Incredible story, Incredible characters, Incredible soundtrack, Incredible game. (Use Memoria for extra qol)

The best Final Fantasy and my favourite game of all time! I highly recommend it especially if you can get it on sale. I also recommend using the Moguri Mod to have the best experience possible with this masterpiece.

TL;DR: One of the greatest entries in the Final Fantasy franchise, IX has aged like a fine wine thanks to its nostalgic nature and the hard work of a dedicated fan community.

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After a marathon of FF replays a few years ago, wherein I revisited I-VIII, I decided to take a break. Recently, tho, the JRPG itch returned and I picked up right where I left off. I hadn't played Final Fantasy IX since the days of the original PlayStation, and while I remembered loving it, I didn't have high hopes for its PC port; both VII and VIII were chucked onto the platform with little care, and I was afraid of the same for this one. While that turned out to be the case, the fan community has extensively overhauled this title, effectively providing it with a remaster.

Without mods, FFIX is really showing its age. It’s locked into a 4:3 aspect ratio with letterboxing on either side of the picture, and while the polygonal models look nice, the lovingly crafted backgrounds are low-resolution and look utterly horrid by comparison. The Moguri Mod team has used AI-upscaling and manual editing to bring the backgrounds up to 4k resolution and, where possible, remove the letterboxing. I am staunchly opposed to using AI to replace artists, but this is a perfect example of a legitimate use case: a small group of fans using available tools to help modernize an essentially-abandoned classic, while adhering to the original’s aesthetic as closely as possible. The results are fantastic, and it looks light-years better than the muddy original on a modern screen.

Enough about the mod, though: how does the game itself fare? If you’re into Final Fantasy, especially older entries in the series, this is a very nostalgic trip. Unlike most modern games, characters are locked into their roles; Steiner will always be a Knight, Zidane a Thief, and Vivi a Black Mage. The Active Time Battle system remains virtually unchanged from Final Fantasies IV through VIII, with each character waiting a certain length of time between actions in menu-driven combat. The plot revolves around summoned creatures and a madman who wants to become a god or watch all of creation burn. Classic JRPG stuff. It’s a backward-looking entry, and the last to feature a soundtrack fully composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Despite this being the end of an era, it still makes for a fine entry point, though if you prefer more of an action-hybrid RPG, other series will serve you better.

Like many of the best JRPGs, the lovable cast of characters are the real draw here. Most of the story revolves around Zidane, a charming rogue whose cadre of bandits is putting on a play for the royal family as a cover to kidnap Princess Garnet. Unbeknownst to them, Garnet is desperate to escape the palace, and more than willing to come with them. Vivi is a mysterious, child-like black mage with no memory of his past who begins to question his humanity. Freya is a knight-errant of the proud kingdom of Burmecia, seeking her lost love abroad. Amaranth is… okay, they can’t all be winners. While the broader stakes are high, they’re almost too big (and a little too generic) to get fully invested in, but the characters have great chemistry, are almost universally likeable, and it’s easy to find yourself rooting for them as they grow and discover themselves.

This is a gorgeous, sweet, and very comfy title if you’re into this era of pre-rendered Playstation JRPGs, and with the Moguri Mod this is easily the best way to experience it currently. While I doubt anyone is going to choose this entry as their introduction to Final Fantasy, if you have liked others in the series, or enjoy well-written JRPGs in general, this is a classic and easy to recommend. While it’s less iconic and ground-breaking than the other two main-line Playstation entries, it’s one of my favorites in the series as a whole, and still well worth sinking your time into.