Author: Andrew Chang
Editor: Howard Ha
Publish Date: Tuesday, January 8th, 2002
Originally Published on Neoseeker (http://www.neoseeker.com)
Article Link: http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Games/Reviews/finalfantasyx/
Copyright Neo Era Media, Inc. - please do not redistribute or use for commercial purposes.
When you’re playing a video game, there’s no bigger complement to pay it than to wish that it was over just so that you could play it all over again. That’s what I felt playing Final Fantasy X. This installment of Square’s flagship series makes good use of the PS2; bending some time-tested FF traditions while outright breaking others.
Before I go on though, I’ll mention that usually in an RPG review, one wants to write about the battle system and various other gameplay elements. However, if that’s all you’re looking for, I suggest consulting the official Squaresoft FFX website, which does a more than adequate job of describing the game’s features already. I’ll spare you those some of the details and just give you the broad strokes…
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Story
About three quarters of the game is told in a “Wonder Years” fashion, from the point of view of the main character, Tidus. We find our hero at the offset stranded in an unfamiliar world, Spira, trying to make his way back to his hometown Zanarkand, which he has been told was destroyed a thousand years ago. The key to returning home, he believes, is connected to the creature Sin—a seemingly omnipotent force of destruction which both plagues and terrorizes the inhabitants of Spira. On the way he encounters Yuna, a Summoner whose only goal is to defeat Sin, and bring peace to the world. Along with the Guardians that protect her, Tidus and Yuna make their way through Spira in an attempt to unravel the mystery of both Sin’s nature, and its connection to Tidus’ Zanarkand.
The imagery of spheres and circles is strong in this game. The traditional experience leveling system has been replaced by the Sphere Grid system, which makes use of spheres that you find in battle. The major pastime that the people engage in—apparently their only source of entertainment—is Blitzball, a combination of football and soccer played in a gigantic spherical floating body of water. Even the name of their world, Spira, is a play on the word “spiral”, and is mentioned as one in one of the character’s monologues.
Sin, the heroes’ quest, and the people’s lives all seem to run around in circles. Auron, one of Yuna’s Guardians, says something once to the effect of, “Ten years and things are still the same. Spira seems to resist change.” In some way it seems to be trying to say something about the world we live in, but it never really comes out and says it. At the game conclusion, our heroes supposedly break out of one of these cycles, but to what end? From the denouement we gather that nothing has really changed for the people of Spira except that they’re happier.
Final Fantasy X is also filled with a strong religious overtone, and makes many statements about the hypocrisy of the church, and the foibles of organized religion. Here it seems like the message is being pulled in too many directions. Is it saying that organized religion is hypocritical? Or is the hypocrisy justified because it brings joy to the people? Or is religion bad because it makes false promises? Or is that a good thing because people can at least feel happy in sad times? Or does religion encourage discrimination? Or maybe it teaches compassion and forgiveness? Or maybe it isn’t saying anything. Although it certainly seems like it’s trying to.
Traditionally in Final Fantasy games, you go through half or three quarters of the game with one objective, fighting one enemy, only to find out that there’s actually a hidden enemy and a completely different objective. At that point, the world also changes in some way (sometimes changing the entire world map), and everything is turned on its heel. The main cast is a ragtag crew that’s thrown together by misfortune and circumstance, and they generally have good interaction, but always relative to how they interact with the main character. Something is always thrown in from left field near the end and seems to be inserted as merely a story device. All of these things I’m used to were thrown out in this installment, making this possibly the most cohesive story ever presented in the series.
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The characters are brought together plausibly, without anyone being just thrown into the mix because knew one of the characters years ago, or was found in a lab, or defeated by the main character. There’s never the “Oh, hey, how ‘bout I come with you guys on your journey?” routine here. Everyone is there for a specific reason, and have the same objective from start to finish. They each have some personal histories to share (except Rikku), just as with any other good RPG. But here we really see them interacting with one another in group discussions. Even in combat, they’ll say things to each other or joke around, like when Tidus kids Auron about being too old to keep up during the fight.
Also, you don’t go through half of the game fighting Sin only to realize that it’s just some Sin clone, or to see it defeated by a lesser villain who ascends to supremacy. Sin is your objective. It stays your objective. Methods change. People change. There are quite a few good twists and turns down the road—including one prima facie implausibility near the end which I’ll leave for you to discover—but the story never takes on a different face. You always know what you’re doing, where you’re going, and why you’re there. Even when things seem to come out from nowhere at first, once you think about it, you realize how it answers questions that you may have had since the beginning of the game. Nothing is thrown in as a mere story device here.
Graphics/Sound
FFX is really a character game if I’ve seen one. It excels past it predecessors not necessarily on the merits of its writing alone, but certainly on the grounds of its technological superiority. Whoever said that graphics and technology don’t matter was lying—that, or their favourite RPG just had crappy graphics. Two things distinctly set this game apart from past Final Fantasies, and most other RPGs: the use of many camera angles and close-ups to tell the story (as opposed to the static shots that FF fans are used to seeing); and full voice acting for all main and supporting cast.
Most experienced FF gamers will probably notice that CG cutscenes are short and sparingly used by comparison to past Final Fantasies. There are a total of fifty in the game, not including the ending, the vast majority of which are mere seconds in length. (At a certain point in the game, you’ll have the option of viewing any previously seen cutscene at 5000 Gil a pop.) However, they are not sorely missed, as the in-game graphics are more than suitable recompense. The story is mostly told through these game-rendered cutscenes, filled with close-ups and panning camera shots. Different models are used for different shots. The close ups use much more detailed models than the group shots, but they remain at all times consistent. When pre-rendered movies are used, the transitions are flawless and instantaneous.
Obviously this means that the series has finally made a full transition to the 3D world. The backgrounds now mostly consist of 3D environments, with a splattering of pre-rendered stills. Each environment is large, detailed, and sometimes even breathtaking. Look at the dungeon map too while navigating and you might miss the scenery. Texturing, lighting, and anti-aliasing are all generally solid with minor exceptions. Most of the time the textures are diverse and varied, and don’t even seem like textures. Other times, they’re blocky and the seams show. Aliasing is noticeable occasionally in the characters’ hair, but generally passable everywhere else. There are occasional framerate drops, but they usually aren’t bad enough to be a sore distraction. Unfortunately, my one actual complaint is that there are consistent clipping problems when it comes to the characters. Hair is passing through arms where it shouldn’t, and parts of outfits are phasing through the body when they shouldn’t. However, don’t let these criticisms give you the wrong impression. It’s a beautiful game with a lot to look at everywhere you go—easily the best-looking RPG I’ve seen. Just think of the graphical difference between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX. Things will only look better from here.
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Despite what some people have said, I think that Tetsuya Nomura’s designs for this game are original and distinctly different from past games. Most of the main characters have a very asymmetrical design to them which look strange at first, but grow on you as you play on. Only Kimahri looks symmetric left to right. It may have been a conscious decision to go with this asymmetry in order to contrast the sphere metaphors mentioned above. That is, spheres look the same no matter at what angle you look at it—they’re symmetrical in every direction.
Aurally, things have not taken as drastic a leap. While the music is still engaging, there is not great variety, and there are few memorable tunes. Vast overuse of the main theme wears its effect thin, but it is redeemed by the vocal version sung by Rikki, “Suteki Da Ne” (“Isn’t It Wonderful”). Unfortunately, I must say that the music still sounds very synthesized (perhaps intentionally) at some parts, and in some ways inferior to its Playstation cousin Chrono Cross when it comes to instrument simulation. The sound effects are also strong, but not exceptional.
The game’s greatest strength in terms of both audio and story comes in the voice acting. Cartoon enthusiasts like myself will easily recognize some of the names (and voices) included in this impressive voiceover cast, including:
Gregg Berger who, despite his long list of voiceover credits, I’ll always remember as Grimlock, leader of the Dinobots. He plays Jecht, Tidus’ father.
Dwight Schultz as Matron (for those of you who remember the A-Team, go Murdock!). Cree Summer (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Rugrats) voices Belgamine and young Tidus. And a personal favorite of mine, Tara Strong (Batman, Rugrats, Powerpuff Girls), voices the adorable Rikku.
Catherine Cavadini (Powerpuff Girls), Quinton Flynn (Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, Orphen: Scion of Scorcery), and Debbie Derryberry (Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius) provide voices for various other minor roles.
It’s unfortunate that many of the more recognizable voice actors play supporting roles. However, the lead cast also does a superb job—props to Matt McKenzie for his Nicholsonesque portrayal of Auron; and Alex Fernandez for his chilling Seymour.
Hedy Buress, who plays the lead female role of Yuna, is sometimes less convincing than the others, though. She plays the character a little too stiffly and sometimes too quickly. Her “okay” often comes out almost like “oak”, for example, and at times just seems emotionally uninvolved, especially by comparison to James Taylor, who voices Tidus with a lot more emotive impact.
The full voice acting lends a realism to the game that the series has always sought after. I’m sometimes bothered by the translations in RPGs because the ambiguity sometimes found in the phrasing can lead to multiple interpretations of emotion or impact. This is a cure to that problem if I ever heard one. Aside from taking the guess work out, it also makes characters seem more distinct and colorful. (When I read dialogue, and imagine the voices, all the characters end up sounding the same—this solves that problem too.) While PC games have enjoyed full voice acting for years now (all the way back to King’s Quest VI), console RPGs are only recently catching up. Hopefully FFX is the mark of a new generation of games to come.
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Again, a couple of minor problems though. The lip syncing is almost always off, or not synced at all. Sometimes a line will end half a second before the mouth stops moving. Sometimes, but not often, a short line is accompanied with mouth movement that takes twice the time to finish. I would like to see FFXII made with some more effort in that department, perhaps with real-time lip syncing software—which also has been used all the way back in the King’s Quest/Lands of Lore days.
Gameplay
I know I wrote that I’d spare you too many details, but here are some things that I feel are worth mentioning:
There is no longer a world map; not in the traditional Final Fantasy sense at least. From the airship, all you do is select your location from a list. This can sometimes be annoying if you’re trying to get somewhere very specific, and the airship drops you off five environments over.
Weapons now no longer have strengths or weaknesses, only attributes and auto-abilities, which you can customize after a certain point in the game. I like this change. It’s no longer the case that you buy a weapon and simply replace it with a more powerful weapon at the next village. You now pick a choose the right weapon and armor for the right situation depending on character attributes and enemy’s attributes.
Summon creatures (Aeons) now fight as if they were characters. They die off quickly in earlier parts of the game, but later (with the right equipment) they can inflict upward towards 99,999 damage on an enemy. The final hidden Aeon makes the rest of your characters obsolete (Knights of the Round, anyone?). Plus, there’s a treat for those of you who remember FFIV. Making Aeons playable is a nice touch and a new feature to Final Fantasy, but sometimes they die off too easily, and since they replace your entire party (and not just the summoner), they can sometimes be none too helpful. Sometimes they’re downright useless since they can be banished by certain bosses instantaneously.
Chocobo activities in this installment are light. Chocobo breeding fans, don’t expect much.
In the main mini-game of FFX, Blitzball, the first thing you need to realize is that despite the way it seems, it’s a turned based mini-game. Relative player positions do not matter in the least bit when intercepting and blocking, only proximity does. Someone from ten feet behind you can block you even if you’re passing to a guy two feet in front of you. You can shoot a goal from behind the goalie and see the ball miraculously come from behind you. It’s wonderfully addictive, but can get old the moment your players become really good and start to shut out every match.
Battles are now much more interesting and strategic. Since you may switch characters, weapons, and armor mid-match, much more planning can be involved in every fight—especially boss battles.
Enemy variety is low—I mean really low. I guess this could be justified by one of the side quests you’ll discover later on in the game, but even that serves as a flimsy excuse. Pretty much every region contains the same half dozen to dozen enemy models with different colours. Even Sin reminds me of the final dragon boss in Chrono Cross. On top of that, the encounter rate is inordinately high at some points. You’re helped out, though, by the fact that save spheres now recharge your hp/mp.
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It’s difficult to locate abilities on the Sphere Grid (the board that you use to level up character stats). Take note of the spells or abilities that you really want; otherwise you’ll either go through the game without even getting the best spells (most of which you don’t actually need), or you’ll just be blindly leveling up stats that you don’t even want a character to have. Take some time to plan out your route on the Sphere Grid to decide how you want your character to develop. The game gives you choices as to how to develop your characters, but not that much choice. Initially, each of your characters will be forced to go on a certain route on the grid until you can unlock certain spheres. It’s good that there is some customizability to the game, but it heavily detracts from the classes. It’s not like in FFVIII, where there are no classes, so getting everyone to learn everything really doesn’t mean much. In here, Lulu’s suppose to be a black mage, but you have the option to turn her into a warrior. For me, Rikku (a thief) became my most powerful mage. It doesn’t make much sense. Still, you can stay traditional and go on the most obvious routes.
The towns are still generally very small. With the added power of the PS2 I would have really liked to see some more elaborate and well thought-out town design. A redeeming quality is that townsfolk now walk around as if they have their own business, rather than just standing around all the time waiting for you to go over and talk to them. They’ll go in and out of houses just as you do. Problem is they say the same thing pretty much wherever they are. More context-specific dialogue would be nice. It doesn’t really cost them anything since the townsfolk are not voice acted.
Finally, something I always want to know about any adventure game or RPG: the time. This game should take about 45 to 50 hours. I clocked in at a healthy 81 hours myself. Much of that extra time was taken up playing Blitzball, while the rest of it was spent on the mini-games and acquiring ultimate weapons/secret Aeons. All-in-all a great game and a worthwhile experience for any Final Fantasy fan. Minor story problems, minor graphical glitches. Character interaction is great, with easy-to-love characters all around. Direction and voice acting are gems in a cookie-cutter RPG world. Despite minor flaws (nobody’s perfect), it is still a fantastically addictive experience.
A final score of 95%. 5% off for clipping, lip-syncing (I don’t need the lips to move perfectly, but at least time it correctly), other miscellaneous minor flaws. Any RPG fan should be delighted with this game.
Overall Score: 95%
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