Behind the Times: Final Fantasy 9

[1123581321]

I bought that game 8 years ago, but for one reason another, I never got around to playing it. A few months ago, I finally decided to rip the wrapper off, play the game, and just recently finished it. I actually enjoyed it. The trance system was certainly different than limit breaks. I do have to wonder where that final boss came from. He just kind of appeared with no build up at all.

Well anyway, I missed just about everything missable. So is it worth it to use one of the many walkthroughs online, and play for everything?

[Ariphaos]

Yeah, no idea where he came from either.

You'd have to do it twice, to get the 'real' Excalibur (get to Hades in 12 hours) - I skipped that one.

There's nothing close to the sort of things you can miss in FFVII or FFVI though, so, really, I'd say no.

[Darth Onasi]

What was he called.. Necron? Such a lame last boss. A dumb Exdeath ripoff, only unlike Exdeath he just pops up and says "Hi! I'm going to destroy the universe because.. er.. I feel like it!".

I truly loathed that game for various reasons I won't go into here.
I will say there was precisely one thing I liked about FF9, and that's the Invincible. Damn that was a nice ship.

[Darth Ruinus]

. Not as good as Ultimecia on either count though (I think she is actually my favourite of all the FF villains, weirdly enough).

I forget, is she the sexy sorceress with black paint on one side of her face with that sexy skin tight black dress or she that girl with red hair and dudes body?

Ragnarok, now there's a nice ship.

Damn, that is a nice ship.

[1123581321]

I forget, is she the sexy sorceress with black paint on one side of her face with that sexy skin tight black dress or she that girl with red hair and dudes body?

Ultimecia is the one with the face markings and black wings. pic.

The red haired one with the dude's body is Sorceress Adel, the evil one from the past.

But, Ultimecia is also seen throughout most the game mind controlling other sorceresses: on the first and second disc she is in Edea's body, in the third, she is in Rinoa's and Adel's, and in the fourth disc, you finally see her personally (and she gives a mean fight!).

Now that I look back on it, I never actually finished Final Fantasy 8. I think I'll break that out next. Of course, with what little time I get to actually play games anymore, I'll probably finish around Thanksgiving.

[Darth Ruinus]

I forget, is she the sexy sorceress with black paint on one side of her face with that sexy skin tight black dress or she that girl with red hair and dudes body?

Ultimecia is the one with the face markings and black wings. pic.

The red haired one with the dude's body is Sorceress Adel, the evil one from the past.

But, Ultimecia is also seen throughout most the game mind controlling other sorceresses: on the first and second disc she is in Edea's body, in the third, she is in Rinoa's and Adel's, and in the fourth disc, you finally see her personally (and she gives a mean fight!).

Oh, I remember that she controlled people, I just never got that far. The farthest I got to was the wierd castle in some time/space alternate dimension thing where you have to kill bosses to get back your abilities.

I think Edea is hotter.

[Molyneux]

What was he called.. Necron?

That's him.

Her, actually, I think.

[Darth Ruinus]

That's her castle (and its actually in the future rather than another dimension) which is the final dungeon of the game. If you still have that save, you can run through it to the final battle at any time; beating all the bosses isn't necessary (but she is a tough fight with all your abilities - even harder without them).

WHAT?

Thats the final level? Damn, I wish I still had the game. Though even if I did, I hear the game is harder when you are level 100 because everyone levels up with you, including enemies?

[The Prime Necromancer]

I like Final Fantasy IX. While it's hardly my favorite Final Fantasy (Tactics), or even my favorite numbered entry (VI), I still rate it about equal to VII, my third favorite.

In regards to Necron: yes, he does show up without any preamble at all. Or he does if you believe he's a random death god from nowhere like a cursory examination seems to support. However, I rather like the theory espoused by this plot guide at gamefaqs. I think the guide writer supports his theory quite well, and it actually makes Necron mesh perfectly with the rest of the story.

[Darth Onasi]

Bah. It is a bloated blimp of lameness. Ragnarok, now there's a nice ship.

Pft. Ugly red dragon-ship. Plus, could the Ragnarok destroy whole cities? I don't think so!

Thats the final level? Damn, I wish I still had the game. Though even if I did, I hear the game is harder when you are level 100 because everyone levels up with you, including enemies?

Only the enemies on the world map do, and even then they're not a real challenge (unless you have an all level 100 party and come across Couerls and their Level 5 Death.. hilarity ensues).
Plus there was a way to get infinite Holy Wars in the endgame.. not that it was needed of course.

And boy, could I go on about Ultimecia.. what a moron. You know what her plan was? To compress all time and space into one point so she could absorb the powers of all sorceresses in all history and become the most powerful sorceress in.. nowhere.
Maybe she planned on playing D&D for the next 5 quadrillion years.

[Molyneux]

Bah. It is a bloated blimp of lameness. Ragnarok, now there's a nice ship.

Pft. Ugly red dragon-ship. Plus, could the Ragnarok destroy whole cities? I don't think so!

Thats the final level? Damn, I wish I still had the game. Though even if I did, I hear the game is harder when you are level 100 because everyone levels up with you, including enemies?

Only the enemies on the world map do, and even then they're not a real challenge (unless you have an all level 100 party and come across Couerls and their Level 5 Death.. hilarity ensues).
Plus there was a way to get infinite Holy Wars in the endgame.. not that it was needed of course.

And boy, could I go on about Ultimecia.. what a moron. You know what her plan was? To compress all time and space into one point so she could absorb the powers of all sorceresses in all history and become the most powerful sorceress in.. nowhere.
Maybe she planned on playing D&D for the next 5 quadrillion years.

Maybe she was planning on going universe-hopping, or remaking the time and space she had destroyed in her own image?

[Darth Onasi]

Maybe she was planning on going universe-hopping, or remaking the time and space she had destroyed in her own image?

If she did she never said so, which is actually quite unusual for FF villians who want to destroy the world/universe/whatever.
i.e. Sephiroth wanted to become a god (or go planet hopping if you believe Advent Children), Exdeath wanted everything to cease to exist including himself, Shuyin was an angry, angry brat with a weapon of mass destruction. Even last-minute wonder Necron had a stated reason (resetting the universe to start again).

Ulty's only stated reason is to gain the power of all sorceresses everywhere then be alone in nothingness because... nobody knows.
This is despite the fact that she already ruled the world in her time period, and her meddling made it possible for her to be defeated in the first place!
The only thing I can surmise is that Ultimecia is an idiot, or insane. Or possibly both.
I remember some theories a while back that Ulty is in fact Rinoa from the future. I could believe that - Rinoa is a royal dumbass too.

[Kuja]

What was he called.. Necron?

That's him.

Her, actually, I think.

To my memory, Necron was a genderless entity, a sort of Apocalyptic beast destined to wait in Hell until the end times. It took Kuja's attempt to destroy the Life Crystal as a sign of their coming, a sign that the races of the world no longer desired their existance. The fight Zidane & co. puts up at the end of the game changes its mind and it sinks back into Hell, to continue its wait for Armaggeddon.

As for Ultimecia, she was a lame-ass emo girl who wanted to cut her wrists and drown the word in the river of her despair. Or something. I didn't like her at all. Even Black Knight "I shall knock you all down!" Garland had a better thought-out motive.

[Darth Onasi]

Necron:



Looks mannish to me... then again so did Adel in FF8.
Couldn't find a larger image since google mostly gave me WH40k results..

Also, yeah Ulty was emo. But she doesn't beat the FF King of Emo, Emperor Palamecia.

[Kuja]

Also, yeah Ulty was emo. But she doesn't beat the FF King of Emo, Emperor Palamecia.

I actually liked the character of the Emperor.

"I'm going to rule the world and there's nothing you can do about it, bitches!"

*kill Emperor*

"What the fuck?! Well now I'm going to BURN the fucking place, just to fuck you over!"

[Darksider]

As for Ultimecia, she was a lame-ass emo girl who wanted to cut her wrists and drown the word in the river of her despair. Or something. I didn't like her at all.

At least she fits.

An emo villian for an emo cast.

Dear god i'm ashamed of how much I liked 8 in jr. high.

[Darth Onasi]

As for Ultimecia, she was a lame-ass emo girl who wanted to cut her wrists and drown the word in the river of her despair. Or something. I didn't like her at all.

At least she fits.

An emo villian for an emo cast.

Dear god i'm ashamed of how much I liked 8 in jr. high.

The thing about FF8 is that it's world, designs and a lot of it's concepts were very good. It was just the execution of the plot and the stupidity of the characters that let it down. I mean, Squall is so sociopathic he makes Anakin Skywalker look like a balanced, mellow individual.

[Molyneux]

That's him.

Her, actually, I think.

To my memory, Necron was a genderless entity, a sort of Apocalyptic beast destined to wait in Hell until the end times. It took Kuja's attempt to destroy the Life Crystal as a sign of their coming, a sign that the races of the world no longer desired their existance. The fight Zidane & co. puts up at the end of the game changes its mind and it sinks back into Hell, to continue its wait for Armaggeddon.

As for Ultimecia, she was a lame-ass emo girl who wanted to cut her wrists and drown the word in the river of her despair. Or something. I didn't like her at all. Even Black Knight "I shall knock you all down!" Garland had a better thought-out motive.

I dunno, I actually like that theory that Necron is the "true form" of the Iifa Tree.

[Darksider]

The thing about FF8 is that it's world, designs and a lot of it's concepts were very good. It was just the execution of the plot and the stupidity of the characters that let it down. I mean, Squall is so sociopathic he makes Anakin Skywalker look like a balanced, mellow individual.

It's also the only Final Fantasy I know of where the heroes plot to defeat the big bad involves allowing them to complete their master plan!

Seriously. Kefka sort of "won" in 6, but the heroes were trying to stop him all the way.

In eight, they just went

"Ultimecia is trying to compress all of time. How should we stop her?"

"lets let her compress all of time?"

That's not even touching on the fact that the villian's plan boils down to

1: Compress all of time
2: ?
3: Profit

[Darth Raptor]

Heh yeah, Mateus Palamecia. Your seemingly generic, tyrannical, bishie sorcerer who, when killed and sent to Hell, TAKES OVER HELL (and Heaven) then reappears on the mortal plane to pretty much destroy everyone who opposed him in life. Even the heroes' endgame victory is phyrric because EVERYONE IS DEAD. Only his plan to harass the dead heroes in Abburoth was really thwarted.

[Darksider]

It's also the only Final Fantasy I know of where the heroes plot to defeat the big bad involves allowing them to complete their master plan!

What other option did they have? Maybe killing (EDIT: murdering) Ellone would have foiled the plan, but that would be a little anti-heroic in the least.

It's mentioned that Ultimecia is jumping back in time with a machine that copies ellone's powers that doctor odine would someday build in the future.

How about having him I don't know, NOT BUILD IT?

Or just keep rinoa and ellone locked up and secluded for the rest of their lives.

Of course "destroying the lives" of the innocent ellone and Rinoa (they killed adel already, good fucking riddence) is not an option to the selfish assholes who make up the main cast.

[Ariphaos]

Wrong: bosses, with the only exception of Omega (and maybe Ultima) Weapon, are also on the same level as you.

There was a level cap. Ultimecia's was 65.

Edit: And the Weapons were your level as well - my friend beat Omega weapon at level 20 - he was much easier then.

[Darth Raptor]

The stat bonuses you get from gaining levels are negligible and eclipsed by spell junctioning. The level scaling is a good thing because you can draw more powerful spells from more powerful enemies.

[Darth Onasi]

And in doing what she was trying to do, she would defy fate and do whatever the damn she wanted. The problem is fate cannot be defied, by definition. She still wanted to try though.

There is a gamefaqs page that tries to explain it with a fair amount of evidence:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/197343/34215

An interesting read at least.

As with Necron, I say that if you have to explain events outside the story so it makes sense, then the story sucked to begin with.

Prove it.

Squall does nothing sociopathic in the slightest. He never goes on a slaughtering rampage, nor expresses any desire to do so.

Squall to Rinoa: "If you become the world's enemy, I'll be your Knight"
Squall is a classic sociopath; the only thing that matters to him is what he wants, what he needs. His personality was permanently warped due to the loss of Ellone.
But what happens when he finally finds Ellone? He virtually ignores her, because now he has Rinoa.
His behaviour with both Ellone and Rinoa treated them like his possessions.

We never see him hand over the key to destroying the world, or try to kill his very nice potential girlfriend (I fucking hate the playable cast of FF7, with the sole exception of Aeris.) Squall treats his team quite well.

What? Squall is an asshole to his team, which is mitigated by the fact that they are all assholes or insane.

What other option did they have? Maybe killing (EDIT: murdering) Ellone would have foiled the plan, but that would be a little anti-heroic in the least.

Maybe Rinoa freezing herself would have done it (aside from the obvious let's not let Odine make his junction machine). But Squall the selfish asshole ruined that. Even though Rinoa was willing to do it and thus made the only rational decision in her entire life.

[Molyneux]

(I fucking hate the playable cast of FF7, with the sole exception of Aeris.)

Really? O_o Why? What's wrong with Tifa, or Barret, or Cid?