After months of working on it, Final Fantasy IX is finished. I imagine those of you still reading this will be glad to see some new blood here, and it will start in the form of Final Fantasy XI and its final expansions. Despite having cleared the initial main storyline, I was pressed by others to finish all the expansions before I should consider the game beaten. I'm going to make that happen.

If you want to catch up on my prior pieces, here's a link to last week's Issue 18.

Final Fantasy IX (PSP, PS1 Classic)

Last week I was very close to the end, but I didn't remember exactly how close that was. Disc four is pretty short as far as required content goes, so I was able to work through it very quickly. Despite some parts of the end game feeling a tad rushed in terms of story, I really like how the plot is handled all the way to the end credits. The return to the game's intro was meaningful and handled quite well. As far as the final dungeon and last few bosses go, those hold up fairly well with a single exception. Confronting Kuja after trudging through Memoria just felt right. My issue, and likely anyone who has ever beaten this game, is Necron. Not only is the boss coming from out of nowhere, it is also one of the most irritating fights in the game. Prepare for all the status effects you can, but even then its Grand Cross attack is going to leave you struggling to remove a number of ailments every few rounds. Luckily, I was able to survive my first attempt, but it was touch and go for a bit. While not too sour of a note to end on, thankfully the story once again makes up for it.

Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin (PC)

With Square Enix bringing back the Return to Vana'diel Campaign, I couldn't resist going back to try and properly finish this game off. Having polished off all but the last retail expansion and the free finale, I crave this sense of completion so I jumped in right away as it usually takes a little bit for me to get my bearings. A quick mission count showed that I had 52 out of 105 left in Seekers of Adoulin and 35 out of 94 missions left in Rhapsodies of Vana'diel. This might be impossible, but after finishing the entire Treasures expansion the last time there was a free login, it might not be too wild. These are the last two tasks I wish to complete before I consider this game "beaten" in terms of the main story. Let's hope I can do it.