Final Fantasy IX - ProJared 

►► Thanks for watching everybody!! As always, it means a lot to me whenever you LIKE/SHARE/SUBSCRIBE and all that!! 💖 ► As usual, I'll begin streaming the next game in the series, FINAL FANTASY X, right away over on Twitch! Join me over there and follow! 👉 twitch.tv/projared ►► If you'd like to see the ENTIRE playthrough of Final Fantasy IX, you can watch the archives over on my gameplay channel!! 🎮 ru-vid.com ► Fall behind a little bit? Get caught up in the previous reviews! ►► FINAL FANTASY VIII -- @t ► FINAL FANTASY VII -- @t ►► For even more updates, follow me on twitter.com/ProJared and over on instagram.com/projaredgram ! ► [ONE LAST EDIT] Yes, I will be talking about the MMOs: Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. They won't be skipped!

"VII is the most important one, VI is my favorite one, but IX is the best one" is just a 10/10 line.

Holy shit, we went from a 8 month wait to a 1 month wait. Jared’s upgrading

The party of ff9 reminds me of a dnd party. A bunch of strangers who meet each other by chance starting off not trusting each other but soon learn to count on each other and help each other with their personal problems. And before they know it they are fighting alongside each other to save the world from calamity.

Of all the FF games, this one was the most emotional one for me. In hindsight, I feel like Vivi was a precursor to what we would see in the Nier games. That existential crisis.

You can't hear Steiner's song without reminiscing of the "clank clank clank" metal boots.

"Here's a bear, it's a 2/2" You really can recognize a magic player from miles away.

The "You are Not Alone" moment at the end of IX, is the best written moment in Final Fantasy history imo. No other moment in the franchise has ever made me cry as consistently as this one did. It was the climax of a very well written story building to that very moment. Absolutely spectacular. Final Fantasy IX is the best game of the franchise to this day.

Final Fantasy 9 was and still is my Dad's favorite Final Fantasy games of all time. Growing up, I would see him play this game and enjoy every moment of it. I got the game recently and I cannot wait to experience the adventure that my Dad had with this game.

Steiner is my favorite type of D&D player to play with

“Hey everyone, regular Jared here.” Wait. There’s more than one?

That ending with all the little black mages, this story was deeper and more hard hitting than I thought it could be.

Jared is looking much better. Glad to see the channel is still going.

I always found it interesting how Zidane's and Vivi's story arcs parallel eachother. They both learn that they were created for the purpose of destruction, but they both react in different ways. Vivi recognizes that he can chose to be whoever he wants to be and decides to be a person who protects his friends. Zidane on the other hand completely draws into himself and pushes his friends away until they come together to remind him that he is not alone

The opening theme for FF9 is called "The place I'll return to some day", as if it knew that everyone will eventually replay this game.

words cant describe how much i love the "learn skill from item after x number of battles" mechanic. it feels so rewarding and fulfilling.

I rewatch this periodically and still just to hear the excellent delivery when starting that "FFIX is the BEST one". I've known that since I played it, but it feels good to be validated.

I think one of my favorite moments was early on in disk one: I thought Garnet was gonna be a temporary character, since you didn't get to name her like everyone else and I was I was bummed thinking she'd be gone But then, in a moment of defiance against the life that was decided for her, she decides to go by a new name. Working something as simple as naming a party member into a key narrative point was awesome

"I don't need a reason to help someone" has cemented itself in my mind as a code to live by in all honesty

The entire sequence near the end of the game with Zidane being down and out is one of the best sequences in storytelling in any video game. The optimistic hero is having a life and existential crisis and needs his friends and support the ones he's been supporting all game and they come up to the challenge and heed the call. Legendary game.

“That elixir I might use when the credits finally roll” I relate to this way too much.

Steiner and Beatrix are by far the most beautiful FF couple in existence.

I swear this game has only gotten better as I've gotten older. As a teenager I never really got the whole theme of the game was about life and death. Zidane, Kuja, Vivi, Eiko, Freya, and Garnet stories are all about different aspects of death, dealing with loss, and our own inevitable demise. I never even realized Vivi died before the ending movie plays and the narration was basically Vivi's last words and when I played it as an adult and figured that out it hit me hard.

It’s true that Final Fantasy IX is the EPITOME of Final Fantasy games, you may even call it Final Fantasy Endgame because it’s the last game with its original creator. I agree with EVERYTHING you said about this game Jared! Thank you!

This game is truly something special, it's incredible how well it's aged, and how timeless its characters and story are. Its messages about life, about death, and more importantly, how we deal with and live our lives are beautiful. It really hits hard with Vivi and Kuja. Both have to deal with very similar situations: Both are artificial beings with a very limited lifespan. Kuja, fearing his newly discovered mortality, tormented by the thought of dying at any moment, all alone, lashes out against creation and seeks comfort in ending it all. Vivi is faced with the same predicament, but instead manages to find strength in those around him and decides to make the best of the scarce time he has left. He decides that he wants to live his life. I always found it interesting how Vivi is presented as the protagonist more than Zidane in instances like that. He is the first character we control, we learn a lot about the world through his innocent, wondrous perspective, and he also narrates the ending, where he doesn't lament the fact that he knows he's about to meet his end, because he lived fully and thoroughly to the very end. Every character goes through a conflict regarding life, death, or loss, and man it's beautifully told. It always manages to tear me up like few other pieces of media have.

... I actually replayed it twice already... maybe it's time to do it for the third time? Also, I think Zidane is a good example of a character with a "flat character arc." The story isn't about how _he_ changes, but about how he _changes those around him._

"That Elixer that I'll consider maybe finally using once the credits roll." I feel personally attacked.

why the hell do not more games use this ATE system? it sounds absolutely amazing! it adds so much depth and humanity to the characters and makes it feel like the world doesn't just stop everything for you

This is not only my favourite FF game, it is one of my very favourite games of all time. Music, visuals and yes.. the story, everything is so epic

Freya: "Being forgotten is a fate worse than death". Oh boy, aint that the truth.

I dont think Quina is only comic relief. Quina represents what everyone in the cast strives to achieve: happiness. Everyone has some sort of moral dilema or existencial crisis at some point. Quina doesnt, for her she just lives her at her fullest, goes with the flow, she just considers everything to be either food or not food, and she is just happy with that.

I do prefer a more "realistic" style when it comes to character design, but I can't deny how freaking adorable the characters look in this game; especially during cutscenes

9s everything I wanted out of FF when it came out and it still is. This was an excellent overview of an underappreciated masterpiece.

I don't like Amarant but I do like the dynamic between Amarant and Freya. It's funny to see how they went from "Let's throw down" when they first met to basically being buddy-buddy in the kind of "I want to stand here away from everyone else and you want to as well, so let's stand here away from everyone else together."

Best part about "You Are Not Alone" is that the song is played by 8 instruments. One for each character. and they all come and go throughout the song. But only the beginning two instruments that start the song last through out the whole song.

I've been on a serious Final Fantasy kick lately. I'm playing through 9 again and I keep finding new things I love about the game every time I play through it. It really is the series love letter and the best one made.

I was 18 years old when this game came out, it has stayed with me all this years, besides FF6 this is the second one I have replayed the most and it's without a doubt the best one on PS1, not even close, I hated when people dismissed it because of the art style.

I've read online that both Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu consider this to be their favorite Final Fantasy game they ever worked on, with Sakuguchi saying that this game is closest to his ideal vision of what Final Fantasy should be, and Uematsu stating that this game had his personal favorite soundtrack of all the Final Fantasy games he had worked on.

This is something nice on an otherwise horrible day. Thank you Jared R.I.P Kentaro Miura

It's so crazy to me that my favorite FF is being reviewed in 2021. This makes me so happy and this FF deserves a remake. Period.

So I just completed this game. I’m 26. I’ve only completed ff7 prior. As much as I love ff7, I can’t help but say this game is life changing. So beautiful how they tackle real life issues as far as racism, suicide, and the means to just live life even if you don’t feel that there is purpose. Thank you for this vid. I will forever cherish this game for sure! Ps that ending twist made me shed a tear I’m not going to even lie!

Hearing Jared say 9 is the best one brought legit tears of joy to my eyes.

Man, Freya and Amarant’s stories being cut due to time crunch is such a shame. Amarant even has a CG screenshot on the back of the US game case that never appears in game.

OMG! Someone who finally sees the value in Steiner’s character! Steiner is my personal favorite character in the entire series!

The part with "You are not alone" absolutly wracked me back then and still does. My eyes still won't stay dry whenever i hear this powerful song

Not gonna lie "You are not Alone" is arguably one of the best scores in Final Fantasy history, it was one-off but it had an incredible impact, you felt the scene as it played out and when you hear it you feel the scene over and over again.

Zidane was my hero. Period. In an age of gritty, edgy, emo-git antiheroes, Zidane was my role model of just doing what's right because it's the right thing to do, and it's okay to appreciate the ladies while you do it.

I had that strategy guide and OMG I hated playonline so much... 😆

Thank you for giving Steiner some love. He is also one of my favorites from IX! My very first playthrough when I was a kid, he was the only character I renamed, and I named him Nomar after my dog at the time, who was my favorite dog. I don't change his name anymore, but that memory of him being "Nomar," to me so many years after his passing still hits home for me. Love Steiner for keeping him alive

This was super fast, and I'm glad it was because I needed something to cheer me up after the news about Kentaro Miura's unfortunate passing.

Seeing Garnet's portrait be updated to a more confident, smiling one was ridiculously satisfying for me. Almost more so than the actual story moment necessitating that. It's like every time I went to the status screen I can see how far she's come. The whole cast is great, and picking a favorite for me is like a parent trying to pick their favorite child, but I'd say I like Garnet the most. (And it's a shame I insisted on being silly and calling her "Knife" instead of just going with "Dagger").

This is my most praised FF in the series. Wonderful, with the best properties of previous episodes mixed up into an amazing world with emotional musics.

"You're Not Alone" is my favorite Final Fantasy song of all time. Such an amazing Nobuo Uematsu masterpiece. Final Fantasy IX is by far my favorite Final Fantasy story-wise and music-wise both. But just me.

The "You are not alone" moment is hands down one of the best in the whole series.

"You are not alone" is such a fantastic song. Easily my favorite in the game.

This kind of RPG content always fill me with joy. I hope ProJared do some video essays in the future for Dragon Quest main titles

Final Fantasy IX was the first Final Fantasy i've ever had the pleasure of playing and the one that got me into JRPG's. I love this game so much.

Needed this after hearing about Kentaro Miura's passing. RIP.

Real talk. The scene involving Zidane and “You Are Not Alone” came at a turning point in my life. Because of this scene...I’m still here. I owe my life to this game.

My favourite game of all time. Music, story, game play are all incredible. I want this game remake in pure cutscene alike 3D styles.

This game was such a chameleon. I think I was embarrassed as a 15 year old playing such high fantasy setting but the lessons in existentialism it taught me sticks with me today.

I know he's not a Normal Boots member anymore, but he always will be in my heart

I always felt like FF9 never got the love it deserves. Thanks for doing it justice, Jared.

I have spent so long not watching this video because I wasn’t sure I wanted to see you review it. This is one of my favorite games and the fact that you specifically mentioned the ‘You’re not alone’ scene made me so happy. That scene hits me so hard when I think of how it mirrors my own struggles.

Man, i was just playing Final Fantasy IX on steam earlier again. I have to say, over the many years and going back to recently playing it. I think I have much more appreciation for this game and I think I am going to put Final Fantasy IX as a number 1 for me, out of all the other final fantasy games i played so far.

Hironobu Sakaguchi: I like 9 of course (slips $100 in is shirt)

3:51 "The airship is named The Invincible!" - while showing us footage of the Hilda Garde 3.

Happy 22 year aniversary to this beloved game!

In my opinion, the music at 26:20 is the best music from any FF game. I still get goosebumps when I listen to it to this day.

The final cutscene in this game is a masterpiece, in my opinion. Despite seeing it over a dozen times it still makes me cry every single time. FF IX is my all time favorite video game and nobody is better than Vivi.

I remember that moment when Zidane was in despair. It really hit hard. No flashy cutscene. Just an amazing song, amazing writing.

Ff7 was my introduction to rpgs and I still love it to this day. Always will but this one is my favorite! ❤️

FF9 has a special place in my heart. It's the first one I beat of the final fantasy (having started with FF7, and played 8 when it came out, but never having beaten either of them) I was one of those who got the game on christmas the year it came out from my dad who knew I liked the games (he rented me FF7 back when it first came out and I was talking to him about it on my birthday!) and I played and was able to beat FF9 which cemented my pursuit of the JRPG and RPG genre in total (FF7 and FFT may have gotten me into the genre with FFT getting me into Tactics RPG! But it was FF9 and Fire Emblem Blazing Sword which cemented me as a fan of the genres) Fun fact, when I got a PS2 it was shortly after beating FF9 from my mother and my dad got me FFX on the christmas of the year it came out, having gotten it when it came to shores! Sadly I never got to beat FFX! My present one was stolen by a classmate in middle school when I was around the part when your rescuing Yuna from that Sham Wedding and any other I bought later for some reason the game fucking froze around when you get in the boss fight on the boat as your leaving Besaid Island and it wasn't till the re-release of X and X-2 (X-2 I skipped as I didn't play FF again till 12) on the Switch that I got to replay and beat FFX! Honestly Zidane was the reason I didn't get whiplash from Tidus (and I feel maybe they shouldn't have let me pick his name! It was annoying watching character's doing their best to avoid saying his name because of the naming shit!) I liked Tidus (had to watch the rest once RU-vid became a thing and someone downloaded the Cutscenes before I got my chance! I was paranoid about getting a bad game because Atlus fucked me over with the last PS2 Growlanser game always getting scratched when I put it in for the first time that I got into a fight with Gamestop over getting my money back because it was a preorder and they only replaced it three times before they pulled the "It's you not the game" on me and my mother went ape shit on them to get my money back. I stopped preordering games for the PS2 and stuck to Used games I could return easily from that point, and any attempt to get a PS2 FFX caused the same "boat" issue! I was eager to play it on the Switch because I was only able to replay the PS1 and PS2 FF I wasn't able to beat (Yes even FF 12 was put on hold and never completed till the Zodiac Age! Getting the Switch version since it had the "respec job" function that the others got patched in VERY LATE) and understood where they were going with his character sooner! And hey at least the romance between him and Yuna made FAR more sense to form then fucking SQUALL AND RINOA! People love to break character's by giving them access to other character's sphere's, but I limited that function because I'm the type of guy to use EVERYONE and this was the first JRPG that had a "SWITCH FUNCTION IN BATTLE!" it was the part of FF that I was happy for and can't understand WHY it took so fucking long for JRPG to start having this in their games (Too till Tales of Xillia that I saw the function in an JRPG again afterwards! Seriously what was so hard about having this function in games with alot of character's in a limited battle party function?)

The Italian adaptation was so unique that still nowadays people quote it by heart: Steiner uses Latin expressions, Quina speaks the roman dialect, Markus has a German accent etc

I can still hear the “clank clank clank” in Steiner’s theme even with the edit in the video. Goodness I love this game so much

Thanks for doing these amazing reviews - without spoiling the storylines!

This is my FAVORITE final fantasy! They are all good but this one holds a special place in my heart ❤

Vivi coming to terms with the inevitability of death, and the uncertainty of it, really hit me when I was a kid. It's a good lesson and seeing such a likeable kid character overcome his doubts was so refreshing. Steiner is my second favorite and I'm so happy that someone else likes him too. Everyone I talk to tends to rank Steiner very low.

Fun fact: Tetra Master's battle system was too complex for even the official strategy guide. Instead of explaining it, they gave you a link to a website (which no longer exists). Edit Also, I love how when you ask the moogle what the numbers on the cards means, he says, "Figure it out for yourself," even though nothing in-game tells you.

Its good to see "Projared" is back! We are all human and make mistakes but I feel "Projared" can relate to me on my gaming odyssey I wanted to make a update .. I just purchased Final Fantasy 9 on Steam because of this video

I remember when Final Fantasy IX became my favorite game of all time. It was when I played through the whole ”You’re not alone” part, I realized that it had been my favorite game ever since I put in Disc 1.

People on the style: "The game is chibby, it looks like its for kids!" Queen Brahne: **Genocides a whole city**

Another cool thing about the game is its sound design. Like when your walking you can hear different foot steps not just each just character but also depending what surface they're walking on. I remember Walking as Zidanne on the Tantalus airship and listening to his steps on the wooden board or listening so Stieners armor clanging as he runs around. It may not sound like much but for something on the PS1 it was awesome.

Vivi to me is a metaphor for the series (and the end of the 'classic' FF games), and a metaphor for all of us who spent our childhood years playing these golden era FFs. That time came to an end for all of us, but it was worth the adventure and the memories of those games will stick with us.

The complaint that Square made the DLC for helpful hints just shows Square was ahead of the times lol.

No words for how I admire Jared, he had a wonderful rebound in life, got back to his schedule, and keeps delivering. You rock man. You are an inspiration.

Sora: My friends are my power. Zidane: I am my friends’ power.

I managed to beat the Tetra Master tournament despite completely ignoring it throughout the game, because earlier I had farmed some dragons for XP, and it turned out that those dragons also drop some pretty good cards.

I love the Final Fantasy series. I'm going to be sad when it's done but they're all so good

"They all talk to each other like actual freaking people!" And this is why quite a few of the Tales of... games are some of my favorite rpgs, the skits!

"Imagine Any Single Person Outright Ignoring Tetra Master And Hit This Wall" **Sweats**

I tear up to the You’re Not Alone scene every time, even with commentary over it

Favorite review of FF9 yet. I've been missing out. I'm gonna include more projared in my life from now on.

And now i'm gonna trigger some PTSD: Queen Brahne was not impressed.

The first time I played FFIX, I went in with no prior knowledge of the characters or story and named Amarant "Bastard." Needless to say, his line declaring "People call me 'The Flaming Bastard'" had me on the floor.

I'd argue "you are not alone" is the best bit of music in any FF!!!!

FF9 is just my favorite. It's a dark game hidden in plain sight acting like a cute and bright game. It has absurdly great characters and character development. It's a real treat even right now. It ages surprisingly well. Give it a chance. The music, the characters, the journey, the dark themes played out so well that you have to really watch the story to truly appreciate everything. Oh God Vivo, Zidane, and Kuja all have amazing individual stories that reflect each other.

“To be forgotten is worse than death” -Freya

The music in FFIX slaps so hard it could awaken people from comas

I just did a play through of 9 for the first time since it came out and really enjoyed it. I’ve played 1 and 7 so many times, and remember being really disappointed when it first came out. Now it’s like “how did I miss this”