• Tidus is a star athlete who survives a massive disaster, and with the help of a girl named Yuna, he journeys to temples & monasteries to find truth.

• Learn to summon aeons-old spirits of power to add to your fighting abilities as you battle the evils of Sin

• Spectacular graphics and incredible voiceover work will immerse you in a new world where evil forces threaten the existence of all you know!

Character design still shows its heritage from Yoshitaro Amano, one of Japan's greatest graphic artists. In addition, the background and 'set' design is equally imaginative. Massive use of CGI work simply makes all this magic spring to life with movement and gesture. No less an effort has been spent on the game's sound and music, making the experience of the game intense, and sometimes even spellbinding.

Tidus, a young blitzball professional, is thrust, mid-catastrophe, into the world of Spira, where an incredible monster (Sin) is gradually destroying the world as punishment for its ecological missteps. He meets Yuna, who is a Summoner, capable of calling up Aeons as battle weapons. Yuna has begun a voyage from temple to temple, a quest that must end in a confrontation with Sin to bring peace to Spira. In typical RPG style, they and their companions follow a path of ever escalating monsters and challenges, culminating in a prolonged, exhausting final struggle.

The story and dialog are fine, with a few twists to keep player interest, but for the most part it is predictable. Since people come to this game looking for different things, the creators have tried to manage a difficult balance between narrative and play, and, for the most part, are successful. The dialog is sometimes silly and sometimes touching, but it is never unbearable.

This is an incredibly large game. It is possible to stick to the basic story line, minimum leveling up and barely make it through the game in 50 to 60 hours. A quick perusal of a good walkthrough quickly reveals that nearly half of the game is hidden from view, and that diligent playing can be very rewarding. My time using the walkthrough was 90 hours, and there were still possibilities left unexplored. Obviously, the game will stand up to replay.

I have to give the game five stars. I can quibble about storyline and some predictable gameplay, but there is too much that is simply outstanding. This will be considered one of the peaks of RPG gaming for some time to come.

48 of 57 found the following review helpful:


Living the RPG -- Worlds in the PS2  Dec 11, 2001 By Alan P. Zube "pre-engineering teacher"
I must say now, even though some amazing games have come out this year, such as Soul Reaver 2, Devil May Cry and the spectacular Metal Gear Solid 2, the defining game experience in the coming months will be, without a doubt, Final Fantasy X. No other RPG series has come close to the success and immense enjoyability that the Final Fantasy series has gained over the years. Although there have been some frustrating titles (FF VIII) and some sleeper hits (FF Tactics), Square has established a track record of produce the most realistic and moving story-based games on the market. Final Fantasy X will be no exception.

One of the newest and truly amazing features of this game is the life-size adventure system. In previous RPGs, the adventurer would explore a large outside world, but when entering a specific town or dungeon, the player would often have to walk up to a small icon and confirm entrance. In FFX, your character will be walking in the world from his or her own perspective, and will see oncoming castles or mountains in the distance. When encountering them up close, the scale is life-size in preportion to the character, that is to say, the mountains aren't going to be head hight, they're going to span up into the clouds. As an additional note, fights will now take place on the screen you are in, and not transfer to a pre-rendered background. This takes an amazing amount of effort on the game designer's part, and I want to thank them for making this such a realistic experience.

Another change is the battle time system, previously known as Active Time Battle. The fights now take place in CTB, or Count Time Battle. Instead of constantly waiting for action meters to reach an end, you will be able to use a character immediately on his or her turn and see the list of the next 4 enemies or allies waiting to act. The turns will proceed in sequence, as opposed to the old system of racing the enemy to confirm an attack. This allows for more strategy and twists in battle; a Stop spell could shake up the order of actions a great deal. (As veteran FF fans may notice, this is very similar to the time system in FF Tactics, Square's small unit battle manuvers RPG.)

As not to worry the long-standing fans of the series, some classic FF features will be returning. The special limit attack feature (limit break / trance) has been dubbed Overdrive. It's nearly the same as FF VII's limit break system, each character having a meter that raises when the character is damaged. Chocobos once again live in the environment of the game, as do summons (now called Aeons, and you even get to fight as them in battle!) A leveling up feature, the Sphere board, lets you custimoze characters nearly any way you want, almost like the Materia of FF VII and the Job System of FF V.

This game has so many virtues that it's hard to expound on all of them in a simple, one-page review. The beautiful graphics, amazing storyline, and wonderfully rendered characters (who speak, smile, and scowl) all combine to form one of the greatest RPG packages on any console to date. Kudos to the programmers at Square that spent years designing the most involved game I have ever played. If you only try one role-playing game in your entire life, make it this one.

217 of 276 found the following review helpful:


Incredible  Dec 25, 2001 By Justin R. Germino
My first impression of the game was that it would have a summoner type feel (which isn't bad, but not usual FF to me.) However, the game has a very well done story line. Good voice acting and it flushes out the characters so well that they talk to each other and goof on each other in battle. The graphics are very good, though a little jittering and jagged edges on the vector at times. The cutscenes however are superb, and almost movie like in quality.
The game has a great combat interface, though I am not sure yet if I like the sphere system for gaining skills and abilities.

The storyline seems good so far and I am approximately 10 hours in. The music is very good, but I still think the FF3 soundtrack is the best one ever. Overall this is turning out to be my favorite in all the FF series that I have played.

43 of 55 found the following review helpful:


Final Fantasy and the beginning of a new era....  Nov 18, 2001 By Toru Koroshi
I broke my neck off this get this fantastic rpg, and it was worth all the money I payed for it...

Well anyways... Final Fantasy X gives a new indepth feel in battles and also in a new way to gain up HP,MP, and stats... I definetly was wow-ed by the game in the very beginning, when Tidus plays a game of Blizk Ball... (I hope I spelled it right....) but gets interrupted with an enemy (who shall remain nameless.... as of this point...) who totally levels a whole town within seconds...

But as the game progresses on the scenes get way better... (*As also another note... you happen to arrive into your very first battle within maybe 10mins top into the game) more characters arises and battles get even sweeter than before the last...

This (I truly admit...) is a MUST-BUY rpg... and I hope that you fanficts of rpgs will enjoy this game as much as I did.

Sayoonara!

19 of 23 found the following review helpful:


A FANTASTIC JOURNEY THROUGH SPIRA  Jul 16, 2002 By Void Zero
Final Fantasy Ten is the greatest game for the Playstation 2. The graphics are almost better than what most high-end personal computers can display, and the music is richly composed and is always geared to the different situations (battle music, tavern music, etc..). The game's essence is similar to previous Final Fantasy titles, with turn-based combat and world exploration. I will say that the voice acting is sometimes childish and over dramatic, but you can pass through the cut scenes by tapping the x button. Essentially, the game is a full-blown RPG, which will probably bore and confuse those unfamiliar with the genre. Final Fantasy one was first released for the 8-bit NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) in the late 1980's, and I became a fan instantly with the game when I purchased it. FFX is not as short as some people would make you think. To build up your characters you must fight literally thousands of battles, which means you must quit your job and your personal life if you wish to invest the proper time to fully appreciate this RPG. If you like RPG's and science-fiction/ fantasy epics, you will be very happy with this title.

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