Final Fantasy X was the first big name game Squaresoft made for the Playstation 2. It was a fairly big change in how they've made games in the past and has several things that many people point to as the start of a "modern" Square. Because of that, there are some criticisms. Before I get into my "review," I want to talk about them.
People yell at FFXIII as a corridor simulator. Some ask why FFX doesn't get criticized for the same thing. FFX isn't an open world game, which every previous game in the franchise was at some point. Instead, Tidus walks down a long, straight path to reach his destinations. There is little deviation from those paths, and there is no denying that. It was, as the title here would suggest, a loss tradition. But, as someone who hates XIII but loves X, there is a significant difference between the two "hallway" systems.
Spira feels alive! You meet an assortment of people going about their lives who take time out of their schedules to talk to you and tell Yuna how cool she and her dad are. People in Besaid pay no mind to you, and Killika citizens are busy dealing with the aftermath of Sin. In Luca, you see the festivities around the Maesters and the Bliztall tournament, but no one cares about you. Everyone is preoccupied in Mi'hen and Mushroom Rock to care too much about you. Shoopufs gonna puf at the Moonflow, and the guado guard the Farplane. Along the roads, you meet a decent sized cast of reoccurring characters. Gatta and Luzzu are among the first, and you can have a tremendous effect on their lives. Lucil, Elma, and Clasko take their place, and you can keep having an impact on one of them. Early on, The Aurochs are everywhere you go. Maechen is always somewhere nearby to tell you long lost secrets of the world, and O'aka has more character growth than the entire cast of FFXII. Brother and the Al Bhed show up at the start of the game, but they're not just filler. You meet them again at the end. Spira is a world that is, ironically, teeming with life. We're constantly hearing the stories of Braska, Jecht, and Auron from ten years ago. It's filled with people trying to save the world however they're able. The Crusaders and Al Bhed try to kill Sin, and the Al Bhed try to protect summoners from themselves. The Yevon adherents want to bring people to repentance, and the guado live to serve Seymour. Even all the random dudes out for a walk in a fiend infested landscape gives me the feeling things will happen without us being there. It doesn't because it's a video game, but what can ya do? We're constantly surrounded by these people until we reach Mt. Gagazet. Until we're branded traitors by Yevon and are to be killed on sight. Until we're at the end of our journey. Then, and only then, are we truly alone. Shelinda is nowhere to be seen, nor is Maechen, and Wantz never makes it to Zanarkand. Even our rivals, Dona and Issaru, are unseen past this point. To say nothing of Belgemme and Bahamut!
Cocoon, though, is a world where nothing is going on. The entire world revolves around your team of criminals. There are no NPCs to get to know. No one else feels relevant. There's no reason to write a song about any location in this world. Which is odd since there are two worlds! And the people you do see are forgettable for most of the game. What happens to the NORA agents working with Snow at the start or Hope's dad? I just looked this up, and there are only five NPCs I'd categorize as non-hostile NPCs. Outside of Natalus, we have no idea what's going on in the greater world. There's no Operation Mi'hen equivalent or Al Bhed doing nefarious things in the name of kindness. There are no twists about the nature of Sin, Seymour and guado treachery, or Unsent people! It's boring and bland. And that's just the world. To think, I could compare character development across the game...
But anyway, I've written enough about Final Fantasy X over the lifetime of this blog, so let's wrap this up! Here's a list of things I hate about Final Fantasy X:
Um...it's not an open world? It is a downgrade over Final Fantasy IX. I loved exploring the world, soaring through the sky, and you don't really get that feeling here, though. Starring down on a map just doesn't hit the same notes. I'm fine with that, but...uh...I'm stretching here.
I've been thinking this through for about seventy hours, but there is nothing about FFX that I can outright say I hate. I strongly dislike several of the mini-games, but I don't hate them. So what are my favorite parts?
The characters are pretty good. Some shine more than others, but that's by design. The game revolves around Yuna, Tidus, and Auron, in that order of importance. Wakka has his moments, as does Rikku. Lulu is relevant here and there, but Kimahri is kinda just kinda around. I like his backstory, though, so I have no problem with him being in the game. Most of them grow and overcome challenges to be better people. Yuna is a naive child who tries to keep her emotions bottled in. Despite her role, she doesn't want to rely on her guardians' help. But all of that changes when her plans fail, and she falls in love. She's still the pillar of the group, destined to die to save the world, but it is our next character to bring about these changes.
Tidus is a naive child who reached superstardom too early. More critiques of the game are thrown at him about "being emo," but it's easy to forget both of these people are seventeen. One has been training to die her whole life, and the other is the son of a star who has stepped into this father's shoes. Neither of them are ready for such tasks, and neither really know what to do in their roles. When you're told to die in your teens, it's gonna mess you up. When you learn you're not real and your slightly abusive dad is responsible for the deaths of billions of people, it's gonna mess you up. There wasn't much reconciliation between Tidus and his dad at the end, but I don't think there needed to be. I see where Tidus is coming from, but how many scenes with the two of them did Tidus remember? I don't have a great relationship with my dad and can only bring up the bad memories. Do I want to "re-connect"? I dunno. Tidus said his peace, Jecht understands, and the two high fived at the end. Seemed pretty amicable to me.
Wakka grows from a product of his upbringing to understanding why his racism is unacceptable. He changes. That's all you can ask for in someone like that. Once again, a lot of people insist that Wakka is a racist and not worth liking. His scene with Cid should have changed that thinking, but maybe no one saw it? He's the representative for the general populace for the player. He shows us what everyone in Spira is "supposed" to be thinking. He, and the rest of Spira, are "supposed" to have questionable ethics until he shows us how much the world has changed at the end.
Rikku doesn't have much. She's a tad bit overly emotional, but she's fifteen, I think. I don't know much about girls that age, but Hollywood tells me that's how they act. Although, can you be over emotional when your dear cousin is going to die soon? I wonder how much the two of them interacted over the years?
Lulu only gets about three scenes that I'd point out. First at the Yunaleska fight, at the end, and in the Sunkern Cave. She's a calm, cold, and calculating woman who doesn't like to mess around. That's cool, but Auron fills a similar role just as well and has more relevance. When she shows her emotions, it's nice to see. When she's mad at Yunaleska and when we send Lady Ginnem are pivotal scenes.
Kimahri is a shame, though. He gets one neat scene but quickly fades away.
We can see Auron change over the course of ten years. The prim and proper monk becomes cool with the drunkard, Jecht, and begins to feel scared when his friends are about to die. His anger rising towards Yunaleska just before he tries to follow them is powerful. He's a less-than-silent watcher during the pilgrimage, but he's always there to conduct us as long as we stay on the tracks. He even jokes from time to time. He can be a bit narrow minded when he focuses on the pilgrimage too much. I would have liked to see a bit more personality, but we saw enough when he remembers stories from the past.
And everyone has a role to fit in battle. Rikku's niche and limited, and Kimahri's role is all the roles, meaning he has no role. It falls apart with them, but everyone else was a part of the ever changing battle team. Yuna heals and summons, Lulu casts magic on mobs, Auron slices armored foes, Wakka is the archer, and Tidus is good against fast things. You knew you could always count on them to defeat whatever stands in our way!
This carries into how much I love the combat system in the game! The ability to change your party on the fly with no ramifications is marvelous! You can even swap gear too! If you start a battle with Auron, Tidus, and Wakka but are up against a flan and a larger than average mob, swap in Lulu to kill the small guy, and Yuna can summon someone to sweep. And if you're against a wolf and a bird next time, swamp back in your physical guys. You're never caught out, and you never need a strategy to fit all holes. I've said before how I didn't like FFVII's three person team since it makes everyone feel samey. FFX does the three man group, but I never felt limited. I get to enjoy the presence of everyone and never felt like I left anyone out. I don't get why this system took so long to reach games or why I haven't seen it since!
The Sphere Grid is kinda hit-and-miss, though. I liked feeling how every battle meant something since you leveled up pretty often. It can get tedious, however, needing to enter the menu after every two or three encounters. It seems like it was designed to indicate if a character was at a proper level. Most fights are over in one or two turns, which keeps battles from feeling stale. If they're not, though, you know who to grind up so that Wakka can one-shot the birds in Macalania, which was the only time I left underleveled. It's a shame magic kinda falls off at the very late game. I struggled to level up Lulu towards the end and had no idea what to do with Rikku once I reached the end of her path on the grid. Did I use Kimahri once I got his Celestial Weapon?
It is another mechanic where tradition went out the window. There's no ATB system here, but speed is essential. I think there's a meter when looking at the turn order, but it's a small part of the window some players won't notice. If you're into the ATB stuff, pretend it's one wait mode the whole game with no delay between actions.
And I haven't mentioned customization! The ability to edit your weapons and armor to any situation was mind blowing as a kid and is pretty cool as an adult. It can sometimes be a little hard to get the gear you need, like zombieproof against Yunaleska, but you can. The arena sidequest even helps you, rewarding you with items needed to make the effects just before you need them. It all connects!
Chrono Trigger may have the best OST in all video gamedom, but Final Fantasy X gives it a run for its money. I remember coming home from school, equipping Lulu with a no-encounter armor, and just walking around Spira to listen to the music. I'd walk from Besaid to Zanarkand and just enjoy the music the game has to offer along that route. When I learned you can buy the music spheres in Luca, I would throw on "Auron's Theme" and a few others and do homework until my mom yelled at me to stop playing video games. She didn't think I could multitask, apparently. She can wash dishes, yell at her imaginary friends, and listen to the radio, but, I guess, I can't vibe to "Besaid" and do multiplication? Every song is so good and memorable. I added half of the soundtrack to my Spotify playlist and recently heard several lo-fi hip hop tracks on Youtube that I come back to all the time. It's a perfect mix of peaceful, nostalgic, and hopeful and adds a bit of forlorn love in there from time to time. And "Challenge" is just perfect when you fight a boss! I'm pretty sure I gave it my favorite boss theme in the FF Music Challenge. I know much of the world is based on the South Pacific, but I have no idea if the music is inspired from there as well. Every track fits its place perfectly, and I can't imagine walking the Moonflow listening to anything other than "Movement in Green." Actually, I can, and that's one of the reasons I don't like X-2.
I enjoy long term mini-games. I'm terrible at the Monster Arena stuff, but I enjoyed capturing all the monsters around Spira. Not only is it another reason to return to old haunts, but if you're into super-bosses, FFX has about thirty of them. Blitzball may be my favorite mini-game. I have an old save file with 250 hours on it. I'm pretty sure 150 of them are just in Bliztball. I've used a wide array of characters, all offense and all defense or only bad players. I've dared people to score against me and tried to score twenty before. I think my best is fourteen. The rewards for Wakka can be a drag to get, but if you don't care, realize, or have all the time in the world, then what's it matter? I could never find a second forward, though... Sure, I'll never do the Lightning Dodging stuff because it sucks, and the Cactuar Village and Butterfly Catching game are tedious and bland, but when they're good they're great. And when they're bad, just don't do them! More importantly, they all lead somewhere. Unlike Jumping Rope in IX, the card game in VIII, most of Gold Saucer, everything in X leads somewhere. There's no reason to re-do the fun motorcycle or snowboarding scenes in VII other than personal enjoyment. FFX gets you Celestial Weapon gear, which gives a massive boost to your characters!
The plot is superb!. There's a multitude of twists and turns that younger me never saw coming. A few are a bit out there (Dream Zanarkand), but it does fit into the lore of the game. Before those twists, you're asking questions that a video game should be asking. Like, "How'd I get here, and how do I get home?"Tidus never realizes how serious this trip is until pretty late in the game, but the foreshadowing is there for anyone who goes back to look for it. The random silences aren't just there for reflection; no one wants Yuna to die. As someone who's never liked religion and only has negative reinforcement from that cult I joined in college, I dig it when a religion ends up being totally corrupt. This is an in-game loss of tradition, by the way, when we see it crumble at the end.
This kinda helps Seymour out a little bit. I have mixed feelings towards him in a vacuum, but he fits with the world very well. On the other hand, I've also called him a knockoff Kefka. He's all about power and reducing the world to nothing, but he has a slightly different reason why. He wants to end sorrow in Spira, and he thinks the only way to do that is to destroy everything and revert it back to nothingness. Seymour is more of a cynical nihilism fella, whereas Kefka wants to destroy everything for the sake of doing it. Both crave power to destroy, but Seymour has a hint of kindness in his actions, even if that's utter balderdash. I think I've convinced myself that Seymour is a better character but since he's not over-the-top, or even the final boss, so he'll never the credit he's deserved. Great hair, though!
I've already said how much I loved the world of Spira, so I won't reiterate it here. If one of those "if you're sucked into the last video game world you played" on Facebook posts, I hope it's Spira where I'll be warped to. I don't know if I want more sequels (what we got already is pretty not good), but I want prequels! I want to know about the Macina War, summoners, and to see all the ruins we walked through during the game.
I spent $10 to replace my old FFX disk. The "new" one was still busted, but I managed to get through. A part of me wants to splurge on a brand new copy because I think Final Fantasy X may be the best game in the franchise. The characters, the music, the story, the world, the battle system, and everything else are top tier in JRPGs. I've been going back and forth on my favorite in the franchise for a few years, but I'm ready to say X is the best. Is it better than Chrono Trigger? I dunno. Is it better than Star Ocean 2? Honestly? Maybe! I won't gush anymore, though.
FFX-2 is a strange sequel that I don't know I'll play. I don't hate it, but I don't find it very good, either. It's nice to see the "happier-ever-after" scenarios for some of our favorite side characters, but I feel it drags on too long, and you need a guide to get 101%. Not to mention pPhere Break *shudders*
See you on Monday for either FFIV or a brand new franchise!
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