Final Fantasy X
We finally got to play Square's first PS2 RPG. Is it the best Final Fantasy game yet? You know there's only one way to find out...
Published: May 29, 2001
If there's one company that knows how to really utilize hardware, it's Square. You can argue all you want that there are companies that make better looking games than one or two things that Squaresoft can make, but there's no denying that across the board, in all genres, Squaresoft's effort smack the holy living crap out of anyone else out there. From Vagrant Story to Chrono Cross to Final Fantasy IX, no other set of games offers the same near-overload of gorgeous visuals and engaging narrative. With the PlayStation 2, however, we're seeing some incredibly good offerings, and Square's first two PS2 games, while pretty (especially the near-CG quality of The Bouncer), have been a little lacking in the gameplay department.
So how does Final Fantasy X hold up? In a word, it's brilliant. Even with all of the stunningly good games coming out for the PS2, FFX manages to rise above them all simply because there's so much going on at once. Sure, there's the classic attention to detail, but FFX goes beyond that. Imagine if the attention to detail that went into animating and unfolding the summons from all the PlayStation efforts was culled into delivering ALL of the animations and sequences in the game. The result is insane. The players don't just animate well, they're damn near real, from battle stances to attacks to just static standing animation, there's so much more effort here than anything seen from the company, and when you consider the aforementioned PlayStation games, it's even more impressive.
The short demo that we played at E3 was identical (down to Japanese menus and text) to the Tokyo Game Show demo that grabbed so much attention. It offered the choice of two different venues, one involving Tidus all by his lonesome in a watery area, and another, more cinematic lush forested area that demonstrated the tweaked party-based combat. It was during our run-through of the latter that we discovered the huge, blue-haired "monster" was in fact Yuna's guardian, named Kimari, and in the demo had actually been a party member earlier on (although he apparently defected later). There's quite a bit of friction between Tidus and Kimari, although exactly why is still unknown.
The more watery level started out with Tidus running around on criss-crossing stone platforms before stepping on a section that gave out and tossed him into the water. From there, a short cinematic showed something watching him from the murky depths as he swam towards shore. After a brief encounter with some rather easy to kill creatures, the unknown monster watching Tidus burst from a nearby opening and devoured the one remaining creature and then went after Tidus. Our hero escapes – narrowly – into a caved-in section of what appears to be some kind of old ruins. The attention to detail was stunning, from the texture variety on the models to the cool transition effect as Tidus launches into battle under water to the dilapidated stone structures of the ruins. There were a few surprises at the end, but I think we'll hold back on exposing them in case there's a demo of the game released before the final.
The grassy area, on the other hand, was even more amazing than the aquatic demo. While exploring the area, the camera moved along with incredible cinematic flair, weaving around foreground objects, and constantly moving into the best position for the on-screen action. The details were breathtaking. Blades of grass would blow in the wind, waterfalls cascading down the side of a cliff created a light mist, and through it all, the camera kept up, always in the perfect position. Early in the demo, there's a CG cutscene of Kimari bounding down from a cliff to scream at Tidus. Until you see Square CG at DVD quality, there's no way to really put it into words. The second part of the demo also allowed us to play around with swapping out characters, managing multiple party members, and let us pull off a couple jaw-dropping summons. Again, like the CG, the summons in FFX have to been seen, they can't be described accurately. So close is the execution to CG that I actually found myself rubbing my eyes as the action unfolded.
It's amazing, especially considering how much longer the game has to go before it'll hit US shores (we won't see it until early next year), but Final Fantasy X already has the potential -- even amid games like MGS2, GT3 and Jak and Daxter – to become the best-looking game on the system. As soon as we have the opportunity to sit down with the game and play a little deeper, we'll give you the skinny.
So how does Final Fantasy X hold up? In a word, it's brilliant. Even with all of the stunningly good games coming out for the PS2, FFX manages to rise above them all simply because there's so much going on at once. Sure, there's the classic attention to detail, but FFX goes beyond that. Imagine if the attention to detail that went into animating and unfolding the summons from all the PlayStation efforts was culled into delivering ALL of the animations and sequences in the game. The result is insane. The players don't just animate well, they're damn near real, from battle stances to attacks to just static standing animation, there's so much more effort here than anything seen from the company, and when you consider the aforementioned PlayStation games, it's even more impressive.
The short demo that we played at E3 was identical (down to Japanese menus and text) to the Tokyo Game Show demo that grabbed so much attention. It offered the choice of two different venues, one involving Tidus all by his lonesome in a watery area, and another, more cinematic lush forested area that demonstrated the tweaked party-based combat. It was during our run-through of the latter that we discovered the huge, blue-haired "monster" was in fact Yuna's guardian, named Kimari, and in the demo had actually been a party member earlier on (although he apparently defected later). There's quite a bit of friction between Tidus and Kimari, although exactly why is still unknown.
The more watery level started out with Tidus running around on criss-crossing stone platforms before stepping on a section that gave out and tossed him into the water. From there, a short cinematic showed something watching him from the murky depths as he swam towards shore. After a brief encounter with some rather easy to kill creatures, the unknown monster watching Tidus burst from a nearby opening and devoured the one remaining creature and then went after Tidus. Our hero escapes – narrowly – into a caved-in section of what appears to be some kind of old ruins. The attention to detail was stunning, from the texture variety on the models to the cool transition effect as Tidus launches into battle under water to the dilapidated stone structures of the ruins. There were a few surprises at the end, but I think we'll hold back on exposing them in case there's a demo of the game released before the final.
The grassy area, on the other hand, was even more amazing than the aquatic demo. While exploring the area, the camera moved along with incredible cinematic flair, weaving around foreground objects, and constantly moving into the best position for the on-screen action. The details were breathtaking. Blades of grass would blow in the wind, waterfalls cascading down the side of a cliff created a light mist, and through it all, the camera kept up, always in the perfect position. Early in the demo, there's a CG cutscene of Kimari bounding down from a cliff to scream at Tidus. Until you see Square CG at DVD quality, there's no way to really put it into words. The second part of the demo also allowed us to play around with swapping out characters, managing multiple party members, and let us pull off a couple jaw-dropping summons. Again, like the CG, the summons in FFX have to been seen, they can't be described accurately. So close is the execution to CG that I actually found myself rubbing my eyes as the action unfolded.
It's amazing, especially considering how much longer the game has to go before it'll hit US shores (we won't see it until early next year), but Final Fantasy X already has the potential -- even amid games like MGS2, GT3 and Jak and Daxter – to become the best-looking game on the system. As soon as we have the opportunity to sit down with the game and play a little deeper, we'll give you the skinny.