Final Fantasy X

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 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
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.