So, I've slowly but surely been replaying Final Fantasy IX (after many, many years). And one thing I've noticed along the way is how much the roaming of this game screws with you.

A "!" "!" here, and a "!" "!" there, here a "!", there a "!", anywhere a "!, "!".

There are so many (awesome) hidden gems in the various towns of this game that it's become something of an irritation for me. Because of these undeniable little treasures that you come across, I now am unable to help but cover every single square inch of an area in any given perimeter. And on some occasions, it's caused me to check certain areas twice for those "just incase" measurements.

It's become quite ridiculous. Not only does that make you look/feel like a bit of a moron in particular situations, but sometimes it can be time consuming or troublesome.

As a kid, you don't really notice it as much, because it played right into the ADD most of us had. But playing it now that I'm older (at least 8 years later), I've really taken notice to it. Everything feels so interactive, and there are so many little hidden perks planted, it's a bit screwy.

*Please note that this is intended to be a completely light noted thread. Not a real complaint...I think.

When I play through FF9, I usually use a turbo controler to hold down X. It does get annoying after a while, but not for the same reason you stated, it's because even after you get all the cards, the weapons, the chocobo treasures, and you beat the game, you still feel like you left something incomplete. I hate that feeling with my RPGs............

Actually, that's pretty much within the lines of my reasoning, I just probably wasn't very clear with it all.

One of the big reasons why it becomes a bit of a "curse" as I called it, is that there's an extreme sense of paranoia (or something like that) that you could be missing something. That's why I've, as I stated earlier, gotten to the point where I'll seriously check every square inch of the various maps, just to make sure that I've gotten everything taken care of. But in the process of that, it becomes a bit tedious and all the other stuff I mentioned.

But yes, I only do that because of that "incomplete" feeling. Since there are so many hidden treasures and gems along the way, it just feels like you can never make your way freely through a place, because there's always the chance that there's a "!" somewhere around.

It can really screw with you.

I never played FF9, but I've watched my brother play it with the !!!s everywhere. I totally know what you mean. In relation to that, the first and only time I played through FF7 was with a walkthrough off the net, and now I don't feel like reading through the walkthrough again but at the same time I feel that without getting all the hidden goodies I will be way to far behind the learning curve for the super bosses Ruby and Emerald Weapon.

Outside of the FF universe I really love Star Wars KOTOR, but there are all these containers everywhere that don't tell you whats inside, meaning you could get paranoid and not be able to tell if you already looted it (KOTOR 2 remedied this by telling you if it is empty or not), but I have experienced in both this game and the sequel glitches where I have had to open a container twice before actually getting the items. Talk about feeling imcomplete at the ending of the game, I deequiped all characters not in my party and was left with an embarassing (or sexy) end scene with one of the female protagonists (no save points before deequiping either).

So, yeah, I totally get the completionists' craze and how constant prompts like the !!!s can totally drive you over the edge and not leave you with much of a satisfying ending either.

While I agree that I've found myself checking every nook and cranny rather then just a general skim in the FFIX game, I don't hate it. The "!" bubble definitely makes looking for things so much easier, so it's better than just randomly pressing "X".

So yeah, I'm likin' it

I don't hate it. It's just as Glass2099 said, in that the "wonder" can kind of drive you insane.

By the way, Glass, WOW, I so know what you mean about KOTR. That was even worse! The item boxes never give you an indication of what's in them or if something is in them. And to make matters worse, it closes right back up after you retrieve the item. So unless you can remember whether or not you've checked it, you'll find yourself going back to the same one at times to recall whether or not you did. Talk about aggravating. And made all worse by that glitch that meant you wouldn't always get the item first try. So true.

So yes, all in all, IX's "!" is a nice little aid. It's just the fact that the hidden items and everything cause so much paranoia or alert to them.

Yeah, I know the feeling of thinking you might have missed something. It was way worse in the earlier NES and SNES games. In III and IV you spent hours searching for hidden (and I do mean hidden) passages in the walls to see if you missed anything. In III you needed to find them even to advance through major portions of the game

I much prefer the "!" bubbles. It's better than randomly walking around and pressing buttons. >.> It's easier to find items and gil, and it's how I normally get my fix.

I completely agree here! I think it was Star Ocean 3 that didn't have anything pop up when you were close to something... and there were still many things to find on a map. It got kind of irritating having to randomly press X

I know how it feels in FFIX with all the "!"'s. My first 2 play throughs of the game I didn't realize it at the time but I had missed quite a few great items. I doubt I'm still missing things but that incomplete feeling does rub off on ya from the game. :/ Guess that's what ya get for having a thief as the main character... he'd check every nook and cranny anyways! XD