Final Fantasy IX walkthrough
Written to be read twice. Story mode keeps the page clear so you can play for the plot; completionist mode surfaces every item, sidequest and missable. Switch at the top of any section.
Alexandria and the Prima Vista
A theatre ship, a stolen princess and a town that rewards anyone willing to climb on its roofs. Two things here are gone for good, and both of them are rewards for doing something thoroughly rather than items sitting in a chest.
Evil Forest
A crashed ship you can still walk around inside, a spring that heals you for free, and a companion who leaves wearing your armour if you let him. The whole area closes behind you and does not reopen.
Ice Cavern
Eight chests, three of them behind walls that look solid, one moogle frozen into the scenery, and a two-enemy boss fight Zidane takes alone.
The Village of Dali
A farming village with a windmill, a locked door, and something under it. Eleven pickups in a one-time underground, a Stellazzio coin behind a pillar, and one random encounter three times stronger than anything you have fought.
The Cargo Ship
Eight screens, no chests, no shop, no moogle and no random encounters. One boss, and then Lindblum.
Lindblum
The biggest area in the game — three city districts, a castle, and a twelve minute hunt whose prize you can only collect once. Two key items are lost by walking through a door in the wrong order.
Qu's Marsh
Not a dungeon. A pond, a party member nobody warns you about, and a frog count that runs for the rest of the game.
Gizamaluke's Grotto
A cave of locked doors and a finite supply of keys. Three of the four items in it are hidden, and walking in closes most of Lindblum behind you.
Burmecia, Realm of Eternal Rain
A city that has already been destroyed by the time you walk into it. Eleven pickups, three of them disguised as enemies, and one chest you can lose by moving too fast.
The South Gate
The gate complex between Alexandria and Lindblum territory, plus the four world-map arches that share its scripts. A rematch with an old enemy, and a stretch that almost no publisher covers in full.
Treno
A city of nobles with no daylight and no encounters. Seven Active Time Events in an order that matters, an arena fight you cannot repeat, and the start of a coin hunt that runs to the end of the game.
Gargan Roo
Two chests, one moogle, a lever puzzle and a giant insect that runs on rails. Twenty minutes, and everything in it is gone when you board.
Cleyra
A city inside a tree, inside a sandstorm. The largest single loss in the game — two shops, a travelling merchant, four scenes, three spells and every chest — and all of it goes at once.
Alexandria Castle — the escape
A prison break on a thirty-minute clock, two chests behind a rotating platform, a pair of jesters, and an optional boss in the library that most guides tell you to come back for.
Pinnacle Rocks
Five chests, a summon, and a story told out of order that you have to put back. Two of the chests can be taken hours before the rest.
Lindblum, After the Attack
A short return to a city that has been burned. Three chests in the Tantalus hideout hold different amounts of gil than they did last time, which is a mechanic no guide in the world says out loud.
Fossil Roo
A one-way tunnel under the sea with a switch puzzle, a moogle selling a bundle worth more than it costs, and a boss you are not supposed to beat.
Conde Petie
A dwarf town you have to say a password to enter and get married to leave. Four pickups, one of which five guides place on a different visit than the sixth, and a card trade nobody routes you back for.
The Black Mage Village
Through the Dead Forest to a village of runaway black mages. Six pickups, one of them a Stellazzio, and a hidden Black Belt you only get by eavesdropping and then lying to a shopkeeper.
The Conde Petie Mountain Path
Four coloured stones traded for a Moonstone, three chests, a giant, and a bug you catch by mashing a button. Nine publishers agree on all of it.
Madain Sari
A ruined summoners' village, a coffee, a coin and a wall of paintings. Four things our own data files here are not actually reachable until you come back.
The Iifa Tree
Nine chests down a tree you climb inside, and a boss you can kill with a Phoenix Down. Everything here is one-way — the descent never opens again.
Madain Sari — the Eidolon Wall
The return trip. Four things you could not take last time, a one-on-one fight, and the first moment the game lets you choose your own party.
The Iifa Tree, Revisited
One item, several forced fights, and the end of the disc. Nothing here can be lost and nothing here needs planning except who is in your party.
Alexandria — the Coronation
Disc 3 opens quietly, and it is the single densest pile of missable optional content in the game. A footrace pays out eight prizes and almost nobody finishes it.
Treno — the Card Tournament
A three-round tournament you do not have to win, a fight you get exactly one chance at, and an armlet hidden behind an optional scene.
Quan's Dwelling
An optional cave that unlocks in stages across three discs. Walk in early for three Ethers and a coin; come back much later for the rest.
Alexandria — the Bahamut Attack
A forced march through a burning city with almost nothing lying around. The only two things worth having are both conditional, and one of them is your last chance at it.
Lindblum — the Council
Fetch three potions, sit through a council, take a ship. The hideout chests have money in them again — and this time there may be a fourth chest nobody has written down.
The Desert Palace
Six bloodstones and a chest. Find all six before the boss and the fight becomes trivial — that is the whole dungeon, and it is the best-kept practical secret in the game.
Oeilvert
A ruin where magic does not work, and a one-time dungeon. Eight chests, a moogle who leaves partway through, and a boss that drops a piece of a summon named after it.
Esto Gaza
Six screens, one free item and a shop that is the whole reason to stop. The Octagon Rod is sold here and nowhere else.
Mount Gulug
A one-way volcano with eight things in it, five forced dragon fights that pay enormous experience, and Quina's last chance at Twister.
Alexandria — the Ruined City
The city after Bahamut, swept properly for the first time. Eleven pickups, a card from a child in the square, and the accessory that teaches Bahamut.
Ipsen's Castle
An upside-down castle where your worst weapon hits hardest. Seven deliberately terrible weapons to collect, four mirrors to take away, and one of the few late dungeons you can come back to.
The Four Shrines
Four mirrors, four pairs, four shrines — and only one of them is a place you actually stand in. There is nothing to pick up in the entire sequence.
Terra
Nine screens of roots and branches, six chests, and the best experience encounter in the game. Also the other side of a door that has just shut.
Bran Bal
Twelve screens, six chests, and a shop behind a moogle in a jar — the last place in the game you can buy a Zorlin Shape, and the last of Stiltzkin's eight sets.
Pandemonium
Twenty-one screens, five things to pick up, six boss fights and no window to re-equip. Four of the six bosses have no agreed HP anywhere in the published record.
The Invincible
Seven screens, one chest, and the airship that opens the whole map back up. The chest is a Stellazzio and it is the one people finish the game without.
Daguerreo
Four screens holding a library, three shops, a Stellazzio, an Excalibur at the end of a long chain, and the last Rune Blade in the game — which expired five chapters ago.
Hilda Garde 3 and the Blue Narciss
Two chests on an airship deck that three publishers count three different ways. Board it on Disc 3 and walk around before you fly anywhere.
Memoria and the Crystal World
Thirty-five screens, six things to pick up, four elemental fiends and a boss run with no way back. Also the richest stretch of blue magic in the game and the one weapon almost nobody gets.
Black Mage Village — the return
A re-declared town whose award block differs from the first visit by exactly one row. All three shops restock, and there is a Kupo Nut reward waiting.