Final Fantasy 10/X - Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy X (10) is the tenth installment in the Square (Later to become Square Enix) flagship series Final Fantasy. It is a RPG style game released on the Sony PlayStation 2 in 2003 and remastered and re-released as Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in 2013, for PlayStation 4 in 2015, Microsoft Windows in 2016, and for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One in 2019. The game introduces a new Conditional Turn Based combat system and also a new experience system called “Sphere Grid”. It was released to critical success and featured groundbreaking changes never before seen in the Final Fantasy series.
Final Fantasy X Plot
The game follows Tidus, a Zanarkand native and skilled BlitzBall player who awakens in the land of Spira after his homeland was destroyed by a rampaging monster named Sin, a gargantuan whale like beast created during the Machina War between Bevelle and Zanarkand that took place one thousand years ago. Tidus joins a Summoner named Yuna in her quest to destroy Sin. Spira consists of one large land mass followed by a number of islands with diverse climates. Humans and a variety of other races populate the island including the Al Bhed, Guado, Hypello, Ronso and others.
Gameplay
In Final Fantasy X (10), the world map concept was not used. Players navigate a 3D world and enter random battles, but the game’s traditional experience system is replaced by the "Sphere Grid" system. In this system, characters gain "Sphere Levels" by collecting enough Ability Points (AP). Sphere Levels let players navigate the Sphere Grid, a grid of interconnected nodes composed of statistic-based and ability bonuses. "Spheres" are applied to the nodes, which unlock them.The Sphere Grid system gives the option to customize characters and ability to change them from their intended battle roles. For example - Turning the white mage Yuna into a healer, etc.
In addition, Final Fantasy X introduces a new combat system called the Conditional Turn Based Battle System (CTB). This game parts with the Active Time Battle (ATB) system used in the series from Final Fantasy IV. CTB is a turn-based battle system whereby the action pauses to allow the player to decide their action from a number of categories (attack, skill, special). A timeline in the upper right of the screen displays the turn order of characters, which can be affected by a number of spells, items, and abilities. The game utilizes an overdrive gauge similar to Final Fantasy VII’s limit break meter, whereby taking damage fills the overdrive bar, and once full a powerful special attack can be carried out. Later in the game conditions that fill the overdrive bar can be changed. This allows for attacking an enemy, healing allies, or evading attacks to fill the gauge bar.
Characters
- Tidus- A blitzball player Zanarkand who awakens on the Island of Spira. He is ignorant of just about everything but joins Yuna in her quest against Sin.
- Yuna- A female summoner determined to defeat Sin
- Auron- A strange man that looks over Tidus and Yuna. He is perceived as a legendary guardian because he accompanied Lord Braska on his pilgrimage ten years ago.
- Kimahri- One of Yuna’s guardians and a member of the Ronso tribe. Outcasted from his tribe, he wishes to keep Yuna safe
- Wakka- Yuna's childhood friend from Besaid. A captain of the notoriously bad Besaid Aurochs blitzball team, he retires from sport to join Yuna on her pilgrimage.
- Lulu- Another of Yuna’s childhood friends from Besaid. A black mage knowledgeable of Spira and a helpful asset, assisting many summoner’s on their pilgrimages.
- Rikku- An Al Bhed girl, and the first person Tidus meets in Spira. Perceived as a heathen by many individuals in Spira, wishes to protect Yuna.
Development
Final Fantasy X is the first game in the Final Fantasy series to have voice acting for the characters and, instead of pre-rendered backdrops the game had full three dimensional settings. It is the first game of the series with music that was not entirely scored by Nobuo Uematsu. In addition to Uematsu, fellow composers Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano were assigned to aid him. The game was produced and directed by Yoshinori Kitase, and development began in 1999 with a team of over 100 people.
Executive producer Hironobu Sakaguchi was worried about changing from 2D to 3D backgrounds, using voice acting and real time storytelling, but considered that such challenging innovations lead to the success of the franchise. Motion capture and skeletal animation technology made graphics and facial movements more realistic than ever before. This included the movement of lips to match the voice acting which was first introduced in this game. Initially the game was intended to have some online capabilities, but the plans were scrapped. The game was designed to have a tropical-like vibe, similar to scenes from Okinawa or Hawaii.