Underwater Ruins

First thing to note is how confusing it is moving in three dimensions. The shifting camera really messes with me. On the plus side, I really like that Final Fantasy X hadn't yet caught onto the map-marker phenomenon as seen in Skyrim and Deus Ex: Human Revolution where your HUD is covered in quest markers. Final Fantasy X has its red arrow in the radar, but to figure out where you are going in this section, you use your head and clever map design: follow the chain, dummy!

Oh, I didn't mention that Tidus is strangely out of character when it comes time to start work. He's so uninterested in it previously - "Alright, alright, I'll work." - and then seems suddenly really enthused, diving in first. I don't understand why he seems so happy to help people who do nothing but talk to and about him in a foreign language and then smash him in the face, but maybe the brain damage is an excuse.

Anyway, it's cool to see the party members moving around on the screen. Obviously they stop doing this once they join the party properly, but for the moment, it's nice to see them independently. It gives the game a more organic feel, rather than the awkward everybody lives inside me stuff we get with other titles. Having 6 party members strolling around behind you would, however, be strange and probably difficult to do around 2001 though. It does help direct you when you get lost though, which would be great in place of a traditional mini map.

It's very strange that Rikku hasn't directly introduced herself to Tidus yet. In Baaj, it makes sense; they're there for a purpose, and there isn't any down time, but they had ample opportunity to talk back on the ship. It makes more sense to delay the introduction until after this point - in terms of exposition at least - but it simply makes no sense otherwise and feels sloppy.

Its nice to be involved with the airship discovery. When it appears later in the game, there's a sense of "oh! that's what we found earlier."

Tidus demonstrates his skills as a handy man and bashes stuff with his hands until it is fixed. Worth noting is how similar the energy source here looks to mako energy; I don't like the idea of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII being connected, but this could be the first (chronological) sign that the connection was intended. Food for thought.

We get to a boss fight with a 7-legged octopus. Septopus? Nope, apparently it's Tros. Oh well. The cool thing about this boss fight is that it introduces trigger commands. These have to be one of the coolest additions to the battle system. Trigger commands are context sensitive boss battle commands that change the battle landscape from being a simple us vs them to having some depth. Even more interesting is that some commands are limited to certain people, which means your battle party must reflect this if you want to make use of them. I might go into a bit more detail once other examples come up, but I really think this was underused and added a lot of depth to an already excellent system.

Not really a comment, more a note, but Tidus shakes himself dry like a dog. I'm sure there's something deeper to this, some reflection on his personality, but I cannot be assed finding it. Then the Al Bhed go back to bullying Tidus, leaving him out in the cold while damp.

Tidus, having been hungry before, is still hungry, and would therefore be close to dead if we are to believe the amount of exerting himself he's done.

"Right on" is a really strange way to react to getting food while starving. Show some more emotion, not some casual positive thumbs up. His reactions to a lot of events are strange, and again it's a combination of script and delivery that cause this. The fact that he dives into his food is good, as it gives us a pay off: Tidus was starving and here he is acting like it.

He laughs awkwardly and stretches, apparently no longer hungry. And then responds completely unrealistically when Rikku tries to talk to him. Sans that, this scene is actually pretty great. There's character movement; they are not simply standing there, looking at each other, and delivering their lines. Tidus is sometimes odd, turning his back or laughing randomly, but those are his awkward tendencies and we'll gloss over them.

Apart from the fact that he demonstrates rugby movements, Tidus's cocky attitude as soon as the subject turns to his domain is really masterful. There are a couple of awkward lines, and that stupid action aside, the rest of this scene is pretty solid. The voice acting, even, is pretty great.

The best part of this is probably the way Rikku moves while she's thinking.

Tidus then kicks the ship in anger and it is the most awkward kick. Then he rolls ass over head backwards thanks to Sin and that is also super awkward, like something out of Looney Tunes. Two Al Bhed come out and do the same. Convenient, but stupid.

And then Tidus gets sucked into a whirlpool. For no reason other than he needs to wash up near Besaid. Again, not an elegant solution, but it's probably more believable an event than Al Bhed beating the trout out of him and then carrying him to the ship.

Besaid is next and ugh this is gonna take me a while!