10 Reasons Why Final Fantasy IX Is The Best Game Of The Series
4. It's The Creator's Favorite
Hironobu Sakaguchi stands in a distinct tier of game developers, one reserved for renegade visionaries that challenged status quos of their medium as a way of moving it forward. Every young RPG developer owes a debt they cannot pay to this man. He took Square from a small Yokohama based studio to a Japanese juggernaut that touches cultures on both ends of the Pacific.
He directed the first five Final Fantasy games, then produced the next six, sculpting the series into one as strong as Zelda and Metal Gear. Even as he aged, he proved he still had it one more time in 2011, with his aptly titled passion project, The Last Story. He knows what makes a good game, and he knows what makes a good Final Fantasy.
Most creators would beat around the bush when asked to pick a favorite of their work, almost like the way a parent has to pretend their burnout son is just as viable as their Ivy league daughter, that somehow preferring one devalues the other. But Sakaguchi made no bones about picking IX above all else.
His reasoning behind the pick is that IX is what he originally had in mind when making the first game. In many ways IX is his dream game, finally made possible by the PlayStation's power. Works of art can often drive feelings of enjoyment from the people that experience it, but when one instills the creator with a genuine sense of pride, it's lifted all parties involved.