Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X (ファイナルファンタジーX, Fainaru Fantajī Ten^?) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) as the tenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2. The game marks the Final Fantasy series' transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas, and is also the first in the series to feature voice actors. Final Fantasy X replaced the Active Time Battle (ATB) system with the new Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system, and introduced the "Sphere Grid" leveling system.

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". Players follow Tidus, a 17 year old blitzball star who, along with several others, aids Yuna on her pilgrimage to summon the "Final Aeon" and destroy Sin.

Development of Final Fantasy X began in 1999, with a budget of more than US$32.3 million and a team of more than 100 people. The music for the game was for the first time in the series not entirely scored by Nobuo Uematsu; Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano were signed as Uematsu's fellow composers.

Final Fantasy X was both a critical and commercial success. It was voted by the readers of the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu to be the greatest video game of all-time. As of January 20, 2004, the game has sold around 6.6 million units worldwide. In 2003, it was followed by a direct sequel; Final Fantasy X-2.

Gameplay

Like previous games in the series, Final Fantasy X is presented in a third-person perspective, with players directly navigating the main character, Tidus, or Yuna in some cases, around the world to interact with objects and people. Unlike 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 await their turn to attack.

Final Fantasy X's gameplay differs from that of previous Final Fantasy games in its lack of a top-down perspective world map. Earlier games featured a miniature representation of the expansive areas between towns and other distinct locations, used for long-distance traveling. In Final Fantasy X, almost all the locations are essentially contiguous and never fade out to a world map. Regional connections are mostly linear, forming a single path through the game's locations, though an airship becomes available late in the game, giving the player the ability to navigate the world of Spira faster.

Combat

Final Fantasy X introduces the Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system in place of the series' traditional Active Time Battle (ATB) system, which was originally developed by Hiroyuki Itō and was first used in Final Fantasy IV. The system was developed by battle director Toshiro Tsuchida, who had Final Fantasy IV in mind when developing the CTB 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 allows the player to select an action without time pressure. A graphical timeline along the upper-right side of the screen details who will be receiving turns next, and how various actions taken will affect the subsequent order of turns. The player can control up to three characters in battle, though a swapping system allows the player to replace any of them with one of the other four in the party. A player may swap characters at any time, unless the on-field character has been defeated. "Limit Breaks" reappear in Final Fantasy X under the name "Overdrives". In this new incarnation of the feature, most of the techniques are interactive, requiring button inputs to increase their effectiveness.^[1]

Final Fantasy X introduces an overhaul of the summoning system employed in previous installments of the series. Whereas in previous games a summoned creature would arrive, perform a single action, and then depart, Final Fantasy X's summons, called "aeons", arrive and entirely replace the battle party, fighting in their place until either the enemy has been slain, the aeon itself has been defeated, or the aeon is dismissed by the player. Aeons have their own statistics, commands, special attacks, spells, and Overdrives. The player acquires a minimum of five aeons over the course of the game, and three additional aeons can be obtained by completing various side-quests.^[1]

Sphere Grid

As with previous titles in the series, 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". Instead of characters gaining pre-determined statistic bonuses for their attributes after leveling up, each character gains a "sphere level" after collecting enough ability points (AP). Sphere levels allow players to move around the Sphere Grid, a predetermined grid of interconnected nodes consisting of various statistic and ability bonuses. Items called "spheres" are applied to these nodes, unlocking its function for the selected character.^[2]

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 and PAL versions of the game include an optional "Expert" version of the Sphere Grid; in these versions, all of the characters start in the middle of the grid and may follow whichever path the player chooses. As a trade-off, the Expert grid has fewer nodes in total, thus decreasing the total statistic upgrades available during the game.^[3]

Plot

Setting

Main article: Spira (Final Fantasy)

Final Fantasy X is set in the fictional world of "Spira", and it consists of one large landmass divided into three subcontinents, surrounded by small tropical islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the tropical Besaid and Kilika islands to the temperate Mi'ihen region to the frigid Macalania and Mt. 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 distinctive green eyes and unique language. The Guado are less human in appearance, with elongated fingers and other differences. They also have a natural propensity for magic and conjuring monsters. Still less human in appearance are the large, lion-like Ronso, and the frog-like Hypello. Spira's wildlife population introduces several new concepts into the series. Although most creatures 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, which appears in most Final Fantasy games. Both are used primarily for transportation 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 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 location of the southern islands; Besaid and Kilika. He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process.^[4] Producer Yoshinori Kitase felt that if the setting went back to a medieval European fantasy, it would not seem to help the development team advance. While he was thinking of different world environments, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima suggested a fantasy world that incorporated Asian elements.^[5]

Characters

Main article: Characters of Final Fantasy X and X-2

The seven main playable characters in Final Fantasy X are Tidus, an energetic and upbeat blitzball star; Yuna, a reserved and soft-spoken summoner who always puts others before herself; Kimahri Ronso, an exile of the Ronso tribe who remains silent for most of the game and is devoted to protecting Yuna above all else; Wakka, a blitzball player and devout follower of the Yevon order; Lulu, a cynical and harsh, but well-meaning Black Mage; Auron, a taciturn former warrior monk; and Rikku, a perky Al Bhed girl with extensive knowledge of machinery. The primary antagonists of the game are maester Seymour Guado and the other maesters of the Yevon religion, while the rampaging Sin serves as the primary source of conflict.

Nomura took particular care in each of the characters' designs. For example, he based Yuna's overall design on Okinawan kimonos. When he learned that the character was to perform the sending dance, he wanted to give her outfit something that would flow. Thus, the specific style of kimono he chose for her was a furisode, a kimono bearing long sleeves. He adorned her dress and necklace with images of the flower also called Yuna (Hibiscus tiliaceus). Yuna's name carries the meaning of "night" in the Okinawan language, 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.^[6] 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, so that they could be quickly and easily identified as members of their respective sub-groups. For example, she has said that the masks and goggles of the Al Bhed give the group a "strange and eccentric" appearance, while the attire of the Ronso lend to them being able to easily engage in battle.^[7]

Story

Final Fantasy X begins late in the story, with the main character, Tidus, waiting with his allies outside the ruined city of Zanarkand. Tidus narrates the series of events leading up to his present situation, which spans most of the game's storyline. It begins in Tidus' home city, the unruined and high-tech Zanarkand, where he is a renowned star of the underwater sport blitzball. During a blitzball tournament, the city is attacked by an immense creature shrouded in water known as Sin. The city is destroyed, and Tidus is taken by Sin to the world Spira.

After arriving in Spira, Tidus is rescued by Al Bhed divers in the area, and one of them, Rikku, tells him that Zanarkand had been destroyed 1000 years earlier. After another attack by Sin, Tidus is separated from the divers and drifts to the tropical island Besaid, where he meets Wakka, the captain of the local blitzball team. Wakka introduces Tidus to Yuna, a young summoner planning a pilgrimage to destroy Sin using the "Final Aeon" from the ruins of Zanarkand. Accompanying Yuna are her guardians: Lulu, Wakka and Kimahri.^[8] The party travels to gather aeons, defending against attacks by Sin. The party encounters Auron, who joins them. He reveals to Tidus that Yuna's father, Lord Braska; Tidus's father, Jecht; and he himself made the same pilgrimage and defeated Sin ten years ago.^[9] Tidus thought his father had died at sea ten years earlier.^[10] Following more encounters with Sin, they are joined by Rikku, who is revealed to be Yuna's cousin.^[11]

When the party arrives in the Guado city Guadosalam, Seymour proposes to Yuna, and she informs the group of her intent to marry him for Spira's sake. Seymour's aide, Tromell, guides the group to Guadosalam's temple, where they see a message from Seymour's late father. He declares he was killed by his son, and that Seymour's evil nature will destroy Spira.^[12] The group engages Seymour in battle and defeats him; soon afterward, Sin attacks the group and they lose track of Yuna. Rikku guides the group to the Al Bhed "Home", which is under attack by Yevon. While searching Home's base, Tidus learns that a summoner must give their life to perform the "Final Summoning". Using the Al Bhed's airship, they escape the base before it is destroyed. The group resolves to save Yuna and they discover her at Bevelle, where she is forced into marrying the now unsent Seymour. They interrupt the wedding and escape with Yuna towards Mt. Gagazet, where Seymour has slaughtered the tribe there; after defeating him, the group heads to Zanarkand.

Tidus learns that he, Jecht, and the Zanarkand they hail from are summoned entities akin to aeons.^[13] Long ago a summoner named Yevon had the city's surviving people become "fayth" so that he could use their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in its image, removed from the warfare on the Spiran mainland.^[14] Sin was also created, given form by Yevon to serve as armor; protecting himself and the fayth. While continuously summoning Dream Zanarkand, Yevon lost his humanity and became known as Yu Yevon, a being existing solely to maintain Dream Zanarkand's existence.^[15] Over the next 1000 years, Sin would persistently attack the people of Spira to prevent the discovery of Dream Zanarkand's existence.

Once the player completes Yuna's pilgrimage, Lady Yunalesca—Yevon's daughter and the first summoner to have defeated Sin^[15]—tells the group that the Final Aeon is created from the spirit of one close to a summoner. After defeating Sin, Yu Yevon's spirit possesses the aeon, transforming it into a new Sin.^[16] The group decides against using the Final Aeon and they defeat Yunalesca. They then seek a new way to permanently destroy Sin that will not require any sacrifices. This leads the group to enter Sin's body and battle Seymour, Jecht's imprisoned spirit, and Yu Yevon. Sin's cycle of rebirth ends, and the spirits of Spira's fayth are freed from their imprisonment, dispersing the aeons, Dream Zanarkand, and Tidus in the process. Afterward, in a speech to the citizens of Spira, Yuna resolves to help rebuild the world now that it is free of Sin. After the credits, there is a brief scene with Tidus underwater. He opens his eyes and begins swimming upward, and the screen fades to white. This scene is later explained in Final Fantasy X-2 if certain conditions are met.

Development

Hironobu Sakaguchi has said that constantly challenging the development staff to try different things is the reason behind the success of the Final Fantasy series.

Development for Final Fantasy X began in 1999, costing approximately four billion Japanese yen (approximately US$32.3 million)^[17] with a crew of more than 100 people, most of whom worked on previous games in the series. Executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi has stated that although he had concerns about the transition from 2D to 3D backgrounds, the voice acting, and the transition to real-time story-telling, the success of the Final Fantasy series can be attributed to constantly challenging the development team to try new things.^[18] Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima was particularly concerned with establishing a connection in the relationship between the player and main character. Thus, he penned the story such that the player's progress through the world and growing knowledge about it is reflected in Tidus' own understanding and narration.^[19] The game was initially going to feature online elements, but these were dropped during production, and online gaming would not become part of the Final Fantasy series until Final Fantasy XI.^[20]

Map director Takayoshi Nakazato 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 of the game's 3D backgrounds, as opposed to pre-rendered backgrounds.^[21] As a player of the games in the Final Fantasy series, battle director Toshiro Tsuchida wanted to recreate elements he found interesting or he felt was entertaining, which eventually led to the removal of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system, and instead, incorporated the party interchanging Conditional Turn-Based Battle (CTB) system.^[22] Originally, Final Fantasy X was going 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.^[23] 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.^[24] However, due to hardware and system limitations, these ideas 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.^[25] The desire for seamless transitions also led to the implementation of the new summoning system seen in the game.^[24] 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.^[26]

Final Fantasy X features innovations in the rendering of characters' facial expressions, achieved through motion capture and skeletal animation technology.^[27][28] This technology allowed animators to create realistic lip movements, which were then programmed to match the speech of the game's voice actors. Nojima has revealed that the inclusion of voice-overs enabled him to express emotion more powerfully than before, and he was therefore able to keep the storyline simple. He also said that the presence of voice actors led him to make various changes to the script, in order to match the voice actors' personalities with the characters they were portraying.^[29] The inclusion of voice-overs, however, led to difficulties. With the game's cut scenes already programmed around the Japanese voice work, Final Fantasy X's English localization team faced the difficulty of establishing English-oriented dialogue and the obstacle of incorporating this modified wording with the rhythm and timing of the characters' lip movements. Localization specialist Alexander O. Smith described the process of fitting natural-sounding English speech into the game as "something akin to writing four or five movies worth of dialogue entirely in haiku form [and] of course the actors had to act, and act well, within those restraints".^[23]

Audio

Main article: Discography of Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X marks the first time regular series composer 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.^[30] They were chosen for the soundtrack based on their ability to create music that was different from Uematsu's style while still being able to work together.^[31]

The game features three songs with vocalized elements, including the J-pop ballad "Suteki Da Ne", which translates as "Isn't it Wonderful?". The lyrics were written by Kazushige Nojima, and the instrumentals were composed by Uematsu. The song is performed by Japanese folk singer RIKKI, whom the music team contacted while searching for a singer whose music reflected an Okinawan atmosphere.^[32] "Suteki Da Ne" is also sung in Japanese in the English version of Final Fantasy X. Like "Eyes on Me" from Final Fantasy VIII and "Melodies of Life" from Final Fantasy IX, an orchestrated version of "Suteki Da Ne" is used as part of the ending theme. The other songs with lyrics are the heavy metal opening theme, "Otherworld", sung in English by Bill Muir, and "Hymn of the Fayth", a recurring piece sung using Japanese syllabary.^[33]

Versions and merchandise

The Japanese version of Final Fantasy X included an additional disc entitled "The Other Side of Final Fantasy", which featured interviews, storyboards, and trailers for Blue Wing Blitz, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, as well as the first footage of Final Fantasy XI.^[34] An international version of the game was released in Japan as "Final Fantasy X International" in January 2002, and in PAL territories under its original title. It features content not available in the original NTSC releases, including battles with "dark" versions of the game's aeons and an airship fight with the superboss "Penance".^[3] The Japanese release of Final Fantasy X International also includes "Eternal Calm", a 14 minute video clip bridging the story of Final Fantasy X with that of its sequel, Final Fantasy X-2.^[35] The video clip was included in a bonus DVD for Unlimited Saga Collector's Edition under the name "Eternal Calm, Final Fantasy X-2: Prologue". It was first released in Europe on October 31, 2003, and featured English voice-overs.^[36]

The International and PAL versions includes a bonus DVD called "Beyond Final Fantasy", a disc including interviews with the game's developers, and two of the game's English voice actors, James Arnold Taylor (Tidus) and Hedy Burress (Yuna). Also included are trailers for Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, a concept and promotional art gallery for the game, and a music video of "Suteki Da Ne" performed by RIKKI.^[37] In 2005, a compilation featuring Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 was released in Japan as Final Fantasy X/X-2 Ultimate Box.^[38]

Square also produced various types of merchandise^[39] and several books, including The Art of Final Fantasy X and three Ultimania guides, a series of artbooks/strategy guides published by DigiCube 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.^[40][41]

Reception

Final Fantasy X was well received by the media, and enjoyed high sales figures. Within four days of its release in Japan, the game had sold over 1.4 million copies in pre-orders.^[49] These figures exceeded the performances of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX in a comparable period,^[50] and Final Fantasy X became the first PlayStation 2 game to reach two million and four million sold copies.^[51][52] In October 2007, the game was listed as the eighth best-selling game for the PlayStation 2.^[53] The game has sold approximately 6.6 million copies worldwide as of January 20, 2004.^[54] Final Fantasy X came in third on IGN's "Top 25 PS2 Games of All Time" list in 2007.^[55] At the sixth annual Interactive Achievement Awards in 2003, it was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Animation" and "Console Role-Playing Game of the Year".^[56]

Critical response

Japanese and Western critics have generally given Final Fantasy X high review scores. The Japanese video game magazine Famitsu and Famitsu PS2 awarded the game a near-perfect 39/40 score,^[57] and readers of the former magazine voted it the best game of all time in early 2006.^[58] Another Japanese gaming magazine called The Play Station gave the game a score of 29/30. Famitsu, Famitsu PS2, and The Play Station expressed particularly favorable responses toward the game's storyline, graphics, and movies.^[57]

IGN's David Smith offered praise for the voice actors and the innovations in gameplay, particularly with the revised battle and summon magic system, the option to change party members during battle, and the character development and inventory management systems. They also felt that the game's graphics had improved on its predecessors in every area possible, and that the game as a whole was "the best-looking game of the series [and] arguably the best-playing as well".^[30] Greg Kasavin of GameSpot praised the game's storyline, calling it surprisingly complex, its ending satisfying, and its avoidance of role-playing game clichés commendable. He also lauded the music, feeling it was "diverse and well suited to the various scenes in the game".^[45] The visuals of the game were commended by GameSpy's Raymond Padilla, who referred to them as "top-notch", as well as giving praise to the character models, backgrounds, cut scenes, and animations.^[46]

The UK-based publication Edge rated the game considerably lower, criticizing it for not providing a next generation gaming experience. The magazine cited the game's battle system as "fractionally more complex" than in previous installments of the series, and the dialogue as "nauseating"^[42] Andrew Reiner of Game Informer criticized the game's linearity and that players were no longer able to travel the world by chocobo or control the airship.^[44] Eurogamer's Tom Bramwell noted that the game's puzzle segments were "depressing" and "superfluous", and that although the "Sphere Grid" was "a nice touch", it took up too much of the game.^[43]

Legacy

Due to its commercial and critical success, Square Enix released a direct sequel to Final Fantasy X in 2003, titled Final Fantasy X-2.^[35] The sequel is set two years after the conclusion of Final Fantasy X, establishing new conflicts and dilemmas and resolving loose ends left by the original game. As a result of Final Fantasy X's reception, Yoshinori Kitase and Kazushige Nojima decided to establish a plot-related connection between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII, another popular Final Fantasy game.^[59]

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 Final Fantasy X-2 and other subsequent titles (such as Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy XII) also featuring this development. 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.

References

External links

• Official US Final Fantasy X website
• Official European Final Fantasy X website
• Final Fantasy X on the Final Fantasy Wiki