Final Fantasy retrospective: Part VII

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 28th 2007 at 8:56PM }

The Final Fantasy X series on the PS2: Behold the summonings, the whining heros, and the fashion! Final Fantasy X followed the story of Tidus, a blitzball player who is ripped out of his dimension by his father's adventuring companion just as the city he lives in is destroyed by the indescribable Sin. When Tidus comes to, he meets the summoner Lady Yuna and they proceed to have their girlish infatuation with each other for the rest of the story. They defeat Sin and save Yuna's world ... and for the first time ever, that wasn't the end of the tale.

Final Fantasy X-2, love it or hate it, it was the first true sequel to a Final Fantasy story ever and it went all-out in breaking the traditional mold, but still gave nods to some series conventions. Three female leads, J-pop musical numbers and fashion, fashion, fashion! Many gamers dismiss Final Fantasy X-2 -- for obvious surface reasons -- but from a purely combat perspective, it's still more truly Final Fantasy than the the MMO-style combat offerings coming up in Final Fantasy XI and XII.

See also: Part I & II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI

Tags: finalfantasy, finalfantasyretrospective, retrospective

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Cartman86 @ Aug 28th 2007 9:18PM

I liked the music in X-2 and the pop stuff wasn't annoying at all. It just wasn't that fun of a game. It didn't feel epic in any way. Not a bad game, but when you have the Final Fantasy label you expect something very special.

blooh @ Aug 28th 2007 9:22PM

i didnt try ffx-2, but i can relate, ff12 never felt epic for me either :(

LAboy @ Aug 28th 2007 9:20PM

wow, FF looks too complicated for me:p Too many commands and stuff.

blooh @ Aug 28th 2007 9:23PM

yeah you don't just press A and RT

LAboy @ Aug 28th 2007 9:30PM

Pickup and play kinda game..That's why I love Gears.

Devon Meunier @ Aug 28th 2007 9:39PM

I love how they gloss over the fact that X-2 was panned by so many.

Skippy @ Aug 28th 2007 9:56PM

I will call FFX a truly epic rpg. Fantastic graphics, deep combat system, solid music (mostly), and a well-written (albeit sometimes confusing), emotional plot. Boo to all the haters who criticize Tidus just because he didn't fit the typica dark, moody hero mold (like Cloud or Squall). However, I think we can all agree that X-2 sucked hard. Real hard.

blooh @ Aug 28th 2007 11:11PM

I tried ffx but quit after 7 hours and never turned it on again. ehh

Vegnagun @ Sep 5th 2007 10:50AM

Blooh you should give it another shot. I loved FFX, but I had played most of the games in the series before it and FFX was kind of odd on the outset. The attempt to be edgy with the opening movie is kind of weird, and Tidus isn't an all too likable character in the beginning. The story is amazing though, and it's (at least imo) the deepest story ever in a video game, and starts getting really existentialistic near the end. The music is amazing, but the voice acting is kind of spotty. Get past the beginning and you'll probably love it when the real plot twists start hitting the fan.

FFX-2 blows, even if you play through FFX, pretend like it's not there. It's the red-headed step child of FF.

hvnlysoldr @ Aug 28th 2007 10:16PM

Weirdly I wanted to play these games but completely gave up on FF. I find I like the older ones and have found little interest in the newer ones. I mean I do like how the visuals style has gotten but only 9 which is a throwback actually captures me. I'll just live them through my brother's experience.

tmacairjordan87 @ Aug 28th 2007 10:24PM

this came closest to knocking FF7 off the top of my list as any game ever has, truly a legendary game

soccerdrew17 @ Aug 28th 2007 11:09PM

ffx, my favorite rpg story and japan agrees too. ffx top ffvii in famitsu's top 100 games of all time. absolute classic upon completion.

didnt play ffx-2, cause i didnt want to touch ffx.

jesus_bon_jovi @ Aug 28th 2007 11:17PM

I hated FFX the story was too weird for me.. too many religious and spiritual references for me... also the damn game didnt even have a world map i felt so limited.

NobleArc @ Aug 29th 2007 12:00AM

When are they going to cover Final Fantasy Tactics in this series? =\

blooh @ Aug 29th 2007 12:19AM

I dunno man, but that's the best one. I've played over 1000 hours of FFT. It has by far the best story of any FF. Very complex but it all makes sense if you play thru a few times. I wish they'd make a true sequel to it

Untamed @ Aug 29th 2007 12:18AM

I put 23 hours into X, got to the calm lands and the battle with the Ronsos and haven't touched it in 2 years now.

I never really enjoyed it, it was more work than fun.

And those damn temple puzzles. I DESPISED them. I also DESPISED blitzball, if I wanted any sort of sports game, I'd buy one.

As for X-2, I've played only the beginning part up to the end of the first mission. Seems pretty entertaining, moreso than X itself. I'll eventually pick it up again.

As for XII, I've only looked at the case. Too busy with Persona 3 and Tales of the Abyss after that.

jmstrath @ Aug 29th 2007 12:55AM

FFX was a masterpiece and the only FF that rivals VII. If it wasn't for the excessive cut scenes and being forced to play blitzball, it may have been the best ever. It was just so deep in the customization and the graphics were great, as well.

I also agree with Tactics being fantastic. I played that game through probably 10 times. The job classes and the story were great.

ogvor @ Aug 29th 2007 1:34AM

I'm really appreciating all these retrospectives from gametrailers. I started gaming on the original gameboy (never had a nintendo console till the gamecube) so I know pretty much all about the Zelda series and the Final Fantasy series, which I had always been put off by all the Androgynous she males in the later games. I especially enjoyed the retrospective on the metroid series, since I did play every recent entry in that series. Since seeing these retrospectives, I'm now playing FFIV and Super Metroid on an SNES emulator.

Look forward to the end of the series!

Jeff @ Aug 29th 2007 2:19AM

FFX was the first final fantasy i played.

It got me 100% hooked on the series, and on RPG's in general.

Despite going back and playing all other earlier final fantasies, nothing can compare to FFX for me. The storyline was fantastic, the characters were so deep and real feeling, and the game just felt so epic.

I really loved the world of FFX and something about the whole game just clicked with me. I loved being able to take the battles slowly and plan out my moves like playing chess (this was particularly useful to a new RPG'er like me). The linearity of the story was also a big plus for me, it really felt like playing in a storyline, instead of having storyline between the gameplay (if you know what i mean).

I also played ffx-2, but only to see the story pan out. I didn't get the bonus endings, i just watched those online. It wassn't worth doing all those minigames just to see it. It was overall a pretty shoddy game in my opinion and despite having some fairly nice battle gameplay and levelling system, the horrendous sequel-esque story to a game that i loved so much just felt wrong. Everything was a bit too happy and smiley for my liking.

All in all, i think FFX will probably remain my favourite rpg, or even my favourite game for years to come. Whenever i play a new RPG, i always go back to compare it to FFX. For comparison sake and also to help me understand new concepts - "Aaaah so these talent points in WoW are like the spheregrid from FFX you say?" :P

FFX was as close to a perfect game as i think you could get.

Charles @ Aug 29th 2007 8:16AM

My initial reaction to Final Fantasy X was that it was the first of the worst. However, I did say initial reaction. Having played VI-IX in the years prior to X I think one of the things that threw me off the most was the inclusion of voice acting. I simply wasn't used to it in FF games. Brother in particualar was annoying (even more so in X-2). I never related to Tidus as much as Cloud or Squall, so that was another set back in my mind at the time.

It was interesting to read your comments about FFX, however, simply because my own opinion of the game was so completely different. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that for most people, their first Final Fantasy is their favorite (so, FFVI for me).

I've since replayed X and even went on to play X-2 (which, by comparison, negates any flaws X had) and while I hated the linearity and lack of an overworld map that I had grown accustomed to in previous games, I'll still end up replaying the game again some day. Besides, Auron kicks ass.

Nate @ Aug 29th 2007 3:49AM

They got something wrong: FFVIII was the first one in the series to give the summons/Aeons/GF's HP. When you first select them, their HP bar replaces the characters until they appear. It's not quite in the same way as FFX, but it's still there.

Geoff @ Aug 29th 2007 9:24PM

I noticed that too - and, just like FFX, you could use your Guardian Forces to defend against incoming attacks, if you timed them right.

Speaking of VIII, and in response to the comments above about having a preference to your first ever FF game, VIII was my first, and was my favourite: there is definitely a correlation. Since then, I have gone back and played several of the earlier games (via my DS, mostly), and all of the 3D ones. Loved VI, IX and X, although none have moved me quite like VIII. Never got into VII, despite several attempts.

X was fab, and Blitzball, if you put up with the initial slog, was awesome as a minigame (still, Triple Triad takes the minigame award for me). X-2... if its battle system had been carried to a different game, it would have worked. But I hated the Gullwings - Brother in particular - and the changes to Yuna just riled me.