A game of substantial highs and lows that just cannot find its consistency to be considered a ‘great’ Final Fantasy.

The biggest surprise is that for bringing in Platinum Games to help with development, the combat feels like such a surface level attempt at the type of hack ‘n slash that studio does better than almost anyone. And no matter how many particle effects the game throws at you (far too many btw, in some of the more action packed fights it’s a fucking nightmare to see anything) its clearly trying to compensate for the fact the combat is built around smashing Square and occasionally dodging.

But there’s some positives to be had; a decent story with fairly rounded characters and motivations, an epic and soaring soundtrack that stands alongside the best the series has to offer, the Titan fight (the one time it actually feels like Platinum Games gets to pull their muscle and an effective and emotional ending - just a shame getting there gets a bit tedious.

First time completion and I find FFX to be a game with a compelling world that it struggles to fully execute in the story. I could be wrong but it feels like the transition from PS1 to PS2 and the addition of voice acting meant the dialogue had to be dialed back or dumbed down to accommodate; pile on some wonky performances on top and you have a game oddly feels more aged than anything from the SNES/PS1 era. Though there's also the typical JRPG tropes that drive me insane, like how long it takes for the world to actually open up, the spike in difficulty at points, and grindiness the game asks for at times and in a number of side quests.

But it's not without merit; the Sphere Grid is such a great concept and has so much more muscle to it than your average skill tree in 2023 (looking at you FF16). I love the ability to swap characters in and out during combat, it adds to the feeling you can create your team exactly as you want to prepare for any enemy in the game.

The overall setting does feel wholly unique, I do think a large part of the reason people have such reverence for FFX is that its setting sets it apart from the typical medieval fantasy or futuristic settings the series typically bounces between, and even for a 20 year old game it has a number of backdrops with a tremendous amount of scale to them.

Sin is one of the stronger antagonists Square has created in that it’s not a typical malevolent force out to destroy the world or recrate the world in its image, it’s just a giant fucking whale that destroys because that’s what it does, but then it falls short with the serving antagonists around it (also what the fuck is that final boss fight about).

So yeah, it’s pretty good - nowhere close to the best FF, and with a bunch of systems I’d love to see them tackle again in the future. Just don’t ask DiMaggio to do the accent again, OK?

First time playing FFIV, mainly with the knowledge going in these remasters come with the 4x EXP/Gil buff, and thank christ they were added along with the random encounter switch, because you can see exactly where this game would grind to a halt with difficulty spikes. The last dungeon in particular just looks utterly miserable to plough through.

Thankfully, with these additions I was able to breeze through the campaign in just over 10 hours. Overall, FFIV does feel unremarkable, but that's only against the context of what would come after. The story is a basic redemption arc for the main character, but has enough enjoyable companions to see the thing through, and even manages to pull of moments of effective story telling, but it also doesn't commit to those beats (looks directly at the twins). It's like if Aerith was revivied in FFVII - it just wouldn't have the same impact.

Not being a fan of the FF games where they fuck around with the battle system (hello VIII) I have no issue with the basic mechanics of combat here but I understand everyone will have a different view of this.

Crucially, though, holy shit this soundtrack hits so hard. Being an outsider to FF, I have basic understandings of which OSTs are revered for, and FFIV never came up in the conversations I had with friends who love the series, and I'm stunned because FFIV stands up head and shoulders against any other game from the series.

There are times with MGS where I get it: the tone, the atmosphere, that soundtrack, the early use of (very decent) voice acting, the backdrop of the Cold War being used to frame a mostly compelling narrative.

But Kojima just cannot help himself; every cutscene feels like it goes on 5 minutes longer than necessary; every bit of dialogue has to overexplain some aspect of the story or character motivations that ends up leaving you more confused; and every effective plot twist smashes head first into another twist that adds nothing to the story. Oh, and every boss goes on a 15-minute monologue while dying? Get in the bin.

MGS is a dope as fuck game, and I totally see how a 12-year-old played this and OOT in the same year and was hooked on games for the rest of their life. But one of these games still plays and feels as revolutionary now as it did then, and it doesn't involve the thespian Liquid Snake.