Final Fantasy X - Part One | Working as Intended

Final Fantasy X - Part One

Posted on 1/01/2011 by Trambapoline

It's a New Years present! New game, two entries~!

Christmas has come and gone, sadly (Unless you're reading this in the future at some point that isn't directly after Chrissy, you fiend!) Much merriment was had, good food eaten and presents both given and received. Many super thanks to friends who got me presents at literally the last second, for some entirely unknown reason. DeathSpank and Back to the Future for Steam shall provide many hours of fun <3

Actually, before we get going anywhere, as this is somewhat connected, a friend of mine in Japan sent me a translation of Final Fantasy XIII - episode i - , a book that game with the Xbox 360 version of the game, and detailed what certain characters got up to at the end of that lovely 40 hour trek of awesome (and also heavily hints at a sequel~ Yay!). After playing through XIII to get the Platinum trophy, I went and got all the screenshots needed for my next FFIX Let's Play thingy, but XIII's combat system made IX's seem downright boring, so I lost motivation to play. I'll probably go back to it after all this is done, but for now, that's why I haven't made any more entries. Well, that and general busy-busy-ness.

With XIII done, I wanted to play another Final Fantasy game that I could do a Let's Play of (as I enjoy making 'em, and people seem to really dig them). I tried all sorts of things. I went through the beginning of V and VI for the GBA, IV for the DS, VII for the PSX and everything else. Oh, also including doing a video playthrough of Final Fantasy XII. I got the first hour of that done and... um... it's not pretty. I couldn't do a screenshot run reliably, as XII's subtitles don't include who is actually saying the lines. Me harping on about the first hour of XII was just torture to make and then listen to, so that aint gonna happen. Unless I find a friend to join me for the snarkiness.

Then, the most obvious of the Final Fantasy titles popped up. XIII is very heavily influenced (both playstyle, and story-wise) by Final Fantasy X, and VIII, which I did enjoy playfully ripping into, in turn influenced X. I'd be silly not to play through it! Especially since a couple of XIII fans have popped on to ask what X was like, since they hadn't played it.

Plus, in all honesty, I really want to do a Let's Play of FFX-2.

So, why the hell not? Let's jump into it!

The group of people sitting around in sad poses lets us know that this is a Dramatic Moment

And then the camera focuses on this guy for about 40 minutes, as Squeenix was very proud of their graphics engine back in 2001. I mean, it still looks really nice, but the lingering now seems awkward.

No.

"Sorry, this isn't the one with all the J-POP songs, come back later!"

Meanwhile, in Future!Land. Or the past, as this is now a flashback, but whatever!

Believe it or not, this ghostly kid becomes VERY IMPORTANT SO DON'T FORGET MMMKAY

The first of Final Fantasy X's many, many, many arse shots.

Though it's on both male and female characters, so if nothing else, Square is all about equality.

That's right, they're all here for Blondy McSportenstud, or whatever he wants to call himself!

"No. Piss off, small child!"

HURRRR I M SO WITZ

No, actually, I like Tidus (prounced TEE-DUS, for some reason), so we'll stick with that.

The child pretends to act like a seal to get Tidus' attention, but to no avail :(

TEACH US HOW TO BLITZ!!!1!

TIDUS STOP TRYING TO PROPOSITION CHILDREN FOR 'TRAINING' LATE AT NIGHT ITS FRIGGIN' CREEPY

Much like the arse-shots, this isn't the last time we'll see this stupid bow and hand motion.

Zanarkand sure is purty, huh?

It cost Jecht 150,000,000 gil to advertise these billboards all over the city, but it was worth it.

"W... Why would he draw that? ; ; "

Contrary to the implication, Tidus isn't narrating this bit - it's some random-arse announcer. Which is weird, since technically Tidus is meant to be narrating what we're doing right now to the sad people around the campfire. Did he just randomly decide to do an imitation of some jerk for the hell of it?

DO NOT THREATEN ME SMALL CHILD, OR I WILL DESTROY YOU

Score!

Also, if you're curious, the announcer is going on about how Jecht mysteriously vanished a while back. I was gonna screencap it all, but the game will beat us over the head with this arc about a hundred times in the near futu-

GOD DAMN IT TIDUS STOP CHASING SMALL CHILDREN FOR THE LOVE OF...

Not so fun now is it, Tidus? HUH?!

"Hahaha! Later, losers!"

One of the best FMVs in the game~

Oh, apparently falling from a great height onto a slab of concrete doesn't hurt at all.

Who knew?

No time to investigate for wounds or internal bleeding, there's running to be had~!

Heeeey, it's the best character in the game!

The Balthier, Vivi, Fang or Cid Highwind, if you will.

"Tryin' to scope out some whores, but your mother isn't here O NO I DI'INT"

He's a man of few words.

Much like VIII, this line will be uttered many a time before the game's out.

Need any help over there, buddy?

No? Nothing? Well, okay.

ADVENTURE!

Wait, cancel the adventure, the ghost child's back.

That makes absolutely no sense. Thank you.

Spooooooky~! Ooooooh!

An excellent question.

He's standing still, Tidus. Relax!

"The 2-for-1 sale at Krispy Kreme is down 5th Street, you big silly!"

Did they really have to use that angle? I mean, one improper Photoshop session is all it'd take to...

It's a giant ball of... watery... water... stuff.

OH NO!!

Sounds like the moniker a goth teen would label themselves while sitting in the darkest corner of the local mall.

"No, I was just fuckin' with you. His name's Barry. He's pretty chill."

HEY THAT WAS A PERFECTLY GOOD BUILDING YOU JUST RUINED YOU JERK >:|

And then the giant tentacle shoots out some monsters. I think we've all known a few that do that.

Yes, Tidus, silly-slap them. It's their only weakness!

I just love Tidus' "OOOOOOOH SHINY" expression here.

"No, dumbass, the other Jecht that you know. God..."

And then we're introduced to Final Fantasy X's battle system~ It's pretty awesome, and basically revolves around the idea that each person on the field (friend and foe alike) take turns in the order that's shown on the bar to the right. The thing is, certain abilities will allow you more/less turns. For example, using a Potion will most likely give the user an extra attack before the enemy does (or immediately after), but using your most powerful abilities will let the enemy get two or so free rounds afterwards.

It still holds up surprisingly well after all these years, unlike the poor ATB system from FFIV-IX.

And after dealing with the dregs, we've got out very first boss battle! He just casts Demi (Which only does HP% damage), so it's impossible to die to him.

We also get our introduction of Overdrives (aka: Limit Breaks). They use a little mini-game, button pressing thingy that Dissidia would later use for its EX Burst attacks.

Auron's is badass.

And BOOM goes the boss! That'll learn him to litter in these here parts!

Jecht spared no expensive when it came to his advertising campaign.

Well I doubt his holiday plans involved being stuck in the exploding ruins of a city.

You're pregnant? Congratulations!

Kinda weird, but you know how the miracle of life is...

Like, cha, seriously, man!

o shi-

Ya don't say?

Can do, boss!

Wheeeeeeee~!

KA-BLAAAAAAM!!

Yeah, Auron's all kinds of awesome.

Well, uh... guess we're not getting across this way, then.

Wait, what?!

YEAH LET'S RUN ACROSS THE FALLING REMAINS OF AN EXPLODING SKYSCRAPER THIS IS BRILLIANT

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Well.... that went about as well as expected.

WAT?

No, that's a bunch of floating rocks, you silly goose. Also, where are we?

Yeah, drugs'll do that. Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooa!

And thus the VIII to X connection that I just totally made up is now proven!

Yeah, that's Squall for ya.

You're about to regret saying that, Tidus, me ol' boy.

"'sup? I'm a bird. Chirp, and stuff."

"NO. GO AWAY."

Well that spooky and totally not foreboding place seems pretty inviting. Let's go over there!

Well, after I'm done ransacking the ancient ruins of their longed treasures. There's always time for lootin'!

OH CRAP

ARGH! WATER! I'M MEEEEEEEEEELTING~!

Told ya you'd regret the whole 'not being alone' thing.

Alright! Enough pissing about. It's time to kill these little shi-

OH GOD

NO GO AWAY STOP CHASING ME YOU BIG MEANY!

MUST GO FASTER! MUST GO FASTER!

Apparantly 'giant demonic fish from beyond the darkest depths' is considered a frying pan.

Gee, I can't imagine what gave you that silly notion.

RAWR

Well, look on the bright side, Tidus. Uh... there's no fish here?

I guess we best get a fire started!

THIS IS NO TIME TO BE PROPOSING TO THE GIANT ROCK

It's always about you, isn't it, Tidus? Have you ever considered the fire's needs? Huh? HUH?!

Oh! Uh... guess we're gonna have a flashback now. In our already established flashback.

Okey-dokey then!

What an odd reason to have a flashback.

Yup. I swear Auron just trolls Tidus for shits and giggles.

Case in point.

Um. Enough of that scene then!

That was.... entirely pointless, game.

Nope, too late! You didn't consider the fire's needs and now it's packing its shit and leaving. I hope you're happy, mister!

Ah, Phase 2 of the welcoming committee, I see!

Boss battle time~! This is the first battle you can potentially die at, but as long as you use Potions everything should be spiffy until...

"ALRIGHT. WHO'S THE SON OF A BITCH THAT BROKE INTO MY CRIB?!"

Corking, even!

Stage 2 is basically the same as the first, except ???? here can steal and use grenades. Because she's one of the few people in the Final Fantasy universe that thinks swords are a giant bunch of hooey.

And then after-battle pleasantries were dispensed.

DAMN MOONSPEAK

Now, I can't speak Crazy Vidja Game Language #432, but I'm pretty sure Cunno means...

'Punch the guy in the dorky overalls right in the gut.'

Ahhh, cultural understandings.

Dowwwwwn he goes!

LATER, AT THE ~~HALL~~ BOAT OF JUSTICE!

Tidus' day is going so gosh darn well that it almost hurts.

And then this guy shows up and tries to instruct Tidus in something by doing spastic flails and grunting wildly.

Trust me, come FFX-2 this will not be an uncommon occurrence.

Hah!

"You can now proudly consider yourself the ship's official toiletry cleaner! Huzzahs!"

Well I don't think she managed to spontaneously spout out an English-sounding phrase that also makes perfect sense in the context of the conversation.

It's not like you have much a choice here, bucko.

MWAHAHAHAHA! SOON I WILL DISCOVER ALL YOUR AL BHEDIAN SECRETS!!

Also, the game's kind enough to give us a tutorial of the Sphere Grid system. If you've played Final Fantasy XIII, this is basically like the Crystarium character progression system, except waaaaaay more open and complex. Which is both good and bad. The good is that you can develop your characters in completely different ways each playthrough (especially if you have the Advanced Sphere Grid from the PAL version), but on the negative side, this... isn't exactly the most intuitive system.

It's not enough you have to kill enemies to get points so you can move from node to node, like in XIII. Here you have to also have the items needed to unlock the sphere. Like, to gain +4 Strength you'll need a Strength Sphere, which are dropped off mobs. Usually this isn't an issue in the slightest, as enemies drop spheres at an almost 100% rate, but there are times where you'll be unable to find very specific spheres and you'll be stuck until you come across a couple.

Overall however, I really like the system. Instead of fighting for hours to get a single level, you're rewarded smaller things, but at a much quicker and more constant pace.

Because that's what Tidus needs today; More ruins. Yay!

What's the worst that could happen?

UNDER DA SEAAAA-*gunshot*

Ah, so their advanced civilization was brought down by the Blue Screen of Death. Frickin' Windows Vista!

But no time to worry about that, we've got another boss to kill!

OH GOD DO NO WANT

Like most battles early on, this one is pretty simple. Just keep attacking and healing until you can use this Command, and then the fight is essentially won.

Yeah, you better.. um... explode into glowy things!

And another job well done~

Don't worry about the background or camera angle, there's NOTHING AT ALL TO SEE DOWN THERE HONEST

No clever hints, foreshadowing or anything here. No, sir!

Back to the Boat of Implied Slavery, Hurray!

Damn it, Tidus! If you're so darn hungry then go and get some food yourse-

Oh, nevermind.

Tidus employs the same of eating I do when I'm particularly peckish.

Oh, for crying out loud. She's not a child, Tidus!

... WHAT IS YOUR OBSESSION WITH CHILDREN ANYWAY?

No, that won't work at all. From now on, you'll be dubbed Bopplyboots!

A-DURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Um. Sure! Totally! Yeah... That's classic Al Bhed. A-Yup!

SO WHAT IF I AM?!

"Kansas. Have you seen Toto around anywhere?"

MORE LIKE THE ZANARKAND.. um... er...

Yeah, I got nothin'.

Really makes you wonder, don't it?

"Oh, yeah! Hahaha. That was awesome!"

I remember being somewhere in the general vicinity, yes.

Ah, the ol' Twilight Fangirl near Robert Pattinson effect.

IN THE HEAD, YES

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Hah! I like Rikku. She has the right attitude.

A THOU-SAND Y-EARS A-GO

1. A Period of 1,000 years.
2. The millenium.
3. A period of general righteousness and happiness, esp. in the indefinite future
4. A thousandth anniversary.
5. WHEN ZANARKAND WAS DESTROYED YOU DEAF PONCE