Retro Review: Why Final Fantasy X Might Be The Best Game in the Series

My mom bought a PS2 back in the day just to play Final Fantasy X. I remember catching bits and pieces, but it would be a few more years before I got my own console. Even then, I never had the opportunity to play this title. Fast forward to several years later, I noticed the HD remastered versions of X and X2 available on Steam during a winter sale.

I picked them up, but unfortunately for Final Fantasy X and X-2, the Pixel Remasters of the original six had just been released. Then there was Baldur’s Gate III. And then the Suikoden remasters… all pushing Final Fantasy X to the back burner.

With all games listed above defeated and put back on the shelf, it was finally time for me to boot this bad boy up for the very first time. I won’t make you wait until the end of the review to get my opinion:

I loved it, and it’s possibly the best Final Fantasy in the series.

I do want to go over some basics and talk about the paths I chose and why. It wasn’t all gravy, but we will get to that. For now let’s start with…

Gameplay

Like many other games in the JRPG genre, FFX has everything you come to expect from a Final Fantasy outing. You begin as a blitzball hero named Titus and go on a quest to save the doomed world of Spira from oblivion at the hands of an entity known as Sin. 

Characters

Final Fantasy X has 7 playable characters:

• Titus
• Yuna
• Kimahri
• Rikku
• Auron
• Wakka
• Lulu

By mid-game, a hastened Kimahri handled the majority of threats. At the end, I stuck to a group consisting of Titus, Yuna, and Kimahri.

Although every character got some play, after a while there wasn’t much need for the other characters because I had actively been abusing…

The Sphere Grid System

The Sphere Grid system is the way you level up in Final Fantasy X. Each socket in the grid represents a new ability or stat increase for your characters. A variety of spheres are required to level the individual sockets but you amass them easily just by playing. There are also abilities you can learn that will extract the necessary spheres from monsters.

By the end I had more spheres than I knew what to do with because I only really leveled three people, but those three people were superhumanly strong, thanks in part to…

The Equipment Options in Final Fantasy X

As far as weapons and armor goes, each character has a specific type of weapon and armor for them, such as Titus’ swords and shields or Yuna’s staves and rings. While this is fewer pieces of equipment than most games in the Final Fantasy series, items in Final Fantasy X are customizable.

There are celestial weapons that can be collected in the game that raise your damage cap from 9,999, to 99,999. Basically nothing but the superbosses have more hit points than that.

Should you choose to forgo the ultimate gear, you can still apply buffs, elements, and status effect/prevention to your weapons and armor, designing pieces of gear to your exact preferences.

If that wasn’t enough, you can always use…

Consumable Items

Items play a pivotal role in FFX, probably more than in most Final Fantasy games. Not only are they consumed to apply effects to equipment, they are just plain strong on their own. Items are important and you’ll need many of them.

Stealing is essential to success since all monsters have loot to take. Then add in the likes of Rikku and her mix Overdrive that combined items for a variety of ultrastrong effects.

But that isn’t all items can do, as they are also used in leveling up your…

Aeons – Final Fantasy X’s approach to Summons

Aeons are powerful summons that Yuna can call on for aid. By the late game they are unnecessary, but extremely powerful. Summons are linked to Yuna’s stats, so the stronger she gets, the more powerful they become. By the time you get her ultimate weapon, they are likely the most unstoppable tools in your arsenal.

There are 8 summonable aeons in the game, including series regulars like Ifrit, Shiva, and Bahamut. I rarely used the Magus Sisters because it felt very broken, but all of the Aeons are amazing, look great, and can be taught new abilities, spells and stats through items.

There are other aspects to the game I really didn’t dabble into very much, like Overdrives — FFX’s version of Limit Breaks — which let your characters do all sorts of crazy things. Throughout the game, you get to learn a variety of methods to force these events to occur but more often than not I just sat on them. 

What I Liked About Final Fantasy X

I loved the characters and the story. Kimahri and Yuna really stood out but every character is enjoyable and all have a part to play. The combat system is possibly the series’ best offering. Until you reach obscene levels of power, no fight feels like a pushover and all of them require your attention.

A simple but important system of character attacks vs. monster weaknesses is at play, requiring some strategic thinking. This system is absolutely necessary to get a handle on. Luckily everything is explained well in the tutorials.

You get to experience all the iconic Final Fantasy monsters like bombs, cactuar, and tonberries, but they all feel bigger. Toying with the monsters in this game for any amount of time is a good way to get characters killed. Monsters are all hit point challenged, so once you reach a high threshold of damage, though, there is no looking back. 

The Aeons have a totally new system. Instead of a single powerful Summon attack, Aeons take the field for the entire party, allowing you to control them as party members. It’s awesome!

The aeons also look amazing. The CGI scenes leading to their introduction are beautiful enough you won’t mind seeing them many times, and there is an option to shorten them if you ever get tired of it. 

Many of the fights played out like a puzzle in the early and mid game, forcing you to learn the combat rules or die trying. The monsters all had classic designs mixed with new looks. I loved the island vibes the whole game gave off, making it easy to lose track of time. 

Special shout out to bover_87 for their terrific walkthrough, helping a first time player make it through quickly.

What I Didn’t Like About Final Fantasy X

There isn’t much I found unenjoyable in the game, but there were a few things that irked me and one major issue.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, Blitzball. Blitzball is underwater hockey they play in a sphere. It sounds cool, that atmosphere was electric, your introduction to the whole thing is a championship game in which the AI plays like gods, and your guys, well, they are somewhere out there.

I tried multiple times to get the initial win and it was miserable. Later on, you can recruit much better players to make your team competitive, but you wont need to interact with blitzball again if you don’t want to, and since the first game was so unenjoyable to participate in, I didn’t. Even if blitzball is the best minigame in the FF universe, the introduction to it was terrible. 

Another dislike was capturing monsters. To get access to some of  the rarer items and boss fights, you must catch each creature in a region. Some items and battles require you to snag 10 of every monster. This isn’t Pokémon and I wasn’t feeling that at all. By the time you get access to the capture gear, you are half way through the game and need to do a ton of backtracking. I only captured the zones I needed for the Celestial weapons and items I wanted and moved on.

Final Fantasy X’s Steam port has technical issues

The big issue, and this is an absolute WHALE of an issue. In the Steam version of X and X-2 Remastered for PC, there is a known issue with cutscenes green screening. The cutscenes it chose to greenscreen for me were ALL THE IMPORTANT ONES! Whenever I finished a scene I had to go watch it on Youtube (thankfully that was an option) or I would have missed out on the game’s best moments. This is an unforgivable error from a Steam port and seriously needs to be addressed. 

I thought the game’s ending was lacking. Spoiler warning here but, when all is said and done, you lose a lot and the world basically starts over with Yuna going “now what?” Not super satisfying, until you watch the Eternal Calm video that explains Yuna’s time between the end of X and the start of X-2. The additional content was a better ending and firmly set up the sequel, something they only hinted at in the very end credits of X. 

My Final Verdict About Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X may very well be the best game in the series. For my money, it IS the best combat and summoning in the franchise. The characters are delightful and the Sphere Grid system allows you complete freedom to build your team however you want. I found the game more challenging at the onset, getting easier as you progress which I thought pretty unusual for a JRPG. 

The true beauty of the game is all the ways you can interact with it, and how easy it is to ignore what you don’t want to play with. 

I will absolutely play this game again (still have the Dark Aeons and Penance to defeat) but now it’s time to move on to X-2. If X is any indicator, I’m in for a treat. To anyone who has never experienced Final Fantasy X before or hasn’t in many years, I encourage you to revisit this masterpiece.

Just avoid it on Steam if possible.