Pros: Gorgeous graphics, amazing sounds, and an all-new storyline.
Cons: The character lip-synching hasn't been perfected here.
The Bottom Line: If you're looking for the best in PS2 RPGs, look no further. FFX has many new game elements to explore that are vastly different than any of the previous titles.
ChromeKiller's Full Review: Final Fantasy X for PlayStation 2
When Squaresoft announced that their next Final Fantasy game would use characters that could speak using not just subtitles, but sound, the world was shocked. Final Fantasy X is Squaresoft's tenth major instalment in the Final Fantasy franchise. Never before has voice acting been implemented into the mechanics of the series. But, for the first time that it's being used, the voices (matched with the characters) work very well for the game when drawn with everything else that fans can except from the legendary suits at Square. The moment that RPG players have been waiting for has finally arrived: Final Fantasy X is home.
Audacious as ever, Square's latest plot involves the tale about the destruction of the world as we know it. Once again, it's up to the heroes of the game to put an end to the raining chaos from the true evil behind it all. Sin, a terrible entity from the sea, is the shape of this spoken evil. Tidus is the blade-wielding hero. Their paths cross when the star Blitzball player, Tidus, attends his big game one night only to watch in bafflement as this immense creature floods his home city, Zanarkand, with death. In turn, Tidus is teleported to another dimension, the land of Spira, where he'll find that the same appearances of Sin is terrorizing villages in this present, which supposedly takes place 1,000 years after the time that Tidus first encountered the creature. Tidus, and a band of allies, must now form and stop this creature before it destroys the lives, the hopes, and the dreams of everyone's future.
Known well for their ability to create visuals beyond belief, Square yet again struts their stuff with the almost photo-realism of spectacular FMV clips. From scenes of wave crashes, explosions taking off, smoke trails binding, spirits illuminating, and the lifelike main characters taking action, every breathtaking scene will make you feel like you're a part of the game. Compared to the work done on the earlier PlayStation-based chapters, these upgraded movies are a much greater leap into the transition between fiction and realism. You could almost believe that these movies are real.
Just as with the in-game graphics, Square has done a divine job of creating believable settings so naturally true and fantastic. Each character seen in an in-game cut scene is given a set of facial expressions: with lips, eyes, eyebrows, and even hair that adheres with their motions correctly. This is all except for the imperfect lip-synching, which they do continue to motion for a couple of seconds after the dialogue has been said. Everything else, however, is finely implemented. The towns and the cities in the game are expanded with beauty across nicely rendered objects. From plant life, to grainy wooden planks, to even the dark and ambient of an area lit by torch light, anything that you've seen in the past Final Fantasy games you could say has been vastly improved.
Final Fantasy X's battle sequences share the same tremendous graphic quality, and sometimes even better. In high-quality detail, the monster AI that you'll encounter are sharp and explode with enormous amounts of detail and animation, much more than what was seen in the previous games. Of course, the pure eye candies of each fight is the magical strikes that you'll throw at the opposition. Lighting effects that beam as an eye-opener, elemental attacks with their explosive power, and even the natural way that the characters give it their all in battle is all animated with much magnetism.
Indeed, the battles of the game have been tweaked for the better overall. Each fight sequence, while remaining in the turn-based stature that veterans have come to expect and either love or hate, should be thankful that one of the new improvements of the game is that attacks move much quicker than ever before. Just one example would be how if Tidus were to attack one character, and not having to wait longer than a second, your next character that's next to go can attack the same enemy. Each time a character attacks, the movements are so seamlessly linked together, and will make you feel like you'll want to finish the fights rather than running away from them every chance that you get.
It's also amazing how the random battle sequences are much rarer throughout the gameplay. Unlike the previous Final Fantasies, you can walk a good amount of distance without encountering a single battle screen. But, while in attack mode, another change is the ability to switch characters in and out of battle. Simply put, you are able to perform the function as I've said it. Your party's maximum amount of attackers remains at three. However, if a certain enemy is better beaten with a certain character, then you can replace one of your guys with another, and right then in the middle of battle you can flank that enemy using the substitute. A strategy aspect is a large part of combat in the game. There is a menu on the top right-hand section of the screen that reveals who is next in order to attack, whether it be the enemy or the ally. Since thinking is a part of the fighting, finishing off the enemy that has a turn next is always a good way to end a fight, for example. And, knowing who to choose from which character can defeat enemies the best makes thinking, next to fighting, a major part of the gameplay.
Furthermore, like the previous Fantasy titles, a specific combat system is presented. Like the earlier job system, or even the junction system for that matter, your characters in battle uses a meter that fills whenever the party member induces or receives damage to or from an enemy. When the gauge is finally filled, you can then access an "Over Drive" menu, which lists the Over Drives that you have at your command. The drive function, when activated, creates a combo system that has you press a certain amount of buttons, rotate the analog stick, or even match three colors in a row on three separate spinning wheels all in a limited amount of time to perform a devastating attack against the enemy. More so, your characters are given "Abilities" to thwart the enemy's aggression. As your characters advance more into gaining better status points, new over drives and abilities will become available. As such, the abilities used range from magical spells, inflicting ailments, like darkness or silence on an enemy, or even the ability to learn another enemy's skill.
After a fight is over, your characters gain points, which upgrade to their Sphere level points. The Sphere points then are used within the Sphere Grid. The Sphere Grid is a menu system where you can manually upgrade your characters by using the Sphere points to attain the ability of actually transcending across the hundreds of laid out directions. In each portion of the grid, you'll find spaces to level up your magic points (MP), health points (HP), and other related stats, like agility, luck, and defense. In these spaces, you'll then use another set of collected points, which are also received after battle. The random battles in the game are a requirement in order to advance through the grid area.
Walking or running in any of the game's moments for travel, whether it is in a town or not, a map is placed on the upper left-hand corner of the screen. This not only gives the location of your character within the map's target view, but it also reveals where you're supposed to be heading next. The map is a replacement for the use of the overhead outside surroundings, and each of the game's locales are endlessly linked together. This may make the game feel more linear, but in trade it's also more realistic.
Aside from the regular exploration of enemy-inhabited mountain passes, watery tombs, and sandy trails, there is much exploration to do within towns themselves. Buying new items and weapons to keep your party alive is a must in order to survive the game's length. Each weapon and armor item has pre-equipped abilities, and never does it matter which exact one is used, since the weapons this time around don't lessen certain status points. Instead, what the weapons and armor will do is add extra strength to them. For instance, certain weapons or armor can raise your HP, MP, strength, or defense, as such. And some can defend you from attributes like dark, fire, and ice attacks. Sometimes a weapon, or an armored item, has one, or more than one ability already going along with the original. So, the better the equipment is, the more that you're likely to defend and attack better throughout the later struggles of the game.
To go along with the purchase of weaponry, items in their own right will do as they always have done in the Final Fantasy series, which is to aid your character with their abilities. Potions, which raise your health, phoenix downs, which bring your characters back from the dead, and other items like antidotes (used to cure poison ailments) and echo screens (used to cure silence; the character is unable to remedy silence with magic this time) are some of the regular items that you'll be using along the way.
Another one of the main assets to Final Fantasy X is the puzzles and mini-games within. Two consistent puzzles remain throughout the game. One of them is a process for gathering pieces from a type of secretive language. There is a race of humans in the game that do not speak English, which are called the Al Bheds. While advancing through the game, you'll see that more of the letters of their alphabet will be revealed as you collect their volumes of language. With the entire set of the Al Bhed language, you can find out what you've been missing by initiating into conversation with any one of them. The other puzzle is one where you'll find yourself visiting temples often. To get through the temple, by collecting assorted orbs, you can access magically sealed doors that could not be opened any other way. Once you've resolved the matter by figuring out where to place the orbs in the certain order that they must be contained in, the path will be opened. But, aside from puzzles, Square's new mini-game, Blitzball, is a clever and entertaining new sport that seems to be a combination of both basketball and soccer. By passes, dribbles, blocks, kicks, interceptions, and more, Blitzball is a sport where players use math problems to solve the equation of how to score a goal. I know that it sounds confusing - but really, there's an entire logic behind the game.
One of Square's best skills is the way that they can make music work. Original, addicting, and all around dazzling is the best way to describe the music within the game. The legendary Nobuo Uematsu, who has composed each of the soundtracks for the Final Fantasy series, has returned with a remix of some old songs, and then many new ones too. These selections are scattered across the game's menu systems, villages, building innards, in enemy territory, and even during combat. You'll find that the blend of an orchestrated rhythm with harmony at its best is yet again done very well, as always, in the latest Final Fantasy game.
Regularly throughout the gameplay, the in-game sounds work just as well as they should. Through walking, running, exploring, fighting, and everything else, wherever you are and whatever you do in the game, the sounds all react to Tidus's actions, and the sound around him is exact. Pacing the floors of wood makes a wooden noise. In battle, the slash of the sword and an explosion from a fire spell are finely tuned when hearing them. Even standing right next to a burning flame or the flowing ocean water makes all the difference, for sounds that are crisp and clearly heard all throughout.
For the first time ever in the series, voice-actors have been included to turn the game's characters to living, breathing, emotional bodies that can do more than just have you live the tale, but also know what they're feeling through it. It's easy to say that the voices chosen for Final Fantasy X are perfect. At first, it might seem a little strange, but the character voices will grow on you through time. Then it's easy to see that Square made the right decision when they said that they wanted to use voice-actors for the next Final Fantasy. Long-time fans of the game series should have nothing to worry about.
Yet again, Squaresoft impresses and executes another RPG game that will live on in our memories throughout the gaming world, as one of the greatest stories ever told. Final Fantasy X's new features will give any old or new fan of the game series a real treat if they're looking for one. Surely enough, there is on average about forty or more hours of story to flip through, many hidden game secrets, and even the new mini-games to try out for just about anyone and everyone. If you're hunting for one of the greatest RPG games around, why not try one of the latest and best: Final Fantasy X!
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