Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is in the top tier of the Final Fantasy series, in my opinion. I absolutely adore the battle system, and I even like the story, which is where most people seem to point when talking about the weaknesses of the game.

The story has its problems, sure. What happens to Tidus at the very end could have been foreshadowed better than it was. Also, explicitly saying what is going to happen to you right before it happens sort of hurts the dramatic tension, Tidus! Also Square shouldn't have let the player name Tidus. It would have been better had the characters referred to him by name rather than various pronouns or whatever.

But the overall story, Spira's story, is really good, in my opinion. The thousand year stalemate caused by Yevon is handled quite well, I think.

This playthrough was my third playthrough of the game total. Some things stand out this time, which I don't remember feeling at the time, but seem glaring now. For example, the game is one giant hallway. There is a path, there is an arrow telling you which way to go down the path, and it lasts the whole game. Not a whole lot of deviation, there. The Calm Lands are pretty open, but honestly there is still only one place to go. It would be interesting to play XIII again someday and compare it to this.

I love the graphics, though, especially in HD. The art produced for FFX still holds up, and taking all the bluriness out of it is nice. The characters are designed a little weird (Lulu is jut a pair of tits with a doll, Tidus wears lederhosen, etc.) but still aren't totally jarring just because they CAN be (see: FFXIII). I also don't mind the voice acting, although the laughing scene is still painful. I get what they were going for but the voice actors failed miserably at it.

As for the gameplay, I think this is Square's finest turn based battle system they've ever made. Note that doesn't include active time battle. But, I like how different moves affected your turns, and how you could think about what you wanted to do and how Square put some difficulty behind the battles!

...If you play on the regular sphere grid, that is. If you know the game somewhat well and use the expert grid, you may find yourself gliding through the game with no challenge, as I did this time around. I only died on two battles: Seymour III and Braska's Final Aeon, the last boss in the game. Seymour just required some HP grinding, while BFA requires a whole bunch just to be able to do enough damage before he just smashes you. As always, late game Final Fantasy sucks, because after you climb Mt. Gagazet, go through Zanarkand and beat Yunalesca, you get control of the airship and can enter Sin after you fight him and knock off his wings for some reason. Sin's innards aren't very interesting and make for a poor final dungeon. Also, the crappy minigame you have to play to even GET to the final battle is annoying. The camera rotates around and you can't control it, and it moves SLOWLY. You have to grab 10 items that appear and disappear, while dodging the icicle spears that cause battles when you touch them. Sucks if you get hit with a battle with a fiend that can cast Bad Breath!

The minigames throughout the game are pretty weird, too. You can tell Square was trying to repeat FFVII in that regard - they are many, and they are tough. I managed to beat the Chocobo race this time around, and didn't hate it too much. Dodging lightning bolts proved too annoying for me to keep at, after I dodged over 160 of them, then got hit, meaning I'd have to start over. At least that stuff is optional.

The music is phenomenal from start to finish. I do not understand why people don't like X's tracks but hold up the entirety of VII as excellent when half of VII's were boring one note songs. X's melodies are beautiful and the remixes in the HD version grew on me. The fact that they didn't touch Otherworld is good, though. That song works perfectly as is.

Well, on to X-2, a game I have never given a fair chance. I can play it with headphones now, so if I start to feel embarrased (and given the intro, I will!), I can pop them in and not worry about how awful it can be. Everybody says the battle system is really good, so let's hope so.