Final Fantasy VIII or Final Fantasy IX

[Olo401]

How come? Kinda disappointing that magic is flat out useless with the exception of a few spells that are 9/10 junctioned so you deplete stats to cast the spell (Aura/Triple/Ultima) and that physical damage is far superior to magic. Story-wise though, fantastic.

I find the gameplay and the base of the story (the classroom thing) annoying as hell.. it's a mental block more than anything else. Once I finish IX I'll probably just download VIII off Playstation Network and put my mind into it.

[Jaybar]

Nein!

Chocobo Hot and Cold. Hours and hours of digging.

[IceSylph]

Looks like I'm going to be playing FFIX

[Cichy]

VIII

[Lucavi]

Wasn't a fan of IX, but was even less of a fan of XIII, so IX.

[orson]

That's a tough choice I think I had more fun playing FFVIII as a game. Interactive limit breaks and having the potential to gain new spells all the time made combat a lot of fun and triple triad was probably the best minigame in a FF to date. As for story both were good but got kinda convoluted and didn't make a whole lot of sense especially near the end. FFVIII had the more appealing and identifiable story/characters. How awesome would it be to spend your time in high school fighting monsters (along side hot 19 yr teachers,) now that was something to aspire to! FFIX's characters on a whole were probably more likable which made the story feel like a really great fantasy novel. The humor on FFIX was excellent for the most part better than FFVIII.

In short I think it really boils down to your mood. FFIX is that good book that you can pull out and slowly pace through it at a comfortable rate enjoying the stuff you missed (oh you probably missed stuff the game is HUGE!) If you're more in the mood for grinding out stats, min maxing parties, and generally focusing more so on the game play itself you want to play FFVIII. Not to say that there weren't hugely emotional parts in FFVIII but they just don't have the same impact when you know exactly what'll happen. FFIX's story is epic every time through.

[Stiker]

FFIX hands down. FFVIII for me gets better every playthrough because my understanding of the Junction system, and how to convert items to spells, etc, gets a lot better after you experience. However, FFIX was far more enjoyable the first playthrough. The leveling system and ability learning through weapons was just brilliant and lets you play so many different ways with a small learning curve.

So yeah, knock out FFIX, but be sure to throw a couple playthroughs at FFVIII.

[darkepyon]

IX all the way. I liked the system of learning abilities through items. Also it was a nice throwback to the older games and stepped away from the "OMGHUGENUMBERZZZZ" deal with 7 and 8. I don't recall there being many (if any) attacks that hit for 9999 a bunch of times like 7 and 8. It's been about a decade since my last trip through said game though.

[lathia]

How old are you?

For me, I couldn't stand IX when I was 15. It just didn't have that teenage appealing factor going to it that VIII had. By my standards of course.
Today (24yrs) I love IX and "hate" VIII. Mind you, I just recently played VIII a couple of months ago. The big turn off for me is the dialogue between characters.
I happily grin at Zidane's carefree attitude compared to Squall's internal drama.

[Tyrath]

I love both games but VIII is my fav.

[Reapz]

VIII! Even though I love both

[Bregor]

Both are really good, although VIII definitely has some problems. Parts of the story of VIII were utter bullshit to me, and there's no diversity in the playable characters. Six 17-year-olds being emo, wow how original. And Squall, yeah he pretty much typifies the knock on S-E of serving up big dramatic moments with dialogue like "..."

IX feels a lot tighter and I really liked the return to a more classic feel for abilities and equipment. Also Vivi is one of the most intriguing characters in the post-SNES era for FF. Plus IX's OST is awesome. You really can't go wrong either way but like most people here I'd say IX.

[Nevex]

IX all the way. I liked the system of learning abilities through items. Also it was a nice throwback to the older games and stepped away from the "OMGHUGENUMBERZZZZ" deal with 7 and 8. I don't recall there being many (if any) attacks that hit for 9999 a bunch of times like 7 and 8. It's been about a decade since my last trip through said game though.

No, your damage is capped at 9999 but there are so many cheap ways to deal that kind of damage (Zidane gets Thievery, Garnet summons, Eiko Holy, Quina Limit Glove/Frog Drop, Steiner Shock etc.).
Every non-boss mob except a few inside the last dungeon and Yans gets OHKO'd by one of those attacks and every boss in the game gets killed in 7 hits or less.
That's the biggest problem with FFIX in my opinion, battles are way too easy and take no skill whatsoever unless you heavily restrict yourself. You don't even need to cure lategame since Auto-regen is so absurdly overpowered in this game.

[Teron]

IX

[Minions]

VIII, just love the sheer number of side quests in that game. You can really breeze through IX quickly if you want to. Both games how downfalls through. I remember you can keep your level extremely low on VIII (as all the monsters scale), and make the game easy mode the whole game. I still think its great you can play on PSP and move the save to PS3.... continue then move the save back. This allows you to play these games at home, and on the go.

[Scythiroth]

IX.

Chocobo Hot and Cold alone makes it better than VIII. Okay, not really, I just personally liked everything in 9 more than 8.

[Correction]

IX's cast of characters is better defined than VIII's gallery of mopy teenagers. This doesn't make all of IX's characters winners (sup Amarant/Quina) but on balance it's a stronger set with more emotional investment.

This generally defines my willingness to replay IX over VIII. That and Draw Magic blows.

[Nevex]

IX's cast of characters is better defined than VIII's gallery of mopy teenagers. This doesn't make all of IX's characters winners (sup Amarant/Quina) but on balance it's a stronger set with more emotional investment.

This generally defines my willingness to replay IX over VIII. That and Draw Magic blows.

Meh. I found the main cast to be pretty weak on average.
Only Vivi really stands out... Garnet is the most depressing female lead in the series, Steiner is extremely monodimensional (everything about him is something like "I'll give my life for the princess!"), Eiko is the typical annoying brat with a crush for the main character though she has her moments, Freya might as well not be there (she has no purpose in the story after the beginning of Disc 2) and Zidane is just a ladies' man/righteous hero stereotype until the end of Disc 3.

[Correction]

And yet as a sum, IX's cast hangs together better than VIII, where much of the time you're playing as Laguna's Hero Squad and the remainder you're playing an ineffectual squad of Orphans With Self Esteem Issues. I guess I could have said "IX's cast is less weak than VIII's cast" but then I wouldn't really be able to say that there's more to like in Vivi/Zidane/Steiner than in all of VIII's protagonist cast.

[Uzor]

I prefer 9 over 8. 8 is the only FF game I haven't been able to play through - mainly because the draw system fucking sucks and bore me to death. 9 also has better characters. And that's saying a lot, considering I've played through X-2 twice, even though it is one of the most hated in the series.