Listen to my story. This…may be our last chance.
Tidus, Final Fantasy X
In 2001, SquareSoft released Final Fantasy X. It was a game of firsts for the franchise and for Playstation 2 console. Final Fantasy X was the first game in the series to have fully voiced characters and three-dimensional backdrops as supposed to pre-rendered scenes. Final Fantasy X was also the first Final Fantasy game featured on the Playstation 2.
Final Fantasy X was my first Final Fantasy game. For so many gamers, it remains not only a classic but rivals the story and characters of Final Fantasy VII. Now that’s saying something.
I first discovered Final Fantasy X in the CD compartment of our Playstation 2. I was eight years old then. My fingers pushed the eject button on the console and out came the game. The CD’s cover art featured Tidus, Final Fantasy X’s main character. Tidus stood in an ocean, knee deep in water. A mix of sun and cloud covered the sky as he stared forward.
The cover art didn’t make any sense to me. I thought it was weird, but my eight-year-old self gave the game a shot anyways.
It is true what they say, beauty truly is skin deep. Final Fantasy X is more than what the cover art could express. From beginning to end, Final Fantasy X is a masterpiece.
You follow and control Tidus in the Final Fantasy X’s world, Spira. The first scene starts the gamer off easy. Tidus runs across his hometown Zanarkand to a blitzball tournament, the game’s underwater sport. I gazed at the new and fantastical world. The colours were drab in brown and yellow tones. The mood felt solemn. A radio host spoke in the background about a man named Jecht, Tidus’s father and a beloved blitzball player. I reached the end of the map and a CGI cutscene begins. This beginning cutscene that sets the rest of the story into motion.
My mouth remained opened the entire cutscene. Dark clouds surrounded Tidus as he slowly becomes sucked into it. The screen suddenly turns white.
“What’s going to happen now?” I thought. This is how it felt like to play Final Fantasy X.
The story surprised me and continued to surprise me.
Every character storyline and every plotline twist was unprecedented. SquareSoft gave the gamer a chance to get to know Tidus. By the end of the game, it felt like I traveled with a friend.
I’m trying my best not to spoil you. If you ever play Final Fantasy X, you are in for the ride of your life.
