Final Fantasy X
Square's first PS2 RPG hits home in a big way, but can it beat out nine past games to take the top spot?
Published: January 2, 2002
C'mon, admit it, the Final Fantasy series has gotten just a tad stale. I mean, there's been NINE of the friggin' games up till now, things had to stagnate eventually. The good news is the with the tenth and final Sakaguchi-powered Final Fantasy game (the next two games will be helmed by folks from the Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Trigger/Cross teams, respectively), the series has not only gotten a shot in the arm, it's been given a dose of some kind of super serum, transforming a tired, old battle system into something innovative, worthwhile and - gaspitty gasp gasp - fun. Yeah, you read right, I used the word "fun" when speaking of a RPG battle system. What's more, everything from the way the game is presented (largely all in real-time) to the way characters level up (the all new Sphere Grid) has given the series a whole new start, and what a way for Square to finally crash onto the PlayStation 2 properly.
Final Fantasy X is so good, in fact, that the fact that games like The Bouncer and Driving Emotion Type S even came from the same publisher will probably never enter your mind. FFX seethes with top-notch presentation value, from the continuingly gorgeous CG sequences (yes, even with the huge jump up in in-game graphics) to almost flawless voice-acting from both main and supporting characters alike to a new approach to linearity in the series. Final Fantasy X doesn't just look like a new Final Fantasy game, it IS one, in just about every aspect. Every aspect, that is, except story, where things are still very much in the vein of games that have come before them.
The story focuses on a dual hero/heroine team in a much more direct way than past games. The supporting cast is still very much present, but you get to know the two leads a little more than in past games. There's Tidus, a young man living in a technology-powered utopian megalopolis where his biggest problem is deciding how to get through throngs of fans on his way to the stadium where he can flex his skills as a sports superstar. Tidus world falls apart quite literally when an entity known as Sin attacks the town during a sporting event (the CG sequence that unfolds during this intro never fails to amaze, and the responses I've gotten from friends have ranged from "wow" to "whoa, sweet" to "holy $#!^" to the verbal equivalent of "..."). The feminine side of the hero/heroine coin is Yuna, a soft-spoken, big-hearted summoner who's taken up a vow to defeat Sin. Yes, the very same Sin that attacked Tidus' home. The process by which the two meet up is a little more complex and wordy than you'd probably care to find out, so suffice it to say the two hook up, and affection blossoms slowly from there.
And affection, really, is the at heart of FFX. While it was made blatantly obvious in FFVIII that Squall and Rinoa had the hots for each other early on, Tidus and Yuna's love is revealed in a much more complex, real way. There are a lot of layers to both of them, and their feelings are almost always being blended with the circumstances around them. It's never as simple as shacking up and saving the girl in tough times, and for the first time, the story in a Final Fantasy game feels perfectly at home in realms other than fantasy. It's complexity and emotion that's usually strung together in multi-episode arcs and complemented with a musical backdrop from angsty teenyboppers somewhere on the WB. Judging from the way just about every teen knows who Dawson and Pacey are, that can't be a bad thing for video game storytelling.
It should probably be addressed early on, however, that the way the story unfolds in FFX is much more linear than in any of the old games. Until almost the very end, you're stuck moving from place to place with literally no overworld map or means of speedy air transport. If that sounds like a bad thing, remember that it's only in effect until near the end, and by laying everything out in a deliberate sequence, you're able to latch onto the characters and story. FFX's world doesn't feel as big as the other games, though, as a result, but it's certainly just as long; the world just seems a bit more condensed than in past efforts.
Beyond the linearity, however, you'll find a ton to love, especially the aforementioned revamp of the battle and leveling systems. First off, ATB has been ditched in favor of turn-based combat. Now before you go spouting off in a huff, know th--HEY! Shaddap and listen for a second. BEFORE you go ranting about changing from semi-real-time to turn-based combat realize that everything actually moves along much faster. There's also the option to switch out characters in the middle of battle, a seemingly small addition that suddenly catapults the combat system into the upper echelons of RPG combat. Why this wasn't implemented earlier on in the series is beyond me, but it's a welcome change nonetheless. Because different characters work better with different enemies, you'll find yourself constantly going to your go-to guy to deal with different enemies. The balance in enemy types is such that you'll generally be using everyone in any given area. This eliminates that problem of having to use characters that are all bulked up most of the time, and then being forced to use characters that have warmed the bench the whole game. It doesn't quite make random encounters fun yet, but everything is much more balanced.
Gone also is the traditional experience levels. Instead of leveling up based on experience, the system has shifted to something called the Sphere Grid. As you fight battles, you gain AP, level up one AP level and you can move one space on the Sphere Grid, which has any number of attribute boosts (200HP, 20MP, Defense up, Attack up, etc.) that can be redeemed by using spheres dropped in battle by the enemy or found in chests throughout the world. This allows for a very basic level of control over how your characters level up, not so much at the beginning, but in increasing amounts towards the end of the game where you'll have already spent much time leveling up your characters' section of the grid. Once you've done that, you can move on to other characters' sections, effectively learning their skills and powerups. It's a clever system that again adds a little more flair into an otherwise universally drab way of leveling up.
Summoned monsters (which can only be used by Yuna), now stick around to fight in place of your characters, and as such effectively become members of your party, complete with HP and MP and the vulnerabilities therein. While they're still very much capable of dealing one-hit blows, they can stick around to fight normally as well, useful since they're immune to status elements, something your party is a bit more susceptible to than previous games.
It should go without saying that FFX's graphics are amazing. I mean, if there's one thing Square will never, ever be famous for is cruddy visuals. Even with all the high expectations for the series, though, I guarantee you'll still be left slack-jawed at a couple of scenes. The fact that it's becoming increasingly more difficult to tell when game switch from CG to real-time graphics says something. To those that aren't super-hardcore gamers, it may not even be noticeable at all. Here in the offices we're lucky enough to have some rather nice TV's so finer details tend to jump out, but even still, there were a couple of times where it took me a few seconds to realize a switch had happened. FFXII will probably blur that line into near obscurity.
What's most impressive above all else, however, is the control that was exercised with the effects and animations. It's not hard to recall how annoying it was to sit through the summons in FFVIII (a couple actually clocked in at a couple of minutes), and luckily even spell effects are carried off with plenty of proper pomp and flash, but never go too far. It's as if the programmers learned how to scale everything back just enough to keep the battles quick and lean, but still kept things visually pleasing no matter how many times you see them. Even the summons can be toggled between long and shortened versions.
The leap to a 128-bit foundation sure hasn't hurt the looks of everything either. Animations are incredibly clean, from Tidus' simple battle stance to the way Wakka tosses his Blitzball at enemies and the trajectory from which it bounces off them to return to his outstretched arm. Flying enemies don't just fall dead, they almost soar upward, then plummet like concrete to the ground below as the last wisps of life eke from their bodies. The bump up in resolution and polygon-gobbling power has also helped flesh out the models even more, with the close-up versions easily smoking the VII CG's and almost on par with the CG models in FFVII. Friends, foes and environments alike are bathed in high-res, varied texture work. Since the areas usually aren't all that large, everything can look fantastic with little to no hit on the framerate.
It's nice to see that pre-rendered backgrounds aren't totally forsaken, however, as there's something very comforting in seeing lots of clean little details that just wouldn't have been done justice in real-time. The technique of layering real-time models over CG is still used on rare occasions, and it's damn near impossible to tell unless you're specifically looking for it. Chances are you won't even know a scene when you see it.
FFX's audio is top-notch, though the usually prominent music has definitely taken a backseat to the series biggest improvement: voice acting replacing almost all written dialogue (though there are still subtitles if you choose). Across the board, the actors deliver dead-on vocal accompaniments to the on-screen characters, especially Wakka and Lulu. Tidus' lines come off a little too excited at times, and Yuna's delivery can seem a little slow, which can break down the flow of conversation, but since as they have at least twice the dialog of any of the other characters, it's understandable that there'd be a couple of misses. The sound effects that punctuate the action between lines is dead-on, with the appropriate smacks, pops and scuffs popping up in just the right places.
If there's any one aural shortcoming, it may be the music. Not because it's bad, but there doesn't seem to be as many tracks that really hooked me. Despite having three separate composers, things do feel more cohesive, oddly enough, with the main theme appearing in some form in most of the songs. Then again, when I think back on my initial run-throughs of FFVII and VIII, I didn't really have any toe-tappers embedded in my head either.
Those that know me somewhat know how much I love Final Fantasy IV (or FFII on the SNES). Hell, it's my favorite game of all time, but I have to admit it, as a Final Fantasy game, FFX whoops the crap out of any of the previous incarnations. The story is infinitely more mature, the delivery is head and shoulders above any other console RPG, and the overall experience leaves you with such a feeling of satisfaction that it's easy to dive right back into the game once you beaten it just to experience all the big moments again. If you're even a remote fan of the series, it's a safe bet you'll find something to love here. If, on the other hand, you've never played a Final Fantasy game before, this is THE reason to start getting into the series. Just about every aspect that has made the series good has been given a deliberate update, and the result is one of the most entertaining RPG's you will ever play. Period.
Final Fantasy X is so good, in fact, that the fact that games like The Bouncer and Driving Emotion Type S even came from the same publisher will probably never enter your mind. FFX seethes with top-notch presentation value, from the continuingly gorgeous CG sequences (yes, even with the huge jump up in in-game graphics) to almost flawless voice-acting from both main and supporting characters alike to a new approach to linearity in the series. Final Fantasy X doesn't just look like a new Final Fantasy game, it IS one, in just about every aspect. Every aspect, that is, except story, where things are still very much in the vein of games that have come before them.
The story focuses on a dual hero/heroine team in a much more direct way than past games. The supporting cast is still very much present, but you get to know the two leads a little more than in past games. There's Tidus, a young man living in a technology-powered utopian megalopolis where his biggest problem is deciding how to get through throngs of fans on his way to the stadium where he can flex his skills as a sports superstar. Tidus world falls apart quite literally when an entity known as Sin attacks the town during a sporting event (the CG sequence that unfolds during this intro never fails to amaze, and the responses I've gotten from friends have ranged from "wow" to "whoa, sweet" to "holy $#!^" to the verbal equivalent of "..."). The feminine side of the hero/heroine coin is Yuna, a soft-spoken, big-hearted summoner who's taken up a vow to defeat Sin. Yes, the very same Sin that attacked Tidus' home. The process by which the two meet up is a little more complex and wordy than you'd probably care to find out, so suffice it to say the two hook up, and affection blossoms slowly from there.
And affection, really, is the at heart of FFX. While it was made blatantly obvious in FFVIII that Squall and Rinoa had the hots for each other early on, Tidus and Yuna's love is revealed in a much more complex, real way. There are a lot of layers to both of them, and their feelings are almost always being blended with the circumstances around them. It's never as simple as shacking up and saving the girl in tough times, and for the first time, the story in a Final Fantasy game feels perfectly at home in realms other than fantasy. It's complexity and emotion that's usually strung together in multi-episode arcs and complemented with a musical backdrop from angsty teenyboppers somewhere on the WB. Judging from the way just about every teen knows who Dawson and Pacey are, that can't be a bad thing for video game storytelling.
It should probably be addressed early on, however, that the way the story unfolds in FFX is much more linear than in any of the old games. Until almost the very end, you're stuck moving from place to place with literally no overworld map or means of speedy air transport. If that sounds like a bad thing, remember that it's only in effect until near the end, and by laying everything out in a deliberate sequence, you're able to latch onto the characters and story. FFX's world doesn't feel as big as the other games, though, as a result, but it's certainly just as long; the world just seems a bit more condensed than in past efforts.
Beyond the linearity, however, you'll find a ton to love, especially the aforementioned revamp of the battle and leveling systems. First off, ATB has been ditched in favor of turn-based combat. Now before you go spouting off in a huff, know th--HEY! Shaddap and listen for a second. BEFORE you go ranting about changing from semi-real-time to turn-based combat realize that everything actually moves along much faster. There's also the option to switch out characters in the middle of battle, a seemingly small addition that suddenly catapults the combat system into the upper echelons of RPG combat. Why this wasn't implemented earlier on in the series is beyond me, but it's a welcome change nonetheless. Because different characters work better with different enemies, you'll find yourself constantly going to your go-to guy to deal with different enemies. The balance in enemy types is such that you'll generally be using everyone in any given area. This eliminates that problem of having to use characters that are all bulked up most of the time, and then being forced to use characters that have warmed the bench the whole game. It doesn't quite make random encounters fun yet, but everything is much more balanced.
Gone also is the traditional experience levels. Instead of leveling up based on experience, the system has shifted to something called the Sphere Grid. As you fight battles, you gain AP, level up one AP level and you can move one space on the Sphere Grid, which has any number of attribute boosts (200HP, 20MP, Defense up, Attack up, etc.) that can be redeemed by using spheres dropped in battle by the enemy or found in chests throughout the world. This allows for a very basic level of control over how your characters level up, not so much at the beginning, but in increasing amounts towards the end of the game where you'll have already spent much time leveling up your characters' section of the grid. Once you've done that, you can move on to other characters' sections, effectively learning their skills and powerups. It's a clever system that again adds a little more flair into an otherwise universally drab way of leveling up.
Summoned monsters (which can only be used by Yuna), now stick around to fight in place of your characters, and as such effectively become members of your party, complete with HP and MP and the vulnerabilities therein. While they're still very much capable of dealing one-hit blows, they can stick around to fight normally as well, useful since they're immune to status elements, something your party is a bit more susceptible to than previous games.
It should go without saying that FFX's graphics are amazing. I mean, if there's one thing Square will never, ever be famous for is cruddy visuals. Even with all the high expectations for the series, though, I guarantee you'll still be left slack-jawed at a couple of scenes. The fact that it's becoming increasingly more difficult to tell when game switch from CG to real-time graphics says something. To those that aren't super-hardcore gamers, it may not even be noticeable at all. Here in the offices we're lucky enough to have some rather nice TV's so finer details tend to jump out, but even still, there were a couple of times where it took me a few seconds to realize a switch had happened. FFXII will probably blur that line into near obscurity.
What's most impressive above all else, however, is the control that was exercised with the effects and animations. It's not hard to recall how annoying it was to sit through the summons in FFVIII (a couple actually clocked in at a couple of minutes), and luckily even spell effects are carried off with plenty of proper pomp and flash, but never go too far. It's as if the programmers learned how to scale everything back just enough to keep the battles quick and lean, but still kept things visually pleasing no matter how many times you see them. Even the summons can be toggled between long and shortened versions.
The leap to a 128-bit foundation sure hasn't hurt the looks of everything either. Animations are incredibly clean, from Tidus' simple battle stance to the way Wakka tosses his Blitzball at enemies and the trajectory from which it bounces off them to return to his outstretched arm. Flying enemies don't just fall dead, they almost soar upward, then plummet like concrete to the ground below as the last wisps of life eke from their bodies. The bump up in resolution and polygon-gobbling power has also helped flesh out the models even more, with the close-up versions easily smoking the VII CG's and almost on par with the CG models in FFVII. Friends, foes and environments alike are bathed in high-res, varied texture work. Since the areas usually aren't all that large, everything can look fantastic with little to no hit on the framerate.
It's nice to see that pre-rendered backgrounds aren't totally forsaken, however, as there's something very comforting in seeing lots of clean little details that just wouldn't have been done justice in real-time. The technique of layering real-time models over CG is still used on rare occasions, and it's damn near impossible to tell unless you're specifically looking for it. Chances are you won't even know a scene when you see it.
FFX's audio is top-notch, though the usually prominent music has definitely taken a backseat to the series biggest improvement: voice acting replacing almost all written dialogue (though there are still subtitles if you choose). Across the board, the actors deliver dead-on vocal accompaniments to the on-screen characters, especially Wakka and Lulu. Tidus' lines come off a little too excited at times, and Yuna's delivery can seem a little slow, which can break down the flow of conversation, but since as they have at least twice the dialog of any of the other characters, it's understandable that there'd be a couple of misses. The sound effects that punctuate the action between lines is dead-on, with the appropriate smacks, pops and scuffs popping up in just the right places.
If there's any one aural shortcoming, it may be the music. Not because it's bad, but there doesn't seem to be as many tracks that really hooked me. Despite having three separate composers, things do feel more cohesive, oddly enough, with the main theme appearing in some form in most of the songs. Then again, when I think back on my initial run-throughs of FFVII and VIII, I didn't really have any toe-tappers embedded in my head either.
Those that know me somewhat know how much I love Final Fantasy IV (or FFII on the SNES). Hell, it's my favorite game of all time, but I have to admit it, as a Final Fantasy game, FFX whoops the crap out of any of the previous incarnations. The story is infinitely more mature, the delivery is head and shoulders above any other console RPG, and the overall experience leaves you with such a feeling of satisfaction that it's easy to dive right back into the game once you beaten it just to experience all the big moments again. If you're even a remote fan of the series, it's a safe bet you'll find something to love here. If, on the other hand, you've never played a Final Fantasy game before, this is THE reason to start getting into the series. Just about every aspect that has made the series good has been given a deliberate update, and the result is one of the most entertaining RPG's you will ever play. Period.