Criticize This Game

[Skyblade]

The game's biggest flaw is that it tries to do on a PS1 what you'd need half of a PS2 to accomplish. The game is slow, and the low resolution turns all the fantastic graphical details into some gray mush.

The gameplay is to me unbearably slow and the loading times make it even worse. Other than that, it's a great game.

Agreed. Given that its development was announced alongside X and XI, I really don't get why they stuck this one on the PSX. It really did a lot to cripple the game. Not being put on the PS2 was the single biggest problem with the entire game.

[Madame Adequate]

I don't even begin to understand the hate for Tidus. All he wants to do is play Blitzba- oh wait I see now.

[maybee]

I don't even begin to understand the hate for Tidus.

Because he's whiny, stupid, annoying, obnoxious, nails on the chalkboard sounding, acts like a retard and does some really idiotic things.

I don't completely hate Tidus, but that's why most people do hate him.

I don't understand your hate for Zidane. A friendly, refreshing young man that is selfless and has a desire to help others in need. Some of the people he ends up helping have been right assholes to him. example Amarant.

How does a selfless teen be worse than a obnoxious young teen ?

[Skyblade]

Because a character centered around a single personality trait is dull? Sure, he's selfless. So what? Go check out the "nice guy" thread in EoEE to see just what people think about someone who is "nice" and nothing else.

Zidane is boring. He has little depth and less growth. He's there, he's nice, but, frankly, so what?

Tidus was whiny, sure, but he had a reason to be, and he grew out of it. He had an interesting character arc, accepting the loss of everything he knew, coming to terms with his father, accepting the burden that the world put upon him. He was at least a person. Everything about him, including his complaints, felt real and made sense.

Zidane was just positive and happy-go-lucky. And...that's about it. No reason for it, no substance to it. He just was.

[Forsaken Lover]

It's interesting that, superficially, Tidus more closely resembles Zidane. Both are smiley, energetic types. Yet Tidus has much more in common with Squall as they're both very introspective. Well, I guess it's more like retrospective in Tidus' case but it really does amount to the same thing as far as storytelling goes.

Tidus was a whiny, obnoxious piece of work to be sure but he's also a spoiled sports star who has his first real fight a day or two before he starts off on his world-saving journey. It be a bit strange if he wasn't a bit off.
That's not even counting the massive chip on his shoulder due to both his parents being rather terrible.

Bad parents is something people can relate to or at least understand. Being from another planet is a bit harder to wrap our heads around and empathize with.

[Wolf Kanno]

Tidus was whiny, sure, but he had a reason to be, and he grew out of it. He had an interesting character arc, accepting the loss of everything he knew, coming to terms with his father, accepting the burden that the world put upon him. He was at least a person. Everything about him, including his complaints, felt real and made sense.

That is utter bulltrout, Tidus grudgingly accepts his father but it never change the fact he was being a total whiny bitch about the whole thing, maybe if Jecht had been physically abusive or if they bothered to play up the mother's death from a broken heart angle but it does neither, instead focusing on Tidus whining about Jecht's "tough love" parenting style. He comes to grips with being in Spira fairly quickly once he meets the main party, only occasionally talking about wanting to go home and its usually told to you by his older "I already know I can't go home" self instead of the one you are watching in the cutscenes who doesn't seem to care one way or the other; and he even takes being a smurfing hologram like it was nothing, at least when Zidane discovered he was an artificial construct, he took it like a person would, you know actually questioning his existence and being an emo bitch, Tidus? "Oh, that sucks but whatevah Yuna's got sideboobs, I will die for these boobs", and he didn't even hesitate about knowing he was going to vanish with Sin. The guy took to being in Spira much worse than learning he isn't real and that defeating Sin will end his existence as well. I'm not even going into the fact that Tidus is unbelievably oblivious to the story's anything but subtle hints about the Pilgrimage, which makes the whole revelation scene feel totally stupid why you just smack your head into the floor at how stupid he is but sucks away any kind of sympathy or respect you may have had for him. What character development are we talking about cause obviously we played different games here. Tidus is a poorly written sod whose greatest amount of endearing emotional depth comes from his older narrative self who is telling you the player that he's a smurfing idiot.

[Forsaken Lover]

A father making fun of his six-year-old son and saying derisively "you'll never be as good as I am" would probably cause a lot of problems. There's also the alcoholism.

All of this was exacerbated by Jecht disappearing. Tidus was literally left with only bad memories of his father and he outright acknowledges why he clings to those bad memories:

"Even ten years after he left...just thinking about my old man got me angry. But maybe that was just my way of keeping him... Nah."

This is one of my favorite voice-overs from Tidus because it's a perfectly human response that shows how well-written he was. Sometimes resentment and bitterness is better than nothing at all and Tidus is clinging to that because, in the end, he doesn't want to lose his father.

Also Tidus' lack of reaction about finding out he isn't real might have something to do with the pressing issue of Yuna dying any moment now. In short, he had other trout on his mind.

As for why he never talks about it...who would he talk about it to? Zidane could scream and whine at Garland but only the Fayth really know about Tidus and he can't just talk to them any time he pleases.

[Freya]

Guysssss thats' X talk not IX talk....

[maybee]

Zidane is boring. He has little depth and less growth. He's there, he's nice, but, frankly, so what?

Tidus was whiny, sure, but he had a reason to be, and he grew out of it. He had an interesting character arc, accepting the loss of everything he knew, coming to terms with his father, accepting the burden that the world put upon him. He was at least a person. Everything about him, including his complaints, felt real and made sense.

Zidane was just positive and happy-go-lucky. And...that's about it. No reason for it, no substance to it. He just was.

You're joking right ? Zidane starts out as a flirty, horny teenager that goes around just thinking about the opposite sex. He then slowly begins to change and realize that helping others is more important. How is that "no growth ".

Tidus didn't really have a reason to be whiny, if he can deal with not existing at all. He can deal with being transported into Spira. And no he doesn't change or improve, he still acts loud, selfish and childish and gets on shouting " This is MY story " to everybody.

No Tidus didn't feel real at all. He makes a big whiny deal about not being in Zanakand anymore and when something worse occurs to him, he doesn't even flinch. Zidane wasn't " just nice ", he learnt to realize to aid in others, the more worse things happened to them, the more pain Zidane witnessed the more his desire to help grew.

Tidus didn't grow at all. He was just as loud and childish as he was at the game's beginning.

[Wolf Kanno]

A father making fun of his six-year-old son and saying derisively "you'll never be as good as I am" would probably cause a lot of problems. There's also the alcoholism.

All of this was exacerbated by Jecht disappearing. Tidus was literally left with only bad memories of his father and he outright acknowledges why he clings to those bad memories:

"Even ten years after he left...just thinking about my old man got me angry. But maybe that was just my way of keeping him... Nah."

This is one of my favorite voice-overs from Tidus because it's a perfectly human response that shows how well-written he was. Sometimes resentment and bitterness is better than nothing at all and Tidus is clinging to that because, in the end, he doesn't want to lose his father.

The alcoholism seemed to cause more issues with Auron and Yuna's dad than for Tidus who simply mentioned it off hand without much context. Once again, had the game implied he was actually physically abusive with it, I can see it being more of a dramatic character building issue, but it's not, Jecht comes across more as a party frat boy when drunk than some kind of evil being.

The issue I have with Tidus' daddy issues, is that I find his anger to be more like a child's than an adult. It's disproportionate from what happened to him. Maybe if the game had painted Jecht as an actual abusive alcoholic asshole but instead he's a fairly charming, "tough love" type of guy with a few flaws that are more subdued cause he's a genuinely good guy, he's closer to a sitcom father whose faults and gruff snarky attitude come across more funny than actual abusive.. Jecht's portrayal pretty much undermines the sympathy you have for Tidus and Tidus comes across more as an overly sensitive man-child who is holding a grudge cause Jecht cause didn't hug him enough, and yet treats Jecht like he was Hitler.

Had Tidus not been so over the top with his anger everytime Jecht gets mentioned, it may have come off better but I sort of feel the game makes it more melodramatic than the faqs lead us to believe.

Also Tidus' lack of reaction about finding out he isn't real might have something to do with the pressing issue of Yuna dying any moment now. In short, he had other trout on his mind.

As for why he never talks about it...who would he talk about it to? Zidane could scream and whine at Garland but only the Fayth really know about Tidus and he can't just talk to them any time he pleases.

Come now FL, you and I both know that's a "handwaving excuse" if we ever saw one. How the hell do you not react to learning that you don't exist, your whole life and world is a lie, and you are the central cog in a giant plan to end your own existence by freeing the "gods" that made you, despite the revelation of such power kind of undermining the whole plot? I mean damn, Yuna dying was made into a bigger deal than Tidus' Existential Crisis, and people like Terra and Cloud went far more ape-trout over smaller scale personal revelations than Tidus, despite Tidus having the granddaddy of all personal revelations, let's face it, the writer didn't care, and the whole point of this plot twist was to reverse the tragedy of the story in the most ass backwards way. It didn't make Tidus really grow as a character, and who wouldn't he tell? I can see him wanting to keep it from Yuna cause she wears her heart on her sleeves but what is telling Wakka and Lulu, who were willing to watch their favorite "kid sister" go march to her own death going to care about a kid they met a few weeks ago? Hell Auron is easily the most connected and Tidus doesn't really tell him anything until he's made privy to his own secret. The whole plot twist is a sham, and a stupid way to squeeze some drama out of a dead horse.

[Ouch!]

I do think that everyone should probably try to keep some perspective that a decade-old RPG is probably not going to be the pinnacle of literary virtue. Games have done a lot of maturing over the past decade, and there are notable exceptions with truly good writing, but Final Fantasy has never been among them. Most titles in the series have followed numerous tropes of the genre--many of which are patently absurd. That I happen to think that FFIX is the best in the series in this regard does not mean I can't take a step back and realize that it--like all the other games in the series--does not stand to critical scrutiny when it comes to story or writing.

[Forsaken Lover]

The issue I have with Tidus' daddy issues, is that I find his anger to be more like a child's than an adult. It's disproportionate from what happened to him. Maybe if the game had painted Jecht as an actual abusive alcoholic asshole but instead he's a fairly charming, "tough love" type of guy with a few flaws that are more subdued cause he's a genuinely good guy, he's closer to a sitcom father whose faults and gruff snarky attitude come across more funny than actual abusive..

SIX-YEARS-OLD TIDUS: Daddy, stop drinking!

Jecth: no. I'm gonna keep being an alcoholic.

SIX YEARS OLD TIDUS: *runs away crying because his father will continue poisoning his liver and acting like an asshole*

Jecht: haha, look at that little wuss! Go ahead and cry you little bitch.


That is more or less exactly how a flashback of Tidus and his father goes. Now, this might strike you as family fun happy time but a father mocking his prepubescent son for something like that is rather disgusting to me.

Come now FL, you and I both know that's a "handwaving excuse" if we ever saw one. How the hell do you not react to learning that you don't exist, your whole life and world is a lie, and you are the central cog in a giant plan to end your own existence by freeing the "gods" that made you, despite the revelation of such power kind of undermining the whole plot? I mean damn, Yuna dying was made into a bigger deal than Tidus' Existential Crisis, and people like Terra and Cloud went far more ape-trout over smaller scale personal revelations than Tidus, despite Tidus having the granddaddy of all personal revelations, let's face it, the writer didn't care, and the whole point of this plot twist was to reverse the tragedy of the story in the most ass backwards way. It didn't make Tidus really grow as a character, and who wouldn't he tell? I can see him wanting to keep it from Yuna cause she wears her heart on her sleeves but what is telling Wakka and Lulu, who were willing to watch their favorite "kid sister" go march to her own death going to care about a kid they met a few weeks ago? Hell Auron is easily the most connected and Tidus doesn't really tell him anything until he's made privy to his own secret. The whole plot twist is a sham, and a stupid way to squeeze some drama out of a dead horse.

[/quote]

I'll agree that the twist wasn't handled as well as it could have been. Tidus' lack of reaction is a major flaw in his character.

[Pumpkin]

SIX-YEARS-OLD TIDUS: Daddy, stop drinking!

Jecth: no. I'm gonna keep being an alcoholic.

SIX YEARS OLD TIDUS: *runs away crying because his father will continue poisoning his liver and acting like an asshole*

Jecht: haha, look at that little wuss! Go ahead and cry you little bitch.


That is more or less exactly how a flashback of Tidus and his father goes. Now, this might strike you as family fun happy time but a father mocking his prepubescent son for something like that is rather disgusting to me.

This is almost exactly how my interaction with some family/people I've lived with has gone. I still consider Tidus to be a whiner. Yes I think it should be brought up at certain points in the game. Yes, it does affect me at certain points in my life. It isn't every time those people are brought up. And yes to be fair, I myself can be a whiner. I just think it's way overdone. Theres a difference between when he's discussing his past and his father for him to feel anger towards him. That is understandable. It just seems like too much to me when it feels like every time someone says Jecht, he almost takes a fit. Or at least gets upset. There are people who have actually abused me in more ways than one and I react better to their name being mentioned than he does to his father.

Anyways, I guess one of the reasons I don't like him as a hero is because to me, the hero is supposed to be someone strong, but still human. I got that from Zidane. I didn't get that from Tidus. I think a lot of the other characters would have made a better hero than he did. I didn't get a real sense of strength from him. Now you can argue me in to the ground on that one, but it's a matter of opinion, and to me, he didn't feel like a hero. To a lot of people he may have, and to that i say to each their own. I'm glad he did, and hopefully it made the gaming experience much more pleasant for you because of it.

Now I fully understand that he got transported into a new world and that's hard. Very hard, and I would expect him to have a hard time. But for me, again this is personal opinion, i don't think he handled it in a way that made me sympathize with him. Like when he goes rushing into the temple in Besaid to save Yuna, and the priest says "No, the teachings" and he says "Like I care." To me, that was just blatant disrespect for someone else's culture. You can say he did it for the right reasons, but the way he did it to me was just rude and made me dislike him.

Anyways, that's just me saying why i dislike him. As I said, it's a matter of personal opinion and the reasons I dislike him may be some of the reasons that others do like him.

[Bolivar]

Well it seems you all are well and truly at it, and I can't even remember if I posted in this thread, but the only thing I really dislike about FFIX is the slow combat. The PS Final Fantasy games all had bad framerates in battle, but this one made a lot of battle animations needlessly slow. FFVII's battle speed is one of the very few reasons I have left to describe why I prefer it to FFIX.

The only other minorly disappointing thing is that this game overall played it very safe. There's nothing as risk-taking as the Junction system and the setting and art design just isn't as fresh as FFVII was.

[Clo]

The only other minorly disappointing thing is that this game overall played it very safe. There's nothing as risk-taking as the Junction system and the setting and art design just isn't as fresh as FFVII was.

Quoted for truth. I also felt like the game was very safe.