Final Fantasy X

Voices of: James Arnold Taylor, Hedy Burress, John DiMaggio, Paula Tiso, Matt McKenzie, Tara Strong, Alex Fernandez, Gregg Berger, Michael McShane
Developer: Squaresoft
Directed by: Yoshinori Kitase
Rating: T
Genre: Role-Playing
System: Playstation 2
2001

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Tidus, a famous blitzball player, is transported to the land of Spira far into the future, where he becomes a guardian to Yuna, a summoner as her band fights against the destructive entity called Sin.

Review:
Tim: Final Fantasy X was the 4th mainline series game I completed (after VII, VIII, and IX). It marked a number of firsts for the iconic franchise- it moved away from completely pre-rendered backdrops and it was also the first game in the series to feature voice acting. The franchise's move to the Playstation 2 is a triumph.

This is definitely one of my favorite games in the series. It doesn't have the emotional impact of Final Fantasy VII, but it's more straightforward than VIII. IX was good, but the storyline underwhelmed me. That's definitely a major strength here. I honestly feel like this one comes in at 2nd place behind Final Fantasy VII as my franchise favorite.

I really play these games more for the story than anything. The narrative here was ambitious- Tidus is a prototypical franchise lead. He's cheesy and too juvenile at times, but he's fun to control. I liked him as a protagonist. The story of his estrangement with his father, his reluctant journey to Spira, finding friends, mentors, and a love in the band of heroes, and ultimately, confronting his past by facing Sin- the entire hero's journey for Tidus is excellent. It helps that the story is one of the most fascinating in franchise history. I loved the religious undertones throughout the game. Calling the massive monster Sin gives the whole story a lot of depth. You can play it at a surface level and take everything at face value, but the story really allows you to explore some of these deeper themes. Defeating sin, overcoming our own shortcomings, the role of religion in inspiring (and controlling) people- it's all complex and fascinating to watch it unfold.

In addition to Titus, you have a number of strong characters. I absolutely loved Auron. He's one of my all-time favorite franchise characters and easily the coolest character in this entire game. He looks so cool and he's got a fascinating and tragic backstory. He was amazing. Yuna is a good heroine. The film really gives her a lot to do, although I wasn't always a fan of the juvenile way she was depicted. Her journey is a substantial one and whenever the game focuses on her, the experience improves. I enjoyed Tidus and Yuna's relationship and outside of cringe-worthy moments like the laughing scene, they generally work well. Wakka is a great character, too. He's kind of the "friend" that shows up in a lot of these games, but I thought his story of bias against a people and his eventual growth were more profound than you usually see in games like these. Kimahri was a fascinating addition. I loved having a non-human as part of the main team, and although he doesn't say much, he becomes an important character, Yuna's protector. I really liked him a great deal as a character. Lulu was the magic wielding character and I thought she added a good amount to the story, too. Her past with Wakka's brother and growing up with Yuna felt a little forced, but I generally liked her character quite a bit. She serves as a stern but solid member of the team. Rikku was the weakest character, in my mind, both in battles and her story. Not everyone can be great, you know?

I really loved a few of the different aspects of this game. First, I adored how easy it was to switch your characters in and out of battle. I wish every RPG would take this approach. It allowed me to quickly bring in all my characters every battle, so they could get AP. I also found the Sphere Grid incredible. I'm not sure I'd like every game to have it- I really missed not knowing what level my character was in. That's one of my favorite parts of RPGs- just seeing the character's level and stats grow. I missed the number, but it was wonderful to see the Sphere Grid get filled in as the game progressed. It felt unique, original, and a fun way to strengthen characters. I spent a lot of time in that Sphere Grid.

Now, I'm a firm believer that people should be allowed to play video games their own ways. In some games, I'm absolutely a completionist. I want to get to 100%, or as close as possible. I've never felt that desire in the Final Fantasy series. These games are absolutely massive and to do everything possible requires countless hours of grinding that I have zero desire to do. I love the story, but I'm not interested in spending 200 hours in this world. I spent 50 hours on Final Fantasy X and I felt good about that. That means I played almost no Blitzball. I think it's so clever how this franchise always has these complicated and time-consuming mini-games. I'm just not willing to invest the time needed to master them. I also wasn't going to spend the time collecting all the Celestial Weapons and fully upgrading them. I did get the Nirvana (with 1 upgrade), Masamume (full upgrade), Onion Knight, and Spirit Lance. I hated that stupid chocobo racing game and I was absolutely not going to bang my head against the wall trying to perfect that to get Tidus' weapon. No way. Similarly, I wasn't interested in the lengthy process to get strong enough to get dark Aeons and all the rigamarole needed to unlock all the potential aeons. I got Yojimbo for Yuna and decided to call it good. I recognize there's a ton in this game I didn't do, and I'm okay with that. I don't have enough time to play video games, I have to be able to make these choices.

Final Fantasy X is yet another terrific game in one of the all-time greatest video game franchises. This game is hugely influential. It's widely considered one of the greatest video games of all time. The characters, the incredible story, the stunning graphics, the beautiful music- it's another example of Square pulling out all the stops and creating a near-masterpiece. As I said, it's my 2nd favorite Final Fantasy game of all time (at this point, anyway) and a game a truly loved playing.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X-2