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

[Tifabelle]

One of the greatest aspects of FFX was the world. It sort of took a lot of technology out of the mix that had been added to FF over the years. I mean, XII & XIII are so high tech. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's nice to go back to a more "fantastical" atmosphere.

 

[Tennyo]

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"

Well, to be fair, the intent of the pilgrimage was never to save the Maesters or the Yevon religion to begin with. The intent was that maybe this time Sin would be gone for good and that the people of Spira (every-day Joe-Shmoe-Shmucks like you and I) would be free of his tyranny.

Finding out that the teachings of Yevon were false doesn't really change this fact. She's still doing it for the people.

 

[Celes Chere]

I love all of those characters except Eiko

Same here. Eiko was just irritating... Urk, children. Her crush on Zidane wasn't even cute, just extremely annoying.

Yuffie became one of my favorites when I finally got her into my party. The first time I tried I was a dumb fuck and went to my menu screen. And then I was like OMG YOU BITCH... YOU CLEVER LITTLE BITCH. Idk, it made me like her. xD And then later on going through Wutai and stuff, I thought was actually fun. Fighting your way up the tower, too. She became my strongest character. xD Everyone else in the party might as well have been dead. >w< I thought she was spunky and cute too, but she seems to be one of the most hated FF characters. I'm so sad that her role in ACC is so fracking small. (Then again so is everyone else's and she gets spot light in DoC, crappy as it is)

Selphie reminded me A LOT of Yuffie, so I liked her. It's really a shame that FFVIII was so focused on the HURRDURR fail love story, that we didn't get to see much about the other characters. >O>;

Rikku, Penelo, and Vanille are all kind of similar to me. Very sweet characters, so there's no reason for me to hate them. xD They all have such warm personalities, and it really makes me adore them. I really love sweet and bright characters, that also have their own problems hidden behind their cheerfulness. :3 That wasn't so much the case for Penelo, but she is still such a sweet heart and I loved her character. ;_;

 

[Wiegraf]

One of the greatest aspects of FFX was the world. It sort of took a lot of technology out of the mix that had been added to FF over the years. I mean, XII & XIII are so high tech. Not that it's a bad thing, but it's nice to go back to a more "fantastical" atmosphere.

What? I can recall tons of scenery in FFX that was technology involved. FFXII on the other hand, was the first FF since IX to be more medieval with the castles and such (disregarding airships since pretty much every FF needs to have these)

 

[Joker]

And if you recall, FFX was a game where machinery was taboo. What technology was there was never numerous, barring portions with the Al Bhed, whixh should be obvious as to why, and Luca, which is a clearly pointed remark on the developers' part as to the hypocrisy of Yevon.

 

[Joker]

But I suppose you're also forgetting Giruvegan and the mines of the floating city, and so on.

Ed: on the other hand, "the first since IX" has zero meaning, since X took a more exotic, recovering world route, and XI apparently doesn't count (not that I blame you), making all of ONE game between IX AND XII.

But "fantasy" and "medieval" are not the same thing.

 

[Masamune]

FFX is definitely overrated when people start calling it The Best FF EVAR. It would be lucky to make the Top 5.

 

[Tennyo]

What? I can recall tons of scenery in FFX that was technology involved.

Not really. :/ As Omega pointed out machinery was taboo in the world of FFX. Most of what you see is scrap that is in ruin, with only a small handful of scenes here and there where the Al Bhed were present or wherever relevant to portray the corruption of the governing religious leaders.

The Luca blitzball dome is one Yevon-approved machine.
The ship where you rescue Yuna is all Al Bhed.
The elevator to get on the shoopuff is one more Yevon machine.
The cannons on the cliffs of the Mi'hen(sp?) Highroad were Al Bhed machina.
The snowmobiles in Lake Macalania were driven by Al Bhed and you had to fight against their big poss machine.
The Al Bhed city of Home is the only area in the game where tech is prevalent, and that place gets destroyed.
The temple in Bevelle having machines was a major cause for distress for Wakka, because the idea of having machines was just plain wrong. Nowhere else in the Yevon controlled world are machines as abundant as they were in this place.
Even the airship was discovered in ruins and fixed up by the Al Bhed, who all make up the crew.

This all actually makes up very little of the game. The general populace of Spira goes through life without using any machines or technology, and the world reflects this.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Wiegraf, since there's no accounting for taste (I love X and think it's the best in the series; some days it's my favorite, some days VIII is), I'm not going to comment on most of the things you said involving favor or disfavor, but there are a few things I feel a need to point out.

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

Mira already pointed this out, but selfish is so absolutely an inaccurate adjective to describe Tidus. He was very kindhearted, rushing into the temple at Besaid to help a summoner he didn't know (he also thought it was some old dude, not a cute, young chick) and saying "It's the right thing to do" to take out the Chocobo Eater when he heard about it.

Then, of course, there's sacrificing himself.

He didn't whine much either, and when he did, it was always justified. Losing your home, your comfortable life, being stranded in an unfamiliar world, becoming dependent on the kindness of others, finding out that a chick you've fallen for is going to die, etc. are all legitimate things to get upset about.

And, yeah, he grew up big time.

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).

How many characters in any FF are as vital to the plot as Cecil, Kain, Terra, Celes, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Squall, Zidane, Tidus, Yuna, etc.? That's kind of a weak complaint. You could insert just about any supporting cast into these games when the main story doesn't hinge upon their personal stories.

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.

Most people can't become unsent like that. It takes a strong will. The average person just ends up becoming a fiend if they aren't sent.

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).

So he was used to do it twice, and once because it was an explained, deliberate action on Jecht's part. I'll grant you that the Macalania-to-Bikanel journey was catering to the plot's need to get the group to the island, but it wasn't any more egregious than most such things in other FFs, or RPGs in general.

"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?

Yeah, that was extremely retarded on their part. No disagreement there. More catering to the needs of the plot, and a tad more egregious than is often the case.

When my fiancee and I recently played through FFX together (it was her first FF), she asked me at this part "Why don't they just shoot them?" The best answer I could wank out from an in-universe perspective is that they may have done it to give the whole trial-of-heretics-to-execution thing some appearance of legitimacy.

The whole situation involved upholding traditions after all, and executing people in the Via Purifico has been the order of business for handling heretics. That's the best answer I could come up with anyway.

So, of course, she then asked why the threw the ones who are good swimmers in the watery part. =P

The real answer, of course, is for the sake of the plot. This is going to understandably bother some people more than others, but I find it forgivable.

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.

They talk to her about it off-screen. Of course they asked why. And it was Yuna's choice who became her guardian, so, this being her cousin, she picked her. Not a big deal.

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.

That's also true of Tactics, though, and you love that game.

I also find it strange that you dislike the overall gameplay of X since it plays a lot like Tactics, but without the moving around during battles bit. Granted, you also can't change job classes, but each character definitely fulfills a job class-like role for most of the game.

 

[Sprites]

I really liked FFX, sure its not my favourite FF but its a pretty solid game in my eyes.

I didn't find Tidus, annoying or selfish, yeah he was a little whiny in some places but as Ariadne says it was justified and look at what he does to make sure the Sin cycle could never continue and how far he's willing to go to save Yuna, if anything that makes him selfless and not selfish. Its strange because although Yuna is seen as the one who saved Spira, Tidus essentially is the one to instigate it. He could've easily turned round and said "screw you Fayth, I'll find another way, so Yuna can live and I don't disappear" but he didn't, he allowed the Fayth to rest and despite the fact he loves Yuna, he kept the information that he would disappear a secret until the very last battle so no-one would try and stop him, to keep Yuna alive and to save Spira.

"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?

Yes ok even I admit that whole scenario was rather ridiculous too, I personally didn't see why they didn't just off them all together in one place by shooting and what not I mean christ they were all for doing it at Yuna's wedding.

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).

Um no, not really, Sin transporting the party only happened twice not constantly, once with just Tidus and then once with the entire party and as for him showing up well, its not like he's appearing for no reason at all Jecht still has some control over Sin and there is such a thing as wanting to see your son when you haven't seen him for 10 years.

Khimari wasn't useless, in fact one of things that was nice about FFX was that the supporting characters had a little bit of a side story to complete, you can see the change in him as the story progresses from being this strong silent stoic figure, to opening up more to his comrades, its really nice when just after the fight with SIN along Mushroom Rock Road he opens up to Tidus about Yuna, he actually seems to get on really well with Tidus, he sides with him on a lot of stuff, he's the only one to help Tidus open the door in the chamber of the Fayth in Bevelle and I think he's one of the first to realise exactly how Yuna and Tidus feel about one another.

Finally I loved FFX's soundtrack there is some really beautiful pieces of music in there. To Zanarkand, Tidus' theme, Yuna's theme, Mt, gagazet, the Ending theme, the final battle with Seymore and the battle against the Aeons are really good pieces of music not just in the game but in the series as well anyone who says the music in FFX is crap should really just load the game, head to the Sphere theather and just take time out to listen to them, in fact I loved that FFX was the first game to allow you to watch the majority of the FMVS and listen to nearly all the Soundtrack anytime you wanted.

 

[Wiegraf]

And I'm not trying to bash the people who like FFX, as I like a few of them (Ariadne for example). I just beat it and wanted to understand what was great about it TBH. And also, FFT didn't really constantly palette swap everything. For each monster class, they only did it about 3 times or so. The enemies on the battlefield were always so different that the occasionally palette swaps didn't bother me.

 

[Ite]

FFX (and I can't believe I am defending it) is a great game... I mean that in the way that the gameplay is great. The battle system is probably the best of any Final Fantasy. It implements strategy while maintaining the unique qualities of the characters. It's fast-paced. The graphics were mind-blowing for ten years ago. The weapon and item customization was really fun. The camera angles in and out of battle were smooth and entertaining. Some of the puzzles were great. A little similar, but good nonetheless.

The story at the heart of FFX - a father and son story - is really quite touching. The Auron, Jecht and Braska backstory is compelling and well executed. Auron remains one of the coolest FF characters to date.

The problem is absolutely everything else. The world is just stupidly overrated. Final Fantasy IV had a world that was just as complicated, but it wasn't so full of pomp and vainglory. Final Fantasy X was so obnoxious with how subtle it was that this sentence actually makes sense. The church conspiracy was hamfisted and ruined by idiotic costumes and poor voice acting. The NPCs look laughingly bad - Kinoc is a good example. The world parades around as if its diverse but everyone everywhere has the same opinions on everything except machinery.

And look, say what you want about Blitzball being stupid, but there are plenty of stupid things in FFs. Chocobo racing is just as garish and unwieldy. My problem with Blitzball is how it was used as a plot device, but wasn't properly implemented. The Jecht kick thing was the only meaningful reference to Blitzball in the whole story. Blitzball didn't affect anyone at all throughout the game after the tournament. It's the entire first quarter of the game and then it's relegated to nothing.

The supporting cast is flat at best. The love story seems forced because the voice actors for Tidus and Yuna are unconvincing.

Sometimes, I want to play FFX again just because the battle system is so fun. I love the sphere grid and switching out characters and using the Aeons. It's a blast. But I'm stopped by everything else.

I can understand how people could love it. It's bright and melodramatic and the music is either inoffensive or downright good. It's not my taste. I guess. Neither is Twilight, and that's popular as hell, so that just goes to show how personal opinion is everything.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

The battle system is probably the best of any Final Fantasy.

except X-2

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

The love story seems forced because the voice actors for Tidus and Yuna are unconvincing.

It seems even worse when you can totally pursue other girls and continue to do so after the Important Make Out Scene. Especially since a lot of the game makes it seem like the other girls get really attached to Tidus, moreso than Yuna does if you go for them, it just seems so cheap. :\

 

[Wiegraf]

The battle system is probably the best of any Final Fantasy.

I have had way more fun repeatedly playing XII, Tactics, Vagrant Story, V, IX, and VII than I have had playing X. The battle system wasn't bad by any means, but I don't feel that it was the best.

Also, I do have to say that I thought that the Battle Quotes thing was a good idea and was implemented well.

 

[Joker]

So the battle QUOTES were done well, but the battle SYSTEM wasn't?

And FFXII was more fun?

Really?

 

[Tir McDohl]

I had more fun with XII too, tbh. Not that I didn't with X.

 

[Alex]

Attention thread: Trying to argue a point in favour of FFX's battle system is a pointless exercise against someone whose complaints can be summed up as 'I found it boring' and 'I had more fun with other battle systems'. These are the trademark signs of somebody whose mind is already made up (you can tell because he can't actually point out anything specifically wrong with it, not that he didn't like with it but wrong). Your time would be better spent picking your nose or something than trying to indulge this thread.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

It seems even worse when you can totally pursue other girls and continue to do so after the Important Make Out Scene. Especially since a lot of the game makes it seem like the other girls get really attached to Tidus, moreso than Yuna does if you go for them, it just seems so cheap. :\

I can't think of any other opportunities (beyond who you use in battle, of course) after even Guadosalam where you're allowed choices to give Tidus more points with Lulu or Rikku. What am I forgetting?

 

[Joker]

Macalania, baby >:3

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

I can't think of any other opportunities (beyond who you use in battle, of course) after even Guadosalam where you're allowed choices to give Tidus more points with Lulu or Rikku. What am I forgetting?

well I spose it's more 'results of high affection towards one girl' in Tidus' ultimate limit break thang, cause they'll be the one to toss him the ball instead of Yuna

 

[Ⓐaron]

The battle system is probably the best of any Final Fantasy.

except X-2

and V and Tactics and possibly III. But other than that yeah. The battle system was one of the things about FFX I enjoyed most; I actually spent a ton of time in the monster arena just because I liked the battle system so much. I didn't really bother with many of the other sidequests.

FFX's main strengths are the battle system, the music, and the plot, although the plot could've been executed a lot more skilfully.

Also god damn was FFX really almost ten years ago? Time flies.

 

[Joker]

FFV was nothing special; it was still ATB =/

Tactics was pretty good, yes, but its battle system was horrendously easy to abuse. You could farm JP with zero effort in basically any battle, and you could get to LV99 long before the end of the first chapter of the game. Additionally, stuff like Math Skill breaks the game in half, and so do Reis and Orlandu. The most balanced part of it is the actual turn charging for abilities.

FFX's battle system was extremely well done and very deep, particularly when it came to higher levels tactics that were necessary to kill the arena bosses. Tactics is one of my favorite games ever, but so is FFX, and I honestly think X's battles were just...tighter (in that "tight handling" way). It was just so polished and fucking perfect and hnnnngh.

Not to mention that the Sphere Grid is possibly the best leveling and ability system ever (with the only others coming close being Materia, which was fucking pro, and the Job Class system).

 

[kyrt]

I will now bother to explain the concerns with Seymour. There are simple reasons why Yuna was never able to send him. The first and most obvious is that he never stayed around long enough to be sent. It's not like Yuna could have stopped everything and just performed the right without a problem they had issues to deal with (the reason she agreed to marriage was to send him but the arrival of her guardians meant that they would be attacked by the soldiers and etc... if anything happened to Seymour. They were wanted men and women after all as for the other time he kinda fell making it hard to reach him anyway. In all the circumstances staying alive was a bigger priority than sending him.

As far as Seymour's motivations go they make perfect sense. In the world of Spira once you died you simply appeared again in the land of the dead. We also saw from Seymour and others that no real punishments or restrictions were placed upon the dead.

Seymour wished destroy/help Spira 'speople by killing them all and it made sense. They would die but then could continue living their lives with their loved ones simply in the land of the dead. They would no longer feel pain (physical pain, pain of loss, or any type of suffering or sorrow) and no one would have to live through the idea that people would sacrifice themselves for a hopeless cause. Remember he was brought up thinking that Sin could never be permanently defeated as well and knew it couldn't be killed which meant the cycle would continue every 10 years regardless of what anyone did. By all accounts the world would continue to suffer one way or another until Sin died.

No one told him there might be a way to permanently defeat Sin. Nor would he brought up the way he was actually believe any of these words (everyone would be skeptical). So in his suffering he decided that since he was already suffering he would become Sin and end all life so that no one but he would have to suffer.

He may have been a bit "insane" but in the long run I think he really did have the best in mind for everyone even if it was a bit crazy.

just a few things to think about and most of this is pure speculation but some of it is true. poor seymour...what horrible fashion sense you had. If I were serious about this at all...

It was also the first game to have voices and for the first game to have voices it was relatively well done.

In regards to Rikku though she was family of Yuna...that was the real reason they accepted her into the party.

 

[Masamune]

Seymour wished destroy/help Spira 'speople by killing them all and it made sense. They would die but then could continue living their lives with their loved ones simply in the land of the dead.

Or, you know, turn into fiends.

Seymour was a fruitcake.