Final Fantasy X is the tenth instalment of Square's
highly regarded RPG series and it was the first to be
released on the Playstation 2. As with every new game of the franchise,
FFX features a completely new setting, story and cast of characters.
Main protagonist of the game is Tidus, star player of the blitzball
team Zanarkand Apes, who sees his world destroyed by a giant tidal wave
that seems to swallow the whole city of Zanarkand. Trying to escape, he
teams up with his mentor Auron, who has been Tidus' only father figure
ever since his old man Jecht disappeared several years ago. The
follwing fights against a giant monster serves as a tutorial into the
basics of the combat system, which is completely turn-based. However,
your actions and stats affect the queue in which actions are taken.
Whether you attack normally, use magic, special abilities or items can
lead to additional hits before the enemy can make his move and makes
battles very strategic. Tidus and Auron fight hard against the offspring of the being Auron
calls "Sin", but are ultimately swallowed and literally washed away.
The world of Spira is equally terrorized by Sin, mankind's punishment for a
war that destroyed the city of Zanarkand a thousand years ago. It is
the task of the summoners to head on a pilgrimage to all the temples of
Spira to prove worthy of the final aeon, a being so powerful it can
destroy "Sin" and bring the Calm, a short period of peace until Sin
is reborn. The young lady Yuna is the daughter of the last summoner to
defeat "Sin" ten years ago and was about to leave the isle of Besaid
with her guardians Lulu and Wakka when a young stranger is swept up,
who claims to be from the city that laid in ruins for a thousand
years. That man is of course Tidus who suddenly finds himself in a land unknown but joins the summoner on her journey that will lead them to the ruins of Zanarkand. Along the way, he grows closer to his companions, finds new allies and will discover the truth about Sin, Zanarkand and his very own existence.
As with all the Final Fantasy games, the gameplay is very story-driven
and consists of not just the straight travels from temple to temple as
you would expect. Many interesting and tragical things happen during
your travels and force you to take unexpected paths. You will often
encounter random battles and boss battles which take place in arenas
designed to fit the theme of the location you're currently in. One main
difference between FFX's combat system and that of previous instalments
of the series is the fact that you can exchange party members during
battle. This is necessary because of the game's level up system called
the sphere grid, a giant board with several hundred connected nodes.
Characters start at different positions on that board and can move from
node to node by using AP gained after battles. These nodes increase
different stats of a character like HP, MP, Attack, Defence, Agility,
Magic, etc as soon as they are unlocked by that character using
corresponding spheres found in battle or treasure chests. Due to the
positioning of these stat nodes, some characters will naturally strike
with more force while casually miss more agile enemies. Another good
example is Lulu, whose natural path follows several nodes with black
magic spells and will therefore be needed to defeat foes with high
defence but weakness against elemental damage. In time (and long
grinding), all characters can get equally powerful at everything, but
this will take you far beyond the story.
Yuna is the character that stands out as she is the only one able to
summon the many aeons achieved throughout the game (up to 10, although
the Magus Sisters always fight together as a trio). After an impressive
summoning sequence, the complete party will leave the battlefield and
the aeon will fight alone. You can assign various commands and in time,
teach them new ones. When an aeon dies or is told to retreat manually,
the battle continues with your normal party. The game clocks in at about 40 hours for the story, but FFX features
many additional side quests that can easily push the game to 150 hours
and more. The international version of the game (released in PAL
regions and re-released in Japan) features even more content in the
dark aeons and the sheer unkillable Penance with its 12'000'000 HP
(yes, that's a lot).
Graphically, FFX was one of the best-looking games of its release year
and still holds up excellently, especially considering the PS2's weaker
hardware compared to other current-gen consoles. Everything is rendered
in full 3D as opposed to the PSOne's Final Fantasy games (let alone
earlier episodes of the franchise). Locations range rom island
settings, to enchanted forests, wide plains, large cities, mountain
trails and of course, the ruins of Zanarkand. Characters are very
detailed, although the less important characters fall somewhat flat
compared to the main characters. There are also several levels of
rendering detail depending on the scenes and close up shots of the
lower poly-count models look a bit outdated nowadays.
Additionally, FFX again features some of the best CG sequences seen in
video gaming, used to make several scenes especially memorable.
FFX is also the first game of the series to feature voice acting and
does a fairly good job at it. Although some people don't like some of
the voices used, they match the characters and make them very
expressive and emotional. The musical score of the game is at very high
level and can easily compete with its predecessors (which are always
considered among the best). All the background songs create an
excellent atmosphere and are beautiful to listen to outside of the game
as well. The song contributed by Nobuo Uematsu and performed by
Japanese singer Rikki called "Suteki Da Ne" stands out the most and is actually played from start to end during an
escpecially touching CG sequence in the middle of the game.
With a current save game at 170 hours after several finished
story-replays, Final Fantasy X is easily the PS2 game I spent the most
time with and not a single second feels wasted. That said, it's one of
the most impressive RPGs of its console generation and well worth a
try.
