Final Fantasy X Review

After having 9 very successful predecessors, Final Fantasy X had to be something truly special. It had been 4 years since the release of Final Fantasy IX and fans such as me were going crazy for more!
I couldn't wait to see how the series had translated onto its new home, the PS2 and what SquareSoft had done with the game.

I eagerly purchased my copy and was not disappointed with the results.

The plot follows a young man called Tidus, who during the destruction of his homeland by an unknown nemesis he finds himself meeting a stranger who seems to know more about him than he is comfortable with. This odd man claims that these events are due to shape his future, and he needs to complete his story. With only these cryptic words to go by he is transported into a completely alien world whilst his is falling down around him.

The storyline to this game is a deep tale of love, betrayal, and the fighting of a battle that has never been truly won before.
Constantly through this game I was moved by the events, I experienced all kinds of emotions. The story constantly leaves you wanting to know more and more. There are plenty of twists and turns to ensure that the game is never predictable and always an enjoyable experience.

The lead, Tidus when the game starts out has a manner similar to a cocky Jock. But as the game goes on you see his character develop and his personality mature.
Yuna is a 17 year old girl from the little village of Besaid. She has led a quiet life surrounded by people who are constantly minding her. She is very important to the people of Spira.
Travelling with Yuna and Tidus there are 3 of Yuna's close friends, these people have taken an oath to protect her from harm, they are her guardians. Wakka is a bubbly guy who has a deep faith in the world's religion and lives his life to the teachings of Yevon, Lulu she's a very wise woman who seems to be very close to Yuna. She is a very complex character with more to her than meets the eye. And you have Kimahri Ronso, he is Yuna's oldest friend who has protected her since she was a child. Kimahri is strong both physically and mentally.
During their journey they meet a few more friends who later join them in becoming guardians, namely Rikku, a chirpy Al Bhed girl ( A race of people who Spira arn't particularly fond of...) with an unrivalled knowledge of machines, and Auron, a mysterious chap who has strong ties with both Tidus and Yuna's stories.
The evil genius of this story is Seymour Guado. He is an intriguing character. Unlike most villains, he isn't doing things for the wrong reasons as such, he truly believes that he is helping the world by his actions. As the game goes on you can see Seymour slipping further and further into his delusional vision.

A brand new feature to this game is voiceovers for all the major characters. In my opinion, this adds a new type of depth to the game that previous Final Fantasy instalments were lacking. It's nice to be able to hear your character talk, you can hear the emotions in their voice. Countless times I have read what a character is saying and thought something along the lines of, are they being sincere or is that a sarcastic remark? That is something that only a voice can bring clarity to. And I think it works remarkably well at adding to the story's depth and credibility.

The world of Spira itself is a beautiful place, full of lush greenery, blue seas and clear skies, with most of the villages looking like tropical paradises, huts built out of natural materials like wooden shacks and mud huts standing against an amazing backdrop of mountains and beaches. Where as the bigger cities like Luca for example are just as beautiful but with a more modern feel. Big buildings greet you around every corner and there always something to see and do.
The designers at SquareSoft have appeared to have gone for an Indian theme with the cities and villages'. All seem to be big and grand with warm colours and patterns, and a lot of the NPC's are wearing Sari type clothes. The temples are in a class of their own, they have an amazing sense of grandeur to them. Highly decorative, you can see these places miles off in the landscape in some places.
All in all the graphics on this game are fantastic, they may look a bit dated now but they are possibly the PS2's best graphics.
Walking around everything is so beautiful and even battles are pretty!

Which brings me on to the battle system, SquareSoft have decided to scrap their traditional ATB (Active time battle) system which was favoured in previous instalments and have instead implemented a new system called CTB (Conditional Turn based Battle). With this you can pick what action you want to use in your own time without being killed during deciding. It gives a lot more time to plan your strategies which is definitely useful. On the top left of your screen there is also a visual representation of who's turn it will be next to attack, everything that you do will affect this, making you think twice about your decisions. For example if you decide to swap out a character with low hp for another character, that will mess with the order of attack, sometimes this can work in your favour, other times....not.
There are more changes, Such as the ‘limit breaks' of old (where your character unleashed their special attack, think Clouds Omnislash) these are now known as ‘overdrives'. Each character has their own overdrive which can be upgraded via certain equipment or during the story. A good feature of these overdrives is that you, the player has to fulfil a condition to power up the move, for example Tidus's overdrive, For you to improve the damage that he does you have a bar with a smaller bar in the middle, you have to stop a moving dot onto the smaller bar to majorly increase the damage dealt.
Another change to the system is Aeons, Powerful beasts that can be summoned to fight alongside you in the heat of battle. In previous games these were know as GF's (Guardian Forces) which anybody could summon if they had the right item. They then proceeded to burst onto your screen in a pretty video, do their damage and go again. In Final Fantasy X only Yuna is able to summon these beasts to fight along side her. Unlike the GF's, when an Aeon is summoned it stays by Yuna's side replacing the rest of the party and fights like a normal character would. For the first time ever you have complete control over series favourites such as Shiva, Ifrit and Bahamut, you tell them to attack, heal and they even have their own overdrives!
I personally really liked this addition to the game as it gave you control over some very powerful beasts, and I found it fun to perfect their skills and learn when was best to use them and when not to. You are also able to teach your aeon's new and useful abilities in the same way you would teach your regular characters.
Besides these changes the basics of battle still remain the same, there are still elemental weaknesses, e.g.: Fire is susceptible to water but water can be destroyed by lightning. If you can get a firm grasp on the basic principles of elements then you will become deadly.

Another massive change in the games workings is how the characters level up. Goodbye Xp = level up easiness, and hello to the sphere grid.
The sphere grid is a complex system that opens up an amazing amount of character development. With this you can give your character the abilities YOU want them to have, if you want a Lulu replica with her black magic, then that's great, that's what you can do. You can even make a defensive character that you can use as a ‘tank' to take the big hits whilst you're other characters give the boss a kicking. The open endedness is phenomenal.
The sphere grid is almost like a map, each character has their own space in the grid in which they are surrounded by nodes, each node is a specific ability or a status attribute. The idea is, instead of levelling, you get sphere points, these points allow you to move around the grid, and the spoils of battle often include spheres. Once you have gained enough sphere points to move, you move to a space that holds an ability that you want, you then place a sphere there and hey presto, you have learnt that ability. Although this is a complex system, I enjoyed the fact that I could make my character whatever I wanted them to be and I could gain abilities that they were never meant to have. I believe this system adds a huge amount to the game play.

The one downside to this game that I can find is that there aren't enough activities outside of the main story to partake in. Sure there's Blitzball and Chocobo racing but to be honest, I found that tiresome and gave up on it after a little while. The finding of the ultimate weapons and hidden aeons was good fun though.