Final Fantasy IX Part #18 - To Chillax Times

Part 18: To Chillax Times

Elsewhere...

"I'm sorry, Your Highness , but we cannot grant this request."

What, are you going to stage an exciting escape from here, too?

"Uncle Baku said if we find some treasure, we can be in Tantalus, too."

Somebody doesn't seem too happy about this.

"Yes, but think of all the things you could do with your prehensile tail."

Well we have to loot this place first.

Collecting action figurines. Because a miniature of a city is a fucking action figure.

Meanwhile,

it seems like Tantalus made it out of the Evil Forest fine, somehow.

Alternatively, this is really impressive, if not for that hat that makes him look like a total douchebag

If you think critically, you can come to the conclusion that they made a little boat and sailed down the river in the optional area we saw waaaaaaay back in Chapter 8.

If you can find this area later, this is also a hint as to where to pick up one of the Rare Coffees that Morrid in Dali wants.

NOW let's go see the princess.

Cid's Theme is kind of unimpressive, honestly, and it drags a bit too much for having a marchy feel, but his castle is certainly grand.

I never really noticed it until now, but this is quite an amazing little cut-away wall they have here; if you're paying attention, you can tell that this screen shows both inside the tower, and outside in Lindblum.

He's talking about this song

On the other hand, Song of Memories is absolutely amazing. Folks talk about how, I dunno, Star Ocean 2's track, Cuddle, is nice, but it's like eight measures long and completely lacking a theme. Song of Memories, which essentially serves the same role in FF9, is composed in such a way that is unique, but still contains FF9's main musical theme.

Not even Kenji Ito does this, and pre-Kingdom Hearts Yoko Shimomura only sort of had a grasp on this (which she apparently lost while doing KH, along with the rest of her ability to compose original-sounding tracks), so for all their great skill, to think that they're better composers is just ignorant, to say little of composers of even less skill than respectable (or once-respectable) folks like them.

"Man, I've gotta get past this guy somehow.
Maybe if I disguise myself as a guard, he'll let me through."

"Upstairs. Follow me."

If FF9 were gay porn, this would be the setup, of course.

... But let's drop that train of thought.

So we ride the lift up and intelligently take the uniform off before we get to the top floor.

"Whew... That was close."

This guy tells us highly important information

he says this because as soon as we get up here, the song changes to this

my graphics quality has seemed to have momentarily increased

"how the fuck are you not getting shat on"

"what do you think this dress started out white"

"Someone sounds mad"

"Someone sounds good at changing the subject"

This is a cute little sequence in which you examine "!" points through the telescope and hear Kilika talk about them.

etc.

well, yeah, you're a woman

"... Is it because your boss ordered you to?"

"Hey... would you mind giving me some?"
"Um, I don't think that's a good idea. You might get addicted. Maybe all you need is some company, eh?"
"Oh, please. Do you think I'm that naïve?"
"Heh, heh. Can't blame me for trying."

I really like these next few scenes. This song is playing over them, of course, and overall it's just really well done.

"What?! Who are you?"

You can see right here that Huihui is maybe just barely beginning to catch on. It's very subtle, but it's also very heartwarming.

"Oh. Well, in that case, could you recommend some good armor?"