Yeah, anyway, I'm playing FFX for the first time and rather than start yet another Tidus thread I'll just slip my thoughts in here...

I started out the game a bit indifferent, but then really got into the characters and the story, as well as the gameplay, which while being quite different-feeling than what I have come to expect from the FF series, has been an otherwise excellent RPG experience.

I was digging Tidus for a time--he brought to mind Bartz from FFV, with his father being a "Light Warrior" with Galuf (who = Auron)--and as an uber-popular jock-celebrity, being thrust into an adventure where he would "get put in his place" by the trials and tribulations of an epic journey, even as he matured from the jerkoff jock-celeb into a man of responsibility was a really appealing storyline...HOWEVER,

I have never seen a character regress over the course of a "fantasy-adventure" as much as Tidus, nor have I ever turned on a character as much as him. I'm expecting Lebron James or Wayne Rooney maturing into The Highlander or something. Instead he doesn't mature one bit...rather, I think it can be argued that he acts more like the crybaby child his father repeatedly put down as the game wears on. When he finds out that Yuna's victory over Sin will kill her, the screaming was so pathetic that the first word that came to my mind was "castrated."

I think what they were shooting for was to make him become more bold and "cavalier" as he became more attached and comfortable with his companions. But contrasted with the more mature party members who have, for the most part, adult or young adult personalities, a Zidane-like "Let's go get 'em" becomes Tidus's "OMG I WON'T LET YUNA DIE, I WON'T!!!! (while stomping and kicking and flailing his arms--seriously)"

And I defy anyone who says that that is the only personality that would make the Tidus character work in the story. I think my earlier expectations of a confident, cocky young jock, being disabused of his superiority, and then maturing into a "knight" works just as well--and makes a far better story, particularly if you have to control said character.

After the first 30 or so hours of the game, I was thinking that while the FF-ness was questionable in some ways (sorta "Super Mario Brothers 2" fashion), this was as good a *game* as any in the series. Now I hate it--Tidus single-handedly ruined the game for me.

Considering I've decided I've put in too many hours to just give up, I hope the ending is at least worthwhile. :/