Ranking The Top 3 Final Fantasy Games Of All Time
2. Final Fantasy X
“Listen to my story. This may be our last chance.”
With that, Final Fantasy X began a story with an opening line that can rival some of the greatest in the history of novels. The tale of Tidus and Yuna as they travel through the Summoner’s pilgrimage through Spira marks a beautiful and enigmatic journey, the first of its kind in the series to feature full voice acting. It also marked the first entry on the PlayStation 2, taking advantage of the huge hardware improvements to create one of most fully-fleshed-out RPG’s of the 21st century.
Final Fantasy X’s “Conditional Turn Based” combat was introduced, complete with a UI that provides a battle order. It allows players to have knowledge of and time their attack orders in advance. As well, each character that does an X amount of damage over a monster’s HP threshold results in an Overkill, which provides higher monetary and item rewards than a traditional kill. This leads to an even more revolutionary leveling system in the Sphere Grid.
Each character starts off in a sectioned-off area, moving along a path each level. At certain points, special spheres can be unlocked that power up a specific stat. For example, a sword sphere increases your strength, while an H sphere increases your health. You also gain abilities unique to your path, like Black Magic or Steal. After you complete your path, you are brought back to a center where you can then decide which other character’s path to follow, essentially adapting another character’s play style. This system is truly unmatched throughout the series, as it takes the customization of the Job System of FFIII or V and adds the ability to choose how to improve your character’s stats.
Final Fantasy X balances its impressive gameplay and emotionally-involving story with one of the most wonderful soundtracks in all of gaming. As every generation of consoles comes to pass, the system capabilities and limits given to Nobou Uematsu improve and allow the composer to improve in turn. Random encounters, boss battles, travelling through a forest area, a busy town; tender moments and solemn losses are given their own scoring, dictating the emotional draw as much as the story does itself.
The game also featured a sidequest that creates a divide for fans of the game (but is a personal favorite of mine) in Blitzball. A cross between European Handball and Water Polo, participants enter a water sphere (game logic dictating its underwater breathing) with an attempt to outscore the opponent. However, instead of relying on skill, players took shots on net through a stat-based system. Your shots had to outnumber defenders’ and the goalie’s blocking ability.
Special shots either avoided players or debilitated them in order to make it past the goalie and score a point. Best yet, you could create a team by scouting NPC’s and hiring them as you progress through the game. The reward was often weapons or items for use in the game. The game mode could be avoided almost altogether, but developing a powerhouse team in the Besaid Aurochs is a true complement to the story. If it shipped as a separate 2K Games title, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Final Fantasy X is an almost perfect game but, by using basic deduction skills, we are left with one game that trumps it…