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Tuesday 4 March, 2008
Final Fantasy 10
Second Hour
GAMEPLAY
Another hour into the game and the story is starting to pick up the pace. Square is known for detail. I have heard from many friends that they find Tidus whinny and annoying. I have to disagree there. When comparing Tidus to the Tidus that narrates, the tone is completely different. The Tidus that narrates the events sounds more mature than the one that the player plays as. Therefore it is part of character development. Every character has their own past and secrets because each character seems bitter on certain topics. I find it funny that Auron told Tidus that it was his story when I really think it is equally Yuna’s story as it is Tidus’. It is her pilgrimage afterall and Tidus is just apart of her journey.
Like what all RPG’s are suppose to do to players, I was wrapped into the game’s plot. I just wanted to keep on playing to see the next cut scene because they are so beautifully done. The game felt more like progressing movie than just a game itself. I think it is because of the many stops in gameplay where the characters talks as an event. I think Square is very innovative for FF10 since it was the first of it’s kind. Compared to other titles under Square, such as Kingdom Hearts series and Final Fantasy Series, they seemed to cut out all animated cut-scenes to tell the story. They just used an event with regular gameplay graphics for conversations.
DESIGN
For a first in it’s family to go onto the Playstation 2, Square definitely exploited the console. There was a lot of talking in the game compared to the others under Square. My friend was watching me play and he was complaining that it was dragged on to long and one cut scene to many. I, however, loved how FF10 decided to tell it’s story. Everything else was pretty much the same. They still kept to their roots for most aspects of the game. Only a few things were changed and that was the battle system and leveling system, but even then it didn’t get a drastic make over.
The tone of the gameworld is suppose to be serious but so far it is more on the lighter happy side. Tidus and Wakka are used to break the sadness that Sin causes Spira. The game explains how Blitzball is the people’s distraction from Sin. Blitzball is basically the only thing that people can enjoy/focus on and not think about the next town that Sin will destroy. However, once the player passes the blitzball tournament, like Wakka said, everything will become serious.
The game doesn’t exactly have a level design. Like most RPGs you level up and fight bosses in order to advance the story. It is like an implicit rule. The reward structure in this game is to be able to defeat bosses without much difficulty when you learn new skills on the sphere grid. Overdrives, a finishing blow or a characters special, is different for each character. Some requires you to push buttons while others require you to spin the analog stick. This is something new that Final Fantasy brings to the table using the PS2’s new controller.
I would recommend this game to someone who has the patience to sit through the story because it is worth it.
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