Of the few Final Fantasy games I've seen, IX is actually my favourite. It is lighter, more whimsical and colourful. Plus it is nice to see that not every creature you bump into is trying to kill you (like that weird clown that asks you questions, or that cat which wants stuff).
Hey, at least Freya was only second worst (Amarant was just lazily done, IMO.) Still, he, Freya, Eiko, and Quina weren't quite as portrayed in-depth as Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, and Steiner, who were all great (of course, Quina was likely supposed to not be an in-depth character, s/he was mainly comic relief.)
This is my favorite Final Fantasy game. I think it has to be because it was the first Final Fantasy game my sister played and I loved how light hearted it was compared to 8. It wasn't that complicated either. I also loved the Chocobo game more than anything and I liked how Zidane moved so fast on the World Map compared to Squall who moved hella slow. -_-
Characterization wise, I agree that Freya fell out of focus after disc 2 and it wasn't fair. I think she lampshades it in the actual dialogue though at the beginning of disc 3. And then when it came to finding all the skills for Queena and Steiner -_- you never know what weapons turn out unless you explore outside of places.
All in all though, it was still my favorite. :D
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Refreshing, Fun, and Underrated
Like the title said, Underrated is the word that better describs this game, since for some reason it didn't became as popular as its predecessors, despite not being worst. Nor best. Just different.
Because that's what this game tried to do. It tried to be different, new, refreshing. Which is an irony, since the prupose was going back to the roots. We said goobye to the ciberpunk/magitek world, and see the return of a more fantasy-oriented setting. Which, in my humble opinion, it was a wise move, since I always found ridiculous for people to still using swords in a technologically advanced world, although I know that they won't stop doing such thing.
Another new feature, or better said, return of an old one is the jobs: rather than having six equal characters with a special move, we had completely unique characters, each with its own set of abilities. Okay, this drew the problem that some characters were more useful than others, but the other system wasn't better for diversity either; now tell me how many people who played Final Fantasy VII used Caith Sith.
Speaking of the characters, they were one of the game's storngest points, in contrast to the obnoxious cast from its predecessor. It was good to finally have a FF in which the protagonist is a cheerful boy instead of an emo with anime hair and an impossible huge sword. You can see how all the characters grow (well, some more than others), since all of them have their own inner conflict that they must overcome, they face obstacles, they sometimes lose hope, but when this happens, they are always back on feet thanks to the best use of The Power Of Friendship.
Now, the game has its flaws too, like some characters that are left out of the game for too long (namely Freya), or whose backstories are much less developed (Freya again)
The minigames, such as the card game, and the treasure hunt with the chocobo are fun, but you can get tired of those pretty fast.
Al in all, this game wasn't awesome, nor terrible. It was different. If you can appreciate this, and all its good features, you will enjoy this game and its marvelous content.