Final Fantasy IX

After two games of technology and modern dress, Final Fantasy IX turned back towards crystals, airships, black mages in pointed hats and a theatre troupe kidnapping a princess who wanted to be kidnapped. It was made as a celebration of the series’ first decade, and it wears that intent openly.

It is also the entry where race carries the most weight. Zidane is a Genome, Freya and Fratley are Burmecians, Quina is a Qu, and Vivi is a Black Mage, not a job title here but a manufactured species, built as a weapon and given a lifespan measured in months. That distinction is why Black Mage appears as a race on the character grid for this game and not as a class.

Beneath the storybook surface sits the bleakest theme in the series: every major character is confronted with the fact of their own mortality, and Vivi’s quiet acceptance of his is the emotional centre of the game.

This cast in the puzzles

The most racially varied cast of the classic era, which makes the race tile far more informative here than elsewhere.

The Final Fantasy IX cast (24)

• Adelbert Steiner Party member
• Amarant Coral Party member
• Beatrix Antagonist
• Black Waltz Antagonist
• Black Waltz 1 Antagonist
• Black Waltz 2 Antagonist
• Black Waltz 3 Antagonist
• Blank Party member
• Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI Antagonist
• Cid Fabool IX NPC
• Eiko Carol Party member
• Freya Crescent Party member
• Garland (Final Fantasy IX) Antagonist
• Garnet Til Alexandros XVII Party member
• Guardians of Terra Antagonist
• Kuja Antagonist
• Lani Antagonist
• Marcus Party member
• Necron Antagonist
• Quina Quen Party member
• Sir Fratley NPC
• Vivi Ornitier Party member
• Zidane Tribal Protagonist
• Zorn and Thorn Antagonist

Summons introduced in Final Fantasy IX (3)

• Ark PlayStation era
• Atomos PlayStation era
• Madeen PlayStation era