Final Fantasy IX might not be the best Final Fantasy game, but it’s definitely the most stylish. Yep, even before FFXII‘s massive world and FFXIII’s jaw-dropping hair particles, Square’s popular series was blazing a trail in art direction, putting its own inimitable spin on fantasy and steampunk.
And Final Fantasy IX, the last game in the main series to appear on PlayStation 1, had some of the most fascinating environments you’ll ever see in a video game.
Don’t believe me? Check out this great concept art, uncovered by NeoGAF sleuth Mama Robotnik, who dug through the web and found a whole bunch of images that most of us probably haven’t seen before.
First up, a selection of high-res environments from artist Jake Rowell, all of which had to be scaled down for the PS1’s low native resolution. This stuff should look very familiar if you’ve played Final Fantasy IX — and it’ll probably make you angry that there hasn’t been an HD remake.
Here’s some concept art from Cecil Kim, a designer who now runs a company called Section Studios. You might recognise some of these scenes from the cities of Lindblum and Madain Sari.
This is concept art by longtime designer Christian Lorenz Scheurer, showing off some of Final Fantasy IX‘s more surreal locales, like Terra and Memoria.
Finally, here’s some character design by Francisco Cortina, featuring some early versions of protagonists Zidane, Dagger, Steiner and Freya (and a special appearance by Zidane’s buddy, Blank).
Comments
11 responses to “Stunning Final Fantasy Art You Probably Haven’t Seen Before”
Final Fantasy IX is the best 3D Final Fantasy Game. IX is the closest any of the 3D games have gotten to FF 1-6. Its a true Final Fantasy game. 7 8 10 and 13 are all games I love but they could easily be an entirely different IP they are so completely different from what made 1-6 great. Its Final FANTASY not Final Sci-fi
Still my favorite Final Fantasy game of all time. It got the balance between combat, story and setting right
Favourite game in series for me too for pretty much the same reasons. It wasn’t because it had awesome this or awesome that, it was because it had great everything which when rolled into a single entity made it awesome. Think of it like a good risotto (because that is what I am eating at the moment), Rice, mushroom, bacon, water, herbs, spices. All of those pieces by themselves (with the possible exception of bacon, because, well, bacon) are often pretty boring, but if you get the right combination of all the ingredients and cook it perfectly you have something to savour from start to finish.
living inside a mountain would be awesome 🙂
These are scans of the FFIX art book aren’t they? I bought that with the game and it has some amazing art in it. I really need to remember which box it’s squirreled away in.
upvote!
Yet someone downvoted that? Takes all kinds, I guess :S
You know, looking at these, it makes me think of Dark Crystal.
Anyone who hasn’t seen this artwork has no real concept of what used to make this series so good.
LOL MATE FFIX IS the best Final Fantasy game.
In my eyes FF9 is the best of the series.
thank you for posting theses. SO much nostalgia.!