Originally releasing almost 20 years ago during the early days of the Playstation 2, the Final Fantasy series’ tenth main entry has seen a number of ports in recent years – all sporting a HD facelift to match. Leaving no stone unturned, you’re now able to take the journey through Spira on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch – the latter offering what is possibly the best way to sink hours into this meaty JRPG. And chances are, you’ll be sinking a whole lot into this one.
I should really start by saying, FFX rocked my 10-year-old world back in the day. Even after all these years, it still holds a soft spot for me as my first entry into the series – and probably my real first foray into story-driven games. Prior to this, my experience with gaming was based solely around jumping on crates, finding all the coloured gems and generally catching ’em all. I was too young to really tap into the game’s strategy and party building mechanics, but the underlying elements – the story, characters, setpieces and soundtrack – more than made up for my total lack of any skill as a wide-eyed RPG newbie. Over 10 years and several playthroughs later, it’s safe to say that these elements are still the biggest draw for me when it comes to picking up the adventure again.
For the uninitiated, FFX puts you in the role of Tidus, the young ‘star player’ of the biggest sports team in the city of Zanarkand. Through the opening scenes, the futuristic city is set upon and destroyed by an evil entity known as ‘Sin’. During the chaos, Tidus makes his way through his crumbling home and somehow gets himself pulled through a rift to places unknown. While searching for his way back, Tidus crosses paths with Yuna, a summoner of beasts who – along with a small group of ‘guardians’ – is travelling to Zanarkand in the hopes of destroying Sin. From there, you’ll travel down a relatively linear path across the major cities, villages, islands, temples and dungeons within the vast and beautifully realised world of Spira. Being an outsider – both as a character and as a player – you’ll spend much of this time slowly unravelling the stories of your multiple companions, as well as the world’s history and shaky reliance on religion and ancient tradition.
While it becomes quite complex towards the end of the journey, the plot is executed well and at a good pace. You’re never far from the next story beat, with each presenting a new piece of history, a better understanding of a complex character or a wrench thrown into carefully laid plans. A trip over an ancient, snow covered mountain will hit a wall, as one of Yuna’s guardians runs into the tribe he abandoned there years ago. Another member of your group will suffer an internal crisis when forced to cut ties to a religion he’s built his entire life upon. Watching these characters overcome their challenges and personal demons is half the story, it gives them real stakes and ties to the world they’re trying to save.
If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit like a sci-fi soap opera, you wouldn’t be wrong – however it’s not always traditional drama and danger during the group’s travels. Throughout the 30-40 hour adventure, the cast will be struck by lightning (more than once), crash a shotgun wedding, play in a championship underwater football game (the brilliant Blitzball) and will ride on the backs of 7ft tall yellow birds. While all these things sound like a circus on paper, each aspect is given a surprising amount of weight and relevance to the story at large. When that main storyline is teeming with revelations, betrayal, romance, death, religious subplots and complex twists, these left-field surprises offer a refreshing change of pace.
While story and characters are pivotal to any good fantasy game of this type, much of the action does come from testing your mettle against those that cross your path on the way. When you’re not deep in a well choreographed cinematic or major plot event, chances are you’ll be dealing with many of the game’s ‘fiends’ – creatures formed from spirits of the restless dead, unable to leave their former world behind. These monsters will range from small wolves and overgrown wasps, right through to ancient golems and zombified dragons – each generally requiring a different strategy or character to go toe to toe with.
While fairly adjustable in the late game, most of your party members will be a specialist in a general RPG role – swordsman, black mage, tank, thief and so on. Your swordsman will be able to quickly strike through smaller enemies, while your black mage will ignite icy monsters with the wave of a hand. Similarly, the team’s ranged specialist will make short work of airborne fiends, while the thief pulls mechanical enemies apart piece by piece. You’re free to fight enemies any way you like, however there’s almost always a weakness to be exploited. But if there isn’t, you can always fall back on one of Yuna’s summonable ‘aeons’ – great beasts bestowed upon her throughout the adventure to aid in destroying her ultimate enemy. These beasts are truly grand in scale, ranging from a ladylike nymph made of solid ice, right through to an enormous mummified monstrosity that is not in keeping with Yuna’s otherwise calm and pure appearance. While calling on these spirits can give you an edge in combat, many of the later bosses will have means of shutting them down to keep you on your toes.
I should also mention that all battles here are fought using the old school turn-based system, which means random encounters and waiting your turn to take a swipe at something. You’ll be able to know the order in which your enemies and your party will attack, allowing you to plan out each play and anticipate what you’ll see in return. It’s done well, but might catch modern RPG audiences off-guard at the start. It’s probably best to not get your hopes up for any of those other modern RPG conveniences making their way to these ports either. While the remasters have brought overhauled visuals and a great new soundtrack, there have been no extras for the console version as there have been for other recent ports in the series. There’s no speeding through battles and story beats at the press of a button, and there’s no option to skip cutscenes. If you’re a veteran returning for another playthrough, or even trying to get through a bunch of scenes to the battle that just sent you back to the main menu, these extras would have been handy. That being said, FFX is built on its well told and engrossing plot, so you can’t really blame them for fleshing this out in grand scenes and events as much as possible.
It also helps, then, that one of its most recent ports has been to the Nintendo Switch. While it’s been available on a portable device for some time, releasing on the PS Vita a few years back, the Switch allows it to be played on a much larger and more powerful screen for a wider audience. Being able to pick up and play FFX so easily is a huge plus, whether you’re looking to simply see the climax of the story, or if you’re aiming to sink many more hours into the tale’s optional late-game content.
If you’re in the latter category, your primary concern will be Spira’s multiple hidden super-bosses – the ‘Dark Aeons’. These are the corrupted forms of Yuna’s collected beasts, and you best believe they’re a challenge. They will almost definitely require a party of maxed-stat characters, each equipped with their respective upgraded ‘celestial weapons’ (a feat that requires a crafting process on a whole other level). Alternatively, you can instead lose hours to a deep and complex Blitzball career, travelling the world recruiting and developing an unbeatable team for various rewards (but mainly for that sweet, intangible glory).
However you choose to spend your hours along the way, FFX continues to offer a genre-defining experience full of diverse and interesting characters, compelling storylines and a fantastic soundtrack. The linear nature of the world will seem a little dated by modern standards, but it does help to keep the plot engaging and rolling forward with a decent pace. A must-play for fans of the franchise – and a good place to start for those looking to dive in – FFX is just a quality old school JRPG that can sink its hooks in and steal an entire weekend. Heck, I’m probably sitting in front of the thing somewhere right now.
Available now on PS2, PS3, PS4, PSVita, PC, XBOne & Nintendo Switch