Final Fantasy has sold over 31 million copies worldwide since the series first got underway in 1987, so it's fair to say that Square's latest addition won't go unnoticed when the first episode in the franchise for the Playstation2 hits Japan this July. What was not known, until spring's Tokyo Game Show and, more recently, E3 in LA, is what we can expect from the game's transition on to the new format and how it will actually play. Well, the facts are in and although we have a long way to go before Final Fantasy X makes it to our golden shores, it already looks like it's set to do for the PS2 what Eva Herzigova did for the Wonderbra.
Despite previous statements regarding the game, Final Fantasy X will not be online-capable. In yet another departure for the Final Fantasy series, the player will have full freedom of movement, as the world will be a completely three-dimensional world, a vast difference from the pre-rendered backgrounds of the PlayStation games. After a "great terror rose from the deep," the world was covered in a vast ocean. To restore balance to this ruined world, Tidus and company must travel to the "kingdom of the sun." Originally announced along with Final Fantasies 9 and 11, Final Fantasy 10 promises to be as good as if not better than the previous Final Fantasies. The screenshots are tempting to the eye and look very realistic - from grassy fields to beautiful buildings and realistic characters, Square is bringing it all to life. We'll be keeping this section updated with the latest Final Fantasy 10 news, media, and information. Returning from the earlier Final Fantasy games are the magic points used to cast spells and the infamous full-motion-video sequences. The online features originally planned for the game have been removed due to difficulties with PlayOnline.
There are two central characters in Final Fantasy X. The male lead, Tidus, is a player of Blitzball: a hugely popular underwater, full-contact sport; Yuna, a young and - wouldn't you know it - extremely beautiful summoner takes the female lead. After surviving the destruction of his homeland, Tidus meets Yuna on her journey through Spira (their world) and joins her on an adventure to find distsant temples where she will develop and hone her summoning skills. Tidus learns that 1,000 years in the past, mankind lived in awe-inspiring cities and relied on machines for everything. That is until one day and evil force called Sin appeared and destroyed civilisation as they knew it. Now the citizens of Spira live by the Ebon religion, in fear of technology and scared that Sin will return and destroy their world once more. Protected by Tidus, Yuna must journey to each Ebon temple and acquire its resident Aeons (monsters she must summon) in order to gain enough power to destroy Sin for good.
Although Tidus and Yuna are the game's main characters, five other heroes will join them on their quest. These other party members include: Wakka, another blitzball player; Lulu, a mage; Kimari Lonzo, Yuna'a beast- like guardian; Rikku, a female thief; and Auron, a warrior. Each will have their own unique moves and special attributes and, for the first time in the series, the game's cast will be vocalised and given subtle facial expression by Squares all-new 'facial motion system' during important story-building scenes.
Other than Square using the PS2 to bring more life-like attributes to your gathered party, it's already looking like the company has harnessed the console's capabilities to bring the entire Final Fantasy world to lfe with sumptuous graphics and glorious surroundings. Reports from the Tokyo Game Show detailed cascading waterfalls, stunning landscapes and realistic sunlight, reflecting off the buildings and water around you. All the game's backgrounds will appear fully rendered in 3D and although players will not be able to change the camera angle manually, it will change automatically as you move your characters around the screen, providing a more cinematic experience.
The game's setting will have a strong Asian influence with some areas of the game reflecting actual places in South East Asia. The decision to base the game in this environment centred on the fact that the last FF games have had European themes and also because the developer wanted portray a civilisation whrere Western culture and Asian architecture were juxtaposed. Aside from this aesthetic theme, the game will also focus on other emotional story-building elements including travel and the differences that exist between different races and classes, as Yuna and Tidus learn to work together and understand each other despite their radically different backgrounds.
Battle elements in the game include traditional Final Fantasy gameplay, but with a few key twists. Instead of one-off summoning attacks this time, once you have summoned a monster, you will be able to control it fully and it will fight for you as your other characters do, with normal, special and spell-casting attacks. Players will also be able to rotate their characters in and out of the battle mid-action and play tag-team tactics. As you are only allowed three active members in battle at any one time, this will mean that struggling characters can be pulled out of the firing line and replaced with stronger party members to carry on in their place. The game will have the same 'random encounter' battle system as previous Final Fantasy games where the screen will change when as you go into battle, but a new feature will now allow you to move directly into battles with bosses with no real on-screen changes.
From what we've seen so far, it's clear that Square is working on FFX with a huge amount of emphasis on making the game as true-to-life a gaming experience as possible. With the technology of the PS2 and Square's ongoing commitment to developing games with real depth and original ideals, FFX should be one to look out for when it hits the UK at the beginning of 2002.