not so much greater than the 2 before it
tetsuya made the main character much more witty and happy(unlike cloud and squall). He made the monsters and other characters look cartoony and made more species of people to interact with. This kinda change will probably make classic final fantasy lovers happy but not the people who played final fantasy 7 first.
The games is surprisingly short for a game with 4 disks. Well short compared to final fantasy 7 and 8. The story is pretty cliched and is told well.
The graphics in this game are stunning. The environments are still pretty prerendered. The characters are detailed. The only thing is that the monsters are more cartoony looking and less scary or detailed. The game looks good though.
The gameplay in this game is the same but some changes. Now instead of drawing magic or materia, you have abilities in your equipment. So if you wear something you can get its power by leveling it up.
Also the game lets you play as 4 characters in a party, just like the olden final fantasies.
The sound in this game is still outstanding. The battle music, the background music in levels, everything is great. Sad theres still no voice acting...........but good sound.
the problem with final fantasy 9 is its much shorter and less challenging than the rest. You can be on the 3rd disk and be level 24...............so it shows you theres not much fighting or leveling up in this game. I actually never experienced an esper(summon) until the 2nd disk, and that was only one, after that i still havent experienced one(and im on the 3rd disk)
theres a card game in final fantasy 9 but its not much prettier and greater to play like the one in 8. This card game is fun to play, and is nice to collect cards.
Final fantasy feels different from the rest. Its a good game, but not so great.