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I considered adding this as a reply to my Final Fantasy IX retrospective thread, and while it could fit under that, it's also a separate topic of discussion so I'm making a separate thread so that this doesn't get buried under it.
For those who aren't aware, there's been on and off rumors for the last few years that a remake of Final Fantasy IX could materialize. I won't get into details of that, but I want to emphasize I'm not making this thread with the expectation that it does or will exist in mind (hence "a" instead of "the" in the title). Even before those rumors started swirling, a remake of this game was always something I'd want to see, so these are simply my thoughts of what I'd like to see as potential changes/improvements to the game since it's my favorite.
Also, this may be obvious but here is the disclaimer anyway, there will be spoilers for the original game!
In no particular order, here's what I'd like to see...
A more faithful remake...
I would like to see it remain pretty faithful to the source material.
The best way to summarize what I mean by that would be to use examples from another series that has been seeing remakes, and that example is Resident Evil. It works as a good example because it has two different recent remakes that differ in how well they stuck to their source material, so I can use it to point to as what I'd like to see it be and what I'd not like to see it be.
If Final Fantasy IX were to have a remake, then I'd rather see a remake that resembles what Resident Evil 2 from 2019 was, rather than Resident Evil 3 from 2020. Resident Evil 2 made changes... but they were relatively few, and made up for with improvements. By contrast, Resident Evil 3 had far too many changes, and worse, outright omissions. The latter was a good game... but a far less faithful remake.
This is not to say I wouldn't like to see some changes as I would like to see some (and I'll list some below). A remake invites opportunity for improvements, but generally, the more faithful it is, the better. If you look at many of the remakes from the last many years, the successful ones (both in terms of fan reception and sales) are the ones that stay more faithful to their original iteration. Examples would be Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Command & Conquer/Red Alert, Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil (2), and so on.
...But yet re-imagined
I really think an example works better here than trying to explain every detail, and that example is the Memoria Project. This is a fan made project that started a handful of years ago, had a few teasers shown along the way (I'll never forget the hype of the first teaser), and then a full demonstration demo was finally shown a little over a year ago.
While that doesn't demonstrate everything (such as how the world map, battles, FMVs, summons, and so on would be handled), and while it even has some things that I think would need changed, it at least serves as what I believe is about the best example of the foundation for a re-imagined Final Fantasy IX. It has fully explorable, very detailed 3D locations, but retains fixed camera angles where needed, voice acting is added, and the presentation/story/characters/vibe seem to be there. The only major thing missing is the original music for obvious reason.
Addition of voice acting.
This one is obvious that it would be expected. The entry right after Final Fantasy IX was when voice acting was introduced to the series, and while the previous games in the series still managed to convey a lot of emotion and mood despite lacking voice acting, adding it would do nothing benefit. Those who dislike it can always adjust volume to disable voices.
Speaking of audio...
Retain the original music.
I'm not against making/adding re-imagined or rearranged music in game remakes, even if that new music is the default. I would like to see the original music included as well though.
I'm going to go back to my Resident Evil example here; Resident Evil 2 offered the original music, even if it was as DLC, and Resident Evil 3 did not offer it at all.
Ideally, it would be included with the game, but if financial reasons somehow prohibit this, then (and I hate to say this...) make it available as DLC. I just want the option for it to be there, and for it to seamlessly work with the locations and scenes.
Retain (at least as much as the possible) the original character looks.
I'm not referring to style, but rather to outfits and apparel. I wouldn't want to see them changed, at least for the important characters.
If they are changed, I'd rather see it be as slight as possible (such as minor color adjustments or minor tweaks at most, as opposed to more major or complete outfit changes) and/or for "original" versions to be included if they are changed substantially enough. Yes, that would mean more work, but I consider the original looks to be the "baseline" that should be made regardless, and for any changes to be considered the "more work" part.
The wild card here is anything that might "need" changed if any censoring happens. The one/two prominent spots I can think of where this might come up is the look of the Alexandrian soldiers in particular, and maybe Garnet's trance. If either were changed, it probably wouldn't bother me too much since the former isn't important enough, and I honestly think some trance looks could be improved anyway (which includes Garnet's), but hopefully there's little to no censoring to begin with. That shouldn't excuse changing the main casts' regular looks anyway since I can't think of anything there that would fall under that.
The following is more of expansion of this idea...
Consider including extra looks.
Having extra outfits to acquire used to be a mainstay in many games back then, such as after beating it outright or under certain conditions (such as Resident Evil). If squeezing it would be tough to justify due to time constraints, the offering it as DLC should justify it. Please don't hate me for suggesting this, but I'd like to see it one way or another. While playing Dragon Quest XI, one of the things I liked was the change of outfits at times. Although in that game it was tied to equipment, it could exist as a seperate thing here. Some characters already have additional outfits from the original game (er, well... I guess at least Garnet does), and more outfits for other characters can be freely created, or even borrowed from the rest of the series... which would be very fitting considering one of Final Fantasy IX's "things" was incorporating things from previously existing titles in the series. The "aloha" equipment could also be used for this, which was a nod towards the original team developing the game in Hawaii. While the equipment itself gives absolutely zero stats and is just a "useless bonus", it could also be used as an idea for an extra look that is sourced from something already in the game.
Include more moments where trance is a story element.
Trance is introduced when Zidane enters into it when trying to rescue Garnet in the beginning of the game. Vivi enters it, also near the beginning of the game, when the third Black Waltz attacks the cargo ship. Steiner enters it when defending Alexandria just after the mid-way point of the game. And uh... I think that's about it? I'm not saying every character needs an instance of it or that there should be multiple occurrences of it for many characters, but there's few instances of it in the story when it seemed to be introduced in a way that made it seem slightly more important.
Also, its role in battle seems like it could be improved, although I'm not sure of how to improve it there. It's just forced on you when that character accumulate enough attacks against them with no way to stop it though, and that sometimes feels bad.
As for the battles...
Keep battles "turn based".
By turn based, I'm aware the original game uses the ATB system and isn't strictly turn based.
This is one of the most important things of everything I'm listing. Of all the things that should remain faithful, this is one of them.
It's no secret that the battles in Final Fantasy IX are slow. It's one of the game's most prominent flaws (I personally don't mind it, but that's because I simply like Final Fantasy IX's battles, and its "play presentation" approach helps immerse me in them even if they are slower, but I understand I'm in the minority). I'm aware they would benefit from being sped up, but if they start resembling the formula that modern entries are going with of having action combat and the rest of the party controlled by the AI in real time and all that... then that is not going to fit in with something like Final Fantasy IX at all in my mind. Every other entry in the series is, and has been for a while, going with that sort of approach so it's not like there's any shortage of it, and yet some fans miss the older style. One of Final Fantasy IX's things was pushing back against the changes in the series and giving one last hurrah to things that the series was about to move on from (or had already done so), so if ever there was a time and a place for an entry with a turn based battle system to show up, it's precisely a remake of this title.
That being said, other battle changes (balance, damage numbers, accuracy of certain skills like Steiner's, etc.) are things I would find reasonable to consider looking at for possible adjustments if needed.
Try to include FMVs.
This is a tough one to suggest since FMVs have lost prominence as time has moved on, both because graphics have gotten better and because it has became more efficient from a time/cost reason to do things in-engine. Having an expansive amount of FMV content would likely be a bit costly and time consuming, so I would accept some in-engine replacements... but Dragon Quest XI still included some FMVs and I felt like it was better for them, so I'm holding out hope that some could be included if the game were remade today. Any scenes that replace FMVs with in-engine scenes would need to have serious care put into either retaining (or improving) what the original FMVs conveyed.
Retain Necron! (But improve explaining some lore and world things.)
I won't completely cover the reasoning for why I feel Necron is justified (I did so in my Final Fantasy IX retrospective thread for anyone interested), but I'd like to see Necron remain instead of being discarded. Many people seem to dislike Necron, but I think Necron is great as a final boss. No, I wouldn't have liked Hades in the same role any better (too generic). I might be biased here, but I'd like to see my theory that Necron is an ediolon used to explain it. I don't think Necron overshadows Kuja, and with what the game largely deals in with its themes, I think the game needed something representing what Necron does as the final challenge after Kuja. I think the big problem most people have with Necron is that much of the history of the world and how it works isn't well explained by the game (at least on a first play-through), so Necron feels not only "out of nowhere", but completely unjustified. I think sudden bosses can work, even as final bosses... but they need some very apparent justification then. Necron's is only vaguely hinted at, and only through optional material. It's really the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania, a separate source that came years later, that helps explain much of the history and lore of the world, which supplies the idea that might explain Necron.
Some characters could benefit from further coverage (and/or slight changes).
This will be a bit of a longer section.
We all know who I'm mostly referring to here; Freya and Amarant.
I'm (perhaps?) oddly of that opinion that Amarant isn't that bad of a character. People reduce him to "lone wolf servig the role for the sake of it that needs to be shown friendship is good" but that is his point. Every character has a worldview and his was supposed to be "survival of the fittest". Seeing Zidane challenge that, and even seeing Amarant agree to tag along to give Zidane that chance, only for the "forget this, I'm out" moment at Ipsen's castle where Zidane finally does begin to change him... that all worked for me. You can reduce any character down to a single statement to try and make them sound bad. Amarant's character wasn't terrible and doesn't need radically changed... but it was lacking and it shows, so it needs expanded upon. Covering his past more would help. I think the excuse that Zidane wronged him (and Zidane forgot about it!?) seems a bit flimsy.
The same goes for Freya although to a lesser extent. A common complaint is that she joins relatively early and has a lot of coverage, and then gets dropped. I'm mixed on this because I think the premise that a character needs heavy coverage throughout the game is flawed to begin with, but it's true that there's room to explore her more. She came to know Zidane during his travel's to find his home, so perhaps some of that could be shown. Showing her and Fratley or her motivations to rebuild Burmecia, or to continue on to try and save the rest of the world from meeting the same fate, are another angle.
Most other main characters are mostly fine; Zidane, Vivi, Garnet, Steiner, Eiko, and Quinna are all already sufficient in my mind. I feel like some of them could benefit from some things too, but they're not in need of it as badly as Amarant or Freya.
There are some other non-playable characters I'd like to see touched upon more.
One of those is Queen Brahne (and perhaps the late king before his passing). The game introduces Brahne as an evil Disney villain that you're supposed to hate, and I'm okay with that part. When Brahne dies, I don't think Garnet's sorrow (and by extension, Vivi's narration of this scene) isn't quite as impactful as it could be precisely because we don't know the supposed good, kind Brahne that Garnet knows. So show her! Brahne can (and should) remain the evil character she is during the story portions of the game, but flashbacks/active time events of the past could be used to present Queen Brahne, the king, and a younger Garnet to make Brahne's character a little less one-note (and introduce the king) and show the Brahne that Garnet speaks of, but is never shown. And all of this would make Brahne's passing and Garnet's sorrow (and by extension, Vivi's realization of sorrow) much more impactful.
As an inverse of the above, where I wanted to see a bad characters good past, let's see more of Beatrix's horrible past! She's supposed to be this general who knows no mercy and has committed serious atrocities in both the past and present, and then has a change of heart and sort of gets off easily. I love her trying to atone for her past and becoming a better person, but that is reduced when little time is spent showing that horrible past. I like how she regrets her actions against the Burmecians, and Freya simply tells her "it's too late to seek forgiveness, but you can still help your Princess and your own kingdom". It comes off in a "forgive but don't forget" way, and even if Freya won't readily forgive Beatrix, she'll give her the chance to right the things that she still can. So that might be a good way to give both Beatrix and Freya more time and development.
I'd like to know a little more about Zorn and Thorn. When I was younger, I didn't care for these two. As I got older, I realized they were pretty good characters. I don't have any particular ideas in mind of how else to focus on them, but maybe some of the questions I have about them would be ones to explore? What's with them being twins and color matching the twin moons that Gaia has (one of which is Terra's)? Is there a link, or is that coincidental and did these twins make that part of their identity later? Who were they originally and how did they become acquainted with the Alexandrian royal family? What's with the "monster" identity? Stuff like that. Or maybe just show them in flashbacks showing the happier times of Queen Brahne and the king.
If there's one main character I'd like to see a little more of, it's ironically Zidane. Not just for Zidane, but for all of Tantalus. While I think his character works great despite having less growth than most other characters around him (and for good reason), it would be a good opportunity to show how he fell in with Tantalus, and to show more of Baku's "tough love" abusive relationship with them. Something the game never explains (but the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania does) is that Baku is this way towards them because of the hard times of war and loss that he grew up in. There's also the consideration that they are, well... thieves and are more or less a gang, so that type of living style arrangement probably wouldn't be one of a trouble-free paradise adventure. They would need to be tough. Speaking of which, show's some of Zidane's (and Tantalus') mischievous past. Add a touch of flaw to Zidane! He's a thief, and that's not supposed to be admirable! Likewise, keep his flirting tendencies. The fact that he does that but then realizes "I actually like Garnet for who she is, and not just because I'm attracted to her" makes their eventual relationship better. If this part of his character is toned down, I feel like it may take away from how important his falling for Garnet actually is.
I think people generally like Tantalus so show more of them. It's hinted at early that Blank may partly despise Zidane... but then he sacrifices himself for him. Perhaps explain why he may despise him, and why he may save him despite that.
Beatrix should not become a fully playable character.
I am expecting to met with opposition as this may be an unpopular opinion. However, I not of the opinion that she should become a fully playable character. I really like her, and I get the appeal, but I think certain characters (and this includes Marcus, too) are nice to play as but I work best precisely because they aren't permanent.
It could be argued that for story reasons, it wouldn't make sense for her not to want to follow and protect Garnet after she becomes a Queen. However, I can accept that with Steiner following her, Beatrix would feel like it's not necessary and that she should be in Alexandria to serve as an authority figure and protect it.
Most importantly though, there's too much overlap with her character and the existing party. She's a Paladin (or Holy Knight) which is basically a Knight and White Mage in one. There's already Steiner and Freya as knights (Freya is a dragoon, but it's more of an off-type to that that is similar in function, but can jump and she has dragon themed skills), and Garnet and Eiko are White Mages, plus the other scattered healing in the party. Those two already step on one another's toes a bit whenever the party isn't split. Beatrix, especially with how good she is, would have way too much of that going on with way too many other party members.
I simply feel like she works best as a temporary playable character. If she were to become more, I wouldn't necessarily dislike it... but it feels unnecessary.
Add the other four shrine battles
It's often regarded that this part of the game was cut due to time or space constraints. Either way, there's an opportunity here to have those additional scenes and additional boss battles that are implied but not shown or played. Having to work only with whatever two characters you have could be fun and present some variety to the usual three or four party groups for most of the rest of the game.
Don't make the game a carnival (of mini games).
This may initially sound confusing since one thing Final Fantasy IX was praised for in its time was how many mini games it had, at how good many of them were. The thing is, it was praised for how many it had in its time because the norm was far lower back then. I feel like adding a lot more to its current roster could run the risk of crowding out the main game with a "carnival" feel.
That being said, I wouldn't be totally opposed to seeing some new mini games, or to seeing some changes to existing ones (in particular, minimize the number of jumps needed in jump rope, and Tetra Master's RNG needs removed, although I otherwise liked the card game).
The ability system itself should (of course) remain, but the abilities themselves don't necessarily need to remain as-is
This one may seem obvious since the feature itself is great. I wouldn't necessarily be against some reworking of the abilities themselves though. At the same time, I wouldn't be against them remaining mostly as-is. It depends on what they would want this to be; a more minor supplementary thing or a major way to customize characters.
It seems sort of in the middle but leaning towards supplementary. Early game, it seems limited to the role of either extra damage to certain enemy types or resistance to status effects. Late game, there's a few more nice options to customize things, although they seem few and far between; it's mostly the really strong generalist ones like auto-haste, auto-regen, and so on that seem to overshadow the rest late game. I think maybe some of those shouldn't even exist?
To wrap up, here's some small and simpler (and often minor) ones.
Consider Garnet's age during the disaster in Madain Sari
When Garnet has her recollection in Madain Sari of the disaster there in the past, she was six years old at the time. She later made her way to Alexandria and became someone else. I can buy that insofar the story events, and even the amnesia thing could work to explain having it as a plot twist... but I think six years old is a bit old to forget that. Having the occurrence a few years earlier when she was a few years younger works better.
As the lack of a scar from the horn removal... I don't think that needs an explanation as much. I can accept that one being the case just for character design reasons, even if it's less realistic.
Allow revisiting certain spots.
There's certain places you can't revisit once leaving. The Ice Caverns (and I think Fossil Roo?) come to mind. Why can these not be revisited after leaving? Even if there's "no reason" to, maybe I'd like to. There's some locations that become inaccessible due to story reasons, and those are fine, but some others seem unnecessary.
The active time event system should remain.
Does this need said? The only thing that needs said is that the addition of more would be welcome.
The synthesizing feature should also remain.
Again, it's such a good aspect of the game so I'm not sure it needs mentioned.
Please retain the iconic "title card"
I'm referring the title of the game being shown as the airship approaches the castle with the iconic music. Having the title shown only after a small portion of the game's early events were already shown is perfect. That scene without the title would miss a little bit of what made it so good.
Continue the music from the scene when entering Memoria into the boss battle after it
Oddly specific and minor, I know, but the music that plays before entering Memoria seems interrupted by the regular boss battle. It also makes that battle feel more like a sudden contrast. I think if the existing music kept playing, the boss battle there would have fit in and felt better.
And last, but not least...
"Oh, soft" shall definitely remain!
Don't censor this please! Haha. I will cry if it doesn't survive.
In closing, I want to strongly emphasize that this is by no means a checklist of things that I think a remake would need to do (or not do) in order to be good. if a remake materializes, maybe it doesn't do some of these, and maybe it does some things I don't want to see, and is still good despite that. Whether changes end up good or bad can sometimes be hard to imagine.
This is also probably not everything. I definitely feel like I'm forgetting some things... (But maybe that's for the better because I don't want it to be a never ending checklist of minor stuff.)[/b][/b]
For those who aren't aware, there's been on and off rumors for the last few years that a remake of Final Fantasy IX could materialize. I won't get into details of that, but I want to emphasize I'm not making this thread with the expectation that it does or will exist in mind (hence "a" instead of "the" in the title). Even before those rumors started swirling, a remake of this game was always something I'd want to see, so these are simply my thoughts of what I'd like to see as potential changes/improvements to the game since it's my favorite.
Also, this may be obvious but here is the disclaimer anyway, there will be spoilers for the original game!
In no particular order, here's what I'd like to see...
A more faithful remake...
I would like to see it remain pretty faithful to the source material.
The best way to summarize what I mean by that would be to use examples from another series that has been seeing remakes, and that example is Resident Evil. It works as a good example because it has two different recent remakes that differ in how well they stuck to their source material, so I can use it to point to as what I'd like to see it be and what I'd not like to see it be.
If Final Fantasy IX were to have a remake, then I'd rather see a remake that resembles what Resident Evil 2 from 2019 was, rather than Resident Evil 3 from 2020. Resident Evil 2 made changes... but they were relatively few, and made up for with improvements. By contrast, Resident Evil 3 had far too many changes, and worse, outright omissions. The latter was a good game... but a far less faithful remake.
This is not to say I wouldn't like to see some changes as I would like to see some (and I'll list some below). A remake invites opportunity for improvements, but generally, the more faithful it is, the better. If you look at many of the remakes from the last many years, the successful ones (both in terms of fan reception and sales) are the ones that stay more faithful to their original iteration. Examples would be Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Command & Conquer/Red Alert, Silent Hill 2, Resident Evil (2), and so on.
...But yet re-imagined
I really think an example works better here than trying to explain every detail, and that example is the Memoria Project. This is a fan made project that started a handful of years ago, had a few teasers shown along the way (I'll never forget the hype of the first teaser), and then a full demonstration demo was finally shown a little over a year ago.
While that doesn't demonstrate everything (such as how the world map, battles, FMVs, summons, and so on would be handled), and while it even has some things that I think would need changed, it at least serves as what I believe is about the best example of the foundation for a re-imagined Final Fantasy IX. It has fully explorable, very detailed 3D locations, but retains fixed camera angles where needed, voice acting is added, and the presentation/story/characters/vibe seem to be there. The only major thing missing is the original music for obvious reason.
Addition of voice acting.
This one is obvious that it would be expected. The entry right after Final Fantasy IX was when voice acting was introduced to the series, and while the previous games in the series still managed to convey a lot of emotion and mood despite lacking voice acting, adding it would do nothing benefit. Those who dislike it can always adjust volume to disable voices.
Speaking of audio...
Retain the original music.
I'm not against making/adding re-imagined or rearranged music in game remakes, even if that new music is the default. I would like to see the original music included as well though.
I'm going to go back to my Resident Evil example here; Resident Evil 2 offered the original music, even if it was as DLC, and Resident Evil 3 did not offer it at all.
Ideally, it would be included with the game, but if financial reasons somehow prohibit this, then (and I hate to say this...) make it available as DLC. I just want the option for it to be there, and for it to seamlessly work with the locations and scenes.
Retain (at least as much as the possible) the original character looks.
I'm not referring to style, but rather to outfits and apparel. I wouldn't want to see them changed, at least for the important characters.
If they are changed, I'd rather see it be as slight as possible (such as minor color adjustments or minor tweaks at most, as opposed to more major or complete outfit changes) and/or for "original" versions to be included if they are changed substantially enough. Yes, that would mean more work, but I consider the original looks to be the "baseline" that should be made regardless, and for any changes to be considered the "more work" part.
The wild card here is anything that might "need" changed if any censoring happens. The one/two prominent spots I can think of where this might come up is the look of the Alexandrian soldiers in particular, and maybe Garnet's trance. If either were changed, it probably wouldn't bother me too much since the former isn't important enough, and I honestly think some trance looks could be improved anyway (which includes Garnet's), but hopefully there's little to no censoring to begin with. That shouldn't excuse changing the main casts' regular looks anyway since I can't think of anything there that would fall under that.
The following is more of expansion of this idea...
Consider including extra looks.
Having extra outfits to acquire used to be a mainstay in many games back then, such as after beating it outright or under certain conditions (such as Resident Evil). If squeezing it would be tough to justify due to time constraints, the offering it as DLC should justify it. Please don't hate me for suggesting this, but I'd like to see it one way or another. While playing Dragon Quest XI, one of the things I liked was the change of outfits at times. Although in that game it was tied to equipment, it could exist as a seperate thing here. Some characters already have additional outfits from the original game (er, well... I guess at least Garnet does), and more outfits for other characters can be freely created, or even borrowed from the rest of the series... which would be very fitting considering one of Final Fantasy IX's "things" was incorporating things from previously existing titles in the series. The "aloha" equipment could also be used for this, which was a nod towards the original team developing the game in Hawaii. While the equipment itself gives absolutely zero stats and is just a "useless bonus", it could also be used as an idea for an extra look that is sourced from something already in the game.
Include more moments where trance is a story element.
Trance is introduced when Zidane enters into it when trying to rescue Garnet in the beginning of the game. Vivi enters it, also near the beginning of the game, when the third Black Waltz attacks the cargo ship. Steiner enters it when defending Alexandria just after the mid-way point of the game. And uh... I think that's about it? I'm not saying every character needs an instance of it or that there should be multiple occurrences of it for many characters, but there's few instances of it in the story when it seemed to be introduced in a way that made it seem slightly more important.
Also, its role in battle seems like it could be improved, although I'm not sure of how to improve it there. It's just forced on you when that character accumulate enough attacks against them with no way to stop it though, and that sometimes feels bad.
As for the battles...
Keep battles "turn based".
By turn based, I'm aware the original game uses the ATB system and isn't strictly turn based.
This is one of the most important things of everything I'm listing. Of all the things that should remain faithful, this is one of them.
It's no secret that the battles in Final Fantasy IX are slow. It's one of the game's most prominent flaws (I personally don't mind it, but that's because I simply like Final Fantasy IX's battles, and its "play presentation" approach helps immerse me in them even if they are slower, but I understand I'm in the minority). I'm aware they would benefit from being sped up, but if they start resembling the formula that modern entries are going with of having action combat and the rest of the party controlled by the AI in real time and all that... then that is not going to fit in with something like Final Fantasy IX at all in my mind. Every other entry in the series is, and has been for a while, going with that sort of approach so it's not like there's any shortage of it, and yet some fans miss the older style. One of Final Fantasy IX's things was pushing back against the changes in the series and giving one last hurrah to things that the series was about to move on from (or had already done so), so if ever there was a time and a place for an entry with a turn based battle system to show up, it's precisely a remake of this title.
That being said, other battle changes (balance, damage numbers, accuracy of certain skills like Steiner's, etc.) are things I would find reasonable to consider looking at for possible adjustments if needed.
Try to include FMVs.
This is a tough one to suggest since FMVs have lost prominence as time has moved on, both because graphics have gotten better and because it has became more efficient from a time/cost reason to do things in-engine. Having an expansive amount of FMV content would likely be a bit costly and time consuming, so I would accept some in-engine replacements... but Dragon Quest XI still included some FMVs and I felt like it was better for them, so I'm holding out hope that some could be included if the game were remade today. Any scenes that replace FMVs with in-engine scenes would need to have serious care put into either retaining (or improving) what the original FMVs conveyed.
Retain Necron! (But improve explaining some lore and world things.)
I won't completely cover the reasoning for why I feel Necron is justified (I did so in my Final Fantasy IX retrospective thread for anyone interested), but I'd like to see Necron remain instead of being discarded. Many people seem to dislike Necron, but I think Necron is great as a final boss. No, I wouldn't have liked Hades in the same role any better (too generic). I might be biased here, but I'd like to see my theory that Necron is an ediolon used to explain it. I don't think Necron overshadows Kuja, and with what the game largely deals in with its themes, I think the game needed something representing what Necron does as the final challenge after Kuja. I think the big problem most people have with Necron is that much of the history of the world and how it works isn't well explained by the game (at least on a first play-through), so Necron feels not only "out of nowhere", but completely unjustified. I think sudden bosses can work, even as final bosses... but they need some very apparent justification then. Necron's is only vaguely hinted at, and only through optional material. It's really the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania, a separate source that came years later, that helps explain much of the history and lore of the world, which supplies the idea that might explain Necron.
Some characters could benefit from further coverage (and/or slight changes).
This will be a bit of a longer section.
We all know who I'm mostly referring to here; Freya and Amarant.
I'm (perhaps?) oddly of that opinion that Amarant isn't that bad of a character. People reduce him to "lone wolf servig the role for the sake of it that needs to be shown friendship is good" but that is his point. Every character has a worldview and his was supposed to be "survival of the fittest". Seeing Zidane challenge that, and even seeing Amarant agree to tag along to give Zidane that chance, only for the "forget this, I'm out" moment at Ipsen's castle where Zidane finally does begin to change him... that all worked for me. You can reduce any character down to a single statement to try and make them sound bad. Amarant's character wasn't terrible and doesn't need radically changed... but it was lacking and it shows, so it needs expanded upon. Covering his past more would help. I think the excuse that Zidane wronged him (and Zidane forgot about it!?) seems a bit flimsy.
The same goes for Freya although to a lesser extent. A common complaint is that she joins relatively early and has a lot of coverage, and then gets dropped. I'm mixed on this because I think the premise that a character needs heavy coverage throughout the game is flawed to begin with, but it's true that there's room to explore her more. She came to know Zidane during his travel's to find his home, so perhaps some of that could be shown. Showing her and Fratley or her motivations to rebuild Burmecia, or to continue on to try and save the rest of the world from meeting the same fate, are another angle.
Most other main characters are mostly fine; Zidane, Vivi, Garnet, Steiner, Eiko, and Quinna are all already sufficient in my mind. I feel like some of them could benefit from some things too, but they're not in need of it as badly as Amarant or Freya.
There are some other non-playable characters I'd like to see touched upon more.
One of those is Queen Brahne (and perhaps the late king before his passing). The game introduces Brahne as an evil Disney villain that you're supposed to hate, and I'm okay with that part. When Brahne dies, I don't think Garnet's sorrow (and by extension, Vivi's narration of this scene) isn't quite as impactful as it could be precisely because we don't know the supposed good, kind Brahne that Garnet knows. So show her! Brahne can (and should) remain the evil character she is during the story portions of the game, but flashbacks/active time events of the past could be used to present Queen Brahne, the king, and a younger Garnet to make Brahne's character a little less one-note (and introduce the king) and show the Brahne that Garnet speaks of, but is never shown. And all of this would make Brahne's passing and Garnet's sorrow (and by extension, Vivi's realization of sorrow) much more impactful.
As an inverse of the above, where I wanted to see a bad characters good past, let's see more of Beatrix's horrible past! She's supposed to be this general who knows no mercy and has committed serious atrocities in both the past and present, and then has a change of heart and sort of gets off easily. I love her trying to atone for her past and becoming a better person, but that is reduced when little time is spent showing that horrible past. I like how she regrets her actions against the Burmecians, and Freya simply tells her "it's too late to seek forgiveness, but you can still help your Princess and your own kingdom". It comes off in a "forgive but don't forget" way, and even if Freya won't readily forgive Beatrix, she'll give her the chance to right the things that she still can. So that might be a good way to give both Beatrix and Freya more time and development.
I'd like to know a little more about Zorn and Thorn. When I was younger, I didn't care for these two. As I got older, I realized they were pretty good characters. I don't have any particular ideas in mind of how else to focus on them, but maybe some of the questions I have about them would be ones to explore? What's with them being twins and color matching the twin moons that Gaia has (one of which is Terra's)? Is there a link, or is that coincidental and did these twins make that part of their identity later? Who were they originally and how did they become acquainted with the Alexandrian royal family? What's with the "monster" identity? Stuff like that. Or maybe just show them in flashbacks showing the happier times of Queen Brahne and the king.
If there's one main character I'd like to see a little more of, it's ironically Zidane. Not just for Zidane, but for all of Tantalus. While I think his character works great despite having less growth than most other characters around him (and for good reason), it would be a good opportunity to show how he fell in with Tantalus, and to show more of Baku's "tough love" abusive relationship with them. Something the game never explains (but the Final Fantasy IX Ultimania does) is that Baku is this way towards them because of the hard times of war and loss that he grew up in. There's also the consideration that they are, well... thieves and are more or less a gang, so that type of living style arrangement probably wouldn't be one of a trouble-free paradise adventure. They would need to be tough. Speaking of which, show's some of Zidane's (and Tantalus') mischievous past. Add a touch of flaw to Zidane! He's a thief, and that's not supposed to be admirable! Likewise, keep his flirting tendencies. The fact that he does that but then realizes "I actually like Garnet for who she is, and not just because I'm attracted to her" makes their eventual relationship better. If this part of his character is toned down, I feel like it may take away from how important his falling for Garnet actually is.
I think people generally like Tantalus so show more of them. It's hinted at early that Blank may partly despise Zidane... but then he sacrifices himself for him. Perhaps explain why he may despise him, and why he may save him despite that.
Beatrix should not become a fully playable character.
I am expecting to met with opposition as this may be an unpopular opinion. However, I not of the opinion that she should become a fully playable character. I really like her, and I get the appeal, but I think certain characters (and this includes Marcus, too) are nice to play as but I work best precisely because they aren't permanent.
It could be argued that for story reasons, it wouldn't make sense for her not to want to follow and protect Garnet after she becomes a Queen. However, I can accept that with Steiner following her, Beatrix would feel like it's not necessary and that she should be in Alexandria to serve as an authority figure and protect it.
Most importantly though, there's too much overlap with her character and the existing party. She's a Paladin (or Holy Knight) which is basically a Knight and White Mage in one. There's already Steiner and Freya as knights (Freya is a dragoon, but it's more of an off-type to that that is similar in function, but can jump and she has dragon themed skills), and Garnet and Eiko are White Mages, plus the other scattered healing in the party. Those two already step on one another's toes a bit whenever the party isn't split. Beatrix, especially with how good she is, would have way too much of that going on with way too many other party members.
I simply feel like she works best as a temporary playable character. If she were to become more, I wouldn't necessarily dislike it... but it feels unnecessary.
Add the other four shrine battles
It's often regarded that this part of the game was cut due to time or space constraints. Either way, there's an opportunity here to have those additional scenes and additional boss battles that are implied but not shown or played. Having to work only with whatever two characters you have could be fun and present some variety to the usual three or four party groups for most of the rest of the game.
Don't make the game a carnival (of mini games).
This may initially sound confusing since one thing Final Fantasy IX was praised for in its time was how many mini games it had, at how good many of them were. The thing is, it was praised for how many it had in its time because the norm was far lower back then. I feel like adding a lot more to its current roster could run the risk of crowding out the main game with a "carnival" feel.
That being said, I wouldn't be totally opposed to seeing some new mini games, or to seeing some changes to existing ones (in particular, minimize the number of jumps needed in jump rope, and Tetra Master's RNG needs removed, although I otherwise liked the card game).
The ability system itself should (of course) remain, but the abilities themselves don't necessarily need to remain as-is
This one may seem obvious since the feature itself is great. I wouldn't necessarily be against some reworking of the abilities themselves though. At the same time, I wouldn't be against them remaining mostly as-is. It depends on what they would want this to be; a more minor supplementary thing or a major way to customize characters.
It seems sort of in the middle but leaning towards supplementary. Early game, it seems limited to the role of either extra damage to certain enemy types or resistance to status effects. Late game, there's a few more nice options to customize things, although they seem few and far between; it's mostly the really strong generalist ones like auto-haste, auto-regen, and so on that seem to overshadow the rest late game. I think maybe some of those shouldn't even exist?
To wrap up, here's some small and simpler (and often minor) ones.
Consider Garnet's age during the disaster in Madain Sari
When Garnet has her recollection in Madain Sari of the disaster there in the past, she was six years old at the time. She later made her way to Alexandria and became someone else. I can buy that insofar the story events, and even the amnesia thing could work to explain having it as a plot twist... but I think six years old is a bit old to forget that. Having the occurrence a few years earlier when she was a few years younger works better.
As the lack of a scar from the horn removal... I don't think that needs an explanation as much. I can accept that one being the case just for character design reasons, even if it's less realistic.
Allow revisiting certain spots.
There's certain places you can't revisit once leaving. The Ice Caverns (and I think Fossil Roo?) come to mind. Why can these not be revisited after leaving? Even if there's "no reason" to, maybe I'd like to. There's some locations that become inaccessible due to story reasons, and those are fine, but some others seem unnecessary.
The active time event system should remain.
Does this need said? The only thing that needs said is that the addition of more would be welcome.
The synthesizing feature should also remain.
Again, it's such a good aspect of the game so I'm not sure it needs mentioned.
Please retain the iconic "title card"
I'm referring the title of the game being shown as the airship approaches the castle with the iconic music. Having the title shown only after a small portion of the game's early events were already shown is perfect. That scene without the title would miss a little bit of what made it so good.
Continue the music from the scene when entering Memoria into the boss battle after it
Oddly specific and minor, I know, but the music that plays before entering Memoria seems interrupted by the regular boss battle. It also makes that battle feel more like a sudden contrast. I think if the existing music kept playing, the boss battle there would have fit in and felt better.
And last, but not least...
"Oh, soft" shall definitely remain!
Don't censor this please! Haha. I will cry if it doesn't survive.
In closing, I want to strongly emphasize that this is by no means a checklist of things that I think a remake would need to do (or not do) in order to be good. if a remake materializes, maybe it doesn't do some of these, and maybe it does some things I don't want to see, and is still good despite that. Whether changes end up good or bad can sometimes be hard to imagine.
This is also probably not everything. I definitely feel like I'm forgetting some things... (But maybe that's for the better because I don't want it to be a never ending checklist of minor stuff.)[/b][/b]
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