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roboticalien's Final Fantasy X (PS2)
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| [January 26, 2008 01:31:33 AM]
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Entry #2
GAMEPLAY
My second hour of gameplay was much more fun than the first. It was essentially the same kind of pattern of talking to bystanders, fighting fiends, and watching cutscenes, but the game became much more developed. New characters joined the party bringing new magic spells, physical techniques, and personality. I got a nice feeling of community when the party began to get larger. It was really interesting to see all the different character personalities interacting both during battles and in the other modes of gameplay. Also, some of the bystanders and sales people became recurring characters, and it was nice to get to talk to them in different areas of the game about the gameworld’s current events.
I stayed pretty happy and entertained while I was playing this time around. I think it must have been largely due to the beautiful landscapes and soothing music. As soon as I started feeling like one section of map was starting to get boring, it would always end or change. Also, the story’s narrative progression kept me absorbed in the plotline.
DESIGN
The Blitzball tournament added an especially unique gameplay element. This was an underwater team sports game that the main character and one other character and his team play together. This is a good feature of the game because it provides a kind of minigame that can be revisited and expanded upon at every save point.
A great design element of this game is the fact that it has an epic battle about once an hour in which an especially powerful fiend must be fought. These are probably the most fun parts of the game because they allow and encourage the player to make use of all of the different battle commands and develop more complex strategies than regular fiends require. This keeps the game interesting by keeping the player motivated to keep their stats up in order to defeat these larger opponents.
The game creates conflict on many levels, the first and most obvious being the conflict of the main character Tidus wanting to get home to his original dimension. Aside from that there are lots of small plot conflicts like Kimari’s quarrel with the other two characters of his species, Wakka’s challenged views about Yevon, the religion, and the conflict between Yuna and the other summoner she meets along the road.
The game makes good use of space in the gameworld by making the view locked on one angle so that you are always seeing the best view. Also, backgrounds are never reused and always very artistic. The paths, which are more 3D than the other sections of the game, have moving elements on them like plants as well.
The game does have emergent complexity in the battle system, but it develops slowly from a unique upgrade game feature called the sphere grid, which allows you to use spheres gained from battle to give your characters new stats and abilities. Complicated tactics can come out of high-stat battles. These tactics are the emergent aspects of the gameplay.
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| [January 15, 2008 01:07:59 AM]
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SUMMARY
In Final Fantasy X, the player controls a party of characters represented on the screen by one character, Tidus. In the regular map mode, the player can walk around, talk to characters, and open treasure chests. Some areas of the map mode send you into battle mode where magical and physical techniques can be selected from menus in order to defeat opponents called fiends. The goal of the game is to defeat a creature called Sin by learning to summon gods called Aeons to fight for you in battle.
GAMEPLAY
When I started playing FFX, I was initially a bit repelled by the voice acting. The main character, especially, seemed to have a way of talking that just didn’t feel like it fit to me. I wanted to quit playing just because of that, but I kept at it because some of the characters had asymmetrical clothing.
The game was interesting because the cut scenes kept the storyline moving, much like a movie, and the storyline was compelling. The regular mode of play in which Tidus runs around various paths, towns, and boats is beautiful, and truly a work of art. The battle modes stay fun because the magical and physical attacks progressively become more and more powerful and colorful as you progress in the game.
I felt a strong feeling of flow while playing FFX because of the regular rhythmic phases to the gameplay. For instance, there is a reliable alternating pattern between battling fiends and large sections of storyline with save points scattered throughout the game in practical places. I don’t think I would have been able to enjoy the game as much if there were any fewer save points.
DESIGN
The tone of the gameworld is mostly very soft and pleasant, while being serious at the same time. This is achieved by the use of bright colors, vivid plant life swaying in the wind, thoughtful architecture of the buildings, and friendly people in most of the maps. The serious tone is achieved by the constant battles and conversations about the troubles around Spira (the gameworld).
The game’s reward structure is designed in such a way that I would not mind playing the game indefinitely (or past the official ending of the game) because there is so much room to improve the characters’ stats. After every battle, there is a pleasant screen with pastel colors and very easy-to-listen-to background music. This screen shows you the gil (money), power spheres, and level upgrades you received from the battle. In terms of reward, this screen is perhaps the most cleverly designed section of the game because a lot of work went into its aesthetics, and it makes you feel really good to get all the upgrades presented in such a pretty way.
This entry has been edited 1 time. It was last edited on Jan 21st, 2008 at 03:55:57.
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roboticalien's Final Fantasy X (PS2)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Monday 14 January, 2008
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