Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD - Reviews

The scores for the reviews of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD are 7 and higher and here are a few:

MMORPG.com, 9

The remakes of these two classic games was masterfully done. Square Enix is no stranger to remakes and upgrades but they have outdone themselves with this iteration of X / X-2. From the orchestrated score, to the increased polygon count and improved textures the game is atheistically better in every way. If you missed out on playing these games on the PS2 this new layer of polish on these classic gems will leave you unable to guess one is 14 years old this year.

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Games, 7

So aside from some visual enhancements and the option to flit between OSTs, the game doesn’t really offer you anything you wouldn’t have had on the PS3/Vita. While it’s still an essential part of any JRPG fan’s collection, we recommend grabbing it on PS3/Vita instead.

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Gaming Trend, 8.5

There's no point in trying to sum up Final Fantasy X or X-2's storyline beyond saying that it is every bit as incredible as you remember, cringeworthy laughing sequences and all. The PC version brings accessibility and graphical upgrades, as well as the promises of unofficial mod-based improvements. If this is your first time with Final Fantasy X, I envy you - it's a powerful journey that you won't soon forget.

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PC Gamer, 8.5

This is a good value package, too. This remaster retailed for full price on PlayStation, and here we get them at a budget price, which is generous. There are some of signs of age on both games, particularly the random battles and voice-acting, but new players will still get a lot out of them if they can tolerate that. Spira is a wonderful world that’s well worth exploring, and X and X-2’s different approaches to combat systems are both deep and exciting. Now we’re just Final Fantasy XII and a couple of spin-offs away from having all the best moments of the series on PC.

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Gameranx, 7.5

With a clean, gorgeous new look, the Final Fantasy X games are good enough to hold up despite a number of surface elements not really aging well. So on one hand you’ve got a lot of game that’s still worth playing all these years later with a pleasant makeover for a solid price, but on the other hand Square Enix is still giving you functionally the same games from back when. A bit of effort in cleaning up some of the mechanical mess in these games could have made this pack an obligatory buy for a lot of folks, but instead the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster box doesn’t feel like it’s going to do much to help bring new fans to the ancient series.

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There are plenty more reviews out there, but you will get the gist of things from this somewhat random selection.

More information.

I'm 42 hours into the first part near the end-game.

Plus:

• the story is fantastic
• character building is fun and unique
• charming memorable party members
• cool boss fights
• challenging turn based combat
• crafting

Minus:

• linear exploring -> you visit locations in a very linear manner
• not many choices in dialogues and story

HiddenX said:

I'm 42 hours into the first part near the end-game.

Plus:

• the story is fantastic
• character building is fun and unique
• charming memorable party members
• cool boss fights
• challenging turn based combat
• crafting

Minus:

• linear exploring -> you visit locations in a very linear manner
• not many choices in dialogues and story

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From what I remember, the game opens up a bit near the end-game. You get access to certain locations to find certain powerful items.

Not many choices, true. It's more of a story told rather than a story directed by the user. It's a pretty great story, though, with a cool villain as well.

HiddenX said:

I'm 42 hours into the first part near the end-game.

Plus:

• the story is fantastic
• character building is fun and unique
• charming memorable party members
• cool boss fights
• challenging turn based combat
• crafting

Minus:

• linear exploring -> you visit locations in a very linear manner
• not many choices in dialogues and story

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I have to disagree a bit.

• Story is good I give you that.
• Character building is rediculous and obvious grinderfriendly crap. To move around the table you need to levelup aka grind. To fill an empty slot you need to move back and that means more grind. You don't have to calculate anything nor strategize really, all you need is to grind.
• Some party members are definetly good, some are… What for example is the purpose of that Kilahri? He is not needed anywhere at all nor adds to the story. And you don't need yet another fighter/spellcaster to pick from.
• Totally agree on your boss fights impression - till you meet Seymour for the third time. You won't just hit and hit but think how to beat them. Third Seymour however is not beatable by just brainstorming and the game falls from it's throne instantly.
• Definetly good TB combat, I'll add that
• Crafting is plus? I'd put minus. Sorry. To get ingredients you have to grind. And results of your crafting might not be what you wanted to have. Some crafting options are OP. For example autohaste.
• Linearity is not a minus as you can't save anywhere. Besides the game opens later where you can go anywhere.
• Choices and consequences… I noticed just one when I told a guy to do something and later in the game he gave me 99 chocobo feathers as a gift. I'm not sure if this should be minus because it's a console game so they don't design that stuff there probably because of platform limits.

The rest of my thoughts that are about port itself, not just game design, I've posted here:
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061400786&postcount=31

HiddenX said:

I'm 42 hours into the first part near the end-game

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What did you do with the sphere grid? Did you just keep the characters on their default progression paths, or did you ever jump tracks?

I've been looking at the sphere grid online (when I played the game years ago it was with the less-customizable grid) and disappointingly it seems to me that while you can take the characters out of their assigned roles, it's not usually going to be to their benefit.

Are there possibilities I'm missing, though?

There are two grid types and you choose one at the start of the game.
One is normal another is expert. Googled, expert grid has LESS circles to fill = less power for your characters. So I went normal one.

You will definetly take your characters out of their grid part eventually - and it's not against their benefit.
You have two spellcasters (Yuna, Lulu), why wouldn't you have them both expert in white and black magic? Both paths up their magic, MR, HP and other stuff, the difference are only skills to learn. So you complete one path then teleport on another. At least my Yuna is now "travelling" Lulu's path because she completed her own.

After completed their paths I've moved fighters Auron and Tidus to third fighter path (Wakka). Not only they'll now get more damage and etc but Wakka's path has silence and blindness inflicting skills.

There is something though I'm still thinking about.
Only 3 party members can fight underwater. None of those three is spellcaster. But one of them, Wakka, has stats good enough to put him through Lulu or Yuna path next. Dunno.
Who played this game before, will adding some spells to Wakka be needed lategame against Sin? I'm at that point but am still trying to do some sidethings like arena. Unless I get too annoyed so I skippit and move away. I do tend to complete RPG sidestuff, but in FF10…
Is it just me or sidecontent in this game basically sucks and is more annoying than fun?

Yeah, the supposed advantage of using the "expert" grid is that you can switch up the paths much sooner -- for example you can get black magic for Yuna as early as the level 2 "-ara" spells, but in doing so you delay her on the way to the high-level white magic abilities.

Dunno about that as I didn't want to use expert, that's probably for those who finished the game at least once.

But you can switch paths on classic table anytime you want - with teleport, friend, return and warp spheres. These things are rare though. I got only 2-3 of each from chests while I was still in the linear part. But now I'm discovering more, for example I've returned to certain temple where I missed to grab the treasure and now I was allowed to enter a certain room that was closed before - inside were three chests with rare spheres. I'll revisit all temples because previously only Yuna could enter those rooms.

Anyway, you can move from one spot to another anytime you want - if you have a useable rare sphere that allows you to do so (each gets consumed after use). If not, you have to grind and move point by point.

You don't have to calculate anything nor strategize really, all you need is to grind.

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But I'm pretty sure you don't HAVE to grind. That seems to be fairly standard JRPG stuff: if you aren't real good at it then you can always just grind your way past any difficulty.

The end is sort of where the grinding happens to beat the final boss but that is really only place required. The game also has a couple cheat mode that I havent used that which looks like it would alleviate the need for grinding for components (aka 99 of everything) should you not want to grind though that is too much cheating for me.

I think expert mode is also emptier so that you do not need to clear as many nodes. I dont recall when the clear spheres start coming in. If you want to truly optimize stats for some reason then you dont want the +2 nodes on the default when placing a new one gives you +4 so you must clear the +2 and use the +4.

I picked this up for my PS3 and tried to like it, but god almighty it just felt so antiquated and juvenile. I'd say that my days of JRPGs might be over, but I still dig stuff like Chrono Trigger and the Personas, so go figure.

Hexprone said:

What did you do with the sphere grid? Did you just keep the characters on their default progression paths, or did you ever jump tracks?

I've been looking at the sphere grid online (when I played the game years ago it was with the less-customizable grid) and disappointingly it seems to me that while you can take the characters out of their assigned roles, it's not usually going to be to their benefit.

Are there possibilities I'm missing, though?

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I'm using the expert grid - and my party is a wild mix - I learn what I think the characters are needing most. I try to change characters in battle as well, so that I don't have only one major party.

joxer said:

I have to disagree a bit.

• Totally agree on your boss fights impression - till you meet Seymour for the third time. You won't just hit and hit but think how to beat them. Third Seymour however is not beatable by just brainstorming and the game falls from it's throne instantly.

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I think there's a very easy way to defeat Seymour for the third time:

Sorry but no.
I had 5 Aeons. Used all 5. Seymour didn't die. The damage those made was not enough.
…grinding…

And I'm very angry at myself for not keeping the savegame so I can upload it for everyone to check it up. The savegame before entering mountain (Defender X boss beaten) I still have, but I really don't want to grind through whole mountain path again.

I still don't have the 6th one... no cash

Eh, this looks interesting. Sort of. But after FF XIII, I'm way too burned out on this series.

joxer said:

Character building is rediculous and obvious grinderfriendly crap.

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I warned you! I dun told you this game was a typical JRPG grind-fest! My 2001 self could have told you that!!

BoboTheMighty said:

Eh, this looks interesting. Sort of. But after FF XIII, I'm way too burned out on this series.

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I don't mean to repeat myself, but FFXIII-2 is the remedy for burnout. FFXIII-2 is the perfect JRPG: great story, fast pacing, almost zero grinding, optional content. Take FFXIII and remove all the TERRIBLE stuff and you have FFXIII-2. Such a perfect game, that you can 100% in about 60 hours.

It's a crying shame that FFXIII put off millions of players who will now never give FFXIII-2 a chance. I seriously consider FFXIII-2 to be up there with the all time great JRPGs.

Brumbek said:

I warned you! I dun told you this game was a typical JRPG grind-fest! My 2001 self could have told you that!!

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It's not cmon.
Yes, there is a point in the game you MUST grind, but before and after that it's not needed.

Just finished it, sidestuff is annoying and I won't return to it. Ever.
Moving onto FF10-2.

And an answer to my question above, it's not necessary to add spells on Wakka as final part is not happening under water.