A Summoner and her Guardians: Final Fantasy X

[chronodev]

We have posted a review of Final Fantasy X for the PS2 at our articles section.

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Intro
One of the few Final Fantasy games to appear on the PS2, but one of the better ones for the system. Final Fantasy X (FF X) was decently well received, offering some different innovations to the methods of leveling up and combat. Graphically it was far superior to any Final Fantasy that had been released at that point.
　
Story
The story begins with the popular Blitz-ball Tidus, of the Zanarkand Abes, and son of the famous Jecht, the most renowned Blitz-ball ever, signing autographs when he meets a strange kid. He was talking with some girls saying that he wouldn’t be able to meet them after the game for reasons unknown. During the game the stadium is attacked by a strange water creature which begins to lay waste to the city. Tidus runs into Auron fleeing, who stands and fights with him, giving him his Father’s sword. Auron leads Tidus a distance then the pair of them are pulled into the creature. Tidus awakens near an island, meets Wakka and the rest of the story begins …


Cast:

Tidus: A man from Zanarkand, lost in the world of Spira, trying to find a way home. He fills the role of a quick striker in melee range, initial abilities and magic focus on speed or boosting physical statistics.
Yuna: A summoner on a pilgrimage, in the footsteps of her father, to save the world of Spira from the ancient evil known as Sin. She seeks to bring the Calm to Spira. She is the White Mage and Summoner of the group, the primary healer. Weak physically, her magical abilities aren’t to be taken lightly and neither are her Aeons.
Auron: A mysterious man, who was a friend of Tidus’s father. He had promised Yuna’s and Tidus’s fathers to help and protect them. A heavy melee hitter, and the most durable character initially. He focuses on supporting the party through "break attacks", which significantly drop the enemy’s offensive or defensive abilities.
Wakka: The captain of the Beseid Auorchs, a Blitz-Ball team. A protector of Yuna on her pilgrimage. A devout man, he takes the teachings of Yevon (the main religion of Spira seriously), and has lost his younger brother to Sin. He functions as an accurate ranged fighter, throwing his combat ready Blitz-ball at foes. His abilities boost accuracy.
Lulu: A guardian of Yuna. A quiet woman but steadfast, if sometimes a little hot tempered. She lost her boyfriend to Sin (Wakka’s younger brother). She is the Black Mage of the group, dealing magical elemental damage. Her boost helps the magical end of the party.
Kimari: A Ronso guardian of Yuna, a giant humanoid lion (with a single horn coming from his fore-head). A disgraced Ronso with a broken horn he watches over Yuna and protects her to the best of his ability. He’s very quiet and only speaks a little, preferring to let his weapon do the talking. His is the "Blue mage" of the group, using his lancet ability to learn enemy’s attacks and then unleashes them through his overdrive. He is also the most flexible character, requiring some choices and planning for him to fit into whatever role is needed the most of your party.
Rikku: A young Al Bhed girl who helps out Tidus early in the game. She is very playful and energetic. She is the thief of the group, allowing you to steal from enemies. While a weak melee combatant, she’s faster than Tidus. Her overdrive Mix allows her to meet any situation that arises as it can be used offensively and defensively. Her abilties focus on luck.
　
Gameplay

In FF X, combat and leveling saw drastic changes that not everyone was happy with, mostly on the leveling end. This game offered weapon and armor ability customization as well and Blitz-Ball.

Combat was revamped with a display showing the "initiative order" of the turn based battle-system (playing tabletop RPGs, I don’t know any better way to put it), showing who would be attacking when and it was easy to see just how the different choices would impact the overall sequence of attacks. Strategically, this gives the player a huge advantage in knowing when to expect strikes for the most part (never included would be the countering). Knowing when to expect attacks allows one to anticipate when to begin buffing and when to just assault. The other feature added was the ability to change your team in battle. Before in the series you couldn’t change who you had out without being either in specific locations or using specific functions. While there’s a formation option in the menu to change people in advance, using the switch-in method offers a lot of advantages as well. It allows for a more dynamic party mechanism which could help one avoid accidently winding up with the wrong party members...

Read the full review here:
A Summoner and her Guardians: Final Fantasy X

[kangaroo]

Very well written review

[arlenalvin]

Very nice read! Thanks for this great review!