FFX walkthrough - details you notice on the way...

[Flying Arrow]

Yeah, all the in-game cutscenes are, obviously, inferior to FMVs. It's not the low-polyness of it that bothers me. But it's still not like they aren't "pre-recorded". These scenes are just as directed as anything else, so there's no reason why there should be a lack of orientation or continuity. At one point I walked up to a character on the Mi'ihen Highroad. Cutscene starts, Tidus approaches, Yuna walks up from the character's side and starts talking. Maybe it's me but it's just the constantly shifting camera angles and close-ups that really disorient me. Square were obviously trying to show off but... I think they went overboard.

Anyway, I've played a bunch more. Some details I really, really like:

-The ruins scattered throughout Spira. Spira is probably one of the series best settings conceptually. I always recall having thought this, but playing through again and seeing the city sunken into the Moonflow (which I forgot about) is really sobering and an amazing world-building touch.

-As immensely boring as I find the map design in this game, there's still something to be said for the aesthetic of running forward to the horizon at almost all times. Places like Mi'ihen, Mushroom Rock Road, and the Thunder Plains just have these really romantic vistas that really hammer home the notion that you're trying to get... er, home. I still am unimpressed by the linearity of the game's areas, but the thematic continuity is really nice. X's closest sibling, XIII, is a game about escaping from home rather than returning to it, so I wonder if it would have sat better with me in that game had you been able to see Eden or Pulse shrinking in the distance as you progressed.

-A negative detail: the enemy encounter rate is really getting to me. When I think back on X, one of the things I remember is fighting the same enemies over and over again. Well, that's more or less exactly what I'm doing. Almost everything up to Macalania Lake so far as been palette-swapped fliers, armoreds, nimbles, blobs, or spell-casting elements. They obviously had to balance the standard FF monster roster with the characteristics of X's role-heavy battle system, but I don't think they were able to cover enough ground. I've run into the same monster combos three and sometimes four times in a row in a single locale, often not even having to character swap in the battles. But worse is none of the battles 18 hours in feel all that different than from those at the outset of the game.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

I remember the vistas and diversity of locations being amazing in the game. There is one vista on the way down from Mt. Gag that is sick, the scene on mi'ihen high road looking at (setting sun scene?). Moonflow had a great lil video as did the sending at kilika.


As for your negative on the opponents- that can be said for every RPG I have ever played.

[Simen]

Flying Arrow: I agree with you about the ruins along the road, those are great details!

Played some more earlier, and noticed a couple of things I haven't seen before. On Mi'hen Highroad, there's a lady that shows Tidus an Al Bhed sign and goes on about how terrible she thinks the design is (lol).. And also, I didn't know that Wakka asks where Tidus har seen Auron before (?), right before entering the Highroad.

Now I'm gonna play some more!

[FFIX Choco Boy]

Hmm... I wonder what city is sunken under the Moonflow? I'm pretty sure the city under Bevelle that you go to in X-2 is Midgar, so would that mean the Moonflow city is... Edge? It's in the right orientation from Bevelle. But then, I'm almost positive the Calm Lands is where the Chocobo Ranch was.

EDIT: Nevermind, pay no attention to me. FFX happened 3,000 or so years before FFVII, and on a different planet. Please, continue.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

Hmm... I wonder what city is sunken under the Moonflow? I'm pretty sure the city under Bevelle that you go to in X-2 is Midgar, so would that mean the Moonflow city is... Edge? It's in the right orientation from Bevelle. But then, I'm almost positive the Calm Lands is where the Chocobo Ranch was.

EDIT: Nevermind, pay no attention to me. FFX happened 3,000 or so years before FFVII, and on a different planet. Please, continue.

You are right- they are set in the same universe, but on different planets (That was in some ultimania) and the underground gaol (sp?) was made to look similar to midgar.

[Simen]

Okey, so now I've played and enjoyed my way through Mi'ihen Highroad, Mushroom Rock, Djose Highroad, Thunder Plains, and I'm in the temple of Macalania now. I can't say I've seen much more details that's "new", BUT a couple of comments along the road...


1.) Djose Temple: I gotta say that I think the Cloister of Trials at this temple is amazing, very well done, and by far the coolest to do so far. I haven't decided which is best of this one and the two next (have to play them again to decide), but it's definately much cooler than the first two.

2.) After beating Brother's Al Bhed machina, I saw a new scene with Rikku and Tidus riding the snow scooter. All the other times I've done the game, he is riding and talking with Lulu. It was cool to see a new scene with Rikku. However, I knew this could happen, so I won't note it down in my first post.

I've also noticed a couple of other scenes I think I haven't seen before, could it be a fact? One of the scenes I noticed that I just think was a little different, was at the sunset-scene with Yuna and Tidus at Mi'ihen...? I know that the scene with either Rikku or Lulu and Tidus riding the snow scooter, is somehow decided wheter the characters get along in the story? Or something like that!? Can't remember where I read it, but now I know it's true that it can change..

[Pete for President]

2.) After beating Brother's Al Bhed machina, I saw a new scene with Rikku and Tidus riding the snow scooter. All the other times I've done the game, he is riding and talking with Lulu. It was cool to see a new scene with Rikku. However, I knew this could happen, so I won't note it down in my first post.

I've also noticed a couple of other scenes I think I haven't seen before, could it be a fact? One of the scenes I noticed that I just think was a little different, was at the sunset-scene with Yuna and Tidus at Mi'ihen...? I know that the scene with either Rikku or Lulu and Tidus riding the snow scooter, is somehow decided wheter the characters get along in the story? Or something like that!? Can't remember where I read it, but now I know it's true that it can change..

Awesome, never knew there were other scenes beside Lulu's on the scooter, or at least I think. As I recall which girl you get more scenes with depends a lot on the answers you give to Lulu when she's in front of Seymour's mansion in Guadosalam.

[Nebulance]

2.) After beating Brother's Al Bhed machina, I saw a new scene with Rikku and Tidus riding the snow scooter. All the other times I've done the game, he is riding and talking with Lulu. It was cool to see a new scene with Rikku. However, I knew this could happen, so I won't note it down in my first post.

I've also noticed a couple of other scenes I think I haven't seen before, could it be a fact? One of the scenes I noticed that I just think was a little different, was at the sunset-scene with Yuna and Tidus at Mi'ihen...? I know that the scene with either Rikku or Lulu and Tidus riding the snow scooter, is somehow decided wheter the characters get along in the story? Or something like that!? Can't remember where I read it, but now I know it's true that it can change..

Awesome, never knew there were other scenes beside Lulu's on the scooter, or at least I think. As I recall which girl you get more scenes with depends a lot on the answers you give to Lulu when she's in front of Seymour's mansion in Guadosalam.

The scenes are determined by so-called 'affection levels.' A more thorough discussion is here: GameFAQs: Final Fantasy X (PS2) Affection Levels FAQ by CB!

[Pete for President]

2.) After beating Brother's Al Bhed machina, I saw a new scene with Rikku and Tidus riding the snow scooter. All the other times I've done the game, he is riding and talking with Lulu. It was cool to see a new scene with Rikku. However, I knew this could happen, so I won't note it down in my first post.

I've also noticed a couple of other scenes I think I haven't seen before, could it be a fact? One of the scenes I noticed that I just think was a little different, was at the sunset-scene with Yuna and Tidus at Mi'ihen...? I know that the scene with either Rikku or Lulu and Tidus riding the snow scooter, is somehow decided wheter the characters get along in the story? Or something like that!? Can't remember where I read it, but now I know it's true that it can change..

Awesome, never knew there were other scenes beside Lulu's on the scooter, or at least I think. As I recall which girl you get more scenes with depends a lot on the answers you give to Lulu when she's in front of Seymour's mansion in Guadosalam.

The scenes are determined by so-called 'affection levels.' A more thorough discussion is here: GameFAQs: Final Fantasy X (PS2) Affection Levels FAQ by CB!

Cool, that goes deeper than I thought.