After playing Final Fantasy IX on Playstation, I am awed by the amazing mechanics, graphic design, and narrative this game has achieved. But before delving into those aspects of gameplay, let me first introduce you some basic facts about the game. Final Fantasy IX is set in a medieval, fictional world. The main character Zidane, a bandit, kidnaps Alexandiran princess Garnet but soon finds himself in love with her. Together, they embark on a journey to bring down the warlike reign of Garnet's mother, Queen Brahne of Alexandria.
Rendered with a nostalgic artistic style, the graphic design of Final Fantasy IX is rich with different elements-----there are medieval castles, black magic, floating ships, dark forests, fairies, and industrial machines. Interestingly, the game presents its aesthetic design via different perspectives-----sometimes the player look at a scene from behind; other times from above. Sometimes, the foreground and background are blended together; other times the objects are so three-dimensional that they seem be to be popping out the screen.
Regarding the mechanics of this role-playing game, the player controls multiple characters in the story at different times. The game is both player-centric and proceduralist. It is player-centric in that the game provides a fantasy world for the player to freely tour around, talk to people, and complete objectives. Even within conversations, the player can choose what they want to ask and respond. When it comes to battles, players can win battles in different ways or even choose to escape.
However, the game is largely procedural for multiple reasons. First, the paths and places the player can explore as well as the dialogues the player can trigger are very limited. Although the player can play mini card games with the non-player characters, most of the dialogues and places the player can experience serve for the narrative and direct the player to complete the objective. Second, the game employs frequent animation. Starting from the very beginning and throughout the game, Final Fantasy IX uses animated video clips to tell the story. Many times, the player find himself fascinated in watching the movie rather than playing the game. There is also no freedom of choice with regard to how the narrative develops. There is one and only one goal--submit thyself completely to the princess!
The interconnection between the video and narrative leads to the argument I want to make. I argue that Final Fantasy IX is criticizing a corrupted, militaristic, feudalist state. Through the narrative, the game takes the player on an expedition to bring down Queen Brahne 's regime, a tyrant who massive-manufactures soulless soldiers to invade other nations. With a retinue of intelligence agents such as Beatrix who directly take orders from her, the Queen constantly monitors Princess Garnet's whereabouts and behaviors and at one point imprisons her.
In addition, in the beginning of game when the player controls Vivi who is trying to get into an annual festival of Alexandria, the player can feel a strong sense of exclusiveness and social hierarchy in the state. People are blocked from entering the theater by soldiers because of their humble backgrounds. Only the royal and wealthy can enter, they say. The poor and their children have to go on rooftops if they want to watch the play. The player can also engages in a dialogue with an old couple, who tells the player that they have worked hard for decades and finally saved enough money to buy tickets to the festival. From this, the player can tell there is basically no social mobility within Alexandria.
Even the play itself is charged with attacks on the medieval social ladder. The play tells the story of a princess falling in love with a peasant and disobeys her father's arrangement of her with a knight. As the story ends in a tragedy, in which both the princess and the peasant die, Final Fantasy IX sends a sarcastic message criticizing political marriage and more importantly, on a tyrant's unlimited power to control others' freedom.
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