20 Best Video Games Of The Last 20 Years
11. Final Fantasy IX
Brace for impact... I'm putting it out there that although FF VII was the one that shook the world initially - and has some of the most memorable fictional characters of all time - Final Fantasy IX is actually a far superior game.
Why? Well, you could actually play characters as characters for a start - no more remixing their entire skillset on a dime by swapping materia-enhanced items around.
Also, unlike FF VIII's university-themed tale of maturity, IX returned to having a plucky upstart character being thrown into a tale of saving the world and nabbing the Princess along the way. It was fairytale epic, the old-school meeting new as more detailed combat screens, in-depth character-building and incredibly luxurious art design combined to ring in the millennium.
Outside of that, IX's band of characters rival VII beat for beat, the likes of Vivi, Garnet and Steiner all being a total joy to go on such a high-stakes adventure with. Granted, Kuja is no Sephiroth, but when your world, monster designs and lore are so immaculate already, one tiny blemish simply doesn't matter.