SUMMARY:This is one of the best examples of an RPG ever made. It's good looking, accessable, and,most importantly, fun.
Story:The whole game is about a summoner trying to defeat SIN:a very bad creature who's killing everyone for a reason. MANY story twists happen in here and, although not complicated at all, it's very effective and easy to follow. There are many moments where you "feel" for the character's pains and even feel a bit too much in a few points(many fanboys cried at many moments in this game.). Especially at the ending where the worst possible thing happens and even the least FF fan will still shed a tiny tear for their sorrow. Overall, the story is phenomenal and a high point for RPG's and the final fantasy series 10/10
Graphics:They are amazing. Every character has been made perfectly down to the last detail and they look great. The environments are big and shiny (especially the water) and will catch your eye even if you don't care about graphics. Also, they're fully polygonal unlike all the other FF's pre rendered backgrounds. For a PS2 game, these are some of the best you're gonna get. But it sometimes overloads on effects and slows down in a few temple areas where 100's of things are going on at once and light effects are shining through. Overall: 9/10
Gameplay:The part where the game truly shines is gameplay. The battles are never boring and it just feels good to kill 100's of worms in battle with only 3 people. I also liked that you can now change your weapons, armor, and even party members in battle. In previous FF games, if you had to steal something and didn't have the right character in your party, you were screwed.Well, in this one, you just swap in rikku and you're ready to go! It really adds a whole new layer of strategy. Will you kill someone with tidus then swap auron in and finish the kill? Or will you petrify him with wakka and blaze him with magic with lulu? The possibilities are endless. The game isn't as hard as other FF games, but the final battle will KILL YOU if you aren't ready and have everyone at lvl. 99. Overall: 10/10
Value: This game is a very lengthy experience. I beat it in about 32 hours with out any of the sidequests, but those take up another 20 hours! So if you like to take things slow and easy, this game will last you awhile. There are also very many minigames that will have you messing around for a few extra hours at least. the main game will have you addicted so you'll finish it in about a week or two if you're playing alot. It'll last for at least a month if you don't play it much. One other thing that makes me mad is that they didn't go the chrono trigger route and add a new game + mode or something like that where you play through again with your old characters to find secrets you couldn't find in the first one. THAT would pump this up to a 10, but for now,overall:9/10.
Sound: One of the best soundtracks EVER. The overall musical score is great and oddly paced as well. You could have an epic symphony song goin on, then you do something else and it's (suprisingly) death metal. I never thought of Nobuo Ouemotsu being a metal fan, but he says he grew up listening to black sabbath so....okay then. But the battle theme just sounds good and actually feels good to play in real life (trust me, Im in a band). It's just that the songs aren't AS memorable as previous FF's. I mean, everyone remembers aeris's theme, but I don't think everyone will remeber the zanarkand piano theme from this game. Then there's the voice acting. It's actually much better than half the animated movies put out today. I liked everyone's voice but one:Tidus. Although it wasn't HORRIBLY bad, it just seemed WAY too whiny for me. Auron's voice was my favorite though. It's so deep and soothing...heh heh. Having one of my moments there. Anyways, yeah, the sound is amazing. Overall 10/10
Ending thoughts and overall score: I think that square enix should develop some of the smaller characters more in the sequel (which I haven't played yet)such as the mysterious kimaru...where's his 20 hour storyline? But other than that, a grade-A Top choice meat game that any RPG lover shouldn't be without.
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