Final Fantasy X Review

First off, this is an ENORMOUS, GINORMOUS, MASSIVELY, FANTASTICALLY, AMAZING GAME! It might be just past its time, but coming from a Playstation One and then playing this game, I was immediately impressed! The graphics, man, the graphics! That’s always a big issue with Final Fantasy fans, of course. “I can’t wait to see what they’ve done with the graphics in this one!” That’s something you might hear in a game store as some lucky kid picks up his new copy of the next FF title. If he’s your friend, be sure to take a good look at him. You won’t be seeing him for an entire month, if not longer! He’ll be locked away battling the forces of evil in his new favorite game!

Considering the hype and previous experience this game had to live up to, it outperformed in ALL fields! The battle system is slightly redesigned., but still includes the turn-based RPG style we all love, the characters are perfectly layered and their depth is unbelievable! The environments produce sensations known only to those who have witnessed the game’s beauty. That’s all naught for the plot, though. If a game doesn’t have a good plot, it’s nothing. If a Final Fantasy game doesn’t have a good plot, it would ruin the entire series for some people! Good thing it’s the best plot in the whole list of titles!

A brief synopsis:

You start the game as Tidus. He’s a star Blitzball player and he’s always happy to sign autographs for his fans before a big game! As a side note, Blitzball is AWESOME! It’s by far the best mini-game out of all the Final Fantasy minis. You’ll waste hours perfecting your team and winning tournaments! Anyway, not too far into the game, there’s an attack on the city and Tidus’ world is soon taken from him. …or maybe he’s taken from his world. Either way, he ends up in Spira, a world full of minimalistic civilizations and a religion that rules the majority of citizens. The game involves a journey Tidus must go on with his new friends. He may find out why he was brought here along the way and the entire group may question their own beliefs as they fight their way through the murky depths of lies and deceit.

The characters in this game are some of the best character work done by any video game director, producer, writer, animator, mechanics supervisor, etc. They’re simply phenomenal! The way they move, the way their clothing moves, the expressions on their faces, the dialogue, the way their hair moves, the way the wind affects them, the way they jump, the way they simply interact with one another! Plus, this is the first Final Fantasy game where they TALK! They actually have VOICES! Real live actors provide voices for them!

I seriously can’t say enough about the characters, though. Putting everything else aside, the actual personalities are enough to incur great amounts of praise! Tidus, he never runs out of character and you always want him to beat the bad guy. I love Square’s decision to keep the main character from actually being the main character! It allows you to fully enjoy everyone’s personalities and different traits. Yuna’s one of the best characters in recent video game history. Everyone’s gotta love her! She’s gorgeous, silly, loveable, strong, noble, courageous, and then some! Auron, well, he’s just awesome! Same with Kimahri. Wakka’s the loveable goof. Lulu’s the tough woman in the pack, and Rikku’s the silly, spunky friend everyone wants to have!

Let’s get talking about the environments now. ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! I mean, the switch from third-person aerial view to third person rear view had to have been a tough one, but these amazing programmers really pulled it off well! Pat yourselves on the back, guys! The texture maps and the interactivity are top-notch for their time, and even for the current age! Plus, the sheer magnitude of available places to explore is simply staggering! It’s a wonder all of this information fit on the single disc of the game! Now, add all of this greatness together and slip in the fact that the load times are incredibly short! Tremendous! You’ll have as much fun wandering around and looking at things as you will actually playing the game! Trust me, that’s quite helpful when you want to level up your party members!

The battle system is something that definitely should NOT be left out of this article. It’s the first improvement, I feel, that actually is an improvement on the previous system. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Final Fantasy X has the best battle system out of all the games in the series! The fight mechanics are as smooth as butter! There is not a single lag at all that could be noticed. It’s simply perfect! Aeons (summon monsters) are really impressive in this title, as well. You actually get to use them as playable characters in the battle! Plus, they have their own limits, as well! That’s when they unleash the real unique, awe-inspiring attacks! Now, I hope you’re sitting down. You actually get to SWITCH party members during a battle! You don’t have to wait for everything to be over before you bring someone else in! At the press of a couple buttons, you can bring someone in to take the place of that certain weak character, if you like. I wouldn’t do the game justice if I didn’t talk about the overdrive system, too. The overdrive system is the equivalent to the limit breaks in previous titles. It’s quite in-depth. First off, the characters each have the potential to gain multiple overdrive attacks, and there’s always a different game to produce maximum damage! Tidus has a little meter and you try to get a cursor in a certain range to deliver a punishing blow. Auron’s overdrive has you follow a button-mashing sequence, and so on. That’s all not to mention that you actually get to CHOOSE how your character reaches his/her limit! You can fill your meter by getting attacked, attacking enemies, have it fill when others get attacked, etc. etc. There are a huge amount of choices just like those!

Okay, well, the plot of the game is the best plot of the great many games I’ve played in my time. I feel I could spoil it for you if I explain more than I already have up above, so just go out and buy the game! It’s definitely worth it! Plus, it’s in the cheap bin by now! Just go throw down a few bucks!

Now, every Final Fantasy fan wants a massive game to play, don’t they? Well this game delivers it! It’s easily over a hundred hours of gameplay! Plus, there are all the secrets to be de-mystified, all of the secret weapons, the secret treasures, the secret monsters, and the secret aeons, even! This game is so expansive that I could only say Final Fantasy XII comes close. I’m not certain which one is longer and has more to do, but I can still say I enjoyed X even more than XII!

With this game, the scoring system seems a bit pointless, but still, let’s carry on with it.

Gameplay receives a ten out of ten.

Graphics receive a ten out of ten

Characters receive a ten out of ten

Music kept me completely enthralled, so as such, receives a…you guessed it, ten out of ten!

Alright, fine. This game receives one hundred out of one hundred! One Thousand out of One Thousand! A hundred Thousand out of A Hundred Thousand!

…I hope it doesn’t seem like I’m exaggerating…