Final Fantasy X Community Playthrough

[ChipNoir]

Late to the party, again, but does it bug anyone else that Rikku's treasure chest gimick only shows up in three places in the entire game? I feel like this should have been at least a rare enemy for all locations after Rikku comes. It'd be a nice reason to backtrack to previous locations to hunt down treasure chests.

[Kionae]

Oh, god, imagine the kind of timesink a sidequest like that could have potentially created. Battle chests with super loot that only spawn at low probability under certain conditions. Now that's how you should have to obtain Rikku's celestial weapon... XD

[ChipNoir]

Gameplay question: Weapons with opposing elements! How do these functions?

And for that matter, stat wise what do you guys value more

For weapons : Does damage percentage or elemental weakness matter more?
For armor: Hp, or Mag/Defense?

[Kionae]

ChipNoir wrote:

For weapons : Does damage percentage or elemental weakness matter more?

Neither really? I like the ones that inflict status effects. I've been saved by things like darktouch, stonetouch, poisontouch, etc. so many times... And Evade & Counter, Triple AP, Break Damage Limit, and Overdrive to AP are awesome, too.

Also... never underestimate the value of Sensor.

ChipNoir wrote:

For armor: Hp, or Mag/Defense?

Again... I like the ones that prevent me from being afflicted by status effects. Nothing worse that being a few turns away from finishing off a boss and having everyone get creamed by Confuse, and then kill each other.

I like the Auto abilities, too (auto-shell, auto-regen, auto-protect, auto-phoenix, etc.).

And No Encounters is a must at some point.

[Ami]

On the Moonflow we can benefit from O'aka's charity if we've been donating to him. So... have you been funding our friend O'aka?

Yep! As painful as it is, it's so painful to donate to him. My beloved gil...

Now that Rikku is in the party, do you have any plans for special Customizations you've been looking forward to?

Not really. I'll just Mix like crazy for now and leave the customisation until later.

The Farplane is a bit iffy in the lore - the Al Bhed state that the pyreflies just create the vision of the dead, whereas the Yevonites believe it's truly the souls. It'd be easy to dismiss this if it weren't for other events later in the game and in FFX-2. What do you think?

I'd like to think there's a bit of truth in both of those statements. I'm honestly not sure what to think of it. It's a very odd topic.

Do the Thunder Plains annoy the ever-loving shit out of you or do you not mind them so much?

Yes, they annoy the shit out of me because I'm so bad at avoiding the lightning strikes. But then I do liiike to hear Rikku squeal during battle when she gets hit with a thunder spell.

Did you go against my advice and face the butterflies? Do you enjoy that sidequest?

I wanted to say death to the butterflies, but I successfully did two parts of it before doing the third and failing repeatedly. I had a lot of grinding to do in the meantime, so it wasn't all bad.

Given the last cutscene we see this chapter it's time to open up the Jecht can of worms. Do you think his feelings being expressed later make up for how he treated Tidus as a kid? Do you think there is more for him to repent for?

Maybe something bad happened to Jecht when he was younger to be so closed off to Tidus when he was a kid, it's something I've never thought about when I was younger as you're just enjoying the game at that age. There might be a bit more repent for on his end, it's just sad to see why we don't really see why he is the way he is.

[Jason Tandro]

Amizon wrote:

But then I do liiike to hear Rikku squeal during battle when she gets hit with a thunder spell.

If there is not already a huge collection of Rikku electroshock torture porn, this statement has predicated the need for its creation.

Fly DevantArtists, fly!

[Ami]

Did you have any trouble with the first machina boss? He can be a bit challenging if you're unprepared.

Not at all and that's unusual, considering I usually do. And in that unusual fashion, I didn't have everyone's Overdrive ready to go. I had a few turns with each character and then unleashed Ifrit with an Overkill. Boom! Job done.

Who did you end up riding on the snowmobile with? Apparently Lulu, Rikku, Auron and Kimahri are possible.

Lulu. I think her dialogue is the best out of all characters. However, saying that, I haven't rode with Auron and Kimahri either. I guess I'll need to YouTube them, as I didn't even know they were possible companions!

What are your thoughts on Seymour and his motivation, as well as the motivation of the Guado people who follow him?

Seymour's twisted, but it's gone to the point where he doesn't even realise how far down the line he's gone. The Guado are also blindly following him, probably because they don't know another way and let's not forget it was only Jyscal who forged the friendship between man and Guado not long ago, so that's another factor to play in there.

Did the infamous bout against (SPOILER) Anima ruin your day?

Like the machina boss, no. I only really started getting annoyed after Anima when Seymour started Multi-spelling me. Shiva pretty much got me out of that bind, delivering hit after hit and managing to get her Overdrive up before Anima... and Overkilling that bitch.

Based on what we find out in the Al Bhed Home do you think the kidnappings were justified or were they still a violation of rights, albeit a well-intentioned one?

I'd say a mix of both. The summoners there didn't seem TOO bothered by it, but were still determined to carry out their job at the end of the day. It didn't even look like they were openly opposing the Al Bhed and even so, they still sent the souls that lost their lives in the fight against the Guado.

[Jason Tandro]

CHAPTER 3

Jason Tandro wrote:

[list][*]Given the major revelation we get about Tidus's relationship with Sin, what are your thoughts? How do you think it works as a story element?

It's far from an unheard of connection in FF (or stories in general for that matter). What I like is that rather than being the shocking Act 2 revelation, Tidus has almost the entire game to dwell on what it means for their relationship.

[*]Dear god we're bringing it up again: What did you think about the laughing scene? You a hater or defender?

Still hate it for the same reasons I mentioned before. As I put it "just because you are trying to make something annoying doesn't make it not annoying." I understand it, I know what the voice actor had to say about it, but no.

[*]Question from ChipNoir that I wanted to add: What do you think about the lack of a water-based Aeon in a game surrounded by water? Why no Leviathan, Bismarck etc?

It bugs me, but only slightly. I think the argument that Sin as the Final Aeon of Braska was water themed is a decent argument though I'm not sure I agree with it.

[*]Were you able to beat the Chocobo Eater or did you have to walk the Old Road of Shame?

Beat him outright. Honestly have never successfully knocked him over the edge usually because I overpower him.

[*]Knowing what we know about Yevon, do you think Operation Mi'ihen was worth doing still or was is it a mistake? Not in terms of confirmation bias, do you think the plan itself was foolish or still admirable?

It was admirably foolish. They did something stupid for the right reasons, which is basically a sentence to describe all heroic actions.

[*]What do you think about the use of Ixion instead of the traditional Ramuh for our lightning themed summon this time around?

I really like Ixion but the missing Ramuh is weird, though whoever pointed out that Ramuh would have had to have a convo with Yuna is absolutely right. That said, it should have been that way anyways. The Bahamut Kid convo is kind of cool but Ramuh would have worked better. Plus if Sin is the Water Aeon then what beats water? Lightning. Boom.

[Kionae]

Can I just say... Blitzball can die in a goddamn fire. Whoever created this game needs to be shot, phoenix downed, and shot again. Then phoenix downed a second time, and Ultima'd into oblivion. Then located on the Farplane, and beaten senseless for all eternity with a Shiva-be-damned blitzball.

Wakka's is the only celestial weapon I don't have... all because of friggin' blitzball.

[Jason Tandro]

Chapter 6: I Can Fly
(aka "I am calm about most things.")
(aka "WE GOTTA PAY?!")

Time: Monday July 31 to Sunday August 06

Target: After Yuna and Tidus make FMV in the pool here.

This chapter is on the shorter side too, and almost all of it takes place in and around Bevelle.

First we must take our newly acquired airship to confront Evrae Altana, one of the more mechanically fascinating fights in the game imho and then we raid Bevelle and attempt to interrupt a sham marriage. Several other poor decisions later and the gang winds up in the Bevelle Temple solving another Cloister of Trials and obtaining Bahamut, the last Aeon we recieve as part of the story if we are normal mode scrubs who don't get the insanely powerful optional Aeons.

We then get imprisoned and have to escape through the Via Purifico and the random water torture cell of death, all to meet up and have a showdown with the big bad himself once more. We then escape to Macalania and have a touching romantic moment.

Discussion:

• How did you handle Evrae Altana on the first and second appearance? Did you prefer to keep him at a distance or fight up close? On his second appearance did you cheese the fight with a Phoenix Down?
• One thing I'd like your opinion on is was the sham marriage even needed? I realize it's meant to be a massive PR stunt of sorts but why does Seymour care about that at this point? Why does Yevon care for that matter?
• As we enter the game's third act how is your party doing? How have you developed Kimahri and your Aeons? Any noteworthy customizations?

[Kionae]

Chapter 6

How did you handle Evrae Altana on the first and second appearance? Did you prefer to keep him at a distance or fight up close? On his second appearance did you cheese the fight with a Phoenix Down?

With the exception of Wakka, my ranged fighters kind of sucked at this point because I hate them and I don't level them like I should. So I stuck close during the first battle, and occasionally summoned. I totally phoenix down'd his ass in the Via Purifico. If Square didn't want me to do it, they wouldn't have given me the option.

One thing I'd like your opinion on is was the sham marriage even needed? I realize it's meant to be a massive PR stunt of sorts but why does Seymour care about that at this point? Why does Yevon care for that matter?

I don't think Yevon cares about it at all, beyond the PR angle. As for Seymour... I think in his twisted little mind he just really, REALLY wanted to recreate the whole situation between Yunalesca and Zaon. He wanted that mythology to follow him as her Final Aeon as he went on to destroy the world as Sin.

As we enter the game's third act how is your party doing? How have you developed Kimahri and your Aeons? Any noteworthy customizations?

Aside from upping Valefor's HP and evasion, I haven't done much with the aeons. Kimahri is winding his way down Wakka's path right now for his status attacks, and I think I'll eventually move him over to Auron's and make him a melee fighter.

[Flare]

I've finally finished chapter 3! This one has lots and lots of walking in it, took me a while. I also am still playin XIV alongside it. Juggling two games again, silly me, when will I learn?

Anywho onto the discussion and some extra bits!

Chapter 3
Discussion:

Given the major revelation we get about Tidus's relationship with Sin, what are your thoughts? How do you think it works as a story element?

I like the whole plot point. I also like that it's revealed early on and isn't some epic reveal moments before the end. It adds more weight to it this way; deep down Tidus knows Auron's right, but you can see that by the end of this chapter he's still telling him he doesn't fully believe him.
Tidus and Jecht have an interesting father/son relationship. There's a lot of pain there, Jecht obviously wasn't a very good father when he was still in Zanarkand 'raising' Tidus. He taunted Tidus and made fun of him, he drank a lot, he was very egotistical; the only time you see Jecht show a different side was around his wife. He seemed much more calm and relaxed. But around his son he wasn't (at least what we really see). It isn't until Jecht goes to Spira that he changes, drastically.
The event changes him for the better. I won't go into details until I reach later chapters, but you catch glimpses of it already just in the way Yuna and Auron talk about him.
Tidus hates Jecht; He hates Jecht for the way he treated him as a child, and he hates him for disappearing/dying. But it's not all hate. I think Tidus wanted Jecht to praise him too. Tidus became a famous blitzball player in his own right back in Zanarkand; he did 'follow in Jecht's footsteps' but he strove to make himself different from his father.
Sin being Jecht is a favorite story reveal of mine.

Dear god we're bringing it up again: What did you think about the laughing scene? You a hater or defender?

I love the scene. I still never fully understand why people rant about it so much. When I see that scene happening after the Sin is Jecht reveal, I feel like Tidus is trying not to cry. He's starting to realize he's stuck in Spira forever. He's not going back home to Zanarkand. His old man is this monster that goes around killing people and destroying cities in Spira until summoners stop him. At that point I would think anyone would want to just rage and cry and just not know what to do. So there's Yuna, telling him what she does; smiles when she's feeling sad. Her quiet strength is what helps Tidus get through this.
The part where he's forcing out this stupid, painful laugh is one of my favorite scenes in the game. So much emotion to be had. Once he starts he doesn't stop until it devolves into a small, genuine laughter. It's a scene about releasing the pain and pent-up emotions.
Of course it doesn't all go away so easily but, I think it definitely helped him at the time.

Question from ChipNoir that I wanted to add: What do you think about the lack of a water-based Aeon in a game surrounded by water? Why no Leviathan, Bismarck etc?

I honestly didn't think about this before. Could've been because the game is so heavily based around water. I think the idea that Sin is sort of the water based Aeon is a good solution, if you feel the need for there to be one. Sin is Jecht after all, makes sense that he'd be a water Aeon. (thinking of, I wonder if Sin has always looked the same in the past?)
It's also possible that a water Aeon does exist, or at least did, but their temple and Fayth has been destroyed from a Sin attack. I mean there's some optional Aeons in the game already, Aeons that've been forgotten by the larger population, so clearly not every Fayth needs to be reached in order to do the Final Summoning.

Were you able to beat the Chocobo Eater or did you have to walk the Old Road of Shame?

I knocked him off the other side of the cliff That might've been the first or second time I've done that. I remember my first couple playthroughs years ago he knocked me into the ravine.

Knowing what we know about Yevon, do you think Operation Mi'ihen was worth doing still or was is it a mistake? Not in terms of confirmation bias, do you think the plan itself was foolish or still admirable?

It was worth doing. I think it was admirable. Regardless about the Maesters giving it their sanction and their hopes for what would happen when it failed, the people doing it were admirable. For the reasons Yuna said. Even if they fail, they're doing it to try and rid the world of Sin. Knowing that they might all die, they still went ahead to do it. That to me is admirable. Their intentions were brave. In a world wracked with pain constantly caused by Sin, I would've tried the same.

What do you think about the use of Ixion instead of the traditional Ramuh for our lightning themed summon this time around?

I love Ixion more than Ramuh probably, so I'm fine with it. Not only does Ixion have an amazing design, but it fits in with X's Aeons having 'beastly' designs to counter their original human forms.
I love X's mix of new and old Aeons, Valefor is probably my favorite 'new summon' design <3. As a whole I think X's group of summons might be my favorite. IX is a close follow-up though.


Extra stuff
BLITZBAAALLLLLL

Why does half your starting team suck so much. So I forgot to scout in Luca. But I got Ropp from Rin's travel agency and he's been helping out in defense so yay. XD I've played uh, 6/7 games so far. One of them was an exhibition match; I thought you didn't gain experience, so I clicked it to see and then... you can't backspace out of the option. Wtf. So I just went ahead and did it. But playing that match I was a lot more chill, so I took that approach into my next league game and... I beat the Kilika Beasts 5-0 Seriously I hadn't won a game in the league until that moment. The Guado's and Al Bhed have some insanely good teammates (one of them has a goalie that had 18 CAT and Tidus's SHT was only 12 )
Anyhow the win has bolstered my confidence and I'm getting better at playing I think. Really enjoying it this time around. I don't play at every save sphere like Ite and his fiancee, but that reminds me, my cousin does the same thing when she has a playthrough. In fact it's her copy of the game that I'm borrowing for my PS2 XD

Also, a side note about the linear aspect of X. You know, XIII has a linear story, hugely linear, until the end a bit. But I never had this much fun with XIII's linearity. In fact I've never complained about X's. This is interesting to me a bit because I do like XIII but I feel that X somehow did the linear aspect better. o.o
I playd X off the back of IX, which of course had the world map traveling that makes you feel a lot more free. But I didn't really grasp that X was more linear until later years, funnily enough. I think X's story sucked me up so much that I never even cared/thought of the fact that I was just running down these roads to the next destination.
And I still don't.

[Teioh]

Chapter Five

Did you have any trouble with the first machina boss? He can be a bit challenging if you're unprepared.

No trouble at all. Summoned Ixion and used Shield when it was time for mana beam. Used Thor’s Hammer when ready to overkill.

Who did you end up riding on the snowmobile with? Apparently Lulu, Rikku, Auron and Kimahri are possible.

Rikku! I usually get Lulu. It was sweet and all but Lulu’s is still the better conversation imo.

What are your thoughts on Seymour and his motivation, as well as the motivation of the Guado people who follow him?

Seymour is what I expect from a Final Fantasy antagonist, destruction and chaos. I am more interested in what the Guado are doing following him though. Do they know about his plan or are they just following him because he’s their leader? And what exactly do Guado do to Guado who kill one of their own? Tromell says they deal with their own business their way, but no action seems to be taken against Seymour. Does that mean leaders are above such things? And iirc one of the Guado back in Guadosalam said that their race is dying out, are they hoping Seymour will save them somehow or do they know everything Seymour has planned and it is because they are a dying race that they have no problem with it? Questions, questions.

Did the infamous bout against (SPOILER) ruin your day?

Nope. Used Shiva, was aiming to get her Overdrive up to finish it but the last attack of mine got an overkill anyway. Used the overdrive on Seymour instead for another overkill.

Based on what we find out in the Al Bhed Home do you think the kidnappings were justified or were they still a violation of rights, albeit a well-intentioned one?

Summoners made their decision knowing what it would mean for them in the end and just because people don’t like it, it doesn’t give them the right to imprison them. Did the Al Bhed plan on keeping them there until they had figured out how to defeat Sin without sacrificing summoners? Because that’d be an indeterminate imprisonment time. Did they plan on kidnapping every summoner for generations to come until they came up with a plan? How long did they think they could get away with it until Yevonites came looking for them? I get why they did it and knowing that Yuna was on her pilgrimage may have forced them to take action first with the intention of coming up with a plan later. Maybe they even thought that Operation Mi’ihen would be successful in killing Sin and that would be that. Well-intentioned as the question asks but still wrong.


Extras

Not much to report this time. Grinded at Home and Rikku has reached the end of her grid, which means I now have Bribe! Woo! I don’t know when I’ll get lv. 3 spheres to move her on though. May have to gather SLs and move her to where I can break through to someone else’s grid.

[Teioh]

Chapter Six

How did you handle Evrae Altana on the first and second appearance? Did you prefer to keep him at a distance or fight up close? On his second appearance did you cheese the fight with a Phoenix Down?

I kept him up close and didn’t even use Cid to move the airship. Al Bhed potions kept the party healthy as Auron and Tidus chipped away at his HP. On the second fight I decided to do it the old fashioned way to see if I could get an overkill. I wasn’t sure if you could get one with a Phoenix Down. Had Rikku use Luck and Tidus with Cheer to up the chance of getting an overkill. I couldn’t see what damage I was doing as the writing was off screen but the orange overkill was just about visible. Very satisfying.

One thing I'd like your opinion on is was the sham marriage even needed? I realize it's meant to be a massive PR stunt of sorts but why does Seymour care about that at this point? Why does Yevon care for that matter?

From Yevon’s perspective it’s all about giving the people hope imo. Keep them happy enough and they’ll accept the status quo. Seymour - I’m going to agree with Kionae on that one. If you’re going to destroy the world anyway you may as well do it in style and do what you want to do beforehand. I would like to say that a part of him wants, as his mother wanted, to be loved by the people of Spira but I’m not completely convinced on that one tbh.

As we enter the game's third act how is your party doing? How have you developed Kimahri and your Aeons? Any noteworthy customizations?

Both Auron and Tidus have now joined Rikku at the end of their grids. Lulu and Wakka will soon reach the end of theirs. Kimarhi is lagging behind as I took a detour to collect the nul-elements. He is currently working his way up through Tidus’s grid to break through to Auron but at this rate Auron may get there first. I haven’t touched customisations yet, probably why I had a little trouble with Seymour as I usually have a few element-proof equipment lying around by now. I think I taught Valefor Protect but that’s about it. At this stage of the game Aeons get called to finish a battle not to fight them. I’ll teach them more once I get to the Monster Arena.


Extras

• Yuna summoning and getting caught by Valefor as she falls is another of my favourite scenes to watch. The Macalania lake scene, not so much.
• Bloody Bevelle cloister, man I hate it. I restarted the game as I forgot to bring another Bevelle sphere with me and I had already moved the pedestal where I couldn’t push it back. All for a lousy weapon. Why did I even bother
• I encountered two glitches in this chapter! After Yuna obtains Bahamut and during the conversation with Kinoc, Kinoc glitched and was facing the wrong way. I was amused.
• But the second glitch wasn’t so amusing. Whilst controlling only Yuna in Via Purifico the camera angle suddenly turned so that it was fixed on the ceiling. I had to use the mini-map to navigate and kept getting into battles. It fixed itself once I found Lulu.

[Ami]

How did you handle Evrae Altana on the first and second appearance? Did you prefer to keep him at a distance or fight up close? On his second appearance did you cheese the fight with a Phoenix Down?

The first time was much better than when I first tackled him all those years ago. I was mentioning on stream to a viewer how it took me 2-3 weeks to beat him and it was probably due to me being so under-levelled. I mostly fought up close, but was lucky to avoid his spray attack at one point.

As for the second time, 'twas easy. Threw two Phoenix Downs at him and he departed to the Farplane. Wasn't really in the mood to do a fullscale battle. It was a nice plus to get an Overkill, too!

One thing I'd like your opinion on is was the sham marriage even needed? I realize it's meant to be a massive PR stunt of sorts but why does Seymour care about that at this point? Why does Yevon care for that matter?

With Seymour, I truly believe it's all about control and the sham marriage wasn't just control, but to get one over the guardians (Tidus in particular). Despite what happened at Macalania Temple, this is Yevon's way of asserting control over the people and trying to show it's all plain sailing.

As we enter the game's third act how is your party doing? How have you developed Kimahri and your Aeons? Any noteworthy customizations?

I feel like I'm a bit behind than what I would be, but it's not going too bad. I did get a Game Over in the Seymour fight (STUPID BREAK BASTARD BITCH MOTHAFUCKA!!) and this showed it.

Kimahri was on Wakka's route, but now he's on Auron's. I want two strong characters to pierce through armour.

I also haven't really developed the aeons, I mostly leave all that until after Zanarkand and we get the airship. A lot of that comes from a certain temple in the Calm Lands and farming stuff...