Fainaru fantajî X

This was my childhood game & to this day it never fails to impress me! The story is top notch & you fall in love with the characters & get invested in their journey. It made me play all night long & was a joy to play multiple times from beginning to end. Easily a 10/10 game despite Blitzball & the Chocobo Games being rather dull. But other than that, it's a solid game!

Final Fantasy is easily one of the most celebrated game franchises in history, and the way Square Enix develop their games are almost suspiciously in the order of story first and game play second. To me, Final Fantasy, what I've played of it that is, has always had a staple of story telling that severely lacked in many of the video games I have played before, and I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the creators of these games are telling stories about people, rather than caricatures.

Final Fantasy X was my introduction to the series, and it was an experience that has stuck with me since the day it was released. I have played and beat the game a bit over 10 times through out my years of gaming, and it remains my top favorite game after all of these years. The success of this game, however, was not in the way it played, but in the way it played out. My addiction came from my love for the characters, and my ability to empathize with them. The love story between Yuna and Tidus, for video game characters, was true to the point of physical pain. These two characters were more than just creations for entertainment, but they were living, breathing human beings.

This holds true for every single character through out the game. Here we have seven characters spread out, and nearly three days (collectively) to discover who they are, and discover their passion. This is made possible through the way the story is told, and how relevant the story is in actual life. By utilizing actions familiar through organizations like churches and corporations, it is easier to see the manipulation of these characters, and it is easy to find common ground with them. As a citizen of the world, it is easy to identify with these characters.

Still, there is something else about this game that got to me, and that was it's relentless political commentary. It didn't take issue with a specific church (though Roman Catholicism is most certainly an inspiration) but more took issue with Organized Religion itself. The Church of Yevon is nothing less than an empire run by a handful of crooks and fear mongers. Even these characters we can identify with because we recognize them in our churches and our governments. We recognize the fact that they know they have power and are able to use the vulnerability of their believers to keep the population under control.

It shows bigotry practiced through the church, all of which our heroes become subjected to. Rikku being the prime example of constant persecution by Wakka. Rikku, an Al-Bhed, does not believe in the church, and actually represents a small population that stretches across the world of non-religious believers. Wakka is a devout Yevon(ite?) and can not find common ground with those who act against the beliefs of the church. He uses words like 'traitor' and 'heathen' to describe the Al-Bhed, almost in the same way a Christian might describe a homosexual, or a Scientologist might describe a Suppressive Person.

Through the actions of these characters, we discover that there is so much more than what meets the eye, and through thoughtful speculation we discover that Final Fantasy X is much, much more than a mere video game, and much more than an artful masterpiece. Final Fantasy X is an observation on the fundamental insanity of the human race. It is an observation on how we let our superstitions and beliefs allow us to be controlled, and what dangers are most imminent when we allow ourselves to be subjected to submission.

All in all, this game is a must-play. It is easily the most thoughtful and introspective game I have ever played, and it remains to this day the most daring commentary on human nature ever seen in a piece of art, let alone a video game. If not? Look at the movies you watch or the books you read that are made for entertainment? How many of them are willing to look an enormous part of the human collective and say 'you are wrong?'

There are some ... but not many. This game is one of the select few that dares.

It's rare to hear a video game being compared to a piece of literature, but Final Fantasy X reminds me of nothing so much as Chaucer's THE CANTERBURY TALES. (Perhaps it more accurately compares to Dan Simmons HYPERION, but since HYPERION was loosely based on Chaucer, well...)

A summoner and her six guardians embark on a holy pilgrimage whose lofty goal is to save the world from suffering, if only for a short while. The closer they get to their destination, the more treacherous the way becomes as forces gather to divert or destroy them before they can achieve their goal.

Along the way, the stories of the seven are shared: where they came from, how they became a part of this journey. We watch as their individual stories combine into an epic tale of love, camaraderie, sorrow, sacrifice, and triumph.

In a business filled with shoot-em-ups and car crashes, it's wonderful to see a series that tries to stretch the form in ways that resemble art and literature, truly exploring the possibility of video game as an art form.

As to the voice work that so many people complain of, I can only believe that these people were looking for big-name Hollywood stars to provide the voices of the characters--take a look at the resumes of the actors who provide voices for FFX and you'll find a history of American animation for the last 10 years. Check your own expectations before you criticize and you may find, as Shakespeare said, that "the fault lies not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Final Fantasy, considered by many to be the greatest video game RPG series ever, hell even having been one of the first and defining ones, makes the jump to the Playstation 2 with it's God-Knows-How-Many bits of power. Video game RPGs were once known for sacrificing graphics in favor of a lenghtly story and intricate combat system; however, the final fantasy series has been gradually defeating that steriotype with each new game. And now, the tenth installment of the series succeeds in creating a long and engrossing gameplay experience while producing some of the finest graphics seen to-date. Not only that, but the design of these graphics are nothing short of beautiful (Although at times in odd taste. I mean, just look at Tidus' outfit!)

Graphics aside, Final Fantasy X dwelves into new territory previously unseen in any FF game: Voice acting! While this may frighten purists, you will be glad to hear that the voice acting in this game is very good for the most part. The principal characters are all handled quite proffessionaly, especially Wakka, as performed by John Di Maggio.

The story of final fantasy is also quite complex and engrossing, as Tidus, the cheery Blitzball player of the futuristic fantasy land of Zanarkand is transported a thousand years into the future by an entity called "Sin." He finds himself in a quasi-medieval world of Spira, where machinery is outlawed by the religion of Yevon, and the land is ravaged by Sin as a punishment for mankind's missdeeds of the past. The only means of defeating Sin is for a Summoner, a person who can summon montrous spirits of the dead called "Aeons", to embark on a pilgrimage to the ruins of Zanarkand to receive the "Final Aeon". With the Final Aeon, a summoner can defeat Sin and Spira will be at peace for a few years before Sin rises again. Wanting to see his homeland of Zanarkand, Tidus joins Summoner Yuna, the daughter of a summoner who defeated Sin ten years ago, along with her guardians to defeat Sin. However, as Tidus travels forth, he discovers that there is much more to Spira, Zanarkand, Yevon, Sin and even his own purpose for being there than he initially finds.

Gameplay-wise, it's roughly the same menu battle system as in previous games, except that a chart shows you who's turn it's going to be next and the others after that. (Of course, depending on the choices in battle, that chart could mutate, so it's not too simple or easy.) Leveling up is also much different than in previous games. In battle, characters earn "AP" which gives them "Moves" on the sphere grid. The Shere grid is like a board game. As a character moves along, he can activate "nodes", which boost different abilities, using spheres earned in battle.

Overall, Final Fantasy X is a big change from previous FF games, while also retaining familiar aspects enough to be a FF game. In spite of the changes, or perhaps even because of them, FFX is probably the best RPG available on the PS2 at the moment, and will follow the suit of previous FF games as "Classics."

This game really pulled me in. At first I was like, this is just going to be another video game. But I started identifying with the main character Tidus and his feelings for Yuna. I really liked how this game made me laugh at times and made me emotional at other times.

Final Fantasy X is in my opinion, a brilliant combination of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and the Golden Compass trilogy of books. It's like a romance novel for straight men.