Like Final Fantasy VII before it, Final Fantasy X is an especially important game in the franchise because it represents a generational leap from the previous entry. This was the game that showed what the PS2 was capable of in terms of visuals and immersion and as far as PS2 RPGs are concerned, only Final Fantasy XII competes in this respect. And although the game is noticeably more linear and restrictive than earlier entries in the series, the world it builds is just as rich and immersive, the storytelling is the best the series has ever seen, the presentation is uncommonly gorgeous, and the battle system---though it's nothing new---is more fluid than the other turn-based systems in the series.
In addition to presentation, storytelling is what sets Final Fantasy X apart from other RPGs. Final Fantasy X is the story of a rather hyperactive "Blitzball" player named Tidus, who lives in the futuristic metropolis of Zanarkand. At the beginning of the game, after a Blitzball match that is presented by way of a kick ass CGI cutscene, Tidus meets the strong-but-silent middle-aged bad ass named Auron. Shortly thereafter, Zanarkand is attacked by a giant menace and Tidus is transported to the land of Spira, a place that is much more pastoral than the busy, high-tech Zanarkand. After some trials and tribulations in an ancient underwater ruin, Tidus finds himself in the beautiful tropical paradise of Besaid, where he meets another Blitzball player named Wakka, who ultimately becomes a kind of big brother figure to him, and Lulu, a austere women dressed in black who serves as your black mage. The most important person that Tidus meets, however, is Yuna, a beautiful, but extremely serious, summoner. Yuna has become a summoner to defeat a monster called Sin who terrorizes the world of Spira and generally makes life sh!tty for all its inhabitants. Final Fantasy X is the story of Yuna's journey to defeat Sin and Tidus's journey to figure out his place in this new, strange world. This includes dealing with the negative feelings he has towards a semi-neglectful father.
It is a very beautiful story that is at once a romance, a good and evil tale, a tale of coming to terms with parental scars, and a very intelligent take on the duplicity of organized religion and the pitfalls of trusting authority. The story wraps these various themes into a simple, but elegant tale that will appeal to those who want more depth from their game stories. One of the reason the story works so well is due to the way that it is told. People complain about how linear the game is, but the linear, forward-pushing structure allows the developers to really focus the story and flesh it out through well-placed cinematic cutscenes that never overstay their welcome. And these cutscenes, which are almost always beautifully done, with the exception of a few choppy moments, are not limited to pushing the basic plot forward. There are tons of scenes that are just there to further the character development.
Another effective technique the developers use is that Tidus actually narrates the story as it progresses. This is kind of similar to the way that Ray Liota narrates the story in Goodfellas. In addition to making the story really clear and understandable, it gives the player unique insight into Tidus's emotions and his perspective at any given time.
Although I find Final Fantasy IX's cast to be more endearing, the cast in Final Fantasy X is excellent. Yes, Tidus can be whiny, but he is good-natured and undergoes the most character development of any character in the game. Yuna is not quite as interesting and her voice acting is unquestionably bad, but she is quite a step up from other characters with the same archetype because she displays quite a bit more strength. The other characters are really enjoyable as well: Wakka has a kind of big brotherly charm and is essential to showing what kind of hold the "teachings of Yevon" have on ordinary people; Lulu is hard to like at first but grows on you; Auron is this game's bad ass, but he has a certain wisdom to his words that keeps the hotheaded exuberance of Tidus in check, and Rikku is a likeable incarnation of the high-spirited happy-go-lucky girl that seems to be an obligatory archetype in this series.
The voice acting is shakier than the other elements of the game's presentation, but it works just fine, especially considering that FFX was the first Final Fantasy game to have full voice acting. Yuna's voice acting is downright painful to listen to at times as it's frequently halting and choppy, but the other voice actors really bring their characters to life, especially Wakka's voice actor, who does a spot on Samoan accent. That being said, the voice acting can get a little shrill when the characters are in a state of high emotion.
The story moves at a perfect pace and this is partly due to a linear structure that is sure to ruffle some feathers, but I thought they struck a good balance. There is no world map and you are mostly moving forward with little freedom, but the game still finds ways to immerse you in the world, such as recurring NPCs that make Spira seem like a very lived-in place and give you insights into what everyday life in like for Spirans. Also, there are a good number of beautiful, homey towns that are utilized well in furthering the narrative and make you feel like you are truly on a pilgrimage though a very interesting world. It also helps that there is a lot of variety in the locations you'll go to: from the bright tropical paradises of Besaid and Kilika, to the ornate grandeur of Luca, to the dark mystery of the Thunder Plains and Guadosalam, to the crystalline beauty of Maccalania, to the monolithic brutality of Mount Gagazet, and the ancient beauty of Zanarkand (and much more), this is not a world that is going to bore you visually, even if you might wish for more freedom. In a first for the series, there are also underwater portions that make for a nice change of pace as well as periodic puzzle sections called The Cloister of the Trials that are pretty cleverly-designed and will ensure that you're not just fighting all the time when you make your way through the game's pretty environments.
The gameplay here is not innovative by any means, but then again, post-SNES Final Fantasy games never had innovative battle systems and the battle system here is the most fluid of the series pre-FFXIII. There are some differences however. Instead of the usual active time battle system, you have as much time as you need to select a command. On the right side of the screen is a graphic that shows you the order of turns, allowing you to anticipate when the enemy is going to strike. You can only use three characters in battle at a time, but there is a twist. At pretty much any time in the battle, you can switch characters in and out, utilizing their unique strengths to take down certain types of enemies. So, for instance, Tidus is good for taking out faster, smaller enemies, Wakka is effective against flying enemies, Auron is strong against highly-armored enemies, etc. It's not at all difficult to figure out an enemy's weakness and which character should be used to take them out, but it gives your characters a strong sense of individuality. Furthermore, the battle system handles limit breaks extremely well. In this game, they are called overdrives, but they are still limit breaks. You can fill up your overdrive meter through several methods like dealing damage, taking damage, healing, etc. This is preferable to FFIX's trance system or the critical condition system in FFVIII.
Being a Final Fantasy game, this game of course has summons. In FFX, they are called aeons and they a pretty big part of the story. Like FFIX, your white mage (in this case Yuna) is the only one that can summon. Unlike FFIX, your summon doesn't just attack and retreat. In FFX, they can conceivably stay around for the whole battle (Note: everybody clears the battlefield when an aeon is summoned, so you can't use summons and your regular characters at the same time). Their beautiful animations will impress even the most jaded gamer and they are immensely useful. Actually, I'd argue that they are too useful. If one can be bothered to make Yuna strong enough through the game's sphere grid system, you can pretty much build up their overdrives and own otherwise difficult bosses without breaking much of a sweat. I think they could have made the aeons more balanced.
The sphere grid is one of the more controversial elements of the game. Some will find it to be too much work, but others will appreciate that it gives you a pretty good amount of freedom in the way that you customize your characters. Basically, the sphere grid is a giant board with an ornate pattern of little nodes. There are tons of these nodes and you place certain kinds of spheres in them to up stats and learn new abilities. For instance, you might place a power sphere into a node to increase HP or strength or defense, a speed sphere to increase agility or evasion, a mana sphere to increase MP, magic defense, magic attack power, or an ability sphere to learn new skills. Sometimes you'll reach a dead end and you'll need to unlock a new path with a key sphere, which can be difficult to come upon at later levels. To move across the sphere grid, you'll need AP points which are acquired by fighting enemies. Instead of leveling normally, racking up AP will give you sphere levels, which are basically the amount of moves that you can make on the grid. If you want to make your characters bad asses, you're going to have to grind quite a bit.
The sphere grid is a good idea and works well, but it's probably a love-it-or-hate it kind of thing. Some players will relish the control they have over customizing their characters, others will not even want to look at the thing. Still, it's a worthy addition and it's pretty easy to understand once you get over how daunting it looks.
The game's strongest aspect is the undoubtedly the presentation. Visually, FFX is a masterpiece. Environments are lush, bursting with visual richness and imagination. There's a kind of exotic visual poetry to the world of Spira that you're just not going to find anywhere else on the PS2. Environments are well-textured and have an immense attention to detail that will instantly immerse you in the game's world. In addition to this, the character design is very solid and the characters look amazingly detailed and expressive when they are in what I call the game's high resolution mode. Unfortunately, they don't fare nearly as well in their flatter, more low resolution incarnations. It's kind of weird how the game switches between these two modes and it would have helped the presentation if the game were more consistent in this respect. Not that it needs much help. This game is undoubtedly the cream of the visual crop on PS2. And being Final Fantasy, the cutscenes and CGI sequences are absolutely mindblowing for a game released in late 2001.
The music is even better than the graphics and is probably FFX's single strongest aspect. This is undoubtedly the best soundtrack in the series, with a degree of sound quality and musical sophistication that is unparalleled. These songs are extremely beautiful and moving and help contribute to the game's exotic atmosphere. As superb as the music in previous games is, their soundtracks don't even begin to touch this one.
One of the things that FF players expect is a lot of side content and FFX doesn't disappoint here. It has all the side content that players expect, though some people are sure to be put off by the glorified menu that passes as the airship in this game. It is kind of an underwhelming substitute, but I don't see what could be done about it. The loss of the world map works perfectly for this game, giving everything a more seamless feel, and without a world map, the classic flyable airship was not really feasible.
At the end of the day, FFX is easily one of the best games in the series due to its aesthetic loveliness, its fluid battle system, and the immensely high quality of its storytelling. If you can get over any prejudices about the game's rather restrictive linear structure, you'll find FFX to be one of the most atmospheric and immersive RPGs on the market.
GAMEPLAY: 4.5/5
DESIGN: 4/5
STORY: 5/5
VISUALS: 5/5
PLAYABILITY: 5/5
VALUE: 5/5