Final Fantasy X HD Remaster
A perfect tribute to the 2001 masterpiece, one of the closest-to-perfect works in the FF series. Nobuo Uematsu's legendary soundtrack, Yuna's perfect character development, epic-level presentation effects, a milestone in gaming history.
Art Appreciation
Rating Breakdown
Deductions
The puzzles in Bevelle Temple are a bit too convoluted; even following a guide they're hard to untangle, and one wrong press or one press too late sends you around the whole loop again. Hard to imagine how people got through this back in the day.
Highlights
A 2001 game from the SE of that era; "breathtaking" is the only word for it. All I hope for now is an FFX remake, purely to pass it on: there was once a masterpiece like this, yet the next generation no longer knows Yuna. What a pity. This review covers the FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster; since X and X-2 are vastly different, I review them separately.
As a linguistics enthusiast, I love the dictionary-collecting mechanic: finally, not the whole universe speaks Japanese. With a people whose language you don't share, you gradually come to understand what they say as you collect more of the dictionary. A very thoughtful design, and one that many later games no longer bother with.
Deductions
This is not a review of the original, after all, and everyone, me included, was annoyed by this version's green-screen bug, which even requires an extra memory patch. But that's something the publisher should have fixed itself when porting, so I have to take off points.
Highlights
High Summoner! Yuna's outfit alone surely counts as one of the most famous costumes in gaming history.
A masterpiece earns that name on every front; no more needs to be said. "To Zanarkand" still gives me goosebumps whenever it plays, and for Nobuo Uematsu, who has left us countless great works, it's one of his very finest. Then there's 「素敵だね」, essentially the vocal version of Yuna's Theme. I never actually played FFX as a kid, but I've been hearing this song since childhood, no exaggeration.
SE's first attempt at fully voicing its characters, and so: a classic was born.
Deductions
A very small gripe: the Chinese name 「辛」 for Sin is baffling. Only midway through, after hearing 「辛」 so many times, did it dawn on me: surely you don't mean Sin? And yes, that's exactly it... Translating it by meaning as 「罪」 ("sin") would definitely help players understand the story better.
Highlights
A not-too-complicated story that holds up in the context of the millennium era: tightly linked, clear about its details, and very coherent.
How many characters in all of gaming history are as fully realized as Yuna? Her story and emotions are complete, and the narrative doesn't drag one bit. Across the whole series, there's no way Yuna's popularity drops out of the top three.
Yuna's sending: what sorrow lies behind that dance. In Zanarkand, by the Moonflow, at the fake wedding... After all these years, it's still vivid before my eyes. Why? Because the presentation is simply perfect. Even if you replay FFX today without listening to game critics' jargon about "presentation," you'll suddenly feel from the bottom of your heart that a game from over twenty years ago had already reached this level of presentation.
Highlights
Instead of piling on minigames, perfect one minigame: in the market at the turn of the century, blitzball was exactly that kind of perfect minigame design. Blitzball is also closely tied to the story, and you can even obtain the optional signature move passed down from Tidus's old man, the Jecht Shot, during the story. A model of minigame design.
There aren't many achievements overall, and not every little detail gets one, so by the Underwater Date I'd barely unlocked any. But the Underwater Date is just too iconic: as soon as the CG ended I thought, there ought to be an achievement here, and sure enough one popped. The developers get me on this.