Final Fantasy X

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
- 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
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...