In this fifth and final episode discussing Final Fantasy IX, we explore Tim's difficulty finishing the game on time, the ending of the game, and the things we take away from it. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary.

Sections played: Pandemonium to end of game!

Podcast breakdown: 0:32 Segment 1: Finishing the game 35:03 Break 1 35:35 Segment 2: What we take away

Issues covered: the difficulty in the final area, sharing a save file, the difficulty of the endings of more than one game, preconceived notions (including button use on controllers), level as a measure, Chaos Lords, forced puzzling (Reflect), Tim the total cheater, ability leveling, subverting player goals with random battles, negative reinforcement to movement, eating your JRPG vegetables, thoughtful endings (and their rarity in games), world state changes, Zidane winning Tim over, the shape of Zidane's character arc, one-off vs reusable moments, minimal interactivity maintaining your focus, status system discovery, "mixed experiences"/multiple modes of play vs cohesive experiences, conventions of form, epic themes and effects, creating one's life for oneself vs destruction and death, reader mail: design choices to promote new business interests, strategy guides as crutch, Bobby Corwin.

Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Final Fantasy VIII, Star Wars Republic Commando, Halo, Full Throttle II, World of Warcraft, Andrew Kirmse, Ni No Kuni, Gabriel Garza, other FFs, SNES, Xbox 360/Xbox, Justin Bieber, Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, Final Fantasy XIII, Witcher III (drink), Wild Arms 3, Reed Knight, Monster Hunter, Ultima, Might & Magic, Metal Gear Solid series, Nintendo, Sly Cooper series, Bard's Tale, Eye of the Beholder, Ultima Underworld, Planescape: Torment, Sakaguchi, Bob Chesser, Zelda 2, Kevin Schmitt, LucasArts, Troy Mashburn, Half-Life 2, Dead Space 2.

Next time: Keep your eyes on @devgameclub, because we are still figuring it out!

@brett_douville, @timlongojr, and @devgameclub [email protected]