Please explain to me why FFX is so great *spoilers*

[Wiegraf]

*sigh* I have officially played every FF main series game (and a few spin offs) and I can safely say that the one that I enjoyed the least was Final Fantasy X. I had many reasons to dislike the game, and my main one was the storyline which I found quite stupid. So, here comes my general complaints with this game.

1. The worst character design that I have ever seen in any video game. I know that it is a Final Fantasy game, but come on Square, I need to take it seriously. Every single character had either idiotic hair, idiotic clothes, or both. The only one that didn't was Auron (Maybe Yuna, but her boring character made up for it).

2. Very forgettable soundtrack which just baffles me in terms of why people think it has such great quality. I played through the game and even now only remember a few, which weren't even anything great. To Zanarkand was indeed good, but was overused to the point of being irritating. To be honest... the only reason that I think that the soundtrack gets praised is because of To Zanarkand. Everything else was pretty bland which disappoints me considering I like Uematsu. Also, the Hymn of the Faith is terrible IMO. I do like a few, namely: Auron's Theme, Fight With Seymour, To Zanarkand, Otherworld, and the Battle Theme.

3. Amateur voice acting. Tidus' narration was actually decent, and Auron's voice actor did well, but Yuna had the most bland voice ever. Lulu and Kimahri were nothing special and Rikku was just plain irritating.

4. Unlikeable cast. Except for Jecht and Auron, every character in the game was just "ugh" to me. Rikku was the most annoying female I have seen in a Square game. Tidus was an annoying, selfish, whiny, brat who didn't know how to grow up. Kimahri was a useless filler character who could have been removed. As could Lulu. Yes, they had a bit of importance, but nothing that couldn't be rewritten to not include them. It AMAZES me that people complain about FFXII's Penelo and Fran when they had just as much importance as Kimahri and Lulu. Even Rikku wasn't important and was just going along with them due to the fact that she was Yuna's cousin (hated this story element).

5. The story. Yes, everything about it. I am sorry, but if I had a nickel for everytime I *facepalmed* at something in that game or rolled my eyes, I would be a millionaire. Okay so what is the point of being sent? Yes, it can turn you into a fiend, but Seymour, Yunalesca, and Auron all proved that it can effectively make you exist forever. So dying can actually make you live permanently. Sin was CONSTANTLY used as a plot device to take the party somewhere (like when they were underwater and then Sin suddenly appeared and decided to take them to a desert) for no real reason at all (intro excluded because he admittedly did have a reason). Yuna and Tidus' love story came off as forced to me. Not to mention it had the most overused and inaccurate catch phrase of any Final Fantasy game "This is my story" okay I am sorry Tidus, but it is Yuna's story. The entire game revolves around Yuna. Tidus is more of a perspective character than anything. Its sad because a couple of concepts I thought were good, but the script hampered it.

"I think they expect us to just give up and die down here"

xD ARE YOU SERIOUS? So, the main villains thought that the best plan to kill these people who have repeatedly killed everything that got in their way was to throw them into a pool? Might I remind you that 3 of these people are trained Blitzball players who can hold their breathe for absurd amounts of time?

And also, Rikku. Rikku appears after admittedly trying to ya know, kill or kidnap Yuna (reasons aside) and Tidus and the gang just... don't care enough to ask why? No, lets just take her with us. Yep good plan.

Overall, the whole "religion is fake, god is evil" storyline was delivered quite terribly in comparison to Square's last game that dealt with this theme: Final Fantasy Tactics. Vagrant Story also did as well. FFX just seems subpar in comparison. Everything in it was spoon fed to us. I'd rather have some ambiguous things in it.

6. Long treks with boring battles. Ugh, this was so utterly BORING in terms of gameplay. Not hard at all, to say the least. Even the enemies weren't a saving grace in terms of design. Every other enemy in the game was just a palette swap of a previous enemy. It's like, okay game, give me something new. Constantly being interrupted by boring battles with no difficulty as you are walking to a ridiculously far away place... it was just terrible. Linear games like this just irk me horribly. Good thing that FFXII came along and was superior in every way (yes including story). Especially gameplay. Such a beautiful world with so much life and thought put into it.

/rant.

That about sums it up for me. Overall I am just greatly disappointed by the huge amounts of praises it gets when it was a huge step back from FFIX, to be quite honest. When FFIX lost to FFX in Gamefaqs character battle I wanted to rip my hair out, and FFIX isn't even my favorite FF (though it is up there).

 

[Arianna]

I haven't played X yet, so I cannot comment, unfortunately.

The only thing I can say I like is the Victory Theme song; it's got a nice beat.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Spira probably has the most consistent and vibrant setting out of any Final Fantasy, besides IX, and XII, I'd say.

 

[Octo]

I would add to that list. The lack of a proper fucking map screen! It would seem like a small point I know, and without wishing to go into the whole 'linearity' debate (yes I am aware that all FF games are essentially linear) a proper 3D map screen goes a long way to making me feel in control of my party and their destination when I get to actually fucking fly them there instead of selecting my destination.

Oh and there were not enough extra locations/sidequests imho. And Blitzball was fucking shit, and I didnt give a shit about any of the characters. And I hate myself for even playing it for as long as I did...getting up to the end and then giving up.

Yep.

 

[Wiegraf]

I would add to that list. The lack of a proper fucking map screen! It would seem like a small point I know, and without wishing to go into the whole 'linearity' debate (yes I am aware that all FF games are essentially linear) a proper 3D map screen goes a long way to making me feel in control of my party and their destination when I get to actually fucking fly them there instead of selecting my destination.

Oh and there were not enough extra locations/sidequests imho. And Blitzball was fucking shit, and I didnt give a shit about any of the characters. And I hate myself for even playing it for as long as I did...getting up to the end and then giving up.

Yep.

Oh, thanks for reminding me of Blitzball. I HATE THAT GAME. Why would you make a 3 dimensional version of soccer play like an RPG? It essentially removed the 3 dimensional aspect which was actually pretty good.

But I disagree about how "all FF are essentially linear" because the only linear ones were X and XIII (weren't they both by the same team?). The others have loads to do. Especially XII.

 

[Ⓐaron]

Spoiler: It isn't that great.

It's not the worst game in the series or anything, but it's not up to the standard of FFVI or FFIX or even FFV.

The soundtrack wasn't that bad though, although it wasn't on a par with FFVI or FFIX's in particular.

 

[Octo]

Well yeah, but I've heard people say 'Oh they're all linear because you have to do everything in a certain order, and sidequest dont affect the main plot etc etc' But some FFS (X and XIII) are more linear than others!

I just remember in FFVII spending ages pissing about at the Gold Saucer, or doing the sidequests and it really broke things up a bit, made me feel like it was MY adventure too y'know? I never got that with X and as for XIII I couldn't comment because I gave up on FF after X

 

[Alex]

long contentious thread designed to provoke arguments. yawn.

 

[Jocalyn]

I liked X, and I've played it a few times to really get to know the mechanics of it. I actually liked the conditional turn based battle system, I thought it was a nice change of pace from the normal ATB system you see in earlier games. It was also cool that you could change out characters in the middle of a battle. It may be the only FF game I have ever played where I actually used every single character, and often, rather than just picking my top 3 or 4 and having the rest fall behind in levels and abilities.
I thought the story was pretty strong, and it dealt with some pretty heavy (and somewhat controversial) topics, such as faith and religion and the effects of corruption within it, as well as the ill effects that technology and development of civilization can bring. (I may be opening up the flood gates with this topic...)

All in all, I thought it was a good game, and the fact that I've played it more than once says something for its lasting appeal.

What do you guys think?

 

[Octo]

Yeah I'll give it that, the character changing thing was useful. I dont think the heavier aspects of the plot really sunk in that much for me. I was just pissed off at Yuna being one of those stupid moonmaiden types who will sacrifice herself because blah blah blah OH GOD! Shut up bitch and strap on a pair!...Sorry.

 

[Tir McDohl]

I've loved every single FF(spin-offs included) I've played. That's taking into account the flaws they all have. Some have more, or at least less easily ignored, flaws than others, but the fact that none of them are absolutely perfect puts them in pretty much they same boat. To me, anyway. I don't see the point in pitting them against each other too much, and I really think it's pointless to obsess about why one's more popular than another.

As if giving a long explanation of why X is great, especially when most of the reasons you gave for why you'd rank it lowest are completely subjective, would make a difference.

Either you can find something to like about it or you can't.

 

[Jocalyn]

I was just pissed off at Yuna being one of those stupid moonmaiden types who will sacrifice herself because blah blah blah OH GOD! Shut up bitch and strap on a pair!...Sorry.

Yeah I never understood Yuna as a character in that game. Even after everything she believes is revealed to be false, she still wants to go through with it? What the hell is the point of that? I guess she never thought of anything beyond what her original fate was supposed to be, so she's just like "oh well, I might as well do it anyway then, got nothing better to do"

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

1. The worst character design that I have ever seen in any video game. I know that it is a Final Fantasy game, but come on Square, I need to take it seriously. Every single character had either idiotic hair, idiotic clothes, or both. The only one that didn't was Auron (Maybe Yuna, but her boring character made up for it).

i cannot believe ff13 was not mentioned at all for it having terrible designs

ORANGE COWBOY JACKET+GREEN BANDANA+CAPRIS? WAS NOMURA FUCKING DRUNK WHEN HE DESIGNED THIS SHIT?

yuna has bland hair, rikku just has a ponytail, tidus has styled jock hair, auron has styled old person hair, kihmarhi's a fucking beast dude, and the only dude with the outright retarded outfit would prolly be wakka.

and i really don't see them as that outrageous compared to zidane's wrist doilies, eiko's hammer pants, or cloud's dumbass soldier uniform.

3. Amateur voice acting. Tidus' narration was actually decent, and Auron's voice actor did well, but Yuna had the most bland voice ever. Lulu and Kimahri were nothing special and Rikku was just plain irritating.

bro

play magna carta: tears of blood.

then tell me how awful the voice acting in ff10 is. i dare you.

4. Unlikeable cast. Except for Jecht and Auron, every character in the game was just "ugh" to me. Rikku was the most annoying female I have seen in a Square game. Tidus was an annoying, selfish, whiny, brat who didn't know how to grow up. Kimahri was a useless filler character who could have been removed. As could Lulu. Yes, they had a bit of importance, but nothing that couldn't be rewritten to not include them. It AMAZES me that people complain about FFXII's Penelo and Fran when they had just as much importance as Kimahri and Lulu. Even Rikku wasn't important and was just going along with them due to the fact that she was Yuna's cousin (hated this story element).

it amazes me you don't mention selphie ('iliketrainsiliketrainsiliketrains') or yuffie (bitch steals your materia), who are basically in the same line as rikku. hell, the only 'perky square girl' who totally annoys the shit outta me is eiko.


hell, i don't think there's really a single ff title i'd say i absolutely loathed. 10 obviously isn't the best, but it was the first next-gen final fantasy, so it holds a warm place in a lot of gamer's hearts.

 

[Mariketsu]

While I never actually played FFX, I did sit through some playthroughs my old friend did and watched as she went as well as my own research. Honestly, I didn't like Yuna in the least in X. She srsly annoyed me horribly with her mindless need to sacrifice and yadda yadda. She didn't think for herself at all and only seemed to do what the world wanted and never thought about what she wanted (not in a self-centered sense) and acted more like a mindless robot. As well, I personally feel Tidus IS the main character and it is mostly his story, with Yuna being second main. Further, I liked Tidus more and he may as well have dragged her around the entire game. While it did have a good story, Yuna really killed it for me and I dislike her Summoner self.

Yes, X-2's story wasn't as good, but Yuna actually fought herself and was stronger and more aware of her own choices, not relying on Aeons like she did as a Summoner.

Anyway, I also do agree with Yula's post, alot of it is subjective in the end.

~ Raz

 

[Kikyou]

2. Very forgettable soundtrack which just baffles me in terms of why people think it has such great quality.

I'll admit I didn't like the soundtrack for this FF as much as the others (not to say I hated it) but to call it forgettable? Mt. Gagazet? Tidus's Theme? Seymour's Battle Theme? Even if you don't like some of the songs, you can't tell me that they weren't distinctive.

Tidus was an annoying, selfish, whiny, brat who didn't know how to grow up.

But eventually he does grow up, as a result of his journey in Spira. In the final fight Tidus helps the party defeat Sin, even though doing so means he'll cease to exist (giving up the chance to grow old and have a family with his love interest, playing blitzball, whatever other dreams he may have had, etc.). How is that selfish?

The entire game revolves around Yuna. Tidus is more of a perspective character than anything. Its sad because a couple of concepts I thought were good, but the script hampered it.

And yet, because Tidus one of the few people not mindlessly devoted to Yevon's teachings, he's one of the factors that convinces the party that the Final Aeon isn't a solution. And so they send Yunalesca (the start of ending the cycle of death that Spira was trapped in). Not to mention that he shares a connection to Sin.

And also, Rikku. Rikku appears after admittedly trying to ya know, kill or kidnap Yuna (reasons aside) and Tidus and the gang just... don't care enough to ask why? No, lets just take her with us. Yep good plan.

Rikku wasn't trying to kill Yuna. She kidnapped Yuna to prevent her cousin from getting killed (via sacrificing herself for the final aeon). They didn't mind bringing her along because Yuna's best interests was a common desire the whole party shared, even if they had different ways of going about it.



Aside from that, I will agree that the Bond Villain method of executing the party was pretty stupid. I also thought it was strange that, during the scene where Yuna finally sends Seymour (which she really should have done sooner), Auron didn't get sent along as well. He's not even standing that far off while she's dancing, and you don't even see him flinch like he did at Guadosalam. Also, going through the entire final boss fight with auto-life made it one of the most anti-climatic boss fights I've ever had.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

Also, going through the entire final boss fight with auto-life made it one of the most anti-climatic boss fights I've ever had.

To be fair, calling that the final boss fight is like calling the final battle with Sephiroth the final boss fight.

Honestly they're more cinematic experiences expressed through the gameplay than an actual final boss fight.

 

[Joker]

lol @ thread

 

[minimosey]

Honestly they're more cinematic experiences expressed through the gameplay than an actual final boss fight.

I agree with this, but I'd also say VII pulled it off better for being briefer. The "cinematic" aspect is kind of lost if you go through a few turns of doing the same thing.

 

[Celes Chere]

I'm just going to say...
I disagree about the soundtrack. The music in the game is absolutely beautiful... I don't understand. ;-;

 

[Ghost X]

There was a thread quite recently where there was a 'discussion' between those who said FFX sucked and those who said FFX didn't suck. I was naturally on side with saying FFX sucked. Only thing good about it was perhaps the summoning system. But in saying it sucked, it wasn't a bad game. Just hardly comparable to at least the three previous FFs (and FFXII). Of course, this is just opinion. To some, all the bad things of FFX may be good things... some how *implodes*.

 

[ForceStealer]

I have disliked every single requisite cutesy animu chick. Yuffie, Selphie, Eiko, Rikku, Penelo, Vanille. The lot of them all drove me insane. And Rikku's abuse of the phrase "you know?" wasn't doing her any favors.

Beyond that, I disagree.

 

[Joker]

See, if you took Rikku off that list, we'd be thinking exactly alike, Force.

y u do dis to me ;.;

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

yuffie was more tolerable a long while after ff7, but i honestly liked rikku. she was sweet and sort of sad in the same way i found tali'zorah from mass effect sad: you know she's part of a bunch of people no one likes, but that doesn't stop her from trying to be helpful.

 

[Frostwave]

I love all of those characters except Eiko(because she's a bossy little bitch who needs to stfu and go be 6)and Vanille(because I haven't beat XIII yet so I'unno). :/

Yuffie is hilarious and I don't care that she stole my materia because that sidequest was awesome dammit!

 

[Super Mario]

Let's see here...


1. I like Spira out of all the worlds in the FF series regardless of Sin attack or After Sin (X-2) than any of the other worlds though Ivalice (XII) comes close because liek you get to run around a seemingly boundless world hunting a bunch of powah leveled mons. Reason why I love Spira so much is because it heavily reminds me of home AND its almost as colourful as Ivalice come X-2.
2. Well, sonny. There's Jecht, Auron, Khimari, Lulu, Yuna and Tidus that I like regardless of their 'bland characterization'. :B
3. Cool swords
4. Cool girls (obviously)
5. Cool ships
and the most important thing to consider, sonny:












6. Cool shoopuf.


and Cool music (you should check out the Feel/go OST)


So yeah, we all have our wants and do not wants. X is definitely one of my wants. I would say I'd love XIII as well because of Serah, Lightning and Vanille, but that's left for another time :B