Final Fantasy X

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
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.