It has been more than a decade since Final Fantasy X and its sequel Final Fantasy X-2 first hit PlayStation 2 consoles around the world. In a way the time that passes symbolizes just how long it has been since I myself entered the RPG market, with Final Fantasy X-2 being my very first. It was a random purchase that helped foster a love of the genre, but without any re-releases since then many gamers have been left without the opportunity to enjoy what is in my opinion one of the stronger Final Fantasy titles ever produced.
At a budget price of approximately $59.95 AUD for the two games and about 60-70 hours of potential gameplay each, if it were possible I would just end this review now and recommend that you pick it up for yourself. But as I won’t be, keep on reading to find out just how well Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster fares in a market where random battles and turn-based battle systems have been replaced by on-field monsters and fast-paced battles.
Storyline
Final Fantasy X follows male protagonist Tidus, a star Blitzball player from the metropolis city of Zanarkand. On the night of a big game dedicated to his father who mysteriously vanished ten years ago, the entire city comes under siege by a monstrous entity known as Sin. Instead of being killed, he instead winds up in travelling into a future where Zanarkand has been in ruin for 1,000 years. Unable to make his way back home, he instead decides to travel with Yuna, a young summoner and her party of guardians as she seeks to destroy Sin… a task that his father seemingly did ten years prior.
Final Fantasy X is more of your traditional Final Fantasy storyline – the journey to save the world from a malevolent entity set to destroy it, a blooming relationship and hidden secrets between characters, a less than perfect allusion to religion and more aspects along those lines. With a well-sized party of seven characters, each are well developed and all contribute to the storyline in their own way rather than just being added for the sake of having an additional character in the battles.
Final Fantasy X was originally destined to be a single game just like every other installment in the Final Fantasy franchise. However from its initial success, Final Fantasy X-2 was born. Taking place two years after the first, the game features an all-female cast of Yuna, Rikku and newcomer Paine while most of the other characters have been reduced to supporting roles with minimal impact on the overall plot. All three girls, particularly Paine receive some solid development, but other than that it is the new characters that receive more attention – including a new threat and an uncanny lookalike to name a few.
While I won’t go into detail so as not to spoil the ending of the first game, X-2 is less linear, focusing on Yuna’s adventures as a Sphere Hunter and the differences in Spira since she and her guardians brought the “Eternal Calm” to the world. It lacks the detailed storyline of X and first impressions (Set by a stage performance with “Yuna” singing pop song “Real Emotion”) may not have been the strongest, but the storyline contributed effectively to the game universe.
As both games are simply remasters rather than actual remakes, neither Final Fantasy X or X-2 contains anything notable in terms of new storyline. Instead, the collection contains a number of additional modes both previously available under limited distribution and brand new to international markets. The first is the “Eternal Calm” chapter, which details the events between X and X-2, describing why Yuna decided to join Rikku as a Sphere Hunter. The second is the “Last Mission” which details a particular event after both games and finally there is a newly produced and dubbed half-hour audio drama which provides the events of Yuna, Tidus and the rest of the character cast after the games. Fortunately it seems to lead into a potential Final Fantasy X-3… hopefully retaining the features of X instead of later Final Fantasy ventures.
Design
One of the main reasons that Final Fantasy X and X-2 really required a HD port was not so much the additional content than the fact that they both looked terrible on more modern-day television monitors. Back in the day, both games were of a high standard for the PlayStation 2 and this “HD Remaster” only helps to deliver that same standard to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Unlike Tales of Symphonia Chronicles which I recently reviewed, everything from each of the characters to even the most insignificant piece of environment detailing have all received a face lift. While none of this impedes upon the design of the original, the improved textures and resolution does help to make the 100+ hour experience across games even more enjoyable.
However in keeping with what was originally there, it showed that simply improving the textures doesn’t fully bring it up to the standards of video games today. Lip syncing with the English dub is still off at times (Something they have rectified in their more recent dual-audio releases) and unlike the FMV’s which gave the designers a bit more freedom from the standard character models, the characters at times are inable to express any facial emotion despite their voices and body movements claiming otherwise. Still, these are minor issues in what was an excellent remastering of the visuals.
Music / Voice Acting
While the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X-2 was left untouched, Square Enix decided to provide a remastered soundtrack from Final Fantasy X. I quite liked the new soundtrack, however was very disappointed when they decided to omit any option to switch between original and remastered soundtracks. Final Fantasy X in my opinion has had one of the greatest Final Fantasy soundtracks over the last few generations of consoles… and it was disappointing that they decided not to at least give the option to fully embrace it.
The voice acting was also solid, with all new scenes including the audio drama and Last Mission chapters dubbed into English by the original voice cast where possible. It wasn’t always similar given the significant time gap between releases, but it was good to see they took the effort rather than leaving the lines undubbed.
For those who consider dub languages a justification for purchasing or not purchasing a game, this edition only comes with the English dub for all games in the collection.
Gameplay
Final Fantasy X
For those who have joined the Final Fantasy series during the last generation of video game consoles, you may be acquainted with a battle system that prefers speed and quick thinking rather than challenge, turn-based attacks and rational thinking. As the last numbered Final Fantasy game to fully make use of the Conditional Turn-Based battle system with HP / MP, it throws an ample number of features and challenges at the player. While the battles tend to be harder along with there being more of them, characters don’t attack while it is your turn meaning you have time to properly chart out your offensive or defensive strategy.
Each of the seven party members reflect a traditional Final Fantasy character class from Tidus who is the generic Warrior class while Lulu stands as a doll-wielding Black Mage. There are a few exceptions to this including Yuna who dabbles as both a White Mage and Kimahri who can learn fiend abilities through the less well known Blue Mage track. Each character has special “Overdrive” moves associated with their assigned character class, available through filling a dedicated Overdrive Gauge in battle.
Character development progresses through the use of AP and Spheres through the Sphere Grid system unique to this game. Following particular paths, characters can learn skills and obtain stat boosts, often associated with their pre-defined character class. Closed to end-game characters are given greater freedom in jumping between tracks to those followed by other characters, meaning you aren’t really given the option to mess up character progression until you know what you are doing. While formerly only available in the PAL PS2 release, there is also an additional “Expert” sphere grid that allows you to assign a character any role you desire. Want Tidus to hit enemies like his sword is made of paper but be an expert healer? Sure! Want Lulu’s doll to be the main offensive power of your team? Why not!
There are a few other side-games to enjoy during the title, but I think they are worthwhile finding out for yourself if you haven’t already played the game. Overall, Final Fantasy X has stood out to me as one of the more memorable titles in the franchise’s history for its gameplay. While unchanged and unhampered in this HD remaster, it is still as strong today as it was a decade ago.
Final Fantasy X-2
While you would first expect the sequel of Final Fantasy X to have similar gameplay concepts and systems, there is very little shared between both games. Final Fantasy X-2 makes use of an Active Time Battle (ATB) system which keeps battle progression closer to real time with a gauge determine when and how long it will take a particular character to perform a skill. While leaving behind some of the tactical appeal of its predecessor, there is one system that gives it a bit more versatility…. dresspheres.
Given that only Yuna, Rikku and Paine ever enter battle in Final Fantasy X-2, the dressphere system aims at providing the three girls with the ability to use and switch between a total of sixteen character classes and an additional special one for each character. While you only start the game out with four – Gunner, Thief, Warrior and Songstress – additional ones including Black Mage, Alchemists and the vaguely named “Mascot” can be acquired through story events and bonus quests. Being based on the “International Edition” which was ironically never released outside of Japan, two additional dresspheres “Festivalist” and “Psychic” have also been included since the original release of the game.
Also new to this edition is the “Creature Creator”, allowing you to recruit monsters and other characters to be uncontrollable pseudo party members. With each character being classified as small (1), medium (2) and large (3) – you are able to have up to 3 points in your party. Therefore you can opt to have Yuna, Rikku and Paine remain in battle OR put all your points into one basket and let a large monster character fight for you. Honestly it is a system that comes across as more of a gimmick than anything else, but it is nice to have the option of recruiting previous party members into battle once more. It would be more practical if you could actually control at least the humanoid characters in battle.
Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission
Given both Final Fantasy X and X-2 were considerably different in terms of gameplay, surely you weren’t expecting the bonus chapter to be similar to either of them right? Taking place in the recently uncovered “Iutycyr Tower, Yuna, Rikku and Paine ascend the tower in tactical battle system style as they defeat enemies and make their way to the top of the randomly generating labyrinth. While initially beginning with their default dresspheres, all from X-2 make an appearance as they randomly litter the dungeon.
There is nothing elaborate or genre-defining with what was included, but makes for a nice little add-on after completing both games.
Final Words on Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster
Final Fantasy X and X-2 were the two video games that first introduced me to the RPG market at large, and more than a decade down the track are still what I could call a perfect example of a “Fantastic RPG”. While there are a few nagging issues that keeps this from being a flawless experience, with more than a hundred hours of potential gameplay between both games, an enticing storyline AND the potential for a sequel down the track… it is hard to pass this up.
In a market where more companies are finding a demand for HD re-releases, Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster will be a hard standard to beat.
