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RPG Index: Single player Role Playing Games

Saturday 16 July 2011

Final Fantasy X

Genre: JRPG, RPG, Adventure
Release Date: July 19th 2001
Platforms: PS2, PS3, Vita, PC
Score: 9/10
Similar Titles: Dragon Quest, Breath of Fire, Star Ocean
Worth Playing: Final Fantasy X has become widely available through numerous ports, and therefore anyone searching for a fairly decent game to play will find this game a pretty enjoyable experience overall.

The cover wouldn't be so bad if I didn't hate Tidus.
As number one on my list of best Final Fantasy games, this FFX review has been a long time coming. While I say Final Fantasy X is the best Final Fantasy game, that's purely due to the Sphere Grid.

The tenth instalment of Square-Enix's greatest franchise did pretty much everything right. When the game was released it was an unnerving time for fans, who were skeptical as to whether the series would adapt as wonderfully to the playstation 2 as it did the playstation. In my oh so humble opinion, Final Fantasy 10 succeeded in every way possible. I've met more than one person who didn't enjoy playing RPG games until they encountered FFX.

Final Fantasy X review

Early on you will participate in a Blitzball tournament.

Even though the playstation 2 isn't the best of graphics these days, the cutscenes still look spectacular. Everything is very pretty, except Seymour.

I can't say the protagonist Tidus isn't a bit of a douchebag, because he is. On the other hand, Auron has more than enough boss to make up for that; as I'm sure most will agree. Irritating characters aside, the story is a fairytale expertly woven and majestically immersing. Some of your party members have really intriguing personalities and friendships, interesting enough to justify your taking a day off work to make progress!

A little about the plot: Tidus is a young Blitzball (underwater football) player on cusp of stardom. One day in the city of Zanarkand his match is interrupted by a gigantic terrifying creature, reigning destruction all over the city. Tidus is saved by his fathers mysterious friend Auron, and that's where stuff gets freaky. I won't spoil the story more than that. All I can say, is it's rather unique, and although I use the word carefully, original.

The combat system is pretty well implemented.

Although the story is rather well crafted, what really shines about FFX is the combat. Utilizing the sphere grid system to develop your characters is fun and well balanced. Levelling your party down a path gives them their own skillset and stats, you have a degree of choice in the matter too. The characters can also cross over to each others sphere path if you feel like changing their style a little. By the end of the game you will most likely fill up most of the grid.

Bosses get really difficult and there are plenty of them.

Apart from your usual set of spell rank ups like Fire, Fira and Firaga there are some awesome character specific abilities and overdrives (limit breaks). Overdrives usually require some sort of decisive input from the player, which results in more damage if you press the right buttons at the right time.

Summons are very well renditioned, backed up by excellent graphics.

Standard summons (Aeons) are avaliable to your parties summoner Yuna, like Ifrit and Shiva. Aeons take part in battle under your control, and you can use their abilities and overdrives. There are also many new summons in the game, like Anima and Valefor.

Unlike the previous Final Fantasy games, FFX battles are purely turn-based. There is no atb gauge, and you can see which characters turn it is up to several turns ahead. While this slows down the combat to a manageable pace and lets you plot your next move, it doesn't put you on the spot and looks very 'we take it in turns hitting each other.'. As you journey through the world, you'll find a variety of stuff that wants to kill you, random battles aren't too much of a chore but grinding levels and spheres can be. Boss battles on the other hand, can be very challenging and somewhat frustrating the further you progress.

Blitzball isn't for everyone, but it is addictive.

If you do find yourself hooked on the game then don't worry, there's more than enough content, and some of the bonus stuff can be very time consuming. I have seen 200-300 hour save files before. Overall, this is one of those games that I think everyone should play at some point, especially if you play RPG games.

Looking for a final fantasy game? Check my top five Final Fantasies.

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