Final Fantasy X
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is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix. It is the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series and the first game of the series to be released on the Sony PlayStation 2. Introduced in 2001, it was once among the top twenty best-selling console games of all time, and has sold in excess of 7.93 million copies worldwide. Set in the fantasy world of Spira, the game's story centers around a group of adventurers and their quest to defeat a rampaging force known as "Sin".The game is significant in the Final Fantasy series in that it marks the transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas with the PlayStation 2’s robust graphical capabilities (although two-dimensional backdrops are present in certain building interiors). Additionally, it is the first in the series to feature a wide range of realistic facial expressions, as well as other technological developments in graphical effects, such as variance in lighting and shadow from one section of a character's clothing to the next. Final Fantasy X is also the first in the series to feature voice-over actors, as well as the first to spawn a direct sequel, Final Fantasy X-2.
Final Fantasy X marks a number of other significant advances in the Final Fantasy series. For instance, because of the implementation of voice-overs, scenes in the game are paced according to the time taken for dialogue to be spoken, whereas previous games in the series incorporated scrolling subtitles. Final Fantasy X also features changes in world design, with a focus placed on realism. The gameplay makes a significant departure from past games as well, with several new elements incorporated.
Gameplay
Like previous games in the series, Final Fantasy X is presented in third person perspective, with players directly navigating the main character, Tidus, around the world to interact with objects and people. Unlike in previous games, however, the world and town maps have been fully integrated, with terrain outside of cities rendered to scale. When an enemy is encountered, the environment switches to a turn-based "battle area" where characters and enemies must await their turn to attack.In line with previous Final Fantasy titles, players are given the opportunity to develop and improve their characters by defeating enemies and acquiring items, though the traditional experience point system was replaced by a new system called the "Sphere Grid". The gameplay was also to feature online elements, but these were dropped during production, and online multiplayer gaming would not become part of the Final Fantasy series until Final Fantasy XI.
Field map
Final Fantasy X
Map director Takayoshi Nakazato has explained that with Final Fantasy X, he wanted to implement a world map concept with a more realistic approach than that of the traditional Final Fantasy game, in-line with the realism afforded by the mechanics of the game's dominant 3D backgrounds, as opposed to that offered by pre-rendered backgrounds (which he refers to as "pseudo 3D environments").
Battle system
Final Fantasy X introduces the Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system in place of the series' traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system. Whereas the ATB concept features real-time elements, the CTB system is a turn-based format that pauses the battle during each of the player's turns. Thus, the CTB design gives the player an indefinite period of time to select an action. The CTB system also allows characters' and enemies' attributes and actions to affect the number of turns they are allowed and the order in which they occur. The game provides a graphical timeline along the upper-right side of the screen, detailing who will be receiving turns next, as well as how various actions taken (such as using the magical spell Slow on the enemy) will affect the subsequent order of turns.
Character-specific special abilities (known as "Desperation Attacks" in Final Fantasy VI, "Limit Breaks" in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII, and "Trances" in Final Fantasy IX) reappear in Final Fantasy X under the name "Overdrives". In this new incarnation of the feature, most of the techniques are interactive, requiring fighting game-style button inputs or precise timing to increase their effectiveness. Furthermore, the game introduces Overdrive Modes, which allow the player to designate what circumstances (such as receiving damage, slaying an enemy, or being the only living character on the field) cause the Overdrive meter to fill.
Final Fantasy X allows the player to control only up to three characters in battle at once, but an innovative "swapping system" allows the player to replace any of those characters with one of the characters on the sidelines at any time. When all seven of the game's regular characters are available, this means that three characters are active and four are on the sidelines. The player is encouraged to switch active characters frequently based on two factors of gameplay. First, those characters who do not take an active role in the battle will not receive stat and ability bonuses.
Second, each character has specific strengths and limitations for most of the game: Yuna has the greatest skill at healing with White Magic and can use summon spells; Rikku is adept at using and stealing items; Tidus can use time-altering magic and accurately strike agile enemies; Wakka can inflict negative status effects and accurately strike flying enemies; Auron can pierce enemies' defenses; Kimahri can use enemy skills and jump high into the air; and Lulu has elemental Black Magic spells best-suited for use against enemies associated with an opposing element. Specialized enemies are generally much more difficult to defeat without the appropriate character, so the gameplay encourages users to make significant use of all or most of the available characters at various times.
Final Fantasy X also introduces an overhaul of the summoning system employed in the previous eight games in the series. Whereas in previous games a summoned creature would arrive, perform a single action, and then depart, Final Fantasy X
Originally, Final Fantasy X was also to feature wandering enemies visible on the field map, seamless transitions into battles, and the option for players to move around the landscape during enemy encounters. Battle art director Shintaro Takai has explained that it was his intention that battles in Final Fantasy X come across as a natural part of the story and not an independent element. However, due to hardware and system limitations, these ideas (later dubbed the "Active Dimension Battle" system) were not used until Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII. Instead, a compromise was made, whereby some transitions from the field screen to battle arenas were made relatively seamless with the implementation of a motion blur effect. The desire for seamless transitions also led to the implementation of the new summoning system seen in the game.
Sphere Grid
Final Fantasy X
Producer Yoshinori Kitase has explained that the purpose behind the Sphere Grid is to give players an interactive means of increasing their characters' attributes, such that they will be able to observe the development of those attributes firsthand. The Sphere Grid system also allows players to fully customize characters in contrast to their intended battle roles, such as turning the magician Yuna into a physical powerhouse and the swordsman Auron into a healer. The International version of the game includes an optional "Expert" version of the Sphere Grid; in this version, all of the characters start in the middle of the grid and may follow whichever path the player chooses. As a tradeoff, however, the Expert grid has noticeably fewer nodes in total, thus decreasing the total statistic upgrades available during the game.
Story and setting
The world of Final Fantasy X is known as "Spira". It consists of one large landmass in roughly three subcontinents, surrounded by a number of small islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the tropical Besaid and Kilika islands to the temperate Mi'ihen region to the arctic Macalania and Mount Gagazet.
Although it is predominantly populated by humans, Spira features a variety of races. Among them are the Al Bhed, a technologically-advanced but disenfranchised sub-group of humans with spiral-green eyes. The Guado are somewhat less human in appearance, with elongated fingers and other subtle differences. They also have a natural propensity for magic and conjuring monsters. Still less human in appearance are the large, lion-like, one-horned Ronso, the frog-like Hypello and the cactus-like Cactuars.
Spira also features various animal species. Although most of these are drawn from real animals, such as cats, dogs, birds and butterflies, a few fictional species appear, such as the gigantic, amphibious shoopuf and the emu-like chocobo. Both are used primarily for transport purposes. Most other unusual creatures encountered in Final Fantasy X are fiends.
Spira is very different from the mainly European-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on Southeast Asia, most notably with respect to its vegetation, topography, architecture and names. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has identified the South Pacific, Thailand and Japan as major influences on the cultural and geographic design of Spira, particularly concerning the geographic locations of Besaid and Kilika. He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games most notably in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process. Though a southeast Asian theme is dominant, like other games in the franchise, Final Fantasy X borrows elements from many other cultures, featuring references to Hindu, Germanic, Arabian, Greek and other mythologies. Modern philosophy is also represented, with Carl Jung's Anima represented by the aeon Anima.
Mythology
The most distinctive, basic features of Final Fantasy X
One of the tasks of a summoner in Final Fantasy X is to help guide stray pyreflies to their final resting place, a mystical domain guarded by the Guado and known as the Farplane. They do this through a ritual dance known as "the sending". The other chief function of summoners is to summon aeons, fierce magical creatures created when people sacrifice their lives to encase their souls within statues, becoming fayth. Fayth grant summoners the ability to summon their respective aeons, which are described as "dreams of the fayth". Summoners are charged with the duty of defeating Sin, a gigantic monster that has plagued Spira for a thousand years, capable of wiping out entire towns and armies with ease.
Spira's human population is deeply religious and centered around the temples of Yevon, a millennium-old religious organization that has gained enormous influence. The Yevonite temples consider Sin a divine punishment set upon people for their pride in the use of machines (or machina, as they are called in the game),Tidus: Yuna, why does Sin always come back? / Yuna: Sin is our punishment for our vanity. And it will not go away until we've atoned. (Final Fantasy X) and forbid the use of advanced technology. However it is eventually revealed that the highest priests, known as the maesters, have become increasingly corrupt and unfaithful to their own doctrine, making use of machina to increase their power.
Summoners go on pilgrimages to gather aeons and increase their powers. They are accompanied by guardians, trained fighters whose duty is to protect the summoners and assist them along the way. The end of the pilgrimage is in the sacred ruined city of Zanarkand, where summoners acquire the Final Aeon, the only known power that can destroy Sin. It is revealed late in Final Fantasy X that the fayth for the Final Aeon is actually created from one who is personally close to a summoner, requiring a guardian of each summoner who defeats Sin to sacrifice his or her life.Yunalesca: You must choose the one whom I will change... to become the fayth of the Final Summoning. There must be a bond, between chosen and summoner, for that is what the Final Summoning embodies: the bond between husband and wife, mother and child, or between friends. If that bond is strong enough, its light will conquer Sin. (Final Fantasy X) Additionally, using the Final Aeon against Sin costs the summoner's life as well.Tidus: Why couldn't they trust guardians to protect summoners... The Al Bhed had no right stopping their pilgrimage! / Rikku: The pilgrimages have to stop! If they don't, and they get to Zanarkand... They might defeat Sin. Yunie could...but then she... Yunie will die, you know? You know, don't you? Summoners journey to get the Final Aeon. Yuna told you, didn't she? With the Final Aeon, she can beat Sin...but then... If she calls it, then the Final Aeon's gonna kill her. Even if she defeats Sin, it will kill Yunie too, you know? (Final Fantasy X) However, even this measure is only temporary: after a few years of peace, known as "the Calm",Tidus: What's the calm? / Lulu: The Calm is a time of peace. It comes after a summoner defeats Sin, and lasts until Sin reappears. (Final Fantasy X) Sin returns, thus requiring the process to start anew.
Characters
The playable characters in Final Fantasy X are Tidus, an energetic and upbeat blitzball star with a strong sense of heroism; Yuna, a reserved and dutiful summoner, who always puts others before herself; Kimahri, a quiet exile of the Ronso Tribe, both fierce and gentle, devoted to protecting Yuna above all else; Wakka, a blitzball player and devout follower of the Yevon order, who has been a friend to Yuna since childhood; Lulu, a gloomy but compassionate Black Mage, who has also been friends with Yuna since they were children; Auron, a cynical and bitter ex-warrior monk dedicated to protecting Tidus and Yuna; and Rikku, a perky Al Bhed girl with extensive knowledge of machinery.
The primary antagonists of the game are Seymour Guado and the other maesters of the Yevon religion, while the rampaging Sin serves as the primary source of conflict. In addition, there is a vast supporting cast of named characters, who — along with the main characters — feature voice talents complementing their principle roles, as well as the myriad incidental characters that have traditionally populated the worlds of Final Fantasy.
Character designer Tetsuya Nomura took particular care in each of the characters' designs. For example, Nomura based Yuna's overall design on Okinawan kimonos. When he learned the character was to perform the sending dance, he wanted to give her outfit something that would flow. For this reason, the specific style of kimono he chose for her was a furisode, a kimono bearing long sleeves. Additionally, he adorned her dress and necklace with images of the flower also called "Yuna" (Hibiscus tiliaceus), and her name carries the meaning of "night" in Okinawan, a direct contrast with Tidus' Japanese name, "Tīda", the Okinawan word for "sun". Nomura has explained that while all these subtle details may be unnecessary, he does not want his designs to be without explanation.
For minor characters, sub-character chief designer Fumi Nakashima's focus was to ensure that characters from different regions and cultures bore distinctive characteristics in their clothing styles, such that they could be quickly and easily identified as members of their respective sub-groups. For example, the masks and goggles of the Al Bhed — in her words — give the group a "strange and eccentric" appearance, while the attire of the Ronso lend to them being able to easily engage in battle.
Plot
Final Fantasy X begins late in the story, with the main character, Tidus, waiting with his allies outside the ruined city of Zanarkand. From this in medias res beginning, Tidus proceeds to narrate the series of events leading up to his present situation, and this extended flashback spans most of the game's storyline. The flashback begins in an unruined Zanarkand, a high-tech metropolis and Tidus' home city, where he is a renowned star of the fictional underwater sport blitzball. When Zanarkand is suddenly attacked by Sin during a blitzball game, Tidus — along with his long-time mentor, Auron — is sucked into the creature and awakens to find himself alone in the ruins of a deserted temple.
Tidus is rescued by some Al Bhed divers in the area, and one of them, Rikku, tells him that his city had been destroyed a thousand years ago. He has little time to dwell on the significance of this news before Sin attacks again, separating Tidus from the others. He eventually washes up on the tropical island of Besaid, where he meets Wakka, captain of the local blitzball team. Impressed by Tidus' skills, Wakka asks Tidus to join his team in an upcoming tournament in Luca, suggesting that he may meet someone he knows there.
Tidus is introduced to Yuna, a young summoner who is following in the footsteps of her deceased father Braska, who temporarily vanquished Sin ten years prior. Braska's guardians were Auron and Jecht, Tidus' missing father, who had been assumed dead at sea ten years earlier.Zanar: I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone, vanished into thin air! .../ Zanar: Anyways... Ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! (Final Fantasy X)Tidus: Sounds like him, but it can't be him. / Yuna: Why not? / Tidus: My old man, he died. Ten years ago, off the coast of Zanarkand. / Yuna: I'm sorry. / Tidus: He went out to sea for training one day...and never came back. And no one's seen him since then. / Yuna: Why, that's the day that Jecht came to Spira. It's true! I first met Jecht ten years and three months ago! (Final Fantasy X) Tidus also meets Lulu and Kimahri, who, along with Wakka, are to serve as Yuna's guardians after the blitzball tournament, journeying with her on her pilgrimage to the ruins of Zanarkand. There, she plans to acquire the power to summon the "Final Aeon" and use it to defeat Sin.
The party travels by boat to Kilika, where Sin is encountered yet again, devastating the town, and then to Luca. After the blitzball tournament, the party encounters Auron, who joins the group. Not long after, following an encounter with Sin where an entire army of crusaders are wiped out, they are joined by Rikku, who is revealed to be Yuna's cousin.Rikku: Hey, do I look like Yunie, you think? / Tidus: (Huh?) / Rikku: Well, my dad's sister is Yunie's mother, you get it? (Final Fantasy X)
The party also encounters Seymour Guado, leader of the Guado and a maester of Yevon. Although he initially presents himself as an ally, even joining the party for a single battle, it later becomes apparent that he is a madman who wishes to merge with Sin so that he may use its power to kill everyone in Spira in what he believes to be an act of compassion. For this reason, he attempts to force Yuna to marry him, so that he may become her Final Aeon, and thus become Sin.Seymour: Death is a sweet slumber. All the pain of life is gently swept away... Ah, yes. So you see... if all life were to end in Spira, all suffering would end. Don't you see? Do you not agree? That, Yuna, is why I need you. I will take from you your strength, Yuna, your life, and become the next Sin. I will destroy Spira! I will save it! (Final Fantasy X) Although Seymour is killed after his first battle with Yuna's guardians, he becomes an unsent and attacks the party again many times.
At the same time, Tidus becomes increasingly fond of Yuna, but discovers, to his horror, that if she completes her pilgrimage and uses the Final Aeon against Sin, she will die. Aware of her fate, Yuna intends to give her life to provide the people of Spira with the Calm, the brief period of peace that follows Sin's destruction. Complicating matters further, Auron reveals to Tidus that his father Jecht is alive, but no longer human, having now himself become the unwilling embodiment of Sin.Tidus: Is he alive? / Auron: It depends on what you mean by "alive." He is no longer human. But then... I felt something of Jecht there in that shell, couldn't you? You must have felt him when you came in contact with Sin. / Tidus: It can't be... / Auron: It is. Sin is Jecht. (Final Fantasy X) Tidus resolves to find a way to free his estranged father and permanently destroy Sin without sacrificing Yuna's life.
As the party approaches Zanarkand, Tidus learns that both Jecht, himself, and the Zanarkand they hail from are "dreams", summoned entities akin to aeons.Tidus: Wait...this is a dream. / Fayth: Precisely. / Tidus: A dream? Are you crazy? I don't have time to be dreaming now! / Fayth: "You're wrong. It's not that you're dreaming. You are a dream. (Final Fantasy X) Their city, Dream Zanarkand, was created one thousand years earlier, when a conflict known as the "Machina War" led to Yevon, Zanarkand's ruler and a powerful summoner, taking desperate measures to preserve its memory.Fayth: "Long ago, there was a war.... A war between Zanarkand and Bevelle. Bevelle's machina assured their victory from the start. Spira had never seen such power. The summoners of Zanarkand didn't stand a chance. Zanarkand was doomed to oblivion. That's why we tried to save it—if only in a memory... The remaining summoners and the townspeople that survived the war... They all became fayth—fayth for the summoning." (Final Fantasy X) He had his city's surviving people become fayth so that he could use their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in its image, far removed from the warfare on the Spiran mainland. Sin was also created at this time, given form by Yevon himself to serve as "armor" protecting himself and the fayth.Mika: Spira has lost its only hope. Destruction is inevitable. Yu Yevon's spiral of death will consume us all. I have no desire to watch Spira die.... / Rikku: Wait, gramps! Who's Yu Yevon? / Mika: He who crafts the souls of the dead into unholy armor. An armor called Sin. (Final Fantasy X) While continuously summoning Dream Zanarkand, Yevon lost his humanity and became known as "Yu Yevon" ("the Curse of Yevon"), a being existing solely to maintain Dream Zanarkand's existence.Fayth: Tell me, what do you know about Yu Yevon?... / Yuna: Sin is his armor. It protects him. / Fayth: Yu Yevon was once a summoner, long ago. He was peerless. Yet now he lives for one purpose: only to summon. He is neither good, nor evil. He is awake, yet he dreams. (Final Fantasy X) Over the next one thousand years, Sin would persistently attack the people of Spira to keep them from gaining the technology to learn of Dream Zanarkand's existence.
Upon the completion of Yuna's pilgrimage to Zanarkand (which ends Tidus' extended flashback recounting most of the game's events), Tidus and his companions learn from the unsent spirit of Lady Yunalesca — Yevon's daughter, and the first summoner to have defeated SinYunalesca: A thousand years ago, I chose my husband Zaon as my fayth. Our bond was true, and I obtained the Final Aeon. (Final Fantasy X) — that the Final Aeon is created from the spirit of one close to a summoner, and that when Sin is defeated, Yu Yevon's spirit then possesses it, transforming it into a new Sin.Yunalesca: Sin is eternal. Every aeon that defeats it becomes Sin it its place... And thus is Sin reborn. / Tidus: So that's why Jecht became Sin. / Yunalesca: Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny. It is neverending. (Final Fantasy X) Additionally, it is revealed that Auron himself is an unsent, having been struck down by Yunalesca ten years earlier when he confronted her in rage after the deaths of Braska and Jecht.Auron: When Braska and Jecht died defeating Sin... I just couldn't accept it. I came back here... tried to avenge them. But she struck me down. (Final Fantasy X) Yuna and her guardians decide to seek a new way to defeat Sin; one that will permanently destroy him and will not require any sacrifices. Without having acquired the use of a Final Aeon, the party attacks Sin directly and enters its body with the help of the Al Bhed's airship.
Inside Sin, the party battles Seymour, Jecht's imprisoned spirit, and Yu Yevon, defeating each and sending their spirits to the Farplane. Thus, they are able to end Sin's cycle of rebirth forever. Auron dissipates and goes to the Farplane as well, having fulfilled his promise to Jecht and Braska to guard their children. Lastly, the spirits of all the fayth of Spira are freed from their imprisonment, dispersing the aeons, Dream Zanarkand, and Tidus in the process. Although Yuna mourns the loss of Tidus, in a speech to the citizens of Spira, she resolves to help rebuild the world now that it is free of Sin. However, she asks that the people of Spira never forget the people who have been lost along the way.
Development
Developed from 1999 to 2001, Final Fantasy X cost approximately 4 billion Japanese yen to produce (approximately $32.3 million US) with a crew of more than one hundred people.
As with most other games in the Final Fantasy franchise, the characters and story of Final Fantasy X are distinct from those of its predecessors. Executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi states that this is to maintain the novelty of each title and to show off his team's true potential. Although he had certain reservations about the transition from 2D to 3D backgrounds, the voice acting and the transition to real-time story-telling, Sakaguchi believes Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy X also features innovations in the rendering of facial expressions on characters, achieved through motion capture and skeletal animation technology. This technology also allowed animators to create realistic lip movements, which were then programmed to match the speech of the game's voice actors.
Audio
Voice-overs
Nojima also revealed that the inclusion of voice-overs had a substantial impact on the writing of the game's story. He has explained that the presence of voice actors allowed him to maintain a more simple method of storytelling, as the range of emotions that could be expressed through them was greater than that provided by text alone. Nojima has further revealed that the presence of voice actors led him to make various changes to the story and characters themselves, so as to solidify the voice actors' personalities with the characters they were portraying.
In some respects, however, the inclusion of voice-overs led to additional difficulties. With the game's cutscenes already programmed around the Japanese voice work, Final Fantasy X
Although Tidus is the lead character in the story, he is the only character whose name is never spoken by the game's voice actors. This is because Final Fantasy X follows the Final Fantasy tradition of allowing the player to rename the lead character. In this game and Final Fantasy X-2, the other characters refer to Tidus as "him", "he" or "you". However, Wakka says Tidus' name in Kingdom Hearts, another Square Enix title, pronouncing it as "tee-dus", as does Tidus' English voice actor (James Arnold Taylor) during interviews, while Selphie Tilmitt of Final Fantasy VIII fame pronounces it as "tie-dus" in Kingdom Hearts II.
Musical score
Final Fantasy X marks the first time Nobuo Uematsu has had any assistance in composing the score for a Final Fantasy game. His fellow composers for Final Fantasy X were Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano.
The game includes three songs with vocalized elements, one of which is the J-pop ballad "Suteki Da Ne". It is sung by Japanese folk singer Ritsuki Nakano (also known as "RIKKI"), whom the music team contacted while searching for a singer whose music reflected an Okinawan atmosphere. "Suteki Da Ne" is sung in its original Japanese form in both the Japanese and English versions of Final Fantasy X. The song's title translates to "Isn't it Wonderful?" in English, and its lyrics were written by scenario writer Kazushige Nojima, while Uematsu composed the instrumentals. Like the ballads from Final Fantasy VIII and IX, "Suteki Da Ne" has an in-game version together with an orchestrated version used as part of the ending theme.
The other songs featuring lyrics are the heavy metal opening theme, "Otherworld", sung in English, and the "Hymn of the Fayth", a recurring piece sung using Japanese syllabary.
Reception
Final Fantasy XCritical response
Both Japanese and western critics have generally given Final Fantasy X high scores, with the game attaining a 92/100 "universal score" according to Metacritic. Leading Japanese video game magazine, Famitsu, awarded the game a near-perfect 39/40 score, while readers of the same magazine voted it the best game of all time in early 2006. Another leading Japanese gaming magazine, The Play Station, gave the game a score of 29/30 at the time of release.As part of their reviews, Famitsu and The Play Station expressed particularly favorable responses toward the game's storyline and graphics, as did the UK-based magazine Edge. However, the magazine only gave the game a 6/10, describing it as "Sequential software that labels itself next-gen" without providing a next generation gaming experience, instead repeating "the mistakes... made on the last version". In this regard, Edge cites the game's battle and character-leveling systems, describing the former as only "fractionally more complex" than was the case in previous installments of the series, and the latter as "[no] more flexible than the straight leveling from previous games".
Edge also dealt harsh criticism to the game's English script and voice-overs, regarding the dialogue, "both textual and verbal", as "nauseating". The magazine further went on to say that it "...renders the pathos comedic, the comedy dead, and since emotion is meant to be the series' driving force, it butchers the whole game".
Edge was not the only critic to find faults with Final Fantasy X. In their 7/10 review, the critics of Norwegian gaming site Gamer.no expressed an unfavorable response toward the game's battle and navigation systems, describing battles as "usually too easy" and exploration as highly linear, together rendering the game "too short for the greatest of RPG enthusiasts". Despite these and other criticisms, Final Fantasy X was nominated for the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards for animation and console role-playing game of the year in 2003, and became a highly popular installment of the Final Fantasy series worldwide.
Legacy
Due to its commercial and popular success, Square Enix released a direct sequel to Final Fantasy X in 2003, entitled "Final Fantasy X-2". This sequel — the first direct sequel developed in the Final Fantasy series — is set two years after the conclusion of the original story, establishing new conflicts and dilemmas, while also serving to tie up loose ends left by the original game. Also as a result of the game's reception, the producer and scenario writer decided to establish a plot-related connection between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII, another popular Final Fantasy title.The advancements in portraying realistic emotions achieved with Final Fantasy X through voice-overs and detailed facial expressions have since become a staple of the series, with its sequel and other subsequent titles — such as Final Fantasy XII and — also featuring this development. Additionally, traversing real-time 3D environments instead of an overworld map has also become a standard of the series, as demonstrated in both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII.
Different versions and merchandise
International version
An international version of the game was released in Japan as "Final Fantasy X: International" and in PAL territories under the name "Final Fantasy X." It features content not available in the NTSC releases, including battles with dark versions of the game's aeons, an airship fight with the superboss Penance, and various added scenes. The Japanese release of Final Fantasy X: International also includes a twelve minute video clip bridging the story of Final Fantasy X with that of its sequel, Final Fantasy X-2.European version
Additionally, the European release includes a bonus DVD entitled "Beyond Final Fantasy," a disc including interviews with the game's developers, as well as two of the game's English voice actors, James Arnold Taylor (Tidus) and Hedy Burress (Yuna). Also included are various trailers for Final Fantasy X and other Square products, a gallery of concept and promotional art for the game, and a music video of "Suteki Da Ne" performed by Rikki.Books and media
In addition to a sequel, Square Enix produced a two disc machinima DVD of the game's story, numerous action figures, several versions of the and various books, including The Art of Final Fantasy X and three Ultimania guides, a series of artbooks/strategy guides published by Square Enix in Japan. They feature original artwork from Final Fantasy X, offer gameplay walkthroughs, expand upon many aspects of the game's storyline and feature several interviews with the game's designers. There are three books in the series: Final Fantasy X Scenario Ultimania, Final Fantasy X Battle Ultimania and Final Fantasy X Ultimania Ω. A similar three-book series was produced for Final Fantasy X-2.References
External links
- [Official Final Fantasy X website]
- [Behind The Game] — Interviews with the game's developers and English voice actors
- [Final Fantasy: Worlds Apart] — Final Fantasy X dialogue script
- [Final Fantasy X story translation]
- [Final Fantasy X timeline at the Final Fantasy Compendium]
- [Meaning and Emotion in Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy X] — Graduation thesis by Glen R. Spoors, Edith Cowan University - Australia
- [Final Fantasy X wiki guide at StrategyWiki] (previously hosted by Wikibooks)
- [Final Fantasy X] and [Final Fantasy X-2] at Wikicities
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