Final Fantasy X: A Flawed Masterpiece

In such a story-driven game, dialogue must be presented well for the player to become invested in the story. This is where Final Fantasy X falls flat on it's face, sometimes getting up, only to fall again. The English voice acting is hit and miss, and when it misses, it REALLY misses (specifically the laughing scene, yeah you all know what I'm talking about if you've played it). This, coupled with characters' talking animations synced to Japanese words, leads to a sometimes painful experience watching the characters interact. Also, it is obvious that the dialogue was not recorded all together, but instead in pieces, leading to some conversations sounding very awkward.

[ClownBelt]

You're 10 years late.

[SL1M DADDY]

I absolutely loved FFI through FFX even if FFVIII was not the best game of the bunch. They just seemed like games made for me. Then I made the big mistake of buying FFX2 and it all went downhill from there. And FFXII, what the heck was that all about? Where was the story and the depth of character that the others had? It was nowhere to be found IMHO.

[The Great Melon]

FFX was the game that finally liberated me from my narrow worldview of a Nintendo fanboy. I really enjoyed the characters in FFX, especially Wakka. John DiMaggio nailed the voice and did a great job with the character.

[ballsofsteel]

actually 8 years but still agree. you simply can't play a game that old and expect it to live up to the standards we have now. for it's time FFX had some of the best graphics, most amazing cutscenes, and best voice acting for it day. is was during this early PS2 era that voice acting really became an integral part of story telling and videos games. games back then couldn't be like mass effect and afford big Hollywood voice actors. video games are the one genres that can't really have timeless classics

[Nikuma]

The last true FF game was FF9. After 9 the series has gone in decline imo.

[Eternally33]

What kind of stupid fuc!in article is this, this game is from 2001 it was one of the first FF to have voice recording its one of the best voice recording I have ever heard and its the second best in the FF franchise, People writing this article know must be really fuc!in crazy the voice acting is perfect.

[tehk1w1]

I disagree.

Final Fantasy X is still the BEST in the franchise.

Best story, best gameplay and best music.

[iamtehpwn]

waaay better.
I've played through this game in English and Japanese, and I'm nearly fluent with spoken Japanese...There's not much of a difference.

[Obama]

I agree with teh1w1 that it is the best in ff franchise. And what's with the deformed pedobear?

[StarScream4Ever]

Aye you said it, personally it is my favorite FF of all time! 7 is second. XD

[anti-gamer]

my best FF game was VI and VII, I didn't like FFX the game liner and story didn't appear form it is my option not heat.

[nikoado]

For me, it goes something like:
6,8,10,7,9,12,x-2

Haven't played the earlier ones. Having said that, I have beaten Penance on multiple play-throughs and pretty much know X's story off by heart...
I really like playing FFX. In fact, I will stop talking about it now in case I start playing it all over again:)

[ape007]

I played it and it was one of the best games on ps2, a truly unforgettable experience

[Godmars290]

Are you kidding Obama?

"Why so serious...little girl."

Anyway, FFX was the last proper step the franchise took in its own development as well as the development of JRPGs. the whole industry's been stagnating ever since.

[LightofDarkness]

I actually really, REALLY didn't like FFX. I couldn't warm to the characters at all. I didn't like the battle system, nor the linearity of most of the beginning half. I thought XII was much a better game, it dealt with more mature themes and I enjoyed the experience quite a bit more than this one. And the voice acting really is THAT bad, it was one of the things that turned me off about the game at first.

In contrast, XII has stellar voice acting (with the exceptions of Fran and Balthier's weaker lines). My main criticism of XII is the apparent last minute decision to make Vaan the main character instead of Basch, who had a far more relevant role in the plot. It did not prevent me from enjoying the game or story enough to identify it as a major problem, though.

I know many people love this game, but I can't understand why. Perhaps it was much of the younger audience's first Final Fantasy game, whereas my first FF was VI (it was called III when I played it, stupid Square), then IV, then VII, VIII and IX. My list of best FF games goes like this:

1. Final Fantasy VI
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Final Fantasy XI (this game NEVER gets the praise it deserves)
4. Final Fantasy IV
5. Final Fantasy XII
6. Final Fantasy VIII (XII and VIII really share the same space in my heart)

[batterystrength]

'cause for me it's the other way around. But i Really don't understand why people give the voice acting in FFX so much hate. I mean i read it quite often but only on english speaking sites, so maybe it's an american thing ? I found the voice acting very good actually, the voices fitted to the characters perfectly in FFX. So maybe you have to be a native speaker of english to understand...

As for FFXII im mean c'mon you can't compare those two games, the characters hardly ever speak in FFXII. As for being more mature I don't know but the plot of XII is like " gay guy want's to become sky pirate, big mean empire attacks little good kingdom, gay sky pirate guy somehow gets involved with the princess and has to save the world. But i only played it once so correct me if i'm wrong there.

After playing X, playing XII was a big dissapointment because X had everything: a great gameplay, exellent story, beautiful music and interesting and developed characters. XII had a good gameplay but as for the rest...

My list looks like this :
1: FF VIII (it was my first FF)
2: FF X
3: FF VI (exellent game !)
4: FF IX
5: FF VII
.
12: FF XII

[Razgriz]

sacrifice, brainwashing, dystopian church are mature themes enough in my book. Yeah, FFXII has its share of mature themes too

[WLPowell]

You can't say XII is better than X. The "JRPG's have to conform to MY criteria" crowd will disagree. IMO XII took a lot of chances and in the end everything felt far more satisfying. XII had a deeper battle system, better visuals, better music, better story. X was melodramtic cliche after melodramatic cliche... lulu had a great rack and auron was pretty tight though.

[Empyrean_Eclipse]

however.. The best FF game imo is ff12.. Much better story than the rest that I have played. 8 9 10.. 10 is way too linear for me, and the mini ball game is better than the main game..

[mullerhun]

My favorite game of the series, and 8:)

I played both 2 times, and i think i will do it sometime again!

[BeaArthur]

Easily my favorite in the seires.

[Razgriz]

Actually FFXIII is gonna be somewhat flawed, FFX is absolute masterpiece lol

[blaziliuz12]

actually FFX was one of my favourite games of all time..
it really have good voice acting plus a great story..
but this is just my opinion.

[tplarkin7]

FFX was fun, but was behind the times (even for 2001). It used pre-rendered backgrounds (some of the time) and fixed cameras. Any time there were good graphics, it was a cutscene. Skies of Arcadia let you control the camera and everything was done in real-time.

[kewlkat007]

before the depart of many that made Squaresoft the king of JRPGs...well not that they are Square-Enix...who knows

I remember playing this in college for hours....the OST is is pretty good as well.

Final Fantasy games X and what came before, all had charm.

[lrn2hate]

I loved ffX I wish they would start adding ps2 games on the ps store. So I can play this one again. Amazing game

[barakiu]

i started it, but i was really turned off by the effeminate lead character, and the voice acting, as stated by others.

from the ps2, this and Metal Gear Solid 2 were real disappointmentsera cause of their bad storys(i finished MGS2 and it's incomprehensible story.) and these are the typea games, with such an emphasis on narrative, they need good ones to motivate you to play further, though i finished MGS2, it didn't do so with the amount of enthusiasm i had going in, nor did do so with the intial pacing i had not too long after Raiden, another effeminate lead, started to annoy, and bore and the hopes of playing as solid snake diminished.

as MGS2 was the sequel to my #2 favorite game of all time(OoT #1)..someday i'll try the other sequels...but MGS2 left a bad taste in my mouth...

if you look at the sales of the sequels from MGS2 i think many people like me hold this view....in retrospect perhaps these games will be more looked at as mild flops, though they may have innovated, and did interesting experiments with new hardware, in a few more years i doubt they'll be looked at as even "flawed masterpieces".

contrastingly are the successes of MGS1 and FF7(and to a lesser extent FF9) which had excellent gameplay and stories, these games will be looked back as superior games by most.

i've played through 2 and a half final fantasys
7
9
and
half of 6

on ff7:
i liked 7 best. great setting, scenerary, use of colors..i could go on about it. ..oh, i didn't actually beat this i just remembered, i got to the battle with sepiroth and lost, and then lost my memory card...so...ugh...i dunno, guess i gotta beat this...i never found optional charcters yufie and vincent anyways.

on ff9: i thought the middle was weak, but the start was strong and so was the end. this is the second FF to make me cry cause of the Canary song, without spoiling the game, is alluded to in the beggining of the game. (course everyone shed a tear when ... died in ff7.)
i member listening to the radio while playing this game, so i might replay so time later to enjoy the soundtrack more and focus on the story a little better.

on ff6:
i really like this game, a lot of people regard it as the best of the series. i mighta beat it by now, but while i was in the middle of playing this game on again off again my computer got wiped out along with my rom files and saves. i remember having one major grip with the game and that's the part where your party splits up, rather randomly, while going down a waterfall atop a raft; that means in order to get all of the npc dialouge from every character you have to replay the game multiple times with the multiple character sets...in this regard i prefer linerarity. actually overall i think i like linerarity, cause i don't like to miss things in games, or seemingly needlessly replay them.

k. the end.

[foxxy]

Is better

[Djinn]

I don't agree with the flawed part. But yes, FFX is a masterpiece. One of my favorite games of all time. I doubt any FF will ever surpass it.

But anyway... What the idiot who wrote this article didn't seem to realize was that the laughing scene was SUPPOSED to sound awkward. Anyone with half a brain could tell. Goddamm idiots...

[CimmerianDrake]

As someone who has played ALL the main series FF games (except XI, I refuse to play that), and the best spinoffs (Final Fantasy Tactics is still superior to Tactics Advance in every way, and it still has the most punishing A.I. I have ever seen in any game even today, play it and you'll see how it crushes you underfoot), I have seen every single theme, every character type, and every storyline and plot twist available in the FF franchise.

Yes, FFXII's theme is typically darker than X, but not better. The story doesn't dive deep enough for being associated with the Tactics series of FF games. Plus, older FF games do it better. You want a real villain, someone you love to hate, you have Kefka from FFVI who defines evil. He's evil for the sake of being evil and loves it.

You want plot twists like betrayal and romance? FFIV is your best bet followed by FFVIII.

You want a game where you can get to know the characters on a more personal level, and also have a carefree, kind of lighter experience? That would be FFIX, where the characters struggle to come to terms with who they really are more than the actual journey taking precedence.

Where FFX shines the best is the world. The world of Spira is a wonderful place. The environments are breath taking, the music is exceptionally ambient, and even the NPC's seem to be important in the game. FFX's story has the hidden plot mechanism of making you more involved in the world of Spira rather than the personal journey of Yuna and Tidus. The developers included a rich history for Spira that intermixes with the Summoners Pilgrimage very well. And for that reason I find FFX to be one of the greatest FF games ever made. And personally, I love Jecht more than any of the main characters, and that's hard to say for an NPC.

Jecht is the most relatable character, IMO, in the game. He has flaws (he's a drunk and not the best father), and character, and I really wish that FFX-2 was a prequel where you get to play as Braska, Auron, and Jecht because I'd have loved to play as Jecht.

For me, with all things considered, my top 3 FF's in the main series are FFIV, FFX, FFVIII. If I included spin offs, Tactics would be right after FFIV and before FFX.

Just my opinion.

[ONYX737]

Wasn't FFX the first one to have voice acting in the entire series? I think for that reason they should cut them some slack on that one. Even though FF7 is still my favorite.

[ELite_Ghost]

First final fantasy beaten and I enjoyed every second of it. It never knew it was turn based till i bought it for 79.99$. I hated it first and man did I begin to love it FAST. I got hooked into it and played and replayed my favourite parts over and over again.
When I beat it, I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOO IT'S OVER :'(" HAhaha its a GG, top 5 best ps2 games .

[Major Kanimo]

ur a f@cking loser