FINAL FANTASY X (PS2)


One thing the Xbox doesn't have...

By TOM FAHEY

The guys at Squaresoft must be gods. Without a doubt.

To produce Final Fantasy's one after another, all of an excellent calibre, the guys responsible must be highly commended.

And, at long last, Final Fantasy X has arrived, and "praise be to Yevon", it's on the PS2.

When considering the fact that this will be the last Final Fantasy as we know it, due to the game going "on-line" for the FFXI release, you would think Squaresoft would like to finish with a beauty.

And believe me, they have.

After all the Final Fantasy's, all those wonderful hours of game play, those captivating plots, the awesome cinematics (since the release of VII), and the many beautiful female character designs (I know, I know... they're not real!!), Squaresoft has managed to once more outdo itself in every possible way. Take my word for it - I've played and loved them all, but FFX is in a league of its own.

The story is easily summarised: Another typical plot, another typical gang of youngsters, and another typical threat to the world they live in, Spira. All the ingredients needed to cook up a wholesome Final Fantasy.

Spira is a world plagued by an evil creature named Sin. Once, long ago, when an ancient and forbidden technology named 'machina' was wielded for war, Sin was summoned and it destroyed the 'machina' cities. For three thousand years, Sin continued to wreak havoc throughout the lands...

However, there was hope yet. Many people throughout Spira believe in a religion named 'Yevon'. Few have sacrificed their lives in belief of Yevon in order to become 'fayth'. The fayth is used for summoners to call on, summoning powerful entities, called Aeons.

The fate of the world is placed in the hands of the summoners, who travel the world on a pilgrimage to attain the 'final Aeon' an Aeon so powerful, it can rid Spira of Sin. This is where Tidus' story begins - our main character.

He is a guardian (bodyguard) of a summoner named Yuna - the beauty; the love interest; the heroine. Together with fellow guardians Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, Auron and Rikku, you begin Yuna's pilgrimage. Far from simplistic however, the journey gets very, very complicated -- and we wouldn't want it any other way!

Each of the guardians has their own unique fighting style and this makes for a very versatile battle system. FFX has an all new, never before seen "tag" battle system. There are, in total, seven characters all of which are more than capable of fighting. However, only three can be chosen to battle with at the one time.

But, you can tag in one character who isn't in battle, for a character who is. Ingenious! This way, you can strategically choose you party in the middle of a battle so that you can take your foes down with characters who suit the enemy.

In good old fashioned RPG style, characters usually have the ability to become more powerful through gaining experience in battle. In the past, the FF's have used a levelling up system where your characters usually start at level '1' and build their way up to '99'. Each level they gain slightly enhances them as they eventually become absolute beef-cakes. However, for the first time in the Final Fantasy series, this is no more.

Enter the 'sphere grid'. The sphere grid is a giant (and I mean it it's absolutely freaking huge!) map which has all of the skills, abilities, black and white magics, and other enhancements like strength, defence, agility and so on, placed around it.

Each of your seven characters is placed in a different section of the map, structuring the characters skills in various areas. When you get into fights, you gain experience points, which gains you turns on the grid. With these turns you can move your characters around the grid, giving them more skill and technique along the way.

Eventually, every character can make it around the entire grid, but this takes time. Time being about... Umm, lets see... 100 hours or so of battles to gain the amount of turns needed. Crazy isn't it? That's why we love it.

Every FF has had a summoning system of some kind. It has usually consisted of a fantastic and very colourful entrance of some kind of mystical beast. Several of these summons have made an appearance in all of the FFs, and they're back for some more action and cinematics in FFX. The summoning system also has a couple of new instalments. Very nifty ones at that.

In the other FF's, a summon would simply come down form the heavens (or up form hell occationally) and present you with snazzy cinematics, and blow the absolute crap out of the enemy -- then exit, stage right.

Now, not only do you get the cool entrance but you also get to control your Aeon as if they were a normal character! The aeons also have strength, agility, speed, stamina and all the rest. They can be enhanced like the other characters (not with the sphere grid, though) and can get new abilities and are a lot more powerful.

They also have an overdrive attack, of which every character and Aeon has one. The overdrive is the kind of attack that you bank on killing everything in sight. They can be devastating.

The calibre of graphics produced in FFX must be as close as it gets to the pinnacle of the PS2. The motion capture in the characters is brilliant. You really get a feel for the story through the characters, and from the many cut scenes throughout the game.

The Aeons look really amazing too. With the combination of motion capture, physical design and the terrific lighting effects, the Aeons present the most mystical and fanciful effect seen in the game.

The other main credit to the graphics is in the magic. There are several dozen spells that one can learn, all of them with tip top graphics. Definately the best looking visual effects I've even seen in a game.

And guess what else? No more speech bubbles - party!! Sorry... I got a little carried away.

Final Fantasy X has voice acting at long last. For so long we have had to concentrate our eyes on screen, reading text to attain knowledge of the plot. No more!! Relax, sit back, and enjoy listening to the brilliantly cast voices which bring FFX to life.

With the supreme graphics and motion capture along with the new found vocals, the characters are truly animated, which makes the story all the more captivating.

With all the PlayStation-borne Final Fantasies (since FFVII) comes Full Motion Video (FMV). Now, for our slightly more ignorant readers, FMV is the fully rendered cut scenes which display mind-blowing cinematics generated by computer graphical imagery (CGI).

Well, thank Squaresoft that FFX has a whole archive of 'em. Oh, did I say mind blowing? Sorry... What I meant was, an absolutely mind-shatteringly, explodingly amazing detonation of one's head!! (Ed - the lawyers had a field-day with that one...)

In other words, these latest FMVs are quite impressive. Therefore, if for no better reason, buy this game so you can experience the greatest FMV ever.

As you have no doubt noticed, this is a very biased game review. I am one hell of a Final Fantasy fan. Now for all those who have played and enjoyed FF then you will certainly need no encouragement to buy the latest episode.

But for all those new to the saga, for your own good, take my word for it. Final Fantasy X is one of the best releases yet on the PS2, and it puts all other RPG's to shame - this is as good as it gets.

ORIGINALITY 95%
SOUND/GRAPHICS 100%
PLAYABILITY 95%
ADDICTION 100%
ENJOYMENT 100%