Right now, I am playing my first ever JRPG, Final Fantasy X. I had previously played through the game slowly over a year or so, getting to the (spoilers, I guess) Airship, before dying way too many times to that area's boss, easily the hardest boss in the game up to that point. I recently decided that my problem was that my characters were underpowered, so I restarted the whole game, and am hopefully playing it right this time.

I would only invest the time to replay 20 hours of game time if there was a good reason, and experiencing my favorite RPG I have ever played to date is definitely reason enough. Final Fantasy X definitely has some problems, problems that the optimist in me thinks will not be present in the upcoming iteration of the series: Final Fantasy XIII. The best way for me to describe Final Fantasy X is a “slightly flawed masterpiece.” Allow me to elaborate.

The Flaw

In such a story-driven game, dialogue must be presented well for the player to become invested in the story. This is where Final Fantasy X falls flat on it's face, sometimes getting up, only to fall again. The English voice acting is hit and miss, and when it misses, it REALLY misses (specifically the laughing scene, yeah you all know what I'm talking about if you've played it). This, coupled with characters' talking animations synced to Japanese words, leads to a sometimes painful experience watching the characters interact. Also, it is obvious that the dialogue was not recorded all together, but instead in pieces, leading to some conversations sounding very awkward.

Just to be clear, I still think the story and characters in Final Fantasy X are great, I just feel that they would be even more profound and meaningful if the dialogue was presented in a more polished fashion. I do not know if Square Enix has fixed this problem in more recent Final Fantasy games, but hopefully I will not have to deal with it in Final Fantasy XIII.

The Masterpiece

While the dialogue in FFX can feel awkward sometimes, the story, world, and battle system all are better than any RPG I have ever played. Every character has their own worries, motivations, and views of others and others' beliefs. The world of Spira is well-realized and beautiful for a PS2 game (though don't ever try and play it on a HDTV, it looks terrible). The religious aspect of the game is very interesting, and the eventual villian, while easy to predict, plays his role nicely.

The most polished part of FFX is definitely the battle system. I've had so much fun with it, that I am very worried about playing anything different (in FFXIII, for example). There are no noticeable flaws, and I love being able to control every character. Most battles are like puzzles, another thing I enjoy in games. I could strategize for hours for some of the toughest fights.

Overall, Final Fantasy X is an amazing game, definitely worthy of the “classic” label, but not without its flaws. Hopefully the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII will be similar to FFX; if it is, I will be eternally hooked.

Readers: Do you agree with my complaints? My compliments? Is Final Fantasy X your favorite Final Fantasy game?