Final Fantasy IX (PSX)

So occasionally I plan on reviewing older games. I would in truth like to review a great many old games, but I've got so many new games on the list that it's hard to make time to play and review everything. Granted...if I'm abandoning the traditional review objectivity (which I am) I don't have to write a three page opus on an old Genesis game covering graphics, sound, sodium levels, caffeine content, smelliness, or whatever - a few paragraphs about how cool or stupid it is will suffice. On with the show...

I'm not going to spend any time defending my love of the Final Fantasy franchise - they make polished and enjoyable games, so I play them. Apparently these days it's fashionable to "lay the hate" on Squenix, and words cannot adequately sum up how retarded that attitude truly is. People took one look at FF IX's art style, called it a kiddie Final Fantasy, and walked away. Screw 'em, it's a good game. I remember enjoying it immensely, but it wasn't until I decided to play through it again recently that I realized - FF IX is probably the darkest and most adult Final Fantasy to date. It isn't simply a crusade of good versus evil, rebels against a tyrant...this game takes a hard look at some really tough and saddening issues.

• A queen is twisted and pulled into darkness, driven insane and manipulated into starting war after war. Her loving daughter tries with all her heart to save her, fails, and watches her die in a blaze of fire.
  
• Sentient golems are manufactured as slaves and thrown away like trash in these pointless wars. Some of the golems start to develop free will and flee their bondage to start a village only to bluntly realize they each only have about a year to live their new found lives before they simply stop working and die.
  
• A child-like figure with no real idea of where he came from discovers he resembles the golems and is paralyzed by the thought that his very existence might not be truly real. He then discovers he IS one of them, an early model that was a mistake and discarded as defective - which does wonders for his self-esteem. He further realizes that his time might be severely limited as well, and has to face the fact he might stop working and die at any time. On top of it all, he feels the other golems are his brothers and watches helplessly as both the slaves are destroyed by war and the free ones die from their limited lifespan.
  
• A woman searching for her lost lover sees her homeland get conquered and her people wiped out right before her eyes.
  
• A little girl lives alone as the last of her race, isolated and abandoned.
• The servant villain, while alien and uncaring towards the planet and her peoples, is himself a complete slave and tries desperately without any success to escape his bondage.

As far as I'm concerned, that's darker and more depressing than any other Final Fantasy. In my opinion it doesn't even really break down into the good vs. evil paradigm...the protagonists are motivated by defending loved ones, searching for the meaning behind their lives, even revenge. The villains are motivated simply to farm the life force of the planet and its peoples...they have no desire to conquer, to subjugate, or to manipulate - the end goal is simply total destruction to harvest resources. I mean yes, there is certainly a good vs. evil thread, but I honestly don't think it's the point. Final Fantasy X continued this tradition, but it started here. Add in a welcome return to form in terms of the skill system and general game play and you've got what I consider to be one of the top Final Fantasy games.

I really love going back to earlier generation JRPGs...they can be a genuine kick in the balls. With the exception of a small group of niche games localized by companies like Atlas or Nippon Ichi the genre got easy during the reign of the PS2 and has continued that trend into this generation of consoles as well. Everything is balanced more in favor of the player, and side quests have gotten fewer and easier to puzzle out. I know that this does make the genre more accessible and less frustrating, but sometimes I miss that frustration. Hell, that's one reason I go to such great lengths to maintain a back catalogue of old games.