08/24/01

Final Fantasy X Review (Import)

-Platform: Playstation 2

-Players: 1

-Supports: Analog Control

-Developer: Squaresoft

-Publisher: Squaresoft

Can you believe it? Finally, ten Final Fantasys have been made, and each one is still very special. X Marks The Spot. A birth of a new bread of Final Fantasys. It's no longer single digits its now into double, not to mention aiding it is the famous Playstation 2! However, did Final Fantasy X make it to become one of the best Final Fantasys of all time? Did it stack up to the greatness that we all know of as Final Fantasy? Well I took a in dept look into the beautiful piece of work and spit out my two cents....

Visually, Final Fantasy X gives games such as Shenmue and ever smooth games like Soul Caliber a run for their money. Toping in what most believe the BEST graphics made ever today on any console game, Final Fantasy X hit the sweet spot this time. Squaresoft tried a different approach with FFX then it did with the previous Final Fantasy games. It made no pre-rendered levels. It not only did that but went for a more realistic point of view and got ride of the old world map, and replaced it with a more mapish world map. I guess the point they were trying to prove here is the fact that your characters are not 70 foot giants wondering around on a tiny hunk of rock towering over major cities, which makes sense. Also, what amazes most people was how Square converted from in game to battle/FMV sequences. A smooth way of doing things, sometimes you can't even tell the difference! Yet, what is a Final Fantasy without the FMV sequences eh? Square, as always, pulled off one kick ass job of FMVs and made them crystal clear, almost as if you were watching TV! Amazing, breath taking, and by far, did I say amazing?

Well, your talking to a guy who already bought his Final Fantasy X soundtrack, and the numbers are still going up.  The music in the game is beyond wonderful, if there is a beyond. Not having one, or two, but three Composers!!! I can tell you what, Square went out of its way to make this soundtrack one of Japans top sellers. Having the musical talent of Junya Nakamo, Masashi Hamazu, and of course, the series normal music producer, Nobuo Uematsu. What's special about this soundtrack is the fact that it has three different music composers, meaning three totally different styles. Here's a great example. Nobuo Uematsu created the opening Piano, a smooth sounding piece of work, normal in a Final Fantasy game. However, the young and talented composer Junya Nakamo created a completely different piece of music work by creating the song "Otherworld" using the modern heavy metal type music. Now, the difference can be clearing obvious to anyone. The soundtrack itself has just about every different type of music you would find out in any music store. Some soft moving J-pop as the ending theme. To The classical opening, then to top it off, the hardcore Blitzball Game opening. This soundtrack will have everyone interested, even those with half a brain.

Yet, Final Fantasy X has something no other Final Fantasy game has ever had, voices. Now, don't you remember reading the text and imagining the characters voice, well you can finally put that part of your brain to rest and start using less and less of your imagination because they are now already there! Well, there is both a good and a bad things about this. The good is the fact that you can get a better idea about what your character really sounds like and their personal voice reactions to certain situations. The bad is obvious, you can't imagine how they will react using their own voices. It's quite sad in a way but at the same time great. I guess this is more of a stale mate.

Well, I know most people must be wondering this question, what is the control like? Well the control on FFX is decent, not impressive, not breath taking, just decent. The control is pretty good, having no real lag or any type of unsmooth handling. It handles like a normal dream, that's a good way to describe it. However the battle system has been changed a little. One simple question I ask, where have all the Active Time Battles gone? It appears that the battle system doesn't support our once loved active time battle system, but more of a shortened version of it. It uses the no waiting rule here. Battle turns come in certain orders depending on your level, but to some peoples delight, you don't have to wait more then the amount of time it takes your enemy to pull off their powerful finishing move, super! But that's not all kiddies, oh no. A big no no Square did was re-design the magic system as well! Now I didn't understand it to much because of its Japanese like qualities, but, from the look of it, I won't be able to understand it even in English. The magic system is a grid, and that grid has several open spots for orbs you can collect after battles. Depending on how you place the orbs, depends on what different abilities you can learn. The grid though, is so large that trying to look at a map of the United States actually seems easy! This thing is massive, very massive. Personally, they should have stuck with a magic system like FFVII, at least that way, you can understand it.

And finally, but not least, the story, oh yes that wonderful story. You know what though, it really does suck when you can't understand a word they say! Unfortunately my knowledge of Japanese is very very little, ok practically none, but at least some. So the story was hard for me to pick up on. However the details I know will give you a great idea about how the story does start out. But guess what, HA! no story for you! This is Game Hits, not "Spoiler You To Death." However, lets put it this way, the story is great, and should not let down anyone.

-Visuals: Breath taking, beautiful, a delight! The visuals n FFX are great and a good way to approach future FF games. However, maybe next time they could make the characters not so realistic, or maybe, nah, to many young children reading. -10

-Sound/Music: Between the voices, and the great soundtrack, FFX is superb in both departments and really does deserve the grade it's getting... -9

-Control: The game handles good, not extremely the bestest great, but a good great, something we can expect out of a great handling game, think Shenmue mixed with PSO. -8

-Story: Hehe, spoilers, but great so far. -10

-Over All: Ok, don't let my fanboyism mix you up with the truth, the truth is it's a great game and the Japanese Magazine Famitsu gave it the lowest rating of a 9, a 9! So I the great Jake, cresent thee with -10.

                                         
-Jake

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