skeptic about FFX? ..fear no more!

[heart havok]

Square's PlayStation 2 RPG roster is presently a slim one, consisting solely of Final Fantasies X through XII. Slowing sales have forced the company, like many others, to trim its release list to only big-name titles. But an all-Final Fantasy roster doesn't imply there's no variety, as Final Fantasy X looks to be vastly different from the series' ninth installment.

Final Fantasy X returns to the look of Final Fantasy VIII, with many key project leaders coming from the staff of that title. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has returned from a one-game absence to lend his realistic style to the game's characters. Final Fantasy X won't have the modern environments of VIII, however; FF X's world reportedly has not reached the industrial era.

Originally intended to be the first testing ground for Square's PlayOnline network, Final Fantasy X has since become an entirely offline game. Players would originally have been able to connect to PlayOnline to receive game hints and information, but hang-ups in building the PlayOnline service forced Square to remove this feature.

Some technological advances remains, however. Final Fantasy X will adopt a polygon-based world in place of the pre-rendered backdrops of the past three FFs. The move to full 3-D will allow for much more cinematic story sequences, though actual character movement will still use a fixed camera perspective. (The FF X team felt that a switch to a generic Skies of Arcadia-style "over the shoulder" view would interfere with the much-discussed but poorly-defined "Final Fantasy feel.") The world of Final Fantasy X will also be one continuous area; towns and dungeons will be built right into the world map instead of appearing as mere icons.

FF X's world will also be the first to feature monsters in the flesh. Boss battles will be fought on the same screen in which the player moves around, as in Chrono Trigger and Breath of Fire III. Unfortunately, random battles will still cut to a separate combat screen -- the development team had hoped to have all battles occur on the field map, but wasn't able to implement this feature.

Perhaps the most noteworthy new feature is the controversial use of voice acting for the first time in Final Fantasy history. Nearly every important story scene, as well as many other scenes, will feature voice acting. Characters' facial expressions will also change as they speak, an FF first. Gamers with hearing disabilities or a severe case of technophobia can rest easy, though; not only will subtitles be included, the voices can be turned off entirely.

Nobuo Uematsu will continue his streak with his tenth FF score. The composer has stated that FF X will feature the second-greatest number of tracks in series history. (FF IX still has the most.) Indeed, music looks to be an integral part of FF X. The now-obligatory pop theme song, "Suteki da ne" ("Isn't it Beatiful?"), will be closely associted with FF X's heroine Yuna, just as FF IX's theme "Melodies of Life" was tied to Garnet. Another track, "Song of Prayer", will be featured in a key singing scene. There's even rumors that a rock concert scene will be included. However, FF X will also make more frequent use of silence; not every scene will have background music droning through it.

A number of story details have been revealed, though how they fit together isn't quite clear. Final Fantasy X is set in a post-apocalyptic world -- one thousand years after "a great terror arose from the deep", the world is nearly submerged in water. Now, in the present, a "journey home" across the seas begins, with the heroes apparently bound for "the kingdom of the sun." Another important aspect to the story is Sin, a malefic force of nature that manifests itself as natural disasters. (While Sin is represented as a ball of fire in the FF X logo, it is not actually a corporeal being.) Sin can only be defeated by the "Ultimate Summon" spell possessed by the summoners from Ebon.

At the center of the adventure is a cheerful sword-slinging youth named Tidus (pronounced "Tida"). A star player at the underwater sport Blitzball, Tidus teams up with his staff-wielding love interest Yuna to confront Sin. The daugher of the famous summoner Braska and a summoner herself, Yuna has been haunted by strange dreams as of late. Believing Sin to be the cause, she swears to defeat it, and perhaps emerge from her parents' shadow in the process. Interestingly, Yuna has one blue eye and one green eye, though whether this is important to the game or not remains to be seen. Three other playable characters, none with official romanized names, have also been revealed: Kitt, Hayate, and Tidus' mysterious rival Ryugo. One of these characters -- or another, yet-to-be-named ally -- will wield a Blitzball as a weapon.

Beneath the story runs a unique theme: what composer Nobuo Uematsu describes as an "Okinawan atmosphere." Not only is "Suteki da ne" sung by an Okinawan folk singer, Rikki, FF X will incorporate the Japanese island group's tropical feel and clothing style. Even the character names are influenced by Okinawa: "Yuna" is a type of hibiscus in the Okinawan dialect, while "Tida" is a local word meaning "sun."



Travel will be another key theme to FF X. Tidus comes from a lower caste than Yuna and frequently encounters places and things he's unfamiliar with, prompting him to ask "What's that?" Script writer Kazunari Nojima states that other themes to the game include "change" and "independence."

Final Fantasy X promises a new direction in battle systems. Battle director Toshirou Tsuchida is calling on his experience as the director of the Front Mission series to implement a more strategic alternative to the ATB system. Characters will likely be able to move around the battle in some regard, and the "think-on-your-feet" elements of ATB will be reduced. Party members will also not have conventional experience points; instead, some other mechanism will be used to gauge characters' growth from battles.

However, the options available to each character should remain largely the same. Characters will have a traditional MP statistic, summon spells, and single-use Limit Breaks; the several-turn Trance Modes from Final Fantasy IX will not make a return. And while the party will be limited to three heroes at a time, as in FFs VII and VIII, it seems that characters not in the active team will still participate: Heroes not in the current squad can apparently be called in to perform single attacks.

When the party isn't fighting, it can pass the time by playing one of FF X's mini-games: the sport of Blitzball. Described by director Yoshinori Kitase as a mixture of basketball, soccer, and rugby, the underwater sport is played in teams of six. Players pass the ball through the water and score points by getting it into a goal. Tidus and several other party members are avid Blitzball players; the logo for their team can be seen on Tidus' shorts.

Originally due out this spring, Final Fantasy X's Japanese release has been pushed back to July. (A North American release will follow in late November.) Two versions of the game will be available: a standard single-DVD edition and a "high value" two-DVD set with improved FMV and higher-quality sound.

With little pre-release hype, FF X's greatest challenge may be living up to Square's lofty expectations for the title -- the company hopes to sell nearly 3 million copies of the game, a goal that may prove difficult to reach when only just over 6 million PlayStation 2 consoles have been sold. Still, from what's been shown so far, FF X looks to be another worthy member of the Final Fantasy series, and where quality games go, the fans are sure to follow.

the previous all would have been plagairized from here if i didn't post this note giving credit to whom deserves the credit.

now... if you're still skeptic about Final Fantasy X... {other than this bullshit FrontMission3 stylized Battles} then you really need that tree trunk pulled out of your ass. this game is going to be amazing.

[Drizzten]

Originally posted by heart havok
Square's PlayStation 2 RPG roster is presently a slim one, consisting solely of Final Fantasies X through XII.

The Bouncer...isn't that a Square game?

I'm actually looking forward to a Final Fantasy game for once. I've never gotten into the series, except for the first one on the NES...but FFX looks to be pretty sweet with all the changes and new ideas.

[Nokari]

.....Final....Fantasy....X....

[heart havok]

Originally posted by Drizzten

The Bouncer...isn't that a Square game?

I'm actually looking forward to a Final Fantasy game for once. I've never gotten into the series, except for the first one on the NES...but FFX looks to be pretty sweet with all the changes and new ideas.

the Bouncer isn't an RPG, Drizz.

[ssjkasey]

I HOPE YOUR FINAL FANTASY IS FULL OF SURPRISES

Yes, this is grand news, indeed.

The only problem I see so far is the fact that they cut the amount of players you can have. Everything else looks AWESOME85. HOORAY.

[heart havok]

the only problem i see... is changing the ATB -_-

[ssjkasey]

Originally posted by heart havok
the only problem i see... is changing the ATB -_-

I haven't played FM3, so I don't know what kind of battle system to expect. Good or bad; I have no idea. I'm sure it won't be exactly like it, though.

[heart havok]

Front Mission style Battles: you start each battle with a fixed amount of AP {Attack Power}. Walking {which is one step at a time} takes AP. Defending takes AP. Attacking takes AP. EVERYTHING takes AP. if you run out of AP, you lose the battle.

i suppose this could work fairly like Chrono Cross, however... in the FM series... your battles are VERY lengthened, and not nearly HALF as quickpaced as FF. it's very stalling to moving along story and events, and this could prove EVEN MORE annoying with the Random Battles on. and long Battles are my personal only turn off from most RPGs... because i like the story to run smoothly. now.. if they are going to have long battles, then they DEFINITELY better have an AMAZINGLY LONG and DEEP STORY if they want to keep me playing.

here's an example: my brother is an AVID fan of Mech AND Stragedy games AND EVEN lengthy Battle sequences, and he completely DISPISES Front Mission games solely due to the Battle sequences. now THAT's bad.

[Radiskull]

Yeh i agree with ya heart havok. Everything sounds good except the ATB. Front Mission 3 really got to me because of that feature...... and now its gonna be in FFX!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo!!!

[Drizzten]

Originally posted by heart havok
the Bouncer isn't an RPG, Drizz.

Damn.

I've watched my friends play FM3, and I think the battle system works well. It's very simple and easy to understand and gives you freedom to do whatever you can within the allotted AP. Not only that, but the bonus attacks and "combos" of different special abilities can suddenly change a whole battle, keeping things interesting.

Keep in mind, I cannot compare that system to the battle systems in FFVII and onward since I have not played them or watched for any comparable length of time.

[heart havok]

let's just say that for me personally.... the Final Fantasy games I-IX have all been my favourite battle systems.

its a shame they're changing the one thing that i hate about most other RPGs and Sragedy games.

[suzaku]

DAMN!!!

i can't wait for the release of FFX!!!

i really like the feature where your other non-active characters can join in and make an attack...

[isamudyson]

I thought Front Mission was a good game but I don't see how it could be used in 10 with out major changes. It does bother me that they're tinkering with something that's a proven staple of FF. Hopefully any changes will be for the better but until there's more info it's too early to make judgement.

[Radiskull]

Originally posted by heart havok
[B][b]let's just say that for me personally.... the Final Fantasy games I-IX have all been my favourite battle systems.

yes i agree.... i havent really enjoyed any others

[daniel480]

The strategic scenario battle style of Front Mission is used throughout many RPGs,.. some whom are very good... examples are pretend, Shining Forcese series... evecially the 2nd one... those games were nicely done. The only possible differences would be morepossible characters in your party [in SF2, there were around what? 60? 70?] and huge parties... it's really challenging to combine everything in just the right way...