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

[Ady]

Most of the RPGs I've played level all characters automatically, but it's only the active ones that level the most.

In FFVIII, all characters and enemies levelled together, which seemed to defeat the whole purpose of levelling in the first place...

[Darwock]

I only had to read the first sentence of Crispins essay to know I didn't have to read any more... it's obvious we just won't agree as he said the characters were unsympathetic and Tidus was whiny. I cared a lot for the fate of those two characters, and Tidus is probably the first NON-whiny lead character Square have produced in the last seven years! Especially compared to previous FF games.

[hankwangford]

Tidus is probably the first NON-whiny lead character Square have produced in the last seven years! Especially compared to previous FF games.

I think it was more the voice acting that gives that impression. The rest of the cast are quite good, but Tidus makes me want to slam my head against a brick wall.

[Crispin]

I only had to read the first sentence of Crispins essay to know I didn't have to read any more...

The rest of the post was mostly to do with battle mechanics and other things. Tidus whined loads:

"I hate you"
"I hate you Dad"
"I don't want you to die"
"I still don't believe you"
"It's all my fault"
"I got knocked out by a 14 year old girl"
"Seymour!"
"Seymour!!"

Also, I did like Auron. And Lulu for the most part. She could easily have been the best character if she wasn't so cold all the time.

[112]

theres somat alluring about lulu, dunno wat it is mind but i guess raine replaces her in FF-X2. I guess FF8's main character wa the opposite of whinney as his cold front and lack of interest almostput me to sleep. Not somat you should aim for in a gamewhere you are meant to entice the player.

112

[Crispin]

I quite like plots involving angst-ridden teens. But it has to be done in moderation. Compare Buffy: TVS to itself. First series good. After that it gets progressively worse. Angst needs to be broken up with humour, otherwise you stop feeling it's effects. Also, wouldn't it be nice if you were playing a game where you weren't expected to save the world, until something happened. You know, spending downtime in the game, but the plot is actually advancing without you noticing. Then pow! One night you come home to find. Da! Da! Daa!!!! Kotor almost achieved it. You were trying to survive initially. And then you didn't even have to save the galaxy if you didn't want to.

Voice acting: Auron and Lulu were well done. Wakka I could tolerate. Tidus and Yuna were annoying.

Hmm, Tidus is too much of a, what's the word? Bishoujin?

[112]

does that stand for gay boy/fruit? or is my jap totally off the scale?

112

[Darwock]

I really thought Lulu was pretty bad - it really stands out in FFX-2 how little effort she is putting into the acting. But she was the only one I had any problems with.

[hankwangford]

Wakka I could tolerate

"Let's give Rikku a kick in the butt and go, eh? Heheh!"

I did think of something I dislike about FFX actually. The sudden difficulty spikes. There I am, walking along and making mince meat of enemies, and then I stumble across a boss who licks me without any effort. It was, like, totally **** that I'm clearly a high enough level to kill the regular enemies but got my ass handed to me by Seymour.

[Chief H]

I think most FF games suffer from difficulty spikes though. It's one of the main ways they can challenge you, but it's a very cheap way of doing so. Seymour was tough, but I think it was a rare instance of where sound tactics could see you through that battle. Unfortunately the game provides very few hints as to what those tactics involve, so for the majority it's a case of level, level, level....

But the most annoying ones are the random encounters that act as difficulty spikes. At least with most bosses, they show the couertesy of providing a nearby save point, whereas cheap encounters such as marlboros (less so in later FFs, but each game has some cheap fiend that uses multiple status effects such as beserk-all, confuse-all etc. that take control out of the hands of the player - I mean, what's the point? Am I playing?) or those lupines in FFX-2 that are fast enough to attack first (especially when ambushing) with death fang that KOs in one hit. Very cheap.

[Crispin]

I stopped first time through after a 30 hour playthrough. I just got past Seymour, then headed off to the Calm Lands. I then got my butt handed to me by a miniboss so I decided to jack it in.

After kotor I decided to play it again. Just because I wasn't going to be defeated by a game that employs such cheap tactics. I overlevelled constantly. I beat it. In total, it took me about 50 hours. I maybe enjoyed myself for about 5.

Levelling up should be more apparent. It's a drug. Must have more power...
You should never hide away the stats too much, and you should allow costume changes and the like, ala kotor, simply because it's more fun. Of course this means you can't then use FMV. But Square still did this even though your equipment changes.

You should avoid setting damage caps, especially if they can be reached well before the game finishes. It's frustrating, since the character levels up, but you're not seeing any additional effects with regards to damage. Also, the sphere grid was restricted by a lack of key spheres, and backtracking on the grid used up massive amounts of levelling. So you'll eventually reach a stone wall with regards to a certain path due to lack of keys, and have to head back.

Rikku and Kimahri seemed to have annoyingly overlapping grids on the Normal Grid mode.

[Darwock]

Crispin, you're telling Square how they should be making RPGs?

I understand this is all just your opinion but you're not making much of a point of saying that.

[Crispin]

Yes, I'm telling Square how they should make RPGs.
I see nothing wrong with that. I've played a fair few of them.
I experienced a problem, I offer a solution, or at least something to avoid.
After 80 hours of laborious crap I think I'm entitled to tell them why FFX sucked.

[Chadruharazzeb]

Seeing as FFX received almost unanimous acclaim, I doubt whether Square feel they need to do too much frigging around with their formula.

[Crispin]

Shame really. And I was under the impression that FFX-2 plays differently from FFX due to the addition of costumes?
Oh well, at least DragonWarrior VIII will be brilliant. I really need to pick up Xenosaga: Das Will War Zur Macht, or whatever it's called.