I can’t stop watching these FF Retrospective videos. Even after years they’re still nice to listen to when I’m cranking out some levels in persona 4 or storyboarding comics.
Final fantasy 9 honestly has some of the most endearing and fascinating characters, ones easy to invest in, which makes it so impactful to see all the shit they go through. Vivi's plight was heartbreaking.
FF9's marketing was pretty light. I clearly remember reading in an article that it was meant to be a celebration of the old Final Fantasy style before the series would go in a new direction on the PS2, so it was obviously something of an in-betweener for Square. Attention was moving toward the next generation of consoles and I suppose they didn't want to distract from that. I did read a pre-release article for it, though, so there was SOME buzz. - Lewis
Terra's transformation is officially called Trance, actually, ever since the FF6 Advance translation. And it might have been called that in Japanese; I think the Trance system was itself a reference to Terra's transformation. There's a neat moment in Dissidia NT's story mode where Zidane, Kuja, and Terra all Trance out at the same time in the same frame. - Lewis
Terra's transformation is officially called Trance, actually, ever since the FF6 Advance translation. And it might have been called that in Japanese; I think the Trance system was itself a reference to Terra's transformation. There's a neat moment in Dissidia NT's story mode where Zidane, Kuja, and Terra all Trance out at the same time in the same frame. - Lewis
What if they made a Final Fantasy spinoff where we played as Gilgamesh and had to jump between the other games to fix events that had gone wrong from an external force messing with things.
When this series began i started a marathon to play every FF game along with clement. every time clement releases a video of a game before i beat it but this is the first time i was able to finish the game months before you release the video So thank you clement for introducing me to some of my favorite games ever My favorites are FFV and FFIX
V and IX!? They're my favourites too! VI I found too easy but has a fantastic story. VII has a great atmosphere, but too serious for my liking. VIII was too much like a shoujo manga. They're not bad, but I have my preferences.
This one is by far my favorite Final Fantasy. Between the references, the (in my opinion) excellent storytelling, the decent graphics and FMVs (especially transitions and hybrids between FMV and regular cutscene)...this one hit notes that the FF games to follow couldn't quite manage.
Ever since you started this retrospective, I've anxiously awaited this one. My second favorite in the series. Thank you, Clement. You delivered it beautifully.
i find the idea of a wizard being a mindless drone to be so fascinating. usually mage characters are assosiated with, well, being smart and having a lot of agency.
@@KOTEBANAROT 2 years late, but are you familiar with the witches from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia? They're essentially a hard hitting, magic-based enemy unit in the game, but how women become witches is rather horrifying: they offer their own souls to their god in exchange for great magical power, and in doing so turn into creepy, puppet-like husks. This is also relevant to a few of the characters, it's really disturbing but nevertheless pretty cool. The game in general has some really messed up stuff going, and it's mostly in the details. Phenomenal game overall, I must say, definitely give it a look if you haven't already!
FFIX is my favorite. The characters, the story, their interactions, almost everything was perfect about it, with a few exceptions. The Trance System was dumb as hell with just how it worked. I can't even begin to count just how many times a trance got wasted before I wanted to use it. Beatrix I liked the idea of. I really wish they showed a bit more of her personal conflict before she turned on Brahne to rescue Garnet. Freya's story felt like a bunch got cut. Last but not least, the final boss, Necron comes out of fucking nowhere with no buildup unless you believe in fan theories requiring a bunch of mental gymnastics.
I agree with all you said especially with trace system and also battles take while to load on ps1. The steal rate geeezzzz 😑 yeah Necron was outta nowhere but damn his battle theme made it worth it
They really shouldn’t have done Freya like that she is such a beautiful character. I’m happy for the ending she got but there could’ve been so much more that could’ve happened with her during the main game.
My first Final Fantasy game I've played and beaten the story mode in--about 40 hours to be exact, and talk about a great first impression! Even if you're not a FF fan already and miss out on all the callbacks and references, it still makes a good starting points for newcomers, I believe.
Congratulations, Clement on a job well done! You deserve a good break. Looking forward to hearing your perspective on 10! That was my first Final Fantasy.
Have you ever noticed how there always seems to be three of the main series game per generation? NES: I, II, and III SNES: IV, V, VI PS1: VII, VIII, IX PS2: X, X-2, XII (XI and XIV, in my eyes, are just Final Fantasy Online I and II) PS3: XIII, XIII-2, XIII-3 I'm thinking, due to the shear size of FFXV, this streak might get broken.
If you're counting X-2, XIII-2, and Lightning Returns as a main series, then you must also count, at a minimum, The After Years, Dirge of Cerberus (also the mobile game that's like a prequel or something), Before Crisis, and Crisis Core as main series games. Personally I'm in the camp that says all the expanded universe games are spinoffs and that XI and XIV do count.
Blaumagier None of those were pre-planned, and are therefore spin-offs. X-2, X-3, XIII-2, and XIII-3 were all planned ahead. X-2 and X-3 were fused into one game. Everyone sees things differently. There are still people who have their own Zelda timeline, despite Nintendo releasing an official one.
yeah and I have to agree with counting the spinoffs in the series. A friend of mine is streaming all the FF games and we just got to FF13-3 which will be the last one he does for a while as he already did 15 but he didn't have any of the dlc's at the time he did it just as it came out. So maybe in the future he might do some of those if I do an lp of that I will include them for sure as they are part of the story but they keep coming up with new things for that game all the time so glad i got the windows edition
OH GOD YES!!!! It has been 10 thousand years but we finally have it!!! Time to get me some drinks and pizza! After all this is my fav final fantasy and used to be my fav RPG until I met the trails in the sky games (or the entire trails series in general)
The learning abilities through weapons and armor reminds me of Tales of Vesperia. For those of you who don’t know because this is a video about Final Fantasy, is a RPG that was originally released for the Xbox 360, you can now buy it for the Nintendo Switch. Buy the free DLC’s to, they are very cool and FREE!
Man this video series is so amazing. You do such great content man, and going through all this videos again is a joy. I got inspired to play all the games my self, just started FF1. Cant wait for X-2 video.
I always renamed Vivi to Jawa. I didn’t play the NES SNES games until later, so the Black Mage looked like a Jawa, which was probably an homage anyways, Sakaguchi was a star wars fanboy.
Wonderful. Thank you for this. This was my first FF, and I believe I finished it in a month, which I thought was quick at the time! I think I was 16 years old (now 35). The Kuja OST is forever in my head.
I will always love this game as a Final Fantasy game. And I know my brothers love this game, as well because when it came to RPGs, this was the one they spent the most time on and I would watch them play it everyday. I wasn't into RPGs, at the time when they played this game and beat it, but later down the line when my interest for the genre would change, I was so happy to finally come back to this game and experience it for myself. Especially after going through the nightmare that was FF VIII, then immediately going straight to this game afterwards, for me it was literary a breath of fresh air.
I am honestly surprised that you never brought up Reis from FFTactics in your reference montage. Since her name was used for one of abilities in FF9 Reis Wind.
The PlayStation era of Final Fantasy was (with the exception of 8 being mixed for me at least) great! Now we move onto the divisive PS2 era. Really looking forward to seeing 10-2 get ripped apart!
Malik Reeves I think from a story point of view FF X-2 deserves the hate as well as the pointless mini-games and stuff, but the combat system was top notch imo.
yin yang Na if 13 weren't so linear so long and had town with npc's it be just fine. The lore, ost, battle system and graphics were great. FFX-2 was lacking or just cringeworthy in every area except for its graphics and battle system. Defend it all you want but even 13 wasn't that bad. Not to mention the platinum trophy requires multiple playthroughs...
I named Garnet "Cortana" as this is the sword used to bestow responsibility upon the kings and queens of Europe. Obviously, only after doing some research. I think it fits her very well, especially once her responsibilities change later in the game.
As someone who started with 4 but fell in love with thanks to 10 I am excited to see your thoughts. Also thanks for doing this video as it's helped me understand things in the older games I was unaware of. Truth be told, it's kind of made me wanna give them all a shot again. Till next time!
Oh hell yeah, it's finally here! Took me a bit to finish this video up. Great video once again, then again, you are The Great Glement. FF9 is still my favorite, but I won't lie, nostalgia has a big role in it. Waiting for FFX impatiently.
I absolutely ADORE FFIX to this day, it was my FF I owned and finished. The OST, Characters, The Setting..did I already mention OST? D: Keep up the good work! :3
While that is an interesting side quest, I don't think it's too relevant to mention, as well as not to relevant to Garnet herself. For a good chunk of her life she lived as Garnet, and for a very important period for her, she lived as Dagger, those are the names that have weight for her. Not to say she wouldn't like to know about her life in Madain Sari, or feel anything towards it, but, personally, I don't think she would relate much to it.
That's hella funny. I just posted a comment about this. I'm honestly not surprised since its kind of a hidden secret and not completely obvious that it's referring to Garnet, but honestly who else could it be. I always rename her Sarah every time I play this game.
I will say, the best part about having an up beat, happy go lucky main character, it's a MASSIVE impact when they take that gut punch and get super depressed, you FEEL it. When Squall gets super serious and dour you're just like "that's just Squall." When Zidane does it, you're like "MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER YOU GITS!"
In the German version Garnet named herself Lili (because Zidane told her it‘s a Liliendolch/Lily Dagger). I grew up with her as Lili, so I was pretty shocked that she just named herself „Dagger“, when I grew up and look into other translations.
Just found this series, and started off with watching my favorite of the series. I agree it's not perfect, but it's the only one I've ever come back to and finished multiple times. Now it's time to watch these all backwards.
I think a good explanation for Necron showing up would be from the crystal getting shattered. Instead of it causing the end of all life, it causes the very personification of death itself to manifest. That would give Necron more justification as the game’s final boss. Was it really that hard for the writers to come up with a simple explanation for him showing up? If I can think of one, why couldn’t they?
Necron exists for a few reasons. 1. He's vaguely mentioned by Garland when he's giving his motivations and telling Zidane various info. It's when he mentions that the Soul Cage was only one part of the Iifa Tree, the physical aspect. Necron being the spiritual. 2. The game has themes regarding to Life and Death. Where the characters find their reasons for living. So Necron as the final boss relates to how the characters have to defeat or overcome the fear of inevitable death to live their lives. 3. Lastly, is the referential reasons. Necron not only looks similar to a boss called Necross in FFV, but the lead up is somewhat similar to FFIII against the Cloud of Darkness. The characters being defeated, then brought back by their friends. As the theme plays a haunting melody, it eventually ramps up.
Even so, this wasn't the first Final Fantasy game where an Final Boss came out of nowhere. FF1 & FF4 anyone? Another Final Fantasy reference. And unlike those bosses, Necron's " out of nowhere experience " makes sense since it's the life form that represents soulless, sadness or death.
FFIX was my first and favorite FF game. I loved its unique charming style, the story, the characters, music. It had a lovely balance of comedy, adventure, romance and tragedy.
This was my 2nd Final Fantasy game that I played back then (I’m 27 right now), and I loved it. Yeah the game may be 4 discs but in my opinion it was worth it - a lot of story plot twists, long side quests, the music, etc... If I could go back to play the game as if it was my first time on it, I definitely would. P.S. Zidane’s Emo moment.........period 👌
The Garnet naming thing always struck me as odd. I like the idea of it; I guess keeping the name after is needed is supposed to reflect her growth as a character into someone new, but the default of ‘Dagger’ makes it way too silly to keep using as a moniker.
You're right on target, Lipm. I think the way they executed it was poor and it made a lot of players confused. And the name was not appropriate for the set up they already had. I think it could have actually worked out had they plotted out the character's change of wardrobe and hair style for the game. In the beginning of the game: as Princess Garnet, give the character a more formal royal look. She can have her bright orange look here or start her off with something dark like purple and black. Whatever you choose, it has to vastly contrast what she ends up wearing in-game. Then change her to a more casual and fan appealing design. This is the one she'll be on the cover as. Add a few extra quirks like a necklace or bracelet that look hand made and take away legit jewelry she had. Give her a weapon that looks cool. And voila. Personally, since she's a white mage, I would have given her a cool cloak, tied her hair up in a more battle ready bun, maybe give her a white bandana. Give her a cool staff or cleric mace and finish it off with a decent cleric sounding name. If she were a thief joining an underbelly thieves guild _then_ maybe I would have went with "Dagger." It sounds like the kind of name a naive upperclass princess would come up with last minute when confronted by a more ruthless street urchin. At any rate, I think too hard about stuff like this because I'm a fantasy novelist and am working on my own universe. This is a fun exercise and one that I appreciate you kicked off in my head. Have a great day my friend. 🙏
Man, I love FF9, so, so much. It was my first Final Fantasy, and it just...hits all the right beats for me. The unforgettable characters, the story, just...I love it. I'm not a fan of the comedic breaking of 6, 7 and 8 you can do since everyone can (mostly) do the same things. I'm not a fan of 10's sphere grid, and i'm gonna refrain on talking about 13 for as long as possible. I love this classic final fantasy feeling. Every character has their own class, own moves, own quirks in and out of gameplay that I miss so much in a lot of the games now. I adore 4 and 9 so much. While i do enjoy most of the games in the series on some level or another. none hit my heart like this one. The gameplay always felt nice, and while Trance being something you couldn't control was annoying, it made sense within the story, since it's all about a release of powerful emotions. And, if i'm honest, 9 is the game i want them to give an after years to, much like they did with 4. And yes, I know, after years isn't a terribly good game, but i still adore it. I'm not entirely sure what the after years of 9 would do, but i just...i want more time with these characters. i want to see what they've been doing since the end of the game... Also, while chocobo hot and cold isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, i had no problem sitting down and playing it for hours, even after i got all the chocographs, because i enjoyed it. And for that matter, all of the mini games you play throughout the game are all great moments. May it be getting rewarded for simple things, like getting Eiko to make good food, or selecting the right soldiers to do the right thing in Alexandria, it was always fun. And let us, never forget...the play. The play battle, which, if you want to impress all 100 nobles AND THE QUEEN, you probably have spent hours doing. And yet, I could sit there doing it simply because...it's such a memorable and fun scene. And I can say that about so much in this game. And while I'm not much of a musical person, I gotta say, I get filled with that nostalgia every time any track from 9 plays. Going back through the game when i'm older now and understanding all these small references, just fills me with so much love. It's a damn shame that...I don't have much positive to say after 9. While 10 is a good game in gameplay, and i do enjoy blitzball, the story, which, to me, is the most important part of an RPG, isn't up to snuff. But, i suppose that's for next time. I love the themes of 9. It's all about loss, in a way. Zidane tries to help everyone, running from the past he doesn't know. Vivi fights against the fear of a ticking clock and the realization that he's just a machine. Garnet fights with the destruction of city after city, the loss of her mother and so much more. Steiner fights with his faith towards the queen, trying to justify the unjust as to not shake his faith in her. Eiko fights the loneliness she had before the party came, and still feels alone in the party as, when she joins, she is the most perceptive of the bunch. Freya lost LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Amarant lost his good faith and everything else when framed by Zidane, and yet loses to his strong charisma and ends up following him in the end. Quina...Quina is hungry, just wants to lose that empty feeling inside the tum-tum. While one of these things is not like the other, the whole point of the story is...all of these characters, at one point or another...probably considered suicide. But they overcame that despair, and came out on top together, even beating LITERAL DEATH to save the world. Hope and despair. I feel like I ranted long enough. It was a nice video, Clement, and I'm glad you enjoy the game, even if it isn't your favorite.
Seth Xeider I enjoyed reading this as ff9 is my favorite final fantasy game. I wrote this about ff9 how I would fix just one character tell me what you think. My favorite final fantasy game, it’s a great game the only thing that always gets me is that amaranth story is the weakest. If I were to write his story it would be he would come from a dojo of great fighters but he would be the best he would be arrogant because no one can beat him except the master. The master would try to instill humility in amaranth but to no avail he would later be forced to leave until he finds someone to fight for other than himself. Amaranth would go around looking for a job until he finds one as a guard like the events play out within the game. Towards the end of the game amaranth can return to the dojo and face the master one on one the master would be strong with special moves from the monks from the different final fantasy games ex: 4,5,6,7,8 it would be a tough battle but these is where his should receive his ultimate weapon. Also after the credits roll we see amaranth running his master’s dojo and he also has an impatient student that he tells the same line he says in game about himself about how his past self was a loser. This is how I would fix amaranth.
Final Fantasy IX is definitely my second/first favourite game in the main series (while duelling with VIII), simply because of its cast of characters, soundtrack, better graphics (as it runs so much better), grounded gameplay, and its own dissonance-infused storyline. Although I gave up after reaching Disc 4, because of that sudden difficulty spike that always catches me off guard (ALWAYS), but it's one of the fewest games that i had a heavy emotional attachment to (because of the characters), down to the point of me actually getting a few tears out of me. The graphics still blow my mind, that includes the FMV (which looks like an actual film to me), the soundtrack is virtually a complete remake to all previous Final Fantasy games (that's somewhat of a neat thing when I realised it). Final Fantasy IX is becoming (as age has graced it wonderfully) one of my most favourite games of the series, and is one of my favourite RPGs of all time. And with that, the PlayStation era draws to a close, it's by far the very best trilogy of the series, all 3 games have garnered critical and fan acclaim (well, VIII's fate is obvious) and 2 of them are considered widely to be some of the greatest games of all time. Now, this is where the bumps and cracks begin to surface, because I'll be there to comment on X&X-2 (both I hate with a passion), but hey, I cannot wait for you to talk about XII (also one of my favourites in the series, as I love it with a passion). Clement, I'm glad that I stuck with you when you talk about the series, because you add something special to when talking about them, a kind of thing that makes me feel like a child that has grown up with the series (although I ended up not being one, because that those games didn't come out in Europe AT ALL until VII, and I was born very shortly after IX's release). Clement... I wanna say... Thank you.
It's hard to trust the opinion of someone who claims FFVII and VIII are just graphics driven games. There's real substance behind the spectacle in both games, and it's kind of sad that you would see them as just that. I think a playthrough of both games is in order the near future :^)
I would like 9 more if the game wasn't frickin slow and other issues liked the Trance system being automated rather than an option and the pacing was better.
I call her Garnet as well, for basically same reasons. Also only ever managed to get to 111 on the jump rope mini game. Steam version FF9 you can use super speed on Hot'n'Cold which makes it easier it doesnt' affect the timer but you go super speed.
Final Fantasy 9 is my absolute favorite. and i really like tetra master. I used a trick to make the system easier for me. I picked one suuuper weak card with as many arrows as possible. and everytime this card was taken over, i can just take it back and every other card it points to
Great video Clement!! I will have to disagree with you on most of this though. This is my favorite FF game. I actually LOVED Chocobo hot and cold. I found it quite addicting. The ending gets me every time. I love every character in this one too. This game is a 10/10 in my book.
I always love waking up to a new Clement FF vid! I really admire the tons of work you pour into this series and can't wait for your future reviews, since that's when the FF series gets wild and experimental. On a side note, did you know FF9 has a surprisingly good PC port? Even though it follows the annoying trend of 3-6 being based on the mobile version, 9's is actually competent and not ugly for a change. It may have a less appealing font, but it has short loading times, skippable battle intros, and a fast-forward button that makes Chocobo Hot and Cold somewhat bearable.
I can’t stop watching these FF Retrospective videos. Even after years they’re still nice to listen to when I’m cranking out some levels in persona 4 or storyboarding comics.
SAME
Ah yes, FF IX, the wind waker of FF games. Hated originally because of it's cute exterior, but became more beloved as time went on.
DiscipleofPentagon oh my god youre right lol
And just like Wind Waker, it was the first game in the series I beat and made me fall in love with the franchise.
@@linkfreak404 the game is far from ugly you tasteless cow
It's honestly my favorite final fantasy game. It's so good
People hated it because they started playing final fantasy at 7. How could you not love this game?
Final fantasy 9 honestly has some of the most endearing and fascinating characters, ones easy to invest in, which makes it so impactful to see all the shit they go through. Vivi's plight was heartbreaking.
I love that Active Time Events were a revolutionary new way to say "Meanwhile..."
FF9's marketing was pretty light. I clearly remember reading in an article that it was meant to be a celebration of the old Final Fantasy style before the series would go in a new direction on the PS2, so it was obviously something of an in-betweener for Square. Attention was moving toward the next generation of consoles and I suppose they didn't want to distract from that.
I did read a pre-release article for it, though, so there was SOME buzz.
- Lewis
I also remember a magazine calling Queen Brahne "Amidala before the lipsuction."
Terra's transformation is officially called Trance, actually, ever since the FF6 Advance translation. And it might have been called that in Japanese; I think the Trance system was itself a reference to Terra's transformation.
There's a neat moment in Dissidia NT's story mode where Zidane, Kuja, and Terra all Trance out at the same time in the same frame.
- Lewis
Terra's transformation is officially called Trance, actually, ever since the FF6 Advance translation. And it might have been called that in Japanese; I think the Trance system was itself a reference to Terra's transformation.
There's a neat moment in Dissidia NT's story mode where Zidane, Kuja, and Terra all Trance out at the same time in the same frame.
- Lewis
@@BrainScratchComms *( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*
What if they made a Final Fantasy spinoff where we played as Gilgamesh and had to jump between the other games to fix events that had gone wrong from an external force messing with things.
Newt Train Hoping that the next leap... Will be the leap home.
@@weirdotzero7065 That was a good show.
FORGET WHAT I WAS JUST WATCHING!!!!
CLEMENT IS ON!!!!!!
I know!!!
Same
Vivi is a friend we'd ALL love to have!!
So true. Vivi is simply wonderful. ❤ It's a tragedy that he is one of those kind-hearted people who is just too good and wholesome for this world. 😢
When this series began i started a marathon to play every FF game along with clement. every time clement releases a video of a game before i beat it but this is the first time i was able to finish the game months before you release the video
So thank you clement for introducing me to some of my favorite games ever
My favorites are FFV and FFIX
9,6 and 7 are my favorites.
V and IX!?
They're my favourites too!
VI I found too easy but has a fantastic story.
VII has a great atmosphere, but too serious for my liking.
VIII was too much like a shoujo manga.
They're not bad, but I have my preferences.
This one is by far my favorite Final Fantasy. Between the references, the (in my opinion) excellent storytelling, the decent graphics and FMVs (especially transitions and hybrids between FMV and regular cutscene)...this one hit notes that the FF games to follow couldn't quite manage.
The Switch version of FF9 made chocographs so much easier. Mostly because of the speed up in the game. THANK. GOODNESS.
Yeah but my dude, her name was never originally Garnet. That’s the name of the princess that died who she replaced.
This truly is one of my favorite games if just listening to the music brings tears to my eyes
Ever since you started this retrospective, I've anxiously awaited this one. My second favorite in the series. Thank you, Clement. You delivered it beautifully.
"You're a black mage for crying out loud" Zidane says towards the beginning of the game. I don't think black mages only exist as golems in that world.
Wiseman Yeah it seems there are people who can use Black Magic normally but the Back Mage people are the only ones that live the way they do.
i find the idea of a wizard being a mindless drone to be so fascinating. usually mage characters are assosiated with, well, being smart and having a lot of agency.
@@KOTEBANAROT 2 years late, but are you familiar with the witches from Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia? They're essentially a hard hitting, magic-based enemy unit in the game, but how women become witches is rather horrifying: they offer their own souls to their god in exchange for great magical power, and in doing so turn into creepy, puppet-like husks. This is also relevant to a few of the characters, it's really disturbing but nevertheless pretty cool.
The game in general has some really messed up stuff going, and it's mostly in the details. Phenomenal game overall, I must say, definitely give it a look if you haven't already!
I'm so glad that after all the trouble you went through, you finally got this done. You deserve a break.
Steiner always reminded me of Buzz Lightyear.
...Damnit now I'll never unsee it.
@RajunCajun34Right.. Ok
@RajunCajun34 So, Barett also is? U clearly don't understand the character at all, you probably like the always emo/pseudo-smart anime characters
Or Kronk. Or Shrek. : D
Anyway i adore this man
Oh no no no no no
Steiner look, an oglop!
I can't imagine how much work goes into making these so know that your hard work is very much appreciated Clement.
FFIX is my favorite. The characters, the story, their interactions, almost everything was perfect about it, with a few exceptions. The Trance System was dumb as hell with just how it worked. I can't even begin to count just how many times a trance got wasted before I wanted to use it. Beatrix I liked the idea of. I really wish they showed a bit more of her personal conflict before she turned on Brahne to rescue Garnet. Freya's story felt like a bunch got cut. Last but not least, the final boss, Necron comes out of fucking nowhere with no buildup unless you believe in fan theories requiring a bunch of mental gymnastics.
I agree with all you said especially with trace system and also battles take while to load on ps1. The steal rate geeezzzz 😑 yeah Necron was outta nowhere but damn his battle theme made it worth it
They really shouldn’t have done Freya like that she is such a beautiful character. I’m happy for the ending she got but there could’ve been so much more that could’ve happened with her during the main game.
@@RabbitShirogane indeed
@@nicholasmorgan7609 honestly I’m still fucking depressed over it. We may not ever see her or a character like this ever again.
@@RabbitShirogane maybe not in Final Fantasy, maybe not in video games, but there's probably some in literature
My all time favorite RPG.
My first Final Fantasy game I've played and beaten the story mode in--about 40 hours to be exact, and talk about a great first impression! Even if you're not a FF fan already and miss out on all the callbacks and references, it still makes a good starting points for newcomers, I believe.
That's how I got started with the series & I still love it to this day.
My first Final Fantasy game as well and it may me an fan of the series.
Congratulations, Clement on a job well done! You deserve a good break. Looking forward to hearing your perspective on 10! That was my first Final Fantasy.
I come back to rewatch this one every year or so :) well done Clement
Have you ever noticed how there always seems to be three of the main series game per generation?
NES: I, II, and III
SNES: IV, V, VI
PS1: VII, VIII, IX
PS2: X, X-2, XII (XI and XIV, in my eyes, are just Final Fantasy Online I and II)
PS3: XIII, XIII-2, XIII-3
I'm thinking, due to the shear size of FFXV, this streak might get broken.
SteveN Yep.
Of course that's not counting ports and re-releases, which even the PS1 got.
SteveN yeh XV still isn’t even finished yet so no chance of XVI, that does stop the numbers getting stupid high though
If you're counting X-2, XIII-2, and Lightning Returns as a main series, then you must also count, at a minimum, The After Years, Dirge of Cerberus (also the mobile game that's like a prequel or something), Before Crisis, and Crisis Core as main series games. Personally I'm in the camp that says all the expanded universe games are spinoffs and that XI and XIV do count.
Blaumagier
None of those were pre-planned, and are therefore spin-offs. X-2, X-3, XIII-2, and XIII-3 were all planned ahead. X-2 and X-3 were fused into one game.
Everyone sees things differently. There are still people who have their own Zelda timeline, despite Nintendo releasing an official one.
yeah and I have to agree with counting the spinoffs in the series. A friend of mine is streaming all the FF games and we just got to FF13-3 which will be the last one he does for a while as he already did 15 but he didn't have any of the dlc's at the time he did it just as it came out. So maybe in the future he might do some of those if I do an lp of that I will include them for sure as they are part of the story but they keep coming up with new things for that game all the time so glad i got the windows edition
I loved this one. It reminded me of my most beloved FF era (NES and SNES games)
This is great and being released on my birthday, another great video clement
9 is on XBOXOne now.
Its nice playing this masterpiece again :) always worth every penny.
One of the best retrospectives I've seen
OH GOD YES!!!! It has been 10 thousand years but we finally have it!!! Time to get me some drinks and pizza! After all this is my fav final fantasy and used to be my fav RPG until I met the trails in the sky games (or the entire trails series in general)
Awesome video, this looks like another one i may get someday, the atmosphere alone is alluring to me, and it looks quite fun to play.
*Wow*
It’s been awhile Great Clement...
definitely have watched this series about 10x now. never gets old, just makes me wanna play haha
The learning abilities through weapons and armor reminds me of Tales of Vesperia.
For those of you who don’t know because this is a video about Final Fantasy, is a RPG that was originally released for the Xbox 360, you can now buy it for the Nintendo Switch. Buy the free DLC’s to, they are very cool and FREE!
It's here! Been really looking forward to this one
Man this video series is so amazing. You do such great content man, and going through all this videos again is a joy. I got inspired to play all the games my self, just started FF1. Cant wait for X-2 video.
I always imagined Queen Brahne with a Roseanne voice
that's funny! I always heard Mrs. Doubtfire. lol
I always renamed Vivi to Jawa. I didn’t play the NES SNES games until later, so the Black Mage looked like a Jawa, which was probably an homage anyways, Sakaguchi was a star wars fanboy.
This game I played in senior year of HS so the memories are quite recent, but no less strong:D It's so wonderful to hear your thoughts!!!
Most underappreciated entry in the series, and the best of the PlayStation 1 era.
THAT BOI CLEMENT IS BACK!!
Wonderful. Thank you for this. This was my first FF, and I believe I finished it in a month, which I thought was quick at the time! I think I was 16 years old (now 35).
The Kuja OST is forever in my head.
3:22 - I love the self referential line here. It's like the game's saying 'We're going back to old school Final Fantasy. Deal with it.'.
I’ve waited a long time for this one!
1 word to describe Final Fantasy IX…Beautiful!
Man I love this game. The characters were interesting and endearing and I like how everything felt so lively.
good job finishing this video, clement! enjoy your break!
God I remember when you started the Remembering Final Fantasy stuff all the way back in December of 2016.
How time flies
I will always love this game as a Final Fantasy game.
And I know my brothers love this game, as well because when it came to RPGs, this was the one they spent the most time on and I would watch them play it everyday. I wasn't into RPGs, at the time when they played this game and beat it, but later down the line when my interest for the genre would change, I was so happy to finally come back to this game and experience it for myself.
Especially after going through the nightmare that was FF VIII, then immediately going straight to this game afterwards, for me it was literary a breath of fresh air.
I am honestly surprised that you never brought up Reis from FFTactics in your reference montage. Since her name was used for one of abilities in FF9 Reis Wind.
I think what Garland meant by "too far" was that he figured out Kuja was planning to use Alexander to rebel against him
The PlayStation era of Final Fantasy was (with the exception of 8 being mixed for me at least) great! Now we move onto the divisive PS2 era. Really looking forward to seeing 10-2 get ripped apart!
Malik Reeves I think from a story point of view FF X-2 deserves the hate as well as the pointless mini-games and stuff, but the combat system was top notch imo.
Yeah, but if it meant having to sit through that story again than I don’t think the gameplay is worth it.
Malik Reeves Even the ost was lame.
Malik Reeves 13 is worse and clement hates that game.
yin yang Na if 13 weren't so linear so long and had town with npc's it be just fine. The lore, ost, battle system and graphics were great.
FFX-2 was lacking or just cringeworthy in every area except for its graphics and battle system. Defend it all you want but even 13 wasn't that bad. Not to mention the platinum trophy requires multiple playthroughs...
I named Garnet "Cortana" as this is the sword used to bestow responsibility upon the kings and queens of Europe. Obviously, only after doing some research. I think it fits her very well, especially once her responsibilities change later in the game.
Getting to see the commercials is one of my favorite parts of these reviews.
Great job man! Keep em' coming!
As someone who started with 4 but fell in love with thanks to 10 I am excited to see your thoughts. Also thanks for doing this video as it's helped me understand things in the older games I was unaware of. Truth be told, it's kind of made me wanna give them all a shot again. Till next time!
I have also learned i can't type a heartwarming comment on my phone Lord lol
The music, man, the god dang music. I was also 12 when it dropped and I still listen to the soundtrack! Subbed ❤️
I remember when I accidentally found out using life on the Iifa tree kills it instantly.
Holy frick, you released this the day of my birthday?
So far, greatest birthday gift ever! And it's of my favorite final fantasy too!
Happy Birthday
1:24:02 I constantly hear how everyone godamn LOVES ffx so I'm super pumped for this!
Oh hell yeah, it's finally here! Took me a bit to finish this video up. Great video once again, then again, you are The Great Glement. FF9 is still my favorite, but I won't lie, nostalgia has a big role in it. Waiting for FFX impatiently.
I absolutely ADORE FFIX to this day, it was my FF I owned and finished.
The OST, Characters, The Setting..did I already mention OST? D:
Keep up the good work! :3
What? No mention of Garnet's real name being Sarah?
While that is an interesting side quest, I don't think it's too relevant to mention, as well as not to relevant to Garnet herself.
For a good chunk of her life she lived as Garnet, and for a very important period for her, she lived as Dagger, those are the names that have weight for her.
Not to say she wouldn't like to know about her life in Madain Sari, or feel anything towards it, but, personally, I don't think she would relate much to it.
Akkuseru I was referring to when Clement was talking about call backs since Sara was the name of the princesses in FF1 and 3.
Oh, fair enough, my bad
That's hella funny. I just posted a comment about this. I'm honestly not surprised since its kind of a hidden secret and not completely obvious that it's referring to Garnet, but honestly who else could it be. I always rename her Sarah every time I play this game.
kbowman772 I mean he could've mention Zorg(was it zorg?) in FF8, but only used him to point out how so much stuff is really insignificant
Holy shiit finally! Been waiting a long time for this one! Right on!
Worth the wait, keen to see this one (and X next time since I’ve never seen that in depth)
Oh my god, Clement's alive! Call off the search parties!
I'm probably the one person who enjoys chocobo hot & cold itself every time I play the game.
I will say, the best part about having an up beat, happy go lucky main character, it's a MASSIVE impact when they take that gut punch and get super depressed, you FEEL it. When Squall gets super serious and dour you're just like "that's just Squall."
When Zidane does it, you're like "MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER YOU GITS!"
When people say Quina Blu Magic is useless
*cough cough* LVL5 DEATH *cough cough*
Grand dragon genocide
Quina is potentially busted with those blue magic spells
Every blue mage is really useful/busted. Just depends on how much effort you're willing to go through in order to deck them out
In the German version Garnet named herself Lili (because Zidane told her it‘s a Liliendolch/Lily Dagger). I grew up with her as Lili, so I was pretty shocked that she just named herself „Dagger“, when I grew up and look into other translations.
I'm so glad this was uploaded right after I got off work. I'll gladly miss an hour of sleep for this.
Just found this series, and started off with watching my favorite of the series. I agree it's not perfect, but it's the only one I've ever come back to and finished multiple times. Now it's time to watch these all backwards.
I’m listening to this while playing FFIX on Steam, it’s my favorite entry in the series!!!
I think a good explanation for Necron showing up would be from the crystal getting shattered. Instead of it causing the end of all life, it causes the very personification of death itself to manifest. That would give Necron more justification as the game’s final boss. Was it really that hard for the writers to come up with a simple explanation for him showing up? If I can think of one, why couldn’t they?
Necron exists for a few reasons.
1. He's vaguely mentioned by Garland when he's giving his motivations and telling Zidane various info. It's when he mentions that the Soul Cage was only one part of the Iifa Tree, the physical aspect. Necron being the spiritual.
2. The game has themes regarding to Life and Death. Where the characters find their reasons for living. So Necron as the final boss relates to how the characters have to defeat or overcome the fear of inevitable death to live their lives.
3. Lastly, is the referential reasons. Necron not only looks similar to a boss called Necross in FFV, but the lead up is somewhat similar to FFIII against the Cloud of Darkness. The characters being defeated, then brought back by their friends. As the theme plays a haunting melody, it eventually ramps up.
Even so, this wasn't the first Final Fantasy game where an Final Boss came out of nowhere. FF1 & FF4 anyone? Another Final Fantasy reference. And unlike those bosses, Necron's " out of nowhere experience " makes sense since it's the life form that represents soulless, sadness or death.
I was thinking he was the very thing that was contained in the crystal.
Been looking forward to this, let's do this
I didn't even noticed the Forest Owls until u mentioned it, this game is filled to the grim with subtle and obvious references and I love it.
12 hour speedrun of this dialogue heavy game for the super weapon is crazy. But what's even crazier is that people have done it
i really wish they bring Final Fantasy back to this old school system, I miss the good old turn based Final Fantasy
Blank being petrified in evil forest was terrifying when I first saw it. That was before I got into the series.
Final Fantasy 9 is without a don't my favorite FF game EVER!
FFIX was my first and favorite FF game. I loved its unique charming style, the story, the characters, music. It had a lovely balance of comedy, adventure, romance and tragedy.
This was my 2nd Final Fantasy game that I played back then (I’m 27 right now), and I loved it. Yeah the game may be 4 discs but in my opinion it was worth it - a lot of story plot twists, long side quests, the music, etc...
If I could go back to play the game as if it was my first time on it, I definitely would.
P.S. Zidane’s Emo moment.........period 👌
"A woman named Garnet..." Amethyst, and Pearl, And Steven!
Chris Hanna & Knuckles
Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry Series
I actually remember this game and chrono cross getting commercials back to back a lot back in the day.
two of my fav games ever
I do the same thing with Garnet. I do something similarly with Red XIII by naming him Nanaki.
The Garnet naming thing always struck me as odd. I like the idea of it; I guess keeping the name after is needed is supposed to reflect her growth as a character into someone new, but the default of ‘Dagger’ makes it way too silly to keep using as a moniker.
You're right on target, Lipm. I think the way they executed it was poor and it made a lot of players confused. And the name was not appropriate for the set up they already had.
I think it could have actually worked out had they plotted out the character's change of wardrobe and hair style for the game.
In the beginning of the game: as Princess Garnet, give the character a more formal royal look. She can have her bright orange look here or start her off with something dark like purple and black. Whatever you choose, it has to vastly contrast what she ends up wearing in-game.
Then change her to a more casual and fan appealing design. This is the one she'll be on the cover as.
Add a few extra quirks like a necklace or bracelet that look hand made and take away legit jewelry she had. Give her a weapon that looks cool. And voila.
Personally, since she's a white mage, I would have given her a cool cloak, tied her hair up in a more battle ready bun, maybe give her a white bandana. Give her a cool staff or cleric mace and finish it off with a decent cleric sounding name.
If she were a thief joining an underbelly thieves guild _then_ maybe I would have went with "Dagger." It sounds like the kind of name a naive upperclass princess would come up with last minute when confronted by a more ruthless street urchin.
At any rate, I think too hard about stuff like this because I'm a fantasy novelist and am working on my own universe. This is a fun exercise and one that I appreciate you kicked off in my head.
Have a great day my friend. 🙏
I dont know… it seems to fit her. Its like a little nickname or codename!
Man, I love FF9, so, so much. It was my first Final Fantasy, and it just...hits all the right beats for me. The unforgettable characters, the story, just...I love it. I'm not a fan of the comedic breaking of 6, 7 and 8 you can do since everyone can (mostly) do the same things. I'm not a fan of 10's sphere grid, and i'm gonna refrain on talking about 13 for as long as possible. I love this classic final fantasy feeling. Every character has their own class, own moves, own quirks in and out of gameplay that I miss so much in a lot of the games now. I adore 4 and 9 so much. While i do enjoy most of the games in the series on some level or another. none hit my heart like this one. The gameplay always felt nice, and while Trance being something you couldn't control was annoying, it made sense within the story, since it's all about a release of powerful emotions. And, if i'm honest, 9 is the game i want them to give an after years to, much like they did with 4. And yes, I know, after years isn't a terribly good game, but i still adore it. I'm not entirely sure what the after years of 9 would do, but i just...i want more time with these characters. i want to see what they've been doing since the end of the game...
Also, while chocobo hot and cold isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, i had no problem sitting down and playing it for hours, even after i got all the chocographs, because i enjoyed it. And for that matter, all of the mini games you play throughout the game are all great moments. May it be getting rewarded for simple things, like getting Eiko to make good food, or selecting the right soldiers to do the right thing in Alexandria, it was always fun. And let us, never forget...the play. The play battle, which, if you want to impress all 100 nobles AND THE QUEEN, you probably have spent hours doing. And yet, I could sit there doing it simply because...it's such a memorable and fun scene. And I can say that about so much in this game. And while I'm not much of a musical person, I gotta say, I get filled with that nostalgia every time any track from 9 plays. Going back through the game when i'm older now and understanding all these small references, just fills me with so much love. It's a damn shame that...I don't have much positive to say after 9. While 10 is a good game in gameplay, and i do enjoy blitzball, the story, which, to me, is the most important part of an RPG, isn't up to snuff. But, i suppose that's for next time.
I love the themes of 9. It's all about loss, in a way. Zidane tries to help everyone, running from the past he doesn't know. Vivi fights against the fear of a ticking clock and the realization that he's just a machine. Garnet fights with the destruction of city after city, the loss of her mother and so much more. Steiner fights with his faith towards the queen, trying to justify the unjust as to not shake his faith in her. Eiko fights the loneliness she had before the party came, and still feels alone in the party as, when she joins, she is the most perceptive of the bunch. Freya lost LITERALLY EVERYTHING. Amarant lost his good faith and everything else when framed by Zidane, and yet loses to his strong charisma and ends up following him in the end. Quina...Quina is hungry, just wants to lose that empty feeling inside the tum-tum. While one of these things is not like the other, the whole point of the story is...all of these characters, at one point or another...probably considered suicide. But they overcame that despair, and came out on top together, even beating LITERAL DEATH to save the world. Hope and despair.
I feel like I ranted long enough. It was a nice video, Clement, and I'm glad you enjoy the game, even if it isn't your favorite.
Seth Xeider I enjoyed reading this as ff9 is my favorite final fantasy game. I wrote this about ff9 how I would fix just one character tell me what you think. My favorite final fantasy game, it’s a great game the only thing that always gets me is that amaranth story is the weakest. If I were to write his story it would be he would come from a dojo of great fighters but he would be the best he would be arrogant because no one can beat him except the master. The master would try to instill humility in amaranth but to no avail he would later be forced to leave until he finds someone to fight for other than himself. Amaranth would go around looking for a job until he finds one as a guard like the events play out within the game. Towards the end of the game amaranth can return to the dojo and face the master one on one the master would be strong with special moves from the monks from the different final fantasy games ex: 4,5,6,7,8 it would be a tough battle but these is where his should receive his ultimate weapon. Also after the credits roll we see amaranth running his master’s dojo and he also has an impatient student that he tells the same line he says in game about himself about how his past self was a loser. This is how I would fix amaranth.
Another great video, will be sad when this series is finally over
Final Fantasy IX is definitely my second/first favourite game in the main series (while duelling with VIII), simply because of its cast of characters, soundtrack, better graphics (as it runs so much better), grounded gameplay, and its own dissonance-infused storyline. Although I gave up after reaching Disc 4, because of that sudden difficulty spike that always catches me off guard (ALWAYS), but it's one of the fewest games that i had a heavy emotional attachment to (because of the characters), down to the point of me actually getting a few tears out of me. The graphics still blow my mind, that includes the FMV (which looks like an actual film to me), the soundtrack is virtually a complete remake to all previous Final Fantasy games (that's somewhat of a neat thing when I realised it). Final Fantasy IX is becoming (as age has graced it wonderfully) one of my most favourite games of the series, and is one of my favourite RPGs of all time.
And with that, the PlayStation era draws to a close, it's by far the very best trilogy of the series, all 3 games have garnered critical and fan acclaim (well, VIII's fate is obvious) and 2 of them are considered widely to be some of the greatest games of all time. Now, this is where the bumps and cracks begin to surface, because I'll be there to comment on X&X-2 (both I hate with a passion), but hey, I cannot wait for you to talk about XII (also one of my favourites in the series, as I love it with a passion). Clement, I'm glad that I stuck with you when you talk about the series, because you add something special to when talking about them, a kind of thing that makes me feel like a child that has grown up with the series (although I ended up not being one, because that those games didn't come out in Europe AT ALL until VII, and I was born very shortly after IX's release).
Clement... I wanna say... Thank you.
IX was a brief return to the glory for the series... VII and VIII just don't hold up, graphics-driven games never do. But IX is still a masterpiece.
It's hard to trust the opinion of someone who claims FFVII and VIII are just graphics driven games. There's real substance behind the spectacle in both games, and it's kind of sad that you would see them as just that. I think a playthrough of both games is in order the near future :^)
And yes, IX is an absolute masterpiece, one of the finest games ever made, but so are VIII and especially VII.
I love both VII and IX, but IX just edges out VII as my favorite. Both great games.
I would like 9 more if the game wasn't frickin slow and other issues liked the Trance system being automated rather than an option and the pacing was better.
I call her Garnet as well, for basically same reasons. Also only ever managed to get to 111 on the jump rope mini game. Steam version FF9 you can use super speed on Hot'n'Cold which makes it easier it doesnt' affect the timer but you go super speed.
Such a wonderful FF.
I used to play it yearly/biyearly after my first playthrough.
Been a while since I've played it again...
Final Fantasy 9 is my absolute favorite. and i really like tetra master. I used a trick to make the system easier for me. I picked one suuuper weak card with as many arrows as possible. and everytime this card was taken over, i can just take it back and every other card it points to
I spent all day watching your videos about FF
I think Jared (of ProJared) said it best:
"Six is my favorite, seven is the most important and nine is the best one."
17:06 So, Zidane is a Super Saiyan 4. Because when a Saiyan gains lots of fur but still keeps a human appearance it's called Super Saiyan 4.
I always thought It looked liked SS4 and I actually like Dragon Ball GT.
@@gavinlucas9761 Same.
I LOVE FFIX,it's my second favorite FF after FFVII
Dark pixel's review are very good.
Yours are perfect.
Great video Clement!! I will have to disagree with you on most of this though. This is my favorite FF game. I actually LOVED Chocobo hot and cold. I found it quite addicting. The ending gets me every time. I love every character in this one too. This game is a 10/10 in my book.
Not Alone is probably my favourite video game anthem of all time.
I always love waking up to a new Clement FF vid! I really admire the tons of work you pour into this series and can't wait for your future reviews, since that's when the FF series gets wild and experimental.
On a side note, did you know FF9 has a surprisingly good PC port? Even though it follows the annoying trend of 3-6 being based on the mobile version, 9's is actually competent and not ugly for a change. It may have a less appealing font, but it has short loading times, skippable battle intros, and a fast-forward button that makes Chocobo Hot and Cold somewhat bearable.
9 got a release on PS4 before 8 because they were working on a remaster of 8 and wanted to release that.