Final Fantasy X

The Good
Ever since Final Fantasy series reached the "mainstream", its creators have been paying much attention to visuals and cinematic presentation.

Final Fantasy X is no exception: the first thing you notice when you fire it up are graphics and cutscenes. From a technical viewpoint, the game does to Playstation 2 what Final Fantasy VII did to Playstation - pushes the console to its limits. Not only are the character graphics fabulous - the backgrounds match them fully. Part of them are still pre-rendered, but there are also some very impressive real-time 3D visuals.

CG movies are absolutely gorgeous; while many of them are simply technical "eye candy", some are really memorable thanks to their usage of camera work, visuals, and music. Yuna's wedding, for example, is truly a great piece of CG animation. In short, expect the usual Square artistry and cinematic talent: if you play their games just to see beautiful cutscenes, Final Fantasy X would be perfect for you.

Dramatic storytelling has always been an important component in Final Fantasy games, and Final Fantasy X certainly does not disappoint in this aspect. It delivers a personal, romantic tale with a touch of melancholy and sadness that I'm always ready to appreciate.

The story is told entirely from Tidus' perspective, taking the shape of his memories about the past, with his reflexions and thoughts about what has happened to him. Unlike other Final Fantasies, where heroes come from different parts and join together despite having different motives, Final Fantasy X is fully concentrated on Tidus' personal experience. He is the only stranger, the only outsider, the one who has lost his home forever. There are many plot elements here we've seen many times in previous installments of the series: romantic love, family matters, psychological conflicts, and so on. The narrative also tries to deal with deeper issues, such as religion and its influence on people's lives - though, like most games, it hardly convinces in that aspect.

Spira, the world of Final Fantasy X, has an interesting Asian flavor, superficially resembling South China, or Thailand with a bit of India. The melancholic, "sleepy" and exotic atmosphere of the game is complemented by a lovely musical score, with the piano introduction standing out as one of Nobuo Uematsu's most nostalgically characteristic creations.

The new character growth system is pretty interesting - that is, until you realize that it's just a fancy version of abilities that have been present in the series for a long time. Still, from time to time (actually only near the end of the game) Final Fantasy X does manage to convey a bit of that magical RPG-ing feeling that comes when you train a summoned monster to inflict obscene amount of damage by your own choice.

The Bad
For years, Final Fantasy series has been trying to set itself apart from the formulaic, linear structures of its genre brethren. Optional companions, jobs, abilities, hidden areas and monsters - all that distinguished those games from generic Japanese RPGs that told you exactly how they should be played. Alas, Final Fantasy X seems to be the first one in the series that neglects precisely those aspects that made it refreshingly and appealingly different.

Final Fantasy X is too linear. There is no way around it, and it really hurts. It is by far the game's most serious flaw, and it sucks the fun out of it. Lack of a world map and narrow hostile areas means that exploration in the style of earlier Final Fantasies is no longer possible. You follow a pre-determined path for almost the entire game; only before the last dungeon you finally acquire an airship. But you can't physically navigate it; all you can do is select a location from a menu.

Granted, there are still a few optional locations with side quests and optional bosses the series is famous for. But the sensation of exploring the world on your own is sorely missed. Remember how fun it was to drive vehicles and even breed chocobos to uncover more and more of the world map in Final Fantasy VII? Unfortunately, you won't have any of that here. You'll travel from one small town to another in a straight line. Hostile areas connecting those settlements often consist of plain roads without any branches. The only interesting locations are temples where you'll have to solve puzzles to proceed.

Customization is lacking as well. Gone are the rich equipment possibilities of earlier Final Fantasies: all you can do now is have a generic class representative equip one single type of weapon and armor. There is still the relatively free-form character development the series has become known for (i.e. you can eventually have your tank cast black magic or whatever), but this is achieved only through the needlessly complicated ability grid. It feels more artificial - and certainly less expansive - than the convoluted system of Final Fantasy VIII.

The series' trademark active-time combat has been replaced by a vanilla turn-based system. Apparently it was done to make battles more tactical; in reality, they only became more predictable and devoid of challenge. The possibility to replace a character at any time during the battle simply means that you have an overpowered party with a fully healed "bench" preventing you from ever coming close to danger.

The Bottom Line
Some people play Final Fantasy games for their melodramatic stories and artistically appealing cinematic direction. I certainly do not oppose those; but to me, Final Fantasy is also (and primarily) about traveling, finding little secrets, and having different ways to build up your characters - that is, all things pertaining to gameplay. And that is, sadly, precisely where Final Fantasy X falls behind its more entertaining, longer-lasting predecessors.

The Good
- The graphics. While they can't make a horrible game good, they can make a good game great. In the case of Final Fantasy X, it makes a fairly good game better. FMVs are better than ever, and even the in-engine cutscenes are visually impressive.

• The ability to change characters and equipment during battle

• Pokémon-esque side-quest.

• The new sphere grid system of character improvement is an interesting addition, and allows the player to guide his character's development much more closely than most console RPGs to date.

• CTB is a good system for battles, now if only they could divorce themselves from random encounters

• The Fayth's sphere-swapping puzzles. They're not particularly challenging, but it's nice to have a few minutes of actually doing something in this game.

• Summoned creatures are more than just super-magic-attacks as in previous titles, but are actual playable characters with their own stats and skills that the player can improve and customize.
  
  The Bad
  - FFX might as well play itself. Conversations are scripted and offer little interaction, monster/boss battles require some strategic input, but are generally quite simple, and there are really no chances for the player to feel like he is guiding the story toward anything but the predetermined conclusion.

• Voice acting is almost always very good, but the lip-sync is set for Japanese, so the dialogue easily loses its dramatic edge for the same reasons Godzilla movies lose it.

• 99% linear. The world map is gone, a mini-map shows you exactly where to go next, and Tidus and company are unable to return to previously visited towns until the latter parts of the game.

• The story is interesting and told well, but some of the elements that make the story fresh and interesting are dulled to anyone with a history of playing console RPGs. FFX's inspiration seems to rely heavily on the Breath of Fire series.

• Tidus isn't the sort of person most video game players would aspire to imitate.
  
  The Bottom Line
  Final Fantasy X is a forty-hour long movie (or longer) with some side quests and a few puzzles. It's worth playing through to the end once.

The Good
Back when Sony made better business decisions for their PlayStation brand, they realised that it's not only the hype and technical specs selling a system, it's also carried by a company's most successful game franchises. Just to compare the PS2 and PS3, a fully-fledged Final Fantasy game for the PS3, though announced, is still missing in early 2008, almost two years after the console's release. When FFX hit stores in 2001 it was a mere year after the PS2 had started selling in Japan.

Game designers at Square (which then was "only" Square and not Squareenix yet) realised that they had to take the series to the next level. Graphically they certainly succeeded. Final Fantasy X plays in an oddly anachronistic world that appears to mix sci-fi, elements of the legend of Atlantis and the Bible and contemporary culture, all set before a colourful and lush tropical backdrop. For the first time in the series, the entire game world is rendered in real-time 3D, getting rid of the until then standard overworld map. For their time characters and scenarios were breathtaking in terms of design as well as technically. How much attention was paid to the overall presentation can easily be seen in another first for the series, a voice-over.

Diving into the world of FFX, the experience feels entirely fresh. Its world is interesting, the characters and architecture visually exotic, the cutscenes and overall FX as stunning as players have come to expect from the Final Fantasy franchise, and then some. The story, a religious quest to redeem a world that is flawed in the eyes of the evil opposing it, greatly benefits from the overall oceanic feel.

The Bad
Although visually absolutely stunning in 2001, FFX's gameplay fails to bring as many innovations. Before tactical real-time combat made its debut in FFXII, FFX took a step back and exchanged the then standard ATB system in which characters' turns in battle were determined by a decreasing and refilling time gauge. Battles in FFX are strictly turn-based instead, a feature which hadn't been used in the main series since Final Fantasy III. New elements include being able to exchange characters in-battle and small quicktime events to further empower special abilities, harking back to the team roster and special abilities from FFVI. All this, however, doesn't really make combat a lot more dynamic. If anything it feels even simpler because weary fighters can be exchanged for fresh ones and a sort of ticker on the top of the screen constantly provides players with information on how to best beat the monster they are up against.

The battle system in combination with character development makes the game feel sluggish sometimes. All characters possess only two item slots in which only items from a predetermined class can be placed for each character. Although weapons get customisable later on, very little ever changes about the characters' appearance. Furthermore, the Sphere Grid used to level up characters by spending ability points to move a counter and unlock new abilities or boost old ones appears needlessly cryptic and labyrinthine. One might argue it is little more than a glorified and overcomplicated ability tree.

Stepping away from the series' pre-rendered backgrounds allows for a more immersive feeling while travelling the world. However, this doesn't change anything about the fact that paths are still largely laid out for players to tread. Linearity and formula in general have been and still are a problem of the FF series. This becomes apparent in FFX because gameplay especially in the beginning is often a mere sequence of walking a few steps, fighting a random battle and engaging in one of the many and long-winded talks or cutscenes. While the game certainly gears up later, newcomers will have to muster some patience. As mentioned before, the story is carried by its exotic setting and diverse plot elements - sadly, the characters aren't always that interesting. The hero is an RPG standard, clueless, blade-wielding youngster with daddy issues, his mentor a silent swordsman, his best friend a lovable oaf and his love interest a mild-mannered, staff wielding enchantress. (Or summoner in this case.) The sometimes awkward English dubbing doesn't help much.

The Bottom Line
Final Fantasy X makes a bold effort to be for the PlayStation 2 what Final Fantasy VII was for the original PlayStation and the series. Graphics, design and music are without a doubt worthy of the series but it seems as though too much effort went into those areas because gameplay as such is lacking interactivity. As such FFX is a mediocre console RPG, albeit on the high level players have come to expect from developer Square.

The Good
First things first, I have to let everyone know that I am a fan of the Final Fantasy series, so some of my points might not exactly be impartial.

The graphics...pretty good. Most people rate a game very heavily on its graphics, but I could really care less. If it has bad graphics, I dont care, as long as the game is good. If the game is good, and has good graphics, then more power to you.

Pertaining to random encounters... many people think that random encounters are bad, but I think they are very good. Every so often, I admit, they get annoying, like when you need to save the game, but keep getting attacked, but without random encounters, you would see the enemies coming and therefore would have 1: a set number of battles during the game and 2: you could avoid every battle, which would not make for a fun game.

The sphere Grid...very clever and innovative way to level up, allowing for complete customization, which i love very much. First time I have seen anything like it.

The characters...some can be seen from previous characters in FF7 or other FF games. there are, in my mind, 4 good characters: Wakka, Auron, Lulu, and Kimarhi. Wakka was cool and goofy, with a funny Hawain accent. Auron was just plain cool (Vincent). Lulu was the only good female character in FFX, mainly because she was the only one who didn't annoy the crap out of me(Tifa simply because of the man-made breasts). Kimarhi was a good character just because he was a ronso, and ronso's look cool (RedXIII anyone?).

Blitzball...cool minigame, but it gets old

The Bad
The storyline....not very original, but it wasn't too bad.

The characters... Tidus is a whiny little punk who even Rikku could beat up, which brings me to my next point...Rikku whiny little kid (like Yuffie from FF7)...Yuna was too caught up in that religon to ever do anything cool (Aeris)...

The game was WAY to easy though, and it only took me about 25-30 hours to beat with most of the sidequests

The Bottom Line
FF7 was better, but if you have already played that one, go out and pick up FFX

The Good
When I had a ps1, I heard that name... 'Final Fantasy' being repeated by many people I asked about their games collection. I played it enough to find that it was a game genre I never spent the time to explore. Eventually sequels were made, until the 10th in the series. I gave up the final fantasy series after my first experience of the 7th. I found it quite a long game!

After years of 'Tekken', 'Sonic adventure', I was looking for a game which I could settle down and enjoy, much like a film. I was really impressed by the opening of this game, the overall presentation was enough to keep me playing. The same type turn-based system is used again, but, it works rather well!

The story is a long one! The extreme depth this game has is totally astounding. Each time I saved my game I was quite shocked at the time I was totalling up... 23 hours, 29 hours... I was just about half way through!

Eventually, I completed just about everything you can do. I learnt to understand another language, I gathered all celestial weapons and mutated and defeated every monster in the game! My last save time clocked in at 92 hours. Definitely the longest level I have ever played.

The Bad
To sit down and tell someone that I played 92 hours of game within 2 weeks was quite a new experience for me. Also, as new as an experience as being stuck on the same boss for 3 days in the same game!

The old turn based system is somewhat critisized by gamers and new gamers all over the world, and, is also praised by gamers all over the world too. "To each his own" as the saying goes! Some down-sides to this game are the long cut scenes you can't skip just before you go fight that same boss again (I know plenty of people who have gotten stuck on a boss in 'Final Fantasy X' for 7 days!) 'Final Fantasy X-2' will be released soon! It is a remake of this game with better graphics and more costumes etc.. But, I always rate things as a first hand experience. I experienced this game first and was very impressed by its style, scale and boundless energy it has. I only hope that the next in the series will have an option to skip cut scenes. This game is a great one! I will always keep it and play it again. But if you only play games for about 30 minutes a time, expect to be playing this for a very long time!

The Bottom Line
Its is a turn-based strategy/role playing game (RPG) with an intense, deeply involving structure with fabulous characters and buckets of gameplay. I got a little annoyed with the old 'random battle system', which is basically- you guide your character in a jungle, for example, and random enemies engage you in a duel.. even happening again directly after you win the battle.

As that is the best way to upgrade your characters abilties etc, this is a vital part of the game, but, it does get annoying when you dont really fancy a fight!

'Final Fantasy X' is definitely the best of the series, there are totally new features in this which set it apart from the others, such as, a sphere grid character upgrade system and character voice-overs!

I love the plot, the characters, the world you explore. You will genuinely miss the characters you have just spent the best part of 4 whole days with, and, there are cool religious meanings in this which keep you guessing. This game is definitely an epic one, this is what RPG's are all about!

The Good
- I like the change of the character's perception and characteristics as time passes. It seem to me that they earn and deserve a lot of respect for their determination to face their loathful environment to build a solid foundation of cooperation to create hope and changes. Otherwise, it could be said that they just have learnt to be a little more mature and emotional. - Some good music and theme (I love that 'Suteki Da Ne' and 'To Zanarkand'). - Emotional video clips. - Good blitzball game, which take a while or two fully understand. - Excellent graphic, only just sometimes the character look too realistic (clip show Tidus and Rikku look too Jap) may differ to the usual or intended character.

The Bad
The new layout, battle and leveling system of FFX is very different to FF8 and FF9. When i first play as that riff-raff, i was wondering if it is one of the fake products (that thought still give me a shiver sometimes). - The storyline is pathetic in the beginning as the setting is totally different to other FF. There is very little information given and I didn’t know what was going on or what to do. There are times where the storyline line then is lost in despair, draining our interest from the game. If it wasn't for my curiosity, to learn more about the characters, I would have gave up and play Kingdom Heart instead. And for that reason, i can't bare to play it again right from the beginning. –Some event in the storyline disappoints me. I was totally disgusted at the attitude and interaction between the characters. -The storyline is too short (i can't wait for dual-layered disc FF). –There are one to many features Squaresoft has changed, it’s not a good thing.

The Bottom Line
Warning: It seem true that people spend too many time on this game as other reviews and people stated. I, myself, spend 20 hours playing non-stop once, before feeling too tired and slept for 4 hours before spending another day on it. No, i didn't eat or did anything else except no.1 and no.2. It was fortunate that the gameplay only last around 40 hours, i mean i can't last any longer.

The Good
First off let me say that I've never played ANY of the previous Final Fantasy games before. I have no clue how they worked, or how this one matches up to the previous ones.

I do know that after playing FFX for a day or two, that it is the most gorgeous, intense, and incredible game I've played in a while.

The plot of the story encircles Tidus - the star Blitzball player from the Zanarkand Abes. After the being known as "Sin" attacks Zanarkand, Tidus is thrown 1000 years into the future - to a land known as Spira. He eventually ends up with a beautiful summoner named Yuna, and is then wrapped up in her quest to defeat Sin.

The graphics in this game are breathtaking. The movements of the characters are fluid, and ultra-realistic. The Aeons summons alone are enough to make our jaw drop. But what I found that set the game apart, is that in most cases, you can't tell when the pre-generated cutscenes stop and the in-game engine takes over. The cutscenes' quality is equal to that of the FF movie that was released last year, and the transition between cutscene to in-game in flawless.

The sound is fantastic. This is the first FF game to feature full audio voice for all the main characters, and the localization team did a top-notch job with the translation. Although I find Tidus' voice a little whiney, I think it sounds great. The music, although repetative in the battles, is great as well.

The controls, once you learn them are extremely intuitive. You can either use the analog joystick or the D-pad to control you character.

The gameplay itself is a blast. One of the newest features to the series, is the ability to "hot-swap" your characters while in combat. This makes for more strategic planning of your battles and allows characters with healing abilties to jump in - heal your wounded - and then jump out as well.

Another interesting change is the sphere grid. Gone are the days of experience points. It's little complex but the jist of it is this. You have a HUGE grid of spheres, that allow to you branch out and level up your character. You advance in spheres by defeating creatures in battle, and you level your characters up by collecting spheres that you collect at the end of each battle.

Overdirve stirkes are also done well. In most cases and Overdrive strike happens when you've battle enough creatures to fill you Overdrive bar which unleashes a very powerful attack. But the way the attack are done is cool. Instead of just hitting a button, you have to do a certain pattern on your controller. For instance when you use an overdrive attack with Wakka you have to line up 3 colors on a slot machine type display. The quicker you line them up the more damage you do. Or with Kilmarhi's attack you have to do a certain sequence of button pushes, and the faster you complete the sequence, the more damage it does. I find this technique is very cool. I means that overdrive attacks don't automatically hit your opponent with your full strength, the same as real life, your strongest attacks might not do the damage you hope for.

The Bad
Not much so far. It's an awesome game.

The Bottom Line
Bottom Line: If you've never played an RPG before and you happen to own a PS2, then this game is for you. If you've ever seen screenshots, they don't do the game justice. The plot, controls, graphics, sound, gameplay, are so finely tuned, that it's impossible not to like the game.

A must-buy for any RPG lover.

The Good
The most noticeable aspect of the game, right from the start, is just how beautiful the game looks. The project took years to finish, and you can tell a good part of the time was spent polishing the character models and making the world feel real. Then again, ever since the games moved to 3D graphics they have always had a very real feel to them... it's something to expect when the name "Final Fantasy" is put on the label. Don't forget how great the video clips are, too.

It is also important to note that, while it has already had nine games before it, not including the handheld incarnations or Tactics, Final Fantasy X still maintains a very fresh and fun feel. Most other franchises that have managed to hit the tenth game have all failed in this aspect considerably, Might and Magic 10 gets an (dis?)honorable mention here. For example, instead of making miniscule or NO changes to game play, Square ditched the Active Time Battle system it has had for the longest time and used a turn-based system instead.

While on the topic of the new battle system it is important to point out that I did not welcome the idea of a turn-based battle system from the start. "Turn-based? How lame!" Instead of being a boring and simple system, it's very well thought out and fun. You also have monsters that have weaknesses to specific characters and while you can only have three characters active in battle, the game allows you to swap an active character with one of the ones that are sitting out. As for the summoned creatures this time around, they're called "Aeons" and instead of existing as flashy versions of spells they are actual controllable characters during battles complete with spells and abilities.

The characters in this game are also characters that you grow to care about as the story progresses. They have depth, the voice-actors who portray them do an excellent job most of the time, and you rarely have difficulty believing the characters would do/say what they do. This is a nice change from Final Fantasy 9, where the only character I could say I grew attached to was Vivi. As far as experience levels and making your characters more powerful goes, the old experience system has been changed slightly. Now you gain "ability points" and at certain amounts of AP you gain "sphere levels." With each sphere level you gain, you get to move the character along a grid and activate abilities as you go. It sounds restrictive, but there are several ways you can hop on to a different grid or activate "hidden" abilities.

The story is also enjoyable and keeps you interested, although it could have used a little more fleshing out and back-story.

The Bad
The thing at the top of the "don't like" list is the very small amount of side-quests in the game. Those side quests themselves are small, or consist of doing very tedious things... like dodging 200 lightning bolts to get a special item. A lot of those tasks also don't have any clues giving you reason to do them, and I only know to do them because of playonline.com, Square's online strategy guide.

Resulting partially from the lack of several side quests, the game is also incredibly short. When you get to the final battle after only 40 hours it is sort of disappointing... not to mention the final battle is totally anti-climatic. Meaning, so easy it is impossible to lose. Fortunately you have plenty of difficult ones just before it.

The musical score gets a minus as well in this game, because there are a lot of themes that any Final Fantasy fan will recognize as simple remixes of previous games' music. Some songs were original, but enough of the music was remixed to make me disappointed.

Another minus, although it's not a big one, is that when you finally get the airship, the way you fly anywhere is by selecting the destination from a list. There's no soaring through the air with fun music going on in the background in this Final Fantasy... although I get a feeling it could primarily be because of budget and time constraints more than design.

The Bottom Line
This is one of the many RPGs any RPG fan will want to add to a collection. Final Fantasy fans will not be disappointed either. It has enough of the old mixed with the new to make existing fans happy and to create new ones. The voice acting is above average, everything is very pretty, and it rarely gets boring.

You can expect to see the same recurring names as in the previous games, familiar monsters, Shiva (who has never looked better!), and a multitude of other things fans like me will be looking for. These familiar things are combined with enough new things to keep Final Fantasy alive and kicking, unlike most other franchises that hit the double-digits.

Go get it, play it, and get ready for the next one... because if the next one is going to look any better I can't wait to see it.

The Good
I loved the fact that, despite the then-prevailing trend to make RPG combat a twitch-fest, the combat is turn-based with interesting tactical choices. I loved that you could switch team members during each fight so that everybody got experience - one of the bad traditions of console RPGs is presenting you a palette of interesting playable characters but forcing you to concentrate on only a subset. The "grid" for character development was original and interesting, but very confusing at first. The subgame was interesting but optional, both as it should be. The graphics were very pretty, the storyline interesting (if as predictable and over-foreshadowed as always in console RPGs).

The Bad
Like the other FF games (and really, nearly all console RPGs), the plot is too linear and you are more-or-less forced to follow a specific path. The only choices of path involve whether to pursue optional side-quests that become available late in the game.

The story is not in the league of Grandia or Breath of Fire III, but nor is it as unsubtle and formulaic as most of the genre.

The Blitzball subgame is an interesting idea; in actuality it's basically a soccer game, which fails to live up to the interesting 3D game it's supposed to represent. OTOH, a good interface and implementation of that 3D game would be hard to learn and use, and occupy way too much space for a subgame.

The Bottom Line
One of the best console RPGs I've ever played, ranking right after the classic Grandia mostly because there are no surprises in the story, and because while there are at least as many meaningful character development decisions, they only become available very late in the game. Most of its flaws are common to the genre, and it's a lot of fun.

The Good
Being the FF title in next gen I was skeptical like everyone else about how it would out. Final Fantasy X is a timeless classic with a deep storyline relatable characters and conflict rivaling Final Fantasy VII. New changes include a sphere grid leveling system and turn-based strategy like Xenosaga. Both welcome changes to the usual grinding of leveling up via experience points. The graphics engine also push the PS2 to the limit. The environment feels so alive and CGI really makes Final Fantasy games what they are today. But what really makes or breaks games are emotion, attachment to the characters and music above all else and thats when you bring in Nobue Uematsu. He has complied possibly the greatest soundtrack of all-time in Final Fantasy X. And lets not forget about the story, with so many plot twists and turns and depth into everybody's backstories makes it so hard not to love (almost) everyone.

The Bad
I know every main character can't be a hard ass like Cloud or Squall but Tidus was a little too whiny through the first 1/3 of the game for my taste but he tends to grow on you. The difficulty level in Final Fantasy X also worried me. It seems with the new Sphere Grid system the game is a little too easy until about the second battle with Seymour. Every RPG has to have puzzles I know ut the Cloister of Trials was just laughable. It felt more like a choir than a brainteaser, especially in Bevelle. Every RPG also has to have mini-games and side quests and most of those were just stupid like blitzball or chocobo riding. Blitzball may have been more fun from a first person view perhaps? I know these things lead to bigger and better aspects of the game, but it just feels forced upon you. I know all these things are small but can scare some people away.

The Bottom Line
Minor quibbles aside, this game came out seven years and is still one of the best games I've ever played and most definitely the best RPG. Since the PS3 isn't backwards compatible or never had a PS2 in the first place I suggest picking one up cheap on ebay because this the single best reason to pick one up.

The Good
Almost everything! The CGI animations are supremely breathtaking. There are secrets everywhere. You can play a sport anytime you want! Plus not to mention all their Super Cool weapons. And for the first time ever in the series, they talk with real voices. Plus they got a super cool TOUGH enemy from a past Final Fantasy Game...

The Bad
There were some minors that can be a MAJOR PAIN to others. Yes I did say there were secrets...and those secrets are tough to crack! All those Sigils and Crests are hard to find, not to mention what item you have to get to get those Sigils and Crests. The next few things bugged me. You couldn't pause during battle. It can be frustrating at times. Some puzzles are so hard you might blow your top like I did once. Puzzles as the Cloister of Trials at each Temple. Some battles are so tough like battling Seymour all those times. And Blitzball has some minor problems with me. It is a cool sport but if you tried to do a command like Passing the ball, you couldn't change your decision. If you don't read the entire Tutorial about Blitzball and go straight into a game, you will lose and wonder how and be mad at the same time.This is the ultimate thing that I had to get used to, during Blitzball, when the other team had the ball, you just watch until one of your teammates went to him. I wished you could move your characters when the other team has the ball. But I got used to it...slowly. There was one last thing that bugged me, IT WAS SEVERELY ADDICTING. YOU JUST CAN'T STOP PLAYING. I remember when I first got this game. I played from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. because it was so fun! I kept saying I'll take it out after this next part but something always caught my interest and I kept going until my mom came out and yelled at me.

The Bottom Line
Play it. You'll absolutely love it. Read everything you ever get carefully and slowly. Oh and for gamers like me, watch out for what I said above.

The Good
From the very beginning of Final Fantasy X, you can tell that this game is going to be much more than any other game you have ever played. It is so involved in every single way, that it can hardly even be classified as a traditional video game. Each character is attractive in their own unique ways, each minute of the story will leave you on the edge of your seat, each note of every song will move you in a way you never expected, and each second of every battle will leave you breathless.

As you would expect from any Final Fantasy, the story is once again gripping and unique, and it is once again completely different from all its predecessors. Starting in the futuristic world of Zanarkand, you take control of Tidus, a promising young blitzball athlete. Tidus is goofy, kind, and a little arrogant, but his troubles become apparent as he narrates the story by expressing his thoughts in a serious, insightful manner. In the opening FMV, Tidus's world is quickly turned upside down, as an unknown force obliterates Zanarkand and transports him to another place, in another time. Now, Tidus has to learn the ways of this new world, and try to figure out exactly what is going on. On his way, he uncovers a world of love, deceit, sorrow, and bravery in his epic attempt to save a world in which he doesn’t belong.

Of course, Tidus isn't alone in his heroic quest. Final Fantasy X has one of the most attractive supporting casts I've ever had the joy to play alongside. The first character you meet is Auron, a strict and introverted man who sets his sights on something and then sees nothing else. Next comes Rikku, a bubbly, cheerful, no-worries teenage girl that no one can dislike (go ahead and try, I dare you). Next you'll meet Wakka, a friendly, hard-working athlete who sort of presents a big brother feeling to Tidus. Then along comes Lulu, a no non-sense, yet insightful black mage, and Kimahri, the strong and silent Ronso. All of these characters have one thing in common...they are all Guardians, sworn to protect a certain summoner with their lives. The summoner is Yuna, a young girl who can only think of others, who does everything she can to protect others, and most of all, attempts to brighten up everyone's day with her mature kindness. I have played a lot of games where many of the characters were extremely likable, but never have they felt as real as the stars of Final Fantasy X.

With such a great story and wonderful characters, you can definitely expect to be completely sucked into the world of Final Fantasy X. Even the most apathetic of you out there won't be able to help feel some sort of emotion at some of the game's high points. For instance, Final Fantasy X has my all time favorite video game scene ever. The events that lead up to the scene, the emotion that is conveyed at the beginning of the scene, the utterly perfect background music, all of it is just simply unexplainable. To top it all off, the location where it takes place is simply beautiful, and the graphical detail is so impressive I couldn't believe my eyes. Many of the game's FMV's will bring out varied emotions, and in my case, at such a level I didn't think possible coming from a video game.

For those of you who have played previous Final Fantasies and love the ATB(Active Time Battle) System, you may be surprised at Square's turn towards the CTB (Conditional Turn- Based Battle) System. Basically this means that once it's your turn, you have as much time to choose an attack you want. But the option you choose changes the order of the turns for later. For instance, say you choose to cast Regen on someone instead of attacking, depending on the circumstances, you might get an extra turn in before the enemy's next turn. This allows for a more strategic battle system, and it really works well. In my opinion, that battles have never been more fun.

While still focusing on differences, let me explain how you will level up in Final Fantasy X. Scrapping the traditional experience points altogether, and forgetting the idea of actual levels, Square instituted the completely new and totally unique idea of the Sphere Grid. The Sphere Grid is a grid full of empty nodes containing different attributes. Some of them increase your HP, your strength, agility and so on, while others teach your characters abilities like offensive and supportive magic. To activate a node, you have to collect different spheres, and then place them in empty nodes. At first glance, the Sphere Grid can be very intimidating, making you think you’ll never understand it. But the reality is the Sphere Grid is really rather simple, and you’ll most likely have a lot of fun just experimenting with it.

Finally, let me clear something up that you may or may not still be wondering about...blitzball. I mentioned earlier that Tidus was a promising young blitzball athlete, but just what the heck is blitzball? Well, to put it simply, blitzball is Final Fantasy X's minigame, only it isn't so mini. Blitzball is a sport that takes place in a gigantic floating sphere of water. I'd like to explain to you exactly how it's played, and why you would want to spend any time on it, but truth be told, I never actually spent any more time on it than I had to; not to mention that the game is so complex, I don't think I'd be able to fit everything in here even if I was a blitzball master. Of course, after talking to other people about it, so far I'm the only one who didn't fall helplessly addicted to the strangely attractive sport. All I can tell you is that the FMV's containing blitzball sequences are quite exhilirating, and according to everyone else, you'll love playing it as much as I loved watching it.

The Bad
After having completed Final Fantasy X and looking back, I know there were times when I was a bit upset with it. But as hard as I try, I can’t remember what any of it was that bothered me, or why any of it even bothered me. My only explanation for this is that looking back at the game as a whole, every good thing about it completely shields me from remembering those little things that at one time bothered me.

The Bottom Line
Right now, I am having an incredibly difficult time summing up Final Fantasy X. All I can say is, no matter what you have read elsewhere, no matter what you think after reading this review, go get this game. There is nothing I can say that can give proper credit to this fine piece of work, and so the only way you can understand all of my babbling is to play the game for yourself. You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor if you do. And for those of you who have never played a Final Fantasy, and especially for those of you who have never played an RPG, Final Fantasy X would be the perfect place to start.

The Good
The beaches of Besaid, beautiful, I could feel the wind in my hair and I could see the saliva dripping of the fangs of the monster I was throwing my Blitzball at. But seriously in all the previous final fantasys you could choose where you went and then we get Final Fantasy X which escorts you around with a nice red arrow at the top of your map saying don't find your own way just follow me." I mean correct me if I'm wrong but i don't think Tidus sees a big red arrow showing him where to go, so why should we and Blitzball gets tiring after about the fifth game since you must admit it got a bit repetitive.......throw, kick, swim etc. Maybe the creators should be concentrating more on the gameplay rather than the crashing waves and the sand between the toes.

The Bad
See above =)

The Bottom Line
If you like graphics above gameplay then this is a premium choice.

The Good
*Note: Reviewer has only played Final Fantasy 8 before playing this game.

Catchy title, eh? Must think, who in the hell is this egghead? Doh.

Well actually, I really don't have anything bad to say about Final Fantasy X, regardless of the one-line summary. What I DO have to say is that because games like Final Fantasy, other games out there become REALLY BAD in comparison, I mean really bad. I think it was the words of ol' Unicorn Lynx that said "with games like Final Fantasy, you'd wonder what all the other games are for?" True, so true. AND because of games like Final Fantasy, those crappy games out there, don't become "mediocre" or "all right", they become "dang that's an 'orrible game" or "didn't the developers who made this RPG ever played Final Fantasy?".

Don't you just love a good outlet before a getting into a review? Hahaha.

O.K. About Final Fantasy X. Considering the only other Final Fantasy game I've played was FF8, that's the only game I can compare it too. Final Fantasy is an odd exception. You can't compare it to other RPG's, because it CAN'T be compared. Even other hit games can be compared with other games of the same genre, but not Final Fantasy. It stands in its own league...its own legend.

First things first. The story was incredibly way better than FF8. At least that's what I think. More depth, more feel, more emotion. Which is probably why I love and hate it too (I'll explain the hate in the BAD section). Although I really wonder why all the FF movies suck, considering the games have such imaginative and visionary storylines. I won't get in the story, you can read other reviews for that.

The second is the combat system. I don't know about you, but I immensely enjoyed it. The fact that you can trade heroes at any point in battle makes a lot of new possibilities, as you try to get all the heroes to act in combat for experience purposes. It's nice that you don't have to get stuck with a certain type of combat possibilities because your heroes have different fighting styles.

The third. Acting. Egad, I know its eye candy but I do respect the level of detail they put in the body movements. Most of the dialogs are well put (underline most, not all...next, bad section). I really enjoy anything Waka the blitz player says in a dialog, that bloke cracks me up with his Polynesian style of speech and funny dialogs. Auron is always "mister serious", Lulu is...uh, don't quite notice the dialogs...you notice everything else though! Yuna is this nice conservative girl. The type you want to bring home and introduce to your parents. Basically "nearly" all the heroes have excellent balance in role and dialog, which makes you more acquainted and closer to the story.

Fourth. The music ahh...the music. Some shoot me because the music hit me through the heart and it never healed. More on the music in the bad section. And no, I'm not going to say the music's bad...it's something else.

Last but not least. B L I T Z B A L L!!! Go Aurochs. Dang it, I've never liked sport games. But half of the time I played Final Fantasy X, I was playing Blitzball! He shoots, he scores! Goal!! My personal record is 9-0. Dang my players are good and mostly all of them are original Aurochs. Even Waka is in my team. Though the blitzball section needed some major upgrades, especially in the configuration department, but considering it's just an "add-on" for fun (of which the fun part did very well), I ain't complaining.

The Bad
Hmm. There are several things that bothered me in the game. Not in any particular order, I'll start with Aeon, the Guardian Forces of FF8. As I recall, one of the "brands" of Final Fantasy were the summoned monsters that are really tough. In Final Fantasy X, the Aeons are wimps. Seriously, wimps. You know that because in the middle to the end game, you hardly use the Aeons as your heroes are powerful enough. At the end game (sorry, possible spoiler), you fight your Aeons. I defeat each of them with one hit. Even by my weakest hero, that is Rikku (Yuna can cast Holy). So much for the mighty summoning monsters. Wasn't surprised they got rid of it in FF X-2. The Aeons were much more like a spell than the title they rightly should deserve.

In regard to the Aeons, your heroes get too powerful too quickly. Which is probably why you don't use your Aeons. The reason why you use those Aeons is because usually they're the only ones that can reach the 9999 damage limit (or more). But when each of your heroes can do that in a single turn, plus they have more moves and abilities than your Aeons, the poor monsters don't have much use anymore. I would go as far to say that you can play Final Fantasy X without even using a single Aeon to win the game. Now something's wrong there.

A lot of the Aeon abilities were also useless, or I missed something. With spells like Life that can be taught to an Aeon, I though there were parts in the game where your heroes and the Aeon could fight together. Obviously, Life has no use as you can't use it to the Aeon (though I never tried it to a KO'd hero though). As I said, I could've missed something.

My harshest critic for the game refers to the fact that the games is incredibly EASY! Compared to FF8, this game is mother goose! The monsters are also quite unbalanced in the game. I was expecting Sin and all those bosses in the end game to be extremely difficult. They were child pickings! What gives? The monsters in the ARENA could kick Sin the behind easy! Now how can the monsters in the ARENA be tougher that Sin and the gang? I don't get it. I really don't.

Though the story is good, the story-line is somewhat bothersome. It's that quick to finish the game if you want to. After you control the airship, it ends pretty quickly unless you do something otherwise. The game is very short compared to FF8. I expected 30-40% of the game to be finished when I controlled the airship...not 60-70% of the game! (100 hours of game play is still short in my RPG book).

The Acting. The acting was good for MOST of the heroes/characters. Except of our leader (what's his name?) and Yuna. All the other characters were perfect. The leader is this adolescent kid that talks and acts too much. Probably because of the market, though some of his dialogs are quite "grown-up" most of them are really childish. Yuna is nice when she's being a not-so confident shy girl. She get's really corny and acts really bad when she tries to become the "hero" tough-girl. Though many of her body gestures were really good on her defense.

Lastly, the music. Dang I hate the composer, not because the music's bad. But because it's really good. Though they're weren't as many good tracks compared to FF8, the few that did were much better in "quality". Some of those songs really stabbed me in the heart and soul. They carried the essence of some of the truest forms pain and sorrow I've experienced in my pathetic form of existence. When I finished the game and listened to the song, I cried for hours. Like downpour crying...it is a true work of heart. But it touches closer to home, more than one would like it to. Maybe some people out there get my meaning...

But regardless...Final Fantasy says "IN YOUR FACE OTHER RPGS!"

The Bottom Line
The gameplay of Final Fantasy X is divided into 3 major sections:

1. 35% Playing FF X the RPG.

2. 35% Playing Blitzball

3. 30% Drooling over Lulu.

The Good
As the 7th from the series (only those series that have numbers, though) changed the world of Final Fantasy into fully 3D land, the 10th one changed not one big thing but many smaller ones bringing variety of teh same to the fans and an enjoyable experience to the newcomers. This game is without a doubt one of really-expected up to date of its release, so it was only logical to expect a lot from such a game. But guess Square didn't learn on mistakes made by some other company (Westwood with their Tiberian Sun, which ended up with game being loved almost only by the loyal fans of the series, yeah, like me, but in this case, I am no fan of neither Square nor Final Fantasy in general, but can't say I don't enjoy in moments of time).

The thing which I probably like the most in this game is the fact that you don't need senseless straying from the storyline to upgrade your characters, playing along the story is more than enough to upgrade your characters to needed strength for every incoming battle, and that includes raising your bahamut's strength to 99999 points of damage (yes, you heard it right, without training aside the main plot). Some battles are tricky but neat. It is all made to enjoy, so even newcomers to the series shouldn't have too much of the problem even with the toughest bosses (I suck at FF battles and I passed them all, so go figure the easyness :)

The upgrading scheme is completely new and consists of several types of spheres which upgrade your agility, strength, magic, and other stuff accordingly as you use them. This way there is no character level mentioned, but you will alone know how much did you upgrade someone by activating certain sphere slots.

The entire game shines gameplay-wise!

From the nice character movements, to the wonderful pre-rendered cinemtics that many of you probably loved (shame on me they didn't affect me as some of other games did, including Final Fantasy 8). For the first time, Square introduced voice-acting in the FF series which resulted in such a nice assemble with the characters, accents and tones marked them unique undoubtedly. On the contrary to all those dark-moody characters from previous FF series (I guess 9th one has exception, too), main character in this game, Tidus, is lively and funny as could possibly be, making the entire atmosphere rise in laugh whenever you may consider it boring ot too dramatic. He alone will never allow you to get bored, I assure you.

It is an overall nice addition that PAL version of Final Fantasy X comes as a Special Edition and includes an extra "Behind the Final Fantasy" DVD. There you can find comments by many Square's developers, and actors for the two main characters in the game. Plus some more nice additions, like music video of "Suteki da ne".

The Bad
Here comes something I never expected I will be writing for this game. In fact, I never expected to write anything against this game in general, and no matter I like its gameplay and wouldn't want Square to change it back to difficulty hard as the previous ones had, some things are still in the lack zone.

Ingame graphics are nice, but not something you would expect to see from SquareSoft, quality-wise. Having in thought this game came out almost simultaneously as Metal Gear Solid 2, and the fact that much more people are familiar with the Square than Konami title, it would be nice that Square prevailed with their game over MGS2 with the quality level, and not with their name. Well, that's their drawbacks, and although many players probably didn't play MGS2, the graphic of MGS2 beats the heck out of FFX's any effects used in the game. And for those who think that MGS2 has pre-rendered vides, you're wrong. That game doesn't have a single pre-rendered cinematic at all, everything is real-time and using ingame engine. However, it matches even the quality of Square's pre-rendered CG in FFX. But we just have to keep in mind that Final Fantasy does have the wider area of players hence must be playable even by little children, so the contents and graphic must use colorful scheme and not so realistic things, but hey, it has the fantasy word in its title, doesn't it?

The biggest disappointment, however, and don't hang me for this when I say it, is the story. Can't believe that I say it, but really, even story of obnoxious (by me, that is) FF7 is much better and more promising. But story as a story might pass for a short fairytale, but it has simply too many gaps and holes that are left unexplained and empty that it simply starts bothering. Maybe that's why Square's making FFX-2, maybe they got some objections so they're trying to fulfill the story, heh. Anyway, Final Fantasies are known to have touching story with many nice moments to encounter, yet this one simply lacks them. Maybe that's one of the changes too, but they just didn't manage to achieve the level FF8 or FF6 had to touch a player. What, a war against Sin, with heavy casualties on both sides, and now you go cry 'cos it's sad when everybody dies. Well, that's a crap. But I still like this game a lot more than most other Final Fantasies so I guess that gives me the right to criticize it a bit, too.

As for the music, well, fans, I understand you like Nobuo Uematsu, I like his music too, and I too have some favorite composers of mine. But still, don't you think there should be time to quit listening to the same stuff over and over again? I mean, themes are so similar and same-fashioned as those in previous of the series that it can't stop striking you that you heard it in some of the other FF games already. Exception goes to "Suteki da ne" which is really wonderful song, but hey, such themes usually differs. Maybe it would be time to finally change the battle theme and others, huh? Music as a music is perfect, but too similar to what we used to hear. I mean, take other game series, Gabriel Knight, WarCraft, Command & Conquer, they all have almost entirely different music score from each game in the series. Final Fantasy on the other hand, starts creating a powerful universe almost as powerful as Star Trek and Star Wars which also can't accept to change some of the songs that we all probably heard zillions of times, and will continu hearing them. Sure, soundtracks exist for that purpose, but let different games have different music. For sake, FF games aren't even sequels to each other. Why treating them as such.

Cinematics in FFX are most of time useless as graphic ingame doesn't differ that much. Well, for Tidus it does, but for most of others, not that much. Square should rather make the cinematics a bit longer than 2sec and use them at right needed moments, and not having them all over game you don't even know what's what.

This game isn't something that I expected it with so much joy to be - unique. (sigh)

The Bottom Line
Not the finest game that came out of Square, but could be considered finest in the Final Fantasy series up to date quite easily. It brought so much more to the FF titles, many differences and kept most of stuff still the same (enemy types which probably drag their way from the early FFs, like that giant tomato from hell... hmm, did Id took it from Square or was it vice-versa). On the contrary to prequels, this one is much more linear and even gives you the mini-map that constantly points your needed direction. Hardcore fans might not like that change, but many of you probably will. I know I do. The truth is that you cannot find too big of a choice for PS2 games as you can for PC, so this one can be considered among the top of PS2 games so far. If you would exclude some really creative PS2 achievements like Metal Gear Solid 2, Silent Hill 2, or a few more rare, this one would be on top of it all. And you probably should have it in your collection no matter whether you like Square or not. Personally, I ain't so attached to them, but they made one of my all-time fav games, Parasite Eve. Gotta love 'em for that matter.

The Good
Well, it's Final Fantasy X. After having some very great experience with other Final Fantasy titles, I wanted to play this too. I buy my PS2 only for this game (I have a couple of other games now, but this is the main one). And yes, it was worth is.

Final Fantasy X is very innovative. Battle are no longer ATB, but CTB - That mean turn per turn system. Each attack consumes time, depend of the attack itself and of the speed of the characters. So a quick character's turn will come more often, like in ATB, but you have all your time to set your commands, like in the original turn per turn system. This new system add a lot of strategy, and make the game more enjoyable. It works very great. Also, the level up system is kinda particular. It take places on a sphere gird, and your character can move from sphere to sphere and activate them to rise their stats and learn new attacks. Each characters have its default sphere range, but can also overpass it with key spheres and overflow in the whole sphere gird. This system, while not the best system ever seen in the series, is great, and make levelup very addictive.

The overkill system was a particularly great innovation. When you kill a monster with a brutal hit (I don't know the exact requirements, but you have to use a weapon or spell that is it's weakness or do a critical hit), the icon "overkill" will appear, and you'll got more EXP and items after the battle. So you see the extra challenge that is to overkill bosses, that often leave rare items. One flaw is that you'll get more EXP from weaker monster that are easier to overkill, but often easier monsters doesn't give enough AP even when overkilled to compete again stronger monsters, so that doesn't ruin the game by allowing the player to rise its levels with weaker monsters.

Overall, the game is a lot about game play. It's not one of those RPGs with great story, great graphics and boring battles. It is FAR of it.

By the way, the story. It is definitely a bit below the average Final Fantasy plot, it is a bit too linear. But it is still interesting. Sin, an enormous monster, is attacking the town where Tidus lives. Then, he'll wake up at a totally different place. After a while, you'll be rescued by people that make you figure that you town was destroyed 1000 years ago, and that looks to have much more experiences with that Sin. They're all about praying a god called Yevon in the hope to banish Sin forever, but it doesn't really work. You have to travel to figure the truth out. Also, this is strongly related to aeons, the summons of FFX. I'll let you discover more in the game.

One thing that take a great place in FF10 is the graphics. Square did everything to use the PS2 are wisely as they could. While fighting, each character is so much detailed, they all have their own style, and so you'll never be bored to fight monsters again and again. The magical effects are also soo well done.

There isn't any longer difference between cutscenes and gameplay. Yes, there is a few pre-rendered cutscenes, but most cutscenes aren't prerendered, because they didn't need to, the graphics are detailed enough. Now there isn't only pre-rendered background like in FF7-9, but a mix between real 3D environments (large maps) and pre-rendered background (small maps). This works pretty well, and thank to the 2D plan on the upper right corner, you won't get lost.

The characters are all dressed up very strangely. But when you grow used to it, you'll eventually love them. They even talk while fighting ! This leads me to another stuff, the acting. It is welcome, while battling to have voice of the characters. Yuna and most NPC have horrible acting. Tidus and Rikku, while okay, could be a lot better. Auron, Wakka, Kimari and Lulu got perfect acting. I think the acting of characters is better in Japanese, so I don't really care to evaluate the game, that is from Japan.

Another thing I liked is seeing the spirit of the monster leaving its body when defeated through some light spheres. You'll see those "spirit light spheres" (not sure it's their official name) very often through the game. Overall, adding the fact that the save points are called "save spheres", and among the sphere gird, the game seems all about spheres (there is also spheres involved in puzzles you have to complete through the game). This is kind of strange.

FF10 have a wide choose of great music, especially the battle theme. I think it is one of the best battle theme over the whole FF series, it won't get on your nerves are battle themes did in older FFs. However, for the first time in the FF series, there is also a wide choose of horrible music. Not only Nobuo Uematsu (the traditional FF composer) did the music, but Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu too (these already worked on Front Mission - Gun Hazard). The last two did a couple of great songs and a lot of horrible song each, while the first tend to keep his good old traditional style (well, he did some bad stuff too). The "Song of Prayer" (aka Hum of the Fayth) is quite amusing, it was a great idea to input a such song in a game, and let it take a place in the gameplay. (in the case of you doesn't know, this is a song related to aeons).

The game is pretty challenging. It isn't too hard, while it can get hot on some bosses. At the beginning, it will see really really easy (that is until you reach Mi'hen highroad). After that it will be hard, but not ridiculously. Any beginner in RPGs could beat the game without suffer its lack of overall experience. However, there is a lot of side-quests. I've heard half of the game is about side-quest, if you do them all. I completed the game with practically no side-quests myself, so don't be afraid, the game isn't that hard. But if you want challenge, you cannot miss this title. It has some optional bosses that looks really impossible to beat, killing your party in one single attack. You'll need a FAQ if you want to complete some of the side quests.

The Bad
While FFX has so called great graphics, I still have something to complain about. When fighting huge enemies in dark places, the camera will zoom in order to see the whole enemy, and you characters becomes so small, and adding to the fact that the screen is dark, you won't recognize them, and you'll mess up in your commands. That flaw is annoying.

The pseudo hardrock "Otherworld" steamed theme you'll hear at the beginning and during the final battle incredibly suck. The "Big Boss theme" is also a bunch of pseudo hardrock, but with no melody, only distortion guitar and bass chords, it also suck. And the normal boss theme isn't really bad, but too "dramatic". While the music is great, the theme isn't really appropriated to a boss theme. Overall, there is some unforgivable things about the soundtrack, considering its from Square.

And yeah, the characters have "real time facial sentiment" when talking. It sure is enjoyable a lot to see the character look close to real when talking, but a simple small mistake and they look totally ridiculous, and this happen several times through the game, especially to Tidus. Look at the beginning when he first got his sword, or latter he's fed by Rikku. Doesn't he looks absolutely ridiculous ? (those are just example I had in mind). Also, they will sometime move in a way that looks great, and then after repeating that exact movement 3 or 4 times, they'll appear ridiculous. Such things doesn't happen in battles, but on the field. I'll never repeat this enough, in battle, the characters looks perfect in all their movements, and also on most cutscenes on-field, that it is a shame that a little number of them are somewhat wrong.

Oh, yeah. It will sometimes happen to you to die after one hour of more of leveling up, and that is quite frustrating. Unlike in the Dragon Warrior games, you cannot keep your experience and items with half of money, and unlike Final Fantasy 4-9, save points are quite rare (because, if they weren't rare, it would allow you to always restore your health and mana, and then the game will become too much easy). If you played the 3 first FF on the NES, you'll be used to that, because it pretty much the same story. Fortunately, there is a save point right before almost every bosses, so you won't have to level up AND fight boss while not saving, as in the first 3 Final Fantasy games.

Finally, there is a last flaw. You'll way to often get weapons (or armors) after battle, and you'll have easily 30 weapons per characters, additionally you often got poor ones (or strong, but not interesting enough). The game allow you to modify your weapons to get your own effects, that is great, but each random encounter will frequently give you useless new weapons. They better give more rare items allowing to improve items (that would become less rare).

Those small flaws apart, there isn't really anything bad about FFX. And I could write much much more into "the good", but that wouldn't be very useful, since other people already did it.

The Bottom Line
YES, it's great ! You won't found anything bad except the few lines above, and you'll found much more fun that what I can say in some lines in "the good". It was one more great RPG experience to play this to me, and the game has all it has to be interesting : Originality, innovation, traditional stuff from older FFs, side-quests, challenge, great graphics, great music, nice storyline... What do you want better, after all ? Thank you, Square !!

The Good
Gorgeous eye-candy as always. Square does visuals very well, as the games, FF the (disappointingly lame) movie, and FF7 Advent Children prove. The setting was interesting. That aside...

The Bad
Where to begin? The dialogue and voice acting were terrible (ie. "You will hurt no one!") ! The main character Tidus is a lame, watered down Cloud Strife. There really isn't enough to do, since the game is mostly cutscenes. The music is the worst Uematsu has ever written, especially the lame battle music. Blitzball sucked my ass! It was so tedious and pointless. And Wakka! What a lame-o character with his stupid Jamaican (Jar-Jar like) accent! And that horrid scene where whats-her-nuts tries to get our hero to laugh... AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. I cringe just thinking about it! I hope the titles after this one are much better, because otherwise I won't be bothering with the FF-series any longer. KOTOR was much, much better in every respect! The voice-acting in that was brilliant, the dialogue well-written and the music cool! Take a hint, you people at Square. Seems the North Americans are beating you at your own game!

The Bottom Line
Basically an overlong, interactive movie. There are more cutscenes here than gameplay it seems. Nice graphics and not much else really...

The Good
I loved Final Fantasy the moment I laid my eyes on Final Fantasy on the PlayStation. It's been years since then and Square could still do the magic they could.

Right from the beginning of the game, you are introduced to the whole group. (Of course you can't see all of their faces or know their names) You hear a narration of someone telling you "This may be our last chance" and that can draw you in instantly. The game begins on a ship and there are people all waiting for you. You take the role of Tidus, a star player in the game of Blitzball. You begin to sign autographs and such and then the first FMV comes on and you are blown away.

The FMV's look amazing. Every little detail is there. From all the faces in the crowds down to the drops of water on Tidus' eyes. The rock music in the back is a nice touch. I have heard that Nobuo Uematsu wrote the piece and he does a terrific job at making it a rock song. You watch everyone play Blitzball and then you see a man in a red coat standing where you couldn't normally stand facing this HUUUGEEE thing coming out of the water. He begins to walk towards the stadium where Tidus and everyone is playing. Well wouldn't you know, everything begins to fall apart. Statues are broken, blasts are fired, people are running. Everything is just truly detailed. It just blew me away.

After all the commotion, you wake up on an island and someone throws a ball at you. (The nerve of some people huh?) You meet up with some interesting characters and is introduced to the island of Besaid. Some time afterwards, you are introduced to your first puzzle to solve. It's not hard but believe me there are harder ones. You are introduced to some more characters who will be your allies and begin a pilgrimage to stop the all evil Sin.

What I like about the game so much is the story. Tidus is this mysterious character where you as the player, don't know much about him. How did he get to where he is, who are his parents are just some of the questions I've asked so many times. Sometimes the story is just so good I just can't stop smiling and going "Yes Yes Yes!!"

The graphics are something I couldn't take my eyes off. They actually have facial expressions now! Yes a character can look sad or happy and you can tell! It shows how much Square is pushing the PS2. For once, for ONCE the characters can actually talk! Yes TALK!! This makes the game a lot more fun because you can see if they have an angry tone in their voice or a happy one. The voice acting isn't that bad either. It's actually pretty good.

The enemies are another thing. Some of them are just so cool you want to be like them. Seymour especially, is one of them. He doesn't look threatening, doesn't seem threatening, doesn't sound threatening, (And would you expect someone so respected to be evil?) and next thing you know, you're against him. It is truly amazing. Some of them only have small roles and yet they have such an impact on you. One enemy in particular you meet for about 5 minutes and battle her. You think you wouldn't know much about her in 5 minutes but you know as much as you know about Tidus and the crew. It is truly amazing. Even Sin is interesting. He seems unbeatable and is feared throughout Spira and here is a group of people who say they can take down Sin and make him stay away forever. It is truly suspenseful.

Blitzball is one of those games you got to get into to have a good time. I got into it and DOMINATED. Once you begin to play Blitzball it is a little complicated but if you continue playing and signing new players on your team you'll love the game.

Final Fantasy X is just one of those games you couldn't stop playing. It just keeps drawing you in and in.

The Bad
There were some things that bugged me.

The story of how Tidus got to where he was and how he came to exist is just plain confusing. I couldn't follow at all. There is one particular thing you have to do in the end and I never knew why I had to do it. This is another problem I had that concerns Tidus, they should've never given the option to change Tidus' name at the beginning. It would've caused less confusion among the gamers. I have heard COUNTLESS people pronounce Tidus' name Tee-dus.

The sidequests are just too much and too complicated. To get the Sigils and Crests for your characters' Celestial Weapons is very complicated. You actually have to get something to start collecting the Sigils and Crests! You also have to find the Celestial Weapon to power it up with the Sigils and Crests! How complicated is that?! You can find the crests in treasure chests in Spira which is easy but the Sigils are tough. Tidus, Wakka's, Lulu's, Auron's and Riku's were so complicated and frustrating I actually threw my controller at the floor. I won't spoil it but I'll say this, be good at Blitzball, have a controlled temper, be good at dodging lightning bolts in the Thunder Plains, and learn how to find things you wouldn't normally find.

Bliztball is one of those games that is tough in the beginning. I thought I had the worst team in Blitzball and everyone dominated us. Somehow, I managed all that and began to beat everyone. I found one player who helped us out a lot. Some things that I found weird about Blitzball was how did they stay that long under water? Is the water fake or something? They never really explained it.

The game ending is a bit over dramatic. At many points at the end I rolled my eyes A LOT.

The Bottom Line
Final Fantasy X is just one of those really cool games you can't stop playing.

The Good
1. Graphics, I nearly fainted when I saw this, a world away from the cartoon style of FF IX (9).
2. Side quests, in all Final Fantasy games it would not be complete without free roam of the map to explore and find hidden treasures.
3. Battle tutorials, I like to make the characters argue by dong the wrong thing. Lulu gets miffed easily.
4. The sphere grid system, this way you can power up your characters any way you want, it's great. (tip: send all through Auron's bit, there are more strength increase spheres than you can shake a stick at)
5. They talk, yay no more reading though loads of text, that's what put me off FF8, though they do go on a bit.
6. Changing characters in the middle of battle, I love this feature, it allows nearly dead characters to be replaced with fresh characters, or to put a weak one out first, replace with stronger one but they still get experience points.

The Bad
1. Hours and hours of gameplay, but when you save and come back and can't remember where you are there are few hints.
2. They play a ball game underwater, I hate it with vengeance, It's called Blitzball. But it's the only way to get secret items, you only need to play one match in the storyline though. The control is horrible to get to grips with.
3. Nothing else.

The Bottom Line
Classic RPG adventure thrills, spills, laughs and a bit of romance. Battling is fun. Collecting translations orbs is great so by the end of the game you understand Al Bhed, the funny in-game language.