Final Fantasy IX’s 13 Year-Long Forgotten Side Quest

Sometimes old gamers can learn new tricks.

Normally when a game has been out for as long as 2000’s Final Fantasy IX has the only new content being discovered is through crafty PC modders tinkering around with the source code or a debug mode in a manner we can only hope is similar to TRON. However, one intrepid gamer – YouTube’s GarlandTheGreat – discovered a new side quest that not only remained undiscovered for thirteen years, but didn’t even make it into the official Western strategy guide (which if any of you remember was not that great to begin with). 

Admittedly tedious, the quest doesn’t begin until the game’s fourth disc and requires an incessant amount of backtracking and retracing one’s steps through familiar locations, which probably explains why so few people were aware of its existence in the first place. After activating a series of cutscenes, including much trudging through the hallowed halls of Memoria, you must journey back to Tantalus’ hideout in Lindblum. For your troubles, you’re rewarded with a Protect Ring, which was a nifty accessory to have, but seems a little anticlimactic of a reward given the quest’s length and relative secrecy.

In an age where nearly every aspect of every title ever is meticulously recorded and archived on the Great Information Silo that is the Internet, it’s refreshing that gamers are still finding new ways to surprise us and themselves. It also speaks to the depth of classic PlayStation-era RPGs like Final Fantasy IX and makes us wonder what other secrets might be out there that we’d missed once upon a time.

Do you have any gaming secrets that blew your mind? Share them with us on Facebook and Twitter. Who knows? There might just be a Protect Ring for you.

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