I Adore the World of Final Fantasy IX and You Should Too!

Why make walking an option if nobody's gonna use it?
********************************************************************
Games featured in this video in order of appearance:
Final Fantasy IX (PS1, PC)
Breath of Fire II (SNES)
Star Ocean The Divine Force (PC, PS4, PS5)
YS IX: Monstrum Nox (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
Final Fantasy X (PS2, PC)
Final Fantasy VIII (PS1, PC)
********************************************************************
Music used in this video in order of appearance:
Jesters Run Amok - Final Fantasy IX OST
Danger in the Forest - Final Fantasy IX OST
Vivi's Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
We Are Thieves - Final Fantasy IX OST
Steiner's Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
Secret Library Daguerreo - Final Fantasy IX OST
Prima Vista Orchestra - Final Fantasy IX OST
Black Waltz - Final Fantasy IX OST
The Village of Dali - Final Fantasy IX OST
Black Waltz (Again) - Final Fantasy IX OST
Over the Hill - Final Fantasy IX OST
Lindblum Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
The Airship Hildegarde - Final Fantasy IX OST
Cid's Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
Cleyra Settlement - Final Fantasy IX OST
Eiko's Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
Zidane's Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
Burmecian Kingdom - Final Fantasy IX OST
Unfathomed Reminiscence - Final Fantasy IX OST
The Village of Dali (again) - Final Fantasy IX OST
Ice Cavern Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
Sleepless City Treno - Final Fantasy IX OST
Cleyra's Trunk - Final Fantasy IX OST
Ambush Attack - Final Fantasy IX OST
Vamo alla Flemanco - Final Fantasy IX OST
Lindblum Theme (again) - Final Fantasy IX OST
The South Gate Border - Final Fantasy IX OST
Black Mage Village Theme - Final Fantasy IX OST
Theme of Tantalus - Final Fantasy IX OST
Vivi's Theme (again) - Final Fantasy IX OST
The Village of Dali (again again) - Final Fantasy IX OST
Loss of Me - Final Fantasy IX OST
You're Not Alone - Final Fantasy IX OST
The Sneaky Frog and the Scound(?) - Final Fantasy IX OST
********************************************************************
More of my videos -
Final Fantasy VII - Items Only:
• Can You Beat Final Fan...
Rom Hacks with Final Fantasy games:
• I Played Some REAL GOO...

[@live2play56]

Hey this type of video is a wonderful idea for a video format. Just going through a game and appreciating the NPC stories and little world building details and stuff with added jokes. This is the sort of stuff we all like in games but never really talk about. I always notice the little ongoing stories with NPCs like this in games where after major story events they will have little updates and progression. Like for real I think this is a great idea you’ve hit upon and would love to see you give the same treatment to other games too. Give the people that write these minor details some love!

[@Caspicum]

I originally wanted to do it with Breath of Fire 3, but I have eventual plans to do a top-to-bottom rundown of literally everything in that game, even if it ends up being hours or days long, so all that stuff will be included. During a recent playthrough of an FF9 hard type, I found all this new stuff looking desperately for items to help me get through tough fights, and fell in love with the game in a whole new way. I'd never intended to make it a series, I think specifically FF9's world is unique and special, but if I ever see any worlds that inspire me like that again, I'll probably do another like this.

[@rumplstiltztinkerstein]

@@Caspicum FFIX is my favourite Final Fantasy. And this video made me appreciate it more.

[@medikor9190]

IX is such a beautiful game. Its graphics hold up really well thanks to the stylized designs they went with. It tied with VI as my favorite in the series when it was released. The fact there are people out there that want a remake that does away with the style kills me. IX doesn't even need a remake IMO.

[@Just.Kidding]

Fuck all remakes, fuck all remasters.

[@Caspicum]

I feel that way about Breath of Fire 3 as well. If they ever remake or remaster it I will be very upsetti spaghetti.

[@jaidens.g.1920]

@@Just.Kidding the only FF game I want to get a remake is XI, mostly because I don't know how the longevity of such an old MMO running on dwindling PS2 devkits will be effectively preserved compared to every other mainline entry.

[@catlinkerswell3696]

Bof3 is amazing. Just did another playthrough and keep fucking with peco. I made him a mage. A tank. And a speedy guy last playthrough. Made peco as fast as rei lol​@@Caspicum

[@Caspicum]

@@catlinkerswell3696 based and Breath of Fire 3 pilled. Legit, I don't know how they did it, but each subsequent playthrough gets better and better, in part due to how hard you can go with Peco

[@jmbdjc8323]

i have a limit of 1 hour playstation privilege per day when i was a young lad, and my siblings has the same privilege too , the first time we played final fantasy IX we are in awe .. its was one of my core memory, cause for straight 5 hours we just watch our big sister play FFIX, we just cheer her and suggest things that she do... we beat the game for several weeks and it became our bonding time.. after FFXI we would be buying games from the store and decide what game we should play next.. we even pick our favorite character in the game and act as if we are that character, haha good old days... id be playing FFIX, Legend of Legaia, FF7, Chrono Cross just for the nostalgia...

[@zeronightx]

This guy is criminally underrated. Keep the hits coming and never censor yourself. That willingness to speak your mind is a serene breath of fresh air and very much appreciated. Haven't kek'd this hard while also being thoroughly entertained in innumerable days. You rock.

[@RPGGUY2500]

ff9 is one of the few games where i actually give a crap about the NPC's. Tons have actually interesting stories or develop and react to the world. Love this game so much

[@mattshuey1]

Jesus christ that last second bants on that creepy in praise of shadows guy was peak kino.

[@GuyDude-hk8uy]

I thought it was directed at HBoomerSoy. I guess it's a Rorschach test for which pretentious leftist video-essayist you hate the most.

[@michelvanderlinden8363]

I guess it would be too obvious, but 2 things: the war probably did happen around 20-ish years ago, as Steiner tells the Princess "you never experienced the horrors of war Princess", implying that he has. Beatrix is also renowned for her power in war, and they're both in their mid-30s. So it stands to say there was a giant war around 20 years ago. Second, in Madain Sari you can explore the eidolon war to find out Daggers real name, and you will also discover that the Moogles saved Lani from certain death, and she learned to appreciate the moogles and their way of life. Which is fun, considering her review about "that thing that goes Kupo" in the hotel :)

[@Caspicum]

Oh damn I didn't connect that Lani living with the Moogles and the Inn review. sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit. I thought it wasn't even worth mentioning. 20 years or so for the war seems about right for a generation of people to be lopsided sex-wise. I do remember Steiner lost his parents in a war or something, but I think that was in one of those character lore books Square released, not in the actual game. That would've been presumably 20-30 years before the game began. Beatrix is only 27-28 according to the Wiki, and Steiner is 33, so they would've been kids, but they'd still be able to recount war. I guess that means there've been more recent wars, likely within the past decade as I don't think Beatrix was out there cutting down rats during her teen years, but you never know. There're definitely smaller nations implied on the Mist continent, but we don't see them in-game, maybe they just did a really good job wiping them out.

[@michelvanderlinden8363]

​@@Caspicum Its weird that her age is stated to be that then. Her entire reputation is about "Oh, I once killed a hundred KNIGHTS singlehandedly". Thats no small scuffle, that's a battlefield. So she was definitely involved in a war somewhere. It wouldnt be a rebellion either. So if she was 16 or 18 during a wartime, that would put a war at.... 10 years prior to the game? Which ALSO wouldnt make sense, because there's no country she could have been at war with: Lindblum and Alexandria were allies for a long time (as Cid and Garnets [adoptive] father were very close friends). So that would leave Burmecia and Cleyra, and we know Cleyra has been sealed off for a hundred years. According to the Wiki, Alexandria and Burmecia had been in a war.. but 40 years before the start of the game, in dummied-out dialogue. Which... would make more sense. The signost you read has the name "Cid VIII", which is the father of the current regent, Cid IX (also a sneaky reference. The 9th Cid in the 9th FF game? Well he would be if FF1 had a Cid, which it didnt.. so uh.. nvm this). I had to backtrack a little through your video and the various hints given for this. We know there hasnt been a war with the current Regent Cid, and he has been in charge for many years (though we dont know for how long, unless we use the wiki). We dont know how long there has been peace, but suffice to say he hasnt been involved in any. His father however "led the airship armada in 1771, and brought peace. died in 1780". We do know that Garnet mentions only knowing "uncle cid" and not his father, so we can assume that for the past 10 or so years, he's been in charge. This would mean if there has been exactly 10 years (garnet arrived when she was 6?), and he was crowned Regent in 1780, there would have been a war roughly 19 year previously Now, if we take the anniversary part as a quote made when peace was established, than 20 years would actually make sense: the quote by Cid VIII is 20 years old, the cable cars are relatively new (though not JUST new, so we can add maybe a minimum of a year to this?). Or.. that was my first thought at least. See, my guess is, Alexandria and Burmecia were at war 20 years ago, and Lindblum just intervened and told both "play nice, or else". But thats a guess. Either way, it would make no sense for Lindblum to be directly in a war with either nation. Alexandria and Burmecia would make more sense due to the border locations (ground level). But even with all of that, Beatrix' story STILL makes no sense. Either her reputation is a lie, or her age is just wrong. The math on this just does not check out. Honestly, the backstory should have just been "she once killed a hundred raiders/bandits/pirates in battle". But Knights? Well, anyway... I absolutely loved your video. Ive been going through some of your vids like the item only BoF3/LoD runs, the Twilight of the Spirits video, etc. And all I can say is... thats quality entertainment. And you are an absolute madlad for the item-only runs. Thank you for all the effort!

[@Caspicum]

To ease your mind, I watched a sick series on the translation efforts of Final Fantasy IX recently, I'll link it below, and I could've sworn he mentioned that the 100 knight line was slightly mistranslated, which would make this whole scenario make a little more sense. Also women do lie about their age but idk to what extent a knight like Beatrix would even care about that. Probably not even a consideration, especially given there're wikis likely based off the word of the designers, and Beatrix is my dream woman who would never do that :^) I appreciate the kind words, I've always come out the other side of videos being like "Man this sucks" so when people dig them, it's a great feeling. It's good to be wrong. Here's your video, I think this is the episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2qrnmyVdsuUiZI

[@michelvanderlinden8363]

@@Caspicum Thats a great series! I never liked how Beatrix has that dumb "backseat comment" . Like, lady... are you implying you'd feel better if YOU were the one who committed genocide? What?

[@HorkSupreme]

@@michelvanderlinden8363 " Her entire reputation is about "Oh, I once killed a hundred KNIGHTS singlehandedly". " Holy shit! Is that a Berserk reference? I never noticed.

[@Zenaltra]

I didn’t appreciate 9 when it came out, but I think it holds up better than any other in the series with the possible exception of 10

[@ForumArcade]

Ten was great except for its clunky on-rails camera and the ham-fisted handling of the narrative at the end.

[@Tetsaga]

What about necron

[@Yixdy]

12 is the best, 10 is good even though hallways still good, 9 is good for story and that old school "final fantasy feel"

[@ForumArcade]

@@Yixdy Okay, I love XII, but... No. It has maybe the best soundtrack out of any Final Fantasy. Some of the best visuals and set pieces. But two of the main characters are completely worthless to the narrative, and the combat system is just bad. Slow, clunky, and by the end of the game, almost fully automated with no user input necessary apart from Quickenings and Summonings if you ever bother to use them. XII is overall still a great experience, and a special one even among other titles in the franchise, but IV, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X are all better games.

[@elseabe6561]

7

[@Chad_Thundercock]

I hope you continue these videos in general, because you're fookin' hilarious. Like, you almost need a second watch to catch all the subtle wisecracks, but those are the real stingers.

[@bd_bandkanon]

I always loved the worldbuilding to ff9. All the tiny details, architecture designs, cultures, location names and so on. It inspired me to create my own little worlds, most of which will never see the light of day, but it's still a very fun hobby~

[@gotplot]

I can relate just see creative writing as a video game, but the best one ever.

[@PatchtheReaper99]

That smoke detector chirp was comedy platinum.

[@Caspicum]

You can't see it, but I am bowing.

[@thedoughyboi]

Honestly, you should make this some kind of series. A Walk Through (Insert RPG Here) and explore the world building these older RPG's had that generated so many memories and quality games.

[@Caspicum]

I've been thinking about it, but it didn't hook me like the items-only stuff did. That said, I've got a Suikoden series on the back burner, so who knows what the future holds!

[@thedoughyboi]

@Caspicum any chance of a legends of legaia review/overview/video? I loved that game back in the day (still own a copy for my ps1) and the unique combat system still draws me in.

[@jmanclan]

The best thing about final fantasy 9 was the long road leading to this video. Another banger, insightful and hilarious.

[@fireblaze0235]

I really love all the Little details done for the world building in games like these, it's part of the reason why I love FFX and XII so much, really just makes the world feel complete.

[@Caspicum]

12 always felt a bit hollow to me. It had all the components of a game with tapestry and flair, but felt so empty at the same time. Maybe that was me skimming and rushing the story, but NPCs felt like sign posts with little sign post markers, and nothing else seemed to really impact them. I could be, and hope I am, completely wrong, I'll get back there at some point and fingers crossed it's got some neat things to offer.

[@fireblaze0235]

@@Caspicum Yeah I'd definitely recommend it, especially the zodiac age re-release really fixed up a bunch of the gameplay issues with the original. I feel like a lot of the interesting NPC world building comes from the hunt quests, so if you decide to interact with those you get a more full picture of the worlds inhabitants, that being said it certainly lacks the charm X and IX have as far as the characters go due to the approach they take. The game has one of the best bestiary systems in any game I've played and I'm a slut for a well done bestiary.

[@GaymerJosh]

excellent video! ive played this game semi annually for a while and its always great discovering new things and seeing what other things people have found. It took me so long to stumble upon Garnet's true name and the big with Lani & The moogles in Madain Sari. I did wish there were more fun lore readables in Daguerro.

[@Dermetsu]

Around 22:40 you wondered if the little girl at the station would see her father again, and then mentioned her losing her father in the Lindblum attack, but in your first visit to the city you can trigger a cutscene where the father surprises the little girl because he was given leave for the festival or something. I had played the game multiple times and never seen it myself, so I've been playing the game slowly to try and find other obscure content like that. The Chrono Trigger looking guy at the airship port that you mentioned never seeing before also had an optional scene you can experience in the castle after his shit, but only the first time you're there.

[@spirenguard]

I can't believe the chef's haven't changed the smoke detector battery. They work in a kitchen.

[@Ed_G_Boise]

Beep

[@HorkSupreme]

Smoke detector? You mean ceiling bird?

[@s-wo8781]

Man I played this game so many times and I can't believe there are still things I missed. After going to the ticket booth I never thought about walking back and talking to Mick

[@Caspicum]

People always walk back in platformers and side scrollers and stuff, but you're rarely rewarded for it in other genres. I figured it was worth a try and it certainly paid off. Mick is an absolute brother.

[@DutchDread]

I've played ffix dozens of time, and yet, everytime I've played it I've learned something I didn't know yet, I noticed it as a pattern early on and it has never let me down.

[@BobExcalibur]

Always love your work man. Its always great to see what you're up to.

[@coldReactive]

You (Yes, you, the player) can already confirm the ticket is fake by inspecting it in the Key Items menu before going up to the stall.

[@Caspicum]

I have footage of me going through the key item section and reading all the descriptions of everything I got, I didn't want to constantly grind the video to a halt to show it off, but there's no doubt that's one of the least-explored menus in the game.

[@coldReactive]

@@Caspicum I only found out after getting the key item from Baku in the crashed airship that key items could be examined. So it wouldn't be until my next playthrough that I would see it.

[@devingrubbs]

8:20 I remember finding this part as a kid and thinking “man I bet royal gourmet food is insane” lol. Love all the little details in this game.

[@MrMarket1987]

There's SO much to find in IX. So many NPC moments. The bonus Key Items are achievements I wouldn't try to hard to get, but they still add to the charm and grandness of IX's potential worldbuilding. For such a "simple" game, it's lore and mechanics are still among the most complex to get down to a T in the series. A great QoL for it would be something like the Glossaries in Xenosaga or Star Ocean III for random names/regions/terms.

[@ForumArcade]

So far and away, see the bird as it flies by...

[@taylorlowder8935]

Very high on the spectrum. Good job. Make more like this. I'll send you a helmet and legos

[@Caspicum]

never been much of a lego guy but my old helmet can only keep my brain in for so long

[@AggressionSsbb]

These old games are so insanely detailed.

[@PapaMartyo4331]

Such a great game! Can’t wait for the “remake” that takes out all the lovingly crafted charm and replaces it with modern graphics, storytelling and gameplay! I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to climbing up towers in the wonderfully empty “open world”!

[@7milesdavis]

If we’re lucky they’ll completely change the story and make Zidane look like a girl.

[@dmgurei]

Maybe there could even be online multiplayer! And instead of unlocking abilities with *equipment*, you can get them through a paid battlepass!?

[@BobbyHopp]

photo realistic crystal engine Quina gonna land us all in the psych ward

[@agrippa2012]

Stop complaining, just consume product and be hyped for next product

[@zyrkugilgamesh]

Or you could just play the original

[@ultimatthias]

I feel like FF9 was a game where non-Japanese gamers instantly felt like it was a classic, despite not having the same breadth of experiences gamers in its home country had. It's crazy to me how Square was able to make us feel nostalgia for something we really never had. It still doesn't have Triple Triad, though, so it sits at a middling 6/10. Objectively

[@wolfiewolfdog9771]

Your opinion is subjective, most hold it in high regard 9/10

[@Denynn]

With regards to the teleporting bubble pots: (speculation) They can't just go anywhere they want, they specifically go between that magic circle in the castle and the big pots on the Queen's private airship which allows it to act as a mobile forward base capable of teleporting in supplies and troops at a steady pace and also using the pots for short range teleportation deployment of those troops in tactical locations without landing. I don't think she even needs to worry about her approach and supply lines at the point she starts killing rats in disc 1. As for where she got it and why it's only used for this one thing, I think it's fair to assume it's something Kuja set up for her personally in his role as magical weapons broker. It's likely Kuja could have given Brahne a more sophisticated setup but he would have had no reason to, a simpler setup like the one provided was more than enough to throw the mist continent into chaos.

[@Caspicum]

We do see Kuja teleport around, so it's likely his doing through some sort of magic. Though, when we visit Terra, they have some sort of advanced magical technology, which would've been cool to see more of, but it's likely born of the same source. I will say though, when at Cleyra, it seems like they can teleport back to Alexandria from very far away, and I don't think it's a magical circle, I think it's just an insignia of the kingdom, so I question whether there's a maximum limit. Maybe it's like Instant Transmission, where you just have to visualize where you want to end up, which is how the mages use it to enter Cleyra, and how Zidane and crew use it to get back to Alexandria. It's still odd to me that it's not more utilized, though I guess we don't really know how or why it works, and it was a risky situation when they did it the first time. They didn't exactly have mobile phones to dial Cid if they ended up on the Forgotten Continent right?

[@Denynn]

@@Caspicum Yeah, we don't really get word of god on this so all we have is speculation, headcannon and cope. RE: Cool magical Terra stuff: Absolutely, I noticed that in general the level of attention to detail and granularity begins to fade away as the game goes on. I'd say by the time Brahne dies the amount of cool little details like the ones in your video become more and more sparse. Everything that happens in the mist and outer continent feels rich and historied. Whenever you show up somewhere new it's a big event. you'll get dialogue about the place, everyone will say what they're interested in and split up, you can press the select button see what everyone is up to while you explore etc. When you pull up somewhere new in the second half of the game like anywhere in the forgotten continent, Terra or that snowy island Kuja takes Hida there's just less dialogue, less cutaways to other characters and less effort spend on making it feel like the final fantasy 9 style adventure we've had until this point. It's a real shame, I mean what we've got isn't bad but I can definitely feel the difference in quality and I would have loved for a Terra sequence similar in scope and worldbuilding potential to the first time we entered Lindblum for example. If you want to see this quantified take a look at the list of cutaway (press select) scenes, the list is extremely lopsided with almost all of them taking place before Brahne dies at which point the adventure becomes a lot more like other adventures and less like final fantasy 9. But then again they made these games in like 1 or 2 years and the dialogue, characters and worldbuilding still outcompete most anything we get today so maybe I'm being unreasonable. PS: Was surprised to find a good mod scene for the pc release. One of the mods touches up the matte backgrounds and adds in removed disc 1 dialogue where old people dispense black pills about previous wars and generally see Steiner as a harbinger of hard times to come. Also a believable Beatrix mod where she joins up in disc 3 and gets a reasonable amount of dialogue. There's also a few different difficulty rebalance mods, I'd recommend you check them out next time you replay.

[@goldendragonrider5237]

For the ice cavern, I imagine the death of the Sealion to cause the melting to start, rather than Black Waltz 1. The Black Waltz were sent to hunt down Garnet, so its unlikely that he's been influencing an area long enough that Garnet read books on the floria there. Sealion might have been the guardian of the Ice Cavern. Grizmaluke was a guardian that was sent berserk and driven to fight bermicians and the party by Zorn & Thorn later in the game.

[@Caspicum]

That's a good point. It didn't make much sense to me, as he's a Sealion, not an Icelion, but I guess the Black Mage was likely just blasting that top area with ice and the Sealion could've lived there in the climate transitionary area before he rocked up. Also strange we never see the bell jingling again...

[@DoctorSwellman]

One of these days I'll talk about why this game is absolutely horrible (for speedrunning). Thanks for the motivation lmao

[@Caspicum]

Please do, I'd be so down for that. I don't think I've ever seen an FF9 speedrun, but I can't imagine they're short

[@_thejuicebox]

tfw no step count 😭 hey doc

[@DoctorSwellman]

@@_thejuicebox yoooooo gamer juice

[@catlinkerswell3696]

The sword in the one shop has a nudge to ff7 because it looks like clouds buster sword kinda. Zidane says something like "i remember a guy with spiky hair that used to carry somethi g like this" I cant remember the shop. Thought it was lindblum on the first visit Edit: tetra master is awesome!!

[@katyadade1041]

Yes, it’s a weapon shop in Lindblum

[@lovelynana4517]

i ended up loving this more then i thought, and tbh i hope u do more of this like part 2 would like to hear more of u explaining more parts of the story and side stuff :)

[@Eldejot]

The section on food brought the old mrbtongue videos back to mind, from before he lost his mind over criticism of game journalism. Really great work man, your love for the setting is palpable and inspiring. Thank you for making this.

[@Caspicum]

I haven't heard of this guy, but it's a damn shame when people who make video game stuff go crazy and dive into other topics, or just disappear. I like the Motorhead approach: Play the same song for 40 years and then die, but play it as loud as you can every time. I just wanna talk about games and make some shit jokes, so thank you for being here.

[@PringleTheOne]

Only men of culture appreciate FF9. You got it right on the nail casp!

[@beeniecat9411]

I replayed this game last year and it was better than when I remember watching my brother play. This game doesn't need nostalgia to be great.

[@TheArtInterviews]

I love that this game always feels so alive to me. I've always think that if they made a remastered version or whatever they should allow for a certain level of online interaction in at least certain areas, like being able to fight the parties made by other players, and buying and selling items. Make the "aliveness" of the game even more so

[@Seloliva1015]

"Who is gonna drive without crashing" I laughed but you are on thin ice

[@Caspicum]

That's exactly where I wanna be.

[@dimitriimanbaew621]

In the german translation Cinna ended his sentences with "zefix" (abbr. for crucifix), a bavarian expression for "damn". Man, I love FF9.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

my favorite part about this game is that all the backgrounds were drawn by a multicultural movie poster artists for 70s-90s movies and they made the game in honolulu

[@DreamWhale]

I've been patient and assumed you weren't, you know, a toxic creator but the last straw was that remark about sc*tt*sh people really crossed the line and has made me sad. I will be unsubscribing and making a community post about this.

[@DreamWhale]

PS does that feet scene really happen or was that a joke?

[@Caspicum]

Yeah the feet scene is real (in my mind)

[@deejay3297]

N! N! N! N! N! N! N! N! N!

[@wolfiewolfdog9771]

You need to grow a set of testicles mate

[@Maker1]

Criminally underrated. Great stuff mate... I... I love you...

[@RKIC]

I love how much FFIX improved gameplay in all aspects over the other PSX era Final Fantasy games only for them to completely drop the format. I wish Squaresoft/Enix were competent in and actually passionate about their legacy so that games like this could be properly remastered, imagine a world where they didn't just dump the entire games source code/assets the second the game launched and they were able to actually go back and export all the old pre rendered content into modern software and re-render it in higher resolutions.

[@miss_editor]

I've always interpreted Tantalus more as privateers than straight thieves. They would need to be good enough actors to keep up the disguise, and not be constantly robbing every place they stop. So they would only take big things when they are paid by the kingdom. Kind of like unacknowledged agents of Lindblum, cause they clearly aren't hiding in the city. Anyways that was always my thought on it.

[@bluestrife28]

Oh yeah, I was among the crowd that wasn’t sure about it because of how cutesy the box looked. But this beautiful world is among my faves, prolly only next to X. The lore, the completeness of it, IX is a masterpiece.

[@brandonj8372]

The joke's on you. Despite your repeated questions assuming I have played Final Fantasy IX, I have not played it.

[@sasuke11457]

This is one of the best videos you have made. As someone that speed read through everything when I played it. I never took the time for see the bigger world they made. It was nice to see. Now do all the final fantasy

[@Caspicum]

Honestly, the solid translation of FF9 does a lot of the heavy lifting, which previous games didn't really get. The only other game I'd say that's even close to 9, would have to be 8 in terms of how many things need to function in the background for the world to make sense. They straight up just have car rental services that magically ward off giant fiends. I appreciate the compliment though, and hope you'll seriously consider taking it slower with games in the future! JRPGs can be tedious at times, but there's also a lot of goodies under the hood.

[@stormstrider]

Based. Zidane was my hero (still is) in a world full of emo edgelords, and made me appreciate the sauve and playful rogue, growing up.

[@Caspicum]

JRPGs really did go hard on emo edgelords in the late '90s. I'll take a poppy anime child or a cheeky monkey boy any day.

[@bobojr2126]

really wish more games would go for this type of eccentric phantasy look.

[@kadeosborne3937]

Playing FF9 feels like playing through my imagination as a child, it's both comforting and nostalgic even though I never played the game when it originally released.

[@Caspicum]

That's fascinating. I get the same thing with Chrono Trigger. I missed the SNES version, I don't think we got the PS1 version in Australia, and I couldn't emulate it until many years after it came out, but it still gives me those nostalgia chills. Some games just have 'it', which is a testament to their quality.

[@deazee2288]

Playing that game at the age of 12, it felt like a fairy tale, replayed it 4 years ago, still felt like a fairy tale, what an amazing game

[@OccuredJakub12]

Where do they get their meat? Chocobo Where do they get their eggs? Chocobo Where do they get their milk? Chocobo

[@savigy1301]

Glad to see the use of Moguri in this love-letter

[@Caspicum]

A few people have criticised the backgrounds, and yeah, some are a bit muddy, but considering the vanilla version square gave us, we're lucky a dedicated team of modders are trying to improve it. It is simply the best version out there. Also the instant-steal option is crazy good.

[@jainee4507]

FFIX has the most rich and interesting world to explore. I like how there are sci-fi elements introduced near the end of the game without it seeming out of place.

[@stevemanart]

I was looking away when the last joke happened and I came back to see the what to watch next screen full of your Items Only videos and I thought that was a joke you were pulling and it took me a little too long to realize no the video ended.

[@brendanerickson2363]

My all time favorite FF game. Amazing video. Thank you

[@akiinmoonlight79]

FF9 is a magical masterpiece ❤

[@GooseGumlizzard]

its mid

[@nidohime6233]

9 being the only Final Fantasy I've finish to this day says something.

[@blueseanewt2138]

I think about Vivi's arc all the time. Changed my life.

[@MoonlapseOpethian]

It's the best or at least the most consistent. Even if you don't agree that it has the most pros, you absolutely cannot deny that it has the least amount of flaws.

[@StreetSurfersAlex]

Goddamn. The ice is melting because they killed the ice guardian earlier in the passage when fighting the first mage.

[@not_emerald]

Incredible video about a game that, although not my first final fantasy game, in a way shaped my personal imagery and is my all time favorite. This game is very rich and chill, while dealing with very serious existential issues. Great seemingly spontaneous humor on the video too, reminds me of my favorite years of youtube where people weren't just capable of making blasé childish humor.

[@not_emerald]

By the way I feel ashamed for actually understanding the final joke of the video

[@pomponi0]

Fun fact: I'm not sure where this comes from, but the split cap thing apparently has some delinquent connotations in Japan.

[@Caspicum]

That's interesting, and I'd believe it. I feel like I've seen it other places as well, should look into that a bit. ty ty!

[@pomponi0]

@@Caspicum Look up Mako Mankanshoku from Kill la Kill (when she wears the Goku uniform) and Bancho Leomon from Digimon. The only place where I've seen it directly addressed is in the very first episode of Mahoujin Guru Guru (2017), when the protagonist is given a helmet by his dad.

[@shadowwwwwwwwwww]

why do people hate vivi??? he's just a little guy!

[@Caspicum]

i've legit seen people shit-talk him and idk where they get off, but it's off the side of my airship mid-flight.

[@idontwanttodothisnomore]

Impossible, they must not be real people

[@atomicgrave4340]

Daguerro Library was entirely forgotten, and the small village near Mt. Gulug (Esto Gaza was it?) i like talk to npcs there as well. Man this world is lively.

[@GameGod77]

It almost feels like an oversight that Quinna can't use female only equipment. If you're going to restrict certain gear by gender and go out of your way to include a gender neutral/fluid/queer character, then why the hell wouldn't you program them to be able to use all gear?

[@Amish_Avenger]

It's Japan in the late 90s. The world hadn't gone insane at that point.

[@GameGod77]

@@Amish_Avenger Define insane for me there bruv.

[@donnylurch4207]

I think that's something they could address in a remake. It would also just be less awkward to say "they" instead of that "s/he" pronoun in the initial translation.

[@GuardCancel]

12:51 My opinions on IX aside (though I do need to revisit it to determine true feelings) God I miss you Casp!

[@Seloliva1015]

Apparently Quina is genderless in the original Japanese, but depending on the translation they refer to them as "he" or "she", I say this because I played the spanish originally and they used she/her in that one. The male equipment could be because Quina is BIG, I don't know.

[@Caspicum]

Quina always seemed like a dude to me, but he's not even human he's just some big gourmand blob so I guess you're not supposed to think of him like that. Though, I've seen a lot of dudes who'd fall into the same category... Might as well be an alien or a monster. The fact that he can't equip female-only items makes a better case for thinking he's a dude, and he's a bit of a bro, you know. Big tongue, aggressive posturing, eating raw animals, Quina's on a sigma grindset. That said, the requirements for equipping female equipment is that you're explicitly female, so it makes sense that a genderless monster doesn't fit that criteria, which genuinely begs the question of why they'd call Quina female in the Spanish version but not allow him to equip those items. Logically, Quina is an absolute nightmare who makes no sense but that's why I like him. The Qu raise so many unanswerable questions which is why they're a great fantasty race.

[@alexandrert948]

​@@CaspicumQuina, in my view, has a female representation despite always seeing information that she is a genderless character

[@alexandrert948]

Another thing that makes me think this way is the group's distribution of 4 males and 4 females.

[@FrancescoBianchiTaliesin]

LindBULM is always printed like that on maps/signs etc because it is the original japanese transcription, while it became LindBLUM in the west!

[@detritusofseattle]

"Not at all!" Me: Challenge accepted.

[@Noite_de_Games]

IX is my favorite FF game.

[@Caspicum]

Me too tbh. It's a toss up between 4 and 9, but 9 is better in pretty much every way on an objective level

[@BCOG1691]

I think there are animals apart from Monsters. during the Linblum festival of the hunt, the lady misused the word "monster" instead of saying "animals" so maybe they have animals but they no longer showed them. we see a chicken in lindblum feast tho.

[@djblaklite]

this might be the best video youve ever made

[@Caspicum]

Oh damn, thanks. When I was proof-watching it I was like "Man this video sucks", perhaps time will be kinder to it than I. unless you're negging me, either way, thanks still!

[@AvalancheReviews]

I'd love to see more videos with this premise. Maybe next time you can do one on a good game : )

[@deejay3297]

If hes ever playd a good game its news to me

[@Caspicum]

Name one good JRPG, I'll wait.

[@deejay3297]

Legend of N! N! N! N! N! N!

[@Yorkshan222]

This was a perfect palate cleanser after Dawntrail.

[@mooredmon7898]

I'm surprised you never mentioned the church in Lindblum or the fact that Lani starts living with the moogles in Madain Sari toward the end of the game.

[@Caspicum]

I was personally impressed by the whole "The church has been here since the times Lindblum was just a forest" during Cid I's reign and how it was like a hub for the festival of the hunt. It kinda felt like a reference to the church in the centre of the forest in Chrono Trigger, but that could be a bit of a stretch. Honestly, I should've included it. Also the Lani stuff since I talked about her so much. I may have over-cut things for a lower run time.

[@IXArcanine]

This is my favorite game of all time. Also how can someone not like Vivi. I have a sticker of him on my windshield. Love Vivi!

[@StrawberryPidgey]

I've never played XI so that sudden ending gave me whiplash I don't know if that was the last interesting thing you found outside of the story or what lol

[@Amish_Avenger]

ffxi is legit a great game.

[@wolfiewolfdog9771]

XI was an amazing game

[@fluffdafire157]

Didn't talk about pickle grandma becoming blind after the attack on lindblum

[@Caspicum]

I actually had that in the script, it just got cut for some reason. Sometimes I get a little cut-happy, try to tighten stuff up a bit.

[@fluffdafire157]

@@Caspicum lmao good to know she is still remembered

[@rem399]

Something i just noticed is that Waltz2 has either no legs or really stumpy ones

[@teddykayy]

Good video. The vibe reminded me a lot of my first ff9 playthrough. Take it ez on the meme speak, though. It ain't 2007 anymore.

[@Caspicum]

If you let the current year dictate how you behave, you've already lost. Especially in current year. Cheers for the comment, brother. I've never played FF9 so slowly before, if run is an option it's my default, but looking back, it feels like watching a video at 2x speed now.

[@teddykayy]

@@Caspicum haha, more power to ya You've inspired me to do a slow playthrough myself

[@Caspicum]

@@teddykayy I've had a few people comment about things I missed, so if you find anything, please let me know! Godspeed... Or rather, godslow!

[@RPGtourguide]

There are people who don’t like Vivi?!… Glad I don’t know any of those heathens. 😝 From your playlist page, it looks like you were working on a name for this series. If it’s going to be about going through the little seen dialogue in games, what about calling them Talkthroughs, as opposed to walkthroughs? 🤔

[@RPGtourguide]

Or, going off the rule of having to walk, maybe “A Literal Walk Through… (insert game title)”?

[@AggressionSsbb]

I do like the ai upscaled version I might play it later. I know some hate upscaling but it's nice going back.

[@SquirrelCommander-o6d]

Truly the best ff theres ever been

[@tipsyConfection]

still the best in the series, don't @ me, the apotheosis of Final Fantasy, never to be repeated.

[@MegaDeathRay10]

That ending, lol

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

i like that and the "ffviii is a sequel to iii"

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

and 3 is connected to v because of the void and then viii had void and gilgamesh

[@OtakuJuanma2]

Wait... in the English translation they changed Gystal greens to pickles? I mean yeah technically they are Gystal pickles as they are pickled, but still...

[@MrOrcshaman]

My favourite in the series.

[@bunnydexter7178]

Yay finally! Thank you😘

[@dociletoad]

Casp talking about my favourite game? Turned this miserable Tuesday into a great one

[@Caspicum]

Glad I could help.

[@TheMorbidHobo]

I don't honestly care about most RPGs, but your writing and presentation are just so magnetic to me, I can't help but watch.

[@Caspicum]

I appreciate that, my friend. I'll continue putting metal shavings in my mouth as I record then!

[@onehandgaming-c6r]

27:43 prolly a disk 1 exclusive are to save on disk space

[@theonlybilge]

22:06 I just realised, this is a bait and switch and the actual joke is that chefs have drug abuse problems.

[@GoldenChallanger]

I think its actually tantalus that put drugs into the food. They did say they were going to put Garnet to sleep.

[@XstickbuddyX]

FF9 has always been and will always be my favorite final fantasy it's world is great but it always bugged me that with all these crazy races in the world we got a party of 90% humans. it also rubbed me wrong that we could not get one of the red mages walking around alexandria to join the party.

[@evanthesquirrel]

I always make steiner Rusty because i think it's funny for him to get mad at being called Rusty and then saying that's his name. No accent, nothing. Just Rusty.

[@ShinzouKatsune]

"Loyal" is an interesting way to say "nationalistic" 😂

[@Caspicum]

They're certainly synonymous, though you can be nationalistic without being blindly loyal, and loyal without being nationalistic. I'd say Steiner is both for sure.

[@MitoRequiem]

Yay another video loving FFIX

[@codyfelts9531]

As much as I love FFX, IX was the last true final fantasy imo. They just made the call and turned full action adventure anime on everyone. "Turn based RPG's are dated" said no one at the time except squaresoft/Enix

[@Caspicum]

I definitely agree there. I've got a love/hate relationship with FFX, the story was good for a once-around, but has absolutely no replay value outside of wanting to grind that amazing sphere grid and monster arena for the 100th time. While it's solid, it's not 'Final Fantasy', it's just a big corridor, and while that corridor contains some cool anime set pieces, it's still just a corridor full of paint-by-number battles due to how enemy weaknesses work. Crazy that a game with that many detrimental flaws can still be such a fantastic experience though, if there's one thing FFX truly captured about what makes the rest of the series great, it's that it's always greater than the sum of its parts.

[@slayer0304]

is the Steam port worth getting or I should just stick to the old Ps1 ver?

[@Caspicum]

The steam version on its own reduces a lot of the load times, particularly during battle transitions, but it uses that generic mobile port font. It comes with in-game speed-up and auto-battle and whatnot too. There's a mod for it called Moguri, which adds all sorts of toggleable things, such as guaranteed steal, higher FPS, higher res backgrounds with some in 16:9, you can disable Garnet having a chance to lose a turn when she goes mute, all sorts of fun little bits like that. I'd say get it if it's cheap, but if you can handle the pre-battle loads of the PS1, it's whatever.

[@slayer0304]

@@Caspicum Cool, thanks for answer, I will consider it. I didn't mind loading time much, after all I played Legend of Dragoon on a shitty Epsxe version but all the mods and features look pretty tempting.

[@Substantial-hf1rm]

Be sure to up the battle speed a bit with the moguri engine, 9's biggest flaw is how slow the attack animations are.

[@slayer0304]

@@Substantial-hf1rm I tried the mod, it's cool. Didn't mind the slow animations much though, anything thing higher than 20 fps feels very strange to me