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.
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.