Final Fantasy X

Before I review Final Fantasy X, I'll give you a short history of my gaming life:The first RPG I ever played was Kingdom Hearts. I got a PlayStation 2 for Christmas of 2004. I loved Kingdom Hearts, but I liked Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando way more (of course, as a kid, all I wanted to do was blow stuff up). Well this was before I discovered you could actually get off of Destiny Islands in Kingdom Hearts, and then I really began to like it. After I finished the game, I played through it again...at least 2 or three more times...and in 2009, I realized that there were two more games I was missing out on, Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. I quickly got to GameStop, bought these games (used, as back then $25 for a game was a lot of money), and played them...and loved them, and played through them multiple times as well (with some of the first Kingdom Hearts as well). At this time, Kingdom Hearts was my favorite series, and the greatest thing ever in my gaming "career". Well I finally learned about the Final Fantasy series, by playing Final Fantasy (I). I quickly fell in love with it as well, even though it was only in 2D! Then I decided I'd buy Final Fantasy I & II (Origins), IV and Chrono Trigger (Chronicles), V and VI (Anthology), VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, XII, and Chrono Cross (along with a PlayStation [1] to save wear and tear on my already very old PlayStation 2). Every cent I spent on those games has been worth it.Now for the actual review of Final Fantasy X!Out of all of those games that I bought above...Final Fantasy X took the cake, and before I knew it I was playing it quite often, and I was drawn into the world of Spira. In fact, I was liking the Final Fantasy series, as a whole, better than Kingdom Hearts (Kingdom Hearts IS Final Fantasy and Disney), and this became my favorite game of all time. Something I'd noticed different from the previous Final Fantasies was that they all had a very similar battle system and leveling up system, and the game elements were all very similar. Final Fantasy X broke a lot of those barriers, and improved the game in so many ways (unfortunately, I view these as improvements, but some people view them as unimprovements). Before I list these changes, I'll list the Pros and Cons of this game, and you can decide for yourself if these changes are Pros or Cons.Pros:Beautiful in-game graphics (trumps all of the games before it)Very beautiful FMVs (Full-Motion-Videos)GREAT soundtrackGreat voice acting (some people think it's cheesy/mediocre but I had no problem with it)Great gameplay; this is the 2nd strongest point about this game, and the gameplay is extremely funThe BEST part about this game? That would be the story. If you removed the story, you might as well throw away the game. Not saying the rest of the game isn't good, it's just that the story is SO good that you won't have the full experience without it.Cons:As good as the in-game graphics are, sometimes the PS2 will slow down slightly in order to display them allThe FMVs are superb, but if you happen to have a scratch where the FMV is on the disc, prepare to wait a long time. Fortunately the game has an auto-skip feature where the FMV will skip if it can't play completely; some games do not have this and you have to start over.To some people, the soundtrack may get repetitive (namely the battle sequences)The voice acting is great, but some parts are kind of cheesyThe gameplay is really fun, but for some maybe even repetitive, and if you are not a fan of RPGs, the gameplay may seem "boring" to you if you're into FPSsThe story is superb, but if you don't like the inability to skip cutscnes, or if you think...**********!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!**********...that sad endings are bad endings,then don't play this game. Especiallyif you don't want to cry in front ofwhoever might be around you.**********!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!**********Ok, now for some changes from the original series in this game:In this game, there is no real "world map". Towards the end of the game, you do, however, control an airship, and can select any town/village/location you would like to visit. Much faster than the world map, in my opinion. However, to some, this makes the game seem more "linear". To be honest, I actually LIKE the linearity of it; I know EXACTLY where I'm going at ALL times, exactly what I have to do, etc. This way I don't have to fight 1,000 monsters (in this game, fiends) just to find my way to some small town that I didn't know in what 0.01% of the map it was in. In this game, all of the towns are connected, either by walking, boat rides, or "shoopuf" rides. Also, in this game, there is a red arrow that directs you to the location you need to arrive at to complete your goal; this makes things much easier for the casual gamer. However, this game is NOT just for casual gamers.Next, the battle system is completely different. In Final Fantasy I-III, you have the Traditional Turn-Based Battle, where everybody selects their commands, and then everybody gets one turn; one turn per person until you either lose or win. As simple as the concept is, it's surprisingly fun. Then, in Final Fantasy IV-IX, you have the Active Time Battle, where you have to wait for your bar to fill before you can carry out actions. This was great as well. Then, in Final Fantasy X, you use the Conditional Turn-Based Battle. In a lot of ways, it's like the Traditional Turn-Based Battle, but this time it's not just one turn per person. Basically, in the upper right hand corner, you can see a "turn window" that predicts turn order; players with higher agility values get more turns. This by itself may not sound very fun, but here's the fun part; depending on what action you use, you will change the turn order. For example, if you use an item instead of attack, you may see your icon move up a bit. This means that your next turn will come sooner than if you had attacked, and makes rescuing your party members easier than in previous games. Or if you cast hastega, which is haste on your entire party, you should see everybody's turn slots move up, and this means that everybody will get their turns sooner for the rest of battle. This makes for some very strategic battles, and is...very very fun, and irresistible. Another advantage of this over the Active Time Battle is that you don't have to wait for a bar to fill; when it's your turn, you select your command, you immediately perform it. That simple.Another HUGE difference is the leveling up system. Not including Final Fantasy II, in the previous games, when you got enough experience points, you earned a level up, and your stats bumped up accordingly. That's fine, but this game takes leveling up to a whole new level. Instead of getting "level-ups" you get "Sphere Levels" which tells you how many times you can move on the sphere grid. Every character starts at their own place on the sphere grid, and they have a pre-defined route they can choose to follow; or, by earning sphere "keys" they can unlock locks on the sphere grid, and choose their own path. This allows for a lot of customization. Along the sphere grid, there are "nodes" that have different upgrades; for example, one node might have +1 agility, and another might have +1 strength. Every character's route on the sphere grid is different, so if you choose to complete your character's route, you get to choose how you want your character to level up next. As I was saying before, you get sphere levels, and these allow you to move around the grid, and any node that is touching the node you are currently at, you can choose to get that ability by placing a sphere there; there are 5 sphere types, power spheres (raise strength, defense, and HP), mana spheres (raise magic power, magic defense, and MP), agility spheres (raise agility, accuracy, and evasion), ability spheres (learn abilities), and fortune spheres (raise luck). There are also other special spheres you can use to obtain level ups that are too far away.Another difference in this game is the ability to switch out your characters at will during battle. In the games before, you had to wait until the battle was over to switch out your characters, but in this game, at any party member's turn, you can press the L1 button and select an available party member to switch out for. They are immediately able to perform actions (however, if you go from a high agility character to a low agility character, you may see they have less turns in the turn window).Another difference in this game over the previous ones, is that instead of calling "summons" (in this game, "aeons") to deal a bit of damage and then leave, the aeons fight for you (everybody else leaves), and you can control them, until you either dismiss them, you win the battle, or the aeon runs out of HP. In this game, the aeon doesn't recover HP until you do something that restores the entire party's HP, like resting at a hotel, or touching a save point. Which is...Another difference in this game is that the save points don't just let you save, they also completely restore your HP and MP. This way you don't have to use 100 potions to restore your party's HP to maximum right before a boss. Also, you can usually hit one save sphere (or the option to save) at least once every half hour, if not much more than that, unlike in Final Fantasy VII where you have to keep playing and playing to find your next save point.Another difference in this game is that status ailments, including death, do not stay with you after the battle is over. For example, in many previous games, if you were poisoned, you would have to recover your party member ASAP or they would die. Same in this game, but if you win the battle, you won't be poisoned any more. Or if you die, you'll have 1 HP instead of 0, making restoring HP easier. Instead of a Phoenix Down AND several potions or cures, just several potions or cures.Another difference in this game is that you can have individual party members flee from the battle; this way if the remaining characters die, you won't lose the game.Well, I believe that covers most of this game. Here's some reasons why you may NOT want to buy this game:If you don't like the Final Fantasy series, in generalIf you don't like RPGs, in generalIf a few errors in voice acting or facial expressions annoy youIf taking 40+ hours to complete the game is too long for youIf you are not a Japanese Role-Playing-Game fan, this game is DEFINITELY NOT for youIf the inability to skip cutscenes annoys you so much that you wouldn't want to play itIf you don't like to customize your own leveling up, and you'll spend probably at LEAST 2 hours doing itHere's some reasons you might want to play the game:If you DO like the Final Fantasy series, in generalIf you DO like RPGs, in generalIf you like somewhat good voice actingIf you don't mind the 40+ hour main quest, with that doubled or more to complete all of the side quests, with a high replay valueIf you ARE into JRPGs, this game is DEFINITELY for you.If you like really good storyline, this game is for youIf you like customizing your character's level upsSummary:This is, in my opinion, the greatest game ever created (not the most fun, the greatest). I like enjoying 40+ hour games, with a lot of story in between, and I like the high replay value. I like the new battle system, the new leveling system, the lack of a true world map, and the linearity of the game. Also, if you like this game, there is a sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, and although not quite as fun as this game, it's still fun, and with a great storyline.I'd also like to point out, that some people say they don't like this game, some people say they are wrong, etc. Well everybody has a different taste, style, and opinion, so if, as I said, the above reasons for not playing fit you, then don't play or buy this game. If, however, the reasons for playing it fit you, then DEFINITELY buy this game, as you may find it to be one of the better, if not best games you've ever played.Thanks for reading my review, and I hope it helps you with making decisions on buying this game!EDIT: I've played this game through twice already, I'm playing through it again now, and am planning on another playthrough a bit later. That's about 90+ hours for the first two times, another 40+ hours for this time, and I'm planning on a 100% completion next time, which will take at LEAST 80+ hours, for a total of 210+ hours. That's a LOT of gameplay.

This game is simply addicting. Although the game play has changed dramatically from its predecessors in moving away from the "Active Time Battle" system, the battles are still incredibly enjoyable. I think it has made a more strategy type battle in having characters that are bettor suited for killing different enemies and not having a time limit to base your decisions. The comparisons to FF Tactics are correct in that the character turns do not have a time limit and an infinite amount of time can be used to reach the best decision, but that is really where the similarities end. The amount of tactics in FFX is limited to selecting the character to fight and very rarely are you able to move around the battlefield as in FF Tactics.I love the new method of leveling up by using the sphere grid because the player has much more control of what the character will develop into. I find it to be a pleasant middle ground between not having any say in how my skills or attributes will develop (FFIV) while not being as completely fluid as being able to change my characters skills constantly depending on the situation (FFVII). Granted instead of changing the skill of the characters to defeat enemies you will instead be switching characters in and out of battle constantly (you can change characters on their turn for someone currently not in the fight) to take advantage of their special skills. This leads to a very interesting battle system that I do enjoy, but am also a little irritated by having to constantly switch characters around to get everyone experience. Unless the characters are used in that fight they do not get experience to level up. Even if they attack and miss they count has having a turn and will get experience from the fight. I found myself having several characters early on really doing the vast amount of killing and getting most experience (Auron and Wakka) while others are really only needed in special situations (Yuna and Lulu) due to limited skill sets. To counteract this and level up all characters I found myself "wasting" turns with Yuna, Lulu, and Kimahri doing very little damage to none at all to keep the last enemy alive so everyone could get a chance to get experience from the fight. That really drove me crazy since I was wasting time to get them experience when I could have killed the enemies immediately with one hit from Auron, but unless I leveled them up they would never get useful and be able to take care of things on their own. I would have liked to see the characters all level up even if not used, perhaps to a lesser extent, like that seen in FFVII so I do not have to involve all the characters constantly if their special skills are not required. Either that or balance the enemies or characters better so some characters are not constantly needed in fights to always get experience when others are needed less frequently creating an imbalanced cast.It is certainly much more linear than what some people prefer in a RPG, but it really did not bother me so much since the story, from the beginning, was telling you of a journey from point A with a destination of point B. All the stuff in between makes the journey exciting and fun to be a part of, but with the story they tell, the linear nature could not have been avoided. I felt FFVII was just as linear with the constant objective ahead of you, even if you could travel to unnecessary locations.Even with all that gripe about switching in and out characters the battles were still very enjoyable and I absolutely loved the story. I will not ruin it with anything other than it hooks you and keeps you involved throughout since the objective is always known, but the reason for the objective changes. I truly liked all the characters, even though Wakka drove me crazy with his dogmatic drivel sometimes, and it keeps you invested in finding out what happens. This game is definitely one of the best games of any genre I have played. You can easily get 70hrs of game play with all the side quests in the game and the primary alone still takes up a hefty amount of time.