Final Fantasy IX: First in-depth story and system information

[05.26.00] » You'd almost think the title were due out shortly.

    To say that Square has been elusive with Final Fantasy IX would be an understatement. Even at the major trade shows E3 and TGS, Square held back any real information on their summer blockbuster despite a quickly approaching Japanese release date. However, Final Fantasy IX has finally had its cover blown, courtesy of the latest Electronic Gaming Monthly. To say that Final Fantasy IX returns to the roots of the series now seems to be an inaccurate statement, as the details that follow show a selection of the most popular aspects of every game throughout the series. Warning: The following information includes story details and the plot-setup for Final Fantasy IX. Read at your own risk.

    Set in a world called Gaia, Final Fantasy IX will contain four distinct ruling nations. Zidane, once again called the "hero" of Final Fantasy IX, hails from the kingdom of Lindblum, a peaceful nation with a leader named Cid. Regent Cid hires an group of bandits to kidnap Princess Garnet of the neighboring kingdom Alexandria after its Queen began ruthlessly attacking near by villages. Although Cid's original intent was to capture the princess in hopes of finding out the Queen's plans, Princess Garnet, realizing that her mother is out of control, joins Zidane's group of her own free will along with her loyal bodyguard Steiner. The Queen of Alexandria retaliates by sending an army of black mages after the group, at which time Vivi winds up fighting alongside the heroes as an innocent wizard caught in the crossfire.

    The "new" combat system will be comparable to that of Final Fantasy VI. Battling parties can consist of up to four characters, and you'll be able to make use of front and back rows depending on the weapons and abilities a character can use. A new option called "Trance Mode" replaces the popular Limit Breaks, although it serves the same purpose. When a character takes a certain amount of damage, they'll go into a trance, which allows them to make use of previously unaccessable abilities. Each character will gain skills based on their character alone, such as Zidane having a steal command since his character class is Thief. Magic returns to being used via magic points, and the choice of spells available to a character will be limited by what their class is.

    To properly understand the availability of skills and spells to characters in Final Fantasy IX, one must first understand the new equipment system. The availability of equipment for characters is similiar to the SNES Final Fantasy titles - equipment won't be limited to one person, but one class type. Thieves and warriors will be able to equip light armor, while knights will wear heavy armor and mages will be able to equip robes. The same basic pattern applies for weapons, and it is then from these different equipment classes that the abilities and spells a character can use is determined. Every item and piece of equipment in Final Fantasy IX has its own set of skills it can teach. When equipped, the items and weapons a character uses will allow the character to use its selected abilities. One example given is Vivi's Black Mage Staff. When equipped Vivi will be able to use the magic spells "Osmosis" and "Fire" in battle. Each of these spells has its own Action Points guage, which when full, allow Vivi to continue using the spells even after he unequips the Black Mage Staff. AP is gained merely by battling with the equipment on, which means you'll need to use all equipment and items available to a character for a certain amount of time if you wish to learn every spell and ability that the character can learn.

    The abilities themselves come in two different classes - Action Abilities and Status Abilities. Action abilities give your character in-battle commands, such as extended stealing abilities of the power to use summoned monsters. Status Abilities can raise a characters statistics or can increase a character's resistence to status changes, such as poison.

    Other new details include the addition of an Active Time Events system, which will allow your party to split up and search towns individually, similiar to the Personal Events of Star Ocean 2. When traveling through new locations, exclamation points and question marks will show the location of possible secret items and pathways. Also, it should be noted that Vivi is now written sans-capslock, although that could be due to a misconstrued translation.

    Final Fantasy IX is currently slated for a July 7th Japanese release date. Expect an updated preview soon, as well as import impressions as soon as the title is available.

   Thanks to Steve Andrews for the tip.