Comments

Not having a lot of experience with the PS2 platform, I am less than jaded when it comes to comparing role-playing games on the PC to their platform-based cousins. Having only the PC version of Final Fantasy IX as a basis of comparison, I was amazed by the graphic richness of the new game. This is not just a matter of higher powered engines and CGI wizardry. It really springs from the artistic commitment of the staff designing and creating the game.

Character design still shows its heritage from Yoshitaro Amano, one of Japan's greatest graphic artists. In addition, the background and 'set' design is equally imaginative. Massive use of CGI work simply makes all this magic spring to life with movement and gesture. No less an effort has been spent on the game's sound and music, making the experience of the game intense, and sometimes even spellbinding.

Tidus, a young blitzball professional, is thrust, mid-catastrophe, into the world of Spira, where an incredible monster (Sin) is gradually destroying the world as punishment for its ecological missteps. He meets Yuna, who is a Summoner, capable of calling up Aeons as battle weapons. Yuna has begun a voyage from temple to temple, a quest that must end in a confrontation with Sin to bring peace to Spira. In typical RPG style, they and their companions follow a path of ever escalating monsters and challenges, culminating in a prolonged, exhausting final struggle.

The story and dialog are fine, with a few twists to keep player interest, but for the most part it is predictable. Since people come to this game looking for different things, the creators have tried to manage a difficult balance between narrative and play, and, for the most part, are successful. The dialog is sometimes silly and sometimes touching, but it is never unbearable.

This is an incredibly large game. It is possible to stick to the basic story line, minimum leveling up and barely make it through the game in 50 to 60 hours. A quick perusal of a good walkthrough quickly reveals that nearly half of the game is hidden from view, and that diligent playing can be very rewarding. My time using the walkthrough was 90 hours, and there were still possibilities left unexplored. Obviously, the game will stand up to replay.

I have to give the game five stars. I can quibble about storyline and some predictable gameplay, but there is too much that is simply outstanding. This will be considered one of the peaks of RPG gaming for some time to come. Rating: 5 / 5

I must say now, even though some amazing games have come out this year, such as Soul Reaver 2, Devil May Cry and the spectacular Metal Gear Solid 2, the defining game experience in the coming months will be, without a doubt, Final Fantasy X. No other RPG series has come close to the success and immense enjoyability that the Final Fantasy series has gained over the years. Although there have been some frustrating titles (FF VIII) and some sleeper hits (FF Tactics), Square has established a track record of produce the most realistic and moving story-based games on the market. Final Fantasy X will be no exception.

One of the newest and truly amazing features of this game is the life-size adventure system. In previous RPGs, the adventurer would explore a large outside world, but when entering a specific town or dungeon, the player would often have to walk up to a small icon and confirm entrance. In FFX, your character will be walking in the world from his or her own perspective, and will see oncoming castles or mountains in the distance. When encountering them up close, the scale is life-size in preportion to the character, that is to say, the mountains aren't going to be head hight, they're going to span up into the clouds. As an additional note, fights will now take place on the screen you are in, and not transfer to a pre-rendered background. This takes an amazing amount of effort on the game designer's part, and I want to thank them for making this such a realistic experience.

Another change is the battle time system, previously known as Active Time Battle. The fights now take place in CTB, or Count Time Battle. Instead of constantly waiting for action meters to reach an end, you will be able to use a character immediately on his or her turn and see the list of the next 4 enemies or allies waiting to act. The turns will proceed in sequence, as opposed to the old system of racing the enemy to confirm an attack. This allows for more strategy and twists in battle; a Stop spell could shake up the order of actions a great deal. (As veteran FF fans may notice, this is very similar to the time system in FF Tactics, Square's small unit battle manuvers RPG.)

As not to worry the long-standing fans of the series, some classic FF features will be returning. The special limit attack feature (limit break / trance) has been dubbed Overdrive. It's nearly the same as FF VII's limit break system, each character having a meter that raises when the character is damaged. Chocobos once again live in the environment of the game, as do summons (now called Aeons, and you even get to fight as them in battle!) A leveling up feature, the Sphere board, lets you custimoze characters nearly any way you want, almost like the Materia of FF VII and the Job System of FF V.

This game has so many virtues that it's hard to expound on all of them in a simple, one-page review. The beautiful graphics, amazing storyline, and wonderfully rendered characters (who speak, smile, and scowl) all combine to form one of the greatest RPG packages on any console to date. Kudos to the programmers at Square that spent years designing the most involved game I have ever played. If you only try one role-playing game in your entire life, make it this one. Rating: 5 / 5

My first impression of the game was that it would have a summoner type feel (which isn't bad, but not usual FF to me.) However, the game has a very well done story line. Good voice acting and it flushes out the characters so well that they talk to each other and goof on each other in battle. The graphics are very good, though a little jittering and jagged edges on the vector at times. The cutscenes however are superb, and almost movie like in quality.
The game has a great combat interface, though I am not sure yet if I like the sphere system for gaining skills and abilities.

The storyline seems good so far and I am approximately 10 hours in. The music is very good, but I still think the FF3 soundtrack is the best one ever. Overall this is turning out to be my favorite in all the FF series that I have played. Rating: 5 / 5

Yes, this game was amazing and had gorgeous graphics and even a good storyline to boot (no FFVII though.). The game sheds a lot to be desired such as plenty of side quests, secrets and mini games. The music is loveable, the characters memorable. The problem where this game falls short is replay value and gameplay.

The game's graphics are truly amazing and are by far some of the best we've seen on the PS2. The textures and mapping is great, and this is the first Final Fantasy game to be in a completely 3 dimensinal world and I mean entirely!

The characters in the game are memorable with great developement and personality. You have characters with mystery and characters with intrigue. A small love story in there. I feel however that Square didn't focus enough on the love story as much as they did in Final Fantasy VIII. Not a bad thing, though when the kiss came it was just a couple of hours before the end of the game.

The games involement is much better than in ANY other previous FF game. Raising characters is entirely different from the series. Now you must make your characters obtain "Sphere Levels". This was probably the best idea since the Job System introduced in FFIII or the Materia system in FFVII. Either way, instead of gaining EXP. like your traditional RPG, you gain ability points to help your sphere level go up. Once it does it starts over and keeps building up. Once you gain a sphere level you have to move on the "Sphere Grid" and actually use that sphere to learn an ability, increase your stats etc. Not a bad idea though this does bring the difficulty down by a whole lot and makes it successful to beat the game in 25 hours (and there are some who don't even increase their stats they just learn the abilities.)

The battle system is different from previous FF games. Since Final Fantasy IV we've all grown used to the ATB battle system. Now you have the CTB system. This means, Control Turn Based. Basically its a turn based battle system with a twist. You can switch characters in and out of battle. You also have a CTB guage that appears in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This'll show you when enemies attack and when your characters attack. Should you select a spell like "Slow" or "Haste" you'll see what the adjustments do on the CTB guage. The problem with this is the same as the sphere grid, the game is too easy with this. The ability to switch characters in battle is also a good idea but again, too easy.

The game's downfall is the gameplay and replay value. The game moves at such a slow pace with cinematic scenes in which more than half you're unable to skip. They don't last long but they come every ten minutes or so and that time does add up. Thus, this makes the game lack for replay value. The game also has predictable plot twists, but none the less its a good storyline.

Also, while the music is lovely, the voice acting isn't too good. It'd have been much better if Square had let us choose whether we want subbed or dubbed. The voice acting is in deed nothing special.

The game cleary doesn't give off too much difficulty and while it is an amazing game, it is by far the most "different" Final Fantasy in the series. The classic blue background is gone (some people actually DO care about that). The classic ATB battle system that we've all grown to love is also gone. Not to mention that as the Final Fantasy series goes on the games get easier and easier. This one is no exception. Its downright easy.

Overall the game is pretty good. It is better than VIII and IX but it isn't better than VII and the ones before. The series has lost some of its classic edge with this one but that by no means suggest you should degrade it.

On the positive side
+Smooth lavish graphics
+Nice music
+Great storyline
+New battle system that allows more strategy
+The most unique way to raise characters ever
+Square finally got some voices
+Lots of mini-games and sidequests

But on the bad side
-Not enough replay
-Too many scenes of watching rather than playing
-VERY easy game
-Its actually short compared to today's standards
-The voice acting is not the best
-Some of the elements that made Final Fantasy "Final Fantasy" are gone...

Overall this is one of the better Final Fantasy games. Those who've ben there since FFI may not like this one quite as much but I assure you this is a great game. Rating: 4 / 5

I just bought this game yesterday ( Dec. 19th ) and its very impressive. I haven't made it into the game very far but from what I've seen so far this game won't disappoint. Everything about this game is good. The new battle system is AWESOME! The only thing I'm not really into is the Sphere Grid system. Its kinda weird but, like I said before, I haven't made it very far in the game so I'll eventually end up getting used to it. This is a great game. Coo bay. Rating: 5 / 5