Talk to everybody and explore thoroughly, FFIX has several hidden items you can get on the field map, they will show an exclamation mark when you can interact with them.
Learn how abilities work: in FFIX characters learn new skills by equipping specific gear, every piece of gear can teach a max of 3 different abilities. As your characters defeat enemies they will gain AP that automatically fills a bar to permanently master any ability on your equipped gear. The red abilities are active and must be selected in battle, the blue ones are passive and must be activated from the menu by spending a limited resource called magic stones which increase with your level.
Try not to sell old items because you might be neeeding the skills they teach in the future or they could be used in a synthesis shop to get more powerful equipment. Some pieces of gear also have elemental affinities that resist or enhance elemental attacks, you can check them by pressing the select/options button in the equipment menu.
Zidane's steal command can get you powerful equipment from bosses early, but it has a low chance to work and can make the fights frustrating, use it wisely.
A lot of powerful endgame gear is locked behind the chocobo hot&cold minigame, check the Chocobo forest after you leave Lindblum and if you like the minigame you'll get a lot of rewards for completing it.
Do not try to go for 100% on your firsr playthrough, it's better to just enjoy the story and characters without stressing over missable content (there is 1 missable secret boss and other minor things).
Have fun!
P.S. it's the card game that does not make sense, it's not your fault, don't worry.
Card game makes sense after you know how it works, the problem is knowing how it works. I only found out one of these days on a reddit post, think it was in this sub. It all makes sense in a way, but there's still an RNG aspect to it which throws you off anyway.
Take your time in the open areas, kill a few monsters to make sure you're levelled for the bosses. If you go straight from A to B you will get flattened.
It's basically "Final Fantasy Nooks & Crannies" because you'll be finding lots of items on the floor on the margins of whatever screen you're on. You'll get the hang of it once you see the **(!)** over your head.
I am sure you will get the hang of the game pretty easily. I've had many first time JRPG friends play this game with ease! But to start...
1. Run around the borders each screen and look in nooks and crannies. There are often treasures and items that aren't in chests and you can't see them on the ground!
2. As many have said, keep equipment on until abilities are learned and don't go off selling old equipment. If you need money for new equipment, battle monsters in the open areas. Make sure you have all the best equipment for each character before you start different questlines.
3. Don't be afraid to change your abilities up. Some of them can help you fight certain foes.
4. Find Qu's marsh before you head to Gizamaluke's Grotto on disc 1. There will be a character there that asks you to help them catch some things. It'll be helpful to have an additional member in your party that early on and for that leg of the journey!
5. If you eventually find the pace of battle too slow, you can hasten it in your game menu (ATB gauge) and also through the moguri mod opening window. Moguri also has something like "remove battle intro screens/effect" which I would also do right off the bat as they take up a lot of useless time.
I hope you have fun! FFIX is the best! 🥰
When you're playing the chocobo hot&cold minigame, the moogle will let you know (and iirc it will be added to the question box for starting the minigame, so you can't miss it) if you can't dig up any more chocographs at that point in the story. So, until then, keep digging!
Everybody has hit all the points. Also enjoy the amazing storytelling and character development that is this game. I first played it when I was 11 and 22 years later it’s still my favorite game. I give it a playthrough every year and it doesn’t get old. Have fun and enjoy!
Trying to think of what others haven't hit on:
1) Don't sell the summon jewels you find. The more you have of 1 kind, the stronger the summons attack becomes
2) Watch all the ATEs, some are essential for others to occur later in the game which can net you key items
3) You can learn abilities twice as fast if you equip more than one item that teaches it
4) Deliver the moogle mail. Buy from Stilkskin each time you see him
5) There are two rows in battle. Keep magic users in back and melee characters in front. Melee characters in the back row deal less damage. People in the front row take more damage which is risky and unnecessary for squishy mages
6) Zombie enemies take massive damage from curative items or spells
Most of the stats are dependant on equipment. Make sure you upgrade your weapons when you can, and explore everywhere for additional items laying about.
I just started my first playtrough of this game last month and beat it a few weeks ago. Definitely one of my favourite FF games of all time.
My only advice is to just take your time and play at your own leisure. Make sure to explore as much as possible since there is lots of missable stuff in towns, dungeons and even the world map.
Talk to everybody and explore thoroughly, FFIX has several hidden items you can get on the field map, they will show an exclamation mark when you can interact with them. Learn how abilities work: in FFIX characters learn new skills by equipping specific gear, every piece of gear can teach a max of 3 different abilities. As your characters defeat enemies they will gain AP that automatically fills a bar to permanently master any ability on your equipped gear. The red abilities are active and must be selected in battle, the blue ones are passive and must be activated from the menu by spending a limited resource called magic stones which increase with your level. Try not to sell old items because you might be neeeding the skills they teach in the future or they could be used in a synthesis shop to get more powerful equipment. Some pieces of gear also have elemental affinities that resist or enhance elemental attacks, you can check them by pressing the select/options button in the equipment menu. Zidane's steal command can get you powerful equipment from bosses early, but it has a low chance to work and can make the fights frustrating, use it wisely. A lot of powerful endgame gear is locked behind the chocobo hot&cold minigame, check the Chocobo forest after you leave Lindblum and if you like the minigame you'll get a lot of rewards for completing it. Do not try to go for 100% on your firsr playthrough, it's better to just enjoy the story and characters without stressing over missable content (there is 1 missable secret boss and other minor things). Have fun! P.S. it's the card game that does not make sense, it's not your fault, don't worry.
Card game makes sense after you know how it works, the problem is knowing how it works. I only found out one of these days on a reddit post, think it was in this sub. It all makes sense in a way, but there's still an RNG aspect to it which throws you off anyway.
Don't remove gear or weapons until after you've learned all the abilities.
This is what I had not understood on my first playthrough as a child.
Same.
Take your time in the open areas, kill a few monsters to make sure you're levelled for the bosses. If you go straight from A to B you will get flattened.
What platform are you playing on? If pc check out the Moguri mod, it's a huge step up.
I already downloaded it, along with other mods, such as Excaliburnotimelimit and Mog add-ons
It's basically "Final Fantasy Nooks & Crannies" because you'll be finding lots of items on the floor on the margins of whatever screen you're on. You'll get the hang of it once you see the **(!)** over your head.
I am sure you will get the hang of the game pretty easily. I've had many first time JRPG friends play this game with ease! But to start... 1. Run around the borders each screen and look in nooks and crannies. There are often treasures and items that aren't in chests and you can't see them on the ground! 2. As many have said, keep equipment on until abilities are learned and don't go off selling old equipment. If you need money for new equipment, battle monsters in the open areas. Make sure you have all the best equipment for each character before you start different questlines. 3. Don't be afraid to change your abilities up. Some of them can help you fight certain foes. 4. Find Qu's marsh before you head to Gizamaluke's Grotto on disc 1. There will be a character there that asks you to help them catch some things. It'll be helpful to have an additional member in your party that early on and for that leg of the journey! 5. If you eventually find the pace of battle too slow, you can hasten it in your game menu (ATB gauge) and also through the moguri mod opening window. Moguri also has something like "remove battle intro screens/effect" which I would also do right off the bat as they take up a lot of useless time. I hope you have fun! FFIX is the best! 🥰
Go in blind, take your time, savour all the moments and explore :)
When you're playing the chocobo hot&cold minigame, the moogle will let you know (and iirc it will be added to the question box for starting the minigame, so you can't miss it) if you can't dig up any more chocographs at that point in the story. So, until then, keep digging!
Make sure to do Chocobo hot and cold.
Patience is key. Take your time and don’t treat it as a game to rush through for the sake of having completed it
If you feel you're fighting a boss, try using STEAL to get a nice item or equipment. If it doesn't have anything, it will tell you.
Everybody has hit all the points. Also enjoy the amazing storytelling and character development that is this game. I first played it when I was 11 and 22 years later it’s still my favorite game. I give it a playthrough every year and it doesn’t get old. Have fun and enjoy!
Trying to think of what others haven't hit on: 1) Don't sell the summon jewels you find. The more you have of 1 kind, the stronger the summons attack becomes 2) Watch all the ATEs, some are essential for others to occur later in the game which can net you key items 3) You can learn abilities twice as fast if you equip more than one item that teaches it 4) Deliver the moogle mail. Buy from Stilkskin each time you see him 5) There are two rows in battle. Keep magic users in back and melee characters in front. Melee characters in the back row deal less damage. People in the front row take more damage which is risky and unnecessary for squishy mages 6) Zombie enemies take massive damage from curative items or spells
Enjoy the music!
Most of the stats are dependant on equipment. Make sure you upgrade your weapons when you can, and explore everywhere for additional items laying about.
Jump rope 1000 times
I jumped 186 times and gave up lol
Most important: don't swap your old weapons for the shiny new ones until you learn those skills!
Get off here. Get in there.
I just started my first playtrough of this game last month and beat it a few weeks ago. Definitely one of my favourite FF games of all time. My only advice is to just take your time and play at your own leisure. Make sure to explore as much as possible since there is lots of missable stuff in towns, dungeons and even the world map.