What DIDN'T you like about this game?

[Elise]

I agree with everyone about the trance system. With my bad luck, it almost always goes off in the end of the battle after the monster/boss dies, it was so annoying, even if I didn't need it, I just like to have control over the time when to use it.

I also dislike that you're missing half of your characters after saving Dagger and once you get them back they're g*ddamn level 12. WTF were they doing the whole time? I wish they had dragged over the "level up while not in the party" thing from VII to VIII and IX.

Yes, I agree. I tend to put a strong character with those weak ones for protection in my party, fight the strongest monster I can find, and if they die they feel my wrath!

Other than that, I hated that annoying little brat Eiko.

YES!! Eiko is a master in annoyance, I even find her more annoying than Cait Sith.

[The Dark Crystal]

The whole trance thing didn't really bother me, I thought the game was easy as long as you grinded your ass off, which I did.

I did hate when your character split up though, and then you were forced to go back and play with them at a low level. Which was quite annoying every time I started over! (Yet I kept playing it over & over)

Another thing I found useless was the blue magic, 95% of the time I never even bothered to use it

[Elise]

I think it's too harsh to call blue magic in this game 'useless', it made Quina a pretty useful character, and he/she collects it in an 'interesting' way. What about Limit Glove? You can use it fairly early in the game and it deals 9,999 damage. I like that you can only use it when Quina's HP is 1, can be easily done with Auto-Life, also a blue magic. I find this an interesting technique without being a straightforward attack. Level 5 Death is the only way to finish one of the side-quests, I don't remember which one (crappy memory), but I'm pretty sure it was the case...

I didn't use blue magic all the time, but I wouldn't call it useless =)

One note about the scattering characters thing, I played VIII and IX before playing VII, so I thought that it's the way the games rolled; the characters you don't play with remain at low level... and it still bothered me a bit, even with no comparison to previous games.

I kinda find it hard to pick things I didn't like about IX and they don't compare to what I did like!

[Xanatos]

Another thing I found useless was the blue magic, 95% of the time I never even bothered to use it

Blue magic useless, you high or something? With Quina and her Blue Magic in your party Ozma, Necron, any oponent for that matter are nothing, but a joke. Angel Snack, Mighy Guard, White Wind, Magic Hammer just to name few, all crucial in battle against Ozma, in level 1 playthrough as well, which is impossible without Quina.

[Bad_Brett]

Excallibur II
While I like the challenge, I hate the fact that it's almost impossible to get it (at without missing other rare items) if you live in Europe. It's a shame that they didn't think of this.

Trance
Could have been executed better, both the skills and how the gauge charges.

My suggestions:

- Let the gauge depend on a percentage of the max HP instead of number of hits
- Give Steiner Double Cut instead of the extra attack power
- Give Quina Double Blue Magic instead of Cook
- Increase the power of Jump and Eidolon

Minor battle issues
- Haste doesn't work (unless you combine it with regen)
- Thunder Slash doesn't work
- Spells like Meteor and Quina's attack are too random
- Long loading times during battles
- Some abilities, such as High Jump, comes too late to be of any use

Stupid mini-games
- Rope Jumping and Racing Hippaul are frustrating and not fun at all
- Tetra Master is too random and frustrating. I mean, if you accidently pick up two rare cards with arrows pointing in the same directions, you have to discard one of them? What the hell? And there are no prizes for completing the collection!

Too few towns/dungeons
The Forgotten Continent (not couting the islands around it) has Qu's Marsh, Oeilvert, Ipsen's Castle and...? What? Nothing more?

I realise that very few people have lived there, but surely they could have included some kind of magical forest or secret dungeon. Though I love Chocobo Hot and Cold, it felt a bit anticlimactic to suddenly dig up Freya's, Steiner's (not counting Excallibur II), Amarant's, Garnet's, Eiko's and Zidane's best weapons. Yep, you actually dig up five of the seven ultimate weapons.

I think it could have been fun if you had to do some challenging sidequest to get some of these weapons.

[Arron'the Egg']

I really enjoyed the soundtrack made playing the game that little bit more fun
i also think people are to in love with 7 everything is compared to it

each game has its good and bad points 9 was a great game