Final Fantasy X Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 June, 2002

Review - Square's PlayStation 2 epic finally hits the West, with aplomb

Version tested: PlayStation 2

X Marks The Peak

'Final Fantasy X' Screenshot 01b

Have you seen the Final Fantasy movie? That's the average quality of the CG

Long-time fans of the Final Fantasy series will know that with the advent of each new platform Squaresoft adopts, enormous leaps are taken in new directions. Final Fantasy II introduced SNES owners to the glory of 16-bit graphics and Cecil's carefully woven story of intrigue showed gamers that Square could do more than just paint and program. Later on, Final Fantasy VII on Sony's fledgling PlayStation ushered in a new era of jaw-dropping CG and polygonal characters fighting in front of beautiful pre-rendered backdrops.

Returning to its roots in many areas, Final Fantasy X is the first of Square's PlayStation 2 RPGs, and with it the developer has reverted to a more dynamic approach, with an emphasis on storyline, battle strategy and emotional attachment. In the graphics department, the firm has moved away from pre-rendered backdrops, preferring to make use of the PS2's polygon-pushing capabilities for the most part, with sections of CG dotted about the game. Character design and animation is stronger than anywhere else in the series, with only the vagaries of the conversion from Japanese NTSC to American NTSC and then PAL giving rise to criticism.

As with many Final Fantasies, the fundamentals of the story are simple enough, but the depth and development of the tale is the clinching factor. You take up the role of a young Blitzball player called Tidus, wrenched from the clutches of stardom in his home of Zanarkand and hurled a thousand years into the future by an enormous sea-dwelling entity called Sin. Finding himself alone and uncertain in the world of Spira, he gradually comes to terms with his predicament and soon joins up with a band of characters guarding the summoner Yuna, whose job it is to try and defeat Sin. She is expected to give her life doing so.

Epic

'Final Fantasy X' Screenshot 02b

Lulu and Wakka have some history, concerning Wakka's deceased former guardian brother

Tidus and Yuna immediately form an unlikely bond. Yuna is alone amongst the denizens of Spira in believing Tidus' story of Zanarkand, and the pair both know the difficulties of handling fame. After several hours bits of the puzzle start to piece themselves together and the various characters and their back stories all converge to bind the group and the player on an emotional level.

Thanks to the high standards of their artwork, specifically facial animation and body language, and the development of each character and their respective relationships through dialogue and event-driven plot revelations, this Fantasy is transformed into more of a movie than a game at times, although the largely substandard voice acting counts against it to a degree. Listening to the whiny, detestable Tidus chatting to the dainty, dreamy Yuna or the gruff, battle-hardened Auron you feel like batting the casting director around the head with a blunt instrument, and the lack of lip-synch just condemns it further. Final Fantasy X would have worked better as a subtitled Japanese language game, and it's a shame that this isn't an option.

However, Tidus and co. do make much more dignified and believable decisions than those made by their predecessors in other Final Fantasy games. The story moves this way and that to the tune of glorious sandy beaches, sunsets and beautifully animated magical forces and traditions, and gone are the motionless, one-line-only NPCs of previous games, often replaced by impressive bit part characters like the wily old fellow you meet on the road to Djose with his world-weary voice and sage advice.

Magical

'Final Fantasy X' Screenshot 03b

Lulu's magical moogle is a nice touch, sure to be appreciated by tearful series veterans

Behind the glitz and glamour of the fifty hours of story and adventure you have the mechanics of the game. Gone are the simplistic levelling systems of yore, and instead at the heart of the game is the Sphere Grid. Much of the band's path through the game is littered with sinspawn and other adversaries, and when these are defeated your group is endowed with sphere points and different magical spheres, and subsequently sphere levels.

Each level lets you move one space on the enormous Sphere Grid, and your choices here dictate what sort of abilities your character can attain. Lulu, the dark witch, can quickly accumulate powerful attacks, but gaining hit points is irregular by comparison, meaning that she really needs defensive spells cast early by an accomplice to go the distance. Auron, on the other hand, quickly collects massive amounts of hit points to complement his arsenal of devastating sword blows, whilst Yuna herself gathers white magical spells. The Sphere Grid is a nice touch, but having to use it so often it actually takes up a huge chunk of the game. And non-linear though it may seem, thanks to the use of locking mechanisms it will take you a very long time to get characters to deviate from their roughly chosen paths.

The other half of the abilities ladder is Yuna's summoning powers. With each temple that the group visits on its way to the game's conclusion at the top of the world, Yuna collects another creature, or aeon. Doing this is a process of penetrating the maze of tasks beneath the temple - something which Tidus always seems to risk Yuna's excommunication by doing himself - but at times the bizarre use of silly substitution puzzles to reach the other side can be depressing and seems like superfluous padding. Once you have collected them, the aeons fit carefully into the puzzle of Spira and Sin, just as virtually everything else in the game does, and take the form of huge beasts, like the winged Valefor you may have seen in the demo. Aeons can be used to fight in the party's stead until they run out of hit points, and because they embody a certain type of magic they are completely insusceptible to many attacks. But despite my concerns about the development team (who were also responsible for Final Fantasy VIII), aeons never take over the entire battle system as Guardian Forces once did.

Deep

'Final Fantasy X' Screenshot 04b

Blitzball - fun or crap? You can waste hours with this, or you can waste those hours elsewhere, it's up to you

Defeating enemies is more complex than in previous Fantasies. You can fight with a force of three characters, but you can swap in other members of your team without being penalised, which is often just as critical as landing a heavy blow. During one of the longest sections of repeated fighting about ten hours into the game, you regularly come up against mixtures of fiery floating blobs which self-destruct after three attacks, wild horned beasts in various sizes and floating magical spectres. There are many approaches here. When facing a collection of fiery blobs, you could fight them with Lulu's water spells, but they are often too strong and their persistent flame spells can decimate the party quickly before you can flee, so it often pays to deploy the fiery aeon Ifrit to soak up the toasty attacks like hit points and deal out physical damage until they all self-destruct.

The game's opposing magical forces (lightning/ice, water/fire), of which Lulu is a mistress of all, must be chosen carefully depending on the foe, and other, slower brutes are better dealt with by the swords of Tidus, Auron or the peculiar muted Ronso creature Kimahri. Meanwhile Wakka can dispatch winged creatures with his projectile blitzball attack. Another nuance of the battle system is overdrive attacks. When a character's aggression bar maxes out you can let rip with an overdrive, requiring a quick-fire button combination at the critical moment, which massacres enemies' HP counts.

Final Fantasy X is an extremely epic adventure, and it will come as little surprise that Squaresoft has padded out the world of Spira with countless distractions. Blitzball, of which I made mention earlier, is one of only a handful of constants between Zanarkand and Spira, but it forms the soul of those trying to live in fear of Sin. The spectacular intro (complete with the series-first use of heavy metal music as a backdrop) gives you a vague idea of the sport, but when you actually come to play it for yourself it's a lot different, rather like the Games Workshop oddity Blood Bowl in design. Some will like it, some won't. But only one game is compulsory, even if eager types can form a team and take on the entire world in a blitzball league. Other diversions include the Al Bhed, who speak a curious language decipherable if you manage to collect the various primers hidden around the game world. Fortunately, it's never too late to start playing with the game's intricate extras, and in the lull before the climactic final battle the entire game world opens up like a virtual playground.

Conclusion

I have a few complaints as you can tell, but the good definitely outweighs the bad and this is far and away the most intricate and consistently enjoyable of the Final Fantasy games since the pinnacle of 16-bit RPGs, Final Fantasy VI. The PAL conversion with its enormous borders is a big disappointment, but the strength of the story, the battle system and the combination of clever dialogue, visuals and soundtrack conspire to captivate the player. There are many, many hours of adventuring to be had here, and plenty more mini-games beyond the items mentioned above to enjoy (Chocobos and the Monster Arena, for example). Because it is so enchanting, it's a very hard game to put down for just about anybody, whilst remaining a deceptively complex and enjoyable one for diehards. If you like fantasy, swords, sorcery and love stories then you can't fail to enjoy Final Fantasy X.

9 / 10

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (143) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #1 10 years ago

    For those of you interested in the game's added extras, FFX comes with a second disc of bits and bobs that made it onto the curiously-named Japanese "International Edition" bonus disc.
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/02 @ 15:35

  • Par #2 10 years ago

    Wow! everyone is so tall in these (NTSC)screenshots. It seems the PAL version is based on a parallel universe in which the characters were deprived of a good nutrition and so they remained short.

  • trippy #3 10 years ago

    Those Black borders!!!
    Horrible. Simply unacceptable in this new millenium. Which time does square live in?

    Its simply a lazy lazy conversion and really that second disc is just garbage imho. Big insult to us that they think they can just throw in a collection of crap onto a second dvd. And i guess it makes it alright if you're a collector and not a games player.
    If they had converted the game properly, there wouldn't have needed to bother with all this fluff.

    Anyway, square can jam this game up where the sun doesn't shine.

  • DocX #4 10 years ago

    Good review of a great game. Blitzball is pretty cool when you start building a team & learning special abilities & its a lot better than the card game that featured in the last couple of FFs. The 3d world is a little harder to explore than the old pre-rendered backdrops, but this is balanced out by the new mini-map gives you a lot of clues to find those hidden, out of the way chests. The ability to swap characters during a battle is really useful & a good addition.

  • Par #5 10 years ago

    [trippy] - 16-Jun-2002
    Big insult to us that they think they can just throw in a collection of crap onto a second dvd

    It's not only an insult because its crap(showing us advertisments...come one!), but also because what they are displaying in that extra DVD is the fullscreen NTSC/60hz version. How much more insulting can square be?! Giving us an inferior version of the game and some videos of the better version to make us feel even worse about it, and to actually believe that they did a good thing.

    I haven't even bothered to look at the extra DVD because I know how mad I'll get when I see the fullscreen game. It'll just be so depressing to see the fullscreen in video and then go back on playing the halfscreen dwarfed version.

  • skalmanxl #6 10 years ago

    When facing a collection of fiery blobs, you could fight them with Lulu’s water spells, but they are often too strong and their persistent flame spells can decimate the party quickly before you can flee

    That would be a dumb move, as the opposing element to fire, is ice. The opposing fire to lightning, is water. Two blizzards can easily wipeout a "bomb".

  • trippy #7 10 years ago

    In no way are we advocating piracy are we now?

    Just buy it on import.
    But don't buy the pal version, there should be a boycott of this shoddy shoddy shoddy title.
    I thought the days of pal gamers getting shafted with poor conversions were long gone when the n64 left the scene.
    but oh well, what a damn shame there square.
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/02 @ 17:17

  • Human Taco #8 10 years ago

    why should euro gamers spend import prices to play the game at an acceptable standard?

    I'm not encouraging piracy as a whole, but if they think they can treat PAL gamers like that, they don't deserve any of my money.
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/02 @ 17:24

  • trippy #9 10 years ago

    time for bed now. its kinda late here down under.

    have a good day to everyone else

  • Nobby #10 10 years ago

    I bought it, the PAL version, and have had absolutley no problems. Neither I, nor any of my friends that have bought it, have complained about the conversion. Actually, a lot of things (Tidus being a whiny brat, Blitzball being boring, the lack of freedom) I would regard as far worse than the conversion.

  • terminalterror #11 10 years ago

    I thought the days of pal gamers getting shafted with poor conversions were long gone when the n64 left the scene.

    Apart from some of the first games, there weren't any borders, and most of the big games were speed adjusted, but others ran slower.

  • Par #12 10 years ago

    [Nobby] - 16-Jun-2002
    I bought it, the PAL version, and have had absolutley no problems. Neither I, nor any of my friends that have bought it, have complained about the conversion

    Unless you got a 29" and above TV screen then having those huge borders is really annoying. Now if you and your friends have huge 40" TVs then surely you wouldn't have a problem and neither would I if I had a huge TV but on my 21" TV its really bad.

    And the fact that I know that this conversion from NTSC to PAL was made in less than a day(because no optimisation was made) makes me even more furious. We waited 6 months for it.

  • Moonbender #13 10 years ago

    Sounds like a really gorgeous game, really made my want a PS2 there. Shame about the bad PAL version, though.

  • DocX #14 10 years ago

    Having always played 'bad' PAL conversions I really don't notice it at all & I wouldn't not buy this game purely because of borders. Number 2 on the Eurogamer saddo list (after console fanboys) are the people who do nothing but whine about this subject on every single bloody thread. You know who you are. I feel sorry for you if this really prevents you from enjoying a game.

  • otto #15 10 years ago

    Final Fantasy X would have worked better as a subtitled Japanese language game, and it’s a shame that this isn’t an option.

    I totally agree, I think games lost a certain something a few years ago when voice acting became the norm. The best games still offer you the option of turning off voices and replacing them with subtitles, but it's becoming harder to find. Someone should start campaigning for DVD-style flexibility in games, there's no reason why they can't offer the choice of original soundtrack or no soundtrack with subtitles, it wouldn't take that much extra coding or disk space would it?

    Another reason why I hate voice acting in games so much is that localising a game for the PAL market has never ever in my recollection led to a localisation of the English version for UK (or Australian) markets. We still get the American voice overs. So what exactly are they localising for us?

    Oh and is this game coming to the PC?

  • DocX #16 10 years ago

    Otto:"I think games lost a certain something a few years ago when voice acting became the norm"

    The Monkey Island series, by any chance?

    I'm pretty sure you can turn off the voice acting in FFX & just have subtitles, though I haven't tried it myself - they haven't started to grate yet (in another 20 hours or so of play it might be a different story of course).

  • terminalterror #17 10 years ago

    Imagine how utterly repulsive the new Zelda would be if it were voice acted, they would end up having really cheesy voices, and you would end up disliking the characters

    But voice acting is essential in modern point and clicky games. The acting in Monkey Island 3 and 4 is superb, and makes the jokes even funnier, and having just played through Balde Runner again, the voice acting is excellent and really lends the game a very cinematic quality (its just a shame about the horribly pixelated character models)
    Edited by 1 at 16/06/02 @ 21:01

  • skalmanxl #18 10 years ago

    Oh and is this game coming to the PC?

    For the third time: No.

  • Moonbender #19 10 years ago

    Where are the first two times?

  • skalmanxl #20 10 years ago

    Somewhere else...

  • otto #21 10 years ago

    The Monkey Island series, by any chance?

    You mind reader you ;)

    Imagine how utterly repulsive the new Zelda would be if it were voice acted

    Eugh please god no :p

    But voice acting is essential in modern point and clicky games. The acting in Monkey Island 3 and 4 is superb, and makes the jokes even funnier

    No it isn't essential. No it wasn't superb. No they weren't funnier. Apart from that we're in agreement. :)

    For the third time: No.

    For the first time: Thanks.

  • mechamonkey #22 10 years ago

    For the love of god, what drama queens.

    Yes the borders are quite large but theres no flicker or slowdown at all and any and all graphical foibles (believe me the game is utterly gorgeous), are forgotten minutes after geting stuck in.

    In my opinion FFX is easily one of the greatest games of all time.

    I also thought the DVD had great extras.

    I dont know, people just seem to be getting increasingly more jaded towards games, dont any of you just enjoy them any more without trying to tear them down ?

    P.S The voice acting is also excellent, some of the best I've ever heard in game especially when you consider the sheer volume of speech.

  • Feanor #23 10 years ago

    Can someone please compare the borders in the PAL version of FFX, to the borders in the PAL version of FFVIII?

    FFVIII had borders, but they were small enough they never bothered me, even though I played it mainly on a 14 inch TV.

  • #24 10 years ago

    Great game with an accurate review.

  • trippy #25 10 years ago


    Hey Docx ..

    I agree with you in regards to not letting some borders decide whether or not you should buy the game.
    However, regardless of how good the game is.. ultimately its not how the game was intended to be by its creators and to fully experience the game.. you really need the ntsc copy.
    if the borders were pretty narrow so as to be insignificant it would be ok.. but in this day and age its simply really insulting i feel for eurogamers.

    Looking at the other games that have been released on all the other consoles, a pal full screen 60hz option would have been very much appreciated and everyone would be very happy indeed.
    None of this was done... which is the most dissapointing aspect of square's conversion.
    Although if you're happy with the pal conversion, then good for you too.
    I'm not.

  • beep #26 10 years ago

    The only reason it took six months to release this game is because Square had to finish the Japanese FFX International version first, and then crappily convert that into a functional PAL version. The launch of the Gamecube probably had something to do with it as well.

    It is so disappointing that a good game is given such a careless conversion.

    I wonder how hard it would be for Sony to release American NTSC versions of games (such as FFX), which would be able to boot on a PAL PS2 (not hard I suspect). They could then be released in limited numbers and there would be no licensing/ distro/ whatever-crap-excuse-they-give- for-banning-import-games issues because they would be genuine product licensed to and for the PAL region. How good would that be???

  • Pirotic #27 10 years ago

    Well this was one of the reasons i got my PS2, along with MGS2.. and having rented both i found no reason to purchase either, MGS2 was dull and the PAL conversion of X is disgusting. oh well, theres always ICO.

  • st3ph3n #28 10 years ago

    I had to re-login this morning here at work, so it's not an IE6 thing that makes you appear logged in as Blank.

    Anyway, when someone makes a Pal conversion to PAL50, why not at least leave an NTSC60 option on the disc. I'm sure anyone who has a telly that does PAL60 can do NTSC60 option also.

    Just my 2 pence worth on the matter. Not FFX related, I can't stand these games as a genre, so I just ignore them.

  • Blerk #29 10 years ago

    The borders are pretty bad, I'm absolutely positive I'll hate the voice acting with a vengeance, I don't really like Western-styled 'realistic' characters in my RPGs, and the FF battle system seems so clunky and antiquated compared to the Grandia series.

    But I'll still buy it. Damn you, Square. :-)

  • Super Stu #30 10 years ago

    No, not necessarily. A lot of TVs which have RGB (thus negating any colour encoding issues) and do PAL60 do not do true NTSC 3.58, which can obvisouly be a problem for some (the PAL PS2, unless I'm very much mistaken, outputs NTSC in 60hz mode).

    As such, all the lazy bastards need do is add an option to let those with compatible TVs use NTSC. Poor show, Sony. Poor show indeed.

    On a brighter note, I refuse to let Sony/Square spoil what is clearly a good game, so I'm going to get a sealed copy off Ebay - this way I get to play it without putting extra money in Sony/Square's hands.

  • otto #31 10 years ago

    My tuppence 'orth on borders: I played right through FFVII on my PC with fairly massive screen distortion, a goodly percentage of the game screen must have been off to the bottom right of my screen and there were huge borders along the top and left. Probably something to do with my graphics card, and no I couldn't be bothered to recalibrate my screen every time I played it, it simply didn't bother me at all. In no way did it detract from the playability of the game. Now if you want to grumble at Square for cutting corners and not treating European gamers properly, that's fine, but I think it's going too far to boycott the thing and/or say it's somehow a less fantastic game just because of the borders.

  • beep #32 10 years ago

    I would not mind the borders if they did not distort the display.

  • Par #33 10 years ago

    [otto] - 17-Jun-2002
    and no I couldn't be bothered to recalibrate my screen every time I played it

    What? Your monitor doesn't remember the calibration settings for each game/program? I thought that was a standard. My crappy 7 year old Compaq monitor remembers each settings I change on it for each program/game, and I never appreciated that.


    And about the borders, lets say a massive game like FFX got absolutly very low sales cause of the borders, wouldn't you think that every company would shit on their pants and from now on give us full optimised conversions or an NTSC/60hz option just because they'll fear of something like that happening again?

    The problem is a lot of people didn't have any idea about how big the borders were before they bought it, most gaming publications don't even mention it in their reviews(I wonder why?), and a lot of others don't even know that the NTSC version is actually fullscreen and at a different aspect ratio.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/02 @ 11:20

  • Super Stu #34 10 years ago

    Otto... which is why I'm going to grab it 2nd hand. Yeah, Square will have gotten their 40 odd quid from someone, but they'll not get another penny from me. This way, I get to play what is a superb game whilst still being able to extend my index finger at them.

  • otto #35 10 years ago

    lets say a massive game like FFX got absolutly very low sales cause of the borders, wouldn't you think that every company would shit on their pants and from now on give us full optimised conversions

    I fully sympathise, but the more likely result would be that Square says, oh look, Europeans don't like RPGs, and that's the last time you ever see a Jap RPG sold on a PAL console... :(

  • UncleLou #36 10 years ago

    The borders alone are definitely not a good enough reason to boycott the game, but the combination of:

    - borders
    - 6+ months delay compared to the US
    - extra price tag (€ 69 compared to €59 for other PS2 games rrp)

    do qualify as a good enough reason, I'd say.

  • Super Stu #37 10 years ago

    Considering how vocal people are on these various forums (and frankly, how hard would it be for someone from Square to sit down of an afternoon and gauge views from sites like this?), I'd say Square (and CAPCOM! are you listening, you bunch of turds?) would have to be the kings of not being able to do market research to believe that it is RPGs which don't sell over here, as opposed to the fact that it's just a low an effort conversion as you could hope to do.

    That was indeed a long sentence.

  • DocX #38 10 years ago

    Otto: Agree with you - I doubt Square would ever identify borders as a reason for poor sales, they'd look elsewhere & just not bother with Euro releases at all.

    UncleLou: If those are the criteria used for buying games, I guess you don't get to play many at all. Isn't it a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face?

  • terminalterror #39 10 years ago

    What? Your monitor doesn't remember the calibration settings for each game/program? I thought that was a standard. My crappy 7 year old Compaq monitor remembers each settings I change on it for each program/game, and I never appreciated that.

    Remembering settings for individual programs seems a bit far fetched to me, how can the moniter tell what program you are running? It just outputs pixels. What moniters should do though is remember settings for specific resolutions, so if you have games on different resolutions, you might think that your moniter is checking the game, but then I might be wrong and you might have a weirdly knowledgable moniter

    Oh, and why would you want a 60Hz NTSC option over a decent PAL60 conversion? PAL has a higher resolution and better colours. Granted, NTSC is better than a crappy PAL conversion, but is anyone is going to the lengths of converting to PAL 60, they are going to make a decent job of it. Has anyone seen a bad PAL60 game yet?
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/02 @ 11:46

  • Nemesis #40 10 years ago

    I can't believe this got a 9 and Halo only got an 8.

  • Gestalt #41 10 years ago

    LOL! It was only a matter of time. ;)

  • Blerk #42 10 years ago

    I can't believe this got a 9 and Halo only got an 8.

    Don't get 'em started! ;-)

  • Nemesis #43 10 years ago

    Mwahahahahahaaaaa can't resist!

  • Nemesis #44 10 years ago

    Oh, and on a completely unrelated thread saw Spider-Man last night and it's the mu77s. I'm off to Forbidden Planet to have a looksie at lunchtime!

  • SirIcicle #45 10 years ago

    I like the borders :)
    I've got a widescreen tv and the game fits nicely in 16:9 format :)

  • Super Stu #46 10 years ago

    Oh, and why would you want a 60Hz NTSC option over a decent PAL60 conversion? PAL has a higher resolution and better colours. Granted, NTSC is better than a crappy PAL conversion, but is anyone is going to the lengths of converting to PAL 60, they are going to make a decent job of it. Has anyone seen a bad PAL60 game yet?

    That's a common mistake to make. PAL60 actually outputs at the same resolution (and of course uses the same timing) as NTSC. The difference being the superior colour encoding. However, RGB negates this advantage, so it's swings and roundabouts.

    As such, you couldn't convert a game from NTSC to PAL60, you'd simply get your hardware to output PAL60 instead of NTSC (which is what the Xbox is doing) without changing your game at all.

    You're absolutely right about PAL60 being the superior format (for gaming anyway), but as most people with PAL60 capable TVs have RGB anyway, the point is moot.

    If you ask me, everyone should take a leaf out of MS' book and implement hardware which automatically renders games in either PAL50 or 60, negating the need for developers to give a shit about Europe. Big up MS.

  • Super Stu #47 10 years ago

    I like the borders :)
    I've got a widescreen tv and the game fits nicely in 16:9 format :)

    I assume you're taking the piss.

  • Super Stu #48 10 years ago

    They DONT KNOW that they're playing games 20% slower than they should be!

    Well, it's actually 16.6%, but your point is well made. However, with a bit of luck, a bit of market penetration of the Xbox (with its all round improved output quality, never mind the graphics) will see increased apathy towards apparently shoddy conversions. Again, big up MS.

  • Nemesis #49 10 years ago

    I think this argument will run and run on FFX borders, but to be honest it's kinda missing the point. Is it a good game? Alot of people seem to think so. If borders are your only real argument against playing the game, that's a pretty lame reason.

    I don't get borders on the 'box or cube so it's not really an issue for me, but I think as a PS2 owner you shouldn't worry overly about a small technical issue and just go and enjoy the thing!

  • Super Stu #50 10 years ago

    Didn't say I wasn't going to enjoy it though, did I? Having seen the JPN version running, I'm rather keen to get hold of a copy to play.

    However, dismissing the general apathy of developers to the European market is a mistake. Yes you're glad to play FFX, but are you glad at having to wait over a year to do so?

  • Fusion #51 10 years ago

    I have not bought FFX because of the poor conversion. I am tempted to modify my PS2 to play imported NTSC games but am afraid that it will become damaged. Can anyone recommend me a good place to get my PAL PS2 modified to run NTSC games?

  • Nemesis #52 10 years ago

    Stu, no I wasn't happy. When I initially got my PS2 I was eagerly looking foward to games such as MGS2, FFX, Wipeout, GT3, GTA3, but by the time they eventually showed up I'd kinda moved on.

    Of the PS2 games I owned and played (quite a few) I only really enjoyed Jak and Daxter, GTA3 and SSX Tricky if I'm totally honest. MGS2 just didn't do it for me, Codex Flirting isn't my idea of fun! They should subtext the Codex with "Lines Guaranteed Not To Work On Laydeez" or "5000 Ways To Make Her Cringe"

    I won't repurchase the PS2 just for FFX, I can't justify it.

  • Super Stu #53 10 years ago

    See? Despite what is a cracking game, they've lost a punter. I wonder how many other people have given up knowing that they have to wait months to play the game they want to play (if they indeed get to play them at all!).

    Sony, I think the PS2 is a cracking piece of kit, but frankly you can suck my lozenge.

  • Super Stu #54 10 years ago

    Fusion - nip over to www.ntsc-uk.com, there's a discussion going on (PAL forum as I recall) on this very subject.

    Others - it's a worthy site, for those interested in learning more about importing.

  • Killerbee #55 10 years ago

    Borders don't really matter in terms of whether you enjoy a game or not. Until such time as I can scrape together the cash for a new widescreen telly I'll happily put up with watching DVDs letterbox stylee. It's no great hardship on a 21" TV, although on a portable I might have a different opinion.

    I will have to buy this game pretty soon...

  • Par #56 10 years ago

    [terminalterror] - 17-Jun-2002
    Remembering settings for individual programs seems a bit far fetched to me, how can the moniter tell what program you are running? It just outputs pixels. What moniters should do though is remember settings for specific resolutions, so if you have games on different resolutions, you might think that your moniter is checking the game, but then I might be wrong and you might have a weirdly knowledgable moniter

    Yep you are right, I just checked it out to see if that's the case and it is. It did fool me though to believe it checks the game.

  • Super Stu #57 10 years ago

    Borders don't really matter in terms of whether you enjoy a game or not. Until such time as I can scrape together the cash for a new widescreen telly I'll happily put up with watching DVDs letterbox stylee. It's no great hardship on a 21" TV, although on a portable I might have a different opinion.


    But the point people miss is that these borders are just as visible on a widescren TV. Don't for a second think that this is the same as widescreen films.

  • Blerk #58 10 years ago

    I am tempted to modify my PS2 to play imported NTSC games

    Make sure you get one of the chips that will play original imported games. Most of them won't - you would have to copy the games in order to run them. Off the top of my head I think Messiah and Origa chips do this, Neo series don't. Haven't gotten my PS2 modified yet, so can't help with the 'where' thing. Holding out until I can find somewhere that'll fit a Messiah for me. :-)

  • #59 10 years ago

    About a decade ago, gamers were having the same argument over borders. Except then, the market leader was Nintendo, the dominant machine was Super Nintendo / Famicom and everyone was jumping up and down about the poor Pal translation of StreetFighter II Turbo.

    Not much change there then (despite advancing technology).

  • ssuellid #60 10 years ago

    "Holding out until I can find somewhere that'll fit a Messiah for me. :-)" - If you find someone Blerk could you let me know?

    Is there just the one Messiah chip or do you need a different chip for Jap or US consoles?

  • Blerk #61 10 years ago

    If you find someone Blerk could you let me know?

    Sure. I was hoping to find somewhere local so I could drop it in/pick it up rather than trust my machine to the piss-poor postal service, so if I find anywhere it's likely to be Leeds area.


    Is there just the one Messiah chip or do you need a different chip for Jap or US consoles?

    There are different ones for PAL/NTSC. Check out Lik-Sang - they have versions for each type of PS2. But it's a bit much to send your PS2 to Hong Kong to get it modded. :-)

  • terminalterror #62 10 years ago

    Yep you are right, I just checked it out to see if that's the case and it is. It did fool me though to believe it checks the game

    /me bathes in rightness

    I am a little pissed off at my new GF3 though, as there is no way of connecting it to my Hardware DVD decoder card that came with my PC, so although I can watch in software and the picture is good, I no longer have Dolby Digital 5.1, aaaargh

  • Blerk #63 10 years ago

    By the way the NEO4/4.5, Messiah and origa chips all play original imports.

    Are you sure about that? Everything I've read says that Neo series chips can only play PSOne original imports, not PS2.

    What are 'bowlers shows'?

  • Super Stu #64 10 years ago

    Just to add a bit more fuel to the fire.. I know someone who has just fitted a Messiah to a v3 PAL and can no longer play r1 DVDs using Datel's Region X (keycard version) (r2's play just fine). Apparently, someone else mentioned there was a boot disc to get around this.

  • Human Taco #65 10 years ago

    I can't believe people are only talking about the borders, the fact that the game is in 50hz refresh rate absolutly kills the graphics too, all the light surfaces shimmer and flicker terribly, totally ruins the games graphics and visual impact. Tyr playing the 60hz version and you'll see everything solid and still - no flicker or squashed graphics. up yours square. lazy bastards

  • Super Stu #66 10 years ago

    Borders are a byproduct of Square being a bunch of lazy fookers. Flickering displays are inherent to PAL and there isn't a great deal you can do about this. To be honest, I don't really notice it, but I know some people do (the same people find normal TV viewing to be the same).

  • Human Taco #67 10 years ago

    flickering graphics are a result of images being displayed at 50hz, I very much do notice it in games, but not on normal TV.

  • Wobbler #68 10 years ago

    But with a widescreen TV (or mine at least), you can set it in 'zoom' mode, which makes a 4:3 letterboxed image (or PAL game with big borders) fill a 16:9 set. OK, you lose vertical resolution (which I why I prefer anamorphic prints/games) but at least you get a full screen of game.

    It doesn't excuse developers from converting to PAL properly, of course (and I wiah that it was a Sony requirement to make all games have a 16:9 anamorphic option) but it will (have to) do.

  • Gestalt #69 10 years ago

    "with a widescreen TV (or mine at least), you can set it in 'zoom' mode, which makes a 4:3 letterboxed image (or PAL game with big borders) fill a 16:9 set"

    Yup, that's how I played Devil May Cry, which (being a Capcom game) had hulking great borders on the PAL version as well.

  • skalmanxl #70 10 years ago

    but I think it's going too far to boycott the thing and/or say it's somehow a less fantastic game just because of the borders.

    The game content itself is as ace as it can be. However, the product as a whole is in a really miserable state to be honest. When I shell out 63€ to get a game, I want to buy a product by a company that has the competence and service mind to make sure that they provide their customers with a acceptable conversion. Square Europe however, possess nothing of this.

  • BlackANUS #71 10 years ago

    FYI: The American release does have borders. It's not really that noticeable but it does. I'm sure they made them extra big for the European release, but they do (however small they are) exist on the American NTSC release as well.

    Blitzball has got to be the worst FF side game ever and Tidus has got to be the most annoying lead in an FF game. Whinny voice and those clothes! Is there anything masculine about wearing plastik-like yellow pieces in your clothing?

    Fun game though.

  • Nobby #72 10 years ago

    Unless you got a 29" and above TV screen then having those huge borders is really annoying. Now if you and your friends have huge 40" TVs then surely you wouldn't have a problem and neither would I if I had a huge TV but on my 21" TV its really bad.

    My tv is by no means huge. However, I don't spend hours moaning about a couple of inches of borders. Yes, it's annoying, but after one minute I totally forgot about it and it never bothered me once.

    - borders
    - 6+ months delay compared to the US
    - extra price tag (€ 69 compared to €59 for other PS2 games rrp)

    So we shouldn't buy an excellent game because we Europeans like being stubborn and pathetic? Good to hear it. Write and complain to Square instead of proposing ridiculous boycotts, and considering FFX is already top of the software charts you're a bit late.

    They DONT KNOW that they're playing games 20% slower than they should be!

    Ever thought why? Maybe because it doesn't bother them or disturb their gameplay?

    I really can't believe you're not going to buy the game just because of the conversion. Unless you're paranoid it will never bother you.
    Edited by 1 at 17/06/02 @ 22:29

  • UncleLou #73 10 years ago

    When there are enough great games on the market, which have a proper PAL conversion and do not cost 10 Euros more than FFX, then why the heck should I buy it? If music CDs in the area where you live would play 20% slower and would have static noise, would you buy it just because you never heard the original version and "it is good music nonetheless"? Would you go to the cinemas if the movies had big black borders and everyone moved real slooow? Would you buy a book that missed a few pages?

    Then why do you tolerate similar things in video games? I just don't get it. One has to be very desperate to buy such a shitty conversion, imo.

    edit: "Write and complain to Square instead of proposing ridiculous boycotts"

    Why should I? I just don't buy it, basta. If everyone did like me, it wouldn't be in the top ten of the software charts. Yes, I like Immanuel Kant.

    On a sidenote, I couldn't care less about FFX and probably wouldn't even buy it if it had the best PAL conversion ever. ;)
    Edited by 3 at 17/06/02 @ 22:52

  • Fusion #74 10 years ago

    I have written to Square Europe many times, but they have failed to give an answer. Perhaps they cannot string together a real reason for the bad PAL FFX conversion other than for the reason of lazy programming.

  • Par #75 10 years ago

    [UncleLou] - 17-Jun-2002
    When there are enough great games on the market, which have a proper PAL conversion and do not cost 10 Euros more than FFX, then why the heck should I buy it? If music CDs in the area where you live would play 20% slower and would have static noise, would you buy it just because you never heard the original version and "it is good music nonetheless"? Would you go to the cinemas if the movies had big black borders and everyone moved real slooow? Would you buy a book that missed a few pages?

    Then why do you tolerate similar things in video games? I just don't get it. One has to be very desperate to buy such a shitty conversion, imo.


    Great point. It seems that a lot of people don't get it that we are treated as inferior customers while we pay more.

  • beep #76 10 years ago

    Square Europe don't like replying to anything do they? I wrote them AGES ago, about the time when they released FF8, Vagrant Story, Saga Frontier 2 and Front Mission 3 (all crap conversions too I might add), to ask them whether they'd release Chrono Cross or Legend of Mana.

    How could they not release Chrono Cross!!??

    Maybe they thought 'hey, we didn't convert Chrono Trigger, so those lowly PAL users won't mind missing out on its sequel'.

    bah.

  • Blerk #77 10 years ago

    How could they not release Chrono Cross!!??

    It was a travesty of immense proportions. I imported it though, so it all turned out okay. My wallet has since recovered. :-)

  • UncleLou #78 10 years ago

    "UncleLou: If those are the criteria used for buying games, I guess you don't get to play many at all. Isn't it a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face?"

    Sorry DocX, hadn't noticed you adressed me. Well, frankly, No.

    I actually buy and play quite a lot of games. The best games on the PS2 didn't have border/extra price tag problems. I am quite happy with ICO, GT3, REZ, PES, J&D...

    Not to mention games on other platforms.

    So which games are hampered by the border problem? Onimusha (which I bought with my PS2, unaware of the problem), DMC and now FFX. Did I forget some?
    As much as I love video games, my life doesn't depend on them, really. I don't feel my life is less fulfilled because I don't get to play FFX.

    If I feel Square or any other company does not make any effort at all to get my money, then they don't get it. It's as simple as that.
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/02 @ 09:47

  • Pirotic #79 10 years ago

    adding a 60hz mode takes a matter of days, and optimising would only take a few weeks (add some time for additional testing)

    when there are so many good games out, any game which suffers from a terrible PAL conversion will instantly be put at the back of the list.

  • otto #80 10 years ago

    If everyone did like me, it wouldn't be in the top ten of the software charts. Yes, I like Immanuel Kant.

    lol! More of a David Hume-ian myself. Guess that probably explains our slightly differing opinions on this one! :)

  • Super Stu #81 10 years ago

    Nobby: clearly you don't care about optimised conversions and that's fair enough. To be honest, I was so into DMC I too forgot about the borders.

    However, why the the fuck should I have to wait up to a year to play these games (and slower versions to boot)?

    Again, three cheers to MS for their automatic PAL60 rendering in all games. With a bit of luck they'll make some in roads into the European market and demonstrate that dodgy conversions aren't wanted.

  • Super Stu #82 10 years ago

    flickering graphics are a result of images being displayed at 50hz, I very much do notice it in games, but not on normal TV.

    Which is exactly what I said. The flicker is inherent to PAL, rather than a fault of games themselves. You probably notice it more on games because of all the straight edges and/or due to large areas of the screen filled with the same colour.

    Of course, if 100hz TVs were commonplaces, this wouldn't be an issue (or indeed progressive scan, of course).

  • Super Stu #83 10 years ago

    Er

    100.

  • Pirotic #84 10 years ago

    50hz do show more flickering, when i tried PSO in 50hz i almost had a fit :p Final Fantasy is just as bad and due to the small -squished- font by the poor conversion if you have a small TV it can be difficult to read the menus.

  • Super Stu #85 10 years ago

    Yeah, and that flicking text is just as obvious on teletext or ceefax.

    I would have said small, cruddy, hard to read text is more a fault of TVs being interlaced, than low refresh rates.

  • otto #86 10 years ago

    gravity seems to be a little higher

    eh??? that's bollocks, surely?

  • beep #87 10 years ago

    Square should really show accurate PAL screenshots on the back of the game casings, instead of misleading us with fullscreen images.

    What they are doing is false advertising!!!

    Who wants to start a class action?

  • Super Stu #88 10 years ago

    Try and illustrate things to people and they come back with inaccurate facts.

    Such is the Rule Of The Forums, I guess.

    Oh.. if gravity "feels" different on SMB, ie you can differentiate between the running speeds, then Nintendo haven't bothered to optimise the game engine. 3 cheers Ninty.

  • Par #89 10 years ago

    What they are doing is false advertising!!!

    Who wants to start a class action?

    I wonder why none of us has mentioned this and I wonder why noone has tried to sue square or any other company that did such a thing.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/02 @ 11:13

  • UncleLou #90 10 years ago

    At least in Germany, you would have to be a competitor of Square to sue them because of false advertising.

  • otto #91 10 years ago

    then Nintendo haven't bothered to optimise the game engine. 3 cheers Ninty

    Blame Sega this time I fear ;)

  • Super Stu #92 10 years ago

    Oh aye. hehe

  • ssuellid #93 10 years ago

    If anyone can be bothered you might want to have a go out complaining to the ASA about FFX.

    www.asa.org.uk

    They have a nice online form to fill in and they are very quick at handling complaints.

    I don't know whether on box screen shots would be classed as advertising so it might also be worth trying trading standards for misleading and inaccurate labelling.

  • Par #94 10 years ago

    www.asa.org.uk

    I guess you have to be from UK to do that there so count me out


    I don't know whether on box screen shots would be classed as advertising

    Even though that's not advertising it is false product information on the actual product itself which in my opinion is even worse. Imagine buying a coke can and having water in it! There must surely be somewhere to complain about this.

    And wasn't FFX advertised in UK? Weren't there any ingame clips shown? That's surely false advertising with fullscreen clips. I haven't seen any tv ads though in my Country.

  • DocX #95 10 years ago

    Remember back in the Speccy days when you'd get a game & wow over the screenshots on the back of the cassette box or in adverts, & then notice the small-print identifying them as from the C64. Buggers.

    I very much doubt there is a case for suing Square/Sony over full screen pics on the box. Laughed out of court I reckon.

  • ssuellid #96 10 years ago

    "I very much doubt there is a case for suing Square/Sony over full screen pics on the box. Laughed out of court I reckon"

    - its not worth taking them to court, but if they are showing ads with full screen pics of FFX the ASA can get them to pull the ad if they think the ad breaks the ASA rules. No courts involved.

  • Nemesis #97 10 years ago

    Imagine buying a coke can and having water in it!

    Er it has.

    ;-)

  • Super Stu #98 10 years ago

    I dunno, this borders thing with the ASA doesn't sound particularly water-tight. I mean, if we applied this theory to Wonderbra they'd go out of business in 30 seconds flat (sic).
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/02 @ 13:04

  • ssuellid #99 10 years ago

    [Super Stu] - just read the ASA rules. They cover misleading ads. Also they have a list of complaints they have upheld - NTL seem to be a fav.

  • otto #100 10 years ago

    skal, do you want to tell him or shall I?

  • skalmanxl #101 10 years ago

    You do it otto, I'll go make a sign meanwhile.

  • Par #102 10 years ago

    [Super Stu] - 19-Jun-2002
    I mean, if we applied this theory to Wonderbra they'd go out of business in 30 seconds flat (sic).


    I don't get it? What does wanderbra falsely advertise? Aren't the bra's they advertise the same as those they sell? Or do they show a picture of a bra in the box they sell them and when you open it there is only half a bra in it?

  • Nemesis #103 10 years ago

    I personally feel there should be a little badge that has to be legally worn along the lines of...

    "We will not be held responsible for any damage to enthusiasm due to lack of anything that may or may not be contained therein, nor do we guarantee exact size lift or shape defined by sneaky construction methods"
    Edited by 2 at 19/06/02 @ 17:42

  • beep #104 10 years ago

    Although I was only joking when I brought the legality of inaccurate screenshots, kicking up a stink could result in better conversions, or it could result in Square simply showing screenshots WITH massive borders.

    The latter the more likely of the two, probably.

  • skalmanxl #105 10 years ago

    Current PCs are able to render the FF movie in realtime 24fps.

    Hmm, is this "George 4" card something new?
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/02 @ 01:31

  • beep #106 10 years ago

    "Current PCs are able to render the FF movie in realtime 24fps."

    I read the article, but they do fail to mention at what resolution its all being rendered at, not to mention scenes with lotsa particle effects and explosions. To think that even next gen PC's would be able to render something like FF: The Spirits Within on the fly is a great exagerration. Certain scenes, probably, but not the whole thing. No way.

  • FWB #107 10 years ago

    Current PCs are able to render the FF movie in realtime 24fps.

    Except the article doesn't tell you what features are implemented... e.g. anti-aliasing and co.

  • Gestalt #108 10 years ago

    "Current PCs are able to render the FF movie in realtime 24fps"

    No they can't. I've seen the demo in action, and while it's very impressive, it's not the same as the movie by a long shot. The level of detail in the character skins wasn't as high and the backgrounds were very much simplified from what I remember.

    Oh, and the demo I saw was just one scene from the movie, with Aki and the old geezer talking about something in a control room of some kind.
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/02 @ 09:16

  • Super Stu #109 10 years ago

    Par:

    I don't get it? What does wanderbra falsely advertise? Aren't the bra's they advertise the same as those they sell? Or do they show a picture of a bra in the box they sell them and when you open it there is only half a bra in it?

    Have you never removed a wonderbra from a female and then wondered where the objects of desire have gone?

    It's a joke! Do you see?

  • UncleLou #110 10 years ago

    So it wouldn't be Wonderbra, but rather the woman that could be sued beause of "false advertising".

  • Super Stu #111 10 years ago

    Gents, gents... it's a bloody joke! And one I thought was well known.

  • Kane #112 10 years ago

    Stop fucking complaining u whiney fuckers...it's a great game with good story and excellent gameplay...the borders and voice etc and all the shit you are complaining about dont mean nuthin..as long as the gameplay etc is good..which it is

  • Killerbee #113 10 years ago

    Bought this in the Virgin Megastore sale yesterday - looks very good and the opening attack by Sin is awesome. I don't find the borders spoil my enjoyment of the game much at all. By far the worst part is the shoddy voice acting - the bit right at the beginning where Tidus talks to all his fans is cringeworthy.

    And why oh why do we in England / Australia / Canada / wherever else speaks English have to put up with American accented voices? It makes Tidus sound like a twat.

  • otto #114 10 years ago

    I absolutely agree. This is the main reason I switch off voices whenever I can. If they spend so bloody long localising the game for PAL markets then why can't they localise the languages too? *All* the languages, mind you, including English which I believe is a minority language spoken in one or two places around the world.

  • Killerbee #115 10 years ago

    About the only game I can think of (or rather, that I own) that has both US and UK English languages is Giants: Citizen Kabuto on the PC. I've not yet tried it with the American voices, but the English English voices and humour really do make the game more enjoyable. FFX voices are just an irritation that spoils an otherwise pretty good game (so far!).

  • Blerk #116 10 years ago

    Bought this in the Virgin Megastore sale yesterday

    How much was it? Virgin's website has it up for £49.99! :-o

  • Slacker #117 10 years ago

    Stu- dont worry, I knew what you were getting at :-)

    But I dont think it is false advertising- you see, in the words of Ali-G (possibly), they are called WonderBra because once you take them off you 'wonder where the breasts have gone' ;-)

  • Killerbee #118 10 years ago

    Blerk - It was £34.99 at Virgin in Leeds. They have got loads on sale - Wipeout Fusion was £19.99 and ICO was £29.99. I could've spent loads, but the Missus would've killed me...

  • UncleLou #119 10 years ago

    Ahem...*cough*...er...don't know how to start...*cough*...must make confession...ahem...will lose my credibility...*cough*

    I just can't tell you. *cough*

  • Killerbee #120 10 years ago

    Go on, spill the beans...

    This isn't about the Wonderbra thing is it? ;-)

  • DocX #121 10 years ago

    Maybe he's bought an Xbox?

  • UncleLou #122 10 years ago

    Posted this before the lunch break, to raise the tension. Well, yesterday I was accidentally hanging around in front of a big electronics market, when suddenly I got knocked out from behind and became unconscious only to realize when waking up that someone must have stuffed a copy of FFX into my bag while robbing € 60. True Story! I would NEVER have bought it. NO. Not with the PAL borders and my despise for the whole FF franchise!

    So what, I thought, now that you've got it, you can give it at least a try, and I tell you I am even enjoying it. A little bit. Aaargh. I think I suffer from split personalities.

  • Killerbee #123 10 years ago

    "I am even enjoying it. A little bit."

    Good for you! I remember being really sceptical about RPGs for ages and I just refused to buy them. I suppose it was kind of a feeling that I wouldn't enjoy the genre and not wanting to be thought of as a Dungeons&Dragons / Games Workshop type.

    But then someone persuaded me to try Final Fantasy VII, and it remains one of the finest games I've ever played.

  • UncleLou #124 10 years ago

    To be honest, I play RPGs for quite some time now, and FFX - from what I've seen so far- isn't an RPG according to my definition. In some respect, nearly every videogame is an RPG if you give the term RPG a wide definition. In Half-Life, for instance, you play the role of Gordon Freeman, but you can't change anything really. The more possibilities you have to develop your character, decide what to do in which order, etc., the closer you get to a narrow definition of "RPG". As FFX seems to be incredible linear and I feel a little bit like I only have to press "x" once in a while to push the game forward, it's really only an RPG if you use the a rather wide definition. Not that it really matters, I am enjoying it as it is, but not as an RPG.

    And I am (pleasantly) surprised that FFX is rather relaxing to play, it has a certain...hm..."calmness" to it which I like.
    Edited by 2 at 28/06/02 @ 13:51

  • Pirotic #125 10 years ago

    its generally reguarded as one of the best Final Fantasy games, so if your a fan then it might be worth the money. i simply dont have the time for RPG's anymore so i didnt buy it, plus the PAL conversion is terrible incase you had not already noticed ;)

  • Killerbee #126 10 years ago

    Is Final Fantasy Worth buying? Im not sure i should spend £40. Is it better than Final Fantasy VII, VIII

    It's difficult to know whether you're going to like FF games before you try them. I was very sceptical of the whole idea before I tried FF VII (because it was cheap - on Platinum) - and I still think it is one of the best games I have ever played.

    If you want to start out cheap, then get either VII or IX as both of them are significantly better than VIII. And be warned that these games take on average 40+ hours to complete - you will need to devote significant amounts of your life to playing them. But it's worth it. :-)

  • Nemesis #127 10 years ago

    So...coming back to this thread then people ;-) what do we think of this, borders aside?

  • UncleLou #128 10 years ago

    Well, I am basically a newbie to the FF series, having played only a bit of FFVIII on my PC. I bought FFX more because I needed ANYTHING new at the time, and as my expectations were low, I was rather pleasantly surprised. The main character is a pain in ass (due mainly to the HORRIBLE, repeat: HORRIBLE voice-acting), the game is interrupted more than it should be, there is no freedom at all, but somehow, in the end, it IS fun, especially the battles, for a while at least. Having played about 25 hours tho, I am now "stuck". Not stuck in the sense that I don't know what to do, but I am bored now. I will always prefer western-style RPGs, I guess. AND I was a bit disappointed by the FMVs. It think Blizzard's videos are ahead of Square's, frankly.

  • Nemesis #129 10 years ago

    Well judging by the singular response we can conclude no bugger is playing it!

  • skalmanxl #130 10 years ago

    I've beaten it, great game. The "openess" comes towards the end, where you can go whereever you wish.

  • Nemesis #131 10 years ago

    Well that's TWO people then...

    ;-)

  • Blerk #132 10 years ago

    I will play it, but I haven't bought a copy yet. I'm a skinflint and won't buy one at full price. Besides, I'm too busy with Suikoden 2. :-)

  • Nemesis #133 10 years ago

    Blerk, it's a little tempting, but like I said earlier in June, I can't justify the re-purchase of a PS2 just for FFX, even though I think I'd like to play it. Oh, and maybe another tinker with GT3, but that's about it.

  • skalmanxl #134 10 years ago

    I will play it, but I haven't bought a copy yet. I'm a skinflint and won't buy one at full price. Besides, I'm too busy with Suikoden 2. :-)

    Ooooh, haven't played that one, the first one was GREAT though. Is the second one as good? The third one was release in J-Land last week and did fairly good considering Mario bulldozed everything else.

  • Killerbee #135 10 years ago

    FFX - I like it so far, but I agree the voice acting is not good. The old FFs VII to IX were just as entertaining without it and it was nice to let the player put a bit of their own imagination into the game.

    I agree with Lou that the FMV sequences don't make you go *wow* like they used to on the old Playstation - I suppose that's just a factor of the rest of the game looking so good that they don't really stand out any more.

    Worth getting not least because of the sheer number of hours of entertainment it provides - you've got about 4 times the longevity of MGS2 with this for the same price.

  • skalmanxl #136 10 years ago

    I don't really see where all the complaints for the voice-acting come. I didn't mind it at all. Oh well, up to the individual I guess. The FMV gets better the further into the game you come.

  • Killerbee #137 10 years ago

    The FMV gets better the further into the game you come.

    Cool! Clearly I must devote more of my life to playing this game and getting a move on through it! :-)

    Maybe I was a bit too harsh on the FMV before - the sequences are still fantastic to look at and I still really love this game as much as the best of the old Final Fantasies.

    For the voices I would just liked to have had English English voices instead of American. That's how Cloud, Squall and Zidane all spoke in my head and I just feel with Tidus a little bit of the personal involvement with the character has been lost.

    I still love this game and almost don't want to finish it because it's going to be a long wait for XII...

  • skalmanxl #138 10 years ago

    BTW Blerk, I hope you've seen Unlimited SaGa.
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/02 @ 20:15

  • Blerk #139 10 years ago

    Ooooh, haven't played that one, the first one was GREAT though. Is the second one as good?

    It was better - honestly! Finished it over the weekend without too many problems, and saw two of the four endings so I think I did okay. Hope we get the third game over here now....

    BTW Blerk, I hope you've seen Unlimited SaGa.

    Yup, but thanks for the link - a few piccies there that I hadn't seen before. I've still got SaGa Frontier 2 sat here in my box o' games waiting to be played. No time at the minute, though - I just started Legend of Legaia so that I can be sure to get through it before 'Legaia - Duel Saga' arrives in the Autumn.

    So many RPGs, so little time. :-)

  • skalmanxl #140 10 years ago

    So many RPGs, so little time. :-)

    So true, I'm thinking about trading away some dodgy Xbox games for some quality RPG's. Hopefully, I'll be getting that job as well.

  • Blerk #141 10 years ago

    Hopefully, I'll be getting that job as well.

    We're all rooting for ya, skal! :-)

  • skalmanxl #142 10 years ago

    Just came back from the interview, the chances are good he said...

  • BartonFink #143 9 years ago

    Err in short not all TVs support 60Hz but all PAL TVs support the 50Hz option.

  • destinygirl8 #144 7 years ago

    FFx has a second disk??? can u buy it in america or on ebay?
    I'm very interested ^_^