10 Reasons Why Final Fantasy IX Is The Best Game Of The Series

Trading card games were at their absolute height in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh packs both flew off store shelves while Magic The Gathering carved out an even stronger niche. Square looked to break into that market when they released Final Fantasy VIII, which featured the card game, Triple Triad, played by literally every single NPC in the game, no exceptions.

Triple Triad had gotten over like gangbusters with players on both sides of the Pacific. Some players simply enjoyed playing Triple Triad for love of the game, while others found themselves caught in a web, using the game as a means to advance their character progression.

IX, inversely, dials things back and ends up with a more relaxed card playing experience known as Tetra Master. While not as a popular in Gaia as Triple Triad is in VIII's world, it has a devoted and diverse fanbase all carrying different decks. The minigame's stakes were nowhere near as high as VIII's card-game, keeping enraged players from hastily pressing the reset button, and abruptly cutting off a whole stream of progress after a close loss.

While the card game took a backseat to the game's mechanics and narrative, it certainly did not take a backseat in the community. Many of the game's NPC's crassly encouraged the player to simply, "figure it out" with regards to the game's arcane and intricate rules. As a result, this encouraged interaction within IX's community, as fans collectively deciphered Tetra Masters' rules for each other. Once those fans were done lending helping hands, they were drawing arms, and taking each other on in Square's online service, PlayOnline.

Tetra Master's cult following persisted even after Square's official servers closed down, with physical cards being made, and fan servers keeping the duels going.