Inject the PS2 version's aesthetic into my fucking veins. Final Fantasy X's remaster is borderline insulting and an inferior way to experience this amazing game. Square really nailed the RPG mechanics in this one, with the battle system innovating nicely over the somewhat dated ATB system. Being able to seamlessly swap party members in and out of combat with no action penalty allowed me to make full use of my entire party, which is something I really appreciate. The Sphere Grid is pure brilliance as well: it is a system that is at once mechanically rich and simple to understand. It's a shame Square completely dropped these systems in future Final Fantasy titles, because I would do anything for another Final Fantasy that plays like X.

It's a testament to how insanely good this game is for me to be able overlook the objectively awful and downright painful cloister puzzles and still see this game as an absolute masterpiece.

Had a speed replay of this using the remaster speed ups and boosts, and it made me marvel at 14-year-old me for getting through this without guides, because I felt like I must have been missing some obvious with upgrading something, because I was so underpowered. I was obviously under level because of the nature of the playthrough, but I shouldn't have been that much lower.

Anyway, the main reason for playing again was to see how the story holds up, and there is a lot that I really like here, the themes and emotional depth, and cast of characters work very well.

I do think the fact that it's a ps2 games holds it back quite a lot though. There are some very strange directional choices, most scenes have this oddly slow stilted pace to them, or just odd bits of extraneous dialogue. And some very poor acting for some of the characters. It's a shame because the heart of the story is one of the series best, but this stuff does get in the way for me.

It does also feel like an unusually brief story for a FF game. I remember thinking the same at the time but playing it this way really did emphasize that there's not that many twists and turns along the way. Really did surprise me when I realized I was already in Zanarkand. I know it has some very extensive side and super boss content to explore, and it would have been good if some of that stuff was more integrated into the main story.

I remember always reading how this is one of the best Final Fantasy stories and it’s a must play for fans of the franchise. While I do mostly agree, time has not necessarily been kind to it.

On one hand it has all the classic charm of a FF game, but on the other it’s painfully dated. While I liked the story and its character writing, the stiff ps2 graphics and lackluster voice acting made it difficult for me to truly get invested. This game was obviously the right step forward in the franchise by introducing voice acting and cinematic moments, but I wonder if it would have aged better with classic text boxes. Regardless, without it we wouldn’t have the great voice acting and epic moments in modern FF games like we do today. In a way, it paved a better future for the games moving forward.

Regarding combat, I think this did take a minor step back. One thing I love about older FF games is the classic ATB mechanics. In my opinion it makes the turn based combat more lively and interesting - keeping you on your feet at all times. Here we just have the classic take your time and attack method. Still fun, but I did miss it. If you are a fan of newer JRPGs then I doubt this will be an issue at all.

Overall Final Fantasy X is a great game that I think is still worth playing. You may want to bang your head against the wall figuring out the sphere system and overcoming some of the painful boss fights, but the story still has a ton of heart at its core. Just sit back, listen to Uematsu’s beautiful score, and push through to the end because it is very much worth it.

Played the hd version on steam also more thinking 7.5/10

if i was rating this game purely off of story it would probably be a 9 i adored it aside from a couple issues but most of those are minimal. I loved tidus, yuna, auron and khimari and the story was mostly engaging throughout. my only complaints story wise are that it kind of dragged until auron joined the party, rikku and lulu are extremely underutilized, and wakka is an insufferable character 3/4s of the game and then apologizes once for his batshit insane racism and everyone just moves on he sucks so bad.

Gameplay wise is really where i have problems with this game. The one great thing i will say is that I love the battle system and how you can freely change characters with no reprecussions mid turn. I also love how if you buff a character and switch them out they will still be buffed when they come back. Aside from that the music is really amazing.

Now for the bad I have a lot of complaints.
1) I played with a mod that gave the whole party ap. I probably would have dropped the game without it the game would be a grindy slog without it
2) Late game boss design sucked ASS (mainly yunalesca and jecht) too many status effects used that you cant really do shit about if you dont have the right armor. I probably would have dropped the game in the final boss room if i didnt have boosters cuz i wasnt grinding and backtracking for god knows how long to beat one boss
3) which brings me to the customization system which is horrible. All of the abilities require way too much shit to get especially for a while party i dont wanna spend an hour stealing off of the same enemy
4) the sphere grid system also sucks ass and is super unintuitive. i can kind of understand the idea on paper but the execution is poor especially with needing spheres to activate nodes if it was just ap it would be so much better but having to grind for levels as well as grind for items to access those levels is such a shitty system and its hard to make you characters stronger when none of the paths have anything you want

probably my favourite final fantasy game, if you have your expectations ruined by people sharing a couple "bad" voice acting clips then are seriously missing out, the voice acting is incredibly charming even at the worst of times. the combat is by far my favourite of the mainline final fantasy games that ive played, and the weapon, accessory, and skill tree in this game are amazing. amazing setting, amazing visuals and amazing story, im giving the game a 10 because its final fantasy 10 and it has 10 in the title

I love the story and characters. The pacing and world building is near perfect. Voice delivery and timing can be off at times but overall the voice performances were charming and memorable. It's aged incredibly well. I was scared the gameplay was too basic at the beginning but it really opens up, the sphere upgrade system is genius. The end game encounters and bosses aggravated me a little but thanks to some cheesy tactics because of Rikku I got to the end with zero grinding required. The ending is something that will stick with me for a quite a while, it concluded beautifully. Recommended for any JRPG fan.