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Square's PlayStation 2 RPG roster is presently a slim one, consisting solely of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XI. Slowing sales have forced the company, like many others, to trim its release list to only big-name titles. But an all-Final Fantasy roster doesn't imply there's no variety, as Final Fantasy X looks to be vastly different from the series' ninth installment.
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Final Fantasy X marks a return to the "modern fantasy" setting of Final Fantasy VIII, with the few locations seen thus far resembling FF VIII cities such as Balamb and Esthar. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has returned from a one-game absence to lend his more realistic style to the game's characters. At least one thing remains constant, however: Nobuo Uematsu is again composing the game's music, including the now-obligatory pop theme song.
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Originally intended to be the first testing ground for Square's PlayOnline network, Final Fantasy X has since become an entirely offline game. Players were originally to be able to connect to PlayOnline to receive game hints and information, but hang-ups in building the PlayOnline service forced this feature to be canned.
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Some technological advances remains, however. Final Fantasy X will make the move into full 3-D, abandoning the pre-rendered backdrops of the past three FFs for a polygon-based world that the player can rotate and view from any perspective. While this will no doubt provide the developers with more cinematic freedom, FF X will still use Square's trademark rendered FMV sequences to illustrate key events. FF X's FMV will even feature Dolby Digital 5.1 sound.
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Perhaps even more noteworthy is the sure-to-be-controversial use of voice acting for the first time in Final Fantasy history. Gamers with hearing disabilities or a severe case of technophobia can rest easy, though; subtitles will be included. The extent to which speech will be incorporated has not been officially revealed, though the replacement of text boxes with subtitles indicates that a sizable portion of the game's dialogue will be spoken.
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A number of story details have been revealed, though how they fit together isn't quite clear. Final Fantasy X is set in a post-apocalyptic scenario -- one thousand years after "a great terror arose from the deep", the world is nearly submerged in water. Now, in the present, a "journey home" across the seas begins, with the heroes apparently bound for "the kingdom of the sun." The plot also involves a confrontation between a water goddess and a fire god, as well as a mysterious eternal being known as Shin that brings temporary insanity to those who encounter it. Shin can only be defeated by the summoners' "Ultimate Summon" spell, and could well be the cause of the 1,000-year-old cataclysm.
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At the center of the adventure is a cheerful sword-slinging youth named Tidus. A star player at the underwater sport Blitzball, Tidus teams up with his staff-wielding love interest Yuna to confront Shin. The daugher of a famous summoner and a summoner herself, Yuna has been haunted by strange dreams as of late. Believing Shin to be the cause, she swears to defeat it, and perhaps emerge from her parents' shadow in the process. Interestingly, Yuna has one blue eye and one green eye, though whether this is important to the game or not remains to be seen. Three other playable characters, none with official romanized names, have also been revealed: Kitt, Hayate, and Tidus' mysterious rival Ryugo.
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Beneath the story runs a unique theme: what composer Nobuo Uematsu describes as an "Okinawan atmosphere." Final Fantasy X incorporates the island group's tropical feel and clothing style, and a Okinawan folk singer, Rikki, will sing the game's yet-to-be-titled theme song. Even the character names are influenced by Okinawa: "Yuna" is a type of hibiscus in the Okinawan dialect, while Tidus' Japanese name "Tida" is a local word meaning "sun."
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Final Fantasy X's setting has been fairly well sketched out, but gameplay details are still extremely scarce. Footage of the status screen indicates that the party will be limited to three heroes at a time, though purists will be happy to hear that the status screen also shows each character possessing MP. A new magic system is sure to be included, though we'll have to wait for details on how it functions.
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Surprisingly, Final Fantasy X's Japanese release is only a few months away; the game is scheduled to ship sometime this spring. With almost no pre-release hype, FF X's greatest challenge may be getting noticed -- a strange turn of fate for a series that normally makes headlines so frequently. Still, from what's been shown so far, FF X looks to be another worthy member of the Final Fantasy series, and where the quality games go, the fans are sure to follow.
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SOURCE: thegia.com
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