Best way to play this game?

[Sergey.]

Never played it, and I am tempted to buy it in the current sale.
It has good Steam reviews and Moguri Mod looks like a great upgrade, but SE has a lot of bad PC ports so I am curious if it is the same case here.

I have also PS3/PS4/Switch and don't mind using emulators, so I am curious, what's the best way to experience this game for first time?

[Kerobe]

steam version + moguri mod is probably the best version now

https://sites.google.com/view/moguri-mod/home

[j0shimi]

I agree with Kerobe, Keeps it true to the original whilst adding nothing but improvements.

[Sergey.]

Thanks, will purchase it on Steam then.

[Meganesuki]

Moguri mode does lessen, if not alleviate, most FF IX original and port issues.

Long battle animation can be fast forward with battle speed increase
If it is too fast to battle then switch to turn base.
Infamous low steal rate especially for super rare type is fixed by 100% steal rate (though I think 1st time player should not use this one).

The only port issue/change that I don't like and no fix anywhere is the encounter rate being decreased from the original. I wish there is an option to choose whether to keep the rate or lower it.

[Tirlititi]

I *think* that using the option "EncounterInitial = 0" in the Memoria.ini makes the encounter rate back to the original.

[Battle]
Enabled = 1
EncounterInitial = 0

I see how the encounter rate works for the Steam version and I could compare it with tests and TAS informations that people did for the PSX version and it seems that this number, EncounterInitial, should be the only thing that changes. By default, it is set to -1440 in the Steam version and I assume (although I'm not 100% sure) that it is set to 0 in the PSX version.

Setting that option to a negative number effectively makes random encounters impossible to have for a longer period of time when entering in each new screen.

[Sergey.]

Originally posted by Meganesuki:

Moguri mode does lessen, if not alleviate, most FF IX original and port issues.

Long battle animation can be fast forward with battle speed increase
If it is too fast to battle then switch to turn base.
Infamous low steal rate especially for super rare type is fixed by 100% steal rate (though I think 1st time player should not use this one).

The only port issue/change that I don't like and no fix anywhere is the encounter rate being decreased from the original. I wish there is an option to choose whether to keep the rate or lower it.

If I don't avoid fights, do I need to grind to advance in the story/defeat bosses? Because if no, then lowering the encounter rate sounds like an upgrade for me.