IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED YET, there’s a bit of a pattern when it comes to the things I get into. I see the thing, I'm vaguely interested by the thing, but then I leave the thing alone for years and years. FFIX is no different.
Way way back, in 2000 or so, my brothers got Final Fantasy IX for the Playstation. They had also played FFVII and FFVIII, and as with those I was content to simply watch the goings-on. But something about FFIX was different. It grabbed my attention more than the other two Final Fantasys had. It’s yet another case of one of those things that I filed away into my brain as something I liked but didn’t fully experience for a long time.
Then, some ten odd years passed. I finally took the initiative. I told myself, “I am going to play Final Fantasy IX.” I hooked up the old Playstation, popped in the first disc of the game, and started up the magic. Ohhh, man, it felt so nice to play the game for myself. It was just as wonderful as I’d always remembered it to be.
And then, I… stopped playing around the middle of disc 3. I don’t know why, but sometimes this gamer procrastination will hit me. I was having tons of fun with the game, so why I never finished it is beyond me. Some attempts were made later to once again complete it, from the beginning, but they never came to fruition.
Finally, the catalyst for my full completion of FFIX came when I was gifted a PSP. A portable system that can play FFIX? Oh hells yes. You better believe that was one of the first games I played on the system. There were no more excuses to give; I held the power to play FFIX in my very hands. And this time, I did finish it. I saw the entire adventure through to the very bitter end.
At that very instant, an eternal favorite was born.
