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What's the best way to play FF9?

I've been having a hankering to play the game again and was wondering if there was a best way to play it? I'd like to avoid on computer if possible but will if the steam version is the only other real option.

I'm really looking at minimizing load times.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Its on just about every modern system now, including cell phones. What platforms do you own? Which one do you prefer?

The modern re-release (basically anything that's not the PS1) doesn't really have any issues with loading times. The PC version can be the most streamlined, with mods to remove the battle animations and such.
 

Barakov

Member
From my experience, the PS4 version. The PC version is probably be just as good or better. Can't speak on the Xbox version but I heard the Switch version has some lengthy load times. So I'd say go PC or PS4.
 

Larxia

Member
Definitely on PC with the "Moguri Mod" from what I've seen about it. I actually replayed the game 2 years ago and wish I had waited for this mod to exist before doing so, it just looks so much better.
https://sites.google.com/view/moguri-mod/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/377840/discussions/0/1741105805743188237/
DwpXwV5X4AEcfZG.jpg

L24YAGz.jpg

More pictures here:


If you don't care about this visual enhancement though, I guess any plateform will be the same.
 
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CatCouch

Member
I'm playing it on XB1 now and it plays fine. There's some noticeable loading for battles every so often that seem a bit out of place but it feels good to play overall.
 
The only problem of the remaster, besides the awful framerate, is that the backgrounds and some textures look smeared by scaling algorithms. I wish there was a mod that replaced these with the original unfiltered backgrounds.
 

Fbh

Member
Definitely on PC with the "Moguri Mod" from what I've seen about it. I actually replayed the game 2 years ago and wish I had waited for this mod to exist before doing so, it just looks so much better.
https://sites.google.com/view/moguri-mod/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/377840/discussions/0/1741105805743188237/
DwpXwV5X4AEcfZG.jpg

L24YAGz.jpg

More pictures here:


If you don't care about this visual enhancement though, I guess any plateform will be the same.


I had no idea this existed.
I've also been wanting to replay this game. Will definitely be picking it up for PC after seeing this
 

Grinchy

Banned
Definitely on PC with the "Moguri Mod" from what I've seen about it. I actually replayed the game 2 years ago and wish I had waited for this mod to exist before doing so, it just looks so much better.
https://sites.google.com/view/moguri-mod/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/377840/discussions/0/1741105805743188237/
DwpXwV5X4AEcfZG.jpg

L24YAGz.jpg

More pictures here:


If you don't care about this visual enhancement though, I guess any plateform will be the same.

I just can't help but be so angry with Square for losing or purposely deleting all the original assets. I assume they were done in much higher resolution originally. If only they had held onto it all and we got a re-release with the high resolution backgrounds.
 

scalman

Member
That AI enhanced 4x backrounds resolution is the way to go on pc. Better then any rerelease devs they done this far. Just puts devs to shame.
 
I just can't help but be so angry with Square for losing or purposely deleting all the original assets. I assume they were done in much higher resolution originally. If only they had held onto it all and we got a re-release with the high resolution backgrounds.
At least they still had code to work with. They lost the source code for FF8 meaning suggesting that we will never get a remastered version of the best FF. Yeah, i said 8 was the best FF. That's fact.
 

Grinchy

Banned
At least they still had code to work with. They lost the source code for FF8 meaning suggesting that we will never get a remastered version of the best FF. Yeah, i said 8 was the best FF. That's fact.
If you don't take that shit back, I will keep you alive for 10+ minutes while I draw 99 of every magic you have so I can be overpowered before killing you.
 

ookami

Member
In my opinion, I'd say play it on any platform but mobile for a first time run. If you're not bothered to experience JRPG with their original design in mind of course.
Otherwise, take the PC version and install as suggested by Larxia the Moguri-mod.
 

ookami

Member
Better then any rerelease devs they done this far. Just puts devs to shame.
What the hell are you talking about? Although I am admiring the work done by Ze_Pilot with deep learning AI used for ESRGAN there is no fault for the developer of the remaster.
  • Development of the game was split between SE Japan and SE USA in Hawaii (Sakaguchi was Chairman and CEO). From multiple interviews, it seems that a rivalry was in place between HQ and the US branch. The later being a money sinkhole we all know what happened then with Sakaguchi leaving 4 years after and the branch closing. In my opinion, this is when they lost most of their resources.
  • The making of the remaster (mobile & PC) was given to a third party studio, the Thai branch of Silicon Studio. They most probably had a lot of constraint from SE to keep the same feeling from the first game and work with limited graphical resources. The release was in 2016 (let's assume they worked on it since 2015). [1]
  • In 2016 deep learning and AI were not at the same advancement as today.
  • ESRGAN which is the method used to the enhanced visual quality of textures had its abstract publication in September 2018 with probably a first applicable iteration at the same time. [2]
  • I believe we're on a grey area when it comes to using other copyrighted artworks to feed your neural network and deep learning machine and generate those new HD textures.

Edit: Sources.
 
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ChuyMasta

Member
At least they still had code to work with. They lost the source code for FF8 meaning suggesting that we will never get a remastered version of the best FF. Yeah, i said 8 was the best FF. That's fact.

There's a PC version or did Square lose the code for that too?
 

ookami

Member
There's a PC version or did Square lose the code for that too?
In fact, what SE lost was the gold versions of their games (FF7, 8 & 9). They had to get older versions, complete and try to fix again the code. Then to get those remake on a console they had to reverse engineer those versions. Depending on what they could salvage for each game it did not require the same investment. [1]

Seriously, I can understand them not having some version control tools in the 90s' as RCS or CVS. I doubt they could use those without an English translation. But I can't believe they could not make backup/archives of their projects or game files.

Edit: Source.
 
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How do you lose the code for a game? Jeepers...

Anyways, it sounds like playing on my pstv should work out good? I just wish the load times were faster.
 

ChuyMasta

Member
In fact, what SE lost was the gold versions of their games (FF7, 8 & 9). They had to get older versions, complete and try to fix again the code. Then to get those remake on a console they had to reverse engineer those versions. Depending on what they could salvage for each game it did not require the same investment. [1]

Seriously, I can understand them not having some version control tools in the 90s' as RCS or CVS. I doubt they could use those without an English translation. But I can't believe they could not make backup/archives of their projects or game files.

Edit: Source.

What a shame. I am secretly waiting for FFVIII on the Switch too.
 
I have good memories of playing FFIX on my PSP. It's well suited for portable gaming systems. I wouldn't want to sit in PC chair for 60 hours nor watch the PS1 graphics on a big screen (console).
 

scalman

Member
There is no any real remaster of game we all needed those high eef backrounds that we never got until AI just made that out of nothing.
 
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