Final Fantasy 9 On PSN Store

Van Hellseek · 4 Jun 2010 at 07:16

KNiVES said:
but still has plenty of exploration, side-quests, and a good levelling & skills system.

Agree. It's great in terms of gameplay. The things you mentioned were spot on, as was the battle/trance system. But it's the plot/characters which let it down for me.

The OST was good by any games standard in it's day, but it was a little bland compared to the epic scores of the previous two (and debatably, three) Final Fantasy titles.

Mirage · 4 Jun 2010 at 08:05

I really struggled with FF9 too. After roughly 3 hours it still felt like a chore, "You loved FF4-8 therefore you must love 9!".

Possibly, after finishing 7 and 8, of which the latter is the one I'm actively playing, I'll pick up 9 and give it another chance.

Phatjayunoi · 4 Jun 2010 at 13:58

seek said:
Agree. It's great in terms of gameplay. The things you mentioned were spot on, as was the battle/trance system. But it's the plot/characters which let it down for me.

The OST was good by any games standard in it's day, but it was a little bland compared to the epic scores of the previous two (and debatably, three) Final Fantasy titles.

Sounds like maybe you grew out of the old fashioned Medieval Fantasy setting that the older Final Fantasy games were based upon and hence you didn't like it as much compared to the more Star Wars-like/Sci-Fi/Futuristic based entries?

I mean afterall, IX was the last and only 3D incarnation in the main numbered series to be deliberately old-school about the setting.

And I personally liked the OST for the sense of nostalgia. Sure, most of it sounded like filler, but the Battle Themes more or less made up for it and went back to it's original roots with the intro.

exhashdotdot · 4 Jun 2010 at 15:37

Phatjayunoi said:
Sounds like maybe you grew out of the old fashioned Medieval Fantasy setting that the older Final Fantasy games were based upon and hence you didn't like it as much compared to the more Star Wars-like/Sci-Fi/Futuristic based entries?

I mean afterall, IX was the last and only 3D incarnation in the main numbered series to be deliberately old-school about the setting.

And I personally liked the OST for the sense of nostalgia. Sure, most of it sounded like filler, but the Battle Themes more or less made up for it and went back to it's original roots with the intro.

I actually think the battle theme in FF9 is the weakest part of the whole soundtrack. It sounds very synthesized (it may actually have not been recorded on real instruments).

For me it's songs like this which do it:

Phatjayunoi · 4 Jun 2010 at 15:48

exhashdotdot said:
I actually think the battle theme in FF9 is the weakest part of the whole soundtrack. It sounds very synthesized (it may actually have not been recorded on real instruments).

Much of the soundtrack was synthesized, just like the majority of the other games. It was always a hybrid of synthesized and real/recorded orchestra in the actual games from the PlayStation era.

FFXII which is my personal favourite was heavily synthesized itself, but then I am a big fan of Hitoshi Sakimoto's style as well.

Inazuma · 4 Jun 2010 at 19:36

Sooo... anyway does anyone know when it'll be available in NTSC format? i.e. US store.

andshrew · 4 Jun 2010 at 22:13

Inazuma said:
Sooo... anyway does anyone know when it'll be available in NTSC format? i.e. US store.

probably during e3 week.

Se7ven · 5 Jun 2010 at 00:37

really disappointing they are not bringing Tactics to the EU/UK PSN store

Se7ven · 5 Jun 2010 at 00:40

Phatjayunoi said:
Yes there is the PSP remake War of the Lions, but it would still be nice to have the original PS1 version as another choice.

No different to say, Resident Evil, when there is the remake on the GameCube, but people would still also like to have the original.

actually there are some major differences between the PSP version and the PSOne version of tactics

Phatjayunoi · 5 Jun 2010 at 01:08

Se7ven said:
really disappointing they are not bringing Tactics to the EU/UK PSN store

That has pretty much been answered in previous posts.

Se7ven said:
actually there are some major differences between the PSP version and the PSOne version of tactics

Yeah but then that's what happens with a decent remake and in Square-Enix's case, updated translations, new added content etc, and trying to tie in more with Final Fantasy XII's version of Ivalice.

andshrew · 11 Jun 2010 at 17:23

Just a heads up for those holding out for the NTSC version - this is coming to the US Store next Tuesday 15th

Bad news is Sony seem to have finally blocked foreign credit cards from adding funds to US accounts (I've always used Entropay) - If you can get PSN Vouchers though you can still buy it.

LeJosh · 11 Jun 2010 at 20:16

One thing I hated was the trance system, always was used on useless fights and you can't choose wether to use it or not like limit breaks.