Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster Review - Auron You Glad It's In HD?

[Sniper Team 4]

Question! Is this the 'complete' version of Final Fantasy X--has the dark summoners that you can fight--like they did with the Kingdom Hearts 1.5, or is it still the straight-up North American version? Either way, I intend to pick it up as soon as it comes out, but I'm curious.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I would love to get this game, but honestly, I'm still suffering PTSD from those goddamn Chocobo races.

I'm sorry, you want me to finish a race in 0.00? Are you fucking psychotic?

EDIT-Am I to assume that redone character models means Tidus no longer has the puffy chipmunk cheeks?

Ha ha. I remember reading that. You needed to do that in order to unlock Tidus' ultimate weapon. I went, "Nope, not happening." Especially with those terrible controls for the bird...

 

[Leemaster777]

Question! Is this the 'complete' version of Final Fantasy X--has the dark summoners that you can fight--like they did with the Kingdom Hearts 1.5, or is it still the straight-up North American version? Either way, I intend to pick it up as soon as it comes out, but I'm curious.

From what I understand, it's the same deal as the Kingdom Hearts HD Remix. So yes, extra boss battles and content abound.

OT: Personally, Final Fantasy X has always been my favorite of the series (with 7 taking second), and while I still stick to this, I haven't actually PLAYED it in some time. Perhaps I should fix this.

10 had probably my favorite ending in all the series. It was meaningful, it was heartfelt, it was slightly ambiguous... and then X-2 completely shat all over it.

Yeah... the only thing keeping me from being overjoyed at the release of this is the inclusion of X-2. I am NOT a fan of X-2. At all. I had to FORCE myself to finish it the first time I played it, and then I never touched it again. I'd really rather just pretend it doesn't exist, rather than rage at it.

 

[T-004]

Still have X & X-2 for PS2 so don't really need to pick this up, but probably will anyway.

From what I can gather these are the "complete" versions with all optional bosses included, which let me tell you are no cakewalk.

Love X, tolerate X-2 and yeah the Chocobo balloon races are vexing but they are entirely doable (even the 0:00 one).

To the guy who claimed that XIII is better than X, well you are are entitled to your opinion however dribblingly insane you may be.

 

[KingdomFantasyXIII]

Still have X & X-2 for PS2 so don't really need to pick this up, but probably will anyway.

From what I can gather these are the "complete" versions with all optional bosses included, which let me tell you are no cakewalk.

Love X, tolerate X-2 and yeah the Chocobo balloon races are vexing but they are entirely doable (even the 0:00 one).

To the guy who claimed that XIII is better than X, well you are are entitled to your opinion however dribblingly insane you may be.

But it is a good opinion because people like you praise FF10 too much and criticize FF13 despite them sharing many design decisions. You delude yourself into thinking the game is awesome but ignore valid criticism. Meanwhile you criticize FF13 and yet ignore much of the positives of the game. It's sad when such things come to be due to hypocrisy and nostalgia come into play.

 

[ThoughtlessConcept]

The Sphere Grid was patented by SE back when this game came out, so only SE can have it in one of there games. They could license it, but I don't think many dev are looking to drop a bunch of cash on something that isn't critical to what they're trying to do.

 

[ThoughtlessConcept]

Still have X & X-2 for PS2 so don't really need to pick this up, but probably will anyway.

From what I can gather these are the "complete" versions with all optional bosses included, which let me tell you are no cakewalk.

Love X, tolerate X-2 and yeah the Chocobo balloon races are vexing but they are entirely doable (even the 0:00 one).

To the guy who claimed that XIII is better than X, well you are are entitled to your opinion however dribblingly insane you may be.

But it is a good opinion because people like you praise FF10 too much and criticize FF13 despite them sharing many design decisions. You delude yourself into thinking the game is awesome but ignore valid criticism. Meanwhile you criticize FF13 and yet ignore much of the positives of the game. It's sad when such things come to be due to hypocrisy and nostalgia come into play.

XIII isn't even in the same star system as X when it comes to quality, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but some opinions are just wrong.

 

[ThoughtlessConcept]

Question! Is this the 'complete' version of Final Fantasy X--has the dark summoners that you can fight--like they did with the Kingdom Hearts 1.5, or is it still the straight-up North American version? Either way, I intend to pick it up as soon as it comes out, but I'm curious.

Really!! You're not excited for Persona 5?

 

[KingdomFantasyXIII]

Still have X & X-2 for PS2 so don't really need to pick this up, but probably will anyway.

From what I can gather these are the "complete" versions with all optional bosses included, which let me tell you are no cakewalk.

Love X, tolerate X-2 and yeah the Chocobo balloon races are vexing but they are entirely doable (even the 0:00 one).

To the guy who claimed that XIII is better than X, well you are are entitled to your opinion however dribblingly insane you may be.

But it is a good opinion because people like you praise FF10 too much and criticize FF13 despite them sharing many design decisions. You delude yourself into thinking the game is awesome but ignore valid criticism. Meanwhile you criticize FF13 and yet ignore much of the positives of the game. It's sad when such things come to be due to hypocrisy and nostalgia come into play.

XIII isn't even in the same star system as X when it comes to quality, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but some opinions are just wrong.

Final Fantasy X is the entire reason for Final Fantasy XIII's design. If it wasn't for your precious Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII would not have been designed like the way it was. Final Fantasy X's quality is almost just as equal as Final Fantasy XIII. The only differences are that:

1. People are nostalgic from the turn based combat
2. People were younger when they played it compared to that of Final Fantasy XIII.

 

[MiskWisk]

Again, I feel the need to complain about people complaining about the laugh scene. It isn't fair to blame anyone other than the Japanese writers and the Japanese version of that scene is far worse in my opinion.

Spoiler: How on Spira is this a laugh?

Anyway, nice review. I'm not entirely sure it is worth me getting when I still have a fully functioning PS2 hooked up but it is good to see the HD version is up to par.

 

[Rattja]

Please explain to me how you found the level-up system in FFX to be engrossing...and not just a big charade to over-complicate the usual linear leveling system that most RPG's have. Why bother with the sphere grid at all? Is it not just padding? It's not like there's an overwhelming amount of choice in the matter...you just following along with the path that a character is given. Sure, every now and then you get spheres that unlock paths into other character's territory but...for what purpose? Why not simply use the character that has already mastered all the Black Magic spells? Or maybe you just really can't stand the sight of Wakka's hair and as such would much rather have Auron using the skills in Wakka's tree.

Quite simply it's a gimmick. It makes you think you have choice, makes you think it's "engrossing", but really you're just leveling up along a set path...just like in previous FF titles.

Edit: Meant to also mention that the Sphere Grid is essentially no different than the Crystarium from FFXIII, which was the over-all point that I was trying to get at to go against you mentioning in your review that no other FF game has a system like the Sphere Grid.

Sounds like someone didn't try the expert grid..

There may not be an "overwhelming amount of choice" in the normal one, but there is some choice. Let's say you went up to hastaga with tidus, then used a friend sphere over to Lulu to grab the more powerful black magic nodes (that she has been working her way over to) to have more options during battle.
Sure you can follow the path that is kinda there, but you can also jump around and make whatever you want. Like sending Yuna up the Auron path because... can. Slapping someone with a staff and dealing 9999 damage is quite funny.

Also I want to point out that there is a rather notable difference between the grid and Crystarium systems. You can jump around on the grid, change nodes and tailor to your needs, you can't do that in FFXIII.
Also the Crystarium is heavily tied to your story progress, as it gives accsess to more after boss fights. This also is true for the 1-4 Key Spheres, but you are given a choice as to what you want to use them for.

They are similar, sure, but saying they are the same is a bit of a stretch imo.

Not that guy, but the Sphere Grid was overall inferior to the Crystalithium. The Sphere Grid had no sense of grinding or accomplishment. Yeah FF13 had a linear grid, but normal leveling up is very linear (lv 1-100). Bleeding the Sphere Grids together didn't really help either because you were just left with a boring system that was tacked on just like the Lithium Orbs in Tales of Xillia.

The Crystalithium was integrated into the leveling up system and provided a sense of grinding. It also made you feel like you were accomplishing something and that you were making the character level up instead of just filling in the blanks like the Sphere Grid. Each character was able to have their own unique attributes instead of just interconnecting everybody's like FF10 did.

It was because of this that I wound up spamming Holy throughout the last part of FF10, where in FF13 I was utilizing much more like buffs and debuffs, lesser magic to build up the stagger meter and changing the different job classes.

Oh I didn't realise we were talking about which one is the "superior" one. But that is kinda pointless as they are two different systems, which was the point I tried to make. FFXIII is better for you, FFX is better for me, cause they are different.

I have a few questions for you though.
Did you try the Expert grid?
When you say "by the end of it" do you mean the end of the main story, or do you mean the end of a 100% game? Cause if you mean the main story, you could just as well just spam standard attacks and beat it long before you even finish the grid.
Also, if spamming is your thing, why not just spam Ultima?
You could do a lot of things, but if you choose to spam 1 ability that is your choice.
Which brings me to the next thing, did you beat Nemesis? Cause as far as I know you can't really holy spam him to death even with a full grid.
Once you get the key spheres for it you can just grind up enough points to get what you want and spam it, just as you can grind your way to lvl 100 and spam anything else, cause at that point you should be at the damage cap and your damage output should be the least of your worries.
Think of 1 node like 1 level, only that in theory a "lvl 10" could have firaga if you chose to use a friend sphere or a black magic sphere.
The difference is choice, you have it.


If you don't feel any progress filling out a grid, that is on you, I liked that I didn't have the standard 1-100 levels.
I can see why you would like unique abilities for the characters, but that is what summons and overdrives are for.
Also, I have a problem with characters having uniqe skillsets, as it tends to end up with 1 or 2 that are just way better than anyone else, and I wish the others could do what they did so they would be more usefull. But hey, that's just my opinion on the matter.

 

[Rattja]

The Sphere Grid was patented by SE back when this game came out, so only SE can have it in one of there games. They could license it, but I don't think many dev are looking to drop a bunch of cash on something that isn't critical to what they're trying to do.

So..what about Path of exile? It's not the exact same but it's damn close don't you think?

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

I did not care for the lack of a world map the smaller level layouts the combat(it felt off from FF7/8/9) But I loved the sphere grid and the ability to build your own semi custom equipment.If FF12 had those it would have been perfect story aside.

 

[linforcer]

I really didn't enjoy FFX. I had always appreciated that choosing which characters to have in a battle was a piece of the strategy. The lack of a world map irked me and I didn't understand why. Since I switched from plane transportation to hitchhiking everywhere I DO understand why. I LIKE to get a feel for the world and how far apart things are. Sphere grid... I don't know, man... it felt like a cool experiment, I guess, but not something complete... All a far cry from a nice job system. (I think people may guess which 3DS RPG I've been enjoying a lot recently)

 

[daibakuha]

Final Fantasy X is the entire reason for Final Fantasy XIII's design. If it wasn't for your precious Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII would not have been designed like the way it was. Final Fantasy X's quality is almost just as equal as Final Fantasy XIII. The only differences are that:

1. People are nostalgic from the turn based combat
2. People were younger when they played it compared to that of Final Fantasy XIII.

People would have liked XIII more if the story made any damn sense. They just through you into the world without bothering to explain what the hell is going on. In X they use Tidus as an audience surrogate, he's there to ask about the world, and in doing so, compare and contrast it to his own. XIII lacks this surrogate and is worse for it.

There's also smaller things, like the lack of towns to break up the monotony of running down a hallway. The crystalarium thing felt like a much more linear version of the sphere grid, with tightly locked progression. Even with the lock spheres in X, it always felt like I was making a choice in how I progressed each character. I didn't get that at all with XIII.

It's not just nostalgia over the combat either. X has probably the best pure turn based combat of any RPG (Japanese or otherwise) ever. It's pure strategy, enemies force you to use all of your party and each party member brings something unique to combat.

 

[T-004]

Still have X & X-2 for PS2 so don't really need to pick this up, but probably will anyway.

From what I can gather these are the "complete" versions with all optional bosses included, which let me tell you are no cakewalk.

Love X, tolerate X-2 and yeah the Chocobo balloon races are vexing but they are entirely doable (even the 0:00 one).

To the guy who claimed that XIII is better than X, well you are are entitled to your opinion however dribblingly insane you may be.

But it is a good opinion because people like you praise FF10 too much and criticize FF13 despite them sharing many design decisions. You delude yourself into thinking the game is awesome but ignore valid criticism. Meanwhile you criticize FF13 and yet ignore much of the positives of the game. It's sad when such things come to be due to hypocrisy and nostalgia come into play.

I do not delude myself into thinking anything!?! And if disliking something because of bad story structure, a pretty pre-rendered video masking itself as a game where your actual interactivity is limited to equip changes, moving forward & choosing the overall fighting style of your characters, with very limited involvement in anything else bar the basics as well as a cast of what could only be described as professional idiots then I am happy to be a hypocrite! Additionally your statement that XIII's design is based on X's is laughable given that the only similarity between the two is that dress sense of the denizens of dream Zanarkand and the Denizens of Cocoon.

X had/has it's flaws as does everything, but those flaws were outweighed by a system in which you had control over your full party, a leveling system which you could approach differently on subsequent playthroughs and a genuine sense of achievement after beating a particularly difficult "optional" boss (of which there are several). Nor is it nostalgia talking as I quite regularly play the older FF games (doing VI & IX at the mo) in order to find stuff I may have missed or purely just to enjoy the mechanics of the game and it's world.

I have played XIII on both 360 & PS3 and have had to force myself to play, usually by rewarding myself for playing through a segment (usually 3 hours is the most I can take) with playing something else. The main kicker is that the main reward I am giving myself for when I eventually complete it again (I'm a sucker for punishment) is to play through XIII-2 again, as I found this to be a MUCH more enjoyable experience which is what convinced me to go back and play through XIII again just to see if it felt any better (it doesn't).

In closing I am a Final Fantasy addict, owning pretty much every game across various systems and I like/love all of them bar XIII because quite frankly while it is pretty to look at it just has no soul, which I am glad they managed to correct with it's sequel.

So please don't cast aspersions of nostalgia or delusion in my direction, especially in response to what was merely a gentle dig. To do so would be LULUnacy (pun train arollin')

 

[SilverStuddedSquirre]

I guess they're remaking it to Tidus over.

Spoiler: *puts on sunglasses*

Your move, Jim. Your move.

Only one reaction to that joke.

Spoiler

"Wakka Wakka!"

Ha! Just let me know if you'd like to Seymour.

Stop it! This pun war has to end! I obJECHT to this abomination!

Damn it, you Besaid what I was gonna say next!

I am going to buy this, and enjoy it, and Cross my fingers that MAYBE it means we're inching towards the Remake we all REALLY want. And while we're at it Can I have a version of TACTICS playable on the PS3 please??

 

[Kekkonen1]

Again, I feel the need to complain about people complaining about the laugh scene. It isn't fair to blame anyone other than the Japanese writers and the Japanese version of that scene is far worse in my opinion.

Spoiler: How on Spira is this a laugh?

The whole point is that it becomes something much more forced than a laugh. Tidus is at that point in the game quite depressed and doesnt really feel like laughing, so when Yuna insists that he laugh it quickly becomes more like where he screams out his pain. I think that the Japanese voice actor conveys that feeling pretty well, while the English voice actor is horrible (as almost everyone in FFX, except Auron whom I think has a pretty good English voice actor. To be fair Square got it's act together for FFXII where the English voice actors were brilliant).

 

[Second World]

"Bizarrely unused in future Final Fantasy games, or indeed any other RPG, the Sphere Grid eschews traditional character levels for a complex map of statistical upgrades and abilities."

Well.. there aren't any others in Final Fantasy, but Digital Devil Saga does it two different ways (and manages to have an equally "stomp your over-leveled characters" boss to unlock), Xenosaga sort of does it, and several MMORPGs do this. Path of Exile and a few others (I mostly played Asian-only MMOs..) come to mind.

But yes, it is odd that a genre that once prided itself on in-depth crafting and customization would really lack a dynamic leveling system that isn't bluntly focused on picking a stat to increase and grinding some spells (or simply choosing some stats to increase from an equally open list.) Final Fantasy, a series that expected most characters to be overpowered and have all of the strongest spells and skills by the end of a game anyway, came up with a unique system to improve on how each player would get there.

 

[Lyri]

FFX is a largely terrible game, and improving the graphics to HD, while ironing out one of its problems (the fact that the ingame graphics were so off-model compared against the prerendered cutscenes), completely fails to address the rest.

The writing is terrible. The localisation is worse. I still don't get why I was supposed to like Tidus. The Sphere Grid is... okay, you can have that one, the Sphere Grid is legit awesome. But this FF game, while pretty good for gameplay, failed hard at characters and story, and those aren't things that a HD remake is going to fix.

(FF7 fails all three, for the record.)

Don't cut yourself with that edge there.

FFX was a pretty fun game, I'm excited to play the international version with my wife. When we swapped stories about our likes and dislikes of the series, FFX was one of hers since America didn't ship the version with additional content.
She is looking forward to fighting the dark animus and getting 100% completion, so this is a definite pick up.