From the project website (https://www.ffix-memoria.com/): I missed this June announcement and just came across it on YouTube. I'm very, very impressed with their reimagining of FF9. Wish it were...
Final Fantasy IX: Memoria Project is a non-playable passion project led by a team of professional developers and artists in the video game industry that aims to reimagine what the legendary game would look like if it was remade with modern graphical capabilities.
Final Fantasy IX is near and dear to our hearts, and this non-profit love letter is being created as a tribute to the masterpiece that is the 2000 original. We hope you enjoy our take and re-experience that whimsical charm that made the world of Gaia so captivating.
I missed this June announcement and just came across it on YouTube. I'm very, very impressed with their reimagining of FF9. Wish it were playable.
Regarding the original: FF9 isn't always recommended as highly as some of the others, and it does have its flaws, but it does a lot of things well. Despite the cartoonish appearance, I find the characters better written than other Final Fantasys. I really like the "Active Time Event" system that cycles through different characters' viewpoints during cutscenes.
The themes of meetings and partings, and finding a shared purpose with people who at first seem very different, and helping those friends through periods of grief, still stick in my mind today.
Beautiful! My favorite FF. Would love a remake, but don't need it. Still holds up. Love the mini games, they way they split the party, the combat system and story
Beautiful!
My favorite FF. Would love a remake, but don't need it. Still holds up. Love the mini games, they way they split the party, the combat system and story
So many minigames. Jump rope, foot races, the card game Tetra Master, the Chocobo Forest minigame and its humongous sidequest. Not to mention how every map has secret items littered around on the...
So many minigames. Jump rope, foot races, the card game Tetra Master, the Chocobo Forest minigame and its humongous sidequest. Not to mention how every map has secret items littered around on the ground.
I might say FF9 has too many of those secrets and sidequests. Of course they're optional, but they make the presence of those things known early on, so for completionists it becomes a big distraction away from enjoying the story.
I wonder if they could have designed the game differently to "wall off" those parts somehow. Modern games have things like chapter select to go back and work on side quests, relieving the player of worrying about missables. Final Fantasy 15 gives that chapter select later on.
FFIX was such a weird release, especially considering it came right after the very self-serious and "realistic" FFVIII. The game itself was fantastic; I played it a while back expecting to hate it...
FFIX was such a weird release, especially considering it came right after the very self-serious and "realistic" FFVIII. The game itself was fantastic; I played it a while back expecting to hate it but it was really enjoyable and put together really well. The only real problem I had with it was that the art style was jarringly different to any other FF game. It wasn't bad - quite the opposite, actually - just different.
That being said, I also just kind of don't want this remake. The only thing I really like about it is that they have jumping. Every RPG needs jumping; it's mathematically proven that RPGs without jumping are superior to RPGs without it. I find the free camera oddly weirdly off-putting and the style seems just a little off to me; it looks too "3D".
The art style turned me off at first too. The cartoon style after the realism of FF8 was indeed jarring, and the color palette uses a lot of yellow and brown, making it feel old even at release....
The art style turned me off at first too. The cartoon style after the realism of FF8 was indeed jarring, and the color palette uses a lot of yellow and brown, making it feel old even at release. This fan remake's use of natural vibrant colors is an instant improvement.
The cutscenes of the original are impressive though, even today. Especially how they nailed the facial expressions, so full of emotion.
FFIX was always my favorite, and nowadays is the only one I actually go back to from time to time. I've moved away from that style of game almost totally, and good lord are those battles slow, but...
FFIX was always my favorite, and nowadays is the only one I actually go back to from time to time. I've moved away from that style of game almost totally, and good lord are those battles slow, but FFIX in particular has some advantages - of being a christmas present, of being the best christmas present that year, of blowing away hours exploring and seeing all of it with no internet and no guide material. It occupies a place in my memory that is special. The music still gets me sometimes. "Village Dali" especially just tears my heart asunder, because it reminds me of gentle places I can no longer visit.
Respect to the folks getting together to do this. If I did the same stuff I'd probably help. iirc, this isn't something they intend to go all the way with. I personally don't care about a remake in principle - cool if it happens one day, not really bothered if it doesn't, probably wouldn't buy it if it happened. The original did its job, and it is that version which carries the nostalgia and memories. Those aren't things a remake can really capture, not for me at least.
From the project website (https://www.ffix-memoria.com/):
I missed this June announcement and just came across it on YouTube. I'm very, very impressed with their reimagining of FF9. Wish it were playable.
Regarding the original: FF9 isn't always recommended as highly as some of the others, and it does have its flaws, but it does a lot of things well. Despite the cartoonish appearance, I find the characters better written than other Final Fantasys. I really like the "Active Time Event" system that cycles through different characters' viewpoints during cutscenes.
The themes of meetings and partings, and finding a shared purpose with people who at first seem very different, and helping those friends through periods of grief, still stick in my mind today.
I leave you with Melodies of Life performed by Emiko Shiratori: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4XbtqZK7KA
Beautiful!
My favorite FF. Would love a remake, but don't need it. Still holds up. Love the mini games, they way they split the party, the combat system and story
So many minigames. Jump rope, foot races, the card game Tetra Master, the Chocobo Forest minigame and its humongous sidequest. Not to mention how every map has secret items littered around on the ground.
I might say FF9 has too many of those secrets and sidequests. Of course they're optional, but they make the presence of those things known early on, so for completionists it becomes a big distraction away from enjoying the story.
I wonder if they could have designed the game differently to "wall off" those parts somehow. Modern games have things like chapter select to go back and work on side quests, relieving the player of worrying about missables. Final Fantasy 15 gives that chapter select later on.
there's a sidequest that went undiscovered for 13 years!
https://www.eurogamer.net/final-fantasy-9-sidequest-discovered-after-13-years
I just read the conditions for the sidequest, and I hate it so much! But love it for fitting in with the quirkiness of the game.
FFIX was such a weird release, especially considering it came right after the very self-serious and "realistic" FFVIII. The game itself was fantastic; I played it a while back expecting to hate it but it was really enjoyable and put together really well. The only real problem I had with it was that the art style was jarringly different to any other FF game. It wasn't bad - quite the opposite, actually - just different.
That being said, I also just kind of don't want this remake. The only thing I really like about it is that they have jumping. Every RPG needs jumping; it's mathematically proven that RPGs without jumping are superior to RPGs without it. I find the free camera oddly weirdly off-putting and the style seems just a little off to me; it looks too "3D".
The art style turned me off at first too. The cartoon style after the realism of FF8 was indeed jarring, and the color palette uses a lot of yellow and brown, making it feel old even at release. This fan remake's use of natural vibrant colors is an instant improvement.
The cutscenes of the original are impressive though, even today. Especially how they nailed the facial expressions, so full of emotion.
FFIX was always my favorite, and nowadays is the only one I actually go back to from time to time. I've moved away from that style of game almost totally, and good lord are those battles slow, but FFIX in particular has some advantages - of being a christmas present, of being the best christmas present that year, of blowing away hours exploring and seeing all of it with no internet and no guide material. It occupies a place in my memory that is special. The music still gets me sometimes. "Village Dali" especially just tears my heart asunder, because it reminds me of gentle places I can no longer visit.
Respect to the folks getting together to do this. If I did the same stuff I'd probably help. iirc, this isn't something they intend to go all the way with. I personally don't care about a remake in principle - cool if it happens one day, not really bothered if it doesn't, probably wouldn't buy it if it happened. The original did its job, and it is that version which carries the nostalgia and memories. Those aren't things a remake can really capture, not for me at least.