IX vs. X (In Multiple Categories)

[Locke4God]

I suppose I'm on the turf of X, but I wanted to compare these 2 titles in several major categories and see what you thought.

I posted a similiar thread on VI vs. XII, and if you were familiar, what you'll see is a multiple choice format, where both IX and X are matched against eachother in 7 total categories. You can vote for each game in each category. If you thought both were equally great in a category you can vote for both, or vote for neither if you thought they were equally bad, but either way I thought it would be interesting to break the game down into more than simply which was better.

[Freya]

Hah, that's an interesting question. I've never even had the IDEA of comparing those two games. And I really had some hard time deciding which was better.
As I am not able to say which one is better, here's the detailed version:

Overall enjoyment of the environment & towns
I chose: both
First off: IX. I enjoyed the game, I really liked it. (I wouldn't name myself Freya if I didn't like it... xD") It wasn't that difficult, but it wasn't easy either. Sometimes I got stuck and then had to find my way out, which was quite amusing. I remember that I played nearly every day to finish the game, I always waited for evening to come so that I could play again. :3 The environment... well, I liked the world of IX. It wasn't as sad as the world of VI, it wasn't as strange as VII and VIII, it was just a normal fantasy world. And it was looking good. ^^ The towns were also nice, I especially liked (guess what xD") Burmecia, I could've stayed in this town forever. It was a really sad place to be (as it was destroyed and all), but the rain was... well, how to put it? It just had an atmosphere I liked. So many memories, so much destruction... it seemed so... beautiful, in a way. It's hard to explain. ^^" But I also liked the other towns. x3"
Then: X. It was kind of the first FF for me and it was pretty damn much fun. I played about 4 hours the first day I got the game. I think that says it all. xD" After a while, it got more difficult, but in the end... it was quite great. As for the environment & towns: I loved the atmosphere, I loved Spira. <3 It was a great world, with so many great places to go. There was no place (except for Besaid) I didn't like. I especially liked Zanarkand. Like Burmecia, it was just a.. melancholic place? Dunno, I really can't describe what I felt. ^^"
So, both games had an awesome atmosphere and were fun. (Short version of a long text .-.")

Battle System
I chose: X
Pretty easy to explain. I like to think about what I'm doing, I don't like to rush through a fight. I tend to just press X like a maniac all the time when I've no time to choose what to do next. So FFX had a better battle system in my opinion. I really thought about what I was doing, I could see when the enemy would strike again... quite nice. x3 FFX was one of the only FF's in which I really used magic - just because I could think about using it. xD"

Characters
I chose: Both, again
That's a hard one. Both games had characters I didn't like and characters I loved. I... don't have to mention my favorite character in IX, do I? It's Freya, of course. I loved her story and all about her. The fact that she's a kind of rat, that she lost her beloved one, that she was some kind of fighter, always strong, etc. etc. There is so much more about her I liked. <3 There were also a few characters I didn't like that much, like Garnet. Somehow I really disliked her, she was useless most of the time. ^^" (Especially the few hours in which she couldn't concentrate anymore... I completely switched to Eiko then xD") But the stories of all the characters were so deep, it was just awesome how much there was about them...
X... you may throw stones at me now... had Auron. Auron > everything. Auron's the best character ever made. Auron is awesome³. I think I don't have to say much about it, I posted a novel about why I like Auron before on this forum. I have a wallpaper of Auron... it's been there for 1 ½ years now. xD" I'm just a fangirl, sorry. XD

Side Quests & Minigames
I chose: X
So this is what I experienced: I'm bad at finding side quests and minigames. I didn't find much in IX and somehow rushed into the final boss. On the other hand, in X I found much to do. Currently I've spent 100 hours on X and still haven't finished everything. It's just awesome how long you can play this game - and it's still fun.
Some time... I have to play IX again and try to find the side quests. ^^"
(Btw. I liked the card game of IX more than I liked Blitzball ^^")

Boss Battles
I chose: neither one~
I'll keep it short this time... I didn't experience that the boss battles were more fun or longer or more difficult in one of the games. So both are equal in this point. I had much fun beating the enemies in both games, but it wasn't THAT great.

Storyline
I chose: IX
There was no other way... X had a sweet story, I really liked it, all about Tidus and the Fayth and Sin and such. But it lacked... philosophy, in a way. I didn't really think about what the game could tell me. (Except for: Enjoy the time you have with your loved ones xD") So... no really interesting story for me.
IX had an awesome story. At first you wouldn't believe it was so.. deep. The real story starts when you first see the Black Mages and find out how they were made and stuff. Then the characters all began wondering why they were alive, when they'd die, what was the meaning of life... and I also thought about it. Especially at the end you got much to think about. I won't spoil anything, but I wouldn't have expected it to be like that. .,.
Yet, in X you could pretty much imagine what would happen. There were only few twists in the story.

Weapon & Character upgrade system
I chose: IX, again
Don't get me wrong, I liked the Sphere Grid. But I didn't have the feeling I ever improved. I got more HP and my attack and defense and stuff rose, but... I didn't see any progress. I didn't know which level I was. So IX was way better. Besides, I liked the fact that you could learn abilities by equipping your weapon and armor. That was a nice idea. x3
X lacked such creative ideas somehow. You just had to buy the weapon and then build it yourself... that was a bit... well, for me, bad. I normally wasted everything and then didn't have any items left to make a better weapon. xD"


So, now I counted what I chose. 4:4
I can't say which one really is better. I love both of them. >//<


@Locke:
One last comment, on these threads: You should add "Music" to the categories. I think it's also quite important. ^^

[Locke4God]

Ha, I know what you mean about the sphere grid. I do prefer it to IX's token system (although I liked that too), but you are right, it was hard to tell that you were improving. It was only towards the end when you were fighting the same charcters over and over that you could see your damage would go from 3000-6000 with 10-15 strength points increased. So it did help a lot, but you're right it was hard to tell for awhile.

Personally I never really liked knowing what level I was. Quite the opposite of you, I never thought a level really meant anything. I wanted to guage where my stats were.

I do completely agree with you that the weapon upgrading was quite tedius with X. It was so hard to determine when you needed to upgrade, because you didn't want to spend key spheres or something rare upgrading a weapon that you were going to get a free upgrade to in the next area. You know what though, it never really mattered. If you just upgraded your stats you'd have plenty to kill anybody anyway. The best thing you could do was add stonestrike and break damage limit.

I will have to dissagree with you on the character front. I thought X's characters were supperior. Auron was better than anybody in either game. I'd taken Yuna over Garnett, and Tidus over Zidane. And then the collection of Wakka, Lulu, Rikku and Kimarhi are more important to the overall story IMO than Steiner, Freya, Amarant, Quena, & Eiko. I will completely concede though that VIVI is probably the 2nd best character of either game.

[Dodie16]

Quick question: are you planning on doing this for ALL the FF games? Not just the main series, but you also have to take into account the spin-offs and sequels as well. That's a hell of a lot of threads. I'll give you a quick example (just out of the main series).

There have been 12 games (yes, I consider XI a part of the main series). You take each one and compare them to another one for each game. So that's 12 squared. 12 x 12 equals 144. Are you REALLY going to do 144 of these comparison threads? Remember, I only did out of the main series, so you are looking at even greater numbers if you do spin-offs and sequels.

SPOILER!!:

I chose IX for overall enjoyment of environment and towns. The NPC's were interesting to talk to and look at, there was the whole "middle ages" feel to it, and there was a lot to explore. I particularly liked that there was little hidden things that you could stumble on. It just made me want to explore everything this world had to offer.

I chose X's Battle System. I loved how you could switch out your characters with a press of a button. It made it a hell of a lot easier than waiting until you're on the world map or at a save point in order for you to get the party that you needed

For characters, I chose both. IX had some pretty imaginative characters, and I also loved the design. I think that there were a few characters that should have had a little bit more development. Amarant for one. He could have been a badass on par with Auron or something, but he just didn't have enough focus, imo. As for X, I love how they interact with one another on thier journey. There is definately a strong bond in this group. You see them grow as characters, especially Tidus.

For side-quests and mini-games, I chose IX. Chocobo Hot and Cold. That's all I'm going to say.

Boss Battles is hands down X, imo. Just for the fact I think that X had a better battle system, which made Boss battles more interesting.

Storyline I chose both. I really liked them both equally.

Weapon and character upgrade I went with X. The Sphere grid is amazing, and you could customize your characters to do all sorts of things (eventually). In IX, your characters' had a specific job, which was okay at the time, but X was an improvement.

[Locke4God]

@ Dodie - No I don't plan on matching every game with every other game, and I sure don't plan on including any spin-offs or sequels. I just love this series for the uniqueness of each game, and I think it lends itself to really fun converations in trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of each. It's really facinating as each game trys to provide a unique experience while building on the strong points inherent within the series. So I might through up a few more, esspecially regarding the newer games, and probably not so much the old school games. I thought it was a better way to talk about the games, rather than just, I liked one more than the other.

And I agree with most of your opinions on the 2 games here.

I wasn't as impressed with IX's as much and I agree with you on the comradary of X's characters. I thought that made them better as a group. Half of IX's characters I didn't even know why they were there. Freya was nice, but a toss in. Amarant and Quena were complete Toss ins. Eiko wasn't a very strong character IMO, and a clone of Garnet's power set. VIVI was awesome though.

I did prefer IX's token system to having to use sphere's to upgrade weapons, BUT as you said the sphere grid pretty much trumped that by itself. I loved the sphere grid.

[GypsyElder]

It would be difficult for me to point out and compare the strengths and weaknesses in these two particular FF's. They are both part of my top three favorites along with FF VII.

@ Loke, I agree with Quina and Amarant being complete toss ins. I felt like they really weren't in the game at all. But I could say the same for Rikku. Did anyone find it strange that she just randomly joined the pilgrimage? I'm sure it was so Wakka would understand that he shouldn't hate the Al bhed, and I'm guessing it was supposed to be a learning experience,her joining the team and all. It felt a bit rushed.

Also when they got to the Thunder Plains, she was so into wanting to help Yuna and seemed so concerned, yet she just met her not too long ago by the Moonflow...sorry kind of random, but wanted to ask since it was already on my mind.

[Locke4God]

@ Tenseiken - totally agreed on Rikku. You did nail down why she was there, which was clearly to provide Wakka another jarring reality check. But she was also there to introduce insite into the Al-Bhed. Without her, it would have been a little more difficult to understand that they weren't as crazy as Wakka would have had you believe. Also she knew Yuna because she knew Cid and Cid of course was Yuna's uncle, so Rikku had at least an aquaintence relationship with her. All and all, though I do understand her toss in status. She wasn't absolutely vital, I agree.

So it's hard to compare these 2 games for you? It's hard for me to compare 7 & 8, but it's easier for me when I break it down like this. 7 for me, and I think it's pretty has far better characters for instance. 8 though has a much better battle system IMO with the Junctions adding much more custimization and significance to all aspects of battle vs materia. That being said 7 had better side quests and mini games to me. Tetra master was fun, but it wasn't Chocobo breeding and racing. I spent hours on that. Anyway, the point is that I thinks it's possible to break down pluses and minuses between games you love. They've all got plenty of differences and I think that's what makes this series so strong.

[WilsonDean1990]

lol, Final Fantasy X has the best results in each categorie

[Che]

It's really hard to compare these two games for me. Especially since one is the last of it's system's time, and the other begins a brand new generation of machine. In most of the categories, I can't really provide a clear winner. I liked the crystals/abilities system of IX, but I absolutely loved the sphere grid. Both stories were amazing to me. The thing that stands out most is the overall enjoyment and feel of environments and towns, in which case FFIX is the clear winner. X was just way too linear.

[Megidolaon]

X is superior in pretty much all aspects.
While IX had some really great characters, Garnet drags the cast down a hell lot (disc 3).
Same goes for the story, it was pretty good during disc 1 and 2 and great in disc 4, but sucked hard during disc 3.

The battles were easily the worst in the entire series, extremely tedious and slow (especially your party was unproportionally slow).

The upgrade system was theoretically good, but practically it sucked hard. Getting spells and summons was so ridiculously slow that you could barely learn one before getting the next 5.
As a result, you were always really short on good spells and summons and you had to change equipment.

On the other hand FFX doesn't really have glaring flaws.
Having to switch around party members for exp was kinda annoying, but still far better than static parties without the inactive members having any chance of getting exp like in IX, especially when some characters were unavailable for almost 2 discs and than were forced into your party at not even half the lvl of the others.

The minigames suck equally in both games. IX's card game was pretty random and totally pointless, while blitzball is beyond tedious and stupid.

Overall IX sucked quite hard, it got only saved due to a largely good cast and an overall great story.
FFX was great all around.