02/14/01

Final Fantasy X 

System: PS2 

Number Of Players: 1 

Developer: Squaresoft 

Publisher: Squaresoft

Another year another Final Fantasy as most say. Yet again we are blessed with the top of the line RPG known throughout the world as Final Fantasy. The very name alone can send images of the old and new. Cutsey characters sent out on a epic quest to save the world, amazing graphics, and most of all. hours of non-stop game play. This year Square doesn't let up on its epic tales of heroes from all over as it yet again takes in the millions upon millions stealing away the wallets of men and causing more and more sick days for school boys.

When Final Fantasy X first was released in Japan, sales top charts all over the land of the rising sun. Two million copies were sold, and are still selling. Now it's time for America, the land of nachos and "poorly built cars" quote the guy from The Simpsons. Sales are starting to build as many companies are starting to over stock their shelves to supply the demand. Yet, the biggest question right now is, is it worth it? About 5 months ago when I had hands on experience with the Japanese version I would have said, in a split second, damn right it's worth it. Yet, now even for me, it's questionable. Don't get me wrong, Final Fantasy X is a must buy, but has a lot of disappointing elements. Even for a die hard Square fan like myself, I feel let down in some areas.

The story suffers from very little flaws. It's what you would expect form Squaresoft. Deep and interesting mushy stuff, things like that. Although a little over done in places here and there it still keeps up with previous stories. The only real problem with FFX's story is simply it's not long enough, and not just that, when you beat the game, you walk away with ether a confused face, or, damn I wish I knew more! The game suffers from character development. Not development for the two main characters Tidus and Yuna, but the others! It seems we lose out on their life stories. Sure, the characters have their own stories and you do find out about some, but there has to be more! Also, the ending doesn't live the impact that it once did. Unlike FFIX, FFX left you asking questions. Luckily, Square will be releasing FFX International. FFX: International will tell the story and countinue the fantasy two years after Sin is defeated.

What kills FFX is it's battle system and computer AI. Now never before have I gotten so mad at a Final Fantasy much like I have FFX. Bosses can easily wipe out your party instantly with over done attacks. Boss battles normally require lots of leveling up. Yet that's also a problem ,your characters don't have levels. Instead this is replaced with a Sphere Grid. The Grid is suppose to allow your character to become whatever you please, say you want Yuna to become the power house and Auron to be the magic user. It's done!... well not really. The grid has flaws, and some are more noticeable than others. Number one, your characters still seem to level up like normally in other FF's. You can give them different spells here and there, but it never makes much of a difference. Next is the fact that spells don't have a large variety. you can't customize each character to have his or her spells so you can play boss battles easier and be prepared. Also the whole concept of the sphere system is screwed up! Do you know how many times I was forced into tracing my steps and wasting Sphere points!? Speaking of Sphere Points, these pose as your levels. You gain more of them as you fight in battles. The more battles you fight the more points you get. However, it's here that hurts FFX. Keeping up with the sphere grid gets annoying and boring. Often times it's a waist of time. The cheap AI causes FFX to have even lesser quality seeing that the bosses can instantly wipe out your party. There's only a few good things I can say about the battle system and character build up. First, it's nice you can calculate and see which character goes and comes up next. Yet, it's bad that this changes a lot, actually to much where your plans are screwed up! The order is often changed due to your character actions. Why? I do not know. Yet, if this happens why not stick with the Active Time Battles. Next is the skills. I actually enjoyed these a lot and they make a world of a difference. Yet still, these cannot make up for the problems the AI, battle system, and character buildup cause.

Visuals are nothing less than expected. Square did an excellent job developing the lush backgrounds, excellent dungeons, and even CG cutscenes. Outstanding job, the best I have seen on the PS2! No mistake, this is what PS2 games should strive to be! Even the character animations, their movements, their facial expressions, even the movement of the maps make everything that much better. It can make you actually see the beauty of Spira. The music and voice acting are nothing less but the best. The music, still in my car CD player after 4-5 months of listening. Even the voice acting is excellent.... but.... Tidus. The voice acting for Tidus dosn't seem to match the character in a sense. His voice can get anoying, and often ridiculous. Still, after a few hours you get use to it and he becomes a part of the team. It's the first impression that can get at you. As for the rest of the cast, perfect match ups. They are the winning hand in a poker game. Lulu sounds like Lulu, intelligent, optimistic, and most of all logical. Wakka is a blitzball player, and sounds like one to! So on so forth. Adding voices did take away from the imagination alittle, but in the end it turned out excellent, really good.

Then in the end it has finally come down to one thing, is FFX a good game? Well Final Fantasy X is a excellent game. The story was what I expected, the characters although slightly less developed, still great. The graphics, what can I say, some of the best I have seen. The sound, perfect, all except Tidus's voice at first. Yet, I myself feel disappointed by the lack of effort, or to much effort into the computer AI. They should have left it much like FFIX. Here at least you can have fun with the enemies, not be deadily affriad of their attacks. In the end, I recommend you buy FFX, it's a game not worth missing on the PS2. It's a game you should have the joy of experiencing. Me I love the game, it's a great on my shelf. It's just not the greatest, and has a lot to live up to, more then it can handle.

-Story: 9: Excellent story, by far one of the best, but it suffers from a lack of character development in some areas.

-Control: 7: Ouch, it hurts it hurts. Never before have I become familiar with a Game Over screen on a FF like I have with FFX. Shame on you Square!

-Visuals: 10: 100% beauty, 0% crap. It's a beautiful game, the visuals, the details, everything has a personal touch to it. I'm impressed, really I am.

-Sound: 9: The voice acting was an excellent thing to add in, the music's excellent and some of the best in the series.

-Over All: 9: FFX is a great game, yet it suffers a lot in the computer AI and the battle system. Still, by far one of the best games for the PS2, buy this game!

                                         
-Jake