Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X is a video game for Sony's PlayStation 2 game console. It focuses around the protagonist named Tidus, and his journey with the summoner Yuna, as he tries to get back to his homeland: Zanarkand.
Plot
The game begins with Tidus' hometown, Zanarkand, being attaked by a monster Tidus' mentor (Auron) says is named Sin [1]. Tidus tries to flee, but Auron allows the two of them to be pulled in by Sin. [2]
Tidus wakes up alone and is rescued by members of an Al Bhed salvage ship. [3] After Tidus tells Rikku (a girl on the ship) that he saw Sin attack Zanarkand, she reveals that Zanarkand was destroyed by Sin 1000 years ago [4], and presumes that Tidus memory was affected by Sin's toxin. [5]
Next, Sin attacks the ship [6] and Tidus again wakes up alone in the sea close to Besaid Island. After impressing a man named Wakka with his blitzball skills [7], Wakka agrees to take Tidus to Luca. A blitzball tournament would be held there, and he thought Tidus would be recognised [8]. Tidus and Wakka go to Besaid Village and meet Yuna [9] - a summoner [10], guarded by Wakka [11], Lulu (a black mage)
[12] and Kimahri (a Ronso being) [13]. Being a summoner allows Yuna to summon monsters called aeons [14]. To receive an aeon, she must go on a pilgramage throughout Spira [15], praying to a statue called a "fayth" at every temple [16]. Once she prays at the final temple in Zanarkand, she can perform the "Final Summoning" and call the "Final Aeon", which has the ability to defeat Sin.[17]
Yuna's father was Braska, who was the last person to defeat Sin. [18] Braska was guarded by Auron (Tidus' mentor) [19] and Jecht (Tidus' father)[20]. Ten years before, Jecht had also been transported to this new world, named Spira [21] . However, after Sin is defeated, it is reborn after a period known as the Calm.[22]
Yuna, her guardians, and Tidus, travel via the temple at Kilika to Luca, where the party is forced to rescue Yuna after she is kidnapped by Al Bhed. Before leaving Luca, Tidus meets Auron, who tells him that Sin is Jecht. Auron, famous in Spira for guarding Braska, volunteers to guard Yuna provided Tidus also is appointed guardian.
The party travel towards the Djose temple and witness Operation Mi'ihen - an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Sin by using machines forbidden by the widely adhered teachings of Yevon. Many die but the Yevon priests forgive the warriors for their transgressions. Yuna receives a new aeon at Djose temple.
The party cross the Moonflow where the Al Bhed try again to kidnap Yuna, but in vain. Rikku joins the party, but doesn't reveal to Wakka that she is Al Bhed, as he is prejudiced against them because they do not follow the teachings of Yevon and use forbidden machines, known as machina. In the next village, Guadosalam, Seymour, a "maester" (leader) of Yevon, proposes to Yuna, and she accepts. The party travel to Macalania Temple where the Al Bhed try and fail to kidnap Yuna the third time and Rikku reveals her Al Bhed lineage to Wakka. Whilst Yuna is alone with Seymour, the party discover a sphere in Yuna's belongings which reveals that Seymour killed his father. The party try to rescue Yuna and end up killing Seymour. Summoners need to "send" dead people's souls to the Farplane. Seymour is not sent as the Guado, Seymour's race, chase them out of the temple and the party are branded traitors of Yevon. This means Seymour still appears alive. The group fall under the lake ice and Sin is present but calm, as he can hear the "Hymn of the Fayth" coming from the temple.
After passing out near Sin, the guardians are washed up on Bikanel Island, but Yuna is missing. Rikku takes them to the Al Bhed headquarters, which is being attacked by the Yevonites (followers of Yevon) and Guado, who are trying to free the summoners the Al Bhed "kidnap". However, Rikku reveals that when a summoner calls the Final Aeon, the summoner dies. The Al Bhed do not believe summoners should be sacrificed, so they capture them and keep them safe there. The party escape on a airship - a forbidden machina. They find that Yuna is in Bevelle, being forced to marry Seymour. Yuna's guardians try to escape with her but are caught in Bevelle Temple, after Yuna prays to the fayth. They are put on trial, during which three of the four maesters of Yevon reveal that they are dead, but "unsent". The fourth maester (Kelk Ronso) is troubled when Seymour admits murdering his father. Kelk flees Bevelle. The party also escape but their faith in Yevon is ruined due to its corruption and because they betray their own teachings by using the forbeidden machina in Bevelle temple.
That night, Yuna and Tidus embrace and kiss. The party go to Mt Gagazet, home of the Ronso tribe, where Kimahri defeats his two childhood rivals in battle, and Yuna earns the respect of Kelk. During the mountain crossing, Tidus has a vision, during which a fayth reveals that Tidus' Zanarkand is a dream world. One thousand years ago, Zanarkand waged war against Bevelle. Zanarkand's summoners were powerless against Bevelle's machina, and the Zanarkand townsfolk knew their city would be taken over. To keep their Zanarkand "alive", they all became fayth, and summoned a dream of Zanarkand, keeping it as it was before Bevelle's attack. However, the fayth are tired and want to stop dreaming, and ask Tidus to end the dream, meaning that he will disappear. The party pass over the mountain and descend to Zanarkand, which is in ruins, as Rikku originally said.
The fayth in Zanarkand Temple used for the Final Aeon is gone. The first summoner to defeat Sin, Lady Yunalesca, an unsent, tells Yuna one of her guardians must die to become the fayth. The strong bond between summoner and guardian creates a powerful aeon, which can defeat Sin. Yuna asks if Sin will be reborn. Yunalesca replies that Sin's rebirth cycle is eternal, as the man inside Sin, Yu Yevon, joins with the Final Aeon and transforms it into a new Sin. The teachings preached by Yevonites regarding Sin being a punishment for vanity are false. Jecht volunteered to be the fayth for Braska, which is how Jecht became Sin. Auron, angry at their deaths had tried to kill Yunalesca, but was killed by her and remained unsent. Yuna refuses to allow a guardian to die to give "false hope" to Spira, causing Yunalesca to attack them. She is defeated and the party depart to Bevelle to ask Mika about other ways of defeating Sin. He says that Yu Yevon was a most powerful ancient summoner. During the Zanarkand-Bevelle war, Yevon, leader of Zanarkand, summoned a powerful armour around himself: Sin. Mika asks why Yuna is not fighting Sin. When Yuna reveals that Yunalesca is dead and was sent, Mika says that the only way of piercing Yu Yevon's armour is now gone and so he sends himself.
The party return to the airship and devise a plan. They remember that Jecht became calm when listening to the Hymn of the Fayth under Macalania Temple. They order citizens of Sipra to sing the Hymn of the Fayth when the airship passes over them. They hope that when Sin is docile, they have a chance to get inside it. They sing the song, but still have to fight to get in. Once inside, they meet Seymour again, whom Yuna sends after a final confrontation.
Eventually, they find Jecht, who wants to be freed by death, but as he can't hear the song anymore, he stops being calm and transforms back into the Final Aeon. The party kill him, and then defeat Yu Yevon. To stop him joining with another fayth, Yuna has to summon all her aeons and kill them. Once they have done this, Sin is defeated. Yuna sends Auron, and Tidus knows that his time left is limited. He walks to Yuna to have one last embrace, but, as the fayth are gone, he disappears before he reaches her. After the credits are shown, a short clip shows Tidus waking up.
Gameplay
Travelling
Throughout the first half of the game, the route taken is predetermined almost everywhere, as most of the paths are linear. However, in the second half of the game, the player gains control of an airship. This allows the player to be transported anywhere instantly. From then on, there are many optional side-quests, and the player is not confined to a particular area.
While moving on the ground, a map is shown in the upper-left hand corner, showing an outline of the area you are in, but not showing people or items (which are hidden in treasure chests on most routes). Most of the routes between towns are linear, although there are some open areas such as the Calm Lands. In some areas which are difficult to navigate, a red arrow is displayed on the map indicating which direction to travel in. The player can speak to NPCs, who often provide additional information and some given items to the party.
Battle system
Sphere Grid
Unlike previous games in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy X used a "Sphere Grid" system instead of characters having a level that increases over time. After each battle, the player receives AP (Ability Points). After gaining a certain amount of AP, a character gains a "Sphere Level", which allows the character to move one position along on the Sphere Grid. A player can fill in each node on the Sphere Grid with a sphere. Filling in a node increases an attribute e.g. defence by 2 points. At each position, the current node and the adjacent nodes can be filled. The game contains 2 sphere grids - "Standard" and "Expert", of which the player had to choose at the start of the game. The expert sphere grid allows more input into the strengths of each character. On the standard Sphere Grid, each player is given a default role e.g. Lulu as a Black Mage.
Sound
Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy game to use voice acting. In previous games, all characters' speech was displayed in speech bubbles. In this installment, however, there is a mixture of voice acting and text. All of the game's main characters are voice acted, as are all characters in cutscenes.
The following table displays the voice actor for each of the main characters:
| Character name | Voice Actor |
|---|---|
| Auron | Matt McKenzie |
| Jecht | Gregg Berger |
| Kimahri | John DiMaggio |
| Lulu | Paula Tiso |
| Rikku | Tara Strong |
| Seymour | Alex Fernandez |
| Tidus | James Arnold Taylor |
| Wakka | John DiMaggio |
| Yuna | Hedy Burress |
Additional voice actors were using for the several of the minor characters.
Reception and sales
References
- ↑ Auron: We called it Sin.
- ↑ Tidus: "Auron! Let's get out of here!"
Auron: "We're expected." - ↑ Rikku:We found some ancient ruins right beneath us. It's not active now, but there should still be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it... and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!
- ↑ Rikku: Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago.
- ↑ Rikku: They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?
Tidus: You mean I'm sick?
Rikku: Because of Sin's toxin, yeah. - ↑ Crew member (translated): Sin! Sin is here! Under us! Under us!
- ↑ Wakka: You wanna try that move one more time? You're no amateur. Who you play for?
- ↑ Wakka: A major blitz tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone there will recognize you!
- ↑ Yuna: I'm Yuna. Thank you so much for your help earlier.
Tidus: I'm sorry about that. - ↑ Wakka: Yuna came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started.
Tidus: The Calm? Wakka: Since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Lulu. But she had the talent... She became an apprentice. Now, today, she leaves as a summoner - ↑ Wakka: Me? I'm a guardian
- ↑ Wakka: The guardians in there now... One of them's got a short fuse, and who knows what the other's thinking. Well, now that we've come this far... might as well go all the way!
Lulu: What are you doing here? Didn't think we'd be able to handle it?
Wakka: No, it's uh...it's just... I told you she gets mad easy. - ↑ Lulu: Kimahri Ronso, of the Ronso tribe. He's learned the fiends' way of fighting.
Tidus: That's not what I meant!
Wakka: He's another of Yuna's guardians. - ↑ Priest: Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth entities of great power: the aeons.
- ↑ Wakka: Summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every temple in Spira
- ↑ Seymour: Please be silent. Lady Yuna prays to the fayth.
- ↑ Tidus: After we beat Sin, that's when you can worry about the future.
Yuna: I guess.
Tidus: But Yuna, how are you supposed to beat something big like that?
Yuna: The Final Summoning. It's the only way to defeat Sin. The only way. With it, we can call the Final Aeon. That's the goal of the pilgrimage. The Fayth of the Final Summoning lies waiting in the far north, to greet summoners that complete their pilgrimage. At the world's edge... in Zanarkand. - ↑ Tidus: So, is Yuna's father famous or something?
Wakka: She's the daughter of High Summoner Braska! You saw his statue at the temple. Lord Braska defeated Sin ten years ago. - ↑ Yuna: Sir Auron was also my father's guardian.
- ↑ Yuna: A man named Jecht told me. He was my father's guardian.
Tidus: My father...his name is Jecht! - ↑ Jecht: If you're sitting there, watching this... It means you're stuck in Spira, like me.
- ↑ Lulu: The Calm is a time of peace. It comes after a summoner defeats Sin, and lasts until Sin reappears.
Yuna: Sin dies and is reborn.