FFX ? I'm completely confused

[Someone Depressing]

This game has no plot. But, I'll try to explain what little there is.

Some girl has to sacrifice someone to keep some monster at bay for 1,000, but she and the sacrifice will obviously die - the sacrifice, Tidus *cough prick prick prick prick put some clothes on cough* whines about this all the time because he has no personality, and think that, somehow, him, a a cold *****, a cat-person, an insensitive ****, a slutty 15 year old, said "summoner" and a bunch of other forgettable characters can destroy a huge monster atleast 3x the size of a blue whale.

The setting is some world of something isn't particuarly named and if it is I can't remember anything about it: There's a big monster that appears every 1,000 years and starts killing people in the ten thousands and demolishes buildings.

I'm not sure why the even played this game, you wasted a week; you week you could have played something better.

 

[Rattja]

Ah yes, FFX my favorite in the series. Not going to explain anything as it has already been done.
Yes the story can be a bit confusing, but once you grasp it it is a good one imo.
At least it's not as confusing as the games that came after, still don't know what 12 and 13 was about.

Also, if you think Rikku sucks, you are doing it wrong Mix is insane, and Al-Bhed potions rocks early on. She is really OP when set up right.

Tidus is annoying, I'll give you that.

Anyways, this reminds me that I have to continue my little project where I have every single savepoint as a new save =D

 

[deadish]

-snip-

What Flamezdudes said. In addition,

Spoiler

Tidus was a creation of the Fayth send by them to try kill Sin/Yu Yevon, putting to an end the endless cycle, because they are tired of dreaming.

 

[omega 616]

snip

I'm quite sick of this notion that Tidus is some big momma's boy, so lets break down your argument.

Come on, it's an FF game ... everyone looks like a fucking ding bat.

Well, no ... he's a dream.

Who does he think he is? A really famous sports star, which he is accustomed to being. That is his great strength, he is new to this world and sees the flaws in how everything is, the flaws that everybody else accepts as being true ... like the use of machina is what makes sin respawn. You could just have one person turn from following the rules to going "fuck this shit" or have one of Rikku's clan turn things upside down, it had to be an out sider.

How many times have we seen "go on without me, I'll hold them back" but half the time one guy says "no, I'm staying and fighting"?

You always play the hero that gets the girl in games. Is there even one game where you play the side kick?

It had to be a superstar for the arrogance factor, "I can do what I want" attitude that you complained about before.

I think Rikku's overdrive is one of the most damaging, not sure though. I also believe you can only get certain items by using steal.

People only like Auron 'cos he is the resident badass, I think he the most boring character. He only exists to be the replacement daddy and teach Tidus who his dad really was. It nice to play a game where you aren't the most badass person, if you want that play the 1,000 of other games that let you do that.

Yuna is just naive, innocent and nicey nice. It is kind of annoying.

Again, everybody dresses weird in FF.

If you think about what happened to Tidus you would see that he isn't whiny at all, if anything he doesn't whine enough. Come on, he gets ripped from his life as a super star, gets washed up on a beach and told "you will never see your old life again", falls in love with Yuna, soon after you realize that by killing sin she also dies, Yuna is then forced to marry your enemy, you then make your way to your old home city and find it has been destroyed for at least 1,000 years (everybody you knew is dead), then to top it off you are then told you aren't real and when you finish your mission you will cease to exist, leaving your love behind

All the while you learn to love and understand the dad you start out hating and just when you accept him and what he did, you are forced to kill him to end the suffering of an entire people. Also the entire people of Spira hate you for going against there well established religion and helping the Al Bhed who are seen to be the ones to bring sin.

Tidus just goes against the grain of being like Marcus pheonix or that guy from uncharted or solid snake or the million other grizzled hero's, with brown hair.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

All I'm getting out of that OP is that he didn't pay attention properly.

As for Rikku being Yuna's cousin: I never once noticed it being mentioned it in this game, and I was paying extra attention to notice it. I knew it in advance because of Spoony's review of FFX-2, but I never saw it in FFX. Maybe it was during one of the 10+ minutes long cutscenes when I walked out of the room to do something else. If it is mentioned in FFX, when is it?

Emphasis mine. Next time watch what's happening and maybe you'll know what the fuck is going on? Crazy notion I know, but it would then save you the effort of having to rant on a forum about how it doesn't make sense.

Also if you can't figure out that Rikku is the single most powerful character in the game then you have seriously fucked up. Go and watch any video, prefferably by a guy named Dark Kefka, and see how instrumental she is in fighting even the toughest bosses in any version in the game, both by dealing out insane damage, augmenting her teammates, AND keeping them constantly alive.

 

[VanTesla]

As for Rikku being Yuna's cousin: I never once noticed it being mentioned it in this game, and I was paying extra attention to notice it. I knew it in advance because of Spoony's review of FFX-2, but I never saw it in FFX. Maybe it was during one of the 10+ minutes long cutscenes when I walked out of the room to do something else. If it is mentioned in FFX, when is it?

Been long since I played it but I remember some mention of them being related. Couldn't tell you off hand when or where it was because as I said in my first sentence I have not played that game in years, but do recall that it was mentioned.

 

[VanTesla]

i got amybe a third or a half way through it before i sat there and thought this game is really disjointed in its elements and like someone on the development team had been on lsd. never touched a jrpg after that.

*edit* i got the last remnant in a bundle and lasted 30 minutes with that

If you played FF9 before 10, then 10 comes off as a pile of poo with just better graphics...

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Rikku is the most versatile character in the game, and the only reason most challenge runs are possible.

How so? It's been years since I've played the game and I'm planning to play again soon, how does one use Rikku the best?

Pick your poison. There is plenty of OP shit to pick from there you just have to make sure that you have the items. [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Mix_(Final_Fantasy_X)]

OT: If you weren't going to watch the cutscene why did you even bother with the game story? Everything here can just be read on a wiki page.

 

[Rattja]

Tidus is annoying, I'll give you that.

Whilst he definitely leans towards annoying, I think he just managed to stay the right side of the breaking point before they ventured into OTT, skull-crushingly annoyingly whiney, emo-esq characters found in the more recent FF's.

He did grate a bit, but he was acted/wrote with such sincerity that I could live with it. Whereas some of the more recent characters in JRPGs really wind me up.

You're right, compared to boomerang boy and whatever his name was in 12 he is quite alright, or all the other characters in the later games actually.

 

[Scott Rothman]

My biggest confusion was always around "How can they hold their breath for that long?"

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

All I'm getting out of that OP is that he didn't pay attention properly.

As for Rikku being Yuna's cousin: I never once noticed it being mentioned it in this game, and I was paying extra attention to notice it. I knew it in advance because of Spoony's review of FFX-2, but I never saw it in FFX. Maybe it was during one of the 10+ minutes long cutscenes when I walked out of the room to do something else. If it is mentioned in FFX, when is it?

Emphasis mine. Next time watch what's happening and maybe you'll know what the fuck is going on? Crazy notion I know, but it would then save you the effort of having to rant on a forum about how it doesn't make sense.

Also if you can't figure out that Rikku is the single most powerful character in the game then you have seriously fucked up. Go and watch any video, prefferably by a guy named Dark Kefka, and see how instrumental she is in fighting even the toughest bosses in any version in the game, both by dealing out insane damage, augmenting her teammates, AND keeping them constantly alive.

And there's the issue: Since I was only playing FFX to see the story through, I wasn't going to spend time looking up Rikku's best overdrives on the internet or grinding for hours just to see what her various overdrives did. I usually like to play games at face value: without strategy guides or walkthroughs, cheats or anything of that sort. And the game was so easy anyway (seriously, I don't think I had any difficulty at anything after Macalania Woods) that I never felt the need to see what Rikku could do. Also, check my edit #2 on the initial post.

I actually finally found where Rikku's relation to Yuna is mentioned. From the thefullwiki.com website:

Afterwards, Tidus either rides with Rikku, Lulu, Auron, or Kimahri to Macalania Temple. If Tidus rides with Rikku, she reveals that she is Yuna's cousin and articulates in a roundabout way that Yuna will die if she continues her pilgrimage, but Tidus doesn't realize this fact.

There it is. I rode with Lulu at that time, and thus missed it.

snip

Sorry, I get where you're coming from and I'm trying to think of Tidus in that light, but he still remains an insufferable twatbag to me. His most baffling character moment (the whole dream Zanarkand sequence) I already mentioned, because IMO it went against his whole personality the game had been setting up: before that he was somewhat hyperactive, impulsive and reacted very emotionally when shocked. But when he's faced with a reveal that would make any human being have an identity crisis of Mount Everest, he just accepts it and never even seems to contemplate or question it.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Rikku is the most versatile character in the game, and the only reason most challenge runs are possible.

How so? It's been years since I've played the game and I'm planning to play again soon, how does one use Rikku the best?

Well for a no sphere grid run (NSG), which is the most basic challenge, you'll need to rely on her for many things, like acquiring items to enchant weapons with and her overdrive to be able to do everything for 9999 (damage or healing). Plenty of other things, too, although I haven't tried them. Look there [http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/197344-final-fantasy-x/faqs] for plenty of other challenges, most of which hinge on Rikku.

 

[omega 616]

Sorry, I get where you're coming from and I'm trying to think of Tidus in that light, but he still remains an insufferable twatbag to me. His most baffling character moment (the whole dream Zanarkand sequence) I already mentioned, because IMO it went against his whole personality the game had been setting up: before that he was somewhat hyperactive, impulsive and reacted very emotionally when shocked. But when he's faced with a reveal that would make any human being have an identity crisis of Mount Everest, he just accepts it and never even seems to contemplate or question it.

Which is why I think he is actually quite emotionally stunted, he gets told "you don't exist" and his reaction is along the lines of "...whut?" and then no more is said about it.

I do think that is his only flaw though.

I think people just dog pile on him and have used so much hyperbole that they believe it now. If you stop and actually put yourself in his position, you realize that he is a good character, just not the usual western "manly man" we all get in just about every game, just try to think of all the game characters that are white males, 30's, ripped/athletic, short brown hair ...

I bet it makes up half the medium, MGS, Uncharted, gears of war, resident evil, prototype (not sure about the hair though), infamous, watch dogs, half life, mass effect (kind of), Grand theft auto 4, street fighter, Assassins creed 2+3, Prince of persia, and I bet there are more I can't think of ... if you forget about the ripped/athletic point you could include Mario.

 

[EvilRoy]

-snip-

Completely agree with you on Lulu and Wakka. I get that Lulu is meant to be internalising a lot of her issues because....Lulu. But Wakka's entire world view is shattered and they don't let Bender do much with it beyond the occasional defiant line to Mika and Seymour. I'd say Auron's arc that you describe isn't actually in the game. Throughout the game he is guiding Yuna to what she thinks is her doom but he has zero intention of letting that happen. The impression I got was it was Auron's plan (possibly in collusion with the Fayth, he is dead after all) to enter dream Zanarkand and bring out Tidus in an attempt to do what they do. He sees Yuna's Pilgrammage as the only way he can think of to put his war buddy to rest and end the cycle of death and destruction gripping Spira. Any emotion he may exhibit is because he feels he failed Braska and Jecht ten years ago by not stopping the Final Aeon process, and killing Sin will bring him peace.

Love FFX. Cannot wait to play it for like the sixth time when the HD version arrives

While I agree that auron probably had a plan from the start, I don't really believe that he could actually feel nothing or have no personal revelations while the whole thing was going down. Dead or no and plan or no he is essentially traveling with the younger versions of two of his closest war buddies, both of whom died in fairly spectacular fashion right in front of him. Additionally as much as he was trying to pull the strings to get his plan to work, the decisions of tidus and in particular yuna were completely beyond his control. We see that in action when yuna tries to fake out seymore with the insincere proposal acceptance. Auron had no input or foreknowledge on that one, and I would argue the only reason he didn't step in and take charge was because tidus in standard loud mildly irritating fashion did it for him (for largely the wrong reasons but whatever, results are results).

His plan could have failed at any point and for any number of reasons including but not limited to premature death, stupid choices made by stupid people and stupid choices made by naive people. That is bound to put a lot of pressure on him, and I felt towards the end of the story you start to see him loosen up in cut scenes a bit where the end starts to come in sight, and as his traveling companions start to smarten up. It may have been the plan all along, but that wouldn't make it easy on the guy.

 

[RJ 17]

Snip.

You forgot to mention how ear-bleedingly bad the voiceacting is, and the fact that the game's mini-game - Blitzball - is actually more fun to play than the game itself, when you sit down and think about it.

Buuuuuut I'm just a bitter, jaded ex-FF fan. FFX was the last FF I ever played through and beat. I rented X-2, but returned it about two hours later and haven't played a FInal Fantasy since.

Now I beat this game literally over a decade ago, so my memories a bit fuzzy but I'll see what I can offer you.

Spoiler: As for the plot...

If you ask me, at least, Yuna is clearly the main character of the plot while Tidus is the main character of the game. The story isn't about what Tidus does in Spira, it's about Yuna's pilgrimage, we just see it through Tidus' eyes. When you think about it, Tidus isn't the central character of any part of the story arc, he just happens to be the real main character's love interest. When the game ends, we don't see what happens to Tidus - if he gets to return to "his" Zanarkand or not, for instance - but instead we see him just kinda...go away. Setting the ground for the most horrific game sequel that's ever been made in which Yuna takes center stage............as a pop singer with a gun........yeah, this set the precedent as to why Final Fantasy games should never, EVER have direct sequels.

As for why the Fayth were a bunch of pretentious, over-complicated douches, I'd imagine that their plan wasn't specifically revolving around Tidus. I'd imagine their plan probably involved many other summoners prior to Yuna. Seems to me they were just waiting for a summoner to TRULY beat Sin, rather than have one of their guardians become the next Sin. Again, it's been over a decade since I've played this game, so it's quite possible there is direct spoken evidence contrary to what I'm saying, so disregard it if at some point in the game it says "No, Yuna and Tidus are the chosen ones, this all has been built around their destiny." As to the question of "Why pick Tidus the Douche in the first place?" My best guess is that since his dad was badass enough to become Sin, maybe Tidus would be badass enough to actually destroy Sin. Turns out that was a lucky gamble.

Spoiler: As for the characters...

Character design is actually one of the main reasons I stopped liking the Final Fantasy series. We went from knights and wizards in robes and armor to....a guy who looks like he got in a fight with a hamper....and lost. It started with FF7 and got progressively worse with FF8, 9, and 10...until we've got a lady who wears a bunch of belts as a skirt and a guy who dress like...well, you already posted the pic . It just doesn't do it for me, and really the only way the character design can be rationally explained is to say "Well, it IS a JRPG..."

As for Tidus' character itself, they were going for a coming of age story. A bratty, snobbish sports celebrity learning true responsibility and caring for someone other than himself. That's the best that I can come up with.

Now for some of your minor notes:
-Rikku: Of course she serves a purpose, she can one-shot kill Machinas!
-Auron: Your classic "Sephiroth" character, only a good guy this time. By that I mean he's supposed to be some legendary warrior of unparalleled skill who seems to know exactly what's really going on but doesn't want to tell anyone about it.
-Yuna: Your classic "soft-hearted girl" archetype from anime. The type of personality that - as you pointed out - apologizes when she's clearly done nothing wrong herself.
-Kimahri: Yeah, he's pretty much a one-trick pony with his story arc about being a disgraced "broken horn" or whatever. Not much reason for him to be there other than to let you pass through the Ronzo territory and have to have a story battle.
-Lulu's Dress: Again, standard JRPG character design.

Personally I think the biggest "character" question would be why the fuck the final boss is just a giant floating tick that can't kill you. Literally the only way to lose the final battle is to kill your own party....TWICE since it gives you a free Re-Raise buff.

Spoiler: As for the setting...

My understanding of it was that Sin itself was an Aeon, as such I can only assume that when Sin was created, so were the Aeons. Perhaps they originally were created to be Sin's henchmen, for lack of a better term, to fly around Spira terrorizing the populace until the Fayth grew bored with their plan of world-wide destruction and decided to get the Aeons to fight Sin instead. Perhaps there was a "Great Summoner Rebellion" in that summoners used to be badguys until they themselves grew tired of all the destruction they were causing and decided to fight against Sin instead, thus establishing the tradition of Summoners fighting Sin because hey: they can call upon giant frickin' monsters to help them fight. A bit more handy than charging up against a giant whale-beast and smacking it with a sword.

With the summoners themselves, it's implied that the pilgrimage is supposed to be extremely difficult and that not all summoners make it. In fact, it's quite rare that a summoner manages to complete their pilgrimage, that's why there's only ever one summoner to stand before Sin at a time: the others just didn't make the cut. If the pilgrimage was easy, then yeah, I'd imagine there'd be an army of summoners charging into battle against Sin whenever he pokes his ugly head up. Beyond that, I'm pretty sure it's stated that summoners are incredibly rare, despite all the ones that you meet along the way. But then again, it'd make sense that you'd meet them along the way seeing as how everyone's on their pilgrimage. Clearly if you're going to meet a summoner, your chances of doing so are the highest during times of pilgrimages.

In regards to how much control the last guardian has over Sin, I'd imagine it's a bit of a hybrid mind. Sin is what it is and does what it was meant to do. However it still has the memories of the guardian that became it, allowing it to remember, in this case, that Tidus was his son. But beyond that, it doesn't really care. Or maybe that's why the Fayth chose Tidus, because something like remembering "I have a son" is part of truly defeating Sin.

Well, that's about all I've got on the subject. Hope it's been insightful.

On a humorous side-not: a friend of mine used Gameshark to cheat in this game, making his characters super powerful. Unfortunately, though, he was lazy and since the free-level-up code was so long and had to be entered per each character, he only did it for Yuna, Tidus, and Auron. Well as you know, the stronger Yuna is, the stronger her Aeons are. This meant when he had to fight his Aeons at the end, the fight was nigh impossible, ensuring that he never got to beat the game because he was a cheater.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

I actually finally found where Rikku's relation to Yuna is mentioned. From the thefullwiki.com website:

Afterwards, Tidus either rides with Rikku, Lulu, Auron, or Kimahri to Macalania Temple. If Tidus rides with Rikku, she reveals that she is Yuna's cousin and articulates in a roundabout way that Yuna will die if she continues her pilgrimage, but Tidus doesn't realize this fact.
There it is. I rode with Lulu at that time, and thus missed it.

After you rescue Yuna in Luca she tells you her uncle is an Al Bhed named Cid. During the Home massacre Rikku tells you her dad is Cid, and Cid himself tells you on the airship that Yuna is his neice. It's one of his primary reasons for hating the pilgrimages and his main motivation for helping you stop her wedding to Seymour. It is literally impossible to miss unless you skip several cutscenes.

 

[Lilani]

-snip-

I think you need to either read a full plot summary, or just bite the bullet and finish the game because a lot of the story you don't have straight just yet. After you get to Zanarkand and go through the cloister of trials there, what Sin is, how it comes to be, and what its purpose is becomes clear. And then EVERYTHING becomes clear after all that and you visit Maester Mika again.

Also, to save yourself a lot of grief, I would just look up a guide when you fight the boss battles in Zanarkand. There's one right after you complete the cloister of trials that isn't so bad once you figure out his pattern, but there's another after that one that is a total ***** if you don't go in with a plan.

I like the game more or less, but don't get me wrong, a lot of what bothers you bothers me too. Especially what you said about the timetable of when Summoners work. Once you find out what the Fayth really are and how they work, then your idea of the Summoners completing the pilgrimage during the calm makes a hell of a lot more sense. Also, I hate how they never explain why Tidus, Rikku, and Wakka can hold their breath underwater for so long. Apparently the others can't because when you have to do water sequences it's always them and never others, so it just doesn't make sense. Tidus is annoying but so are most young male protagonists from Japan, and they all dress funny because it's Squaresoft (they weren't Square Enix just yet when it came out).

Oh, and if you get passed Zanarkand, you can get Anima as a summon. You have to get the destruction spheres in all the cloister of trials in order to get him, but don't worry. If you missed any you are free to go back and get them after Zanarkand (but don't worry about Bevelle, you have to use that destruction sphere to get out of there, so even if you didn't get to the treasure chest it will still be complete). Look up a guide for that, as well. I recommend this not only because she's a cool and powerful aeon (yes, she), but also because there's a bit of story tied to her that I found really interesting and sad.

 

[Benpasko]

Snip.

You forgot to mention how ear-bleedingly bad the voiceacting is, and the fact that the game's mini-game - Blitzball - is actually more fun to play than the game itself, when you sit down and think about it.

Buuuuuut I'm just a bitter, jaded ex-FF fan. FFX was the last FF I ever played through and beat. I rented X-2, but returned it about two hours later and haven't played a FInal Fantasy since.

Now I beat this game literally over a decade ago, so my memories a bit fuzzy but I'll see what I can offer you.

You should go back to X-2. I know the pop stuff is weird, and you won't feel cool while you're playing it, but it has the best gameplay in the entire series. And I mean that, barring none. It's pure atb perfection when you're playing it. Plus the 100% completion ending is worth getting at least once.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

snippety snip

I'm a bit confused as to why you say I should finish the game since the OP says

After finishing and thinking about it a lot...

It's not that I didn't understand what the general idea of Sin, its connection to Zanarkand, Tidus and Jecht, the aeons, summoners, machina etc. was, I got that stuff perfectly fine. It's just that the whole thing is (IMO) so bloody convoluted it raises a crapton of questions about just every aspect of the setting and makes me think why they needed such a complex setup in the first place.

I could perhaps swallow Tidus' character design by just going "Lol, jrpgs" (If I was high... (and drunk... (...and my brain wasn't getting enough oxygen...))), if it wasn't for that damned moment in one of the earliest cutscenes in the beginning. When we see Tidus playing blitzball, we get a very brief shot of the opposing team's players giving each other a high five. This is where my overly analytic way of thinking probably negates my argument, but their clothes actually looked quite sensible to me given the circumistances: skin tight and smooth, with little to no hanging or protruding parts so that swimming in the sphere would be easier. But Tidus chooses to wear all that impractical shit because... why indeed? Is he just that good so he can wear anything and still win? Could he play blitzball in full combat body armor?

Also, to save yourself a lot of grief, I would just look up a guide when you fight the boss battles in Zanarkand. There's one right after you complete the cloister of trials that isn't so bad once you figure out his pattern, but there's another after that one that is a total ***** if you don't go in with a plan.

I assume you're talking about the Spectral Guardian and Yunalesca. I found the former one more difficult than the latter, because I had to constantly think about my characters' placements because of those guddammed mines he placed. Yunalesca's all three forms I squished like bugs. I actually got lucky and had him cast Regen on one of my characters who wasn't zombified . In every single boss battle I just used the same strategy, i.e. spamming overdrives. It's true that the addictive grinding got the better of me and my characters were absurdly overleveled about two thirds into the game, so nothing really posed a challenge anymore. Especially after getting Bahamut, since he can break the 9999 damage limit, everything became almost insultingly easy.

 

[Benpasko]

I would recommend against final fantasy games past 6, they take a nose dive if you are old enough to know what actual story progression and cohesion and character arcs are. 7 and on are all about the spectacle, not about telling a story and having an adventure, or just having an adventure in the case of the first 2.

I used to love FF7, but I went back to play it a few years ago and it dawned on me just how bad the game actually is. I should have just left it collecting dust, now I have to avoid discussions of the game with my friends or risk telling just how disgusted I am with the game.

It is not me losing my taste for JRPGs or anything like that, right after replaying FF7 I replayed Xenogears, Grandia, and Suikoden 5, and acquired an all new appreciation for them. Final Fantasy games past 6 are just bad.

No guys, I promise, the games you like are all just bad. Look at these games I like. That means you're wrong, stop having fun.