Final Fantasy X Review.
Game story
telling at its finest
Though I generally don't buy systems for a single game, Final
Fantasy X was pretty much -the- reason I got a ps2 a few years
back. After the outstanding FFIX, I was wondering if they could
top it. The short answer is "almost". As you all know, you can't
really say a certain Final Fantasy is better than another
(unless it's 7, because that's the single worst one in the
series). Most of them have different fighting systems from
eachother, none up until recently have been sequels of
eachother, and they're just plain different altogether. Final
Fantasy X sure as heck is different in a lot of ways. For one,
it did away with leveling up more or less. I know, I was
surprised too. Even better is how it brought in the ability to
switch your characters in and out of fights at all times. Why
did it take 10 games for them to finally do that? Then there's
the voice actors for all the major and some secondary
characters, breath taking FMVs that still hold up 5 years later,
a great cast of characters, fun side-quests, no overworld map, a
freakin' sports mini-game, and one of the most talked about
endings in gaming history, and you've got a sure winner.
Sadly, you take up the role of one of the sissiest rpg
characters to date- Tidus. It's not so much that he's a sissy
for dumb reasons- his dad never showed any affection for him as
a child, and left without a trace years ago. But it's more in
his voice. See, Tidus sounds like Michael J. Fox if he were 17.
Yeah, not good. But Tidus is a star Blitzball player (think
water polo and rugby combined) who's in the middle of a big game
when suddenly, out of nowhere, comes a massive attack on his
city of Zanarkand. Everything around him begins to be destroyed,
and he barely comes out of it alive. After getting a sword from
his guardian, Auron (quite possibly the most bad-ass FF
character ever), the two begin to fight of monsters that are
spawn from Sin, a huge squid-like creature that's causing the
chaos. Soon though, the two are seperated via a portal, and
Tidus meets up with a traveling group known as the Al Bhed.
After a little while, they get seperated as well, and this time,
Tidus ends up on the shore of a calm island...with Blitzball
players. Where the hell is he? That's a good question.
Apparently, Zanarkand was destroyed many years ago according to
anyone that he asks. After making friends with Wakka, the
captain of a Blitzball team (who has never won a game in all the
years they've been playing no less), he's taken to a town where
a summoner is beginning her pilgrimage. Yuna, the daughter of a
summoner who defeated Sin a few years ago to bring a calm to
their world, is going to try to stop Sin as well. She's
accompanied with her other guardians, Lulu and Kimahri. Lulu is
a sexy black mage who puts Garnet and any other rpg vixen to
shame, and Kimahri is supposed to be the strongman of the group.
I'll get more into him later on. They head out, looking for Sin
and helping those who have suffered at its hand while Tidus
looks for answers to his questions. It won't be an easy trip-
religion plays a key part of the plot, and there are fiends
everywhere. For once, a Final Fantasy has a reason for the
monsters: fiends are spirits of the dead that refused to rest.
We find out early on that Yuna has to send the spirits away to
the Farplane in order for them to rest.
Kiss leveling up via experience good-bye, because it's all a
matter of Spheres now. After fights, you'll earn a certain
amount of AP that goes towards how many spaces you can move on
the Sphere Grid, a massive chart full of bonuses and moves for
your characters to gain. You will use Strength, Magic, Speed,
Luck and other Spheres to level your stats up now. What's cool
is that your characters are all fairly balanced early on with
their moves. Wakka is the most accurate fighter, Lulu's black
magic kills fiends who are strong against physical attacks,
Rikku can steal, Yuna can summon and heal, Auron's a freakin'
sentinel, Tidus is fairly fast, and Kimahri...well, he can be an
extra target. But after you gain enough AP and Spheres, you can
have them all doing whatever moves you'd like. Wakka could use
healing magic, Auron could cast Ultima, and Lulu could be as
strong as the heavy hitters physically. Many say that Kimahri is
"the first real customizable character", but I don't see it that
way. True, his placement on the grid allows him to be anyone you
want since he doesn't have any one stat he's best at, but god,
give the guy something better than being closest to Rikku's
side. If you manage to level him up enough, he can steal an hour
or two before you get Rikku to join the party. At best, he's a
poor man's Rikku, and that's not much. Kimahri is a blue mage,
being able to use a select few attacks that enemies use. None of
which are useful, though it's funny how his strongest attack is
Self-Destruct, which has him blow himself up on an enemy. And
for added comedy, have Kimahri use an item in battle. He uses it
by scratching his caboose. The air ship here is a hell of a lot
better than previous ones. Eliminating a true overworld map to
wander on, you just select your destination from the ship's map,
and you're there. Essentially, it does what previous ships did,
but minus the slow flying around and landing just right to reach
those strangely deployed buildings. You can also customize
weapons and armor to your delight. Do you want more than 9,999
HP? Go on and do it. Want Auto-Haste? Go nuts. Want to be cheap
like me and have Auron's armor consist of Break HP Limit,
Auto-Haste, Auto-Protect, and Auto-Shell? Be my guest. Overdrive
attacks are toned down a little bit in this installment, not
being anywhere near as cheap as a certain Gunblade move. Though
Wakka is the strongest character of the game, and quite possibly
any FF. His Attack Reels can hit the enemy for up to 12 times,
and if you have Break Damage Limit, that's a lot of damage.
Finally, I was surprised at how mature Square managed to make
X's story while keeping it light hearted for the most part. The
idea of a religion becoming corrupt and nothing but lies is
something very few games have approached.
When it was released, X was the top of the food chain. The
in-game graphics were unrivaled, and it took a lot to happen
on-screen at once in order for any slowdown in the 30 fps.
Backgrounds were beautiful, and some didn't even look like they
were pre-rendered. Character models are all unique and have a
vast supply of animations, and spell effects couldn't look any
better. But then there's the FMVs. To this day, I haven't seen
an FMV that matches the sheer awesomeness of the one where Auron
makes a comeback and takes on a fiend. The sound is equally
fanstastic, consisting of a flawless soundtrack and mostly good
voice actors. Like I've already mentioned, Tidus' voice actor
could've been done better by Steve Irwin, the Croc Hunter. I'd
like to know how bad the others were that he beat out for the
part, because that must've taken skill. Everyone else does great
though. Wakka, the happy-go-lucky Blitzball player is
surprisingly voiced by the guy who did Bender on Futurama.
Yuna's voice matches her part, as do Rikku and Lulu's. And Auron
sounds perfect. His voice could've ruined his character, but
luckily, that didn't happen. The supporting voice actors do
great too, and I recognized a few that I've heard on various
animated shows.
X definately isn't for everyone. People are still making fun of
Tidus, complaining about the lack of an overworld map, and I
don't think anyone's settled on a definate conclusion to the
plot and how everything ended up the way it did. But for those
who can accept change in what was becoming a stale series, it's
a breath of fresh air.