Best environment?

[Dr. rydrum2112]

I agree with this. Though the world is beautiful and has an interesting concept, I would appreciate it much more if it were as large and felt as alive as XII's Ivalice. This seems more like a scenery in a theater rather than a real world. It's beautiful, but it still seems artificial.

What made Ivalice's world so amazing was that you truly went EVERYWHERE. You went west, south, north and east. Each area seems to transition fairly well compared to X's rather unrealistic map transitions. Also, Ivalice was incredibly diverse, you had snow storms, deserts, tombs, waterways, towns and cities (not many of those in X). Ivalice had it all.

yeah but Ivalice was too much of the same. How many abandoned ruins/cities/temples/tombs & mines can you have before it gets old- I was tired of the same thing over and over again. Also I think the fact that it came out 5 years later allowed them to create a bigger environment with more NPCs.

[Laddy]

I would have loved a Lindblum or Midgar-sized city but it suits the setting to not have one.

My favorite areas were Besaid (it felt so peaceful and the music was so charming) and Macalania (just gorgeous).

[Formalhaut]

It wouldn't have suited the whole theme of Spira. Remember that Sin looms over where there are large amounts of people, so a Midgar sized city would be levelled in minutes!

[Flying Arrow]

Besaid Island is gorgeous. The Zanarkand side of Mt. Gagazet and the Zanarkand Ruins are just sublime.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

It wouldn't have suited the whole theme of Spira. Remember that Sin looms over where there are large amounts of people, so a Midgar sized city would be levelled in minutes!

maybe an underground city, would've been cool- down by the "gaol" or whatever it was called.

[Formalhaut]

Gaol was under Bevelle, which coincidently is the largest city (even if we barely explore any of it). However, it's practically uninhabited.

I think sin would have just plowed straight down the Earth and raze any underground cities; sin is very fickle.

[Heath]

I could just be biased, as Final Fantasy X was my first in the series (far from my favorite, but it still counts for something), I always felt that the tropical, water based setting was my favorite. It wasn't just the geology either, I liked the interior designs of buildings and the like. The closest I think I've been to finding a game that reminds me of FFX would be Chrono Cross (where the title screen is literally underwater, and I think it uses the same boot up noise when you press start too).

Anyway, discuss the Environment of Spira, and how awesome _or lame you think it is.

That game was so colorful (at the time) for its time. And had great vistas, it was one of the best "worlds" from an environmental stand point. The only thing lacking is a real big city.

I agree with your point about a real big city, actually. It always bugged me at the time that you never get to see Bevelle in FFX. It's much trumpeted throughout the game as being the biggest city in Spira, the de facto capital of Spira, and the main Yevon powerbase, but we never really get to explore the place. I suppose Luca is supposed to fulfil that purpose and while I like Luca, I felt a bit cheated not getting the full Bevelle experience.

On topic, I agree about it having one of the best environments. Definitely for its time I think it is beautifully presented. Lots of colour and lots of distinctive locations. The lack of a world map initially bugged me, but as I played through the game I didn't miss it. I quite liked the fact I got to explore the intermediate locations more fully. Rather than just wandering around massive green plains, it was quite nice walking the path between Djose and Guadosalam, for instance.

[Dr. rydrum2112]

Great point Heath on the "bridge" sections, to borrow a music term. I think you could have both- appeases everyone.

It would be cool if bevelle was able to be explored like a city from ff12.