Final Fantasy X is the worst FF game yet. Offical.

[TEZBEK]

ff8 was the best FF after FF6

[Speakerboxxx]

agreed with the topic starter.... ffx was certified garbage... loves the rest of the series though even though i still havent played ff1 and 3.

[Crispin]

here's the official verdict on ffx - final fantasy x official verdict!!!111!!

as you can say its officially excellent

thank you for your time

I hope to god, that was Razz's first ever review for this site or something, because frankly, that is one of the most average reviews I have ever read on this site. I don't need to know the first 1-2 hours of gameplay. I want it put in context. Too long. If I want to know about specific moves, I'll buy a strategy guide, or go on GameFAQs.

I don't want to an A-Z of the game, I want to know if it is any good.

Sorry, but that really was a crap review. C&VG worthy.

[dreamylittledream]

agreed with the topic starter.... ffx was certified garbage... loves the rest of the series though even though i still havent played ff1 and 3.

You've not missed much - well FFI anyway (FFIII has yet to be translated).

Anyway this thread is silly FFX may not be great (compared to IV-VIII) but X2 and Crystal Chronicles are far worse! Limited and for fans only methinks. FFX is an entertaining game either way...

[DjSatansfury]

FF8 was great, pfff

[Crispin]

Don't worry. I haven't gone back to my old habits of uber long posts. Just this once. It's cathartic for me.

SPOILERS AHEAD WHICH I CAN'T BE ARSED TAGGING PROPERLY.

Nah, FFX was soulless. The main two characters you never really cared about. Tidus was a weak, arrogant, whiny fool. Yuna was docile, and too compliant. This is the saviour of humanity? Where is the fire? The passion. The anger? The defiance to the gods? You don't go off and spend your life preparing to commit the ultimate sacrifice just to "make everyone happy". You do it because you want revenge against the very forces of fate themselves.

I admit that Lulu and Auron had the potential to be interesting characters. However, hiding away the spheres that reveal more of High Summoner Braska's journey mean we could potentially miss out on some interesting development. Lulu, suddenly turned from being someone who seemed agnostic, scarcely believing in Yevon, cynical, jaded, into someone who acted as if her whole world had shattered when meeting Yunalesca.

On the ice-bike ride to the ice temple, if you have a high affection rating with Lulu, the conversation is pretty much treading ground you have already tread before with other characters. You've heard it before. Also, why hide away this affection system? How many of you can honestly say, you knew it was possible to ride the bike with different characters through specific choices at cutscenes. The whole game is so linear, with no immediate consequences to your actions, it's no wonder this clever idea is overlooked.

Too many major things were never fully explained. Square went into obsessively anal detail over the small stuff, but never covered the big stuff.
For example:

Why exactly could certain characters breath underwater for so long? It was never explained in the game. It's only in another edition (FFX International I think), that it's suggested why other characters can't swim underwater.

Again, limiting character selection in underwater battles is frustrating. If I want to play a team that uses Rikku style tactics, I'll sodding well play a team with Rikku in it. I don't want it forced upon me. Once is bad enough. I count multiple instances where you're limited to Wakka and/or Rikku.

Kimahri and Rikku were crap characters, both in the game and in the story. The Mount Gagazet lone battle is unacceptable. If you haven't been levelling up Kimahri (and who has, be honest), it's another chore to do.

The conclusion of the story was unsatisfying due to it's vagueness. What exactly was Tidus? A dream? Did he ever exist in the real world? A half-forgotten memory Did I just spend 40 hours playing as someone who wasn't real. Of course, some might argue that this adds depth to the story, since it makes the player question what is here and now. Is it trying to be philosophical. Were they interpreting Descartes who said "I think (and whine like a girl and wave my hands about like a silly Frenchman), therefore I am (a tit)."?

The combat and magic system wasn't satisfying. The twitch based nature of the overdrives was annoying in an otherwise sedentary game, as was the disparity with which characters gained new overdrive modes. Scan pretty much showed there was no need for tactics, just ensuring Lulu knew all elemental magic attacks. Just hit them with the right colour.

Enemies on some older sections still remained at the same level as when you first went. Go back to Besaid town. You still gain 8 AP from fighting those enemies. Why even bother with the random battles. The time invested in all the screens, effects etc. is wasted by the fact that the end result of the battle wasn't important in the slightest.

The enemy design was crap. Hold the presses! Oh my god. It's a wasp, and a big blob of goo. Wait, it gets better! A different coloured blob!

Navigation was ****. The final bit where you had to avoid the weird prism things was not only **** because you didn't know what you had to do, but also because the camera was ****. No explanation coupled with a moronic camera. Yay!

Difficulty spikes. Again, the way through was not through clever tactics, positioning, etc, etc. It was by casting Hastega, and having high level Auron, Tidus and Wakka hit the thing for 9999 damage. Overlevelling was the key.

Also, why limit the damage caps? Even worse, the celestial weapons! Argh. Heaven help you if you want to get some of them first, because that means you have to beat a dark Aeon at Besaid village first. Without the celestial weapon you need to beat it.

Yuna. She sucks. Her Aeons are only good in one-on-one battles and soaking up damage. In random battles Aeons get pwned quickly since there are multiple attacks. They're too expensive to level up with items, and since she doesn't need to be in combat much, she rarely levels up outside of when she is forced to go it alone. Players will always choose the path of least resistance, which involves levelling up Wakka, Auron, Tidus and Lulu.

Not nearly enough lock keys for the sphere grid. Make a poor choice early in the game, and without a player's guide, you're ****ed as you can't unlock the uber move. Even worse is the fact it doesn't tell you what the ability/move does until after you've learnt it. What is ultima?

I may add more gripes later. If I can be bothered.

[saif]

Crispin, were you saying Tidus was whiny.............?



I think that a lot of your gripes are not valid for me. You should have a balanced party to go through the game and the game allows you to balance it up easily enough with the tagging in and out - a great addition.

Because Yuna's reasoning was not the same as what you think does not make her a bad character. Maybe maybe maybe, someone brought up in the knowledge that they had to do this would see it more as a chore and would do things to make people happy rather than for herself. She was supposedly a less selfish character. Some examples of Tidus' whininess would be good.

The affection system (or similar) has been in a number of FF games - it isn't "important" and just tweaks it up a bit.

Ultima is the the ultimate magic. The name has been used in lenty of FF games - can't you look it up in game anyway?

Anyway, I liked the game. Decent story, enjoyable battle mechanics, nice side stuff to do and a point of view that was refreshhing.

[zeroboo]

Im 30hours in and im currently enjoying it VERY MUCH!

I do agree with the stupid random battles and also the uneccessary level upping + the usual structure of their games (eg. CG->fight->cg->fight->cg......)

But then you ask yourself why after 10 attempts does Square still stick to this
structure?

The reason, i believe, is because people enjoy it. Simple as that.

As for myself. why im enjoying it so much is because the story has managed to capture me. Im currently really stuck into knowing what happens next. I dont mind the odd battles but when i really want to proceed with the story and random battles just show up, thats kinda annoying. Oh, also, when you have to fight a boss several times and you finally kill it, the satisfaction is beyond comprehension

Offcourse, you could then argue why not read a book instead if its just the story thats gripping me, well in that case, go ask Square

[Chadruharazzeb]

I thought FFX was great. Gorgeous atmosphere, cool characters, easy to get into combat, nice magic.

Some of the Aeon overdrives were joyfully outrageous.

[Moodmon]

I can never understand why Japanese games force you to level up certain characters seperately. Look at KOTOR, where even if you don't play as certain people, you still get the XP. I'm sure Chrono Trigger (the only Jap game I can think of that did this) levelled them up, but to a lesser extent.

Thanks for your rant Crispin. I definitely won't bother with it now (not that I was looking at in the first place, to be honest).

[hankwangford]

The enemy design was crap. Hold the presses! Oh my god. It's a wasp, and a big blob of goo. Wait, it gets better! A different coloured blob!

I can't actually be arsed to back earlier in the thread to see if you were an FF7 supporter or not, but FF7's enemies were much much poorer (bosses and the human opponents asides). A mutated dog house? What the hell was that all about?!

[Concept]

I can never understand why Japanese games force you to level up certain characters seperately. Look at KOTOR, where even if you don't play as certain people, you still get the XP. I'm sure Chrono Trigger (the only Jap game I can think of that did this) levelled them up, but to a lesser extent.

As far as I'm aware from what I can remember of playing FFVII, characters that weren't included in your party levelled up automatically themselves throughout the course of the adventure, to ensure there wasn't any major discrepancy when you wished to swap around. I'm not sure if this was the case for any of the Final Fantasy games post VIII though.

[nips]

I know that FFVII levelled all your characters up, I don't think quite as much as the main party members though. I'm pretty sure FFXIII did the same, although I haven't played in so long, I may be wrong.

FFVII did without a doubt. I think that you'd really notice it if it didn't!

[Crispin]

I'm pretty sure FFXIII

nips. So l33t, he's two FF games ahead of the rest of us.

[?pint]

Beating the dark aeons was easy peasy. Yojimbo = teh pwnage. I killed every single dark aeon using his mega-pro attack.