Final Fantasy X (PS2)
Riv , 2005/03/11 20:39

Publisher:	Squaresoft
Genre:	Role-Playing Game
Players:	1 Player
Rating	Teen
Pros:	--New Sphere Grid System replaces conventional level-up system and allows full customization of characters. --Voice-acting debuts in Final Fantasy for the first time ever, adding more cinematics to scenes in the game.
Cons:	--Elimination of the conventional weapons and armor system of games past is more of a headache than a novelty. --Incredibly linear with few side-quests and this makes the game brutally easy to finish.
Also Try:	--Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) --Mega Man X Command Mission (PS2) --Kingdom Hearts (PS2)

After two prior games that were either “hit or miss” in most eyes, a lot of people waited for the debut of Final Fantasy on a next-generation system in great anticipation hoping for dramatic improvements by leaps and bounds. Final Fantasy X is a great game, but just has been the case with many of their games, either you like it or you hate it.

But I liked this one. However in this review I will still acknowledge its flaws.

The game opens up with the most immense detail seen in a Final Fantasy game to date, as well it should – this IS the Playstation 2 after all. The graphics aren’t alone in the presentation as the somber, almost haunting main theme of the game is played. This is just one of a variety of themes, ranging from the melodic and simple, to the heavier tracks, all the way to an English rock-style track entitled “Other World.” Starting this one up, you’ll also notice this is the introduction of voice acting in the game, and many scenes, not just major events in the game have voiceovers. There is a lot of criticism about the voicework of the game, and while it’s not the best voicework in the world, it’s also not the worst, and for the most part character voices fit them very accurately.
The game looks highly detailed in real-time and has several CG cinematics as well, but for the most part the graphics remains constant to the in-game engine. But enough about graphics and cinematics; this is an RPG here.

The story starts with Tidus (who can be named to whatever you want, as no characters will ever call him by name). He’s the star player of the Blitzball Team, the Zanarkand Abes, as was his father Jecht before him. Blitzball is basically some strange soccer/football hybrid that is played underwater – it also ends up being one of the key mini-games of this title. However in the middle of the big game, a giant creature known only as “Sin” rushes through Zanarkand, destroying it. A man from Tidus’ childhood known as Auron helps him defend himself through the chaos but then both Auron and Tidus are seemingly absorbed by Sin and Tidus walks up alone in another world. Tidus ends up captured by the Al-Bhed, who are blonde-haired, green-eyed people who speak in a weird language similar to German (they look like the Nazi dream actually), but is attacked by Sin once more. As he finds himself washed up on Besaid Island, he runs into a Blitzball team and meets their captain Wakka. As he mentions Zanarkand, Wakka informs him that Zanarkand was a holy place and he shouldn’t be mentioning it. Tidus comes to find that this world’s Zanarkand was destroyed 1,000 years ago – but he wants to see for himself and/or eventually get back.

Yet Tidus is not the main character of the game, but rather a summoner named Yuna. Yuna is the daughter of Braska, a summoner that defeated Sin years ago. Now she intends to embark on the same pilgrimage to defeat Sin once more with her guardians, Lulu, Kimhari, and Wakka. Tidus joins them when he meets her, and hopes to learn more about the mysteries that brought him here.

Yuna, much like other aspects of the game, is a controversial character. You either love her, or despise her, with many gamers feeling she was too “quiet and robotic” due to her voice, or “too generic magic-user-y.” Unfortunately for Yuna, fat girls like to dress like her very often, and this has become the source of yet another article here on JasonRivera.com. Be warned - if you’re eating this article may induce vomiting.

Lulu - She got some big-ass titties.

Tidus learns right away that Yuna’s father’s guardians were Auron, whom helped Tidus before, and Jecht, Tidus’ missing father assumed dead (whom by the way, Tidus grew to hate and despise for being a bad father). As you progress you begin to learn the connection between Tidus, Yuna, Jecht, and Sin, but also find out other forces and other evil characters are involved in this mystery as well.

Seymour Guado becomes this game's main antagonist for most of it.

The only problem is that the plot is very linear and you’ll find you never quite enter the World Map; the game pretty much goes in a straight line with no ability to truly deviate from it from start to finish. This angered MANY gamers who felt Final Fantasy X was more of an interactive movie than a game. Granted while FFX is well done, the loss of ability to fully explore the world makes the game not only a bit too straightforward but a bit too easy as this game takes the least amount of time to complete as any other Final Fantasy game in the series for seasoned RPG gamers.

The level-up system of previous games is replaced with the new Sphere Grid, which allows customization of your characters. Every battle you gain AP which can be used to move your characters along the grid. Using the points you can decide to upgrade different stats of the character; however you get to choose the paths of your characters to some extent. Once Tidus masters his basic abilities, you can choose whether you want him to gain the abilities of a thief, or a white mage, etc. This allows you to make characters more resourceful in battle depending on whom you like more and what your play style is like.
The battle system has also changed to a “Wait” system as opposed to the Active-Time Battles that have been within the series since Final Fantasy IV. You can see whose turn is next, and you can switch out characters at any time, which makes the game somewhat easier, to an extent since you can remove a low-HP character from battle for anyone else in the party, etc. To counter this, some characters are ineffective against some types of enemies while others are ideal. For example, Wakka is great against flying enemies. Auron is the only character who can pierce heavily-armored enemies, and Rikku is effective against machines.

Some of these changes aren’t necessarily better or worse than other games in the series, just take getting used to. The most annoying change would have to be a much disorganized weapons and armor system. You can customize weapons later in the game, but in the meanwhile you collect weapons and they just sort of accumulate in your inventory and make a big mess. Customizing is decent, but tends to get very tedious after a while.

Summoned Monsters (now known as Aeons) have also changed in the regard they are almost treated like party members and can learn new skills and spells. Yuna can summon them into battle to take the place of your party, and they generally tend to have higher HP and stronger abilities than your team, up-to and including Limit Breaks/Trances (now known as “Overdrives” in this game). While some people love to rely on Aeons, other players will almost never use them unless they truly need to. Also of note is the fact that this is the first Final Fantasy game in which 9999 is not the maximum amount of damage – but again this makes the game somewhat easier when characters such as Auron can toward the end 99999 HP of damage and essentially kill about 95% of the monsters in the game with one attack.

Sometimes the changes are different yet pleasant, but a lot of the times many of the changes made the game either too easy, or too linear. It almost feels on occasion as if Squaresoft changed tons of elements of battle just because they felt they had something to prove with this title. Although I wouldn’t mind seeing the Sphere Grid system return in future games, I’d really like a World Map and some Armor…

Fortunately the story ends up being more interesting and easier to follow than the previous two installments and ends up capturing you to the point you won’t mind a lot of the alterations, and this is clearly the best game since Final Fantasy VII. It also has an ending very much opposite of most Final Fantasy games, which although in some opinions is good, angered MANY gamers – and eventually prompted the first and only direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game… More on that at a later date.

All in all Final Fantasy X is the first game in several years that didn’t feel like a chore playing through, but at the same time it could have provided more of a challenge than it did.

-- Riv - jasonrivera@jasonrivera.com