My thoughts reflect the experience of playing this game with the Moguri Mod (9.0) on the Steam Deck.

To newcomers:

Final Fantasy IX is every bit as good as the reputation it has. If you're new to the series entirely, I think 9 is actually the best place to start. It wholly encompasses everything great about this series. If you've played other FFs before and haven't played 9, its never too late to experience one of it's crowning achievements.

The world immediately draws you in with its presentation. The PS1 era pre-rendered backgrounds look absolutely amazing with the Moguri Mod. Each new screen through to the end of the game was a visual treat. The character designs/models are phenomenal. There's so much personality in the animations, it's hard not to fall in love. And last but not least the music. I could listen to the overworld theme "Over the Hill" literally forever and it wouldn't get old. Melodies of Life is an incredible song and the way it's motif gets used throughout the game will make you want to worship Nobuo Uematsu (as if he didn't already deserve worship).

The gameplay will have you explore small JRPG towns talking to NPCs and learning more about the world and the events of the story. Exploring every room and alley looking for hidden items. There's an overworld as well; as the story opens up, you're able to traverse the world more and more and revisiting old places (and finding new ones) become even more rewarding. Battles are turn based and each character grows to fill a role within your 4-man lineup (white mage, black mage, warrior, summoner etc). Each character can equip passive or active abilities using a limited resource and said abilities are learned by using different equipment. It's fairly "standard" jrpg stuff at this point but its done so well that I have little complaints. The challenge in the gameplay comes from figuring out the weaknesses and attacks/statuses the bosses/enemies will dish out and equipping the right abilities in your party to be ready. Personally, the Materia system in FF7 still reigns king, but 9 is still extremely rewarding with its gameplay loop.

Finally, the story of FF9, it's magical. Sometimes it feels like a play and other times a fairy tale. Towards the end it gets a little out there but that's okay. The driving force behind its memorable story is the exceptional cast. Most of them get a really beautiful arc throughout the game. The growth that some of these characters go through might even make you cry. As with most FFs (and honestly most JRPGs with large cast sizes), not all the characters have equal amounts of story or character development. But even for those characters, what is there is probably going to be enough for you to still fall in love with them (all the while wishing they had more screentime). The message this game has and the way it's told through its characters is the reason it's so beloved and why it will continue to be timeless. You'll see a little bit of yourself in all the characters and their growth will make you become introspective about your own. And at the end of the day, we can all be a bit more like Zidane and Vivi.

"You don't need a reason to help people".

"You taught me that life doesn't last forever. That's why we have to help each other and live life to the fullest."

To existing fans:

If you've been looking for an excuse to replay this game (I mean it is the 25th anniversary after all), play it with the Moguri Mod. It is spectacular. Tons of QOL like toggling game speed (which doesn't mess with in-game timers or the music btw), toggling random encounters, 100% steal rate, on-the-fly party swapping, controllable trance etc etc. There's even a cheat to let you get Excalibur 2 without needing to speedrun the game. The game looks gorgeous; you get a couple of options for the in-game character models too. I personally loved Toons+Outline which gave them a cell shaded look that just popped with all the beautiful backgrounds - specially on the Steam Deck oled screen. If you're like me and have limited time in in your adult life, playing games that waste your time is basically unacceptable. Which is why I can really recommend this mod. I put in about 80 hours and none of it was tedium. You can disable the long battle intros, you can speed up the game to make those runbacks to feed the moogle kupo nuts painless, you can just outright replace tetra master with triple triad. I mean its all great, but it will make playing the original impossible. But that's fine because this exists, you essentially have the perfect way to play this game in modern times; don't have to wait for Square to ♥♥♥♥ it up with a remake (they're not gonna remake it anyway).

It's a pretty good JRPG.

You know. Kinda one of the best.

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