FInal Fantasy X, The Dream Begins

Background: Final Fantasy X was developed for the PlayStation 2 platform by Motomu Toriyama, Takayoshi Nakazato, and Toshiro Tsuchida of Square in 2001. This was the first game in the series developed for a second generation console within Sony. And it was the forth leap in technology, going from the Famicom, to the Super Famicom on cartridge, then to the Playstation on CD, and now to DVD on the Playstation 2. Goodbye four disc games? (not exactly) The game received huge success, both by critics and by sales, and was listed by some as the best game of all time. It was so successful that it was the only FF title to receive a direct sequel in FFX-2. Lastly, in addition to rendering all backgrounds in 3d for the first time, it was also the first title to utilize voice acting. Goodbye blue boxes of text.

This title was definitely a leap in the series, and set the bar pretty high once more for future RPG gaming. For myself personally, at this point in my life I had only played through FF7 completely, partially finishing FF1 and FF8. I recall being very excited to get this game for my new PS2, but for one reason or another, I couldn't afford it, or didn't want to buy it. Instead I rented it from Blockbuster, paying late fees for two weeks. And I just COULDN'T be late one more day so I returned the game about 40 hours in. I found out later on that I was basically done with the game, maybe one or two fights from the final boss. I actually remember trying to finish as much as I could before I rushed it to the local store before midnight. I put a lot of time into that game, but never finished. Now it's time to finish it.

Since FF1 never had a summoner class, and since FF7 and FF8 had summons but anyone could use them, this was my first experience with a true Summoner class in Yuna. And it is because of her that my interest in the class was sparked, she's a great character. While FFIII, FFIV, FFV, and especially FFVI had such great summoner classes, I had never seen them. My experience with Summoners until this Final Fantasy Journey has just been Yuna. While I'm a big fan of Yuna, and of Garnet and Eiko from FFIX, I must say that looking back, little Terra from FFVI is my favorite now. Perhaps replaying through FFX will remind me why I loved Yuna so much, we'll see.

Lastly, I look forward to playing this one for another reason. I have had complaints from friends about this game because supposedly you find out in the end that the entire game was a dream. I'm very much against dream games, books, movies, where nothing you ever did ever had a bearing or significance. I'd like to finish up the game on my own to get the real story. See if there was some misinterpretation going on or what the deal is. Don't get me wrong, I'm also looking forward to playing a great game with a battle/xp system that I love, but I need to know.

Getting short on days remaining so I better go get started! Until next time...