One new year's resolution that bounds about is the promise to go back and do that thing you've been meaning to for years. For those that buy games like candy there are always those games which you always meant to play but the newest and greatest always seem to beat it out.

Final Fantasy XI is one of those games.

Released as one of the last Final Fantasy games for the original Playstation, Final Fantasy IX featured a cast of characters dug up from Final Fantasy's roots. Central to this story is that of Vivi, the black mage reminiscent of the original Final Fantasy game. IX came out in what seemed like an afterthought on the Square Enix part. The Playstation 2 and Final Fantasy X were eminent and the world was on the verge of a realistic graphic revolution. Now with the upcoming release of Final Fantasy XIII, XIV and the re-releases of FF VII and VIII on the Playstation 3 last year, this long forgotten game still isn't getting much love.

FF9 has one of the most enduring sound tracks of all the games. The music is features in the traveling concerts and has been reused for later Final Fantasy spin offs such as the Chocobo Dungeon series.

The game play was different. Gone was strange spell and skill system of FFVIII but it was replaced with a system where all your abilities depended on the gear you bought, made or found. You had to grind to learn the skills. Like most FF games there was no natural level progression. You spent time grinding the levels out between story arcs.

While the world was reminiscent of past games, the characters were all animal derivatives. Zidane, the thief protagonist, was half man and half monkey. Garnet and Eiko were girls with horns. The Queen was part elephant. Each character and race seemed dependent on some animal influence.

The story itself was about coming of age, love and of course that Final Fantasy standby: saving the planet. Princess Garnet is captured by theatre pirates at her sixteenth birthday party. As it turns out that was good thing because her mother wants her dead as she prepares for war. In the mean time Vivi, a black mage, acquires consciousness and is on a quest for where he came from. The story is sweet and swift.

So what memories do you have of this game? Have you replayed it recently, if ever?

You can find FFIX in Game Stops around Denver that take trade in used games for the Playstation One or online.