[PSX][ISO] Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX begins with Zidane and the Tantalus Theater Troupe kidnapping Princess Garnet during her sixteenth birthday celebration. The group learns that Garnet, who is concerned about Queen Brahne's increasingly erratic behavior, actually wanted to escape to Lindblum to meet with Regent Cid,[q 1] and had planned to stow away on the theater ship. The Troupe's airship, Prima Vista, is damaged during the escape; it crashes in the Evil Forest, prompting Zidane to continue the trek to Lindblum without the rest of Tantalus.[q 2] Zidane and Garnet are accompanied by Vivi and Steiner, who became entangled with Tantalus during their escape from Alexandria. During their journey, Garnet adopts the alias "Dagger" and struggles to mingle with the locals.[q 3] The group learns of a factory inside the village of Dali that manufactures soulless black mage warriors for Alexandria's use. Brahne dispatches three powerful ones called "Black Waltzes" to retrieve Garnet by force, but their mission ends in failure.[q 4]

In Lindblum, Zidane meets Freya and joins in Lindblum's Festival of the Hunt. Regent Cid has been turned into a bug-like oglop by his wife Hilda for his womanizing behavior.[q 5] Wishing to protect Garnet from Brahne's newfound aggression, he had ordered Tantalus to kidnap her.[q 6] When the group learns that Alexandria has invaded Burmecia, Freya investigates the situation with Zidane and Vivi, while Garnet and Steiner head to Alexandria to ask Brahne to stop the war.[q 7] Both parties are powerless to stop her, and Garnet has her eidolons forcibly extracted from her body.[q 8] Brahne uses one of Garnet's eidolons, Odin, to destroy Cleyra. Escaping on Brahne's ship, they head to Alexandria to save Garnet, only for Brahne to attack Lindblum, destroying the Industrial district and heavily damaging the Business and Theatre districts with another of Garnet's stolen eidolons, Atomos.[q 9]

Afterward, Cid tells the party about Brahne's arms dealer, Kuja.[q 10] The party travels to the Outer Continent, the location of Kuja's headquarters, through an underground tunnel with the help of Quina.[q 11] There, the party meets a young summoner named Eiko, who assumes herself to be the last survivor of Madain Sari. They also discover a village inhabited by self-aware Black Mages. Their pursuit of Kuja leads them to the nearby Iifa Tree, an entity that dissipates a fighting-stimulant called Mist.[q 12] They also learn that Kuja uses Mist to create the Black Mages.[q 13] The party defeats the Iifa Tree's core and stops the Mist from flowing. When the party returns to Madain Sari, they confront Amarant, who was hired by Brahne to apprehend Garnet. Garnet slowly realizes that she is also a summoner from Madain Sari. Amarant joins the party for his own reasons.[citation needed] At the Iifa Tree, Brahne turns against Kuja and attempts to kill him with the eidolon Bahamut.[q 14] However, Kuja uses the airship Invincible to gain control of Bahamut, killing Brahne and defeating her army.[q 15] Before she dies, Brahne and Garnet have a brief reconciliation.[citation needed]

The party returns to Alexandria, and Garnet is crowned Queen. Afterward, Kuja assaults Alexandria with Bahamut.[q 16] Eiko and Garnet summon the legendary eidolon Alexander, who overpowers Bahamut. Kuja attempts to control Alexander using the Invincible, but is foiled by a mysterious old man named Garland, who destroys Alexander and parts of Alexandria.[q 17] Kuja, still intent on mastering a powerful eidolon to defeat Garland, shifts his attention to Eiko.[q 18] The party learns of Kuja's Desert Palace and attempts an assault. However, Kuja imprisons the party and escapes with Eiko to extract her eidolons. During the extraction attempt, Eiko's guardian moogle Mog uses Trance to transform into her true form, the eidolon Madeen, disrupting the process.[q 19] Learning of the powers of Trance,[q 20] Kuja escapes to further his aim of defeating Garland.[q 21] The party rescues Eiko and also finds Hilda, who turns Cid back into a human.[q 22] He is now able to design an airship for the party that does not need Mist for power.

With Hilda's aid,[q 23] the party pursues Kuja to Terra by opening a portal. In the Terran town of Bran Bal, it is revealed that Garland was created by the people of Terra to orchestrate the process of assimilating Terra into Gaia, as Terra was a dying world. Garland created Genomes—intelligent, sentient beings who lack souls—to become future vessels for the souls of the Terrans.[q 24] The Iifa Tree's existence,[q 25] the phenomenon of Mist,[q 26] the eidolon's destruction,[q 27] and even Kuja and Zidane's true purpose of existence,[q 28] were part of the process. Angered by Garland's motives, the party confronts him. However, Kuja has now obtained enough souls to achieve Trance.[q 29] Trance Kuja ends Garland's life, but not before Garland warns him of his limited lifespan, and that Zidane was created to replace him.[q 30] Enraged by this revelation, Kuja destroys Terra while the party rescues the Genomes and returns to Gaia on the Invincible.

The party discovers that Mist has returned and now envelops all of Gaia. Assisted by the combined forces of Lindblum and Alexandria, they travel to the Iifa Tree, where they are teleported to a mysterious location called Memoria. The spirit of Garland guides the party to Kuja. When Kuja is defeated, he uses his Trance abilities to destroy the Crystal, the source of life,[q 31] prompting the appearance of Necron, the "Eternal Darkness" bent on destroying life.[q 32] After Necron is defeated, Memoria and the Iifa Tree collapse. Although Kuja teleports the party to safety, Zidane returns to save him, and is later assumed to have died with Kuja in the collapse.[q 33]

Some time later, Alexandria has been rebuilt, and Tantalus arrives in Alexandria to perform "I Want To Be Your Canary" for Queen Garnet. [q 34] Early scenes reveal what has happened to many of the main characters. Steiner and Beatrix have returned to their old posts as royal bodyguards and have also become romantically involved; [q 35] Eiko has been adopted by Regent Cid and Lady Hilda; [q 36] Freya is attempting to start over with her former love, Sir Fratley; [q 37] Amarant is reunited with Lani while on his way to Alexandria; [q 38] Quina has now become the head chef of the Alexandria Castle kitchen; [q 39] and black mages looking identical to Vivi are identified as Vivi's sons. [q 40] In between these scenes a monologue is given by Vivi where he reminisces about the adventures they had together and bids farewell to everyone, implying his death due to his limited lifespan. [q 41] The game reaches its final moments with the play being performed. During the performance, one of the performers removes his robe and reveals himself to be Zidane, saved by Kuja's barrier from the collapsing Iifa Tree.[q 42] Garnet rushes onto the stage, abandoning her dropped Summoner pendant, and embraces Zidane.