Final Fantasy X is The Room of video games.

Hands down the funniest, most honest and charming video game I have ever played, perpetuating its inseparable awkwardness in every corner, proudly displaying its clashing hits and misses everywhere while being always entertaining along the way. From some Quandale Dingle character designs, to the unfinished yet peculiar Blitzball, to the irredeemably frustrating dungeons, to the messy yet sometimes Lynchian cutscenes at every corner, it more than compensates the ride by surprisingly always finding a way to make me care about what’s happening. The amount of times in which I ended up laughing at a supposedly serious moment while still feeling invested in knowing what outcome it will take, is too much to even consider counting.

Absolutely no other title would make me waste almost 2 hours restarting a completely bullshit poorly explained optional RNG minigame just to see Wakka, a character I barely knew anything about at that point, holding a shitty Playmobil looking trophy and giving a short fiddly speech for 50 seconds. All because the way in which he told me, with the world’s straightest face, that he never actually won a single match in 10 fucking years, was simply hysterical.

When someone compared it to Tommy Wiseau’s masterpiece, it became one of those weird sentences that sounds right, so you agree first, leaving you to ponder whether or not it actually makes sense a couple of minutes later. Most of the time, Final Fantasy X portrays expressions and sentiments in a way that nearly always feels off, at one point even accidentally recreating the iconic shop scene with O’aka in a scene that was supposed to be nothing but mundane. Not only that, but also odd stylistic choices (say thank you Nomura Based God), subliminal pre-rendered interiors of houses and shops, bizarre hyper fascination with the fictional ‘soccered-up’ water polo and some mixes of postmodern economical practices in a world that by all means shouldn’t need them. To properly talk about the loveable sincerity of it all, let’s talk about what FFX’s really famous for.

Tidus laugh scene, is an absurdly famous bit in the gaming community, because of how bonkers the voice acting is, in that one specific moment. Late 00’s gamer culture fabricated the notion that Final Fantasy X was filled with uncanny valley moments that failed to understand how human beings communicate and feel, which was the standard for the amateurish voice acting present in the previous early 3D generation, in particular the english translated ones from japanese titles. The loveable yet amateurish delivery from Resident Evil and the outlandishly cartoonish cutscenes from Sonic Adventures, live rent free in our nostalgia filled hearts, just like this one continuous string of Haha’s. What fails to be stated is that unlike the previously mentioned ones, this iconic moment is legitimately a great scene despite it all.

If you watched the segment fully without playing FFX(spoilers ahead btw), everything feels weird, even if the laugh was to be a normal one. The scene kicks off with Yuna trying to impress THE BOUNCER the protagonist by whistling for whatever reason, and once she realizes he’s sad, she replies with “Wanna scream?”. Without the proper knowledge that he tried to teach her how to whistle if she got in danger (to which she failed previously), and that he screamed out of frustration after his current time travel situation finally kicked in, their relationship even before the meme properly starts feels outlandish and perhaps even childishly written. After that, Yuna does a small info dump and tells him to laugh his problems off, to which he glamorously does, only for her to reply with “You probably shouldn’t laugh anymore.” and immediately joining in with the ridiculousness of it all. But why?

Having full context of her speech and the mortal fate of those who follow the pilgrimage, the way in which she states “I want my journey to be filled with laughter” and even the reason to which she tried to mimic his horrible pattern only to repeat the same words about protecting each other by whistling, just hits different. The rest of the party is probably aware of the situation, but all they can do is stare, fully knowing that despite being marked for certain death, Yuna still tries to demonstrate companionship for someone she just met. Whether she knew that Tidus had no idea of what’s in store for her is irrelevant, as they both seem to be having a great time in the journey together, and that’s what matters in the end, right? That being said, the unnecessary camera movement, lack of context for some sentences, and the alien sounds being emitted as laughs, really add up, perhaps connecting your neurons to remind you of a certain scene that also fails in the same ways.

Some people like to refer to artistic projects as being soul or souless, usually talking about the intent of the ones behind it trying to express themselves in their own artistic ways more than to just generate profit. When I referred to FFX earlier as being the most honest, I meant that a lot of elements that the game gets it wrong come from the fact that choices were made to prioritize the title having a unique identity throughout the years, to which they completely nailed it. Early titles for a console have to be different to cause an impact for the newer generation to come, both from the console and from their developers, after all, if it’s just more of the same, why even bother? This title was a lot of people’s first Jrpg back in the day, and the overall reception being overwhelmingly positive for its impressive attention to care set the standard for what the ones born into the 6th generation of games would enjoy in the genre for the foreseeable future.

When you combine every area that wasn’t as fully realized, it’s impossible to not look back with a smile, for just like an actual ride, the only important part is being an unforgettable experience. Glancing back at the laugh scene once again, aren’t you glad it is exactly how it is? No boring back and forth camera wise, no run of the mill voice acting, no usual clarity in dialogue, just two friends that just met having an awkward talk. Exactly how it is, exactly how it should be.

Intention over execution is sometimes all that a piece of art needs. It’s the reason movies like Southland Tales or albums like Metal Machine Music, despite receiving mixed and polarizing ratings by critics and fans alike, are still discussed to this day: They have a strong and memorable identity in their remarks. Most people would rather endure through a fun mess over something whose production is decent, but not even close when regarding uniqueness. Movies like House are such a delightful unexpected journey to see even with the dated effects because of its untamed artistically wild originality, while others like Morbius will need (at least) a pirated webcam movie rip, 8 friends or enemies on vc, and a hellspawn creature that keeps making jokes about reverse morbing for the entire fucking movie like oh my god it’s been 1 hour stop already you’re accidentaly spoiling the movie c’mon.

Final Fantasy X isn’t the best at anything it does when compared to others from the series (it’s not even my favorite final fantasy to discuss), but when you combine everything that it displays, it’s hard not to just immerse yourself fully in this world, embracing the well crafted pre dystopian religious world to its limits. I wish Final Fantasy X had a way to go back to previous areas, had a better realized blitzball system, had puzzles that were less annoying, had non cheesy/grindy ways to beat the final boss, a better Al Bhed dictionary system… and the list could go on forever. But you know what I don’t wish was changed? The Second Life characters designs, the tight unilateral areas, the cutscenes that always look wet for some reason, the superfluous affection system, the wiggly dialogue angles… and the list could also go on forever.

Appreciating the title nowadays may be harder as our goblin gamer brain has less and less attention span, but it’s an effort totally worth trying. The game plays out like a 1 hour and 30 min animation that cuts 80% of the adventure in a 3 minutes bonding scenes montage, but here we are treated to it in its full narrative, with plenty of foreshadows along the way. I’m glad to have devoted myself to participating in Yuna's pilgrimage, while also closing the game glad that it was all over for them in that way. The magic of X, is managing a yin and yang of competence while making sure you never feel bored, fully embracing the early 2000’s tropical bling that the period had to offer.

after a lot of people died in sin's attack, yuna dances. this dance is called "the sending", where she makes sure their souls are not staying on this plane, wandering, with envy for the living and then turning into fiends. instead, she sends them to the farplane, where they can live in peace. a lot of cultures around the world have rituals for the dead where you dance to celebrate how great their lives were or to just be a kind of grieving. you see, our bodies express our feelings more than we could ever think they do. when you are anxious you are always shaking your legs, even grinding teeth sometimes. i like to believe that yuna's dance is not only to send those people to better places but also her cope mechanism to deal with everything -- spira's condition, her father's dead, her destiny.

then yuna finds a pair. this blonde boy that appears from nowhere, claims to be from a thousand years old civilization that does not even exists anymore. he is also constantly dancing. he has problems with his father, which calls him a crybaby -- and he is, really. he is constantly expressing his pain through his smile but you know he's not always happy. he just don't want to show his sadness or, as everyone, just don't want to be sad. yuna's not so different, too. and since her has a pair, it's important to say that when you are dancing with someone, at first it may not work -- your pair can be at the wrong tempo, overstepping you etc. when your steps synchronizes and you are connected, though, this is what we call love. not necessarily romantically, of course. yuna have a lot of friends with their own dances, grieving and trying to live their lives as hard as it can be. but, when everyone is together, even dancing with the dead, they can share their insecurities, being open about their problems and, truly, overcoming it. maybe not stopping dancing but dancing towards the truth -- the painfully beautiful truth.

the last time yuna dances, she's not only grieving, but also celebrating.

Final Fantasy X is an epic road trip romance fantasy, sci-fi mystery conspiracy thriller, part-time sports drama, full-time daddy issues simulator, spiralling rumination on the nature of death, grief, hope, and forgiveness, Japanese role-playing mind-bending politico-navigational adventure. It is a masterclass in world-building and plotting. It is the heart on the sleeve of the video game industry.

To play this game is to refuse despair. To play this game is to engage with, and battle against, notions of racial supremacy. To play this game is to target systems of higher power and tear them down, one suit and tie at a time, until all of the historical abuses, lies, and hypocrisies are laid bare on the dirt for everyone to see.

Final Fantasy X unironically frames friendship—friendship tested by ingrained prejudices that have been expertly woven by the powerful, so finely that you can’t see the stitches, so long ago that you can’t begin to know where their commands begin and your opinions end—as the solution to depression, oppression, and cyclical violence maintained by the wealthy and the powerful. It frames friendship as radical. It frames friendship not only as a political choice, but as the political choice. Embrace the alien or kill them. Love the foreigner or hate them. What do you choose? And how do you turn that choice into action, rather than empty words? Friendship is a political pressure that, when applied radically, can and must snap the status quo in two.

That is what Final Fantasy X is. A manifesto of hope. An agenda of friendship. A fearless reaching out of hands across the border.

It presents this thematically through its magnificent plot and character interactions, while also presenting it mechanically through its rapid-fire rotational party member system. We can overcome even the insurmountable monsters of this world by working together, it is saying, by covering each other’s weaknesses and by building upon each other’s strengths. We can bring about real change with our revolving cast of radical friendship warriors. No matter the first impression, no matter the lies that we have let ourselves believe about one another in the past, we choose to work together, now, and to love each other, forever.

In a similar vein, Final Fantasy X is also about taking charge of your own life, being the change that you want to see in the world, and standing firm in the face of despair. Again, it is about choice. “Now is the time to choose,” the elder of the group, Auron, tells his comrades at one of the most heart-stopping, pivotal points in the story, when the lies, hubris, and the violent depths of those in power are undressed fully before you. “Die and be free of pain. Or live and fight your sorrows. Now is the time to shape your stories. Your fate is in your hands.”

Our lives often appear prescribed by those in power over us, by parents, bosses, and politicians, by the wealthy, by the trappings of poverty, by manipulative and violent headlines in the press, by the black and white messages we consume in television and film, by the hopeless voices in the back of our minds whispering, it’s no good, there’s no point, nothing will ever change. Yet, armed with the radical belief that anybody can be our friend, and backed up by the foreigner, the queer, the outsider, and the beast man with the broken horn, we can overcome anything, everything, no matter how high the climb or big the monster. We can bring about change. We can demand better than the endless spiral of abuse, lies, and death that is inflicted upon us by those in control.

This is Final Fantasy X. This is your story.

I have to be honest, for the first several hours I wasn’t very interested in this games mechanics or story. I actually asked Chordata3 if he thought I should just give it up and he said it’s one of you favorite franchises I would keep going. I’m so glad I listened because by the end it had one of the best leveling systems, battle systems, art, music, atmospheres, characters, and stories in all of gaming.

I find it almost impossible to talk about what’s great about this games story and characters without spoiling the major events of the story. So I won’t go into much detail. As I previously said I wasn’t into the story much at the beginning but, wow, it gets so good so quick as you slowly see the layers peeled back and answers and plot twists are revealed. Every party member plays an important role in the story. Many, and I mean many, RPGs even many of the Final Fantasy’s have some party members you could throw away and the main story wouldn’t change a bit bit. Here though if you take away any characters story the game just doesn’t work. The story it self is one hell of a ride. What is so unique is there isn’t a true main villain. Seymour is the closest thing but he is not the final boss. The main threat in this game is a corrupt religious group, a cycle of death and sorrow, brought on by a monster that came about as a result of a war, and lies that keep this cycle to keep continuing. If you haven’t played the game I’m sure that sounds, well not great, but I promise the story is so good. The sub plot of Tidus and Yuna’s love story is by far the best love story in the series and also in my opinion the most believable. This game also has the most emotional empact along with FF6 in the series. This is section is easily the most important reason for the 5 star rating.

The battle system is easily my favorite in the franchise. Each character can be swapped out for any other party member during the battle with no penalty or wait time. This makes the game feel more alive than just 3-4 members doing all the work while 1-10 more party members just seem to be following them around doing nothing. The party members only get AP (EXP in other games) if they performed an action during the battle. Players use this AP to upgrade their members in the sphere grid. Instead of regular leveling this game uses the sphere grid so that you can level players how you see fit. I won’t explain the process here but it is one of the best if not the best in FF.

I’ve said this a lot in my FF reviews but there isn’t much to say about the art, music, atmosphere outside of it’s fantastic. The series especially the first ten games were way ahead of everyone else in the industry in these categories.

What started off as a game I thought I may not like became one of my all time favorite games. It will be very high on my top 100 games list when I add it to the list.

It's hard for me to think about what to write about FFX--so much has been said about it over the years! And if I'm honest, so many of my thoughts are so tied up in the experience of nostalgia and of playing it when it was new and I was a young teenager. So in lieu of anything massively interesting to say about its mechanics (which I love), or Blitzball (which I love) or the story (which I love) or the characters (whom I love), I'll just relay some anecdotes from my freshman year of high school in the fall of 2002.

The first in-real-life girl I ever felt anything for (I wasn't out yet, not for a long time) and that I knew I felt things for and I were in that girl's bedroom. We had met at the statewide anime convention earlier in the month and only then realized that we were going to be going to the same High School. We were both nervous and both ended up talking about how what we talked about at the convention was how cool Lulu and Yuna were and how annoying we thought Blitzball was. She turned on her PS2 and loaded her save; it was at the Shoopuf landing. I felt my heart flutter as she ran around.

The first time I ever truly had my heart broken was by the dungeon master of the first D&D campaign I ever played in; I was a sophomore and my Wizard's name was Yunalesca.

The first time I was ever stopped for photos by multiple people in an anime convention hallway and had multiple cameras snapping away like the paparazzi was me cosplaying Rikku; I cut my hair so short my mother cried. I was a Junior in high school.

I love Final Fantasy X. It made an impact on me. I think you should play it if you haven't.

The only other Final Fantasy title to rightfully sit at the top next to Final Fantasy VII. While some moments are lost to odd translations and odd voice acting, Final Fantasy X boasts one of the most memorable storylines of the franchise, an amazing cast of characters, and a distinct world that blended fantasy and sci-fi; all of these factors were partly responsible for bringing the Final Fantasy series' first sequel through Final Fantasy X-2. Combat is no longer real-time with a filling action bar, instead taking the turn-based approach to allow more time to strategize and take advantage of improvements and new abilities gained through a unique "Sphere Grid" level-up system. Nobuo Uematsu perfected his art in this game to give the series its best soundtrack, a position it still maintains even after almost ten more Final Fantasy games have come and gone.

One of the best JRPGs ever made, and still incredibly easy to play today despite its age.

Mild spoilers, but nothing major

What does it mean to grieve?

The seven-filled entourage each carry a baggage. Yuna pushes forward in life despite the loss of her father due to believing there is a way she could reprimand his ill-fated life into something worth believing. Tidus' resentment towards his father Jecht is what drives him to reckless affairs, getting into trouble and mischief while rebutting against those who wallow in societal norm, simply due to always being prejudiced against the familial status he's forcefully acknowledged on. Kimahri's harsh upbringing due to the vile culture perpetrating within Mt. Gagazet manifested into self-doubt, until Auron and specifically Yuna gave him purpose regardless of what he is. Wakka and Lulu have lost the same person, and each borne a negative outlook; the former becomes a by-product of proselytism under the dogmatic followers of Yevon, and the latter has closed her heart lest she faces another loss again and again.

The seemingly optimistic Rikku secretly harbors some lamentation, two accidents in the past spurring fear inside her as she comes to grip with what it means for her cousin Yuna to press on despite the circumstances. Auron alone carries most of the brunt, having lost two cohorts - friends, even, within the previous Summoning ritual. A veteran of the process, knowing what's to come from all this as he has to follow the words Jecht has pass onto him. Numerous divides of customs await this group as they continue on the wayward path of a Pilgrimage. Everyone different, yet knowing to press forward with life.

What does it mean to connect?

The Sphere Grid's probably gonna remain as my favorite system within the combative focus of the series as I dive deeper. By utilizing nodes and different colored spheres, a character can be able to progress through the loops and grow stronger as a result, either by ability pickups or compartmentalizing stats within the neutral nodes. It's also a way to contextualize character growth, as Kimahri is in the middle starting out and is able to intersect six others once the LV Locks are open later on to signify solidified trust, or Lulu and Wakka's paths intertwining after both have reconciled and amends with one another after what has happened. More importantly, though, being able to seat upon different areas of the Grid with careful use of said spheres can make for busted plays, such as Yuna swiping up Black Magic on Lulu's path to become the well-rounded spellcaster, or Tidus hopping over to Wakka and Auron to double-down on his DPS rouge-warrior skillset.

The same can also be said for the battle system. Now fully turn-based again, a trio-party that is able to swap between each member at a simple press of a button free of charge gets fulfilled into encounters not unfamiliar of puzzle tropes. Ailments here, Support there, Tank-busting for this, Aeons/Summons for that, Gimmick A, Condition B, Equipping Armament X to have Effect Y... sure it could be devolved into a simple Simon Says Bop-It clone, but that's missing the forest within the trees. Battles are engrossing and fulfilling as you make it out to be so long as you pay attention to the roles each character start out as and fortify them as you continue, which makes some of the more infamous fights add a fair bit more value to them than normally considered. Adding onto this is the Overdrive system, allowing one member a power attack once the bar has been filled. Truthfully, I don't think any of these are particularly bad, even if some are obviously worse than others such as Lulu's Fury or Rikku's situational ability being Mix. Blending each character's strength and weakness together in order to press on with life.

What does it mean to persevere?

A lot of FF10, even within the optional activities, tie into the aspect of clawing against the established norm society has slacked onto, typically within the confides of religion and warfare. Seymour is diametrically opposed to the way the entourage has carried on, due to his turbulent upbringing influencing his nihilistic ways. Dona repeatedly mocks the group as the game continues, even pointing out Yuna's status as though to deter her. Majority of the folks in Spira seem content with how things are run, so long as it doesn't disturb their life to monstrous degree. Even most of the party seems to be content with this as well, following suit with the doctrines and traditional foundations laid before them.

It all changes when Tidus appears. Now, suddenly, doubts and manifestations of other solutions start to appear. A team historically deemed failures can now become a champion with stubborn grit, and overcoming past torments. A person who was once isolated among her peers finally has someone to connect with due to shared traits. Things that were once thought of as forever unchanging are soon unraveled as hoaxes set to keep a false status quo. Despite the linear path forward in Spira, there's often things to find and buckle down on so should one choose, containing the strength needed to press forward no matter the circumstances.

What does it mean... to live?

Tidus and Yuna's budding relationship is the crux of the venture. Each new location has something that gives them time to lean on each other, keeping each other in check, learning to go through the hardships with a smile, delving between what drives the other. It's this tug-and-pull of sincerity and heart that keeps the story engaging, even in its lull from either the battles or the breaks between the beats. Self-explanatory of the Yin & Yang allusions throughout, even in the promo art. Through each other, they found new meaning in the life they thought they figured out.

Dualism's a common technique in storytelling due to the frames and skeletons it can provide, especially so during this generation where more spins on the formula would show themselves after this game's release. Though, there's a sense of freshness each time I reminisce the title. Perhaps its cause of its heart-on-sleeve soliloquies, maybe it's cause it's the strongest form of connection I have with my grandfather, who passed away several years before I had a chance to play this, or perhaps it's cause of the compositions found in each scene, but it was a surefire way to become a fan of the franchise. I'll never forget them because of it.

This is their story. Be sure to take part in it.

they don't make them like this anymore, man. everything about final fantasy x bleeds unfettered confidence and an uncontrollable optimism for games as a medium of art and entertainment alike; not only did kitase and his posse clearly believe video games could Be More but they were doing everything in their power to make those dreams corporeal, to make the future of games become a "here and now" rather than some distant aspiration that video games could one day hope to touch. it's really funny how hallmark western titles like braid or the last of us that would come in the ballpark of a decade later were lauded as "games finally being art," or kojima's insistent and insensitive portrayals of sexual assault in metal gear solid v to apparently "validate" games as art suggest an insecurity in the form, a need to prove itself, when squaresoft in their prime knew games were something special and were putting in all the legwork they could to make people see that and had been doing that since the eighties.

though i treasure final fantasy xvi, i can't help but look at it as having fallen to the same insecurity i alluded to in the aforementioned western titles - which makes ffx's confidence in itself and celebration of its own achievements all the more commanding of respect and admiration. yoshi-p wanted a return to a more conventional fantasy setting so he neutered a lot of the whimsy and off-the-wall wackiness from final fantasy for a grim-and-grisly dark fantasy setting inspired by the hot-button fantasy stories of the era such as game of thrones and god of war. what did kitase do whenever his fanbase demanded a return to a traditional european fantasy setting? he acted in direct defiance of that and instead looked to the folklore, customs, cultures and traditions of east and southeast asia (in particular okinawa) and started from the ground up, sculpting every aspect of the game to make something unlike anything final fantasy had ever seen or would ever see again. that even bleeds into its storytelling - sure, final fantasy x gets a lot of flak as the "goofy" one due to tidus's infamous laugh (fuck you it's one of the best romance scenes in all of final fantasy) or its loud-and-proud nature as a product of the turn of the millenia, but i think this is probably final fantasy's most gripping and eloquent political narrative... even and especially in comparison to the more "serious" political final fantasy games such as tactics, xii and (again) xvi. while a lot of political narratives in jrpgs tend to more broadly broach abstract ideas about classism, imperialism and war, final fantasy x's politics are rooted firmly in okinawa's historical relationship with mainland japan and the ties therein with institutional religion in modern-day japan. it's an aggressively japanese game in just about every manner, to the point where i can't help but wonder if there's a tie between ffx being the laughingstock of the series in the mid-to-late 00s and the really racist hatred of japanese games in the west during the seventh console gen... hmm

speaking of the seventh gen and onward it feels like every single way that developers try to flex the power of their hardware and their grasp over it is just graphics, graphics, graphics, to the point where we're getting diminishing returns and the games just flatly don't look all that great because they're bereft of visual direction and identity. i'm not really gonna do much talking about x's graphics (although this is STILL probably one of the best-looking ps2 games, especially those fmvs - oh my god!)... again, compensating for something, forgetting what makes games what they are. like yeah, games are a medium of art capable of conveying powerful messages and emotions like any other medium, but games are fun too! and man, what a better way to flex the capabilities of the recently-launched playstation 2 by making final fantasy x a GAME's game on top of all the shit it has to say as a story. there's so much shit to do in this game, man. it seems like every other nook and cranny has some minigame, sidequest or post-game content for you to sink your teeth into, squaresoft just packing all this random bullshit into this game because they COULD. like fuck, did you know there's a butterfly hunting minigame in the macalania lake? i sure as hell didn't until this playthrough!

i can't help but mourn what games have become and the state of the industry over the past decade and some change. square enix is a shell of its former self between its unbelievably slimy business practices and the increasingly-cynical nature of its output and middling quality of its games. final fantasy x seems like a relic of a bygone era that we can never return to, a reminder of better times, and a testament to the potential that video games in the AAA sphere have broadly failed to live up to.

but - true to the game's main message - final fantasy x also acts as a reminder of what games can be, what we can hope for and expect out of games, and a reminder that games are not inherently as rotten as the industry nowadays would lead you to believe. who knows? i certainly don't, but i also don't want to just give up and accept the stagnation that games have broadly been reduced to, or resign myself that this spiral of cynical corporate product-pushing is all that there is.

and i don't have to, really. the glory days of the aaa sphere might be over, but making games (and sharing them) is easier than ever. the titans of tomorrow are getting their start now with nothing more than their passion for the medium and a desire to connect with people whose passion matches theirs. ultimately, that's what brings people together to begin with: shared convictions, shared faith, shared ideals and shared love for their favorite things in the world.

and when that love brings people together and unites them in a common belief, thus enabling them to exert their will upon the world at whatever scale their numbers and determination allow for... things change. isn't it wonderful?

It's good.

Tidus has a charming VA. I mean, performances that are great.

Nice story though. Different new gameplay.

Comecei embasbacado pela beleza desse jogo - os céus e mares azuis vibrantes apresentam uma direção artística atemporal - e rapidamente a magia foi se dissolvendo.

A premissa da jornada é engajante, e os ossos estão aí: a dinâmica do quinteto original pra mim representa o jogo em seu ponto mais alto. Infelizmente, achei a execução porca - embora tenha gostado do personagem de Tidus, achei enorme parte da narrativa dependente de burrice e ignorância magníficas por parte dele e do grupo, a história dos personagens precisando de conveniência após conveniência para justificar caminhos e situações que não faziam em nada além de arrastar o jogo. Nunca fui convencido pela força dos laços formados, apenas dos já existentes antes da minha chegada na narrativa.

As regiões iniciais de Besaid e Luca são muito mais interessantes do que o resto do jogo, talvez porque ainda apresentavam um potencial que esperava ser cumprido. Depois delas, temos, por região, uma série de 2-3 corredores lineares com temáticas diferentes - corredores de fogo cheios de lagartos e pedra flutuantes; corredores de gelo cheios de pedras flutuantes e lagartos; corredores de grama cheios de lagartos e plantas (!); e corredores gordinhos de areia cheios de lagartos e cachorros. O jogo ser tão linear e restritivo quanto Pokémon Sun and Moon certamente não é algo que eu esperava. Até a trilha sonora do jogo, comum ponto alto em todo FF, é dolorosamente repetitiva e arrastada - repetição que se torna abrasiva dado em conta o volume de random encounters com lagartos, pedras, plantas e cachorros que tem nesse jogo, e o fato que basicamente só toca uma única música em todos eles.

Porém, se tenho que escolher o meu maior incômodo, certamente foi o Blitzball. A julgar pelo material de marketing e o início do jogo, entendia que o esporte teria um impacto narrativo e ligação ao mundo muito mais interessante do que acabou tendo. O jogo abre com Blitzball, e o esporte é o laço em comum que liga Tidus, um estranho no ninho, ao povo de Spira - era de se esperar que seria algo que facilitaria sua integração em situação tão traumática, e o começo do jogo dá a entender isso. Imagine meu prazer ao descobrir que não só Blitzball é uma merda de joguinho, quanto está totalmente relegado ao MENU do jogo, sem nem aproveitar o esporte para contextualizar melhor a peregrinação de Yuna e a integração de Tidus em Spira - sendo que todo time de Blitzball tem a sua cidade representada dentro do jogo!! Já pensou se os torneios fossem acessados fisicamente através de mini-sidequests dentro de cada respectiva cidade, e fossem usados para dar mais carne ao mundo do jogo? Broxei com força depois dessa revelação.

Em suma, acabei não gostando de quase nada nesse jogo, e nem de um jeito “não foi pra mim”; achei ruim mesmo. As boss fights, que costumam tirar o suco máximo do sistema de combate, foram o ponto mais alto - por mais que tenham alguns golpes bullshit que te forçam a rever cutscenes inteiras toda vez que você toma.

I've played Final Fantasy X about four times start to finish, with my most recent run being the HD remaster on PC. It's not unusual for me to come back to games I like periodically, if not annually, but Final Fantasy X isn't a game I like. Rather, it's a game I desperately want to like and keep returning to under the foolish notion that maybe, just maybe, I'll learn to love it THIS time. And for a while it seems like this might be the run, I start to actually have fun with the game and get lost in its systems... And then Tidus laughs and I realize I have 40 more hours of this shit.

I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to narratives in games. Get the tone right and tell a halfway interesting story and I'll find something to be happy about. I can't count the number of negative reviews where I say something to the effect of "I love every part of this except where I play the game." Final Fantasy X is an inversion of this, however.

Every Final Fantasy game likes to introduce its own wacky system that drives combat. Sometimes they land, sometimes they're the Junction system and I start to have violent intrusive thoughts. X mostly gets things right. The Sphere Grid, which is both a sphere and a grid, is a lot of fun to screw around with. It's somewhat similar to the Materia system from FFVII in that you have a lot of control over how you build your character, but still starts each party member on a part of the grid that represents their class. Whether or not you veer off from that is up to you. I also really enjoy being able to hot-swap characters in battle, which gives you the freedom to box yourself in to the characters you prefer or experiment with different party dynamics on the fly. In a lot of ways, the core systems driving *X don't feel like crazy reinventions of what Final Fantasy is so much as injecting QoL improvements into what's already there.

Sure, there's plenty of things X still gets wrong about its gameplay. Buffs, debuffs, and ailments still mean jack shit. Minigames like Blitz Balls are a total drag, the video game equivalent of eating your broccoli before you can have dessert. There's some really bland dungeons and patently dull puzzles that utterly destroy any momentum the game might have been building. Some of this is alleviated in the HD version of the game which allows you to fast forward or outright cheat your way around portions of the game, and at some point including these features feels like Square admitting that some of the stuff they threw at the wall didn't stick and is now rotting on the floor and filling the room with a noxious stench.

Speaking of stenches, the story stinks.

At its heart, it's trying to say something critical about organized religion, living in harmony with nature, and about breaking from the well worn path to forge something new. It's also about your dumbass dad getting turned into a giant water monster. Way to go, pops.

I think having a Final Fantasy game without a true villain is interesting in concept. You and your party are fighting against the nature of this world rather than any one being with a master plan. The closest the game gets to this is Seymour, who feels shoehorned in because the developers felt they couldn't totally get away without having a true antagonist. As such, he never quite fills the role and just exists somewhat awkwardly within its narrative. His hairstyle is impossible and he looks like a freak of nature, too. Never in my life has a character design been so bad that I actually get mad the longer I look at it. If you show me a picture of Seymour I will actually get pissed.

X's themes and more heady concepts are constantly undermined by poor writing, laughably bad voice acting, and the flattest cast of characters the series had to date. Again, I've played this four times to completion, and I constantly forget everyone's background or place in the narrative besides Tidus and Yuna. There's that one guy who likes Blitz Ball, he's voiced by Bender, and uhhh... the mage with big boobs. You know the one, she's got all those belts. What do they actually do in service of the story? What do their characters say about the nature of this world? I don't remember! One of the games "antagonists" can be effectively summed up as "trailer park dad."

I've seen some very thoughtful write ups about the story and what it means to people, and every time I read them or listen to someone talk about what they appreciate about this game I think "you know, maybe I didn't give FFX* a fair shake. I should play that again."

sideshow bob stepping on rakes

Keşke zamanım olsaydı da bu oyunu yavaş bir şekilde oynayıp tüm içeriğinin suyunu sıkıp her şeyiyle değerlendirebilseydim. Yan içerikleri hakkında ne yazık ki çok yorum yapamayacağım. Geçmişi gösteren kayıt cihazlarını izledim bi umarım onlar haricinde hikâye için önemli bir yan içerik yoktur.
Yorumumu x 2 ve de x in sonrasında geçen 15 dakikalık ek sahne yi bilmiyormuş gibi yaparak yapacağım çünkü onlar işin içine girince daha farklı konular ortaya çıkıyor.
Jrpg türü benim en sevdiğim ve en çok kusurlarını görmezden geldiğim türdür. Çünkü benim için önemli bir değerlendirme noktası olan 'benim için anlam ifade etme' özellikle bu oyun türünde ön plana çıkıyor. Bir şekilde bana dokunabilen bir oyun türü jrpg. FFx de bu oyunlardan birisi. Kendisi ile çok daha fazla vakit geçirip konuşup dertleşmek isterdim.
Ff hikayeleri edgy boy, summoner ve kristal olarak 3 e ayrılır. 9 daki summoner hikâyesinden sonra gene bir summoner hikâyesi görmekteyiz. Zidane ile iyi anlatılan ana karakter bu oyunda bi tık daha üzerine konularak mükemmelleştirilmiş bunu yaparken ise sizin Tidus olmanızın önüne geçilmiş. Siz Tidus değilsiniz sadece onun hikâyesine eşlik eden birisisiniz. Tidus un babası ile olan meselelerini yaşadığı olaylardaki duygularını arkadaşlarına söyleyemediği düşüncelerini sizinle paylaşıyor. Yan yana sigara içtiğiniz bir arkadaşınız gibi Tidus. Hiçbir şey demeden sigaranızı içmeye devam ediyorsunuz o da bir şey demenizi beklemiyor zaten.
Cut sceneler baya artmış oyunda çok sayıda cut scene var ve bir sürü diyalog da seslendirilmiş. O efsane gülme sahnesinin neden o şekilde olduğu da oyunda açıklanıyor.
Oynanışa gelirsek. Başta çok karışıkmış gibi duran ama sonradan kafanıza oturan bir level atlama sistemi var. Başlangıçta sizden standart veya expert seçmenizi istiyor ben standart ı seçtim ondan dolayı expert nasıl bilmiyorum. Öncelikle oynanışda summon kullanmak çok önemli summonları boss öncesinde chargeladığınıza emin olun ve Yuna yı yeri gelince dark magic öğretin. Firega ve duablecast Yuna aşırı tatlı oluyor. Tidus aboyun sonunda verdiğim ama keşke daha önce verseydim dediğim piercing özelliği de var. Bir tane tüccar geliyor karlı bir yerde oradan item olarak 30-50 tane holly water alın. Bir yerde karşınıza gelecek vurmak her zaman çare değildir bazen bekleyip sadece izlemek gerekir. Yuna nın half mp silahı var son puzzle a tekrar gidince ortaya çıkan puzzle ı yaparak alıyorsunuz. Oyunun yapmadığı sinir eden 1 şey yaptığı ve sinir eden 1 şey var. Yapmadığı şey cut sceneleri geçmek. Bossda ölürseniz tekrardan izliyorsunuz sinir bozucu baya. Yaptığı ve sinir eden şey puzzlelar. Çok yoklar ama gerksizler oyun zevkinizi baltalıyor farklılık felan olsun diye sanırım da çok kötü kim niye yapmış anlam veremedim.
Oyunun maplerinin koridor dizaynında olması ve open world olmaması. Bu iki sorun hem birbiri ile iç içe hem de birbirinden ayrı. Ps1 ffleri koridor değil ama bu koridor diyebilirsiniz haklısınız ama ffx in koridor hissettirme nedeni sol üstteki harita. Harita olmasa koridor hissi olmazdı. 13 ü oynadıktan sonra demek istediğimi daha iyi onlarsınız. Ffx ff7 9 gibi şehirlere ve patikalara sahip bir oyun ama açık dünya haritası yok. Aslında gittiğimiz yolları zaten içine girip gidiyoruz ama bu dev harita olayını bozuyor. Oyunun sonunda aldığımız gemi ile gittiğimiz yerlere geri dönebilsek de bu durum ayrı ayrı oluşan bölümler hissine neden oluyor. Hepsi bir haritanın üzerinde işaretli olsa da siz o haritanın bütünlüğünü diğer oyunlardaki gibi görmüyorsunuz.
Sesler çok güzeldi. Otunda çok güzel ostlar mevcut.
Sanırım diyeceklerim bu kadar belki bir gün x2 ile ortak bir inceleme yazarım ama o güne kadar eser kalın. O7