Old School Gamers: Your opinion of FFX?
 

I was wondering what the opinion of Final Fantasy 10 is of old school gamers like me. People that love the 2d's a lot more on average compared to the 3d FF games -- perhaps, people that find more 2d games on their favorite lists.

I didn't get too far on it a long time ago and I felt that it had too much storyline and not enough play. It has been 4 years and I'm at a point that I might start it again.

I am counting on the opinion of people that are more like me so I can understand what they think about the game. It's obviously fine if you consider yourself old school but still like FF10. It's all open to opinion now.

Uhh... old school means you prefer 2d? Well, I don't really care about the graphics either way, so... the game is good. Give it a shot. There is PLENTY of gameplay. It's even more packed with things to do than the oldschool FFs.

Can you name some of those things?

My old, old 2002 memory of FFX was... 10 minutes of time of watching scenes and 5 minutes of gameplay. Totally bad ratio there...

Borg, that's called an opening sequence. You know, where they thematically introduce concepts and storyline? The actual game happens later. An old school gamer would know that. Also, the 2d games were ALL about story. They didn't have the graphics to back it up.

I'm not arguing for or against something.

Way past the beginning I felt like I was seeing too many Tidus & Yuna scenes and far less gameplay. But it's been a long time and I'm thinking of giving it a 2nd chance. I just came here to find opinion & info on the game.

I wouldn't say I'm an old-school fan, since I haven't played many 2D FF games.

That said, I enjoyed FFX. It's not my fave FF game, but I liked the story and I didn't think the voice acting was as hideous as people say. The Sphere Grid was awesome. didn't like how they reverted back to the old games and basically recoloured enemies several times and passed them off as new enemies. I hated that. I also hated the mini-games, especially Dodger Chocobo. I didn't understand Blitzball at all.

As you get further into the game, you do get to go back to other areas and do all the sidequests and stuff that should satisfy the gameplay requirement. The fact there's no world map may look to some as a hindrance when it comes to actual gameplay.

FFX was actually a good game, but nothing that great. Sure, you prefer 2D, but don't you want to experience the beauty of having a 3D environment for your characters to roam around? And gameplay-wise FFX has a lot more to offer compared to your old 2D games, but story-wise, I can say that FFX caters to the pre-puberty/puberty demographics.

Blitzball still fucking sucks.

Well in FFX you have alot of things to do:
-when you try to get the Ultimate Weapons for everybody.
-The Arena in Calm lands and collecting all the monster data.
-Chocobo racing I enjoyed so much for some reason.
-BlitzBall is a HUGE task itself.
-Getting the last 2 Aeons (I forgot if its sidequest actually)
-I forgot what its called be getting to Omega Weapon is also a sidequest

Then the game itself has good gameplay. Yes it stops you alot of times but at least its not as bad as Xenosaga...which had CG all over the place in the game

BLASPHEMER!

I enjoyed FFX, and I have played all the way through and gotten all of the special weapons on three seperate occasions. The story, once you really decipher it, is probably the best and most satisfying out of any Final Fantasy story. What I love most is that Spira feels like a real place, with real people, and a real culture and real history all its own, not just another nameless, faceless Final Fantasy world that serves no purpose other than to give the characters something to walk around on. Really, the world of Spira and its history are inseparable from the story and gameplay. This has never happened in any other FF game that I have played, and that is why I love FFX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spira_%...l_Fantasy_X%29

An article like that could never be written about any other Final Fantasy game.

What? Get out of my internet Deni! Everyone knows Blitzball is shit, don't mislead the 2D fan, for he might actually like it.

I really liked FFX , blitzball had no real importance but you had to get wakka's limit breaks somehow right. It had alot to keep you busy and the aoens were damn better than the eidolons :/
I really miss the 2d art for the backgrounds though. All the new rpgs are relying on everything 3d but the art in previous final fantasy's, like VIII, had some awsome art for the dungeons and villages. Especially Balamb Garden.

YOU GTFO MY INTERNET VEMP.

Blitzball was awesome. Maybe if you spent more time with people like me, who are awesome at games, and less with people like Elixir, who sucks at gamez, you would know that!

Well, Elixir sucks more than I do even if he spends more time and money on games, he just don't have the "talent". But that doesn't change the fact that blitzball is still the worst idea for a mini-game. It's even worse the FFIX's card game.

well some people seem to prefer more pizza's than hamburgers if you get my drift.

and I think its safe to say that there are no addicting mini games in final fantasy. FF7 had the worst ones anyway.

I enjoyed my playthrough, but I have several huge reservations about it.

1. Definitely not a fan of the like-character-kills-like-enemy battles. Some say its' strategic, I found it too easy and it got old within 10 hours.

2. Sphere Grid needed tweaking...I would have preferred a system where the game handles stat boosts behind the scenes and allow movement only for learning abilities. Manually doing every little stat was fun at first, then it got old. Good idea, slightly flawed implementation.

3. Traveling world map preferrable.

4. Aeons are too powerful and were no fun to use (aside from the Magus Sisters). Would have preferred something just being a quick spell and then move on.

5. Too linear. The travel set-up contributes something to that, but it really felt like it was constantly Point A-Travel-Along-Designated-Path-Point B-and-we're-really-going-to-take-our-time-doing-it.

6. Characters were okay...I liked the cast more than previous FF's, but I never got over my disliking of Nomura's style at any point. Wishy washy Yuna was annoying for most of the game though and all of the "Oh Great Summoner" dialogue threads were clicked over as fast as possible.

Overall, it was a fine game. The story was good, boss battles were much better than the normal battles (Boss Rush mode would have rocked), music and graphics were excellent and I thought the ending was satisfying (at least enough to be offended by the patchwork FFX-2 tried to do)...It was definitely the best RPG for the PS2 when it was released. Nowadays...Er, not so much. I still prefer the storyline, gameplay and pacing of FF4 and 6.

Edit: #7. Marboro's (the stat-effects plant monsters) were a BITCH in this game. I'm thinking mostly of the ones in the final area.

http://www.warmech.net/special/award...e-2-ff10-s.jpg

GTFO VEMP

WHAT?

Triple Triad for the win.

I would consider myself old school in the sense that I play RPGs more for the exploration of the world than for the development of the core story. I prefer to immerse myself in a world through subtlety and imagination rather than through cutscenes and contrived events. I prefer to go explore that mysterious dungeon myself rather than to be noticeably (the key word, I guess; all RPGs have a beginning, end, and everything in-between) forced into doing it by the story. In that sense games like Nocturne and Metal Saga could be considered old school despite the fact that they're 3D.

That being said, I found FFX to be an okay game. I consider it a step down from IV, V, VI, and VII (my favorites in the series), but it has a lot of polish and the pacing is pretty steady and the story involving. My main problem with X was that the whole experience seemed a bit hollow by the time I got to the end. The game just wasn't very memorable to me. Other than that I didn't care much for the cast, the temple-hopping linearity, the tacked on "side quests", and the deceptively inflexible Sphere Grid. I'd only recommend it if you have nothing better to play.

If you want to play a game that has FFX's strengths but fewer of its weaknesses, I'd suggest Shadow Hearts Covenant. The whole vibe I got from that game was, "this is FFX done right".

In regards to the Blitzball, I initially HATED it and thought, why can't I have a real time mini game rather than it being based on stats? It wasn't until I was on the Celestial Weapons quest that forced me to play the BB for Wakka's weapons. At first my team was pretty bad, I didn't even bother trying to understand it, but given some time, I started using the Jecht shot quite a bit. Soon enough, I gained enough experience to power up my guys and play the exhibition game, then moved onto the tournaments. It's now my second most favorite mini game, which only Triple Triad from FFVIII takes first place. I wasn't much of a fan of most of the Wonderland Saucer games, some of them were interesting, like Cloud's motorcycle chase.

In regards to the game as a whole, it's surely worth a playthrough. I likened the rich visuals it had to offer, despite not really being my type of "technological advancement vs religious dominance to repent for the sins" story (which still you can tell the game developers spent considerable amount of time). I think FFX has taken up most hours of all Final Fantasies I've played, and it was the weapons quest that took the most time. Furthermore, this was my first RPG for the PS2, and the opening scene as well as the first few cutscenes, caught and swept me into the world quite well. I think FFXII will be able to help capture that "magical world" again.

What I really didn't care for was the puzzle solving with the trials. Wasn't this for Yuna to do to test her summon skills (and further enhance her skills) as she already has attained the rank of summoner when she receives her first Aeon, Valfor, if I recall correctly. I found Tidus having to do it somewhat odd, to move onto the next location.

I'm an old school RPG player. My opinion of FFX?

Throw it in the trash. Watching every possible malady befall the disc would be more worth the price of paying for the game than actually playing the game itself.

Any variation of the word "trash" applies. Quite literally, it is garbage.

When you are told at the beginning of the game that "FIRE MAGIC WORKS ON ICE FIENDS" you feel an overwhelming punch in the gut, almost insulting to the point of death. The sphere grid was the most ridiculous piece of work I've ever seen. The "battle system" was flawed to the point where no battle could be lost (AEON SACRIFICE FTL) at all, without even going through and mentioning the shitty tag system. English VA sucked. The story was bland and forgettable, much like the cast of the game. The mini-games were shitty. There is one good thing I will say about the game though.

It brought about FFX-2, which is what the first game should have just been to begin with. That is all.

I loved FFX's battle system. It was sort of like FFT as far as the manner in which the time between your turn and the enemies turns are decided. Plus, you could actually sit and plan without being attacked. I liked the Sphere grid too. The story rocks, and most of the voices other than Tidus' and Yuna's were good.

I believe you are the first I have met who prefers the sequel to the original of this particular game.

I enjoyed FFX. It's not my favorite FF game but I found it satisfying all the way through, with a good cast and a great story. It was good enough for me to go back and play it again (a few years later).

It was certainly far better than its trashy sequel, FFX-2 (which managed to rip apart the existing characters one by one AND negate FFX's wonderful ending in one foul stroke).

That last sentance.... amazing. I know zero about FFX-2. I know a bunch of things about X, at least. But knowing nothing about X-2, is it really good? Explain if you can - or if anyone else wants to.

Once I found out that FFX-2's battle system is active time on crack and steroids, I decided that I would never play it. Enemies can even interrupt your attack if they attack at the same time you do. What kind of crap is that?

Conditional Turn-Based Battle for life.

FFX-2 is CRAP. Sorry, but it had to be said. I felt it was more like a bunch of mini-games tacked onto a flimsy story about Yuna looking for him. The fact they still never call him Tidus irks me to no end. It was also too girly for my tastes, and I am a girl : / I didn't like anyone in the game :(

P.S. This game was made solely to sell the guides, as there is no bloody way anyone can get the perfect ending without it.

P.P.S. Despite what I just said, I won the game. I guess I just had to play it just 'cause. The final boss is so easy. I used Paine for the entire fight. Seriously.

I heard from a friend of mine who considers FF10 his favorite and FF4 his second favorite that X-2 is complete garbage.

Final Fantasy 10 is great. FFX-2 was okay(if you ignore the storyline), but it shouldn't have ever been made. But if you are looking for a Final Fantasy with light storyline, wait for FF12, because that is almost all gameplay once you get a ways into it, hours of gameplay(if you don't rush it) with 5 minutes of storyline at times. But it's a complete different type of game than the old Final Fantasy games.

But why do to you even need people's opinion about the game to play it? You basically said you've played a little bit, and just didn't like it enough to continue playing, so why even bother? To me, it is one of the greatest games I ever played, but I like newer games more than older games(although FF6 & Chrono Trigger are probably my 2 favorite games ever). But I don't think anyone can speak for you. If you have the game, I highly recommend you play it, because it one of my personal favorites. But everyone has their own opinion.

FFX had a great battle system...except the whole "Do this!" or the fact that they SHOWED the order before you cast the spell, or in other words, this is the order, go ahead and unleash all your attacks then heal at the last minute.

The Sphere Grid was unique but it would have been better if it was chara specific like one is magic, the other is melee.

I thought FFX's story and systems were somewhere between "good" and "just fine," I really liked the music, and the fact that it was mine and most people's first PS2 rpg helped some of it's features which seem average by today's standards seem quite spectacular at the time (voice overs, and some of the visual effects).

The grid system was interesting in the sense that you could, if you wanted to, have characters with every single ability (except summons), but the time invested to do that made that unlikely of course. It was nice to do something other than gain levels, having to constantly spend sphere levels was a drag though.

My favorite part of the game by far was the Celestial Weapons quests, these provided some serious challenges, unrelated to the standard combat system which I personally happened to enjoy (yes, even dodging 200 lightning bolts...), although I still occasionally wonder how I ever pulled off the chocobo race for Tidus' sigil.

Blitzball took a little too long to finish tournaments and overall I wouldn't say it rates as one of my favorite mini games... it fits into the "just fine" category as well you might say.

Overall I definitely think it's worth a playthrough... if you like side events and optional bosses the celestial weapons and monster arena will definitely keep you busy well beyond the scope of the final boss/end of the storyline.

PS: I'd love to get your opinion on Xenosaga if you think FFX had too many cutscenes... heh heh heh

For me, FF X is a good game, but still lacks the quality such as image compared to games such as Star Ocean. The gameplay itself is quite fun, but not challenging enough, seems every enemy has its weakness and you can change the person endlessly. But what trouble me the most is the side quest, it takes me roughly about 20 hours to complete the weapon, items bla bla,,,
But it is a good game to play again, if u are bored and dont have any other game to play with.

FFX is probably my least-favorite Final Fantasy game. The game provided little challenge, and I would have preferred to fight my own final battle without any help from the game. That said, I think the battle system should have resembled FFX-2's. That one felt a little more balanced than the one from FFX.

I thought FFX's final battle was the hardest of all the FFs. Maybe I was just underleveled (since I rarely do side quests in RPGs) but I had to use EVERY GF (on overdrive) and it was still a challenge to wear down his last amounts of HP. Fortunately, the ending was totally worth it.

Are you talking about Yu Yevon? Because that's just about the easiest boss ever.

The only boss I had trouble with was the Santuary Keeper due to his constant curaga spell, as well as his multiple status effect attacks.

Did you cast reflect on him?

I think it's pretty obvious the "last boss" is Sin, not Yu Yevon. It's the same as Xenogears, are you going to sit here and tell me that Urobolus was the last boss? No, it was Deus, they just threw that in for plot purposes. Impossible to lose boss fights are not really boss fights, just awkward story sequences in the form of combat imo.

It's like there isn't anything horribly wrong with FFX (aside from Blitzball), but there's nothing great about it, either. I think the setting and story are well-developed, but some of the themes seemed tired to me, like corrupt religion for crap's sake. That's got to be the most used up RPG plot, but it did seem deeper than usual. I think the story is told in maybe the most basic way possible, which bored me. Aside from a few diversions, it felt like a group tour of Spira's historical hot-spots meh-spots. The parts that came close to being interesting were predictable instead.

Maybe some of these opinions come from having played older RPGs. Maybe this was just a mediocre first generation game on a new console that looked a lot better than it played.

You mean Jecht, correct?

Same thing. Was it really necessary to clarify that? =P

Fasinating. Another old schooler who clearly likes the best game ever made (FF4) and likes the DW series, the best RPG series ever made likes FFX-2's battle system. Again, amazing. I must know..... what is the battle system of X-2??? Hell, I might like that damn game!!

Yes, because there is a battle with Sin on the outside just before that. The other battle is with Jecht personally.

It's the same old active system in FFX-2, pretty much, but you can switch jobs mid-battle and everything happens so fast that you don't really get to enjoy it much. If you can stomach Charlie's Angels, then you should play it just to fight through the optional super dungeon of ridiculous difficulty.

No, I didn't think of that, but instead I got all the Aeons to overdrive, as well as Yuna, and summoned each Aeon out one after the other to unleash their payload.

I actually liked FFX-2's battle system quite a bit. It was fast and well-balanced (mostly). It was the plot and tone of the game that stunk up the place.

And no, the final boss I'm referring to is "Braska's Final Aeon". Whatever that's supposed to mean. I never did figure it out. ;)

Hehe. Just cast reflect on him and he will heal your entire party when he uses Curaga.

That's what I thought. Just had to be sure though. "Braska's Final Aeon" means just that. Jecht became Lord Braska's Final Aeon, so that Sin could be defeated. That boss is Jecht's final Aeon form.

Eh, fair enough.

FFX wasn't bad... it just didn't make any sense... like the TV show Lost...

FFX-2 is Barbie looking for a way to revive Ken, difference is that it's 100x gayer.

The only good thing about FFX-2 was the part where they showed Yuna's panties. A good 5 seconds of it.

Sure, I'll explain. People continually say they "loved FFX battle system" which is absolutely hilarious. The battle system is nothing more than the same generic battle system with a tag implementation that's already been done in several other RPGs, such as Dragon Quest IV.

Final Fantasy X-2 on the other hand, was pure chaotic bliss. You were not handed aeons to sacrifice. You were not handed "turn orders" so you could basically sit there and decide what you wanted to do next with your Yuna turn 5 turns later. It was fast paced, it was challenging, and it was brutal, the way playing a "game" is supposed to be. Instead of being able to "tag" you could change classes on same characters mid-battle, but not without both wasting a turn and then some if you haven't developed the dressphere for the class. You also didn't have a magical new character with full HP/MP either, you had the same character with the same stats. No free shit this time, at all.

People call the plot of FFX-2 a joke. This is acceptable, considering it had to basically pick up the shitty pieces of and patch an already existing convoluted and monotonous story. It did quite well too. Of course, the entire plot as a whole between the two games blows, but what can you do?

This is actually very achievable, and I put 145 hours into the game without a guide to do just this. This is part of the challenge, which obviously isn't for everyone. If you thought the final boss was "so easy" it simply means you went through and overpowered yourself for the fight. An acceptable way to win, however it still remains that the final boss here does not allow you instant victory.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised at most of you sitting back and saying that FFX-2 was "too girly" for your tastes, when you obviously have no problem playing other games where the MALE lead exudes feminine qualities. Most people don't complain about how child-like and cartoony Kingdom Hearts is, yet theoretically it falls under the same premise. You don't mind being in the Little Mermaid's world, or Beauty in the Beast's world, but you mind playing Final Fantasy X-2. Right.

I actually enjoyed FFX. This being said from someone who adores FFVI, Suikoden II, and the 2-D game likes. It was one of the first games I bought for PS2. I remember the day it came out, I went to Target to get it simply because I thought the graphics and ads were just so pretty. And it didn't let down. I thought the PS2 graphic capabilities were amazing just from that one game. I know I'm probably ranting over the graphics too much, but that made the game what it is. For the first FF on PS2, you are expecting a lot, and Square delivered.

The story and characters were good. Of course, there are the usual "I HATE THEM" characters, like Wakka or Kimahri, but there's the badassness of Auron that made up for them. Even the ending got to me, in a FFVIII-ish way. I don't think anyone could expect another FFVI in this era, which is sad. But I still think FFX is a good game to start off a new gen RPG player with. The story had me guessing a few times. I liked it.

And FFX-2... let's not go there. It's an excuse for fanboys to buy more eye candy.

Almost the entire timing structure of FFX's battle system was taken from Final Fantasy Tactics. The only real difference is that in FFX, you're not running around on a grid.

Basically, the difference between ATB and CTB is like the difference between dodgeball and chess. I prefer chess.

Or hell, depending on how you view it. Honestly, I hardly ever even used my aeons. This is probably because I actually spent time levelling up my characters.

Yes, God forbid we'd want to plan ahead and use strategy. Not everybody prefers harsh, panicky, think-on-your-feet style battling. :rolleyes:

Says who? I hope you never play any tactical RPGs.

Anyone who thinks the plot of FFX is bad clearly was not paying attention. But then again, I can't blame you, the execution wasn't the best and many of the plot pieces are never explained directly. If you're opening minded and willing to do some actual research, you'll find that FFX has a wonderful plot, one of the best, IMO.

FFX had one of the best last-minute revelations I've encountered in a video game. I thought the plot was great up to that point but it REALLY soared afterwards.

I wouldn't worry about what I have and haven't played. I have more than enough experience to back up whatever I say.

Where you think you're getting that FFT's system had anything to do with FFX's system is beyond me. I don't particularly care where however, so let's move on.

The sole purpose of a challenging system is to never give the player too much information as to basically let the game tell you how to react. Every battle in the game is easily won because FFX divulges too much information, and allows you easy mode through tagging and aeon sacrifice. If your idea of "strategy" is to basically map out an already given victory, then you may as well pop in a cheat device and blast through the battles so you can read and watch the story.

I've played all the tactical RPGs I need to and then some. More than enough to make the statements I am. Every played through Suikoden V's tactical battles where the entire map is moving at once? That's what games like FFT and Disgaea are missing.

You're entitled to your opinion about FFX's story. Of course, you say you want me to be "open-minded" while I sit here and claim that FFX-2 is a good game. Saying that FFX's plot was "one of the best" is really treading thin ice though, considering all the games that have been made and released over the many decades.

As do I.

From Wikipedia, and from my own experience. All conditional time battle systems are related to each other in one way or another. FFT uses an isometric grid to fight on, and FFX uses a field, but much of the programming behind how the flow of the battle works and how the batte mechanics function is very similar.

Perhaps for you, but not for me. The only reason I tag out is to equally level up every character, and I never really used my aeons unless all of my other characters somehow died, or it was absolutely required. Many of the non-random battles in FFX were extremely challenging. On my first playthrough, I died many, many times fighting Evrae and Yunalesca, among others, until I planned out a strategy, implemented it, and won. (By the skin of my teeth, no less.)

Sure, the random battles were easy, (well, most of them) but I don't really care about that. They are a tool to level up with, not something to enjoy or add to the game's value or difficulty.

I've never played any Suikoden games, sadly.

I've put a tremendous amount of research into Final Fantasy X's story, and have even written and contributed to Wikipedia articles about it, and knowing what I know, I find it to be one of the best indeed. Perhaps you are thinking more about the execution of the story in-game, I am thinking more about the backstory and the information concerning how things got the way they are. It is all very interesting and well thought out, one of the most satisfying plots of any Final Fantasy game.

I usually don't dwelve that far deep, and simply compare the systems as they are. Since you've drawn that comparison, I'll agree to your point that FFX takes on a "board game" SRPG feel. Regardless, like the tactical systems, it becomes dry and stale quickly. Such allure makes sense in present day games where you can create units and level them up at your beck and call, but not for games with pre-determined characters.

Such made sense and was fun in simpler times with games such as Shining Force, Vandal Hearts, Final Fantasy Tactics, and the like. Doesn't anymore, though.

All battles can be easily won through the use of cheap tactics, even the ones you've outlined. If you didn't use them, congratulations on not taking the easy way out; however I do not believe that everyone else thought as you did.

You should play Suikoden, specifically 2 and 5. You're missing out.

As much as I'd love to salute you for your approach in doing all that research, it's simply unnecessary for a game like that. If you were to put something like Final Fantasy X side by side with Xenogears, which somewhat constitutes the same story derivative, Xenogears shatters the unholy hell out of FFX and it wasn't even completed properly. I assure you that I am thinking of all measures of the implementation of the story. There's only so much "history" you can absolve from Final Fantasy X both in mechanic and execution.

One should not have to do "tremendous amounts of research" in order to be able to grasp deep meaning in a game's storyline. It is commendable, but hardly need be mandatory.

:tpg: I liked FFX-2 way more than FFX. Both aren't great RPGs at all, but at least FFX-2 was fun for me to play, had a neat-o battle system, somewhat of a class system that I liked (old school!), and much, much fan service. Eye candy, what. :p

FFX was a trudge to get through, with imo the most naive storyline of the FFs. Other than that, I thought the Sphere Grid was one of the worst ideas ever. Hey, instead of letting you get your stats/abilities "automatically" we'll make let you select which upgrades you want: oh, and the board for the most part was linear, like the game. :/

I guess it's just a matter of preference then. I personally will always prefer a slower, turn-based battle system to an active one, in any game.

My cheap tactic for Yunalesca was to leave all of my characters in zombie mode. I never figured out anything cheap for the wyvern.

It kind of is. There are a lot of things about the story that are only revealed in untranslated Japanese guidebooks. Things that are never mentioned or even hinted at in-game.

I truly don't doubt this. But Spira is still a world rich with culture and history, the reason I keep coming back to FFX at least once a year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spira_%...l_Fantasy_X%29

Yeah, all of the proper information should have been revealed.

Ignoring the obvious fanservice from FFX-2, the battle system was refreshing. It was a great change from FFX's system. I tend to prefer battles that go fast, so moving from the slow and predictable FFX system to the more frantic one from X-2 was enjoyable for me.

I also felt the challenge increase in the latter. Having Aeons with overdrives and powerful attacks once the proper skills were unlocked made FFX too easy. I found myself switching jobs in X-2 quite often in order to defeat certain enemies and bosses. I didn't like the sphere grid of FFX because everyone had the opportunity to learn all the spells even if their default "class" didn't start at that point.

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate on this, but with all of the expanded content for FFVII, you could argue that the Planet on which FFVII takes place seems more like a real world now. Yes a very desolate and much less populated planet, but a real world nonetheless. I see your point however. The mythology and the little details that go into everything (Especially all of the history lessons taught by that old guy in FFX) add a sense of realism and that the world does exist and you happen to be 1000 years farther ahead then where you started from.

FFX-2, while not in the same mood or seriousness as the first, was also helpful in expanding the sense that the world is alive, and things change. Yuna is not a summoner forever, and Yevon is not always the dominant force of control.

Now, while the mythology and history of FVII's world is not elaborated as much upon for previous years more then say 100 years ago, what is known is decently filled and again with FFX, there's a sense of change and continuation. Advent Children was about the rebuilding of the world after Meteor, while Before Crisis was about the problems that the Shinra Corporation faced as it was the de facto world government.

Maybe I'm just reading too much into stuff. My point is: Other games can have that sense of immersion, but probably not in the same way that FFX does/did.

FFX is my 3rd favorite FF, after FF12 and FFX-2.

I did not like FF7, FF8, or FF9 all that much. They were ok, but not the level of FFX-12.

I don't really care much for FFs before 6, which was pretty awesome.

My only bias on the 2s vs 3d thing is that 2d is dying because of 3d. I like both of them, but i'm going to miss 2d stuff.

I could definitely be considered an old school gamer, and I must say, FFX is my least favorite Final Fantasy game that I have played. I haven't played X-2 though, but that was because I hated FFX so much.

The sphere grid acts like it's wide open to customization, but is just generic leveling up, only you have to do it yourself, and it is linear. It's not until you are already powerful enough for most of the stuff in the game that you can do what you want with characters.

I don't like voice acting in games because I read faster than I listen. I don't want to sit there for 20 minutes to hear more story, I want to play the game. Luckily, I could skip most dialogue. But still, a highly disproportionate amount of the game revolved around not actually doing things. The beginning was ridiculous with this, but it didn't let up much as it went on. Sure, it gave a lot of that backstory to making Spira a real world that PiccoloNamek loves so much, but stuff like that should be optional if it takes so much time and takes away from gameplay as much as it did. Also, the main story was not incredibly focused, because it was told in a way that was complicated to understand at first glance. If the person casually playing through the game doesn't know what's going on, you're not telling the story right.

Blitzball was the shining point in FFX. It was a bit of old school fun in the game. It got easy really fast, though, with players leveling up. Only Triple Triad interested me more as far as FF mini-games go.

The battles tried adding that strategic bit, attempting to make a bit of a rock-paper-scissors setup, but it instead turned out to be just matching the character with the enemy, just a connect the dots game. It did have the same timing system FFT did, but without having to plan out any positioning or traveling distance, it made things very easy. If a move happened now or later, it had the same effect, so you were allowed to plan out a whole battle. Also, switching out characters and having everyone at your disposal rather than a small party made things a bit too easy also. And note that I'm not talking about optional bosses with any of this, I didn't enjoy the game enough to care and find how to fight those things.

This I just hate. What's the point of having the battles in the game if they present no fun or difficulty at all? They should just let you automatically gain levels if they intended it to be that easy. Battles became boring and tedious as I went on because they were all the same and all easy. Putting something in a game just to increase the game time is laziness and shouldn't happen.

I also didn't really enjoy or connect with or care about any of the characters in the game at all, which probably detracted from my enjoyment even more. I got really hyped up about the game and bought it right away too, it's a shame it turned out to disappoint me so much.

I definitely can be considered an old-school gamer. Every once in a while I love to fire up a real old ass game to get my fix. The past 2 weeks I've been playing Uncharted Waters: New Horizons and the original Breath of Fire.... ah such goodness...

I love FFX. I think it's a great game and probably my favorite of the FF series. It is indeed flawed but it brought some things to the series that I liked. I shall first list those things which I liked:

#1 Turn based battle system: As an old school gamer... this suits me well. Dragon Quest, Breath of Fire, Suikoden, FF1.. you name it... they were all turn based.

#2 The ability to switch out characters without major penalty: I hate it when I play a game and there are characters I really like but never really use. Sometimes I just don't get much time in for them. Being able to swap characters on the fly was really nice and hasn't been done in many games.

#3 Everyone has a role (except poor Kimahri...): Flying monster? Calll Wakka! Heavy armor... Auron. You played the game, you get the point. For a majority of the game, all these players had their unique roles in combat.

#4 Beautifully simplistic storyline: Ever notice a trend in FF games? Often you begin the game thinking the bad guy is one person and then you find out that really it's someone else in the end pulling the strings. For FFX, it's pretty much just Sin (though this is somewhat arguable). You know your enemy from the first few minutes of the game and you pursue them to the very end. There's something intriguing about that...


but considering all that I liked... there's the flaws...

#1 Worst Voice Acting Ever: The laughing scene makes me hit the mute button everytime. I hate Rikku. Yuna always sounds like she's out of breath. Lulu, Kimahri, and Auron were okay. I have mixed feelings towards Tidus's actor. It would've been nice to have the option to switch to japanese voices instead.

#2 A bit too easy: I liked the strategic "feel" of the game but sometimes it was way too easy

#3 The minigames were pure evil: I hated the Choco race. The lightning bolts made me pull my hair out. I like minigames that are fun. Blitzball was okay... I know many people hate it though.

I thought the voice acting in FFX was fine. I've certainly heard far worse (Baten Kaitos, Star Ocean 2, etc. etc). Yuna was a little weak but she got the chance to improve in FFX-2.

Poor Kimahri. I've never seen such a useless member in my party. He never got stronger, his sphere grid was a waste of time and as a character, he got practically no development.

(And Blitzball sucked)

Heh, I never used Kimahri much either. He's just...useless. I have used all other characters equally. Rikku is the best thief ever. She can actually steal things, and I spent oodles of time just having her steal stuff. Her overdrive rocked hard. There's nothing better than casting bio on a boss and having said boss knock off 2000+ HP per turn.

I dunno what's with all the hate with FFX's voice acting. The laughing scene is supposed to be horrible. They're only pretending to laugh. They did the job well in that scene. Yuna's acting did suck, and yes, she did do a better job in FFX-2. Everyone else was good.

I enjoyed FFX. At the same time, it was one of the last FF games I had played. I had tried FFX-2.... but that didn't last long... I found it much worse than the first one.

Although FFX isn't anything to blow you out of the water. It was enjoyable. Its worth revisiting. In fact, I find most FF games worth revisiting, especially if you didn't finish it the first time, or didn't get al the cool stuff in the first game, or had crappy levels....:( (The last thing is usually what happened to me)

I would recommend playing it again.

FFX is the game that got me hooked on the franchise. I was given a demo disc and sat there waiting for the opening sequence to finish so I could start playing - and it had already finished! Obviously, the first game I came across with fantastic graphics! I enjoyed the gameplay, didn't find it too linear really. At least you could do plenty of exploring outside the storyline (unlike Magna Carta which I'm playing at the moment!)

I never bothered with blitzball, hated it with a passion so I didn't finish the game 100% which I normally try to do.

On the whole though, I'd say it's certainly worth playing even taking the crappy characters into account. Actually, I loved Lulu. Maybe I'm subconsciously into bondage - all those belts!

FFX-2 was THE worst game I've ever played and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, ever, for any reason whatsoever, even if I wanted to be really nasty! Nuff said.