After playing the beginning of FFIX again recently I think the main problem with FFIX's card game is that no one ever has good cards. I played a decent amount of the games and got bored because. In Balamb Garden in FFVIII you can find like the first 6 levels of cards in there from random people, and then one or two people have really high level stuff, like a Moogle.
FFIX I played everyone in one of the towns and no one had anything past level 1 it was like "what is this"
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I tried to have a fierce rivalry with SuperNiceDog, but he made me look worse than a GameFAQs Contest!