Current Events > Giving FFX another go (ongoing spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I played FFX back in 02/03, and for various reasons didn't like it. I don't remember how far I got, but it was at least to the Blitzball tournament. I won the first game or the tournament or whatever and my friend was shocked. He didn't think you could win it.

Anyway I dropped the game some time after that. I remember disliking the Sphere Grid both mechanically and thematically. I also found constantly swapping characters in and out for the various enemy weaknesses tedious after a while. There were also other games that got my attention, and I never gave it another serious attempt.

So I recently picked up X/X2 Remaster on sale, and wanted to give it another shot. I remember almost nothing of the story (though I do know Tidus is dead) so this is basically a fresh playthrough. Please no other spoilers past where I'm at. I started a couple nights ago and am mostly enjoying it. I'm up past the village sending dance scene and have begun Yuna's pilgrimage.

First impressions: I can tell this game was showcasing the PS2 and its improvements over the PSX. The cinematics are great, I loved the opening in Zanarkand and the attack by Sin. But the battle with Sin later on the boat was definitely a "wow this is a real spectacle" moment for me. I also like how the camera constantly autopans in the more visually appealing areas to show them off, though I am a bit annoyed about lack of camera control in 3D environments.

The voice acting is as terrible as I remember.

The Sphere Grid still annoys me. I can see ability spheres are going to be a bottleneck. Anywhere I'll be able to farm these?

I'm enjoying the turn-based combat coming off VII Rebirth (and re-platting the PS5 version of Remake). I'm enjoying the brighter visuals and color.

Other than that, I'm concerned about missables. I looked up a list and thankfully there don't seem to be many. I did get the staff from the Cloister of Trials before Yuna joined.

If I keep with it I may turn this into a playthrough topic. I'll post again tonight after I play some more.

I always really liked being able to swap characters out mid-battle. I also liked that it told you the exact order of the next several turns so you could plan things out

TheOtherMike posted...

I played FFX back in 02/03, and for various reasons didn't like it. I don't remember how far I got, but it was at least to the Blitzball tournament. I won the first game or the tournament or whatever and my friend was shocked. He didn't think you could win it.

This is unironically one of the hardest things to do in the entire game, significantly hindered by RNG mechanics. It's pretty impressive that you won it.

It's a really stupid way for them to introduce blitzball because it makes you want to never play it again, which is a bit of a shame because it's way easier later on and more fun.

The Sphere Grid still annoys me. I can see ability spheres are going to be a bottleneck. Anywhere I'll be able to farm these?

Yeah those become really easy to farm. You have 3 methods:
1) an attack skill that lets you hit an enemy and steal an ability sphere after winning the fight.
2) a weapon attribute you can customise onto a weapon - you get an ability sphere everytime you attack
3) a late game hack against a particular enemy that lets you pick up 99 in a single fight.

It's really only a concern very early on. You'll end up picking up plenty later on.

Other than that, I'm concerned about missables. I looked up a list and thankfully there don't seem to be many. I did get the staff from the Cloister of Trials before Yuna joined.

The main missables you want to be concerned about are the secret chests in each cloiser of trials. You can get them way later on but they are gatekeeped by some of the hardest post-game bosses in the game.

pinky0926 posted...

This is unironically one of the hardest things to do in the entire game, significantly hindered by RNG mechanics. It's pretty impressive that you won it.

I'm pretty sure it was dumb luck. I remember getting to the tournament on an attempted replay a couple years later and couldn't win it to save my life. I think my ocd wouldn't let me progress and that's when I dropped the game that time.

Other things of note: I chose the standard Sphere Grid. Also absolutely loving the music, but Square and FF in particular have always had top shelf soundtracks.

TheOtherMike posted...

The Sphere Grid still annoys me. I can see ability spheres are going to be a bottleneck. Anywhere I'll be able to farm these?

I think once you get to Kilika forest there are enemies that drop those. Either that or right after the BBall tournament, I can't remember which bottleneck each of those solve...

Oh wait you said you've already made it to Kilika... In which case it's after the tourney.

Are you playing on PC? If so there's a mod that lets the entire party get exp without participating

Games a flop, don't bother

For ability spheres, if I remember right those are a minor bottleneck until the area right after the blitzball tournament. At that point they become a regular drop and you'll probably never have to worry about them again.

LeCh0nk posted...

Are you playing on PC?

PS5.

Good to hear about the ability spheres. Thanks, all.

I hate the remaster, the character models are so lifeless.

Lol I just got Extract Ability.

I am not a fan of the cloister puzzles.

Most NPC faces are nightmare fuel.

TheOtherMike posted...

Most NPC faces are nightmare fuel.

Potato mode would have been better than the potato-man mode we had for some of these NPCs.

Seaman_Prime posted...

I hate the remaster, the character models are so lifeless.

They really did fuck this up.

Seaman_Prime posted...

I hate the remaster, the character models are so lifeless.

DarkAssassin89 posted...

They really did fuck this up.

I haven't played the PS2 version in at least a decade, so I have no basis for comparison. I did, however notice a scene where Tidus asked Yuna why she was smiling, and I was like "Is she though?'" because her lips were a straight line.

So I got to the tournament. It took a couple retries but I beat the match again lol. On to Djose!

Oh fuck yeah lets go

What are you doing with Kimhari? I unlocked a gate to get him to the second level of Lulus offensive magic, and he was a stronger mage than Lulu the first 2/3 of the game.

So I think I'm done. This game is even more boring than I remembered. I played a couple games of blitzball after the tournament. Blitzball sucks ass. I continued on the pilgrimage, the game is literally one giant hallway, and none of it is even interesting to look at anymore. The Sphere Grid is still annoying and makes no sense thematically. Combat is tedious with the constant need to swap characters out for weaknesses. The plot is basically nonexistent; the only intrigue is related to how Tidus and Auron are here 1000 years after Zanarkand was destroyed. Beyond that the current plot is literally "we're all going on a long walk!" I'm about 10 hours in and just not getting hooked, and I genuinely can't understand what this game constantly gets praised for.

I gave it a good shot, I was really hoping to enjoy it this time around. Oh well, guess I'll play one of the good FFs.

If you haven't yet, make sure to just basically swap to a different character every time one of their turns comes up after the first. Its fast (one thing FFX did great is making basic attacks and stuff like this very quick), and it gets more characters to get experience points per battle (more characters also does NOT decrease points earned).

So yeah, unless you have a reason not to, such as the current character being good against that enemy, just swap them out until everyone has done something at least once.

Edit: Or not, since you seem to be stopping.

Well you gave it a shot I guess.

The remaster has a better sphere grid that isnt linear for most of the game. Right from the start, you can make characters any class you want. Much better.