Board 8 > Rate the VG Story Day 158: Final Fantasy IX

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Todays game is Zelda A Link to the Past. How would you rate the story on a scale from 1-10?

You can still rate previous days games if you missed them, just write <game name><rating>. If you want to change your rating you can just specify that you are changing your rating. Nominations for future days are also welcome, nominate as many games as you like and I will get to all of them.

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Previous Results:
Planescape: Torment - 9.83 (12 votes)
Higurashi When They Cry - 9.69 (8 votes)
Omori - 9.67 (6 votes)
Outer Wilds - 9.61 (22 votes)
Silent Hill 2 - 9.5 (20 votes)
Deus Ex - 9.35 (11 votes)
Nier Automata - 9.25 (31 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations - 9.2 (34 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC - 9.15 (19 votes)
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - 9.1 (14 votes)
The House in Fata Morgana - 9.1 (10 votes)
Yakuza 0 - 9.03 (13 votes)
Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9 (8 votes)
Mother 3 - 8.98 (14 votes)
Steins;Gate - 8.94 (9 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - 8.91 (30 votes)
Umineko When They Cry - 8.88 (13 votes)
Grim Fandango - 8.88 (13 votes)
Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - 8.88 (20 votes)
Return of the Obra Dinn - 8.85 (10 votes)
Silent Hill 4: The Room - 8.83 (6 votes)
Suikoden II - 8.8 (11 votes)
Persona 3 - 8.76 (22 votes)
Xenogears - 8.73 (24 votes)
Tales of Berseria - 8.69 (14 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 8.67 (31 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics - 8.67 (27 votes)
Metal Gear Solid - 8.67 (27 votes)
Dragon Quest V - 8.64 (14 votes)
Pyre - 8.64 (7 votes)
Bastion - 8.63 (12 votes)
Persona 4 - 8.59 (31 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask - 8.56 (27 votes)
Disco Elysium - 8.56 (16 votes)
Undertale - 8.45 (42 votes)
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door - 8.45 (16 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd - 8.42 (12 votes)
What Remains of Edith Finch - 8.41 (19 votes)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon - 8.4 (5 votes)
Chrono Trigger - 8.39 (40 votes)
Mass Effect 2 - 8.38 (28 votes)
South Park: The Stick of Truth - 8.38 (17 votes)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - 8.37 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy X - 8.31 (56 votes)
Final Fantasy VII - 8.28 (37 votes)
Dragon Quest XI - 8.27 (16 votes)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 8.21 (19 votes)
Snatcher - 8.2 (5 votes)
Final Fantasy VI - 8.19 (43 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - 8.17 (42 votes)
The Walking Dead Season 1 - 8.17 (21 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies - 8.16 (16 votes)
Wolfenstein: The New Order - 8.14 (7 votes)
The Last of Us - 8.13 (35 votes)
Horizon: Zero Dawn - 8.06 (18 votes)
Silent Hill - 8.04 (14 votes)
The Wolf Among Us - 8.04 (14 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles - 7.94 (27 votes)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - 7.94 (17 votes)
Hades - 7.91 (21 votes)
Spec Ops: The Line - 7.9 (17 votes)
Bloodborne - 7.88 (20 votes)
Life is Strange - 7.85 (31 votes)
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future - 7.75 (6 votes)
The Sexy Brutale - 7.7 (5 votes)
Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors - 7.69 (31 votes)
Bioshock - 7.64 (23 votes)
Doki Doki Literature Club - 7.64 (27 votes)
Celeste - 7.56 (26 votes)
Skies of Arcadia - 7.54 (14 votes)
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair - 7.5 (30 votes)
The Last Story - 7.47 (6 votes)
Mortal Kombat (2011) - 7.46 (13 votes)
Tales of Symphonia - 7.42 (30 votes)
Mass Effect - 7.35 (28 votes)
Earthbound - 7.33 (19 votes)
Batman: Arkham Asylum - 7.3 (22 votes)
Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma - 7.27 (20 votes)
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.26 (29 votes)
Tales of the Abyss - 7.25 (29 votes)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - 7.25 (12 votes)
Red Dead Redemption - 7.23 (11 votes)
Resident Evil 4 - 7.19 (25 votes)
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony - 7.17 (25 votes)
Mass Effect 3 - 7.16 (21 votes)
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - 7.11 (23 votes)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - 7.1 (30 votes)
To the Moon - 7.07 (7 votes)
Super Paper Mario - 7.04 (23 votes)
Assassins Creed II - 7.04 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy VIII - 7.01 (31 votes)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - 7 (5 votes)
Hollow Knight - 6.98 (21 votes)
Gone Home - 6.91 (17 votes)
INSIDE - 6.88 (16 votes)
Bioshock Infinite - 6.87 (19 votes)
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood - 6.83 (6 votes)
The World Ends With You - 6.79 (24 votes)
Death Stranding - 6.73 (13 votes)
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All - 6.69 (33 votes)
Firewatch - 6.65 (10 votes)
Dark Souls - 6.62 (20 votes)
Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc - 6.61 (29 votes)
Chrono Cross - 6.53 (18 votes)
Valkyria Chronicles - 6.5 (16 votes)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - 6.5 (13 votes)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 6.45 (10 votes)
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - 6.38 (12 votes)
Final Fantasy V - 6.37 (26 votes)
Grand Theft Auto V - 6.36 (11 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 6.34 (35 votes)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village - 6.15 (15 votes)
DOOM (2016) - 6.15 (13 votes)
Tales of Vesperia - 6.13 (24 votes)
No More Heroes - 5.96 (12 votes)
Shadow of the Colossus - 5.94 (27 votes)
Assassins Creed III - 5.94 (8 votes)
Sonic Adventure 2 - 5.89 (26 votes)
Star Fox 64 - 5.8 (25 votes)
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception - 5.8 (24 votes)
Final Fantasy IV - 5.76 (32 votes)
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 5.72 (9 votes)
Tales of Xillia - 5.71 (12 votes)
Metroid Prime - 5.67 (24 votes)
Dishonored - 5.67 (9 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - 5.63 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 5.62 (13 votes)
Kingdom Hearts - 5.51 (31 votes)
The Wonderful 101 - 5.5 (4 votes)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - 5.43 (14 votes)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 5.33 (20 votes)
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box - 5.3 (10 votes)
Grand Theft Auto IV - 5.27 (13 votes)
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 5.26 (28 votes)
Far Cry 3 - 5.21 (8 votes)
Fable - 5 (12 votes)
Phantasy Star II - 5 (5 votes)
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - 4.93 (24 votes)
Mega Man X4 - 4.89 (13 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - 4.85 (13 votes)
Final Fantasy XIII - 4.79 (29 votes)
Final Fantasy X-2 - 4.79 (19 votes)
Final Fantasy XV - 4.79 (19 votes)
Fallout 3 - 4.76 (17 votes)
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty - 4.72 (9 votes)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 4.64 (40 votes)
Fallout 4 - 4.43 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy - 4.23 (20 votes)
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls - 3.94 (9 votes)
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - 3.89 (9 votes)
Resident Evil 6 - 3.74 (17 votes)
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 3.69 (13 votes)
Star Ocean: The Last Hope - 3.43 (15 votes)
Final Fantasy II - 3.4 (10 votes)
Starcraft II (overall) - 3.4 (5 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest - 3.31 (16 votes)
Dissidia: Final Fantasy - 3.29 (12 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates (overall) - 3.29 (12 votes)
Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void - 2.83 (6 votes)
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) - 2.66 (16 votes)
Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm - 2.57 (7 votes)
Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation - 2.4 (10 votes)
Tales of Zestiria - 2.38 (8 votes)

Needs more votes:
Torment: Tides of Numenera
The Conduit 2

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7

The highs are high for me, but Eiko both exists and has a decent portion of the story focusing on her.

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9/10

Very charming world, half the playable cast is great, maybe the best main villain in the series. I feel like it borrows from FFIV a bit too much sometimes, but it's a tribute game, so I won't quibble with that too much.

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9/10

Way darker than the colorful world would suggest. The 3rd disc is a slog story wise, but Kuja's rampage rivals Kefka and Ardyn in total effectiveness as FF Villains go.

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9/10

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10

It has been my favourite video game for about 2 decades now and a big reason is how excellent much of the cast is and how memorable (in a good way) a lot of the game's key events are.

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10

Best in the series

10

I know there are some cheesy parts and some stuff isn't foreshadowed too well, but I love this game with my whole heart.

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10 Kuja rules
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9

Objectively it's probably an 8.5, but the charm factor counts for a lot.

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2

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3/10

It's a slog and the core plot is pretty average. Loses points for Necron, Dagger can't concentrate, heroic blue screens of death every 5 minutes, etc. The black mages/Vivi's arc is pretty good though

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6.5

9

I don't think I can go lower. Misses out on 10 by having some incomplete feeling story arcs and slightly rushed pacing at the end. Luckily Vivi's hits home and is also basically the "main theme" of the game. It hits story beats really well for a solid disc and a half and the latter stuff is still highly engaging.

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8.5/10

Too many characters, and the plot feels flabby at times, but overall it's great and has the best villain in the series.

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9

Near perfect story of its kind. However it kinda loses steam towards the end and the stuff in Terra is not that good. It was one of my favorite FF stories but over the years with numerous replays it ranks below the best which is FF7, 8 and 10 for me.

10

There's a lot to love here. The plot itself is really exciting, and there's a stretch from the end of disk 1 until partway into disk 3 where it feels like the game just doesn't let up at all. The character writing is great and I especially love the parallels between Zidane/Vivi/Kuja, though Dagger's arc is also great, among other things. The game also has a lot of charm in it's presentation. Really great experience overall.
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9/10

Half the cast is covered pretty well; can't ignore the fact that at least 3/4 of the remaining characters are not truly fleshed out. I also agree that the Terra stuff isn't very good.

Yet it's still a 9, which goes to show just how well they nailed the first two discs, plus Zidane, Steiner, Vivi, and Dagger.

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First two discs are legendary. Such amazing world building and character interaction. Disc 3 is a noticeable dip in quality which I didn't realize as a kid but was very apparent the last time I played it. Terra is the low point and Memoria isn't great but overall it is still one of the best FF stories but had the potential to be 'the' best FF story.

3/10

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9.5

It's my favorite FF game and be sure it's not because of the gameplay. And I usually value gameplay far more than the story! but in this particular case the story is so good that I can forgive the meh gameplay.
There are barely any boring parts. The story is great from the beginning to the end, every new town you discover is interesting, every progress in the main story shows a important event. There are so many great moments in the game that when thinking back about the game story, so many of them comes to mind.
The main half cast of characters is also fantastic - Zidane, Vivi, Steiner and Garnet. All of them are great. They have such a good chemistry between them
The cinematics were beautiful too back in the day. Now less so obviously but I still enjoy them plenty

I can't give it a perfect score because it has some flaws
Necron sucks. Random final boss out of nowhere is dumb
Freya disappearing for half of the game
The other half cast of the game - Eiko, Quina and Amarant. While I know some people like Eiko and Quina, nobody really cares about Amarant.

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MZero posted...

Loses points for Necron, Dagger can't concentrate

We are ranking story here.
If anything. "Dagger can't concentrate" should add to your score, not lower it.
She just lost her hometown and her mother, what do you expect her to do?

I agree it does hurt the gameplay a bit but lowering points for the story for this is...weird

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Nanis23 posted...

We are ranking story here.
If anything. "Dagger can't concentrate" should add to your score, not lower it.
She just lost her hometown and her mother, what do you expect her to do?

I agree it does hurt the gameplay a bit but lowering points for the story for this is...weird

So did Noctis but he didn't go mute and useless for half the game


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'Dagger can't concentrate' happens for maybe half of one disc? Probably less than that. It's not a short amount of time but it's hardly a long one either. It's at worst mildly annoying.

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9

Very few flaws with this. Would love to give it a 10 but Necron and Amarant exist so can't.

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KamikazePotato posted...

'Dagger can't concentrate' happens for maybe half of one disc? Probably less than that. It's not a short amount of time but it's hardly a long one either. It's at worst mildly annoying.

It's annoying enough to be memorable.

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8.5

"Dagger can't concentrate" I think is an awful design addition though I would agree it's a small positive in terms of the story.

Definitely not worth it though because they can easily communicate this without undermining the gameplay.
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FFIX frequently undermines its own gameplay, but that's neither here nor there for the purposes of this topic!

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I just don't use her during that time so it's something I don't even encounter.

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pjbasis posted...

I just don't use her during that time so it's something I don't even encounter.

You have to use her at least for one dungeon because your party splits up

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Any more?

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3

Barely remember it now and it didn't hold my interest when I played it.

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2.
i don't like the story