Box Art
Game: Final Fantasy X
First Released: December 17, 2001, PS2
Developers: Square
Platforms: PS2, PS3, Vita, PS4
Rated: T, for Blood and Violence
First Released: December 17, 2001, PS2
Developers: Square
Platforms: PS2, PS3, Vita, PS4
Rated: T, for Blood and Violence
How I Came To Play This Game
Many years ago when I was a little kid, I remember going over to a friends house. Back then, I didn't know the first thing about video games. However, one of the things we did was play his Playstation 2. One of the games we played involved turn based combat, stared a sports star as a character, and there was a guy in a robe who mysteriously appeared to help when the city was attacked. Little did I know, this game was Final Fantasy X. After finishing Final Fantasy IX, I finally after all these years REALLY played it for myself. Despite all of the things I heard about it, it is one of my favorites.
Story
The story begins with the main protagonist, Tidus, waiting with his allies outside the ruins of an ancient city. Tidus narrates the events that led to the present, spanning most of the game's storyline. It begins in Tidus's home city, the high-tech metropolis of Zanarkand, where he is a renowned star of the underwater sport blitzball. During a blitzball tournament, the city is attacked by an immense creature which Auron, a man not originally from Zanarkand, calls "Sin". Sin destroys Zanarkand, taking Tidus and Auron to the world of Spira. Upon arriving in Spira, Tidus is rescued by Al Bhed salvagers in the area. Upon asking him where he is from, one of them, Rikku, tells him that Sin destroyed Zanarkand 1,000 years ago. After Sin attacks again, Tidus is separated from the divers and drifts to the tropical island of Besaid, where he meets Wakka, captain of the local blitzball team. Wakka introduces Tidus to Yuna, a young summoner about to go on a pilgrimage to obtain the Final Aeon and defeat Sin; and her guardians, Lulu and Kimahri. Meanwhile, Tidus joins to help Wakka in the upcoming blitzball tournament to find a way back home. The party travels across Spira to gather aeons, defending against attacks by Sin and its "offspring"—fiends called Sinspawn. After the tournament, they are joined by Auron, who convinces Tidus to become Yuna's guardian. He reveals to Tidus that Yuna's father, Lord Braska; Tidus's father, Jecht; and himself made the same pilgrimage to defeat Sin ten years ago. Tidus thought his father had died at sea ten years earlier. Following another attack from Sin, they are joined by Rikku, later revealed to be Yuna's cousin. When the party arrives in the city of Guadosalam, the leader of the Guado, Seymour Guado, proposes to Yuna, saying that it will ease Spira's sorrow. At Macalania Temple, the group sees a message from Seymour's father Jyscal, who declares he was killed by his son, who now aims to destroy Spira. The group reunites with Yuna to engage Seymour in battle, killing him; soon afterward, Sin attacks, separating Yuna from the others. While searching for her on Bikanel Island, the homeland of the Al Bhed where they had surfaced, Tidus has an emotional breakdown when he learns that summoners die after summoning the Final Aeon, leading to his desire to find a way to defeat Sin while keeping Yuna alive. The group finds Yuna in Bevelle, where she is being forced to marry the unsent Seymour. They crash the wedding and escape with Yuna. The group is captured at the Bevelle temple, and are ordered to stand trial. After escaping from their sentence, the group heads towards the ruins of Zanarkand, seen in the introduction of the game. On the way there, Tidus learns that he, Jecht, and the Zanarkand they hail from are summoned entities akin to aeons based on the original Zanarkand and its people. Long ago, the original Zanarkand battled Bevelle in a machina war, in which the former was defeated. Zanarkand's survivors became "fayth" so that they could use their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in their image, removed from the reality of Spira. One thousand years after its creation, the fayth have become exhausted from "dreaming" their Zanarkand, but are unable to stop due to Sin's influence. Once they reach Zanarkand, Yunalesca—the first summoner to defeat Sin and unsent ever since—tells the group that the Final Aeon is created from the fayth of one close to the summoner. After defeating Sin, the Final Aeon kills the summoner and transforms into a new Sin, which has caused its cycle of rebirth to continue. Yuna decides against using the Final Aeon, due to the futile sacrifices it carries and the fact that Sin would still be reborn. Disappointed by their resolution, Yunalesca tries to kill Tidus' group, but she is defeated and vanishes, ending hope of ever attaining the Final Aeon. After the fight, the group learns that Yu Yevon, a summoner who lost his humanity and mind, is behind Sin's cycle of rebirth. This leads the group to infiltrate Sin's body to battle Seymour and Jecht's imprisoned spirits. With Sin's hosts defeated, Tidus' group battles and defeats Yu Yevon. Sin's cycle of rebirth ends, and the spirits of Spira's fayth are freed from their imprisonment. Auron, revealed to be unsent, goes to the Farplane, having died years ago after confronting Yunalesca. Just then, Dream Zanarkand and Tidus disappear, now that the freed fayth stopped the summoning. Afterward, in a speech to the citizens of Spira, Yuna resolves to help rebuild their world now that it is free of Sin. In a post-credits scene, Tidus awakens under water. He then swims towards the ocean surface, and the screen fades to white.
Pros And Cons
Story
Besaid Island
I'm not a religious person, but I find them very interesting. I enjoy reading up on old traditions that people have passed down over generations and seeing how they still hold up today. It's also interesting to see how some people use it as a way to gain power, and brainwash others into doing their bidding. Religion itself is not bad, it just depends on who is preaching it. The highlight though was when it turned out that the teachings of Yu Yevon were completely bogus, and Yu Yevon himself was the bad guy all along. I wonder what dark secrets the religions of our world hold?
Characters
Final Fantasy has always been known for deep character development. Each and every character has their own back story and beliefs. My favorites would have to be Auron because how old and wise he was, and I also like Wakka because of his funny personality and how he had to accept the truth and abandon the religion he held so dear in order to save his friends. I'm not such a big fan of romances, so I don't give any for the connection between Tidus and Yuna.
Gameplay
Turn Based Combat
Final Fantasy X strays a bit from the usual Final Fantasy formula. In essence it's the same thing. One major change is that they brought the old turn based battle style from the first three games of the series. Time no longer flows until you select a move, and then whether you go first or second depends on your speed stat. There is a window on the side that tells you the order of characters turns and enemy turns so that you can plan ahead. All the usual stuff is back, such as White Magic and Black Magic, but Limit Breaks make a return. The more you battle, a meter fills up. When that characters meter fills up, it allows them to use a special move that is much stronger than normal. Waiting for a perfect time to use the move is key to winning certain battles. Other changes come from the fact there is no real overworld. The game takes a more linear style, where the goal is to make it to the end of an area so that you can start the next area. Later you run into a wide open field that feels like an overworld, but you won't be able to go back to some areas until you get an airship, It doesn't go overboard with it though. It is still fun to play through, and there are many opportunities to go back to previous areas along the way that open as you progress. Chocobos return, but are now used as simply a faster transportation through the areas since there is no real overworld. A new customization system is used called the Sphere Grid. If you can master it, then you can make your characters extremely powerful. Instead of gaining stats from moving levels, you gain Sphere Levels with AP. You spend these Sphere Levels to move spaces across the Sphere Grid. Then from battles you get Spheres such as Power Spheres, Mana Spheres, Speed Spheres, and many other special ones too. You place those spheres into the nodes on the spaces of the Sphere Grid to get stat bonuses such as HP+100, or MP+20. It's a little weird, but once you get the hang of it, you find that it's overpowered. I turned my Yuna into a magical powerhouse! She knew all White and Black Magics, could cast two spells in one turn, and each spell would only cost 1 MP!
Graphics
Chocobos!
The graphics have been greatly updated since the game being released for Playstation 2. Characters now look worldly realistic, and more believable. There is voice acting, and the characters mouths move in sync to when they talk. They also show facial expressions. The areas are rendered in completely 3D environments as opposed to the original pre-rendered backgrounds. The full motion videos look amazing. Just as good as Xbox 360 graphics.
Music
The music of Final Fantasy X is very cinematic. To this day I still get the intro theme stuck in my head. There are many original tracks that are awesome, as well as many returning staples such as the Chocobo Theme and Prelude. The Victory Theme is missing the second half, but at least it replaces it with another good one.
Releases
Remaster
Final Fantasy X was originally released for the Playstation 2 on December 17, 2001. It was then remastered along with it's sequel Final Fantasy X-2, and released on to the Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita on March 18, 2014. This version had enhanced graphics and sound, with a better translation, and many balance changes. The remastered version was later released for Playstation 4 on May 12, 2015.
My Rating
I give this game a 10/10. This game was another masterpiece. Just like the ninth before it, it gave an interesting story that you could not stop playing until you finished.