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[RaikuHebi]

I caved guys. Applied cheats to my latest save and now everyones stats are maxed out (inc. Aeons), they know all abilities and I have 99x of every item too. Even Yuna's doing 9999 with every hit.

I will definitely go through the sidequests of this game with one of the clean saves in the future, probably on the Vita, but for now I just want to storm through to this damn ending.

 

[X-Factor]

New rearranged music is terrible compared to the original. You can find the music on youtube.

Hopefully SquareEnix will add a DLC pack to include the original music over the new themes. Most of the new music is for the worse.

 

[RaikuHebi]

Wow. So while I hated most of the final part of the story (a common problem with FF it seems), the bit with the unrealised hug and whistle caught me off guard. Very tight pull on the heartstrings there. Glad they went with such an ending, though in hindsight, especially after seeing that, exploring more of their relationship throughout the pilgrimage would've been nice.

 

[Yoshichan]

Did you play the PS2 version or the HD version?

 

[RaikuHebi]

Did you play the PS2 version or the HD version?

HD with the hack that enables the on-disc English text.

What do I watch next? That 30 minute new cutscene?

EDIT: I've now decided to replay FFVII for the 3rd time (4th if you count incomplete playthroughs). The parts of FFX (especially that Monster Arena song) that reminded me of VII really made me want to play it!

 

[jimmypython]

I hope SQEX sticks to its word and brings over XII as well. Don't know how they might do it though. Japan is a different market, but here we have this stupid rule to bring remasters/HD ports in pairs. And even then we still complain about the price!

Anyway, I'll just fully enjoy these games for now (perhaps I'll even platinum FFX. It's dangerous to have it on Vita, I tell you. Your productivity just goes to shit) and wait for XII to (hopefully) arrive sometime in the next couple of years. Man, when/if they announce it, I might get banned for all the celebration gifs I'll post.

they could put both vanilla and ZJS as a pair because they are essentially different games beside story...

 

[RaikuHebi]

they could put both vanilla and ZJS as a pair because they are essentially different games beside story...

Or throw in the DS game and/or Vagrant Story as well haha.

 

[InternHertz]

Well I've decided on my end.
I won't be doing the Chocobo race, nor the Remiem race, nor ANYTHING related to Blitzball. That means I won't have all Celestial Weapons.

What does that leave me with? I just need to beat Dark Magus Sisters and then Penance. Once that's done, I'm just gonna continue FF X-2.

edit: Done. FF X-2 is now my priority.

 

[B.K.]

I'm already bored and annoyed and I haven't finished the story . Stuck on Yunalesca.

When you DO beat her, make sure to search the area for the item for Tidus's Celestial Weapon. If you don't get it then, you'll have to face

Spoiler

Dark Bahamut

to get it later.

 

[HAIDO HATO]

Since the game is not out yet here in the states, I've been planning on writing a a review on the rendition of the original soundtrack. Should be up on the internet in a few days or so.

However, I need an answer to a particular question.

Specifically, which track did Nobuo Uematsu contribute for Final Fantasy X?

I'm hearing that a lot of his tracks went untouched during the production of the HD Remaster of the game, but I'm going through all the tracks and from my understanding, a majority of tunes have been reworked.

The only thing that seemed to have stayed the same is "Otherworld," "Suteki da ne" and all of the "Hymn of Fayth" for Aeons.

Contrarily, the majority of the original soundtrack for Final Fantasy X-2 seems to have stayed the same.

 

[blackgandorf]

For people who already bought it (import or PSN JP/HK for PS3 and Vita), which version is better or worthwhile (PS3/Vita)?

I still not decide which version I'm gonna buy. :/

 

[SirNinja]

Specifically, which track did Nobuo Uematsu contribute for Final Fantasy X?

I'm hearing that a lot of his tracks went untouched during the production of the HD Remaster of the game, but I'm going through all the tracks and from my understanding, a majority of tunes have been reworked.

This will definitely help.

FYI: As I understand it, Masashi Hamauzu did all the remastered tracks.

Contrarily, the majority of the original soundtrack for Final Fantasy X-2 seems to have stayed the same.

They didn't change X-2's soundtrack at all, actually. That's why the official soundtrack for the remasters is just the tunes from FFX.

For people who already bought it (import or PSN JP/HK for PS3 and Vita), which version is better or worthwhile (PS3/Vita)?

I still not decide which version I'm gonna buy. :/

It really depends on whether you play more PS3 or Vita. Both versions are really well-done. (If you're curious about the Vita version, here's the first two hours of it.)

 

[RaikuHebi]

Last night and today I've been reflecting on the game's story via FF Wikia. I was unsure at first, mainly I was annoyed at Jecht being Sin. But I've looked past that and think the story is excellent and a very clever one at that.

Some slight similarities with The Matrix (although with a unique take) which is my favourite film. Aspects of atheism/scepticism VS religion and even racism is and was a very mature topic for a game, especially back then, to tackle, especially considering the number of kids that played it back in the day. If it had been more overt about it I imagine there would've been media controversy in the US about it.

The whole idea of the spiral recurs many times in the game; not just Sin's purpose, but Yuna and Tidus taking after their fathers, and Yuna and Lulu somewhat following in Chappu's footsteps. Plus Tidus' Zanarkand is in a spiral of reliving the same memories over and over.

The core concept of Tidus' Zanarkand being hinted at throughout the game was clever, but something you can only appreciate when looking back at the events of the game as a whole.

Seymour didn't turn out to be as good of a villain as he was in his first half, but they still contextualise his madness later on, though would've been nice if there was a bit more to his character development.

So yes, this game's story is a masterfully crafted one and I may collate my thoughts into a finer essay and post a thread about it. What shocks me is that this game gets stick from some fans, which I've noticed while listening to some retro RPG podcasts and watching some Youtube videos. I hope these complaints aren't due to the story, the linearity I can accept.

That's my core problem with the game. There was nothing stopping them from doing a World Map, but they chose not for design rather than technical reasons. The travels to each temple could've been left to the player's choice. Plus we don't see enough of the Ronso homeland or Bevelle or other places. Where are the town folk and what not! If this part of the game had been similar to FFVII I may have been tempted to rate it beyond that game.

Hell here's another idea they could've used in X influenced by VII: the opening Zanarkand portion should've been an hour or two longer, fleshed out Tidus' normal life a bit more, and trick players into thinking this was where the game would be based, like MGS2 as well. Seems to be have been a common theme back then haha.

The music is damn good. Listening back to earlier tracks is very nice, fills a hole that I've felt is missing now I've finished the story, that post-game depression haha. And though I didn't like blitzball mini-game, I'm glad the sport was in the game, just seems like a nice little side-story.

 

[Yoshichan]

Glad you liked it man!

 

[Darkmakaimura]

So has any story plots or dialogue changed? I'm wondering if at the end of X-2 they kept the

Spoiler

connection between X and VII intact?

 

[RaikuHebi]

So has any story plots or dialogue changed? I'm wondering if at the end of X-2 they kept the

Spoiler

connection between X and VII intact?

The games are exactly the same.

 

[blackgandorf]

It really depends on whether you play more PS3 or Vita. Both versions are really well-done. (If you're curious about the Vita version, here's the first two hours of it.)

Thanks for the feedback. Well, as you said the two versions are really good. I want a physical copy of this game and I like the Vita option but then I found that X-2 for Vita only comes digital via voucher, that was a bit dissapointing. :/

 

[RaikuHebi]

Yoshichan I now understand how you felt the other day when you said you were jealous of those still playing the game. Even VII nor Persona 4 are filling the hole, I really, really got swept up in the world of Spira. In fact despite common opinion being anti X-2 I think I may have to try it out just to be back in that world with some familiar characters!

FFX has the most consistent and realized story in the series after VI.

I'm yet to fully finish a playthrough of VI, but X certainly feels better paced than VII and it gives closure where I didn't feel any in VII.

 

[badcrumble]

No, no, no, no, no. You should always pay more than the inital asking price for Yojimbo. He's much more likely to use his one-hit kill move if you do. Well that's what I heard ages ago, and it seemed to work for me in practice.

This is true, but FFX International drastically reworked the Yojimbo mechanics so that it's much, much easier to get him to perform Zanmato. Paying a lot of money for him does drastically increase his initial affection level, though, for sure. But in FFX International, you can drive up his affection level fast enough that you're probably better off saving the Gil for battling with him instead of using it all on the initial bribe to get him to join your party.

 

[badcrumble]

The thing is that most story-based FF's flounder in the last third. Sometimes even half way. They also get more convoluted as they go. VI and X stay grounded throughout. X introduces the dream concept, but little else and it never gets confusing or takes center stage. It also happens to never lose steam unlike XII or IX.

VI is the very likely the most consistent FF story, but X is no slouch. I still think XII is the best written, though.

I really really love VI, but I'd argue that the story (as good as it is) comes to a screeching halt after the World of Balance and instead the game turns into a character piece. That's fine, though, because the characters are FFVI's greatest strength (though bits of dialogue assigned to whoever-happens-to-be-present in the World of Ruin are kinda problematic, especially when they are accidentally given to Gau or Umaro/Gogo). I think the makers of FFVI understood this, which is why the closing credits to the game are *absolutely* all about a final send-off to the characters.

Like, my favorite thing about FFVI is that in terms of gameplay many of the characters are quite interchangeable from a purely utilitarian standpoint, but their in-battle abilities and equipment restrictions are maybe 20% about gameplay differentiation and 80% about expressing their personalities in battle so that everybody grows to have their own set of favorite characters. The only subsequent games with that kind of strongly defined differentiation between characters in battle were FFIX and FFX, and in those it was far too much about gameplay differentiation and too little about expressing their personalities in-battle (though FFX's voiceovers during battle sequences were a good way of achieving a lot of that).

 

[Lumination]

Yoshichan I now understand how you felt the other day when you said you were jealous of those still playing the game. Even VII nor Persona 4 are filling the hole, I really, really got swept up in the world of Spira. In fact despite common opinion being anti X-2 I think I may have to try it out just to be back in that world with some familiar characters!

Please do! The story as a whole is is definitely a weak point of the game, but it was so great to revisit a Spira where the people you met in X are no longer in constant terror of Sin. And it doesn't hurt that the battle system is fantastic.

 

[Sean*O]

This will definitely help.

FYI: As I understand it, Masashi Hamauzu did all the remastered tracks.


[/URL].)

That's what I had thought but then I saw contrary info posted elsewhere indicating Nakano was also pretty heavily involved.

 

[badcrumble]

I disagree. I think WoR has the stronger character moments. WoB is plot based, WoR is character based.

Totally agree, and I feel like that's sort of what I said! WoR is all about highlighting each character and giving them all a series of "character moments," but there are occasions where it falls through (like the generic-dialogue bits).

 

[badcrumble]

Well...I feel like the two are nice compliments and I find that it is the defining reason VI's story is the best in the series. Other FF's falter in the second half because they are driven by plot and the plot usually goes batshit. VI circumnavigates around this by making the plot only a hook in just half the game. I find that really smart. FFX easily has the best plot, however. I think XII potentially has the best story but it doesn't fully meet its goals for obvious and tragic reasons.

Agreed that VI manages to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the other games by handling it all that way. And yeah, X's plot is great precisely because it's the first FF game in the series where you *aren't* trying to stop someone from destroying or taking over the world, and that allowed the plot to take shape in some pretty interesting ways. XII's story is extraordinarily well-told in terms of the individual events being magnificently well written and acted, but I'd say that if you separate story from storytelling, its story isn't particularly special (and its storytelling suffers on the pacing front, even though each individual cutscene is fantastic with very very few if any exceptions). XII's *lore*, though, is pretty much unparalleled in terms of depth, though - Ivalice is just the greatest. Spira rivals it if only because the lore is much more tightly integrated into the story itself, but the flipside effect of that can be for the world to seem to lack depth.

 

[RaikuHebi]

The great thing about X is how the lore is tied into the gameplay: spheres, pyreflies when you defeat enemies, the origin of enemies, and more. It just works because everything in the game, from mechanics to game play systems finds some way to weave itself into the story. Truly remarkable. And unlike VIII - my favorite FF - people don't find the way it weaves itself into gameplay forced.

So true. VII wasn't too bad in that regard either with Materia being a concentrated form of Mako. Hell you could argue that the gameplay system of FFVII sees you nurturing the Materia (levelling it up) and even breeding it (when a new one forms) in contrast to Shinra just using and abusing it.

 

[RaikuHebi]

FF weaving story into gameplay isn't really new. It's just that X does it so much better than the others to the point where the story is enhanced by it. I remember the first time they explained what pyreflies were and I was like,"ohhhhh so that's what comes out when I kill those monsters." and found it really nice how they explained their origins. VI, VII, VIII usually just tie story in with the summons and the customization system, but in X, it has to do with almost every thing.

I can relate to you on the pyreflies. Up till then it was just a cool effect and them bam! Whenever I replay it I'm gonna keep that in mind from the start .

XIII actually did something similar with the L'Cieth monsters being those who haven't fulfilled their focus. Shame they didn't do more than portray them as generic enemies though.

 

[BrokenIcarus]

FF weaving story into gameplay isn't really new. It's just that X does it so much more elegant manner than the others to the point where the story is enhanced by it. I remember the first time they explained what pyreflies were and I was like,"ohhhhh so that's what comes out when I kill those monsters." and found it really nice how they explained their origins, and it gets even better when you visit the Farplane. VI, VII, VIII usually just tie story in with the summons and the customization system, but in X, it has to do with almost every thing.

I agree with this so much, more often then not, enemy battles are just random enemies that have no background or explanation what so ever and yes FFXIII ties this in quite well actually and it's definitely not one of the things it did quite well. I also agree that FFVI and FFX probably have the best storylines in the series.

 

[Clear]

XIII tries a bit, but the stories lack of cohesion and the fact it never really grounds itself in its lore like X hampers it. It just doesn't connect like it does in X for me for some reason.

This for me is the big question. FFX and FFXIII are really similar in approach, and yet FFX works so much better (in my opinion anyway) than XIII. Is it the characters? The Pacing? The Lore?

I may not agree with people who think that an entry like FF9 -which I really don't get on with myself- represents the best traits the franchise has to offer, but I at least can see where they are coming from. It just seems odd to me that a lot of folks who enjoyed X, joined the anti-XIII contingent when its very obvious that the latter title is very much in the same tradition and approach.

 

[HAIDO HATO]

My review of the soundtrack should be out later tonight. I'll post it here when it's up.

 

[May16]

Hmmm, is anyone else noticing some choppiness/slowdown during certain cutscenes?

My review of the soundtrack should be out later tonight. I'll post it here when it's up.

Looking forward to it.

 

[HAIDO HATO]

Boom.

 

[MaverickHunterAsh]

The remastered soundtrack is fantastic (as was the original). Can't believe all the hate it's getting... I suspect lots of rose-tinted glasses are being worn.

 

[Levyne]

From what I've heard it's mostly the instrumentation that's changed. From youtube videos, I like the original more. But I also have the baggage of FFX being my first FF game and one of my first PS2 games so I have no idea how I'd feel if I never had played it previously.

 

[ChapaNDJ]

There's nothing like the original OST, this remasterization feels terrible with these songs.
Wandering Flame, my favourite song now is totally ruined.

 

[CarJeter]

It's nothing about rose-tinted glasses. They have legitimate complaints. Stop trying to devalue them just because they disagree with you.

No, the complaints are a huge exaggeration. The game is ruined because of it? What?

Just because the original soundtrack was so good doesnt make the remastered one so awful. I heard complaints about Besaid or the normal Battle Theme but they sound soo good when you actually play the remastered game with the new soundtrack.

The only track that became worse was Challenge but I didnt like this to begin with so...

 

[squall211]

The remastered soundtrack is fantastic (as was the original). Can't believe all the hate it's getting... I suspect lots of rose-tinted glasses are being worn.

I agree with you overall that the remastered OST is pretty good. I think that most of the remastered tracks are, at the very least, as good as the originals, but there's a few where they definitely missed the mark.

 

[Elaugaufein]

Finally got this today.

Not sure if this is the right thread for this: But I've had a look at Last Mission now. Seems like a fairly bog standard console Rogue-like with the obligatory single point of differentiation (in this case Dress spheres, which does have a decently interesting system).

Movement/targetting seems a bit iffy though, since movement is tile based and the camera angle can lead to the intuitive step direction being wrong especially with the D-stick since diagonals are possible and your actual direction is even less clear.

Doesn't seem terrible all in all.

 

[clear31]

Final Fantasy X-2 is only digital for the US???

I looked on amazon and the packaging says digital code included for X-2

 

[Tohsaka]

Final Fantasy X-2 is only digital for the US???

I looked on amazon and the packaging says digital code included for X-2

That's only the case for the Vita version, I believe.

 

[Tex117]

Besaid island was easily my favorite from FFX.

And they jacked with it.