I just finished FFX for the first time in my life about a week ago. I played it before in like 6th grade at my friend's house, but practically forgot everything about it (Tidus being a colossal **** notwithstanding). After finishing and thinking about it a lot, I've come to the conclusion that this might be the most confusing video game story I've ever seen, about on the same level as Neon Genesi Evangelion. And not only the story, but the setting and characters as well just make my head spin.
Before I start raving, I have to say that judged purely by its gaming merits, FFX is great. It's addictive as hell, has a deep and tactical, yet easy to understand combat system, varied locations and monsters, a leveling system that shouldn't be fun but is very much so, and despite its age, actually still looks quite pretty thanks to colourful design and location variety.
Got that? I liked FFX a LOT. I had tons of fun playing it. So don't complain about this being a "stop liking what I don't like" thread, because it isn't. I just want to discuss the completely bonkers plot, characters and setting, because after raving to all my friends about it, questions still keep popping up in my head.
I'll divide this into spoiler tags, this is a mountain of text.
If you can give me clear answers on at least some of these questions it would be very helpful. I have a tendency to overanalyze stuff and clearing some of this from my head would free up a lot of thought for better things to think about. Maybe I should stop wathing Spoony's reviews because I seem to have adapted his overly analytic way of thinking.
Edit: As a final mention I forgot, the Cloister of Trials in Bevelle was undoubtedly the least fun I've ever had playing a videogame. God, it sucked.
Edit #2: Okay people: I wrote the "walked out of the room to do something else" as a comedic exaggeration. I never walked out of the room during vital cutscenes, I just opened my laptop and occasionally looked over to the screen when someone was talking in case I'd miss some important lines. And you don't need to explain the whole Zanarkand being a dream thing to me, I understood it by myself.
Thoughts?
Before I start raving, I have to say that judged purely by its gaming merits, FFX is great. It's addictive as hell, has a deep and tactical, yet easy to understand combat system, varied locations and monsters, a leveling system that shouldn't be fun but is very much so, and despite its age, actually still looks quite pretty thanks to colourful design and location variety.
Got that? I liked FFX a LOT. I had tons of fun playing it. So don't complain about this being a "stop liking what I don't like" thread, because it isn't. I just want to discuss the completely bonkers plot, characters and setting, because after raving to all my friends about it, questions still keep popping up in my head.
I'll divide this into spoiler tags, this is a mountain of text.
I played the game up to about Zanarkand when I was a kid, so I never saw the full story. When I got past the point I'd played before, the plot went completely bonkers, because up until that point it had been fairly straightforward: go to Zanarkand to defeat Sin. But the dream sequence in which the truth about Tidus is revealed just made me go "WHAT?" and a bajillion more questions popped up, when what I had been expecting answers.
I'm not going to even try to explain what the plot was about because I haven't figured it out myself either. What was the plot supposed to be about? Was it Yuna's pilgrimage and eventual rebellion against the Church of Yevon? Or her and Tidus' romance? Tidus' daddy issues (AAAARRRGGGHHH SHUT UUUUUP!!!) that lead him to defeat Sin? About the Fayth keeping Zanarkand alive in a dream but getting to rest through Tidus? I never knew what element to treat as a central theme, and was completely lost at the end as to what actually was important to the story. Definitely not Seymour.
Why did the Fayth devise such a complex plan to get to rest (I'm assuming that their plan began with sending Jecht into Spira)? What did they need Tidus specifically for? What was there about him that enabled him to defeat the gargantuan planetary menace that is basically God? I never noticed there being anything special about him, some kind of ability or power that gave him that ability. Okay, his connection to Sin through Jecht was part of the plot, but it didn't really give him anything special to go with. Or was his hatred for his father so great it allowed him to kill gods? Couldn't the Fayth just have picked some great warrior from dream Zanarkand and send him to kill Sin instead? Why pick a sports star to do it? Why even include the whole thing about Zanarkand existing in a half-real state and blah blah blah? There could have been much more simple ways to tell the same story.
I'm not going to even try to explain what the plot was about because I haven't figured it out myself either. What was the plot supposed to be about? Was it Yuna's pilgrimage and eventual rebellion against the Church of Yevon? Or her and Tidus' romance? Tidus' daddy issues (AAAARRRGGGHHH SHUT UUUUUP!!!) that lead him to defeat Sin? About the Fayth keeping Zanarkand alive in a dream but getting to rest through Tidus? I never knew what element to treat as a central theme, and was completely lost at the end as to what actually was important to the story. Definitely not Seymour.
Why did the Fayth devise such a complex plan to get to rest (I'm assuming that their plan began with sending Jecht into Spira)? What did they need Tidus specifically for? What was there about him that enabled him to defeat the gargantuan planetary menace that is basically God? I never noticed there being anything special about him, some kind of ability or power that gave him that ability. Okay, his connection to Sin through Jecht was part of the plot, but it didn't really give him anything special to go with. Or was his hatred for his father so great it allowed him to kill gods? Couldn't the Fayth just have picked some great warrior from dream Zanarkand and send him to kill Sin instead? Why pick a sports star to do it? Why even include the whole thing about Zanarkand existing in a half-real state and blah blah blah? There could have been much more simple ways to tell the same story.
I remember hating Tidus even on my first playthrough which I never finished. After seeing the full game, I can safely say he's a selfish, egomaniacal, impatient, stupid ignorant asshole of a character. But as much as I hate him, his character just confuses me even more.
His character design
why does he wear clothes like that? It gets even worse when you realize that that's actually his sports gear. Seriously. The moment Sin attacks Zanarkand in the beginning he's playing blitzball. In those clothes! What the hell? His behavior is also completely bonkers. The whole game he asks stupid questions about stuff that's perfectly ordinary ("Crews of what?") but when he's told HE ACTUALLY ISN'T A REAL PERSON he just goes "What? Okay, I guess" and accepts it. Is this guy even human? Also, when he goes to look for Yuna in Besaid's cloister of trials, his only reason to do so is "well I'm an anime character so I'm supposed to do it". Who does he think he is? Does he think he's going to work everything out, despite knowing nothing about anything around him and being surrounded by people who know the whole Yevon stuff through and through?
The game is just cluttered with moments in which Tidus' plans seem to be (allegorically put) "bang your head against a brick wall hard enough and it'll break down eventually". He never stops to think about anything and just rushes blindly to do stuff because he wants to. A prime example of this is when Kimahri stalls Seymour in Bevelle so that the others can escape. But Tidus just goes "No", and runs to help Kimahri. And the game never punishes him for this kind of behavior. Tidus never faces any conflict of character or starts thinking that maybe he should change his approach. The story actually rewards him for it by making him look like a hero and getting the girl. Not even the other characters ever hint at him that it would be better to sometimes to just sit and think things through.
Who is he supposed to appeal to? Who decided to make the main character a worshipped, popular sports superstar with apparently tons of fans and success? Doesn't that scream of unrelatability, especially with Final Fantasy audiences? Are we supposed to care about him? Is he supposed to be a fantasy we're supposed to wish we were? Okay, there's his whole daddy issue thing and having the burden of following in Jecht's footsteps, but couldn't there have been more relatable ways of doing that? Just pick some more mundane and down-to earth profession that "sports superstar" and make Tidus and Jecht that. Why wouldn't that work better?
Some minor mentions about the other characters:
- Rikku is completely useless in terms of gameplay. I never used her for anything else than snatching items from monsters. Why Yuna wants her to become her guardian is never explained.
- Auron is perhaps the most tolerable character in the game, but at times it felt like the game was trying way too hard to make him mysterious and enigmatic. There were times when I wanted to slap him and just clearly explain Tidus some stuff. Also, he would have made a far better and far more sense as the main character.
- Yuna made me almost pull my hair out at times. She's such a doormat. Even when she got captured in Luca, i.e. her guardians failed at what they're supposed to do she just apologizes and says she's sorry. And what really ground my gears was that back in Besaid she thanks Tidus for helping her at the Trials. No he didn't! Tidus didn't do anything! Everything was completely fine, and he had nothing to do with it!
- Kimahri I found the least annoying of the characters, mainly because he never talked much. That said, he could be written off the story and it would make absolutely zero difference.
- What was up with Lulu's dress?
His character design
The game is just cluttered with moments in which Tidus' plans seem to be (allegorically put) "bang your head against a brick wall hard enough and it'll break down eventually". He never stops to think about anything and just rushes blindly to do stuff because he wants to. A prime example of this is when Kimahri stalls Seymour in Bevelle so that the others can escape. But Tidus just goes "No", and runs to help Kimahri. And the game never punishes him for this kind of behavior. Tidus never faces any conflict of character or starts thinking that maybe he should change his approach. The story actually rewards him for it by making him look like a hero and getting the girl. Not even the other characters ever hint at him that it would be better to sometimes to just sit and think things through.
Who is he supposed to appeal to? Who decided to make the main character a worshipped, popular sports superstar with apparently tons of fans and success? Doesn't that scream of unrelatability, especially with Final Fantasy audiences? Are we supposed to care about him? Is he supposed to be a fantasy we're supposed to wish we were? Okay, there's his whole daddy issue thing and having the burden of following in Jecht's footsteps, but couldn't there have been more relatable ways of doing that? Just pick some more mundane and down-to earth profession that "sports superstar" and make Tidus and Jecht that. Why wouldn't that work better?
Some minor mentions about the other characters:
- Rikku is completely useless in terms of gameplay. I never used her for anything else than snatching items from monsters. Why Yuna wants her to become her guardian is never explained.
- Auron is perhaps the most tolerable character in the game, but at times it felt like the game was trying way too hard to make him mysterious and enigmatic. There were times when I wanted to slap him and just clearly explain Tidus some stuff. Also, he would have made a far better and far more sense as the main character.
- Yuna made me almost pull my hair out at times. She's such a doormat. Even when she got captured in Luca, i.e. her guardians failed at what they're supposed to do she just apologizes and says she's sorry. And what really ground my gears was that back in Besaid she thanks Tidus for helping her at the Trials. No he didn't! Tidus didn't do anything! Everything was completely fine, and he had nothing to do with it!
- Kimahri I found the least annoying of the characters, mainly because he never talked much. That said, he could be written off the story and it would make absolutely zero difference.
- What was up with Lulu's dress?
This is where I got completely lost.
So Sin was created by the Fayth who were the surviors of Zanarkand as a tool of vengeance on Spira that no machina would ever be used again and Spira would suffer eternal humiliation by the Zanarkand that was lost in the war with Bevelle? Was that about it? Just explaining what the game's bad guy is shouldn't IMO take that much text. But then there was Lord Zaon who became the first Final Aeon and defeated Sin for the first time, becoming the next Sin, or did he? And if he was a summoner and Yu Yevon too, what was their purpose before Sin was created? The game establishes quite clearly that summoners exist to defeat Sin, but if they existed before Sin, what did they do back then? If the aeons were manifestations of the Fayth (were they? I forget) doesn't that mean that aeons didn't exist until Sin was born?
How many summoners are there in the world? We meet quite a lot of them during the game, so they don't seem very uncommon. But if their purpose of existence is fighting Sin, and it only takes on summoner and one guardian to do it, what do the other summoners do during the Calm when Sin is away? Do they work as priests or what? Also, if there are so many of them and they've all seen Sin return time and time again, wouldn't there be a load of summoners waiting in line at Zanarkand just to kick Sin's ass? How long does the Calm last? Could a summoner do his pilgrimage during the calm, gathering up all the aeons and when Sin returns, travel to Zanarkand and defeat Sin? Are the aeons on holiday during the Calm?
How does Sin work? How much of the will of the guardian who turns into Sin is left when the transformation happens? In that one scene Auron says Sin came to that one beach because Sin is actually Jecht and he wanted to see his son. That would imply that the guardian has some control over Sin. But people all over Spira talk about how Sin has attacked such and such place. Is killing and destruction some kind of automatic, natural thing Sin does as easily as we breathe? What is going inside the transformed guardian's head when he's slaughtering people by the thousands and rampaging across Spira?
So Sin was created by the Fayth who were the surviors of Zanarkand as a tool of vengeance on Spira that no machina would ever be used again and Spira would suffer eternal humiliation by the Zanarkand that was lost in the war with Bevelle? Was that about it? Just explaining what the game's bad guy is shouldn't IMO take that much text. But then there was Lord Zaon who became the first Final Aeon and defeated Sin for the first time, becoming the next Sin, or did he? And if he was a summoner and Yu Yevon too, what was their purpose before Sin was created? The game establishes quite clearly that summoners exist to defeat Sin, but if they existed before Sin, what did they do back then? If the aeons were manifestations of the Fayth (were they? I forget) doesn't that mean that aeons didn't exist until Sin was born?
How many summoners are there in the world? We meet quite a lot of them during the game, so they don't seem very uncommon. But if their purpose of existence is fighting Sin, and it only takes on summoner and one guardian to do it, what do the other summoners do during the Calm when Sin is away? Do they work as priests or what? Also, if there are so many of them and they've all seen Sin return time and time again, wouldn't there be a load of summoners waiting in line at Zanarkand just to kick Sin's ass? How long does the Calm last? Could a summoner do his pilgrimage during the calm, gathering up all the aeons and when Sin returns, travel to Zanarkand and defeat Sin? Are the aeons on holiday during the Calm?
How does Sin work? How much of the will of the guardian who turns into Sin is left when the transformation happens? In that one scene Auron says Sin came to that one beach because Sin is actually Jecht and he wanted to see his son. That would imply that the guardian has some control over Sin. But people all over Spira talk about how Sin has attacked such and such place. Is killing and destruction some kind of automatic, natural thing Sin does as easily as we breathe? What is going inside the transformed guardian's head when he's slaughtering people by the thousands and rampaging across Spira?
If you can give me clear answers on at least some of these questions it would be very helpful. I have a tendency to overanalyze stuff and clearing some of this from my head would free up a lot of thought for better things to think about. Maybe I should stop wathing Spoony's reviews because I seem to have adapted his overly analytic way of thinking.
Edit: As a final mention I forgot, the Cloister of Trials in Bevelle was undoubtedly the least fun I've ever had playing a videogame. God, it sucked.
Edit #2: Okay people: I wrote the "walked out of the room to do something else" as a comedic exaggeration. I never walked out of the room during vital cutscenes, I just opened my laptop and occasionally looked over to the screen when someone was talking in case I'd miss some important lines. And you don't need to explain the whole Zanarkand being a dream thing to me, I understood it by myself.
Thoughts?
R version is this: he's a child. He's what, 16? 17? 16 year olds *are* selfish. They *are* impatient. Combine the attitude of your typical teenager with the ignorance of being thrown into a world about which they know nothing, and the product is... Tidus, basically. On the one hand, his love for Yuna and his gung-ho nature make him want to "solve the world's problems," but out of kindness or other reasons nobody ever tells him what eventually happens to summoners. He has to yank the truth out of Rikku, at which point his entire persona changes... the first time. He is much less impatient, and more content to let Yuna spend more time at each spot on her pilgrimage, because he understands it will be her last. He begins to understand sacrifice.
