Which Final Fantasy game do you prefer? FF 8 or FF 9?

I easily prefer FF 9 because it has far superior characters and I'm fond of the world style.

9, mostly because I find 8's combat wayyyyyyy too complex for its own good.

I prefer 8. I really liked the change from super-deformed characters into a more realistic character design. The story was quite good and there were a number of very cool "ultimate" bosses to try to find and battle. Also the card mini-game was excellent and it's still my all time favourite FF mini-game.

I think both are good games, but I usually preferred 9. I think 8 was superior in some areas though, or did some really interesting things. The Junction and Draw system was great, I liked the futuristic/school world, I actually liked Squall and the other characters even though I thought that the plot was wishy-washy in some spots, and I think the whole time-traveling sorceress thing was a neat concept. There was no real preset 'class' for any character, aside from their weapon and limit break skill, that was all kind of decided based on how you junctioned. I think Triple Triad was also a lot better than Tetra Master. I remember at the time it was one of the most expensive games ever made, and it really shows through.

At the same time, I liked the way you learned abilities from equipment in IX, and could equip abilities with AP. I liked the super-deformed style and the occasionally less-serious story. I liked the various real-time events, and the exclamation point that told you if you could perform some action with a nearby object. I would have to say that FF9 is one of the more challenging games in the series, since there are a ton of items you can miss, and you can't really get every last item in one run. I liked how it felt, at least a little bit, like the first 6 games in the series - it kind of took things back to that fantasy medieval anime tone that the 2D games had. The majority of the cast was really likable and funny.

Why exclude FF7? It has superior characters and story and is easily one of the best rpgs ever made.

If I had to choose between FF8 and FF9 I would choose 8 because I found the storytelling in 9 to be utterly abysmal. Not to mention that dumb ass quina character as well as the one that resembles Ursula from the little mermaid. Felt like it was a dumbed, watered down version of FF for kids much like the kingdom hearts series was.

Ff 9 by far, I got too bored of 8 to be able to finish it.

I don't know how anyone could like 8 over 9, or like 8 in general. People give the 13 trilogy a hard time, but 8 is without question the worst Final Fantasy, and one of the worst JRPG's in general. The only thing good about it was it's card game.

I liked 8 because i liked the realistic look of it. I didn't like some parts of the leveling system though and hated how you couldn't skip GF cutscenes... but FF7 had unskippable scenes also which bugged me. The limit break system of where you can go ape shit when your health is almost gone should have been done a bit differently, I exploited it a lot and they should have had a different way to use limit breaks.

I havent played FF9 since the first time when it came out... not sure if i'd ever play it again, maybe. FF8 is a game i've played a few times. And probably will play it again at some point.

The newest FF game coming out has that similar look to FF8, which kinda has me interested, just the main characters all look like such douchebags so i dunno.

I don't really see how you see it that way. The game was fantastic in many ways, and I don't see how it was worse than a lot of the earlier and newer games.

@darktruth007 I'm having trouble seeing your point, also. For as many lighthearted moments as 9 had, a lot of the game was pretty serious. Quina was mainly for comic relief, but also to show just how harsh Vivi's short life was with his uncle or whatever. Queen Brahne, I don't think she really looked that much like Ursala, she was fat and maybe not human. Idk, it seems to me like you really have a problem with overweight women, or characters without discernible genders, or something, lol.