Final Fantasy X

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
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
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.