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Yet, nowadays it seems that has shifted (and has been happening for quite a while). It seems like FFIX is much more loved than FFVIII while this one is much more criticized then it was back then.

Hindsight is 20/20.

IX, at the time of release, was a more cute and whimsical game, but the late 90's and early 00's were basically the attitude era of video games, more edgy and 'hard' content was getting more traction and a lot of people thought IX was too saccharine for its own good.

However, now we're that far removed from that edgy era that people can look back and appreciate what IX was doing more, as a love letter to the original few games in the franchise as being a fantastic 'sword and sorcery' type of game instead of hard sci-fi.

That's my 2 cents on it.

 

[Phobos Base]

I just finished replaying FF8, and whilst it's the weakest of the PS1 trilogy it's not as bad as the internet lets on (I blame Spoony for this). Squall's edgy boi persona is a bit overblown, yes he's not very likeable at the beginning but he does develop and I always liked the general world design, aesthetic and ambition. The junction system is flawed in that it discourages you from using magic, but I did like the strategy of junctioning it.

That said, it's not without issues as none of your party aside from Squall and Rinoa get much to do after disc 1 and some of the story is completely nonsensical (the whole Norg thing, or Irvine never thinking to mention they all grew up in the same orphanage). I don't think Square ever really considered the implications of the Gardens being places were child soldiers are raised either.

 

[CliffBronger]

I loved FF7 and 8 back in the day, two of my favorite ps1 games from that era.

But i just couldn't get into 9 never even finished it, It's by far my least favorite of the ps1 era final fantasys.

 

[Madserb2023]

Because it's a better game and was then.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I'll be honest, I liked VIII more.

With 8, I loved the draw system where I could farm the first mobs and get 100 draws or whatever and kinda be OP. Then later the upgrading of the weapons(as confusing as it is) is one of my fav power jumps in any game.

I also love the usage of button mashing in VIII, where you press it for the sword gun and then try to get as many Zell combos in as possible. The end game gameplay is just magical, especially for Zell and a few others. Also, I think IX falters with scope in some parts, whereas everything in VIII feels super epic for the entire length.

To me, the gameplay to VIII, the feel, the Harry Potter school like vibe, even the characters and story, to me they are just the best and I am unashamed to love VIII. My only FF I liked better is probably XII. I could still replay VIII right now, that's how much I think of it.

 

[Metnut]

The reason FF9 sold less was because of how disappointed people were with FF8. See sales of FF15 and more recent FF releases for a modern example of the same issue.

 

[Pelao]

Top 30 PlayStation games according to Famitsu readers.
Even the Japs acknowledge FF8 is the better game of the two.

1. Final Fantasy 7
2. Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G
3. Xenogears
4. Final Fantasy 10
5. Resident Evil
6. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
7. Metal Gear Solid
8. Arc the Lad 2
9. Ridge Racer
10. Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Time
11. Final Fantasy 8
12. Monster Hunter: World
13. Wild Arms
14. Gran Turismo
15. Final Fantasy 9
16. Suikoden 2
17. Final Fantasy 11
18. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
19. Dragon Quest 8: Journey of the Cursed King
20. Kingdom Hearts 2
21. Suikoden
22. Shadow Hearts
23. Dynasty Warriors
24. Persona 4
25. Doko Demo Issho
26. Yakuza
27. Crash Bandicoot
28. Tales of Eternia
29. The Last of Us
30. Ghost of Tsushima

 

[Fabieter]

IMO yes. And 9's sales were hurt by 8's reception.

The same 16 was and the 7 remake were hurt by ff 15 and ff 13

People still blame other stuff for lower sales.

I prefer 8 over 7 but 9 is also my favorite from psx.

 

[Zacfoldor]

FF8 skyrocketed off the back of FF7.

FF9 sales were damaged because FF8 was shit.

This is why bad games sell too. People need to be fooled by a bad one to learn not to buy the next one. It's why people always on here and gloat about woke game xyz and how much it is going to sell. What they don't say is the piper is coming for his due sooner or later.

That said, I don't agree in this case, FFVIII was great imho, but good point. The future game pays for the current game's sins. Always.

 

[iHaunter]

Circle Jerking

 

[Celcius]

FF9 is the far better game.

 

[MrCunningham]

I was introduced to Final Fantasy with FFIX. It was my first JRPG and it's still one of my favorite games ever.
Still, the game was clearly overshadowed by the PS2 releasing soon and it didn't review nearly as great as FFVIII. It also didn't sell nearly as good and i remember it being criticized for the more medieval look as opposite to the more futuristic looks of both FFVII and VIII.

Back then it was seen as the weakest FF from the PS1 era, specially since it was followed by PS2 title Final Fantasy X just a year later. (it still blows my mind but...yeah, FFIX came out in July 2000 and FFX came out in July 2001)

Yet, nowadays it seems that has shifted (and has been happening for quite a while). It seems like FFIX is much more loved than FFVIII while this one is much more criticized then it was back then.

You think that it's because VIII followed VII and it had a bigger hype? Was it a timing thing? Why did that shift happen? We're even hearing rumors about a remake for FFIX and nothing on FFVIII so clearly Square-Enix is aware of this.

Final Fantasy VII was such a strange phenomenon. It was by far, one of the most hyped games on the PS1, as far as my memory goes. There was advertising for the game everywhere. It was one of the best selling PSX games in North America.

Previously the FF games were getting sporadic releases on the NES an SNES with FF1, 2 (FF4) and 3 ( FF6), as well as Mystic Quest and those GB games. Releasing the game straight up as FFVII was interesting. But then again, Square did release those anthology games with the missing FF titles on the PS1 as well.

SquareSoft going to the Sony PS1 was one of the greatest betrayals in gaming, I think SquareSoft as a company might have been sour over the cancellation of the SNES Playstation add-on. They had secret of Mana planned for it, and wanted to get into doing cinematic cutscenes and Redbook audio. They did';t like that the N64 was using cartridges. They just jumped over to the Playstation. From that point on the PS1 dominated Japan.

 

[ShirAhava]

The level of damage that FF8 did the the FF hype train after 7 isn't talked about enough

The crazy level of hype for 8 and then a month after release NO ONE was talking about it and
went back to talking about, playing FF7

FF7 hype lasted YEARS from the original game

This is why you have so many people like my best friend who are FF7 superfans but wont touch another FF game with a ten foot pole

 

[EDMIX]

IMO yes. And 9's sales were hurt by 8's reception.

Came here for this.

I think Square's data likely shows that IX was more well received over time vs VIII. I wouldn't be shocked if they took the ports on PS3 via PSN, PC etc into account in decided what to remake or not.

I'm sure VIII will also be remade, but it seems like IX seems to be the more loved one.

Never played IX to this day, and moved on to X, which I really enjoyed.

I LOVE FFX, that might be my favorite FF (maybe lol)

You should 100% play IX, play it on Steam or PSN as the digital version has a 2x speed feature that is a must for playing that game. imho

double post, sorry.

Listen, you not sorry and 2025 adamsapple is wild AF! lol

 

[violence]

Momentum from FF7.

I like both VIII and IX though.

 

[ManaByte]

Final Fantasy VII was such a strange phenomenon. It was by far, one of the most hyped games on the PS1, as far as my memory goes. There was advertising for the game everywhere. It was one of the best selling PSX games in North America.

FFVII was published and marketed by SCEA in North America. It was for all intents and purposes, a first-party game (EIDOS eventually published the PC port).

Previously the FF games were getting sporadic releases on the NES an SNES with FF1, 2 (FF4) and 3 ( FF6), as well as Mystic Quest and those GB games. Releasing the game straight up as FFVII was interesting. But then again, Square did release those anthology games with the missing FF titles on the PS1 as well.

They had sporadic releases in the US because by the time FFII and FFIII were released on the Famicom in Japan, the time required to localize them for the US wasn't worth undergoing due to the SFC coming out. That's why FFIV was released in the US as FFII, the release of the SNES made porting FFII and III to the US not worth it. Square planned to port FFV to the US as FFIII but at the time it was deemed too difficult compared to the previous games. That's why IV came over as III.

 

[fart town usa]

Because FF9 has a vocal fanbase that have rose-tinted nostalgia glasses glued to their face.

I put about 30+ hours into the game roughly 2 years ago, played in the best way possible too, via the PSPgo w/ component into a Trinitron, true 240p goodness. Game looked amazing and I did enjoy it at times but it was mid all day. Couldn't bring myself to finish it because I didn't care about the story. There's an LTTP for it somewhere.

 

[AmuroChan]

FF8 had a great marketing campaign and was riding high off the tailwinds of FF7. I think it was also able to appeal to the normies and female audience. I remember a lot of the girls in my school were really into FF8. FF9 was a return to classical FF in themes and mechanics, which is what a lot of the core FF fans wanted.

 

[cash_longfellow]

Because FFIX is a vastly superior game. The sales of FFVIII piggybacked off of FFVII’s popularity. I bought FFVIII on launch and thought, and still think it’s utter trash. Sales weren’t a measure of quality as much back then because the internet was not what it is now. We have videos, reviews, and all the articles we could ask for now about a game prior to purchasing it. While magazines were fairly big then, we were left to make our own purchasing decisions based on what we thought a game was. Also, VIII being trash had a negative impact on IX’s sales. It will be the same thing with XVII because of how many people hated XVI.

 

[Ellery]

Final Fantasy 8 is amazing.

So are 6,7,9,10 and many others in the series. Some are not great.

Still not sure whether people who hate FF8 are just marionettes with copying opinions for random reasons (we have that a lot with games) or I have no clue. Game is beyond great. Game is giga amazing.

For me it is like

Final Fantasy VII 9.84/10
Final Fantasy VIII 9.87/10
Final Fantasy IX 9.85/10


But for some people FF 7 is a 10/10 and FF 8 a 4/10 yeah right. Yeaah right.

 

[GymWolf]

Because ff9 is just a better game?

And i liked ff8 well enough.

 

[LordCBH]

Because 8 wasn’t good.

 

[wipeout364]

I liked 8 better than 9. I was never a big fan of the art direction in 9 at all. That said 9 had some wonderful characters that won me over in the end.

 

[Kacho]

Man… FF8 was so disappointing. I remember being in denial about that until FF9 dropped.

 

[mopspear]

Hindsight is 20/20.

IX, at the time of release, was a more cute and whimsical game, but the late 90's and early 00's were basically the attitude era of video games, more edgy and 'hard' content was getting more traction and a lot of people thought IX was too saccharine for its own good.

However, now we're that far removed from that edgy era that people can look back and appreciate what IX was doing more, as a love letter to the original few games in the franchise as being a fantastic 'sword and sorcery' type of game instead of hard sci-fi.

That's my 2 cents on it.

I really agree with this take. I was probably 10 years old when FF9 came out and I thought Squall and Cloud looked way cooler than "weird monkey boy". By 14 years old, I got over it and enjoyed FF9 a lot.

Someone else mentioned that people didn't like 8, compared to 7, and then wouldn't continue on to 9. The first reason above, and this reason, are in my opinion, the two biggest reasons.

 

[Hudo]

Final Fantasy VIII is the best game in the series outside of the MMOs.

I still think that FF11 is a far, far, faaaar better MMO than FF14 will ever be. The only disappointment was when I harassed my parents enough for me to buy a PS2 Slim (my OG PS2 was broken by my stupid cousin) so that I could play FF11 again, that this piece of shit couldn't play FF11.
PS2 Slim is a fucking gimmicky piece of shit.

 

[wipeout364]

The level of damage that FF8 did the the FF hype train after 7 isn't talked about enough

The crazy level of hype for 8 and then a month after release NO ONE was talking about it and
went back to talking about, playing FF7

FF7 hype lasted YEARS from the original game

This is why you have so many people like my best friend who are FF7 superfans but wont touch another FF game with a ten foot pole

I honestly do not remember this reaction at all.

 

[Davesky]

It was the first in the series for many. VII may have been the breakout hit, but it still took years to win over a more casual fan base. There was still a stigma in the late 90s playing these types of games.

IX came out at a time where the Internet and growing word of mouth won over many gamers previously hesitant on the series, and also many younger gamers by the time of PS1 reaching its peak popularity. IX was the most appealing to play as it was the newest.

It's only in the last few years I have personally started to consider IX being superior to VIII. Beyond it's flashy FMVs and Triple Triad, everything else seems a bit lacking.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

FF VIII and IX are better than VII.

 

[Hudo]

FF VIII and IX are better than VII.

Yes. However, VII is better than VII Remake.

 

[Kaim0]

The sales of FF8 were driven by the great reception of FF7, while the sales of FF9 were affected by the lukewarm reception of FF8 and the fact that the PS2 was already on the market. However, FF9 was always regarded more favorably than FF8. FF8 was always controversial, but back then, the internet wasn’t as widespread as it is today.

FF8 was an experiment by the “new guys” who had debuted or taken on important roles in the series for the first time in FF7 (Kitase, Nomura, Nojima and others), and that was evident in every pixel of the game. On the other hand, FF9 was made by the classic team, and that was also evident in every pixel of the game. One day Sakaguchi said this about FF8:

“To be honest, when I heard the idea of writing the game as a high school drama, I was worried. But having told them they could go their own way, I couldn't take it back. Because of the approach they took with that game [Final Fantasy VIII], I really pulled the rudder the other way with Final Fantasy IX. I wanted to go back to the beginning of the series, with a traditional fantasy story: knights, castles and so on. I figured that would calibrate and re-establish the series in some way.”

 

[Sorcerer]

I wonder if 9 was seen as too much of a regression. As in why are you going to back to old school (stylistically anyway). Also telling how 9 was sandwiched between 8 and 10. Maybe the developers were making a love letter to the old style because they were saying goodbye to that forever.
Or perhaps it was more that people loved 7, then they hated 8, let's go back to the drawing board with 9, oop's going back to far, the fans aren't feeling it. Let's kill that old school direction for good with 10.

 

[MrCunningham]

FFVII was published and marketed by SCEA in North America. It was for all intents and purposes, a first-party game (EIDOS eventually published the PC port).

I remember having the Eidos PC port, and I could never get it to work on my Windows 98se computer back in the day. Yeah, I forgot that SCEA published the game, not Square. makes sense. Give that Nintendo previously published Square's games.

They had sporadic releases in the US because by the time FFII and FFIII were released on the Famicom in Japan, the time required to localize them for the US wasn't worth undergoing due to the SFC coming out. That's why FFIV was released in the US as FFII, the release of the SNES made porting FFII and III to the US not worth it. Square planned to port FFV to the US as FFIII but at the time it was deemed too difficult compared to the previous games. That's why IV came over as III.

Yeah, I figured it would have been something like that. Plus, manufacturing larger cartridges with battery-back up was expensive.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Hindsight is 20/20.

IX, at the time of release, was a more cute and whimsical game, but the late 90's and early 00's were basically the attitude era of video games, more edgy and 'hard' content was getting more traction and a lot of people thought IX was too saccharine for its own good.

However, now we're that far removed from that edgy era that people can look back and appreciate what IX was doing more, as a love letter to the original few games in the franchise as being a fantastic 'sword and sorcery' type of game instead of hard sci-fi.

That's my 2 cents on it.

Same thing happened for Wind Waker to be honest. It was too "kiddie" when it came out but now it is probably the most fondly remembered 3d zelda.

 

[IAmRei]

I dont like 8, but their environment visual and BGM, especially the BGM, is the best IMO. This from me who loves 6,9,10,12,15,16 ( the best still tactic imo ) i'm not lying, i even still listening to their bgm, and wishing if i could live in timber or deling or balamb harbor...

Yeah, some people said ff7 hype is big, expectation of 8 was at critical, then boom people hate 8 and 9 is lost at the time. not only because 9 is chibi/SD, but also people might be hurt by 8, possibly. But imo the 8 is hated because gameplay and ridiculous storyline.

The gameplay itself, with some imagination, is fine for me (i had to use cheat save editor, to make the 8 gameplay bearable, such as giving each job style command)

The story of squall is unbearable, story of laguna is hit or miss, the lore is bad, especially is hyne lore, is awful stupid.

But again, it is not the worst ff for me.
And again, ff9 is more mature, better storyline, better gameplay, again its for me. as simple as that.

 

[TGO]

Because 9 had slow ass battles and shit characters.
Also..

Remember people was hyping up FFXVI and shitting on the FFVII Remake?
FFIX fans
FFVII & VIII are in a class of their own, IX was something Square put out for investors while work was being done on X.

 

[ManaByte]

Give that Nintendo previously published Square's games.

No they didn’t. Square published them under the Squaresoft label.

 

[Sooner]

Wrong thread

 

[MrCunningham]

No they didn’t. Square published them under the Squaresoft label.

Oh right. Nintendo only published the first one on the NES. I thought they also published FFII, at least. But yeah, Square published the rest of the SNES releases. Except for Mario RPG.

 

[squidilix]

VIII has a lot issues which probably contributed to the lower sales of IX.

After VI and VII being master pieces the hype around VIII was huge... Unfortunately VIII ended up far from the quality of VI and VII.

Many thing hurting sales of Final Fantasy IX.
First thing is the Art Direction "Cartoon", people hating the chibi effect and thinking "this is a FF for Kids" after FF8. Yet, this is the "natural" choice with FF7 semi-cartoon/chibi/anime.
Then, Square annoucing FF9 on Square Millenium in 2000, with FF10 and FF11... (Yes, at this GOLD era, Squaresoft announcing 3 fking mainline Final Fantasy).

Everyone looking the "Next-Gen Final Fantasy" aka FF10 and FF11 Online for PS2 instead FF9 wich it's just "another FF PS1".

Finally, the game was release on the big marketing launch of the PlayStation 2, the war with Dreamcast/PS2 and some "solid" JRPG at the same period. (Pokémon Gold/Silver when the world was on Pokémania, Dragon Quest VII on PS1 in Japan wich is VERY big in this country). Even at the end of the PS1 Era, another titles JRPG of Squaresoft sales poorly because of this and releasing at the same time of FF9. (Vagrant Story, Thread of Fate).

Sony was busy with their first party games but especially with the PlayStation 2. So they didn't distribute Final Fantasy 9 (but did for FF10) in PAL territories. While they had done for FF7 and FF8.

To top it all off, Squaresoft released some Screenshots of Final Fantasy X on PlayStation 2 when FF9 was even not released (they do the same thing with FF12 and FF13). And the PS1 emulation coming quite quickly

FFVII & VIII are in a class of their own, IX was something Square put out for investors while work was being done on X.

By Sakaguchi's own admission, FF9 cost $40 million, while FF10 cost around $35 million. So no, FF9 is not "a small game for investors" (Which investors go to fund $40 millions a JRPG on PS1 in 1999-2000?).
Knowing that FF11 must have also cost more since we are talking about Squaresoft's first MMO.
Finally, FF9 was directed by Hiroyuki Ito, the co-director of FF6 (and game designer of FFTactics / FF4), it's not "a small name with a small team".

 

[Neff]

Because IX is actually a good game, unlike VIII.

This, except the other way round.

 

[Oberstein]

FF8 has problems, that's for sure, but the Internet has greatly exaggerated them. Especially when you see the level of the JRPGs that came after it, we were still on another level. Squall's “whatever”, if the forums hadn't repeated it incessantly, it would never have crossed my mind to say that this was a major negative point of the character.

Now, I prefer FFIX for its finish, plot, music and “medieval fantasy” feel.

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Because FF9 has a vocal fanbase that have rose-tinted nostalgia glasses glued to their face.

I put about 30+ hours into the game roughly 2 years ago, played in the best way possible too, via the PSPgo w/ component into a Trinitron, true 240p goodness. Game looked amazing and I did enjoy it at times but it was mid all day. Couldn't bring myself to finish it because I didn't care about the story. There's an LTTP for it somewhere.

Yeah I don't get the FF9 love either, tried playing it a couple times at release and couldn't finish it, this coming from someone that played a fuckload of PSX JRPGs. Finally forced myself to finish it when they did the HD re-release and I still didn't like it. The plot honestly got really fucking stupid at the end and I feel like that is just ignored by everyone.

But as an aside, no matter what someone thinks of FF8, the fact that they followed up a massive casual megahit like FF7 with a game that has the junction system and level scaling is still amazing to me. They really didn't care about making the game "accessible" and instead made the game they wanted to make. That kind of stuff is just unheard of anymore... turning Yakuza into a JRPG is the only similar thing I can think of.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

IX was something Square put out for investors while work was being done on X.

IX is actually a good game with a world map, good mini games and side quests with relatable themeing and character arcs. X is a straight line with artificial character stat growth manipulation, awful side quests & mini games and a lot of the narrative is nonsense the more you think about it. So...

 

[Sooner]

FFVIII sold huge because of FFVII.

FFIX sold worse because of FFVIII.

This is how these things work. It's why Resident Evil 5 sold so well.

People don't know how much they like something until they experience it themselves. Their best idea comes from their personal experience from previous games in the series.

 

[chromatic9]

I don't think it's a current thing of seeing FF9 more favourably, I recall it on forums 2005 onwards because FF8 was my favourite game and not appreciated as much as 7/9.

While FF9 was a return to the old FF, I completed the game much faster than FF7/8 and I adored FF8 gameplay and the very long final boss battles. I couldn't believe how quickly FF9 ended, I felt so disappointed like the big FF event wasn't there but still a good game itself. A short and sweet FF game.

 

[Fess]

Final Fantasy IX was also very late into the PS1's lifecycle as the PS2 was out by then.

True, and Dreamcast had been out for almost a year.

 

[SkylineRKR]

FFVIII came out just before PS1 was past its prime. And on the back of VII which generated lots of new FF followers.

FFIX came out in the wake of the PS2. It was playable on PS2, but was still a last gen release. Its like FFXII and GT6 selling worse. Their systems were past their prime.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Final Fantasy VII was such a strange phenomenon. It was by far, one of the most hyped games on the PS1, as far as my memory goes. There was advertising for the game everywhere.

SquareSoft going to the Sony PS1 was one of the greatest betrayals in gaming,

The second thing is related to the first.
Sony exploited everything regarding FF7 in the smartest way possible to shit on the N64. There was a big ad on mags hammering in the point that this game would be ridiculously expensive if it came on cartridges.
Furthermore, I think people tend to forget how ridiculously cool FF7 was for its time (and still is, in many ways). Those cool FMVs seamlessly interwoven with the gameplay. A villain that still ranks among the most iconic in gaming, ever. Psychic trauma. A rocket actually taking off to outer space. Genetic experiments. FF7 was really a groundbreaking game, and for some regions of the world it was the first FF game officially released. FF7 set the bar impossibly high. Monkey boy, clown-faced… thingy, the cutesy black mage and the knight in shining armor fighting against ugly fatso queen and a bunch of nobodies who produce fog could never compete.

 

[EruditeHobo]

It's seen as better because... it's a better game. The leveling system is better, the story is better, the characters are better, it's a "return" to a more classical setting for a FF game.

It's just better.