Still good looking and fun to play. A bit too linear but the story makes it all worthwhile. Shame about Blitzball...
No Blitzball for me...
My initial take on the game was to discover every nook and cranny there was to discover. Get every item worth grabbing and level the characters up to the max.
For a long while I followed this course, spending over 130 hours on the game, but in the end I did not reach my goal. This had everything to do with the Blitzball mini-game which is my main gripe about the game. It frustrated me to such an extent that after five games or so I decided that I did not want to play this mini-game anymore. What bothered me the most about it is the pacing and the amount of influence you can have on the outcome of the game. Whenever an action is performed by you or your AI adversary you wait. You wait for the blocking sequences to be performed. You wait for the pass to be displayed. You wait for the ball to be catched or not. Very 'turn based' but all the while the clock keeps ticking and you just have to wait on the outcome. This makes it quite boring and not at all an action game that I can understand that all of Spira is excited about.
The game mechanics of Blitzball are, as far as I could tell, fine. You can level up your players, contract new ones, learn skills etc. It's just not the game for me...
What remains...
What remained was a very enjoyable and touching story. The game and the story though develop in a very straightforward matter which is not really my idea of an RPG. There are some sub-quests but rarely do you spend much time on these and rarely do they take you away from the path you are taking. The game and story 'pushes' you from one side of Spira to the other almost to the very end of the game. By the time you finally have the means to go anywhere you want by means of the airship you don't really need it anymore because all that remains to be done is the final confrontation.
You would think that I don't like FFX all that much. But I do. The story contains quite a few twists and turns that keep it interesting to the end and really made me want to see it through all the way. Sometimes the dialogue or conversation is a bit awkward but in general there are very interesting story lines both in the past and present. One thing that I also like a lot is the fact that in a way you also play through the pilgrimage of Yuna's father, lord Braska, and Jecht and Auron. They add depth, especially to Auron which has become one of my favourite characters.
FFX also has a lot to offer, especially once you get the airship. It is a big game. Lots of locations to visit, monsters to fight and items to acquire.
In the end...
All things considered: I like FFX a lot. It has been a very worthwhile adventure. The world of Spira has a well thought-out background. There are quite a few memorable characters of which some really develop through the game. The story unfolds with plenty of twists and turns and when I finished it, it really felt as good as having read the last chapter of a novel or having just watched a good movie.