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Released by Square in the year 2000 on the Playstation, Final Fantasy 6 director Hiroyuki
Ito would return to direct a new installment, with a story written by series creator Hironobo
Sakaguchi. While in development at the same time as Final Fantasy 10, design emphasis
was on creating a traditional medieval fantasy setting with a mix of modern and classic mechanics.
As such, the mechanics of the game are most similar to Final Fantasy 4, in which each
character in the cast of 8 is iconic of a traditional party role, with exclusive job
skills. New skills and abilities are learned from equipment, along with an item crafting
system, though the player can customize each character's limited loadout of skills, as
only 4 characters can be fielded at a time. Again, per Ito's style, the game features
a large cast with the story shifting focus among different protagonists, though often
its told from the perspective of Zidane. The world has a heavier emphasis on exploration,
between many hidden items, optional bosses and sidequests, and creative minigames. In
addition, the game prominently featured the ability to switch narrative and party control
with a new feature, the Active Time Event, which greatly enriched character drama, and
added humor alongside plot development. To date, Final Fantasy 9 not only holds the prestige
of being the most critically acclaimed Final Fantasy installment to date, but its also
the last installment to be composed by Nobuo Uematsu, as well as being the personal favorite
of even the series original creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi. The story only gets larger from
here so lets cut it down to size with a RECAPitation.
Set in the world of Gaia, we are introduced to Zidane, a roguish, womanizing young man
with a tail, who is a member of Tantalus, a group of traveling thieves who masquerade
as a theater troupe. They've been hired to kidnap the heir to the throne of Alexandria,
Princess Garnet, and will do so while performing the kingdom's most popular play, "I want to
be your Canary". Per plan, Zidane and his friend Blank willl be the kidnappers while
the rest of them put on a show. As their airship, the Prima Vista docks, the play is looking
to be sold out, as it will be the showcase for the Princess's sixteenth birthday.
At this time, we see a young Black Mage named ViVi, who is upset to have been sold a fake
ticket to the show, and soon finds himself caught up sneaking into the castle for premier
seating. Front and center to the show is Queen Brahne, as well as a dismayed Princess Garnet,
and Captain of the Knights Steiner. The show is underway, and under the cover of an impressive
duel, Zidane and Blank steal away, disguise themselves as guards, and initiate the kidnapping.
However, to their surprise, Princess Garnet herself sneaks away on her own and flees right
past them. Of course, its not long before General Beatrix receives word, and Captain
Steiner heads the search for the Princess immediately, discovering her being chased
by the rogues. She gives him the slip by swinging over back onto the Prima Vista, and when Zidane
thinks he's cornered her, she not only confirms her identity, but also that she Wants to be
kidnapped by the troupe.
Zidane finds himself quickly charmed by Princess, for not only for her looks, but also her skills
and attitude, and finds the request easy to fill. However, Captain Steiner catches up
to them, and despite unleashing his strongest attacks on them, is stalled when they release
a swarm of critters called oglops onto him. Their chase continues until it hits the main
stage, interrupting the actual show. At the same time, guards catch Vivi trespassing within
the audience, and give chase, resulting in him also fleeing to the main stage during
the tragic climax of the drama. He flashes them with a little fire, but it accidently
catches the princess's cloak. She publicly unveils herself, and Tantalus decides the
show is over. As Steiner and the knights of Pluto make an effort to arrest them all, the
Prima Vista attempts to lift off. However, the queen is quick to deploy her anti-air
chains, which succeed in halting the massive airship, and summon a bomb to stop them all.
The fiery bomb monster overwhelms even Stiener as it detonates, crippling the ship, but not
enough to prevent it from drifting out of the city, prompting the Queen to send her
two sinister jesters Zorn and Thorn to bring the Princess back, preferrably alive. Delaying
the inevitable crash as long as possible, the Prima Vista wrecks inside a doomed woods
called the Evil Forest, with Vivi and Garnet getting separated from Zidane and Steiner
during impact. Zidane quickly finds her, though captured by a large local monster, and his
surge of emotions to save her result in an powerful transformational state called Trance,
which impresses even Steiner. However, despite even that and Vivi's powerful magic, the monster
gets away with Garnet, and Vivi and Steinver become poisoned. Zidane saves the two of the
them, and defies the orders of his boss to abandon the assignment and the princess. Quitting
the band of rogues, he takes Steiner with him, who convinces him to take Vivi with them.
According to Steiner, Black Mages are fearsomely powerful and to be respected, despite Vivi's
timid and childlike personality. Finding the boss plant, they defeat it together, with
a little help at the last minute from Blank. though its minions give relentless pursuit.
Zidane somehow senses the entire forest is after them, as the Evil Forest begins petrifying
over. Blank sacrifices himself to save Zidane, throwing a map of the Mist Continent over
to him, and Zidane himself just barely escapes with the others.
With their routes along the hazardous Mist Continent limited, they opt to escape the
Mist itself, which contains a strange energy and fosters strong monsters, by climbing to
the peak of a nearby Ice cave. However, a sudden blizzard during their trek chills them
to the point of unconsciousness, though Zidane holds on just long enough to discover this
is the enchantment of a menacing Black Mage member of a trio called the Black Waltz. He
edges out a win in a one on one battle, though as the enchantment breaks, he chooses not
to divulge this battle to his teammates.
As they discover the town of Dali in the distance, Zidane suggests Garnet diguise herself under
an alias, and she agrees, adopting the name Dagger, after Zidane's weapon of choice. As
they rest, Zidane finally asks Dagger why she wanted to escape the castle, and she reveals
only that she must make it to the city of Lindblum. However, as Vivi gets snatched by
the villagers, they discover this small town has a dark secret underground, creating monsters
made of Mist, but also smuggling them into official shipments to Alexandria Castle. More
horrifying yet, They discover that actual black mages are being grown and mass produced
right here in this facility. Vivi is shocked the dolls look just like him, and Dagger is
alarmed to think her mother is behind all of this. Following this mystery for now, they
think to sneak into the cargo ship. Ironically, Steiner looks to commandeer the exact ship
as well, as its going back to the castle, so he lies about the destination of the ship
going to Lindblum in order to get them all back to Alexandria.
Surprisingly, another member of the Black Waltz comes in, and forcely insists on returning
the Princess to the castle, even attacking them all to do so. Black Waltz number 2 is
defeated though, and they board the airship, despite Zidane figuring out its really returning
back to the Castle, and Dagger's reluctance to this. Within, the souless Black Mage dolls
operate the ship, though Zidane takes the wheel and charts a new course towards Lindblum,
and all are unaware that Black Waltz number 3 is actually not far behind with a ship of
its own. He's insulted to see the black mage dolls in his way and blasts them, and the
freshly hatched ones, off the ship, much to ViVi's shock and rage, powering up into a
Trance of his own. Number 3 escapes before he is defeated, with Thorn and Zorn looking
on, and gives one last chase as the cargo ship makes a break for the South Gate. Vivi
holds off the Waltz's magic with all of his strength, as as they clear the first checkpoint,
number 3 aims to attack once more, but accicdently fries his own engines with his power, causing
his ship to careen out of control and explode against the South Gate as the group just squeezes
by.
As they enter Lindblum's gates to the city, Vivi begins seriously questioning the similarity
between himself and the dolls, and Zidane is quick to change the subject, as well as
think of a reason to continue the trek with Dagger. Dagger is quickly recognized and granted
audience with Regent Cid of Grand Lindblum Castle, though to their combined surprise,
Cid has been cursed into the form of a giant Oglop, though still with his signature mustaschio.
They take a break, though Zidane excuses himself, as the high-class food is not per his taste.
Checking out a local tavern he's familiar with instead, Zidane finds himself bumping
into an old acquantaince of his, a woman of the rat-folk race, Freya the Dragon Knight.
She's actually in town for the annual Festival of the Hunt event happening soon, though she
is still investigating the disappearance of her lost love. Meanwhile, Princess Garnet
chats with Regent Cid over the suddenly strange and alarmingly aggressive behavior exhibited
by her mother recently. It turns out, Cid was suspicious as well, and was the one who
actually hired Zidane and the Tantalus Troupe to kidnap her in the first place, since he
promised her deceased father that he would protect her. Under that cover, it would avoid
any political friction between Alexandria and Lindblum.
After all, they already knew Alexandria was manufacturing an army of Black Mage golems
in the Village of Dali, though have a fleet of advanced airships ready to counter any
potential threat. His most advanced ship, named after his wife Hilda, was actually taken
by her, after she found out about an affair he was having, and punished him by turning
him into an Oglop. Meanwhile, Zidane tries to work his charm on Garnet, but she doesn't
go along so easily.
The next day, Vivi, Freya, and Zidane all particpate in the Hunting Festival, but when
the final results are being rewarded, a mortally wounded messenger from Burmecia limps in with
news that his country is being invaded by an army of black mages and requests reinforcements.
The group decides to help, as Lindblum is strapped for resources given the recent festival.
Freya wants to help her homeland, Zidane wants to help his friend Freya, Garnet wants to
see if Alexandria is behind this attack, Steiner will always follow the princess, and Vivi
wants to know more about these Black Mages. However, for her safety, they urge the princess
to stay behind despite her objections. Determined to move forward regardless, Garnet slips sleeping
powder into everyone's meal, and decides to go to Alexandria and try to stop any potential
war. When they wake up, they know they've been had, and gamble the Garnet went ahead
to Burmecia. Getting there in a hurry, the Zidane crew finds a chocobo forest, wherein
they tame a friendly chocobo with the handy ability to discover hidden, underground treasures.
Along the way, they discover a marsh that is home to a member of the long-tongued, genderless
Qu Tribe, Quina. The voracious appetite of the Qu lends well to the Blue mage Quina,
as Quina can learn special attacks from monsters it eats. Quina's master implores the group
to take Quina with them, as Quina has much to learn of the world, as well as master the
art of eating.
Finding the entrance to Burmecia littered with fallen Burmecian soldiers, and Black
Mage dolls with a kill on sight mission, they discover Queen Brahne's jesters, Zorn and
Thorn overseeing everything. Entering the realm of eternal rain proper, its still overrun
by black mage dolls, and as they make their way to the palace, Freya is fearful of what
they'll find, though Vivi is scared of learning why the dolls look like him, and that he may
not be human. Beyond, Freya's suspicions are confirmed, as Queen Brahne herself, along
with Genernal Beatrix, are present to claim victory. However, a strange man named Kuja
steps forward, and is thanked by the queen for his contribution of the black mage army.
Their conversation reveals the King of Burmecia survived, and has fled to the City of Illusion,
Cleyra.
Jumping in to save a reckless soldier, the groupd finds themselves locking blades with
the legendary General Beatrix, who is completely in a league of her own as she holds back yet
still beats them all to the brink of death. Kuja pauses when he sees Zidane, noting he
may be a problem in the future, yet lets them all go as he flies away.
Meanwhile, Garnet dons her Dagger alias as she and Steiner ignore Zidane's instructs
to stay hidden, and return to Alexandria and investigate the allegations against the queen
themselves. However, they are ambushed by the 3rd black waltz mage, who survived the
crash earlier, who is defeated again without revealing why it is fervently hunting the
princess. They are helped by Marcus, another of the Tantalus troupe, and friend to Zidane,
and Garnet decides to repay the favor by helping him in his mission to cure Blank's petrification
by obtaining a rare item called a susper soft from a noble in the City of Nobles, Treno.
However, as soon as they arrive, they see its also the home to many thieves as well.
Garnet discovers her old tutor who lives in this city, Doctor Tot, not only has the supersoft,
but also helps them access Gargan Roo, an ancient an now-unused underground travel route
from Treno to Alexandria. Arriving secretly in Alexandria, they fall into Thorn and Zorn's
trap who were ordered to capture, not merely retreive the lost princess. Confused at this
subtlety, they are arrested.
Back with Zidane and crew, they opt to follow Queen Brahne and Kuja to the desert town of
Cleyra, where the King and Burmecian survivors fled. Arriving, they find a lapse in the wind
barrier surrounding Cleyra, and move in, finding it to be a colossal tree in the middle of
the desert. Scaling it's sandy, windswept trunk, they arrive at Cleyra Settlement, though
Vivi faces some hostility from the refugees. Freya helps the settlement in a ritual to
strengthen the wind barrier protecting the town, however something goes wrong with the
crystal empowering the sandstorm, and it breaks, resulting in the barrier disapating instead.
Meanwhile, Steiner and Marcus are imprisoned, and Garnet is under arrest, when the Queen
summons her and Garnet chooses now to confront her mother on the allegations that she started
the invasion on Burmecia. However, the queen states there's been a misunderstanding, as
Burmecia was plotting an attack, and she was forced to strike premptively. Garnet doesn't
easily believe that, and Kuja steps in and puts her under a magical sleep. Immediately,
the Queen's facade changes as she orders the eidolons from Garnet's body to be extracted,
and the two jesters begin the ritual, first calling forth the legendary warrrior Odin.
Back with Zidane, Freya wonders why the sandstorm that has stood for over a thousand years suddenly
failed, and they decide to investigate. Quickly, they find Alexandrian soldiers in the trunk
under the command of General Beatrix, but there are way too few for a real attack and
too quick to run away. Realizing they've taking the bait for a distraction, they hurry back
to find more black mage dolls infiltrating the settlement and slaughtering the refugees.
During the rescue operation, Zidane even encounters a remarkably strong and mysterious Burmecian,
who turns out to be the missing Sir Fratley that Freya WAs in love with and has been searching
for all these years. Unfortunately, he has lost all of his memory somewhere during his
journey, and despite his instinct to help Cleyra, does not love Freya anymore. Freya
has little time to swallow this bitter shock as General Beatrix appears in the room, swipes
the magic jewel that was protecting the town, and swiftly retreats. They catch up to her
but once again suffer a humiliating but defeat by her hands. She leaves them alive and jumps
through a portal to escape, and they follow behind as well, though Quina decides not to
follow this time.
It turns out Queen Brahne is not far way, as she decides to test the new Odin Eidolon
she's obtained, delightfully surprised to see Odin annihilating the entire settlement
in a single attack. As they eavesdrop on Beatrix, they find she too is dissatisfied with the
usage of Black Mages and eidolons, with her pride as a knight being compromised to a very
selfish queen. She is further shocked that the Queen now wants to execute Garnet for
her actions, as she searches for one last crystal. Zidane and the others hear this as
well and hurry to Alexandria where Garnet is detained, using the same magic transport
to leave.
Meanwhile, Steiner and Marcus decide to break out of their cell, with Marcus leaving to
go rescue Blank, and Steiner firm on rescuing the princess. Coincidently, the same room
he passes by is where the group teleports to. They unite in their mission to rescue
Garnet before the Queen arrives, and interrupt Zorn and Thorn's ritual. They do their best
to rescue but find they cannot break her magic sleep. Zidane is struck with remorse now,
as Beatrix now arrives on the scene, once again delivering a crushing defeat to the
group. However, when she learns the Princess really was put under a spell in preparation
to be executed, she ceases her attack and uses her strongest spells to reverse it, while
also asking Steiner to realize the true face of their queen. On cue, Queen Brahne steps
in, confirming her intent to kill them all. Beatrix stands against the queen, and helps
them all escape, with even Marcus and a restored Blank coming in to save them. They get split
up, with Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi hitting a high speed escape through Gargan Roo, as
they blow past Treno, to a new area, Pinnacle Rocks.
Meanwhile, Queen Brahne dismisses Thorn and Zorn, and brings in a pair of famous bounty
hunters, Lani and Salamander, to retrieve Garnet's jewel pendant and kill Vivi specifically,
with Zidane as a bounty as well. Back with the group, Pinnacle rocks happens to be near
Lindblum, as they are met by an old man named Ramuh. Garnet recalls him from her studies
about summoning, and she is now determined to stop her mother who stole her eidolons
and is using them to cause so much destruction. Approving of this resolution, Ramuh tests
Garnet, and upon passing, agrees to serve under Garnet, who vows to use her summons
to protect. Meanwhile, Alexandria begins attacking Lindblum, using the black mage army to devastating
effect, and summoning the void eidolon, Atmos, to deliver the final blow as Lindblum surrenders.
Hurrying to assess the damage, they find the city in ruins, but Regent Cid still lives.
He reveals a man named Kuja is a arms dealer, and the black mage dolls are just among the
weapons he sold to Alexandria. As he is also the sole arms support for Queen Brahne, stopping
him may end Alexandria's war machine, so they make him their next target. They want to chase
Kuja to the outer continent, but their options to get there are limited, as its across the
ocean, and there is no Mist there so normal airships cannot travel there. In addition,
Cid informs them part of the surrender meant handing over their new airship that could
fly without being powered by Mist, and their Falcon Claw relic. He does have a lead on
a route near a nearby swamp, and urges them to investigate as he prepares his own covert
counterattack.
Making their way to the nearby swamp, they are glad to find Quina, safe and alive after
the destruction of Cleyra, whose keen senses help them find the hidden entrance to the
Outer Continent. In the deep roads of Fossil Roo, the group is immediately chased down
by an ancient monster, and after escaping that, are ambushed by the bounty hunter Lani
sent by Queen Brahne. Defeating her, they hitch a ride on another gargant and travel
onward to a new, mist free continent.
Finding a ruined temple called Condie Petie, inhabited by a clan of dwarves, they are surprised
to learn there is actually a whole village of Black Mages nearby. With a new lead on
Vivi's origins as well as a possible link to Kuja's army, they decide to head there
next. Unraveling the riddle of the village, which was hidden behind an illusionary veil,
they are surprised to see there really is a village of sentient black mages like Vivi,
though they seem scared of any human contact. As they open up through Vivi, they reveal
their shared trait of one day simply waking up with awareness, each under different circumstances,
though they then privately reveal something very distressing to Vivi. To himself, Zidane
reflects how he himself is also still searching for his own unknown origins and birthplace,
and can relate to Vivi wanting to find a place to call home. In truth, Vivi learns the startling
revelation that all Black Mages are manufactured weapons for war, and are created to only last
roughly a year, assuming they aren't killed through battle, by which they simply stop
and cease functioning forever. A fellow Black mage imparts to him the wisdom that such a
precious short lifespan really makes him appreciate the time he does have to live, and they encourage
him to live happy with his friends and see the world while he can.
The next morning, Garnet learns Kuja was sighted in a restricted area called Sanctuary up north
past Conde Petie, and the group gathers up again, with Vivi choosing to not to stay behind
with his fellow black mages, though he keeps secret the fact of the countdown clock on
his very short life. As they return to the dwarf village, they learn that per tradition,
the only people allowed to pass through to the Sanctuary are newlyweds on their honeymoon.
Surprisingly, Garnet agrees to marry Zidane so they may progress on, though she's strict
on the matter that they're only married while in this village. As they press on, they catch
a glimpse of a little girl and a moogle stealing food and running away into the sanctuary,
and later they find her later stuck on a limb, and help her down.
The little girl with a horn introduces herself as Eiko, and as they escort her safely home,
they discover Eiko is also capable of summoning Eidolons, like Garnet. Eiko lives in the village
of lost summoners, Madain Sari, though it seems to be just her alongside a host of moogles.
Resting in the village, everyone stops to reflect, as Garnet feels this village is very
familiar, Vivi contemplates what it means to die, and Eiko has a crush on Zidane. As
Eiko prepares a dinner meant to impress Zidane, she reveals she's actually the last survivor
of the summoner tribe. When they hear of forbidden Eidolons sealed within the sacred Iifa tree,
they ask Eiko to help them investigate.
As they arrive, they find the tree is likely the source of the world's mist, and Eiko's
link to the eidolons via her horn is the only thing that can lift the seal around it. They
find the tree's roots go down impossibly deep, yet there is no sign of Kuja or his minions
here. However, they are discovered by a massive creature that seems to verify Zidane is not
Kuja, and explains that Mist is a byproduct of a refinement process by this tree, discharged
through the roots, hence why it appears on other continents and not really this one.
In fact, the discharge is deliberate, as the Mist stimulates agression in creatures, resulting
in mass war and strife. Furthermore, Kuja was the one who thought to weaponize this
waste product in the form of black mages. The thousand year-old creature claims to be
the source of the mist, and defeating it stops the Mist, and after killing it, it seems to
have been true. Immediately, Mist clears up everywhere around the tree, and likely beyond
as well, though now they wonder if they attracted the attention of Kuja.
Suddenly, Mog comes in to inform Eiko that their village has been robbed of the Village's
precious stone, and as they arrive Eiko gets snatched by the hounding Lani the bounty hunter.
She makes her demand of the pendant with Eiko as a hostage, but suddenly her partner Amarant
interrupts, disgusted with Lani using treachery to win. He ends the contractual partnership
with Lani, but still intends to defeat Zidane in a fair one-on-one duel. He loses the duel,
and honorably hands over the stolen jewel, and asks for a quick death. However, Zidane
has no wish to kill him and lets him go on good faith.
Garnet then has a flashback of memories, in which she recalls an entire city on fire with
a giant eye in the sky while she watched from a storm-tossed boat. She actaully remembers
that she is from this village of summoners originally, and and somehow, when she was
six, ended up adopted in Alexandria castle after a devastating storm cast her adrift
and killed her mother. There are still unanswered questions, like why she doesn't have a summoner's
horn, and thinks Doctor Tot knows more. Eiko decides after this to follow the group, and
is especially pleased to hear she's not the last summoner in the world anymore. Surprisingly,
Amarant catches them leaving the village and expresses his confusion on why Zidane would
not grant him a warrior's death. Zidane then offers for him to join them and find out,
and Aramant accepts, curious about the source of Zidane's strength.
Back on track, they return to the Iifa tree, where Kuja is also waiting, and as they confront
him, he not only admits all their charges, but also reveals that Mist is actually composed
of the dregs of souls. He also insists that while its true he made the black mage army
and supplied it to Queen Brahne, he offers to expose the true face of the Queen. On cue,
the Queen is actually nearby with an entire armada to destroy Kuja as a loose end towards
world domination. However, he is unfazed by the predictable betrayal, and humors the Queen
by flying directly out into the open. Garnet still wants to save the queen, despite Zidane's
objections, and has Eiko reveal the eidolon sealed here in the tree. Garnet moves to free
the eidolon, but see's its the mighty Leviathan, a summon meant for mass destruction and not
so much protection.
As the queen summons the king of dragons to destroy Kuja, the mightly Bahamut unleashes
his power to such a degree that even Kuja is scratched. Amused, he retaliates by conjuring
a black cloud in the sky with a giant eye in the middle, that suddenly places Bahamut
under his direct control. The beast turns on the armada and decimates it, starting with
Queen Brahne as the first victim. After the carnage, Kuja leaves and the group finds the
body of the queen washed up on the shore. Her demeanor has changed to a much softer
one, relieved to no longer be consumed by hatred and greed, and reminisces about happier
times with Garnet and the late king. She gives Garnet her blessing to be queen, and dies,
as the party does the right thing and brings the queen's body back to Alexandria. Giving
her a proper burial, Garnet now has the entire burden of the Alexandria kingdom on her shoulders.
As time passes and the group parts ways somewhat, its three days before Garnet's coronation
day, Garnet has her eidolon stones returned to her, but her obligations prevents her from
meeting with Zidane anymore. Eiko sees this as a chance to win over Zidane, and has Dr
Tot help her write a love letter for her. The Docter, meanwhile, notes the telltale
summoner's horn on Eiko's head. He recalls how he one day found a beached boat that had
a dead woman in it with a barely alive baby that happened to look exactly like the recently
deceased Princess Garnet. However, that baby had a horn on it, so he had it removed per
the order of the late king, and it became the replacement Princess Garnet. Incidently,
the current Garnet confesses to General Beatrix that she is adopted, and Beatrix replies she
already knew and it never mattered.
The love letter for Zidane completed, Eiko's letter gets dropped and changes several hands,
ending up in the hands of Baku, who drops it by Steiner, who is seen leaving by Beatrix,
who picks up the letter and assumes Steiner wrote the love letter and rendezvous appointment
for her. Meanwhile, Zidane is sulking in a bar, lovesick and frustrated at the prospect
of losing Garnet to her role as Queen. Later, Freya tries to snap him to attention and remind
him Kuja may go after her again in pursuit of the Eidolons, and kill her like he did
her mother. Freya, Zidane, Vivi, and Aramant leave together to at least watch the coronation
ceremony, and while Stiener is less than pleased to see them all, he grants them audience with
the princess. Their meeting is brief, and more of a farewell, as Zidane is at a loss
for words, and Garnet swaps summoning jewels with Eiko as a symbol of their friendship.
Zidane kicks himself for watching the only person he loves simply walk away, and Eiko
realizes she can't win over Zidane. She goes to the meeting spot mentioned in the love
letter anyway, but is startled away by others and eventually Steiner out on night patrol.
He finds the same love letter on the ground, and picks it up in time for Beatrix to come
to the rendezvous point in the love letter, and the two knights end up having a romantic
moment purely by accident.
Later, as Dr Tot wants to ask more about summoners and Madain Sari, the group decides to take
their mind off recent events and rest in Treno. Eiko vents her frustration about Zidane while
sightseeing around the city, while Zidane tries to takes his mind off Garnet with participating
in the local card tournament. He defeats the current champion, who happens to be Regent
Cid, and he tells him afterwards he's testing their new airship, the Hilde Garde 2, an airship
that can fly without Mist. Suddenly, they are alerted that Kuja is in Alexandria, and
at this time, Kuja lets Bahamut free to burn down Alexandria while Garnet feels helpless
against its might. She delegates missions to the Knights of Pluto, as Steiner and Beatrix
move out into the streets to reclaim the city from Mist monsters block by block. As everyone
does their best to stem the endless flood of monsters invading the city, Garnet hears
some music and is led atop the castle. As the group hurries to castle Alexandria on
Cid's airship, Eiko senses the holy judgement is coming, as her pendant begin to shine in
sync with Garnet's. Eiko leaps off the ship and is caught by the waves of summoning magic
also coming from Garnet, as the power between the two calls forth the mighty Alexander to
not only shield the city, but also eliminate Bahamut with a salvo of inescapable holy light.
Not far, Kuja is impressed by Garnet's summon, and calls down the giant eye again, calling
it the Invincible. However, this time its revealed that the eye is a mechanation operated
by an armored man within, who is less than pleased with both Kuja and Zidane's actions
acrosss Gaia. Kuja is surprised by the sudden lack of support from the Invincible, and is
alarmed that it may be that a man named Garland has arrived personally to Gaia. As Zidane
tells the others to prepare an escape as he rescues the girls, the Invincible attacks
Alexander, blowing Garnet away. Zidane leaps in to save her just in time, and three manage
to grab a life line to swing away safely on. The Invicible fires again to destroy Alexander,
and not only blows away the castle but Alexandra off the map. With the 4th and final major
nation destroyed, Garland believes he has destroyed Kuja with this as well, mentioning
also preventing more souls from returning to Gaia and having to eventually face his
own counterpart.
Time passes, and after Zidane recovers from the attack, they have a conference to discuss
where to go after this tragic loss. They learn Kuja actually survived as well, stealing away
on the Hilda Garde 1, and now the sentient black mages have joined him as well. In addition,
General Beatrix is still missing and Garnet seems to have lost her voice after the attack.
Their path forward seems to be in stopping Kuja's path of destruction, but for that they
need an airship, and the Hilda Garde 2 is too slow compared to the first model. The
third one would be more advanced but Cid needs to be human to complete it, so they must restore
his cursed body. They try one remedy but it only results in changing him into a frog,
and as they prep a trip to Hilda they visit the Black Mage village in order to learn more
about why most of them joined Kuja. As they arrive, they learn from the few that stayed
behind that they went with Kuja after they learned of their maximum 1 year lifespan,
and Kuja promised a way to extend that. Vivi is furious at them selling out to an untrustworhty
Kuja, and also learns that he was of the prototype black mage set, which means he is stronger
and may last just a bit longer. Regardless, they learn of Kuja's secret underground palace,
and hasten over there.
Upon entry, they are all captured immediately, and Kuja holds the group hostage in order
to speak with Zidane privately. He requests Zidane and three others of his choosing to
retrieve the Gulug stone from Oelivert, a place situated in an anti-magic zone. Get
the stone, and he can have the rest of his allies and Regent Cid back. Forced to cooperate,
Zidane agrees, and the group is flown to the Forgotten Continent. Making their way to Oelivert,
the mysterious place seems to welcome them in, and within they find many strange relics
recounting the rise and fall of civilization over a planet called Terra, though it seems
only Zidane can interpret them. Later, they encounter a room of faces that speak to them
all, talk about how Terra was dying planet, and is still in the middle of attempting to
save themselves through tremendous sacrifices. They then see an image of Terra merging with
a second planet, and defeat a sentry airship in order to obtain the Gulug stone.
Meanwhile, Kuja has no intention to keep his promise and sets up an elaborate slow-moving
death trap for them all, but unexpectedly, Regent Cid sneaks around and manages to free
them all. The second half of the party mobilizes and makes their way past the riddles and traps
of Kuja's palace in order to escape on their own. The away team returns sucessfully, and
Kuja tricks Zidane by showing him illusions of his captured friends, though fortunately
the other team actually comes in behind the away team, and burst in just in time to stop
Zidane from handing over the stone. However, Zorn and Thorn ambush and kidnap Eiko, and
Kuja uses the distraction to steal the stone and get away. They chase his airship in their
boat, and they follow him to the dormant volcano, Mount Gulug, wherin they find the two jesters
attempting to extract eidolons from Eiko in the same ritual they performed on Garnet.
Kuja wants a power strong enough to destroy Garland, however, they seem to having difficultly
getting Eiko's eidolon since Eiko is not 16 years old yet. As they begin again more agressively,
Eiko's companion moogle, Mog, comes out, enters a Trance state, and reveals her true form,
that of the eidolon Madeen, who crushes the jesters in one attack. Kuja is very intruiged
on the nature of gaining new power through Trance, and theorizes that its intense anger
that induces such a state. He gets an idea on how to gain immense power with a powerfully
hateful soul as a catalyst. rather than chasing Eidolons. He leaves, and even abandons the
black mages, and beyond they find Cid's missing wife Hilda, whom Kuja had captured the airship
from.
Returning to Lindblum, Cid apologizes for his cheating and begs for a second chance,
to which Hilda permits and returns him to his normal self. During the planning for their
next move, Hilda reveals what she learned while captive. She reveals that Kuja is not
from this world Gaia, but from another world called Terra, which seems to have some connection
to a place called the Shimmering Island. Though apparantly, once can cross to the other world
through a breach in the Forgotten Continent called Ipsen's Castle. As they wait for the
Hilda Garde 3 to be completed, they note Garnet has gone missing, though in their search,
they discover Beatrix has survived the destruction of Alexandria after all. She informs them
of where they can find Garnet, and as Zidane rushes to see her, it turns out she's reclaimed
her voice. She apologizes for being weak, letting Alexandria fall to ruin, and running
away from responsibility as Queen, and as a firm commitment to her decision to do better
going forward, she cuts her hair and sets off with the group to stop Kuja in the Hilda
Garde 3.
Approaching the strange castle, they note its under the stange effect or reversing the
effectiveness of their gear, in which the normally weak weapons and armore are now strong
and vice versa. Aramant uses this opportunity to prove a point about being a loner and refuses
to work under Zidane any more. He strikes it on his own, though he is soon rescued from
his own foolish arrogance. As they solve the riddle of the 4 mirrors within the castle,
they find they must split up and tackle four elemental shrines simultaneously. Garnet and
Eiko take on the Water Shrine, Aramant and Freya are tasked with the Fire Shrine, Vivi
and Steiner handle the Wind Shrine, and Zidane takes Quina with him to the Earth Shrine.
Each Shrine is treacherous for each pair, and before each team can place their respective
mirror at their shrine, a powerful guardian in the name of Terra bars their progress.
Each teammate edges out a win against their repsective foe, and they all help to reveal
the way to the Shimmering Island.
Breaking through the portal to another world, they are all teleported to the mystical world
of Terra, where they are immediately greeted by Garland who encourages Zidane to discover
who he really is. He chases after someone who looks remarkably similar to him, who then
welcomes him home to Branbal. Nearby, Garnet sees the ship Invincible nearby and realizes
its been the giant red eye of destruction she's seen before. Zidane also feels very
unsettled by all the blue lights everywhere, and as he seeks some answers, he bites off
more than he can chew and learns all of the people here, including himself are vessels
called Genomes. They are normally manufactured, soulless beings, though Zidane was given a
bigger purpose by Garland. Garland's mission is to restore the people of Terra, who are
actually all asleep in stasis and currently being tended to by the drone-like Genomes.
Garland is seeking to turn Gaia into Terra and thus save his people by sacrificing the
other planet. It turns out this isn't the first time, as Terra must constantly absorb
new planets in order to sustain itself, as in order to continue their desire for immortality,
the people of Terra survive by occupying their souls inside the empty Genomes. As every planet
has a cycle of souls being born from and returning to the planet, Garland sought to gain control
of that cycle, and Zidane was made to be a means to that end. After this revelation,
Zidane is invited to speak more with Garland.
Garland greets an angry Zidane and explains he doesn't want to destroy Gaia, so much as
turn it into Terra. Though, this plan has had many bumps along the way, such as Zidane
growing up on Gaia and Kuja turning rogue. In fact, he mentions still wanting Zidane's
help anyway. He repeats that Genomes are merely vessels for the souls of the people of Terra
when they awaken and reveals that 24 years ago he made a vessel that was too strong for
just this purpose and decided to repurpose him for the task of disrupting the flow of
souls in Gaia. When confirming this brother of Zidane's to be Kuja, he also notes that
Kuja actually hides his telltale tail as a sign of denying his origin, which suits him
as his drive for war and inducing chaos.
As for Zidane, he was meant to fulfill the same role as Kuja, but when Kuja found out,
he felt threatened, dumped Zidane on Gaia to push him out of the picture, but kept him
alive to make himself look better by comparison. Meanwhile, with Gaia's cycle of souls halted,
the souls can be drained away, and replaced with the souls of Terra. The assimilation
of the world has already begun with many of Terra's structures appearing in Gaia, such
as Oelivert, and the Iifa tree which joins their two worlds and souls. Thus, Zidane still
has a chance to claim his intended position as a new angel of death and usher in the souls
of Terra, however, he refuses and intends to take down Garland and Terra in order to
save Gaia and his friends. Garland then attempts to tear Zidane's soul out and make him a normal
empty Genome, and seals him in Pandemonium, a place where the souls of Terra are stored.
Despite his sudden resignation to the appalling fact that his origins make him an enemy to
all of Gaia, his will and bonds with his friends is too strong to be wiped out. When he's rescued
by the others, he pushes them all away, convincing himself that he's unworthy of their friendship.
Regardless, they surround him and affirm he's always been their trusted friend, even if
he's from another world and meant to be the destroyer of Gaia. He picks himself up and
apologizes, and their new focus is stopping garland and escaping from Pandemonium.
Garland rationalizes that all civilizations thrive by consuming others, and Terra is no
different, and attacks the party. However, after the party wins the fight, Kuja steals
the Invincible and declares himself the new ruler of Terra. They clash, but amazingly
during the fight, Kuja attains a Trance form for himself, and immediately demolishes the
party with the power of Ultima. The party survives, but asks how Kuja gained such a
power, and he explains he is merely borrowing the hatred of another soul, specifically,
the ummatched hatred of the soul of Queen Brahne when she was killed by Bahamut. He
kicks over Garland to his death, and turns to the party, but stops as the lingering voice
of Garland spitefully reveals that Kuja cannot escape his imminent demise. It turns out he
was always built with a defect to die around the time Zidane grew up to replace him, which
happens to be very soon, so all of his ambitions are meaningless. Kuja finds himself unable
to deny this, and decides that if he goes, so too will this world. He starts by destroying
Terra, and the party decides now is the time to leave. Vivi suggests stealing the Invincible,
and zidane leads a rescue effort to save what Genomes he can. Among the refugees is the
first Genome he met, Mikoto, whom happens to also have a soul and was intended to be
Zidane and Kuja's replacement, which somewhat makes her their little sister.
Escaping the destruction of Terra, the group warps back to Gaia, though they fear Kuja
can still use the Iifa tree to cross over to this world and not to mention, Mist has
suddenly returned to this world. They drop the Genomes off in the Black Mage village,
and head straight for the Iifa tree next. A swarm of dragons comes out to stop them,
but just in the nick of time, Regent Cid flies in the entire Lindblum fleet as well as the
Tantalus troupe to engage the draconic storm and carve a path for the party. The Invincible
manages to evade most of the threat, and are given cover by the Red Rose and General Beatrix,
here to make sure Steiner comes back safely this time. With the way clear, the party enters
the special dimension where Kuja awaits.
Within, they are surprised to be in front of a strange castle, and Garland speaks to
Zidane, revealing this place to be Memoria, a place of truth and contructed of their own
memories. Within, they confront and defeat the 4 Chaos guardians whom they met before
guarding the mirrors, the serpentine swordmaster Maliris, the queen of dragons Tiamat, the
tentacled Kraken, the harbinger of decay Lich, and even lord of the underworld, Hades. Beyond,
they find The crystal, the origin of life for everything, and within it is Kuja, seeking
to destroy the progenitor of all life in the universe. Kuja, after all, feels it unfair
for the world to continue living after he expires, so they clash with the puppet that
has seized the power of worlds in his hand. However, with the party on the brink of winning,
Kuja unleashes Ultima again to beat them down.
As the party wakes up, they are in the precense of a being called Necron who was called by
Kuja's fear, anger, and desire to annihilate everything, and whose existence is to bring
this world to the Zero World, where there is no life or crystal to give life. However,
Zidane states he's unafraid, and the hopes and dreams of his allies give strength to
each other to stand up one more time and fight. Together, Zidane, the womanizing rogue who
was almost the alien harbinger of doom for the planet, Garnet, the Queen of Alexandria
and lost member of the summoner tribe, Steiner, Captain of the Knights of Pluto and the queen's
retainer, Vivi, the awakened black mage who is on the verge of death but will still fight
for his life and others, Freya, the last of the Dragon Knights of Burmecia, Quina, Zidane's
fellow globetrotter and food connosseiur of the Qu tribe, Eiko, the last of the ancient
horned summoner tribe, and Aramant, the vagrant and self-assured mercenary, combine their
wills to live to overpower Necron, and convince it to leave this dimension alone.
Somehow, the group is teleported out of the dimension and beyond the Iifa tree as it explodes,
and as Cid picks up the party, Kuja contacts Zidane to bid him farewell. Zidane realizes
Kuja had a change of heart and was the one who warped them from Necron and the explosion,
and empathizes with him that he probably would have done the same thing had the situation
been reversed. Though the unpopular choice, Zidane feels its the right thing to help out
Kuja in return by going back for him, which the others reluctantly allow. As Zidane turns
to rescue his brother, he charges headlong into the collapsing Iifa tree, and actually
manages to find Kuja, back to his normal form and released of his hateful Trance form. He
confesses he just wanted to have a meaningful life, because he knew it would be brief, and
Zidane points out that out of all the Genomes designed for the wrong reasons, he was the
one who defied that fate and gave the rest of them hope, including giving Zidane a second
chance on Gaia. Unfortuantely, before they can continue their chat for long, the Iifa
tree collapses around them.
As the game concludes, we see a long letter writen by vivi before he expires, as everyone
has gone their separate ways since saving Gaia. We first see Vivi's sons, who are his
living legacies as he has already passed from this world having told them all how precious
life is. We then see Freya in a ruined Burmecia with her former lover, Sir Frately, working
to rebuild the city as well as their relationship despite his amnesia. We then see Beatrix,
resigning from her role as Alexandria's General, and Aramant resuming his life as a merceny
with the bounty hunter Lani. Next, Quina, heading the kitchen as top chef of Alexandria,
and Eiko, who has been adopted by Regent Cid and Hilda, as they all travel to Alexandria
on Cid's newest Hilda Garde model. We then see Steiner, confessing his love to Beatrix
and convincing her not to leave, and Garnet having resumed her role as queen as the Tantulus
theatre troupe is set to return for another performance of "I want to be your Canary".
However, as the main character of the play performs under guise of a cloak, he reveals
himself during the play to be Zidane, who survived after all. Shocked and overjoyed,
Garnet rushes the stage and embraces Zidane at long last. Around them, the group has reunited
as they all cheer for the loving reunion, and the game ends, Zidane reveals he could
never die when he had his desire to come home to Garnet and her song in his heart.
Final Fantasy 9 has enjoyed the success of selling over 5.3 million copies worldwide.