Pong and Beyond

430th played so far

Genre: Role-Playing
Platform: Playstation 2
Year of Release: 2001
Developer: Square
Publisher: Square

It feels wrong to write this. Final Fantasy X is one of Peter’s favourite games – the reason we’re playing this is in part because he got the HD remake for Christmas – and I’m not sure I should be saying anything about this.

We’ve covered the series before and seen between VII, VIII, IX and XII that they can be quite different – from classic fantasy to games more resembling magic science fiction. I’m not sure yet where the tenth main installment falls, we’ll see where it leads us

Our Thoughts

One thing is clear from the start of the game – it’s trying to be different in its setting. First, a sizeable part of the cast seems obsessed with blitzball, a vaguely described ballgame that seems to (at least partially) take place in a giant sphere of water. Second, the game starts you off (properly, after a prologue) on a tropical island and guides you past several of these, together with a tribal/shamanic tradition that dominates their temples. Some of the environments are different down the line, but the colourful graphics and tropical views are amazing to look at and give the game a different (but welcoming) feel. The game feels – and maybe even plays – more relaxed than others in the series. Even the plot doesn’t seem as urgent, as you only try to find out what happened to you.

The characters are as compelling. Their motivations mean they don’t feel as driven as some other protagonists, but they’re more relatable. There’s some mopiness, but not as much as JRPGs sometimes seem to have. The story itself seems like it will still be epic, but to truly find out we’d need more time than we can dedicate.

The game looks beautiful as well. True, especially so in the HD remake, but even the glimpses of the original shows that there’s a lovely style.  The choice of environments helps, giving a chance for nicer vistas. If nothing else, the game clearly wanted to take advantage of the increased capabilities of the PS2.

The voice acting is a bit more dubious. While quite a bit of it is fine, some good, some lines come across as incredibly awkward or weak. The sound and music beyond them are good, although as a whole the audio does feel a bit like the weak part of the experience.

Final Thoughts

Going into a game loved by one of us always runs the risk of the other being disappointed. That wasn’t the case here, luckily, and I would argue it felt like the best 3D Final Fantasy game we played for the blog. It’s gone on my to-play(-further) list, so hopefully I’ll get to see what else is really going on soon.