Final Fantasy IX

Getting Started

This is a walkthrough of Final Fantasy IX (FF9). As with any walkthrough, this document contains spoilers! It was developed for FFIX English Language Version for PlayStation. Some things may not work on other platforms or alternate language versions. The items in the navigation bar on the left are the sections that are complete. I intend to add some tools to help you learn the game system more easily. I wrote this walkthrough when the game came out in 2000. At that point, it was one of the most complete walkthroughs of FFIX on the Internet.

Since 2000 I have played this game numerous times. Each time I update the walkthrough. It is intended to have all the data you need so as not to miss anything, but to have the feel of a YouTube play-with-me alongside someone who is as excited as you about the game.

Walkthrough Notes

As I said above, all walkthroughs contain spoilers. What I’ve tried to do here is set this site up so that you can get the information you need both without being spoiled, and divided into chunks where you can jump in and get what you need while playing. If you’re starting a new game, I envy you! Please see the points below for things you’ll want to know about that DON’T involve spoilers.

If you don’t want any spoilers, go ahead and play each section first, saving at every possible point. Then when you’re finished, go back and the walkthrough and see if there is anything you missed. I’ll include various hints, tips, tricks and cheats I may have noticed along the way.

Points to Remember

IE: Things I wish someone had told me starting out!

You can steal from almost anyone. Make sure to at least TRY to steal if you can. Use Zidane’s “Detect” to see what enemies have (if you don’t use my explanation, anyway).
Leveling-Up. I’ll let you know when you might want to level a little, and also when you might want to level a lot. I’ll point out what you should be trying to accomplish. Don’t bother level grinding until you get a and all your characters have the reflect skill and anti-venom skills. You can unbalance the game mightily this way.
If you like mini-games, feel free to catch frogs. Just be sure to look at the Catching Frogs section before you decimate a local ecosystem.
If you want be a major treasure hunter, you’ll need to find more than just the treasure chests. You’ll also want to collect all the Figurines. This will make sense as you go along.
Read through the side quests area first. You won’t find any game spoilers, but you may miss out if you don’t do it FIRST.
Sometimes Summons can be influenced by which accessories a character has equipped. When your party acquires a second Summoner, this is useful.
Card battles explained: All cards have 4 letters/numbers that represent their power. “1P24” for instance. The first digit is attack power, and it can be any number 0 to 9 and then the letters A - E. 0 is low, E is high. (Think hexadecimal, if you know that.) The second character is either M, P, X or A and represents attack type. M is magic, P is physical, X will attack the lowest of the defenses and A will attack the lowest number on the card with the highest on itself. The last two characters are 0-E and stand for physical defense and magic defense, respectively. A magic card will attack the last number, for example.
Don’t sell your weak weapons. You’ll be able to synth them into better ones, and there is even a spot in the game where you’ll need a weapon with the lowest possible damage. If you don’t want to think about things too much, try to keep two of every weapon.
There are some Friendly Monsters that ask for a certain Gem. Give them one if you can - with one exception. There’s an enemy called a “Gimme Cat” that wants you to give it a . If you do, it will run away and you’ll never see it again. I hate spoilers, but I hate losing ultra rare and powerful items even more.
You can walk through most people. Unless someone is barring your path for game purposes, just try to walk through them for a few seconds and you probably will.
You can throw a at an enemy and it’ll get bit by a snake. Yes, that’s right. It doesn’t make any sense. ;)
Any time you see an item in a , that’s a tool tip you can tap for more information about that item.

When you’re ready, start the walkthrough in Alexandria.