Genomes for giving them something important: hope. Bobby Corwen Bobby Corwen is the name of a chocobo found in the Black Mage Village. Bobby is originally shown as an egg being cared for by two Black Mages, as one of the signs that the Black Mages in the village are capable of emotion and independent thought. He is kept in a small Hut in the northeast corner of the village. The name Bobby Corwen is a play on words and reference to Final Fantasy V, the first two letters of each word making Boco, the name of Bartz's Chocobo in the fifth installment (Eiko jokes why the Black Mages always call Bobby Corwen by his full name). Bobby Corwen grows an attachment to one of the Genomes when they come to live in the Black Mage Village. The Genomes The Genomes are a race of soulless beings on Terra created by Garland to be the vessels for the sleeping souls of Terra after Gaia was assimilated. Kuja, Zidane, and Mikoto are technically Genomes, but Garland gave them souls, thus making them mortal. This one difference generates a wide gap between them and their emotionless brethren, one that Mikoto comes to find troubling as she involves herself with Zidane for a short period of time. When Kuja enters Trance and goes about destroying Terra, Zidane and the others selflessly risk their lives to transport the Genomes to Gaia, where they begin new lives with the hidden Black Mages. Mikoto stays with the Genomes as a kind of overseer to their new lives, although she is still unsure about how right Zidane was to take them from Terra to Gaia. Reception and legacy Venture Beat praised the games attention to character, and its use of humor not as an opportunity for “jokes”, but to reveal character and allow players to connect with the characters when the story becomes more dramatic. “Active Time Events” were often used when players entered new cities, which was praised for regularly offering up character development. Some of the characters have very well developed plot arcs, such as Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi, while others such as Amarant are less so. Polygon notes that the cast of Final Fantasy IX strives for justice and peace at any cost, unlike later games that tend to glamorize the violence and seem to regard violence as inevitable and good. Digital Spy rated