Final Fantasy X

[Shadow Fire]

<div align="center"><img src="http://core.the-gcn.com/reviews/FFX.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /></div><br /><br /><b>Director:</b> Tetsuya Nomura<br /><br /><b>Producers:</b> Yoshinori Kitase, Hironobu Sakaguchi<br /><br /><b>Music:</b> Nobuo Uematsu, Junya Nakano, Rikki<br /><br /><b>Starring:</b> James Arnold Taylor, Hedy Burress, Matt McKenzie, Tara Strong, John Dimaggio, Paula Tiso<br /><br /><b>Rating:</b> <img src="http://core.the-gcn.com/reviews/rating/5stars.png" border="0" class="linked-image" /><br /><br /><br /><u><b>Plot</b></u><br /><br />In Zanarkand Ruins, a group of travellers on a pilgrimage sit around a campfire, relaxing for a brief while. A young boy with wild blond hair stands up and walks off, stopping momentarily to place a hand gently on a young girl's shoulder. The girl closes her eyes and gives a sad smile, before the boy moves away and walks up a little hill to look out over the ruins. Gazing around in wonder, he reminisces of the past, with the cryptic words: "Listen to my story. This might be our last chance.".<br /><br />

It seems that the mystical world known as Spira is under threat from a thousand year old malevolence known to all as Sin. The bringer of death and destruction, it is believed that Sin is a punishment for humanity's crimes in the past. Forbidden by sacred teachings to use a great deal of machines, known as machina, the people of Spira are in constant fear of Sin, and turn to summoners, people who can summon majestic creatures known as aeons, to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm, a 10 year period without Sin. For one thousand years, summoners have travelled to the mysterious city of Zanarkand in order to attain the Final Aeon, the only method of defeating Sin. Now, a young girl called Yuna is stepping up to offer her services as a summoner. With the help of her guardians, one of them a young boy named Tidus, who claims to be from Zanarkand, she travels to lands far and wide, on a pilgrimage to defeat Sin and bring the Calm for the people of Spira.<br /><br /><br /><u><b>Review</b></u><br /><br />To be honest, when I was first told about Final Fantasy X, I had my reservations about it, as the very first Final Fantasy game I had played, Final Fantasy VIII had given me a negative feeling about the entire Final Fantasy series. However, when a friend of mine brought it over, and my brother began playing it, I began feeling like I should give the game a chance. I was instantly drawn to the beautiful music and stunning graphics. It was also the first game I'd seen which had advanced CGI, making cinema sequences look very realistic. Also, there were voices... the very first Final Fantasy game to bring voice-acting to the franchise. That settled it, I wanted to play it.<br /><br />I wouldn't get my chance to play the game until my brother had gotten very far, and was stuck on a boss. One day while he was at school, I tried it out, and after losing to the boss three times, I managed to wipe him out the fourth time. I couldn't believe it. I still wanted to play, so I copied his file (heheh) and continued, beating my way past enemies (known as fiends), and building the characters' strengths. Pretty soon, it became evident. I was hooked.<br /><br />

Final Fantasy X is unique to most of the other Final Fantasy games, as in place of the Active Time Battle System, this game instead uses a Conditional Turn Battle System, meaning that characters take turns battling, and while animation always happens during battle, the enemy will not make its move until it's their turn, indicated by the CTB gauge on the top right of the battle screen. This allows beginners to think about their moves, instead of needing to hurry and make their choice of move, lest they be slaughtered by the enemy. The battle transition is in my opinion, one of the best. When you get into a random battle, the screen shatters, the broken pieces flying off the screen to reveal the battle field. While it can get annoying in areas where you just want to pass through as quickly as possible, it's an all time favourite.<br /><br />Character levelling takes on a new approach, as instead of levelling up the usual way, Squaresoft implemented a Sphere Grid system of building up the character's stats. It can take some time to get used to the sphere grid system, but once you have perfected how to use it, you'll find it a lot easier to cope with than say, the Materia system from Final Fantasy VII. Battling works in the same way as some previous Final Fantasy games. While there are 7 characters to use, only three of them battle at a time. If all three characters are knocked out, or unable to battle due to petrification, the game is over, and you must reload from a previous save. If there's one bit of advice I can offer, it's this:<br /><br /><b>SAVE AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN!</b><br /><br />

Moving onto the graphics, I can honestly say that Final Fantasy X has some of the best video game graphics I've seen, especially in an RPG. The scenery is awe-inspiring, and characters mouths move with the words they speak. The mouth-flap may not match, as it's programmed to follow the Japanese script, but still, the fact that it's more realistic than any other Final Fantasy game that came before it bypasses this. Fiends are another amazing graphical feat. Their rendering is awesome, as are attacks used in battle. Squaresoft had come a long way since Final Fantasy VII and even Final Fantasy IX. Without a doubt, graphics make up a great deal of this game's positive reviews.<br /><br />

Music is once again composed primarily by legendary Nobuo Uematsu. All the music in this game fits perfectly, and is always played at the appropriate situation. Also, there are two songs which are used in this game, one which is used twice, as an original and then an orchestral version. The opening cinema features the song Otherworld, sung by Bill Muir. What better song to play for a city that's about to be destroyed than a heavy rockish sounding song? And in Macalania Spring, when a certain heartwarming scene plays, the song Suteki Da Ne? (Isn't It Wonderful?) by Japanese singer Rikki is played. The orchestral version of this song is played during the credits. Needless to say, the music is great. So great, in fact, that I have the OST on my computer. =P<br /><br /><br /><u><b>Overall</b></u><br /><br />If you're a fan of Final Fantasy, I COMMAND you to play this game! Final Fantasy X offers superb gameplay, and its realism may even make you feel like you're actually living in Spira, journeying to save it from Sin. Sure, you're forced to follow the storyline for quite some time, but that's another good thing about the game... being guided rather than left to fend for yourself from word go. With Final Fantasy X, you can bring the fantasy to life within you.