As I write this review I struggle to put into words why Final Fantasy X didn't click with me. It's a game where all the pieces are assembled to achieve a special outcome, but they never quite fell into place for me enough to coalesce into something I truly enjoyed. I know a lot of people hold this game in high regard and I was hoping to find something during my 40-hour playtime to elicit those same emotions in me. But, as the credits rolled, I walked away more frustrated than anything else.

Honestly, I had a whole host of notes taken for what I wanted to say about this game, but I'm not sure I have it in me to tear too much into a two-decade-old PS2 staple that is still looked back on quite fondly. I do think it's interesting that, in a bizarre way, FFX feels like it's aged a little worse than its PS1 predecessors, as you can tell they were a little uncertain with their footing on the more powerful hardware of the PS2. Final Fantasy XII would eventually show how much more ambitious games in this series could be during that generation. On top of that, a LOT of things about this game's presentation held it back, notably cutscene direction, a lack of exploration, and some truly awful voice acting. That's probably where a big part of the disconnect came from.

That, and to be honest I never really fell in love with the game's story. It's not terrible, and they built a very unique and interesting world (especially for the time), but the crux of the narrative falling on the shoulders of both the relationship between Tidus and Yuna and the relationship between Tidus and his father was not a strong enough foundation for me to gain real investment. With the former, I never felt their chemistry truly develop; Final Fantasy X was a bit ahead of its time in being an isekai where the main girl falls for the MC with little prompting. It certainly didn't help that I had just come off playing Final Fantasy 8, another game that featured a love story central to its events, but it felt much more compelling there.

As for the latter, I think I outright reject the bridge they attempted to build between Tidus and Jecht. From the outset, your character's father is portrayed as an alcoholic, emotionally abusive figure. The game REALLY pushes you to believe he wanted what was best for his asymmetrical doofus of a son; he merely didn't know how to show it. And you know what? With a bit more care taken in the writing, that could have easily worked. Hell, you didn't even need to go with the angle of his "tough love" approach; they could have simply had Tidus resent his father for disappearing and that would have done the job swimmingly. But instead, they chose to portray Jecht in the worst possible light before trying to walk it back, and considering this forms the emotional throughline of the ENTIRE story, you can see why that not working for me did a number on my investment in Final Fantasy X.

Okay, well I ended up tearing into this game a bit after all, huh? Let me reverse it by saying the saving grace in all this was FFX's battle system, which might be one of the best in any RPG I've ever played. It baffles me they ditched it after a single outing because it was such a welcome change from the ATB system and I love how quick and fluid swapping your entire team in and out was. The sphere grid was also a remarkable system in keeping progression through the game well-balanced and the overall challenge of the game reasonably high. The less said about the endgame slog, the Cloister of Trials, and the side content, however, the better.

I think it's important I acknowledge I ultimately did have some fun with Final Fantasy X, with the core gameplay carrying a huge chunk of that, but I did finish my time with this one wishing I connected with it more. Whereas I described FF8 in my review of it as being profoundly weird, I would describe FFX as being profoundly awkward. They were clearly getting their feet wet conceptualizing what a new generation of Final Fantasy might be, but for my take, this game sinks about as much as it swims.