FFIX imo lacks options so much you can't even save your limit break for later. I'm not sure what options your referring to besides maybe Steiner and Vivi magic sword combos.
I guess the characters have higher utility because they're not passports for creating your own roles but that's about it for me. I never saw much advantage in having a party outside of Zidane, Dagger, Vivi, Steiner because it hits all areas.
FFIX has similarly paltry dungeons like FFVII's. FFVIII took VII's and had actual good dungeons (Sea Lab, Ragnarok, Lunatic Pandora, Ultimecia's Castle, the tomb where you get Brothers;etc. FFIX has no such thing.
FFVII's play isn't much of a reference. It's not just references but reusing entire storylines from making Zidane a boy with a tail that forgets his mission to destroy the planet (straight rip off of Dragon Ball) to the use of clones (FFVII technically because they're not clones but puppets but the English translation has them as clones). This is a problem because modern FF is steeped with references when FF used to be self contained. FFXIV full on Magitek. That was once an FFVI exclusive thing. FFXII has Espers as well as Magicicite, also that's exclusively FFVI at one point. A franchise that had self contained worlds with endless creativity is now a reference factory and it all started with some jump the shark game called FFIX.
I don't think FFIX rates very highly for me. Of the first ten Final Fantasy games I rate it the lowest. It promises a return to its roots but doesn't eclipse the best the series has to offer in terms of gameplay (I, III, V, VI, Tactics, VIII, X international), but doesn't even sniff at the best the franchise has to offer story-wise at that point either (IV, VI, Tactics, VII, X). It kind of excels at nothing. It's just a good game. The first average FF.
Despite my FF fanhood I've only managed to beat it only twice. I've beaten I-VIII, X, XII, and Tactics multiple times across multiple systems. I thought it was great when it came out. I was obsessed with it and find it a really fun game. That's all it really needs to be. But damn does it have issues that later plague the franchise.
What sucks most is that before reveal the GIA had those pics of FFIX with possible job system and the final game had none of that. Shame. What makes FFIX's mediocrity stand out even more is the competition. It's not even the best Square RPG of that year. Chrono Cross, Front Mission 3, and Vagrant Story savage it. That's without mentioning outside the company. I remember back in the day at release it was the first time I ever recall more people talking about a non square RPG than the latest FF in Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II which came out around the same time. Even its main competition, Legend of Dragoon, was a much better and memorable game that does unique things (that battle system
).
Psx era Square is typified by the experimental. Xenogears, FFVII, FFVIII, Chrono Cross, SaGa Frontier, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story...hell even Eirghez was different. I had never played a fighting game with such interesting environmental gameplay. And then there's Final Fantasy IX. The most conservative, boring game in the developers catalogue on that system. Definitely a jump the shark moment. Thank God FFX saved us a year later.
