tommy_lop's Full Review: Final Fantasy X for PlayStation 2
When I bought my PS2 I wanted to get this game, seeing this on sale at my local video rental store I decided to buy it. Well it's not the best final fantasy game but I haven't regretted spending a cent of buying this.
Story.
1000 years ago in sphira a huge war spawn a huge demon called Sin. Sin has gone and destroyed every major city in Spira and even 1000 years later Sin still causes devastation in Spira. When Tidus gets pulled from his world of Zanarkand to Spira he joins the summoner Yuna and her party on there pilgrimage to defeat Sin.
While the story isn’t the greatest in a final fantasy game, and it takes a while before it really starts to kick off, once it gets going I was fascinated and was wondering what the heck would happen next, and what was behind Sin.
Graphics.
The first thing that every Final Fantasy game has boasted is there amazing graphics. Square fails to disappoint with the graphics being some of the best I've seen in a video game. The characters now have voice flaps for when they talk, there is movement in the hair, and realistic facial expressions. These are just the in game graphics, the cut scenes still stick out like a sore thumb (especially when it comes to visuals of Tidus), but that's only because there nicely done with visuals on par with FF the movie that was released last year. Now there is a bit of a downside to the graphics and that is the characters do seem to move a bit to freely and it looks a bit sloppy, it's a minor nit pick but it's one that does stand out on occasion.
Sound.
The sound is great just like in every Final Fantasy game. You can tell that the music is going to be a great experience when you hear the remix of the crystal theme in the background at the opening scene. The music keeps getting better has the game goes on.
However the biggest step up is the addition of voices in every major character. This really sets up the characters with there own personalities. It's also a risk because if the characters come out has uninteresting, our if the voices really suck the game will fall on it's face.
Luckily nether happens and the voices come out just fine, there not Oscar worthy but they won't hurt the ears to listen to and they bring out the cut scenes just fine, has well has give some humor in battle. For example when you select to flee from the battle you will hear Tidus yell stuff like "live and let live. I also notice a few of the voices of the minor characters from the cast of the American version of Tenchi Muyo series.
Gameplay:
So how does it play well let's start off with the characters your allow to play has.
Characters.
The character sprites in FFX may have gone back to the real looking people that you saw in FF8 but have no fear people these people are freaky enough to make even Cloud Strife cringe.
Tidus.
Tidus is the main character but he is not the hero or the leader of the group in this one in fact he's the whiny tag of the group who is out to defeat sin. The hero's in the game are Yuna and Auron, however the players control Tidus and it's narrated by him and it's kind of handy for once to get more of a sidekick prospective on a journey.
Tidus lived in the Paradise City of Zanarkand and was the star of the local blitzball team there. That are until Sin attack and his mysterious friend Auron led him into a mysterious light just underneath Sin. Tidus got sucked 1,000 years into the future, where is home Zanarkand has been completely destroyed. But has Tidus journey's to find a way home he finds that it may be closer then he thinks.
Tidus is the quick man in the group, the first to move and he casts spells that speed up the group. He also comes in handy and dealing with speedy ground monsters.
Rikku.
When first lost in Sphira, Tidus encounters the al bhed girl Rikku who helps him out of a job. Rikku is on a mission to help her persecuted Al-Bhed people. Tidus and Rikku quickly get separated when Sin attacks again and they don't meet up again until later in the game. Rikku is the over hyperactive comic relief in the game, and she pulls it off. Her states aren't much to talk about, however she can steal helpful items from enemies. Rikku is great when it comes up to machine type monsters.
Yuna.
Yuna is the daughter of high summoner Braska and his out on a pilgrimage to temporally defeat Sin and to temporally bring on a time called the calm. Or she could be doing it to find that lost color contact that she dropped. Has the white mage and summoner of the group she can heal and summon huge aeons to help out the group. Yuna is an invaluable member of the group and it can really put strategies into a pinch when she's left out of a battle.
Wakka.
Wakka is a blitzball player from besaid and one of Yuna’s guardians. He’s got a strange accent that help’s bring out the comic relief, he also has no love for the Al-Bhed or anybody else who doesn’t follow the teachings of Yevon the local religion. In battle Wakka’s got the most accurate of weapons and is crucial in killing air enemies.
Kimari.
Big, Blue, and pretty silent. He doesn’t talk at all for the first part of the game, deeming Tidus unworthy to talk to. After a while he warms up and starts talking a bit. He is highly protective of Yuna. Kimari is a Ronso a race that lives on top of a tall snow top mountain. Kimari is a all around good character and you can teach him a little bit of everything depending on how you move him on the sphere grid. He is also a blue mage by learning enemy skills by using the ability lancet.
LuLu
LuLu is one of Yuna’s guardians who know dark magic skills, in other words she’s your black mage. LuLu attitude at first comes out has uncaring and cold, especially when it comes to Wakka. She of course changes a bit has the game goes about and you find out that she isn’t has cold has she looks. Like Vivi and other dark mages LuLu specials come with her magic abilities and come across has good against monsters that have element types.
Auron
Is a mysterious guy from Spira who actually found his way to Tidus world of Zanarkand. Auron claims to know Tidus’s father, and knows more about Yuna’s father pilgrimage then he is letting on. All of Auron’s secrets are revealed in the now destroyed city of Zanarkand. Auron definitely is the strong man of the group, his sword can pierce thorough any armor giving you an advantage against beasts with tough armor.
Other charecters.
These are a few other important characters you meet in the game
Jecht.
Tidus father and a consider the best blitzball player of all time in Zanarkand. Tidus and him fought all the time in till about 10 years ago he disappeared from Zanarkand. Now that Tidus’s is in Spira he finds out that is father was first found in Sphira around the same time he disappeared from Zanarkand. Jecht is the person responsible for Tidus winding up in Sphira. When Auron tells Tidus that his father’s alive and what has happen to him the news both surprises and horrifies him. The only way for Tidus to go home is to do a job that Jecht wants him to do.
Maester Mika.
An old Maester of Yevon and the leader of Sphira. A biltzball tournament in Luca has been held to celebrate his long reign has head Maester.
Maester Seymor.
A new Maester of Yevon and the leader of the Guado race. He is very helpful helping Yuna and the gang out of fierce fights with various fiends. He even pledges to marry Yuna, but if you ask me he looks to much like Sephronth to really be a good guy.
Battle system.
Every new FF game has a tweak in the battle system. This adds a lot of them to the equation, luckily it makes things easier.
First thing they change is the active time battle system that made you wait in order to attack. Now it’s a simple turn base battle system with one turn per person. Not only does it make the battles faster but it takes out the most frustrating element out of every FF game. Any FF game player knows what I am talking about your characters get slightly injured and you see that you need to cure them before your lunch to a big bad guy, you set the commands to cure your party. Only to have the enemy to cast some super duper spell twice and whipes your party out. While the game over music is playing your busy jumping up and down on your playstation in a fit of rage . (and don’t say this has never happen to you)
Another change in the battle system is that you now can change characters in and out during battle. Need a white magic spell in the middle of a battle and Yuna’s not around, no problem just hit the l1 button and switch a person out for her in. Not only does this mean you have more strategy’s ready for you in battle, it also means that leveling up your characters is now easier has no person gets to stay in or out of battle more then in previous FF game. Making it even easier it’s not required to have Tidus in your group of 3 when you battle. It makes it easier to make sure every character is on the same level.
Over drive.
Like the limit breaks in previous games overdrives are done the same way. Just wait for the bar on the bottom to fill and then you can select to do the attack. There is some Paper Mario influence in these attacks, after every one you have to hit button combinations, play slots, and fill meters do to your attacks correctly.
Sphere grid.
Speaking of levels, experience levels are out. Now introducing the sphere grid, Squares latest way of customizing the characters. Remember in 8 when they gave up complete control of our character stats, and the confusing system they put in that and the end made us wish for something similar. Well the sphere grid is that, after every battle you get special spheres to fill in the sphere grid and AP points. AP increases your sphere level, which, is how many spaces in the gird your characters can move. At any time in the game you can go into the sphere grid and move your players around the grid, and activate the nobs on it. Each nob increases stats, teaches abilities, and spells. This gives you complete control over your characters stats and spells.
Aeons.
The summon monsters are back and this time there called Aeons. The summon spells are done different in this one, and stead of the monster popping out for a minute and doing attack and then disappearing, Aeons now replace your party in the battle. Each Aeon has there own attacks and spells, along with there familiar super moves when they hit over drive mode.
Blitzball
You have heard everybody talking about Blitzball, the biggest mini game in the game. During the game you have to recruit and level up players. Blitzball is underwater soccer with an RPG twist, your characters have HP, attack, and energy points. Holding the ball looses HP, getting attack looses energy points, and attack points is how strong an attack will be on an opposing player. There are also special moves that leave bad status effects on the other team, along with special moves that increase accuracy of shots.
Blitzball is an all right game but the mere fact that you have no to limit control of your characters makes it frustrating. When your guys have the ball in there hands they go out of the way to hit opponents and get the ball taken, also it seems that the computer teams can cheat in there stats. Your energy is higher then there attack you should be able to keep the ball after the attack, but no 9 times out of 10 the computer gets the ball anyway’s. Luckily Blitzball is only needed to get some big but important items like elixer and different types of Slots for Wakka’s over drive.
Bad things about the game.
There are only two things wrong with the game, first one is it’s way to linear. There is no overworld or free exploration. Your on a set path and there is no going out of the path for the majority of the game. Come on even Quest64 let you venture off the path occasionally a FF game should definitely let you.
The next is that it is incredibly short, now it’s not going to take you under 10 hours to beat, more like around 60 for me. In comparison it took me about 80 hours to beat FF9 so FFX is just a little bit on the sort side.
Final recommendation.
If you liked past FF games then you should get this, if you haven’t played FF game this is a decent one to get started on, it has easy battle system and it’s easy to learn to play. If your looking for a FF game that has better story line and characters then you should check out 9.
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