Great Game of Blitz Ball
This is perhaps the time to sit back and appreciate the series, because Final Fantasy X marks its biggest turning point. Final Fantasy VII meant the leap to 3D, and an unprecedented step forward in the games' cinematic presentation, but FFX is essentially the last Final Fantasy as we have known it. After this, we have the strange new world of online adventuring, and then Yasumi Matsuno's takeover of the executive-production reins. Not that these aren't interesting new worlds to explore, but change on that scale is always a little unsettling.
What is heartening, though, is that the last of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy games makes a very strong argument for being the best game the series has ever seen. It is, as the series has always been, a graphical showcase of the first order. The addition of spoken dialogue, despite plenty of second-guessing before the event, has succeeded to a far greater degree than a first effort of this sort has any right to. Most of all, though, this game is more fun to simply play than any Final Fantasy in memory. A huge reworking of the character development scheme has hit the jackpot as far as mixing customization and character individuality, and one simple tweak to the battle system has pulled almost every aspect of gameplay through a great leap forward.
Aside from being such a finely made game, it's also a remarkable stylistic departure in a great many areas. Tetsuya Nomura has put forth some of his best work in the area of character design for this cast. The world, like that of most FFs, is a motley collection of different regions, but there's a greater feeling of cohesion in comparison to VII or IX, and a revival of some of VIII's prettiest design elements. Most notably, two more composers aside from Nobuo Uematsu worked on the soundtrack, and it definitely shows, with some tracks that will leave you wondering how they wound up in a Final Fantasy game. But there's nothing wrong with doing something different, as long as it's done well, and Final Fantasy X is certainly done well, in almost every area.