Original... if you spent last year in a Third World country with no running water and no FF8.

by Raincrystal 

In his December 21 editorial on FF9, Aaron M. Hall wrote:

<< You want originality? Consider this -- how many games in the FF series have attempted to kill the hero as in FF9? How many times has the ending made you want to just jump in the game and beat some ass because the hero died, and then surprise you to the point of excited crying that he's still alive afterall. >>

Not to burst everyone's bubble, but... didn't this just happen in FF8? Squall's return from Ultimecia's world was carefully orchestrated so as to make it appear that he died, and never made it back. Squall stumbled on, lost in a wasteland of desolation and death, finally collapsing from the sheer impossibility of survival. In his last moments, he thinks of his promise to Rinoa, but it seems like too little too late; we are confronted not with a thrilling rescue but with the spectre of a grieving Rinoa holding Squall's seemingly lifeless corpse. That sure tricked me into thinking Squall was dead.

However, even if FF9 had not botched the attempt to make me believe that Zidane was dead, I would never have fallen for it. Why? Because this happened in the last game in the series. You can't pull a stunt like that twice and fool people, and you certainly can't pull it twice in a row.

To add sloppiness to carelessness, however, FF9 did not really do an efficient job of making Zidane seem dead. He ran through the writhing roots of the Iifa Tree at peril of his life, landing on the very peaceful and quiet ground. The tree's agitations were over. His words to Kuja were, "Don't die on me," implying that he and Kuja would be able to safely climb out of the tree if he didn't. They seemed safe enough. Following this was a string of scenes featuring the main characters thinking about what Zidane taught them. Logical conclusion: Zidane had gone back to his buddies in Tantalus to go on with his life, and they had to go on with theirs. Thus, I thought it was supposed to be obvious that Zidane was playing Marcus in the show. When he threw off his cloak, I was surprised not by the fact that he was alive, but that he and Dagger had stayed apart for three or four years. When she asked him how he had survived, I realized that everyone thought he died, and I was merely puzzled and irritated: Why had he not told her he was alive? Even if he stayed away, believing himself unworthy to wed her, surely a little note saying "Hi, I'm okay" would have been appropriate?

FF9's trick of making the hero seem dead is not new and it is not awesome. It is a rehash of the exact same ending we had in the last FF game. In fact, it follows the same format: Hero appears to die, followed by clips of all the other party members being incorrigibly themselves and leading happy lives. Then we are treated to the sudden revelation of the pseudo-dead hero and his leading lady embracing, and all is well with the world. Of course we have to hear the heroine's vocal song. Did I mention that Dagger and Rinoa both look Japanese, and Zidane has the same hairstyle as Squall? No, that's really nitpicking.

In fact, there is yet another way which FF8 and FF9 mirror each other drastically: the emotional climax does not come at the last battle. Unlike the previous games in the series, FF8's emotional climax is when Squall rescues Rinoa from the freezing chamber, and FF9's is that moment in Gaia when Zidane believes for a few minutes that he is alone and worthless, to the extent of ditching his friends. We get to hear the best musical track in the game, and Dagger, of course, snaps Zidane out of his limping depression. From there on, all we have to do is track down Kuja, whom we don't have much of an emotional vendetta against, to make sure that the world is saved. Kuja may have insulted and endangered us, but we don't feel anger or wish for vengeance; we just feel like this is something we ought to do, even though we feel a bit sorry for him. The conflict which we are really interested in, the party's cooperation and acceptance of their identities, has already been taken care of. This is quite a contrast from FF4-FF7, which featured truly epic final battles because they were the emotional climaxes of the story.

In short, the end of FF9 certainly does not justify it as a unique game. If any originality at all lies in this game, it is in the characters; for they come across as lovable individuals whether or not they remind us of someone else. Freya, Vivi, Zidane... I cared about them. That, and not any of its previously tried plot twists, is what made FF9 worth having seen.