WARNING: What follows is a long rant made by a Final Fantasy fanboy. It contains spoilers and is a general waste of time for all but the most bored Final Fantasy fan. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Also yes a lot of my opinions are similar to Spoony's. I did my best to not make redundant points, but our opinions about this game are very similar. Besides, the Meg Ryan thing is fucking uncanny.
I love Final Fantasy, first of all. To establish that I'm not just a hater, allow me to explain. Final Fantasy 6 is my favorite in the series. My second favorite is probably Final Fantasy Tactics (if you count that), and then Final Fantasy 7. I also loved 12, and would qualify it as a favorite if only it didn't have Vaan and Penelo tacked on at the last minute. Hell, I even liked Mystic Quest, and while I can't say I loved Final Fantasy 8 I did probably spend 100+ hours on it so I at least enjoyed the gameplay and exploration aspects. I didn't really love 13, but I also didn't really hate it. I felt it was bad, but bad in the ways that the series has been before. Specifically I felt 13 was very, VERY similar to Final Fantasy X.
And, for some reason, there have been several threads on The Escapist lately that have been curious about Final Fantasy. Where did it go wrong? Which was your favorite? Which was your least favorite? etc. And to my extreme surprise, many people consider Final Fantasy X to be the best in the series. Those same people consider Final Fantasy 13 to be the worst. I do not understand these people.
To me, Final Fantasy X was the beginning of the end. Not only did it start using the character tropes that plague the series (and JRPG genre) to this day, but it brought the series away from its roots in order to focus more on linearity and controlled, guided gameplay. Allow me to give you a simple, easy to follow (and easy to rebuke) list that explains the basis for my opinion, starting with what I liked:
PROS:
CONS:
So there is my overly verbose analysis of why I hated and still hate FFX. I didn't write this to incite a flamewar, otherwise I wouldn't have typed this whole thing out. I'm interested in why people felt that the pros outweighed the cons. If you think FFX was one of the best in the series, do you not care about story, characters, or writing? Were you not that interested in exploration or non-linearity in other JRPG titles? Did you just ignore the whole Blitzball thing? Did you enjoy all of the things I hated? Or do you simply feel that pretty graphics and a good combat system are worth sitting through bad writing, painful voice acting, boring non-combat gameplay, and unforgivably annoying characters? Because the Cons of FFX are the same things people complained about in FF13. amd they're the same things that people cite as reasons that JRPGs aren't as good any more.
I love Final Fantasy, first of all. To establish that I'm not just a hater, allow me to explain. Final Fantasy 6 is my favorite in the series. My second favorite is probably Final Fantasy Tactics (if you count that), and then Final Fantasy 7. I also loved 12, and would qualify it as a favorite if only it didn't have Vaan and Penelo tacked on at the last minute. Hell, I even liked Mystic Quest, and while I can't say I loved Final Fantasy 8 I did probably spend 100+ hours on it so I at least enjoyed the gameplay and exploration aspects. I didn't really love 13, but I also didn't really hate it. I felt it was bad, but bad in the ways that the series has been before. Specifically I felt 13 was very, VERY similar to Final Fantasy X.
And, for some reason, there have been several threads on The Escapist lately that have been curious about Final Fantasy. Where did it go wrong? Which was your favorite? Which was your least favorite? etc. And to my extreme surprise, many people consider Final Fantasy X to be the best in the series. Those same people consider Final Fantasy 13 to be the worst. I do not understand these people.
To me, Final Fantasy X was the beginning of the end. Not only did it start using the character tropes that plague the series (and JRPG genre) to this day, but it brought the series away from its roots in order to focus more on linearity and controlled, guided gameplay. Allow me to give you a simple, easy to follow (and easy to rebuke) list that explains the basis for my opinion, starting with what I liked:
PROS:
[li]Pretty cutscenes: Seriously, I'm still impressed by these. They are among the best on the PS2, easily.[/li]
[li]Great Graphics for the PS2: Again, this is a very pretty game. The textures are generally smooth, the colors are vivid, the particle effects look great, etc.[/li]
[li]Amazing sound design: It's not the best in the series (I'd look to 6 for that), there aren't any truly memorable tracks or effects, but it does its job and you notice the high quality throughout.[/li]
[li]Engaging and Interesting Combat System: One of the few things I've liked consistently since FF7 has been the changing combat systems. I like that they've tried to make each game's combat feel unique and interesting. I liked the semi-automated combat of 12, I liked the super automated combat for most of 13, and I think that FFX took the old turn-based style and more or less perfected it.[/li]
[li]Auron is awesome: Auron isn't just the coolest character in this game, he may be the coolest in the entire FF series.[/li]
[li]Kimahri is alright, too: Yeah, fine I'll give you this one too. He's a 7 foot tall blue horned Lion-man, and I am okay with that.[/li]
[li]Sin is kind of cool: I love this kind of villain in a game. A Cthuloid metamonster that is basically an indestructible force of nature. It's also a throwback to Lavos, which I love. Too bad FFX goes and ruins everything by giving it the dumbest explanation possible.[/li]
CONS:
[li]Terrible Characters: This is the biggest issue with the story and writing, and a huge reason as to why I felt this game was so bad and has harmed the series and the genre more than any other entry. The poorly written characters lifted directly from Japanese pop culture are something that plagues the series (and the JRPG genre as a whole) to this day. Basically every character in this game is based on a stupid stereotype or preexisting trope of Japanese storytelling. The three female characters could have easily been lifted from a bad dating sim. You've got the apologetic ultra submissive doormat (Yuna), the 15-year-old hyperactive Loli ditz (Rikku), and the older 'experienced' disciplinarian with udderly absurd boobs (Lulu). You get glimpses of deeper characterization in their background stories, but that all takes a back seat to making sure they conform to these hypersexualized characterizations. Hell Rikku and Lulu could be excised from the game completely and they wouldn't have had to change the story at all. They're just there as fan service to a perverse subculture. Look no further than FFX-2 if you don't believe me.
The Male characters fare better, as I mentioned in the Pros. However, even the best of them are based on pre-existing one-dimensional characterizations. You've got the gruff old samurai with a mysterious past (Auron) and the foreign strongman out to prove himself and regain his honor (Kimahri). Those characters are interesting because those tropes are interesting, not because they're particularly well written. And then there's Tidus and Wakka. Wakka would probably be more tolerable if it weren't for his ridiculous character design, stupid name, and silly "island" accent. It still kills me that he's voiced by John DiMaggio (Bender, Marcus Fenix). Oh also, his weapon is a volleyball.
Tidus is the worst main character in Final Fantasy history. Squall may be an angsty whining loser with a silly weapon, but at least he mans up every now and then. The only time Tidus isn't whining is when he's congratulating himself on being so awesome at fucking Blitzball. Vaan sucks but he's little more than a cheap Tidus knock-off. Tidus is an undeservedly arrogant, whining, constantly complaining androgynous teenager wearing the most absurd outfit ever in a genre known for absurd outfits. This style of character has shown up constantly since FFX, so much so that it's become a joke of the genre. Squall was a whiny teenager sure, but he wasn't designed to look like the love child of Gackt and Meg Ryan:
As I've mentioned Vaan is basicaly a carbon copy of Tidus, meant to appeal to his apparently large Japanese fanbase. Same stupid hair, same whiny entitled attitude, same unnecessarily exposed skin. Any time you see a whiny little androgynous preteen as a main character in a JRPG, thank Tidus. Oh and Cloud doesn't count. He wasn't a whiny androgynous teenager in FF7, he didn't take on that role until Advent Children. In FF7 he was an action-oriented mercenary badass.[/li]
[li]Terrible Dialogue and Writing: Related to the above. Take any 4 or 5 lines of dialogue from the game not spoken by Auron or Kimahri and try to defend them as well written. I will laugh at your feeble attempt. This is probably partly due to a poor translation, but that's hardly an excuse. Tactics, 6, 7, and 9 all had superior writing.[/li]
[li]Terrible Voice Acting: Also related to the above, but less of an issue. We all know this era had some terrible voice acting, and FFX is one of the worst examples. I consider this something of a nitpick though, as having voices at all was new to the genre. Prove me wrong, show me a clip of FFX that doesn't include abysmal voice acting. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha.[/li]
[li]An absurd, silly, and often incomprehensible plot: Explain the premise of FFX to me. It can't be done without sounding like a madman. The future dream incarnate of a past civilization who plays tackle diving water polo must escort a heroine destined to kill herself in order to defeat Cthulu towards a mystical city summoned into existence by ghost thought magic. I think part of my brain just died trying to come up with those words. And of course if we want to know what REALLY happens we have to stay til after the credits where we realize it ends on a cliffhanger where this ghost thought summoned dream incarnate must be rescued from the water temple. The bad plot may have been easier to follow if only the writing and translation were better, but that's just not the case. When I first played through FFX, most of my time was spent with a strained "WTF" look on my face. Even once its explained and you understand the plot, you have to realize that this story is just downright absurd.[/li]
[li]Ridiculous Character Design: Uneven pleather lederhosen? Exterior G-strings? Exposed midriffs and cleavage on both sexes? Hair that defies the laws of physics? It looks like most of the characters were attacked by J-Pop and gay fetish shops. How am I supposed to take a game seriously when the main villain looks like this:[/li]
[sub]Never google image search any of the male characters in FFX. Trust me.[/sub]
[li]Lack of Exploration: This is the first game in the Final Fantasy series that did not include an explorable overworld map. And here we get into how FFX harmed the series' gameplay. One of my favorite parts of any given RPG is the freedom to explore. Doing this allows you to unlock new areas, new monsters, new spells, and new characters. How many secret characters are in FFX? Zero. How do you find hidden locations? By either knowing the codeword or searching for the coordinates. No exploration at all. And this is how Final Fantasy started to include asinine ways to unlock new spells. Instead of breeding chocobos or finding a hidden dungeon, you have to know what secret criteria unlock the proper location or item. In FFX if you want to fight Nemesis (the optional superboss), you have to fight ever monster in every area of the game, capture 10 of every monster, and a few other basically random grinding achievements. There is still minimal exploration in the actual gameworld maps, but there is little reason to do so.[/li]
[li]Linearity: This is related to the above, and was one of the main complaints about FF13 and made me ask if those complaining about FF13 remember how linear FFX actually was. You have less roads and so the maps are less hallway-like, but its just as linear. The game leads you around on a very short leash from start to finish. The areas are basically just very large hallways, with little or no choice of where you can go and (as I mentioned) zero exploration. JRPGs aren't exactly known for their choices, but that's not what I'm talking about here. I don't need alternate endings in my JRPG, but I do want to be able to influence how I play the game. I want to be able to get sidetracked, to explore, to find new and interesting things, and to maybe have options about how I go about completing the linear story.[/li]
[li]Blitzball: FF7 had snowboarding, motorcycle racing, a submarine game, and random carnival minigames. FF8 had the Triple Triad card game, which I actually liked. FF9 had Triple Triad as well, but removed any conceivable reason to play it. FFX had fucking Blitzball. I could forgive the fact that the game is physically impossible. I could forgive that rather than being an optional minigame, it is a plot essential device that drives most of the character's motivations. What I cannot forgive is that the game is a tedious, boring, and ultimately pointless waste of time. It's like the designers have never played a sports game, never designed a minigame, and have an aversion to fun.[/li]
So there is my overly verbose analysis of why I hated and still hate FFX. I didn't write this to incite a flamewar, otherwise I wouldn't have typed this whole thing out. I'm interested in why people felt that the pros outweighed the cons. If you think FFX was one of the best in the series, do you not care about story, characters, or writing? Were you not that interested in exploration or non-linearity in other JRPG titles? Did you just ignore the whole Blitzball thing? Did you enjoy all of the things I hated? Or do you simply feel that pretty graphics and a good combat system are worth sitting through bad writing, painful voice acting, boring non-combat gameplay, and unforgivably annoying characters? Because the Cons of FFX are the same things people complained about in FF13. amd they're the same things that people cite as reasons that JRPGs aren't as good any more.
. I figure if I'm going to write a long rant, I might as well try to make it entertaining to read.