast together. Would certainly make her epilogue less jarring.
wholeheartedly agree. I find it strange how she steiner and beatrix are on their own at some point, but we don't get to follow them. They're all knights with themes of disillusionment with their beliefs/loyalty, they should've had a story together. Maybe they all visit the ruins of cleyra and freya is anguished and angry at steiner and beatrix but helps the survivors move on, while those two confront their own doubts together. Plus the trio could join the finale of act 2, maybe fighting their own boss. all in all I think this was just missed potential
@@tab-xp8fb I wanted that interaction so badly! Especially given Beatrix's role in the destruction of Cleyra and Burmecia. It felt like a prime opportunity for drama to explore the presumed animosity between her and Freya and it's such a shame it doesn't get addressed.
Disagree. Her story is about her depression. She doesn't get a trance scene because she ISN'T having strong emotions, she's numb and doesn't care if she dies. And wasn't there a letter where she says, "fine Fratley forgot me. I'll go travel with him and make him fall in love with me AGAIN."?
Actually love the backgrounds in Final Fantasy 9 they're like literally works of art put in a game like literally you're like walking on art as the character.
For me I am in the same boat for the remake, but I am really interested in seeing the original vision for FFIX as the final part of the game was rushed out to beat the PS2 release and not release too close to FFX at the time. There were definitely things that feel rushed in the last disc.
Freya does get a scripted Trance moment, when you fight Gizamaluke in his grotto. It's subtle but it makes sense, the area is the first active battleground of the conflict against her people with multiple bodies and especially in a culturally sacred place, then to see Master Gizamaluke turned mad, makes sense it would happen but I wished the game emphasised it a little more
On the note of the bestiary and hunts- I think it could be really fun if this was something linked to Quina’s quest- maybe instead of a bestiary it’s a cookbook! It’s a little macabre maybe lol but I think it could be really cute to see notes written in her own voice + tie really well into their blue magic mechanics
The interview with the Memoria Project dev was something I was honestly thinking of skipping but I’m really glad I didn’t. The call out to fans to have faith and be patient with Square was so sincere. I can understand being such a huge fan now being horrified that your gift to the series will become a thorn in its side. Anyway! Looking forward to part 2!
FF9 is my partner's favorite ff and favorite game. And i fell in love with him because he quoted Zidane at me! We met randomly at a friend's DnD group and i was supposed to cook for the group that day. I enlisted him to help me cut vegetables and we talked about video games and he said "well, i guess zidane is my favorite video game character and I've made his motto my own life motto: 'i don't need a reason to help someone'" - i instantly knew that this was the guy for me and we've been together for 6.5 years now ♡ If they ever did make a remaster/mix/make, then with the state of square right now, I'd be pretty worried. I don't think they'd be able to capture and celebrate the original feel and genius. 9 was largely sakaguchi's vision and with every game since 12, they have deliberately moved further and further away from that vision. Square and, of course, do what they want, it's their IP. And i don't have to buy/play it. But it would be a shame if they put money and effort into it and it came out like the i remake or ff16. I don't think these new... ideas would work with ff9. At all. I'd be sad about the wasted potential. All i want from an ff9 remake would be: remastered/orchestral OST, maybe voice acting, better/updated graphics (they could keep pre-rendered backgrounds for all i care, just update them), faster atb, a little more openness and more stuff to do. Mayyybe more story stuff as well, like adding more context and content for freya, eiko, and amaranth. As long as they don't grim-y-fy it and/or make it an action game
Y'know I'd love for a theater based side content thanks to how ingrained that aspect is already for XI. Lindblum already has an established theater scene and Ruby single handedly makes one herself in Alexandria and with how entertainmentcentric Treno is you's expect one to be establsihed and booming. Basic idea is somewhat similar to other jrpgs with npc recruitment for say basebuilding like for Suikoden or item creation like for Star Ocean 3, so you go around each central cities to gather actors and actresses, performers, stage hands, prop makers, muscians and so on to make each theater have it's own charm and personalities. You can either gain side cash, items and materials plus the benefit of watching a play that may be fictional or even historical lore exposition that's packaged as a simple play. It would be honestly really cool to know the lore behind each Eidolons from historical or mythological interpertations of them through out the ages distilled in play form.
Honestly my biggest hope with a remake for IX is the opportunity to just sand over the edges some more mechanics wise, but also to re-integrate a lot content which never managed to fit into the original game. I believe that some interviews with development confirmed that they were also going back and forth on what to cut down on the final discs due to the game already being stretched to the limit. Stuff including cut boss fights and lore would literally be a dream come true to see in a remake. ALSO so glad to see someone acknowledge some of the lore from Ultimania. There's even stuff in there about Steiner losing his parents really young which would have given so much insight to his character if a player had actually had a chance to see dialogue about it in game.
To fix Trance, I would recommend a series of optional character quests that are centered around the various characters' emotions and how to deal with them in high stress situations, and doing so gives you Trance related abilities and modifiers. For Example, let's say that Freya gets a quest with clues about what happened to Fratley, and at the end of it she gets the Meditate ability, which lets her sacrifice a pirtion of her Trance Bar for a proportionate buff to her stats. Then after her second Trance quest, she gets the ability Concentrate, which lets her sacrifice a turn to build up a notable chunk of her Trance Meter (like the Focus ability in Skies of Arcadia). After the 3rd quest, she unlocks the Disociate Ability, which lets her choose whether or not to activate a Trance state once the meter is filled, and a filled meter carries on to the next fight, though the amount of power in the meter once you activate Trance becomes less for each battle you complete without activating it, up to a maximum of 3 battles, after which the meter is gone. And after the final quest in her Trance questline she gets Incarnate, which lets her carry forward her stored Trance form without loss, indefinitely.
Gonna be wholly honest; if there is a remake of FF9, I would love if they implemented Beatrix and Lani as fully playable characters. Do we need ten playable characters? Probably not. But would it be cool? *Hell yes!*
There's a mod on PC that incorporates Beatrix into the party. (Alternate Fantasy, it also exists as a PS1 romhack, but it's a much older version and not as complete and feature rich as the PC version)
IT'S HEEEEERE 🎉 v cool side content suggestions, I'd love to see them all implemented tbh. my only suggestion might be around weapon collecting. maybe, in addition to the bestiary, we could have a weapon / item catalog from "Alleyway Jack", and this could be a way to more organically find some of the ultimate weapons, instead of just shoving them into the Chocograph system
Expanding the weapon and synthesis system and narrative sounds fantastic. Lots of room to make all these assets get some lore, tie in the Jack subplot and give Amarant some spotlight and mechanical depth to Throw, add a secondary way to get Excalibur II, show the different technologies between the nations, and you don't even need to make a clunky minigame.
It's really wonderful when you find other's who share similar taste in games and movies. I always loved FF9 and The Dark Crystal, and so many other games you've posted videos on Clemps, thanks for all the great content, I hope you're feeling well.
I don't know which I'd like to see, but I like the idea of Sidequest of getting the spread around bermecians and bringing them to a optional location where other bemericans live and you can donate some old gear or something you get alot of but don't need to rebuild the prior two cities, and it won't be a hassle but it be nice to see them do. One thing they should steal from Star Ocean is Private actions, you should be able to split the party in towns more than once and small interactions will happen between the cast where they can bond and learn a bit about each other. Some crossover cameos and fights like maybe idk kimarhi falls out a portal and you battle him or a star ocean character like roddick that could be just mistaken for a Genome. This might be asking much but a secret optional party member, get one of those hippo people or something idk. Those are some of my ideas at the very least.
I'm quite nervous about them being able to capture the original's style. I'm hopeful about the story since they have lots of ideas that didn't make it into the original. I hope they'd use those rather than adding weird new stuff like with 7.
Yeah, FF7R kinda shat the bed, and the remasters of 8 and 9 are so halfhearted that physical releases were restricted to specific regions so I don't have faith in SQEX atm.
@TheBlackSeraph I have big issues with the 7 remake story wise, but I thought they nailed the style. That's easy to do with 7 and 8, they translate really well to realism. 9 doesn't which is why I'd rather them do 8.
@@SKSith I'd argue that they didn't really do that with 7R. I found that, as the game p*ssed me off more and more that bits that adhered to FF7's aesthetic vision (and there were a LOT that were just taken from FF13 & FF15) didn't match up because 7R seemed to be trying to use more a contemporary interpretation of cyberpunk than what the original FF7 was based upon. A prime example of that was f***king Chadley. He stands with VR combat goggles in a world where VR has never been a thing in a slum where power is a rare commodity. Style is more than character models, and as a Tifa fan, I I disagree they got that right as well (but then, the director of 7R was also the director of Advent Children so no surprises there...)
Man i've been feeling really niatalgic about this game the past few days, and watching all kinds of video essays about it. It's a criminally underrated game that got released at a bad time and flew under a lot of people's radars. But the story was extensive and complex, the cutscenes were downright cinematic, and the soundtrack was beautiful. And the FOUR DISCS kept me entertained for months as i went out to discover and complete all the sidequests, secret items and mini games. Out of all the games i played as a child, this one holds the most prominent place in my heart. I'll take the rumorswith a large grain of salt, but i would die a happy man if 9 got the same kind of remake that 7 got.
My first playthrough I voice acted the whole game for my gf. I definitely want to do it again while streaming. Loved this game and it immediately soared to the top of my favorites list.
Probably kinda random for most people here but FF9 also has THE best German localisation I have ever encountered. It is so lovingly done with many characters having a specific, ideosyncratic way of speaking, there's a stroke of absolute genius in there.
This video didn't feel like 40 minutes long at all! It was over before I knew it! I can just hear in your voice how much you love and adore FF9 and it really pulls me in :)
24:53 Dude that’s literally my favourite font, Ringbearer right? I remember downloading it to use for my Dragon’s Dogma videos and then I started using it for any RPG/fantasy style thing after a while. I expected Nostalgia when watching this video, but not that kind!
Good to see you back Clemps and well said. We can only hope we get what the fans have done with "Memoria Project" and "Moguri Mod" which are both something i'd love to see and play on an official capacity with some added money polish but I fully expect Squenix to just fart out some slightly updated models and some NFT's because that's modern Square. Square Enix also hates fan projects. See HD Chrono Trigger or the loads of fan games taken down off of BYOND (Final Fantasy Legacy, LOTC, WOTM) Extra bosses in Treno would work with the huntboard. In FFX it was a guy in a corner behind a desk. It'll work with the Hunt Board idea.
I was so excited when I saw you were working on this and I'm so happy you've published it! I can't wait for Part 2, but take your time and your health takes prioirity! With that said, I'm largely with you on those remix ideas, like with Trance! All they have to do is just give you the option of using it or not when the bar is full, and those story beats can still happen, it's just that after unlocking your Trance you've got better control and can choose when to use it instead of wasting it.
Loved the video! Can't wait for part 2! Your segment about guides reminded me of one FF9 guide I got free from a magazine. It was a poorly proof-read and edited mess, and I loved it. Some helpful tips were "The key is to all the lights." and the some boss guides starting off normal until you turn to the next page and it stops mid sentence.
Awesome video, I really liked it !! The timing is perfect, I was back in the FFIX nostalgia :) And I agree with every point you made. I'm excited for part 2 !! But of course take it easy, burnouts are serious stuffs so take care Clemps!
Excellent video. IX has always been my favorite of the PS1 Final Fantasies. The only thing I haven't done in the game is find Steiner's Excalibur 2, which I'll probably never do. XD
As somebody who was initially put off by IX's art direction all my life, and finally giving in and playing it for the first time a few years ago, if anyone has even the tiniest itch to play this game, PLEASE DO IT. VII has always been my favourite in the mainline series, but after playing IX, I can't decide between the two, so both VII and IX are my favourite FFs, and I'd even go as far as to say IX has the superior cast. Words can't describe how magical it is. Much like One Piece, it's not something that can be explained or shown, it needs to be experienced in order to fully understand what makes it so special
I have been a subscriber for some time, but I have only watched a couple of your videos . This is by far the most heartfelt and interesting Thank you for making this
The concerns you have for the Memoria Project can be easily fixed - due to the high level of detail they could easily fix cameras (at least in the locations shown so far) and still be accurate. Potentially the project could have a "classic" option that simply disables VA, keeps the camera angle's fixed, and maybe even removes certain elements like the early moogle you mentioned. This depends entirely on the project's format though, so maybe it isn't as easy a fix as I imagine.
Such a great video!!! I'll never forget the time when I was in early middle school, my friend introduced me this game showing me a few cinematic cutscenes to which that in itself is what got me intrigued in this game in the first place but never got a chance to play it until they rereleased on PS4 back in 2017. I wish I could try it on Moguri Mod, but I don't think my laptop wants to run it LOL Hearing you have such passion for his game makes me even more excited to see part 2 whenever you have the chance to get to it. You did a wonderful job Clemps!!
you should probably discuss how due to it being a late-stage ps1 game, it had a vastly reduced enemy count per random encounter when compared to other ff titles, which in turn was sort of detrimental to the gameplay, especially when there were skills that required there to be 3 or more enemies on screen to actually work, in a game with two at most 90 percent of the time.
9 became my favorite, I owned it for years and never tried it. (PlayStation original hardware). Never got around to it. Then a few years back I tried it out. Couldn't believe I missed it for so long. Better late than never though :)
Final Fantasy IX is my favorite Final Fantasy. I also hope they let Beatrix become a permanent party member. I have bought the game so many times and the remake will be no different. The remake is a long time coming, I hope they give Salamander/Amarant a stronger backstory it’s practically non existent. Freya is another character who’s story is a beautiful one but just stops after the reveal. I love this game and the love that shows in the memoria project and hopefully in the future remake is simply beautiful.
Its nice to reconice familiar music in these Videos. I enjoyed hearing "The first Layer" from "Made in Abyss" in your Video. I wish during the Festival of the hunt we could choose who to play as. It would be fun to play as Vivi and win with him.
My favorite part was they made Steal useful. 1) every single piece of equipment was useful, because you learned moves from them, and could synthesize them into new gear with even newer moves. So you wanted EVERY item, EVERY chest, and EVERY stolen item. 2) That every enemy had multiple items to steal, with different rarities and items that changed those. The bosses needed to actually be HARDER than they were so they survived long enough to steal all the good stuff without just defending over and over. 3) Zidane's super move got stronger the more times he's stolen. This is what classes get you, people. Character through mechanics. One of the big flaws with the "everyone can do everything" of 7,8, and 10. Eiko and Dagger, both summoners. But one gets double cast white magic to protect people, and one gets super summons to kill their enemies.
Interesting comment. Because for me, one of my least favorite mechanics is how prevalent stealing is. It's tedious and boring to me. But you felt like it was necessary to push through it and get it done anyway because you would be missing out on really great early equipment. Not to mention it is unrealistic in a couple of different ways. I've always hated stealing mechanics in JRPGs anyway, because if you kill an enemy that item should just be on their corpse as a loot drop (and don't get me started on RNG loot drops). Stealing should be only useful if you don't plan on killing the enemy. Snatch and run. But the other issue, how silly do all of your characters look just standing around doing support and defensive actions to watch a single other character run up and make a grab motion over and over and over. "Hey guys, stand there and get your asses beat for 15-30 minutes while I try to steal something that should just be a loot drop anyway." I'll admit that steal is better utilized in this game than any other FF game, to the point that it's gone too far and become too vital and necessary. Gripe over. Nothing against you or anyone who does enjoy the mechanics, but they need to be tweaked or altered a fair bit in my opinion. It could just be my tendency to prefer realism in my games, perhaps. Cheers however. 👍
I'm actually on Disc 3 of the game, and I plan to finish it soon, so I shall return when I've finished the game. Super excited to see the video when I get there! :D
You know what's fun? Stealing from monsters/bosses. Knowing that you're going to have to put yourself out there for several turns, putting your party at risk of a game over if your attempts to steal don't go well. Or if you're appropriately leveled, trying to not kill the monster/boss until you've gotten your treasures from them. Know what isn't fun? Having such a low success rate tied to stealing until the late game that you have to radically change how you play the game to get cool and/or unique gear. Throw tent at boss, hope for successful status ailments, cast slow, and then get to stealing until you're randomly successful, and now you can get back to playing your game. In Beatrix and Hillgigar's case most people will tell you just to give up after a couple resets. It's just not worth it. This was a quality of life fix in the Alternate Fantasy mod where you are guaranteed to get all the steals by turn 7-10, an appropriate amount of time to wait I think. Stealing items should be fun, not a chore that's best avoided to actually enjoy playing the game.
I really love Chocobo Hot n Cold, it's up there with my favorite mini game in Triple Triad and have literally started up games of FFIX just to play that mini game. One of the reason I have never got the under 12 hrs achievement in getting Excalibur 2. I'd love to see the Chocobo mini game expand on. I feel almost like the hunt board is a little over done, it's in X/X-2. XII, XV, and now XVI, I didn't play any of the XIII games, so idk. But could make sense thematically. IDK, I'd hope be better than how the system was in XV and actually work. I'd also like to see that tied in with the blacksmithing part too.
FFIX is my favourite FF game and you've summed up its flaws perfectly. As much as I love the game (perhaps with my rose tinted glasses on), Chocobo Hot and Cold is definitely a huge time sink just to be able to fight Ozma. Also frog catching. I absolutely hated how tedious it was to farm frogs for Quina to catch just to max out Frog Drop and fight Quale. I love all if not most of FF9's brilliant cast of members, but I always felt Amarant got the short end of the stick. Not only was he recruited towards the end of disc two, there's just... really nothing much to talk about him? It's like he was there to fill in the edgy member that was once the protagonist of the previous games. I wish we got the sassy Lani to join the party instead of him.
I think my idea of a Remake for FF9 is similar to what they are doing with FF7 Remake/Rebirth. I think a story of FF9 that isn't 1-for-1 would be the best route. Obviously keep the same themes and major plot points. If I wanted to play FF9 as is, I'd just play FF9 with Moguri Mod. Project Memoria is wonderful and I love their take on FF9's world and designs, they really killed it and the town is phenominal. With Memoria's design and something akin to the FF7 Remake's Action/ATB gameplay is what I'd love to see as it would fit Zidane's use of Daggers and being quick. Overall, I'd want a FF9 Remake that isn't exactly the original FF9. I'd like a story that I can experience for the first time and share that experience with others new fans who'd play the Remake. The original has a special place in my heart, but I think a FF9 Remake would hopefully pull in new people into the series and play the original while giving vets like us a road to bond with these new fans.
A lot of people I know don’t do mods. I just bought that little Sony attachment screen for the ps1 and I love it. Looks even better than I remember. Highly recommended. Just make sure to get one without blown speakers.
When it comes to fan made mods in general for any game, especially how high quality many of them are nowadays, it serves as an example of the passion and love fans have for any said game. To me it's a beautiful thing to see that love.
Me and a friend were talking about the potential IX remake, and one of the things we both agreed upon is that we don't want Squenix to try and REMAKE the game (a la the new FF7 games). Part of the appeal of IX is that it felt like classic Final Fantasy story compared to the more "modern feeling" 7 and 8. And I think that sentiment has grown as Final Fantasy has become unrecognizable. Basically if there truly is a remake happening, then it should reflect that "classic feel." I think that Memoria Project demo does a pretty good job of doing that.
Grew up with Labyrinth and Dark Crystal on VHS Final Fantasy 9 was my first final fantasy when I was 8 years old from Hollywood videos store first game I ever beat too love it to death great video super excited for part 2
More side content at the end of part two would be really cool too I really enjoy that subject or ideas of having whatever party members you want I really liked Blank when I was a kid I literally cheered when he comes back
Great video! FFIX is my favourite game as well, and very personal to me too. However, I would jump at the idea of a remake, or just..anything. The amount of love FFVII gets is outrageous, and It's been fascinating to see so much love towards IX that has been getting crumbs of attention in other games. Not to mention, I just want to be in the world again, but re-imagined, expanded and prettied up. There's so much in the game that I love but also some emmisions that could be included if they have time. Keep it turn based but make it snappy and modern, fix trance, explain Tetra Master properly, and give me some sweet sweet heartbreak in HD and voice acting, and it'll be golden. Best game ever.
I’ve always thought the chocobo raising mini game in 7 would have made more sense in 9. It like just fits the atmosphere. I guess I’m playing 9 again now! 2nd time this year
Regarding Trance: how about making the bar only fill up whilst you're actually in a weakened position, rather than every time you get hit? Each character could have a damage threshold, under which they can begin building meter. If a party member goes down, then everyone else gets the meter shared between each other. In theory I think that it would tie the super powered mode to times where the team is legitimately struggling and would introduce a risk - reward aspect for players who want to tactically keep a party member in danger of going down or are banking on getting big activations once a tankier character drops and fills the meter of your big damage dealer. Maybe you could also have any downed characters receive a last breath for the first time they go down, so that you're not going to need to spend the time using items unless you're doing badly in the first place. I feel like it's appropriate for the power to go off without the player having full control of it, but I do think that it could be interesting to offer you a variety of different means to manipulate the situation so that you get the most benefit from it, but doing so requires a lot of forward planning and risk management.
FF9 is a personal fave of mine, it's the first game that got me to pay attention to a game's plot. Beforehand I would kinda pay attention but never got invested. FF9 HOOKED me in with its story and world! I love it, I always will!
What a special game. After 8, which I didn't really care for, this "return to basics" blew my mind. Vivi is my favorite character across all of Final Fantasy. (6 is still the G.O.A.T. tho)
A good way to overall the trance system is this Have trance reset at the end of each combat or keep like 10% of the gauge and allow you to use it when you want during that combat when its full Add in Abilties that let you keep more of the trance gauge. So like 25% 50% 70% when combat ends so you can get these way way later in game or even lock them to the final weapons for each char.
FF9 is my favourite game, and indeed story of all time. Your intro really nails down why I've never thought the criticism of Necron as a 'space flea from nowhere' was warranted - they've travelled back through Memoria to essentially oblivion, and giving each other their strength to assert their right to exist ties a bow on the entire narrative. Being able to blast Kuja to smithereens is neither here nor there - their true victory over him is their acceptance that life is worth living in spite of the inevitability of death, and following on from this, Zidane's determination to reach out to him and not leave him to die alone, despite everything. I can only assume the people confused by Necron just didn't pick up on anything the story was saying, which is disappointing. There is potential for this element to be improved in a remake, but I'd personally prefer everything to be as faithful to the original as possible (albeit with the hypocritical wishlist items of expanded roles for Freya and Lani).
A few things I would tweak FF9 on: The ability to pick and choose when to go trance outside of scripted fights like with Zidane, Vivi and Steiner. I'm okay with how you're limited to do roughly 3 actions, but I wouldn't mind a slight option to pick when to go full trance for my party members. Fixing the "speed" of the ATB bar and possibly slowing down specific enemies that go crazy fast, not all enemies but just the very few specific "enemies" that the fandom knows which ones I'm talking about. Giving Freya a better conclusion to her arc. and lastly fixing that one segment where everybody is fighting the 4 fiend guardians.
8 was my first FF, then 7. I bought 9 a few months after its release with some money I made from a part time job and honestly it was instantly my favourite. What struck me was the inverse of the previous 2 main characters. Cloud and Squall are all moody and broody and slowly open up as their respective stories progress, Zidane starts as a loveable and humorous ladies guy with an upbeat personality and fierce loyalty. As 9 progresses he goes on a complete downer and starts to behave much like early game Squall or Cloud in so much that he becomes reserved and introverted. I really liked this shift. Plus the more classic steampunk style really gripped me.
I struggle to think of a game’s story more dear to me than FF9. Anyone feel FF9’s world has similarities to Discworld? As for suggestions: Near the end of the game when your party is split up, the different teams faced off against different bosses, but we didn’t get to play those fights. It would be cool to do those boss fights. Steiner’s final weapon is no longer timed. Maybe optional party members, liked Beatrix or Blank?
Hey everyone, thanks for your patience with this one! Final Fantasy 9 has always been a game I’ve been meaning to tackle and I’m so happy to finally get this one out. Please expect many tangents and a video structure slightly different from my other stuff! I hope you all enjoy it, get hype for Part 2 and support me over on P@treon if liking and subscribing aren’t enough. 🙂 (I also stream over on my second channel which you can find in the description, ooo!)
My beloved. FF9 was my first ever JRPG I played, and it along with The Legend of Dragoon and Xenonlade Chronicles are my current favorite games of all time. Not counting FF14, which I feel is unfair to compare with 10+ years of build up.
FFIV is my favourite game of all time - how old were you when you played 9? I love 9 but 4 will always be my favourite
@@StewNWT I believe I was 9 or 10 years old when I got FF9. Pretty sure it was a christmas present and I was so stoked. I immediately loved the characters on the cover art.
Clemps, you adorable little man. I'm just happy to see you again. I don't spend a lot of time on twitch.
Do what you gotta. we're around in some form or another.
This is great!
You did awesome, and I'm even more excited to see Part 2!
I was really happy to see the Memoria project talked about.
As an aside, here lately I've been liking older games getting remastered, or maybe those HD 2D remakes, like Star Ocean 2 is getting.
But an all-around full makeover or remake, like you can almost imagine or bring yourself to wish for when looking at something like Memoria or heck, like the Chrono Break fan trailer.
It really sparks the imagination, and leaves you wanting to see it become a real thing.
Well, at least that's my feelings!
FF9 was my first RPG ever at the age of 8. I'm Polish, so I didn't even understand English without sitting with dictionary, but still I've still feeled what characters was feeling and what story wanted to tell me with music and atmosphere. Still my fav FF ever, even after I played it again on PS4
Yes, I WOULD in fact like a 40 minute Clemps video about FF9. Thank you so much.
Makes me incredibly happy to still see people talking about this game so many years after its release. It's also my favourite game of all time and probably the single thing piece of media in the world that actually feels like a part of me.
Thanks for making this, Clemps. Glad to see someone else find as much joy in this game as myself!
More than anything else, I just want Freya's arc to be completed and for her not to be forgotten by the story.
The fact that she sits through her home and sister nation's invasion and obliteration, has her boyfriend forget her to her face, and doesn't tie into the Trance system - the super mode about fucking STRONG EMOTIONS - kind of shows that they just weren't thinking about her in the grand scheme of the story and game.
The irony
Freya's arc would feel a little more complete if she and Fratley encountered each other in Alexandria when everyone started getting romantic. Maybe have the beginnings of a rekindling of their past relationship but have it be done in a personal way to them like hunting a rare beast together. Would certainly make her epilogue less jarring.
wholeheartedly agree. I find it strange how she steiner and beatrix are on their own at some point, but we don't get to follow them. They're all knights with themes of disillusionment with their beliefs/loyalty, they should've had a story together.
Maybe they all visit the ruins of cleyra and freya is anguished and angry at steiner and beatrix but helps the survivors move on, while those two confront their own doubts together. Plus the trio could join the finale of act 2, maybe fighting their own boss. all in all I think this was just missed potential
@@tab-xp8fb I wanted that interaction so badly! Especially given Beatrix's role in the destruction of Cleyra and Burmecia. It felt like a prime opportunity for drama to explore the presumed animosity between her and Freya and it's such a shame it doesn't get addressed.
Disagree. Her story is about her depression. She doesn't get a trance scene because she ISN'T having strong emotions, she's numb and doesn't care if she dies.
And wasn't there a letter where she says, "fine Fratley forgot me. I'll go travel with him and make him fall in love with me AGAIN."?
Actually love the backgrounds in Final Fantasy 9 they're like literally works of art put in a game like literally you're like walking on art as the character.
For me I am in the same boat for the remake, but I am really interested in seeing the original vision for FFIX as the final part of the game was rushed out to beat the PS2 release and not release too close to FFX at the time. There were definitely things that feel rushed in the last disc.
Pre-Rendered backgrounds are honestly PEAK gaming
Freya does get a scripted Trance moment, when you fight Gizamaluke in his grotto. It's subtle but it makes sense, the area is the first active battleground of the conflict against her people with multiple bodies and especially in a culturally sacred place, then to see Master Gizamaluke turned mad, makes sense it would happen but I wished the game emphasised it a little more
Clemps is back. The Year is saved.
On the note of the bestiary and hunts- I think it could be really fun if this was something linked to Quina’s quest- maybe instead of a bestiary it’s a cookbook! It’s a little macabre maybe lol but I think it could be really cute to see notes written in her own voice + tie really well into their blue magic mechanics
Absolute genius idea that adds more to her character over the game's story.
Considering how much clemps love ff9, I can easily see how much this review will mean to him, so good on him
And water is wet.
The interview with the Memoria Project dev was something I was honestly thinking of skipping but I’m really glad I didn’t. The call out to fans to have faith and be patient with Square was so sincere. I can understand being such a huge fan now being horrified that your gift to the series will become a thorn in its side.
Anyway! Looking forward to part 2!
31:00 having the character's theme play while they're tranced and the UI changed like Bravely Default would be true kino
FF9 is my partner's favorite ff and favorite game. And i fell in love with him because he quoted Zidane at me! We met randomly at a friend's DnD group and i was supposed to cook for the group that day. I enlisted him to help me cut vegetables and we talked about video games and he said "well, i guess zidane is my favorite video game character and I've made his motto my own life motto: 'i don't need a reason to help someone'" - i instantly knew that this was the guy for me and we've been together for 6.5 years now ♡
If they ever did make a remaster/mix/make, then with the state of square right now, I'd be pretty worried. I don't think they'd be able to capture and celebrate the original feel and genius. 9 was largely sakaguchi's vision and with every game since 12, they have deliberately moved further and further away from that vision. Square and, of course, do what they want, it's their IP. And i don't have to buy/play it. But it would be a shame if they put money and effort into it and it came out like the i remake or ff16. I don't think these new... ideas would work with ff9. At all. I'd be sad about the wasted potential.
All i want from an ff9 remake would be: remastered/orchestral OST, maybe voice acting, better/updated graphics (they could keep pre-rendered backgrounds for all i care, just update them), faster atb, a little more openness and more stuff to do. Mayyybe more story stuff as well, like adding more context and content for freya, eiko, and amaranth. As long as they don't grim-y-fy it and/or make it an action game
Y'know I'd love for a theater based side content thanks to how ingrained that aspect is already for XI. Lindblum already has an established theater scene and Ruby single handedly makes one herself in Alexandria and with how entertainmentcentric Treno is you's expect one to be establsihed and booming. Basic idea is somewhat similar to other jrpgs with npc recruitment for say basebuilding like for Suikoden or item creation like for Star Ocean 3, so you go around each central cities to gather actors and actresses, performers, stage hands, prop makers, muscians and so on to make each theater have it's own charm and personalities. You can either gain side cash, items and materials plus the benefit of watching a play that may be fictional or even historical lore exposition that's packaged as a simple play. It would be honestly really cool to know the lore behind each Eidolons from historical or mythological interpertations of them through out the ages distilled in play form.
Honestly my biggest hope with a remake for IX is the opportunity to just sand over the edges some more mechanics wise, but also to re-integrate a lot content which never managed to fit into the original game. I believe that some interviews with development confirmed that they were also going back and forth on what to cut down on the final discs due to the game already being stretched to the limit. Stuff including cut boss fights and lore would literally be a dream come true to see in a remake.
ALSO so glad to see someone acknowledge some of the lore from Ultimania. There's even stuff in there about Steiner losing his parents really young which would have given so much insight to his character if a player had actually had a chance to see dialogue about it in game.
To fix Trance, I would recommend a series of optional character quests that are centered around the various characters' emotions and how to deal with them in high stress situations, and doing so gives you Trance related abilities and modifiers.
For Example, let's say that Freya gets a quest with clues about what happened to Fratley, and at the end of it she gets the Meditate ability, which lets her sacrifice a pirtion of her Trance Bar for a proportionate buff to her stats.
Then after her second Trance quest, she gets the ability Concentrate, which lets her sacrifice a turn to build up a notable chunk of her Trance Meter (like the Focus ability in Skies of Arcadia).
After the 3rd quest, she unlocks the Disociate Ability, which lets her choose whether or not to activate a Trance state once the meter is filled, and a filled meter carries on to the next fight, though the amount of power in the meter once you activate Trance becomes less for each battle you complete without activating it, up to a maximum of 3 battles, after which the meter is gone.
And after the final quest in her Trance questline she gets Incarnate, which lets her carry forward her stored Trance form without loss, indefinitely.
Makes me unreasonably happy to see this video finally out. And how wonderful it is, Clemps. Looking forward to Part 2
Gonna be wholly honest; if there is a remake of FF9, I would love if they implemented Beatrix and Lani as fully playable characters. Do we need ten playable characters? Probably not. But would it be cool? *Hell yes!*
There's a mod on PC that incorporates Beatrix into the party. (Alternate Fantasy, it also exists as a PS1 romhack, but it's a much older version and not as complete and feature rich as the PC version)
Pretty much my biggest wishes would be that and make tetra master actually good.
IT'S HEEEEERE 🎉
v cool side content suggestions, I'd love to see them all implemented tbh. my only suggestion might be around weapon collecting. maybe, in addition to the bestiary, we could have a weapon / item catalog from "Alleyway Jack", and this could be a way to more organically find some of the ultimate weapons, instead of just shoving them into the Chocograph system
Oh that's a great idea, any excuse for more Gil- uh, Jack.
Expanding the weapon and synthesis system and narrative sounds fantastic. Lots of room to make all these assets get some lore, tie in the Jack subplot and give Amarant some spotlight and mechanical depth to Throw, add a secondary way to get Excalibur II, show the different technologies between the nations, and you don't even need to make a clunky minigame.
You are such a wonderful writer Clemps. The way you describe games actively gets me excited and opens me up to what storytelling can do. Thank you!
It's really wonderful when you find other's who share similar taste in games and movies. I always loved FF9 and The Dark Crystal, and so many other games you've posted videos on Clemps, thanks for all the great content, I hope you're feeling well.
I don't know which I'd like to see, but I like the idea of Sidequest of getting the spread around bermecians and bringing them to a optional location where other bemericans live and you can donate some old gear or something you get alot of but don't need to rebuild the prior two cities, and it won't be a hassle but it be nice to see them do.
One thing they should steal from Star Ocean is Private actions, you should be able to split the party in towns more than once and small interactions will happen between the cast where they can bond and learn a bit about each other.
Some crossover cameos and fights like maybe idk kimarhi falls out a portal and you battle him or a star ocean character like roddick that could be just mistaken for a Genome.
This might be asking much but a secret optional party member, get one of those hippo people or something idk.
Those are some of my ideas at the very least.
I'm quite nervous about them being able to capture the original's style. I'm hopeful about the story since they have lots of ideas that didn't make it into the original. I hope they'd use those rather than adding weird new stuff like with 7.
Yeah, FF7R kinda shat the bed, and the remasters of 8 and 9 are so halfhearted that physical releases were restricted to specific regions so I don't have faith in SQEX atm.
@TheBlackSeraph I have big issues with the 7 remake story wise, but I thought they nailed the style. That's easy to do with 7 and 8, they translate really well to realism. 9 doesn't which is why I'd rather them do 8.
@@SKSith I'd argue that they didn't really do that with 7R. I found that, as the game p*ssed me off more and more that bits that adhered to FF7's aesthetic vision (and there were a LOT that were just taken from FF13 & FF15) didn't match up because 7R seemed to be trying to use more a contemporary interpretation of cyberpunk than what the original FF7 was based upon. A prime example of that was f***king Chadley. He stands with VR combat goggles in a world where VR has never been a thing in a slum where power is a rare commodity. Style is more than character models, and as a Tifa fan, I I disagree they got that right as well (but then, the director of 7R was also the director of Advent Children so no surprises there...)
Ah Good! There's a dozen tutorials for how to put the moguri mod on my steam deck. So you won me over with this video. Thanks Clemps.
Man i've been feeling really niatalgic about this game the past few days, and watching all kinds of video essays about it. It's a criminally underrated game that got released at a bad time and flew under a lot of people's radars. But the story was extensive and complex, the cutscenes were downright cinematic, and the soundtrack was beautiful. And the FOUR DISCS kept me entertained for months as i went out to discover and complete all the sidequests, secret items and mini games. Out of all the games i played as a child, this one holds the most prominent place in my heart. I'll take the rumorswith a large grain of salt, but i would die a happy man if 9 got the same kind of remake that 7 got.
I loved the pace + tone of this video. It made me really understand the value of 9 (never beat a ff game, I’m familiar with 7).
My first playthrough I voice acted the whole game for my gf. I definitely want to do it again while streaming. Loved this game and it immediately soared to the top of my favorites list.
Probably kinda random for most people here but FF9 also has THE best German localisation I have ever encountered. It is so lovingly done with many characters having a specific, ideosyncratic way of speaking, there's a stroke of absolute genius in there.
So happy you got this wonderful vid out! Great job!
This video didn't feel like 40 minutes long at all! It was over before I knew it!
I can just hear in your voice how much you love and adore FF9 and it really pulls me in :)
24:53 Dude that’s literally my favourite font, Ringbearer right? I remember downloading it to use for my Dragon’s Dogma videos and then I started using it for any RPG/fantasy style thing after a while. I expected Nostalgia when watching this video, but not that kind!
Good to see you back Clemps and well said. We can only hope we get what the fans have done with "Memoria Project" and "Moguri Mod" which are both something i'd love to see and play on an official capacity with some added money polish but I fully expect Squenix to just fart out some slightly updated models and some NFT's because that's modern Square.
Square Enix also hates fan projects. See HD Chrono Trigger or the loads of fan games taken down off of BYOND (Final Fantasy Legacy, LOTC, WOTM)
Extra bosses in Treno would work with the huntboard. In FFX it was a guy in a corner behind a desk. It'll work with the Hunt Board idea.
Ho man! I've been excited for the day you eventually take us down this road for years. This was so worth the wait!
Perfect timing. I needed something to listen to on my way home and 9 is also my favorite
My gf got me into the Dark Crystal. I had never seen it, but i watched it a few years ago and Jim Henson's puppets are *chef's kiss*
I was so excited when I saw you were working on this and I'm so happy you've published it! I can't wait for Part 2, but take your time and your health takes prioirity! With that said, I'm largely with you on those remix ideas, like with Trance! All they have to do is just give you the option of using it or not when the bar is full, and those story beats can still happen, it's just that after unlocking your Trance you've got better control and can choose when to use it instead of wasting it.
Loved the video! Can't wait for part 2!
Your segment about guides reminded me of one FF9 guide I got free from a magazine. It was a poorly proof-read and edited mess, and I loved it. Some helpful tips were "The key is to all the lights." and the some boss guides starting off normal until you turn to the next page and it stops mid sentence.
Fvcking… finally!
Glad you got this out, Clemps
FF9 was my first look into existentialism at 10 years old. Everything about this game is aesthetically pleasing and captivating.
BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE BAYBEEEE THANKS CLEMPS
Awesome video, I really liked it !! The timing is perfect, I was back in the FFIX nostalgia :)
And I agree with every point you made. I'm excited for part 2 !! But of course take it easy, burnouts are serious stuffs so take care Clemps!
Excellent video. IX has always been my favorite of the PS1 Final Fantasies. The only thing I haven't done in the game is find Steiner's Excalibur 2, which I'll probably never do. XD
So glad to see a video from you again! I was immediately hooked upon seeing my vid of yours, so it's always a treat to get a new one.
FFIX is my all time favorite game, its awesome to hear someone speak about it with the same reverence that I do lol
That player's guide still fills me with rage.
Heeeey good to see you back
Any day there’s a new Clemps video is a good day
I'm a simple man. I see a Clemps video on FFIX, I click.
As somebody who was initially put off by IX's art direction all my life, and finally giving in and playing it for the first time a few years ago, if anyone has even the tiniest itch to play this game, PLEASE DO IT. VII has always been my favourite in the mainline series, but after playing IX, I can't decide between the two, so both VII and IX are my favourite FFs, and I'd even go as far as to say IX has the superior cast. Words can't describe how magical it is. Much like One Piece, it's not something that can be explained or shown, it needs to be experienced in order to fully understand what makes it so special
the long wait was worth it...what a great fun video! one of your best. :) cant wait for part 2!
I have been a subscriber for some time, but I have only watched a couple of your videos .
This is by far the most heartfelt and interesting
Thank you for making this
The concerns you have for the Memoria Project can be easily fixed - due to the high level of detail they could easily fix cameras (at least in the locations shown so far) and still be accurate. Potentially the project could have a "classic" option that simply disables VA, keeps the camera angle's fixed, and maybe even removes certain elements like the early moogle you mentioned.
This depends entirely on the project's format though, so maybe it isn't as easy a fix as I imagine.
Such a great video!!! I'll never forget the time when I was in early middle school, my friend introduced me this game showing me a few cinematic cutscenes to which that in itself is what got me intrigued in this game in the first place but never got a chance to play it until they rereleased on PS4 back in 2017. I wish I could try it on Moguri Mod, but I don't think my laptop wants to run it LOL Hearing you have such passion for his game makes me even more excited to see part 2 whenever you have the chance to get to it. You did a wonderful job Clemps!!
you should probably discuss how due to it being a late-stage ps1 game, it had a vastly reduced enemy count per random encounter when compared to other ff titles, which in turn was sort of detrimental to the gameplay, especially when there were skills that required there to be 3 or more enemies on screen to actually work, in a game with two at most 90 percent of the time.
there's a lot of stuff you could bring up when critiquing this game tbh.
9 became my favorite, I owned it for years and never tried it. (PlayStation original hardware). Never got around to it. Then a few years back I tried it out. Couldn't believe I missed it for so long. Better late than never though :)
Final Fantasy IX is my favorite Final Fantasy. I also hope they let Beatrix become a permanent party member. I have bought the game so many times and the remake will be no different. The remake is a long time coming, I hope they give Salamander/Amarant a stronger backstory it’s practically non existent. Freya is another character who’s story is a beautiful one but just stops after the reveal. I love this game and the love that shows in the memoria project and hopefully in the future remake is simply beautiful.
I'd also like Zidane's mates to be thrown in as well.
They are all playable, might as well let us keep them.
I’m so glad this happened! Great job as always ❤️
The interview just made this video even better
Its nice to reconice familiar music in these Videos. I enjoyed hearing "The first Layer" from "Made in Abyss" in your Video.
I wish during the Festival of the hunt we could choose who to play as. It would be fun to play as Vivi and win with him.
My favorite part was they made Steal useful.
1) every single piece of equipment was useful, because you learned moves from them, and could synthesize them into new gear with even newer moves. So you wanted EVERY item, EVERY chest, and EVERY stolen item.
2) That every enemy had multiple items to steal, with different rarities and items that changed those. The bosses needed to actually be HARDER than they were so they survived long enough to steal all the good stuff without just defending over and over.
3) Zidane's super move got stronger the more times he's stolen. This is what classes get you, people. Character through mechanics. One of the big flaws with the "everyone can do everything" of 7,8, and 10. Eiko and Dagger, both summoners. But one gets double cast white magic to protect people, and one gets super summons to kill their enemies.
Interesting comment. Because for me, one of my least favorite mechanics is how prevalent stealing is. It's tedious and boring to me. But you felt like it was necessary to push through it and get it done anyway because you would be missing out on really great early equipment. Not to mention it is unrealistic in a couple of different ways. I've always hated stealing mechanics in JRPGs anyway, because if you kill an enemy that item should just be on their corpse as a loot drop (and don't get me started on RNG loot drops). Stealing should be only useful if you don't plan on killing the enemy. Snatch and run. But the other issue, how silly do all of your characters look just standing around doing support and defensive actions to watch a single other character run up and make a grab motion over and over and over. "Hey guys, stand there and get your asses beat for 15-30 minutes while I try to steal something that should just be a loot drop anyway." I'll admit that steal is better utilized in this game than any other FF game, to the point that it's gone too far and become too vital and necessary. Gripe over. Nothing against you or anyone who does enjoy the mechanics, but they need to be tweaked or altered a fair bit in my opinion. It could just be my tendency to prefer realism in my games, perhaps. Cheers however. 👍
This is everything I've ever wanted to say about this game, but didn't have the words to describe. Clemps, you are a gift. Love you and be well!
Hearing you say you feel rejuvenated made my day man. Incredible video as always.
I'm actually on Disc 3 of the game, and I plan to finish it soon, so I shall return when I've finished the game. Super excited to see the video when I get there! :D
I've been waiting for this for a long time! Happy to finally see it made
Alex Moukala has been popping up all over the place and I approve completely
Videos like this are exactly why I'm proud to be a patron. Superb video as always, Clemps. ❤
OH HI CLEMPS!
I love FFIX, my favorite, happy to see you making videos on it
love ya clemps. great vid, looking forward to part 2
Thank GOD I just finished this game for the first time about a week ago before Clemps put the video out.
You know what's fun? Stealing from monsters/bosses. Knowing that you're going to have to put yourself out there for several turns, putting your party at risk of a game over if your attempts to steal don't go well. Or if you're appropriately leveled, trying to not kill the monster/boss until you've gotten your treasures from them.
Know what isn't fun? Having such a low success rate tied to stealing until the late game that you have to radically change how you play the game to get cool and/or unique gear. Throw tent at boss, hope for successful status ailments, cast slow, and then get to stealing until you're randomly successful, and now you can get back to playing your game. In Beatrix and Hillgigar's case most people will tell you just to give up after a couple resets. It's just not worth it.
This was a quality of life fix in the Alternate Fantasy mod where you are guaranteed to get all the steals by turn 7-10, an appropriate amount of time to wait I think. Stealing items should be fun, not a chore that's best avoided to actually enjoy playing the game.
I really love Chocobo Hot n Cold, it's up there with my favorite mini game in Triple Triad and have literally started up games of FFIX just to play that mini game. One of the reason I have never got the under 12 hrs achievement in getting Excalibur 2. I'd love to see the Chocobo mini game expand on.
I feel almost like the hunt board is a little over done, it's in X/X-2. XII, XV, and now XVI, I didn't play any of the XIII games, so idk. But could make sense thematically. IDK, I'd hope be better than how the system was in XV and actually work. I'd also like to see that tied in with the blacksmithing part too.
FFIX is my favourite FF game and you've summed up its flaws perfectly. As much as I love the game (perhaps with my rose tinted glasses on), Chocobo Hot and Cold is definitely a huge time sink just to be able to fight Ozma. Also frog catching. I absolutely hated how tedious it was to farm frogs for Quina to catch just to max out Frog Drop and fight Quale.
I love all if not most of FF9's brilliant cast of members, but I always felt Amarant got the short end of the stick. Not only was he recruited towards the end of disc two, there's just... really nothing much to talk about him? It's like he was there to fill in the edgy member that was once the protagonist of the previous games. I wish we got the sassy Lani to join the party instead of him.
Congratulations! It’s a healthy baby! Now to recover from the labor I suggest having a nice weekend off in the wildernis
That Play Online stuff in the strategy guide was AWFUL. Class action suit material, lol.
I think my idea of a Remake for FF9 is similar to what they are doing with FF7 Remake/Rebirth. I think a story of FF9 that isn't 1-for-1 would be the best route. Obviously keep the same themes and major plot points. If I wanted to play FF9 as is, I'd just play FF9 with Moguri Mod. Project Memoria is wonderful and I love their take on FF9's world and designs, they really killed it and the town is phenominal. With Memoria's design and something akin to the FF7 Remake's Action/ATB gameplay is what I'd love to see as it would fit Zidane's use of Daggers and being quick.
Overall, I'd want a FF9 Remake that isn't exactly the original FF9. I'd like a story that I can experience for the first time and share that experience with others new fans who'd play the Remake. The original has a special place in my heart, but I think a FF9 Remake would hopefully pull in new people into the series and play the original while giving vets like us a road to bond with these new fans.
I remember seeing a stream notification and seeing a quiet 20(?) Min Clemps misstream FF9, chat was funny
A lot of people I know don’t do mods. I just bought that little Sony attachment screen for the ps1 and I love it. Looks even better than I remember. Highly recommended. Just make sure to get one without blown speakers.
When it comes to fan made mods in general for any game, especially how high quality many of them are nowadays, it serves as an example of the passion and love fans have for any said game. To me it's a beautiful thing to see that love.
Glad to hear you talk about your favorite game, Clemps! Been looking forward to this one!
Me and a friend were talking about the potential IX remake, and one of the things we both agreed upon is that we don't want Squenix to try and REMAKE the game (a la the new FF7 games). Part of the appeal of IX is that it felt like classic Final Fantasy story compared to the more "modern feeling" 7 and 8. And I think that sentiment has grown as Final Fantasy has become unrecognizable. Basically if there truly is a remake happening, then it should reflect that "classic feel." I think that Memoria Project demo does a pretty good job of doing that.
Grew up with Labyrinth and Dark Crystal on VHS Final Fantasy 9 was my first final fantasy when I was 8 years old from Hollywood videos store first game I ever beat too love it to death great video super excited for part 2
More side content at the end of part two would be really cool too I really enjoy that subject or ideas of having whatever party members you want I really liked Blank when I was a kid I literally cheered when he comes back
Brightens my day to see a new video from you! Cheers!
Great video! FFIX is my favourite game as well, and very personal to me too. However, I would jump at the idea of a remake, or just..anything. The amount of love FFVII gets is outrageous, and It's been fascinating to see so much love towards IX that has been getting crumbs of attention in other games. Not to mention, I just want to be in the world again, but re-imagined, expanded and prettied up. There's so much in the game that I love but also some emmisions that could be included if they have time.
Keep it turn based but make it snappy and modern, fix trance, explain Tetra Master properly, and give me some sweet sweet heartbreak in HD and voice acting, and it'll be golden. Best game ever.
I’ve always thought the chocobo raising mini game in 7 would have made more sense in 9. It like just fits the atmosphere.
I guess I’m playing 9 again now! 2nd time this year
Regarding Trance: how about making the bar only fill up whilst you're actually in a weakened position, rather than every time you get hit?
Each character could have a damage threshold, under which they can begin building meter. If a party member goes down, then everyone else gets the meter shared between each other.
In theory I think that it would tie the super powered mode to times where the team is legitimately struggling and would introduce a risk - reward aspect for players who want to tactically keep a party member in danger of going down or are banking on getting big activations once a tankier character drops and fills the meter of your big damage dealer.
Maybe you could also have any downed characters receive a last breath for the first time they go down, so that you're not going to need to spend the time using items unless you're doing badly in the first place.
I feel like it's appropriate for the power to go off without the player having full control of it, but I do think that it could be interesting to offer you a variety of different means to manipulate the situation so that you get the most benefit from it, but doing so requires a lot of forward planning and risk management.
HE LIVES, AND IS ALIVE! good to see you again mr.rubberglove dude.
FF9 is a personal fave of mine, it's the first game that got me to pay attention to a game's plot. Beforehand I would kinda pay attention but never got invested. FF9 HOOKED me in with its story and world! I love it, I always will!
What a special game. After 8, which I didn't really care for, this "return to basics" blew my mind. Vivi is my favorite character across all of Final Fantasy. (6 is still the G.O.A.T. tho)
A good way to overall the trance system is this
Have trance reset at the end of each combat or keep like 10% of the gauge and allow you to use it when you want during that combat when its full
Add in Abilties that let you keep more of the trance gauge. So like 25% 50% 70% when combat ends so you can get these way way later in game or even lock them to the final weapons for each char.
Definitely my favourite too, and a big impact on my life, but it's hard to explain to people who don't play it
The years of build-up! It's an exciting ride! Thanks for making it
FF9 is my favourite game, and indeed story of all time. Your intro really nails down why I've never thought the criticism of Necron as a 'space flea from nowhere' was warranted - they've travelled back through Memoria to essentially oblivion, and giving each other their strength to assert their right to exist ties a bow on the entire narrative. Being able to blast Kuja to smithereens is neither here nor there - their true victory over him is their acceptance that life is worth living in spite of the inevitability of death, and following on from this, Zidane's determination to reach out to him and not leave him to die alone, despite everything.
I can only assume the people confused by Necron just didn't pick up on anything the story was saying, which is disappointing. There is potential for this element to be improved in a remake, but I'd personally prefer everything to be as faithful to the original as possible (albeit with the hypocritical wishlist items of expanded roles for Freya and Lani).
When you mentioned the scene around Steiner's automatic trance, I had to fight every urge to go home and start a new plauthrough
A few things I would tweak FF9 on:
The ability to pick and choose when to go trance outside of scripted fights like with Zidane, Vivi and Steiner. I'm okay with how you're limited to do roughly 3 actions, but I wouldn't mind a slight option to pick when to go full trance for my party members.
Fixing the "speed" of the ATB bar and possibly slowing down specific enemies that go crazy fast, not all enemies but just the very few specific "enemies" that the fandom knows which ones I'm talking about.
Giving Freya a better conclusion to her arc.
and lastly fixing that one segment where everybody is fighting the 4 fiend guardians.
Been waiting for this video!
8 was my first FF, then 7. I bought 9 a few months after its release with some money I made from a part time job and honestly it was instantly my favourite. What struck me was the inverse of the previous 2 main characters. Cloud and Squall are all moody and broody and slowly open up as their respective stories progress, Zidane starts as a loveable and humorous ladies guy with an upbeat personality and fierce loyalty. As 9 progresses he goes on a complete downer and starts to behave much like early game Squall or Cloud in so much that he becomes reserved and introverted. I really liked this shift. Plus the more classic steampunk style really gripped me.
Some of the best pre rendered backgrounds ever are in this game
I struggle to think of a game’s story more dear to me than FF9. Anyone feel FF9’s world has similarities to Discworld?
As for suggestions: Near the end of the game when your party is split up, the different teams faced off against different bosses, but we didn’t get to play those fights. It would be cool to do those boss fights.
Steiner’s final weapon is no longer timed.
Maybe optional party members, liked Beatrix or Blank?