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Final Fantasy IX Developer: Squaresoft Based on: The spirit of the series' Super NES era combined with the technology of the series' PlayStation era. |
Games | PlayStation | Final Fantasy IX: Fantasy Made Reality
Article by Kolbe | November 28, 2007 | A delicious part of the Final Fantasy Series
Final Fantasy IX is a deceptive game. It opens in a rustic world with a cast of colorful characters in comical situations that would cause anyone to assume they're about to experience a simplistic fairy tale. From the curved roofs of Alexandria’s towers, to the rat kids who run carelessly through the streets, to the fact that our own main character has a monkey tail: it all feels unavoidably like a classic European children’s story.
But like Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland, FFIX had a fair amount of depth and substance for those willing to look beyond its infantile, charming surface. In fact, it's one of the more effectively structured and told stories to have graced the series to date. And at its heart, it tackles the one of fiction's most basic themes through centuries, be it literature, movies or games, death -- and does it in an honest, down-to-earth way.
Final Fantasy IX begins with the character Zidane and his partners from Tantalus (a band of thieves) planning the kidnapping of Princess Garnet of the kingdom of Alexandria. Disguised as a theatre troupe, they enter the country with their airship/portable theatre, the Prima Vista. Unbeknownst to them, the princess herself has already been contemplating escape; she's longed to leave the castle for ages, unsettled by the increasingly irrational behavior of her mother, Queen Brahne, and is preparing to go through with it that same night. Meanwhile, a timid nine-year-old Black Mage named Vivi also enters Alexandria, looking forward to seeing Tantalus' show.
Zidane manages to find Garnet in the midst of her escape. When they learn of one another's intentions, they agree to escape together... only to be followed by the stubborn, Zenigata-like Captain Steiner of Alexandria's Pluto Knights. By chance, Vivi becomes involved in the mess as well, boarding the Prima Vista as Zidane, Garnet and the rest of Tantalus fight Steiner. Queen Brahne attempts to shoot down the ship, apparently heedless of her daughter’s safety, and the Prima Vista crashes near the Evil Forest.
From here the story, take shape as a quest for identity, for friendship, for love and, most importantly, for what it truly means to live and to die. The trio is soon accompanied by Freya (a rat-like female knight searching for her lost lover), Eiko (seemingly the last and only descendant of a lost tribe of summoners) and even Steiner, among others.
Of course, this is the premise of pretty much every Final Fantasy game, but thanks to some great writing it comes together better here than usual. Yeah, the story is essentially just a bunch of clichés tied together; what matters is how they're tied together. Justified by their own personal history and their experiences throughout the course of the adventure, the game's characters experience actual change. Personal growth! Their feelings towards each other and even their philosophy about good and evil are shaped by what they see and share. No one leaves the story the same way he or she (or he/she, in Quina's case) started, and for the most part these changes are a natural consequence of the game's events.
There are exceptions, like Amarant, who seems kind of forced. But let’s just gloss over them, shall we?
Steiner, for example. Dogmatic and self-righteous, he begins the story confident that he knows exactly what is good and what is evil. There are no middling shades of grey for him: Zidane is a thief, and steeling is bad; ergo Zidane is bad. Garnet’s mother is the Queen, and he's sworn loyalty to the crown; ergo, everything Her Majesty says is right. Yet, after seeing that Brahne was willing to kill even her own daughter for power, he slowly comes to realize that he can't simply stand idle but must take responsibility and stand up for what he believes to be truly just.
Alternately, Garnet begins as your typical willful princess archetype, too naïve to pass unnoticed through rural towns but strong enough to rebel against her mother's increasingly erratic behavior. Yet while she knows something must be done, she isn't entirely certainly what that should be, leaving her constantly worried and desperate. But her time outside the castle (and particularly with the unflappable Zidane) gives her a catharsis and a change of attitude, leading to a symbolic act of cutting her long, black hair to demonstrate her independence, her willingness to cut her ties. The change is even reflected in her menu profile picture: at first she looks sad and lonely, but later seems happy and confident in herself.
Zidane's relationship with Vivi is equally essential to the story. The innocent Vivi learns that his kind is born with the sole purpose of destroying things -- or rather, created, weapons of mass destruction manufactured by Queen Brahne and her conspirator Kuja, who ultimately turns out to be the main antagonist. Zidane finds Vivi sad and confused and uplifts the mage by reminding him that, no matter what, he alone can determine his life’s direction. Much later in the game, Zidane learns that he too is a puppet made by the overlord Garland, ultimately no different than the Black Mages. And when he falls into despair, it's Vivi who reminds Zidane that he is likewise the master of his own destiny.
Final Fantasy IX deals with many themes, but the one that encompasses them all -- be it symbolically or literally -- is death. Many Final Fantasy games deal with the concept of Gaia, or some other sort of mystic spirit in the planet or universe, whence all life blooms and to which all life returns. It's a favorite theme of series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, and FFIX -- more a Sakaguchi creation than any game since Final Fantasy V?, dabbles heavily in this theme too. What sets the game apart is its perspective. Normally, Gaia would be the answer that calms the souls of the characters, each happily assuming his or her own role in the Universe. Here, they're less willing to simply accept that reality; rather than serving as a tranquilizing solution, Gaia is the source of many questions.
From Beatrix to Zidane, every character in the story sees death face to face. Steiner faces the death of his dogmatic ideology. Garnet sees the metaphorical death of her old self and the literal death of her mother, whose loss she was powerless to prevent. Freya sees the death of her relationship and dreams when she finally finds her lover only to find he has no memory of anything, including her. Eiko lived in a dead village and yearned for companionship. And Kuja, driven to despair by the prospect of mortality, decides in desperation that everything else must die too.
Yet no one faces death more intensely than the childlike Black Mage, Vivi. Over the course of the story, he learns that the later models of Black Mages -- those used by Brahne for war -- "stopped" one year after production. That is, they died after just one year. As an older model, his planned obsolescence isn't quite so severe... but nevertheless he's wracked by the question of just how much time he has left. He is, in effect, a nine-year-old kid staring mortality in the face. Vivi's reality isn't like Aerith’s death -- the standard meassure for this topic these days -- his end won't be a sacrifice, a decision or a redeeming act. Rather, it’s simply inevitable. Ultimately, Vivi faces the same reality as anyone, though more intensely due to the abbreviated lifespan of his “brothers”. He could live one year, or ten years, or maybe 50. Or he could just drop dead the next second. The immediacy of this realization affects his outlook... but rather than plunge Vivi into despair, it seems to enlighten him instead.
Significantly, Vivi is the one character who doesn't put in an appearance in the game's ending, set a year after the game's event, leaving his fate open for debate. Does he live a long life, or does he succumb to accelerated mortality? Perhaps Sakaguchi felt it best to leave his story ambiguous -- and that's okay, because the end is much less important than the journey. How the characters live is more significant than how or when they die, and Vivi lived well.
Oddly -- and perhaps unintentionally -- the name Vivi sounds like the spanish word vivir, which means "to live."
And that’s what stands out from Final Fantasy IX, and what makes Final Fantasy IX stand out from its peers. These themes are nothing new to anyone, but the define the game's characters -- characters who possess layers of humanity, sometimes “good,” sometimes “evil.” They change through their actions and in response to their situations, and in the end they ask the same questions that trouble all people. They even get the same answers that we do -- that would be “none.”
So yeah, maybe Final Fantasy IX's gameplay isn't as customizable as Final Fantasy Tactics?'. Sure, the characters might look like big-headed trolls to some. But those are ultimately superficial issues. In the end, it's an enjoyable, funny and emotional game, the most evocative of all the countless games to bear the name "Final Fantasy." It’s no surprise that Sakaguchi himself considers this his personal favorite. Its gameplay is well-crafted, and more importantly its story and characters are sincere. It may be a product created to sell millions of copies... but it was also designed to touch those who play it.
Images courtesy of GIA