The biggest hit of the holidays, sure. The best FF ever!?
Final Fantasy has made it to ten. I don't know if that's a sign of a powerful and successful series or if it's just a sign that I'm getting old. I prefer the former, although I do remember each and every one of these games coming out, which does nothing to discount the latter. Regardless of whether you've played them, loved them, or hated them, you must at least respect what the series has accomplished. We're talking about a series of video games that, when it reached seven, arguably boosted the Sony Playstation into the public eye and turned on casual gamers to the RPG genre. Final Fantasy X (FFX) does nothing to disgrace the reputation that has been built up before it, and I contend that it has actually bettered the series in every way.
There are some relatively drastic changes that have taken place in FFX. I say relatively because it's not a departure from well-known Final Fantasy basics. Random battles are still here, and they are still entrenched in a turn-based menu system of entering commands. The first difference that'll hit you like a punch in the face is the addition of voice acting. Those of you who have played through earlier fantasies know that even when Square had the means, they only used text for character conversations. In FFX, it's a rare occurrence, like a chat with an insignificant non-playable character (NPC), where you don't hear vocal conversations. Instead, almost all of the dialog and battle cries are brought to life with very competent voice actors.
Once you start to engage in battles, you'll notice that the traditional Active Time Battle gauge is gone. This is one of the two greatest things FFX has offered me (we'll get to the other later). As a refresher, the ATB gauge filled up to designate when it was a character's turn to take action. This made it a semi real-time affair because if you didn't act when your gauge filled up that wouldn't stop you from getting slammed by the enemy. Now the gauge is gone and replaced with true SRPG-type queue of character turns. It's a visual representation of which player on the board will make the next move. Highlighting an action like using an item will immediately show you where the completion of that move lands you in the queue. I love the satisfaction of knowing if I take action before an enemy and then can plan my strategy accordingly.
Great thing number two that I referred to last paragraph is the ability to switch your characters in and out of battle at will. This is a tremendous step forward for the series as it fills in holes that we gamers had to come up with workarounds for previously. FFX uses the tried and true three-character party, but with the press of L1 during a battle you are presented with a list of alternate characters that may be swapped with the current. You don't even use up that turn's action with the swap, so if you picked the wrong hero, then you can just do it again. Once more, this lends to deeper strategy because the enemies have more prevalent strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited with the right party members. Furthermore it solves the quandary of how to keep a balance of power across your teammates. It used to be a chore to keep your party at similar levels, or you would just pick the ones you liked and ignore the rest. Now, as long as you rotate a character in for at least one action in a battle, they get the full experience from it.
Another big change, and this is something that always changes from game to game, is how the character maturity is handled. We've been through jobs, materia, junctioning, and plain old leveling up. Now we are introduced to, THE SPHERE, dun dun duuuuuuun. The sphere board is a complex pattern of globes connected by a series of arcs and lines. Contained in each of these spheres is a potential enhancement waiting to be unlocked for each character. It's a little too low level to be able to discuss the complete inner workings, but this is where you earn (not just gain) your stat increases as well as magic and other skills. Each character starts on a different section of the sphere board where the path will lead them through a somewhat predetermined development (some leaning toward power and others towards magic or defense). Once you unlock some doors on the board, it's possible that you can learn all the skills and gain all the stat boosts that are offered. I truly love this system of leveling up. I attribute it to the addictiveness of gaining new spheres, being able to see what lies ahead, and the control you have over each protagonists' development.
Summons in FFX are called Aeons, and the role they play is as different as their name. No longer are summoned creatures just a glorified spell cast. Instead, they are controllable characters in your party. Of course there are restrictions. They still need to be summoned, and once they appear the rest of your party leaves it to fight alone. What you gain though is total control over the Aeons' actions. You enter the commands to fight, and you have to monitor the damage or risk losing it to death. Aeons have their own stats and abilities that can be upgraded just like the rest of your party. Just another sweet addition to FFX.
Complaints have been levied against the linearity of the series since its beginning, but you'll never hear me rallying around that crowd. I, and I may be in the minority, love my console RPGs to lead me by the hand through the story. That way I feel like I don't miss anything. FFX, for better or worse, takes the hand holding to an all-new high. The first thing that feels strange is that you are still getting tutorial lessons hours and hours into the game, all the while working without an overworld map. The lack of a world map really only presented one hiccup, and that was picking and choosing your spots to work in some random battles. As far as the storytelling goes, I'm no professional writing critic, but I found it engaging and enjoyable.
I think I've hit on all the important parts. Most, if not all, of you have seen a plethora of pictures of FFX, and your eyes do not deceive. The visuals are show stopping, and I am honestly going to leave it at that. I've taken you through the new additions now that the series has landed on the PS2, and I couldn't be more pleased. Each of these items adds its own subtle enhancement to an already terrific RPG franchise. Final Fantasy X is the best FF game that Square has yet created, and I easily recommend it with utmost confidence.
