Enhance FFIX’s graphics with this free mod

Moguri Mod is a free video game utility that serves as the revamped version of Final Fantasy IX. Developed by the Moguri Team, this mod enhances the in-game graphics—from the background art to the character models. It also includes a custom implementation of the Memoria Mod, easily adding more options for the game. Compared to other graphic overhaul mods, Moguri is a bit tricky to install properly, but the difficulty is worth the results.

Looks like the remastered version

Final Fantasy IX is a 2000 role-playing video game developed and published by Squaresoft—now Square Enix. It is the ninth game in the main Final Fantasy series and tells the story of Zidane Tribal, a thief who kidnaps Princess Garnet of Alexandria and ends up getting embroiled in a war between two nations. Similar to the old FF games, FFIX used grainy textures and character sprites as its graphic style. 

However, if you’d like to polish that, you can use the Moguri Mod for a much more enjoyable playthrough. This mod is more focused on the game’s art. It fixes visual glitches, recreated all places’ names with original fonts, and seamlessly blends the sky and the backgrounds. It also redraws several areas and makes everything look cleaner and smoother in lighting. The video cutscenes’ colors and transitions have even been improved.

Aside from that, the background objects, world map, battle scene assets like monsters and arenas, and even the UI were given HD upgrades. Basically, everything looks seamless and belonging in the same space now—all thanks to the Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Network (ESRGAN), which generates realistic textures. This tool also affects the handy Memoria Mod if you have it installed and adds its settings if you don’t.

A great graphics mod

Overall, the Moguri Mod is highly recommended for FFIX fans playing it on PC. Not only does it revamp the whole look and feel of the game, but it also fixes bugs and optimizes your screen for a wider view. However, it has a tricky installment, as you’ll often encounter problems while running it. Some of the upgraded backgrounds also don’t look great in certain scenes and would’ve better stayed as blurry backdrops.