A Fresh Coat of Paint | Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Review

<p>After almost 13 years since its initial release&comma; <em>Final Fantasy X<&sol;em> and its sequel have been re-released on the PlayStation 3 and Vita for your RPG pleasure&period; Both games have been remastered in full HD for both systems with cross-save &lpar;but no cross-buy&rpar; functionality&comma; allowing you to play the game on your big screen or on the go&period; Besides the fresh coat of paint&comma; this is the International Version of the game&comma; previously only available in Europe and Japan&period; Other new features include a brand new cinematic ending that takes place after the events of the first game&comma; as well as other nifty little features that hardcore Final Fantasy fans will appreciate&period; The bottom line is that regardless of your familiarity with the franchise&comma; this HD Remaster is the absolute best way to experience <em>Final Fantasy X<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05114851&sol;FFX-combat1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-large wp-image-60537 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05114851&sol;FFX-combat1-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"FFX combat" width&equals;"750" height&equals;"421" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Final Fantasy X<&sol;em> begins with Tidus&comma; lead protagonist and star Blitzball player&comma; getting ready for the biggest game of the year&period; However&comma; things quickly divulge into typical Japanese craziness and soon Tidus find himself in an unknown land&period; The story revolves around Tidus trying to find his way back home&comma; all the while attempting to vanquish the evil entity&comma; Sin&comma; that transported him there in the first place&period; X&&num;8217&semi;s story is definitely not the typical Final Fantasy plot and that is really where the game shines the most&comma; especially as the game goes on&period; While the voice acting is unfortunately the same as the original game&comma; the characters are written so well that it becomes easy to overlook the mostly terrible acting&period; The thing that drove me the most to complete the game was characters and wishing to see their journey through to its end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My love for the plot unfortunately can&&num;8217&semi;t be said for the combat and overall gameplay&comma; though&period; It is clear that with a new console&comma; Square Enix decided to branch out and risk some new things&period; This resulted in the infamous Sphere Grid system&comma; in which there is no typical RPG leveling and progression system&period; Instead&comma; players gain Sphere points that are used for moving around the grid&comma; as well as various types of spheres that are used for unlocking new abilities and upgrades&period; While it is useful&comma; the downfall is that it does not completely replace a traditional levelling system&period; Therefore&comma; there were many times that I found myself either way overpowered or way underpowered in boss fights&period; The difficulty never caused the game to be grind-heavy&comma; but by the end of the game it felt like not much had really changed in my characters&&num;8217&semi; stats and abilities&period; Also&comma; the customization wasn&&num;8217&semi;t as open as other games in the series&comma; causing me to only use a few of the party members&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05114841&sol;FFX-Sphere-Grid1&period;png"><img class&equals;" wp-image-60539 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05114841&sol;FFX-Sphere-Grid1-1024x576&period;png" alt&equals;"FFX Sphere Grid" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"337" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The actual combat itself is very traditional&comma; only adding a few noteworthy features&period; These features include a list on the right side that gives the order in which everyone will attack&comma; the ability to switch between party members at a moment&&num;8217&semi;s notice&comma; and the Overdrive system that replaces Limit Breaks from the other games&period; Outside of combat&comma; exploration takes place in a fixed camera position&comma; which only complicated things&period; There were times where I couldn&&num;8217&semi;t even tell which way I just came from and often the camera would move so that my character was hidden from my own from sight&period; Despite this being only a remaster and not a full remake&comma; it is still annoying to have to deal with these more outdated mechanics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; one thing stands out as a masterpiece and that is the mini-game&comma; Blitzball&period; Most of Blitzball is optional&comma; but all of it is absolutely worth diving &lpar;no pun intended&rpar; into&period; Being an underwater version of soccer &lpar;or football&comma; if you prefer&rpar;&comma; this is definitely one of the best mini-games Square Enix has come up with&period; Initially starting out as a little overwhelmingly confusing and complicated&comma; once understood&comma; Blitzball is something you will be going back to time and time again&period; While I could see why some people would very much dislike it&comma; I personally loved it and spent hours playing through tournaments and recruiting and levelling up my teammates&period; Blitzball really is an entire game within a game and alone worth coming back to long after beating the main story&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05114832&sol;FFX2-combat1&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-60540 aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2014&sol;04&sol;05114832&sol;FFX2-combat1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"FFX2 combat" width&equals;"427" height&equals;"240" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Of course&comma; along with the remaster of <em>Final Fantasy X<&sol;em>&comma; is the HD version of its sequel&comma; Final Fantasy X-2&period; This game is quite divisive for its emphasis on lighthearted fun&comma; which I found myself not enjoying as much as I wish I did&period; However&comma; I believe that the first game alone makes this HD package worth a purchase&comma; be it for PS3 or Vita&period; Having reviewed these games on the Vita&comma; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t find any noticeable technical issues outside of the occasional clipping and terrible lip-synching&period; Overall&comma; this is a well-done HD remaster of a fan favorite in the Final Fantasy series and one worth picking up&comma; especially if you&&num;8217&semi;ve never joined Tidus before on his emotional and heartwarming journey through the world of Spira&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;