Played through this game since a kid, probably have played it 6 or 7 times. I usually will do a playthrough once a year, can always come back to it. The nostalgia is real.

I absolutely adore this game I have over 2000 hours total on all platforms, I've done 5 100% playthroughs now and I can not recommend this game enough.

This is mostly a review on FFX and not X-2 for a few reasons.

Crashing's the main reason I gave up on 10-2 and it was an issue I had with FF10 aswell, albeit to a FAR greater extent. Installing the untitled project X mod mostly helped FF10 and gave me a speed-up feature, voice language selection, but it didn't fix stability for 10-2 at all.

I tried a few other things such as verifiying files, fresh reinstall, 4GB patch, but the game would still crash on a whim, with no clear solution. I'm sure I can find one but it's busywork I can't be bothered with.


Before I go over the things that bother me about this game, let me say what I liked since there's a good chance it'll sell you on it.

- This is not a grindy RPG by default, instead of traditional levels you have access to something known as the sphere grid.
This sphere grid is basically a choose your own adventure of level progression, with you moving your character in a direction that unlocks new skills and stat upgrades, in theory, I like this alot.
-Unlike prior FF games, FF10 is purely turn-based, though the ATB style of battle does return in FF10-2
-Combat feels relatively good, the main plus I will give it is being able to swap out allies without wasting a turn, means I'll actually use most of my characters, especially when they're dominant against certain enemies.
-The story's quite easy to follow, not overly complex but has enough going for it that I think most will enjoy it
-This is also the first mainline FF to not only have voice acting, but receive a sequel, so in terms of presentation it's pretty alright compared to most others in the series.
-While FF10 is mostly linear, there is definitely a fair bit of side content, but this mainly comes all at once before the end.
-I didn't play much of FF10-2 for a few reasons, but I appreciate how much more open it is from the start, and its method
of character customization by basically reusing the job system from prior games was quite appealing.
-I really appreciated the extra features the HD version brings, the specific ones I used were the speed-up feature and encounter rate adjustments, ranging from normal, double and none, very nice.

Basically if you're looking for an RPG that's very little fuss to see through from the start to end of its campaign, FF10's alright, especially if you have never touched an FF game before or if you're new to JRPGs in general, not too easy, not too hard.


The story's just fine, never really great. Its characters are too simple for me to get too attached to and for half the campaign you're just kind of wandering.
Even when the plot picks up a bit, the forces you go up against feel kinda lacking in regards to their writing.
There are definitely good parts to this plot which I can't really reveal, its just it takes too long getting there.
Has an interesting premise, and a relatively good leadup to its finale but there's so much meandering with a limp main cast that kills so much of my enthusiasm.

What kills me even harder is that side content.
There are a few things to note here but keep in mind most of these come towards the VERY end of the campaign.
You have blitzball, the worst minigame known to man.
The monster arena, a grindy attraction to unlock superbosses mostly made from reused assets.
The ultimate weapons, and figuring out how to unlock them
The superbosses, and the steps needed to defeat them
And a few other things like some extra summons or the occassional minigame here and there.

Blitzball is terrible, and the fact you need to do many 10's of games to get Wakka's ultimate weapon without a clear prompt is just painful. The reason why I say it's bad is because it's a sports game absolutely dominated by stats above all else, and when you don't have the ball you are just a passive observer.
Starting out, sometimes you'll just lose games, like there's literally nothing you can do, if they have better stats they'll score before you can even make any inputs.
But once you gain some stats, the game becomes FAR too easy, with basically all teams being unable to compete against me due to stat creep.
Special screw you to the Jecht Shot, an unlockable skill for Blitzball which you have one chance of getting in the main campaign which if you miss, it's gone, the best skill for Blitzball is just gone.

The superbosses are next and this will tie into a few other complaints, I hated these, I just straight up gave up for a few reasons.
The #1 reason I gave up is because of the grinding needed for them, they are a MASSIVE stat check, usually dealing 9999 damage OR MORE and with large health pools you can't even identify since their stats are hidden.
So you grind, and this brings up an issue I have with the sphere grid. The sphere grid's a cool levelling system when you're not trying to unlock all of its stats and abilities, if you DO, all your characters start to feel homogeneous and their skill tabs bloated, with the only thing separating them being their overdrives.

Furthermore, if you want the absolute best competitive stats, you will need to grind specific bosses and enemies for spheres to slot in so you get the specific stat upgrades you need, which just means more grinding.
This isn't even bring up the MASSIVE amounts of EXP you need to fill out the sphere grid, which as far as I'm concerned, you'll only realistically get from one source, everything else takes far too long, without the Don Tonberry exploit, your best bet would probably be the optional hidden superdungeon.

Overdrives are another issue with character progression, with some characters just straight up being better than others.
This mostly comes down to multiple hits which is what you want when you're going to consistently be hitting for max damage and no higher, but there is also the issue of only 3 specific characters can fight underwater, so in specific instances you're forced into a specific group anyway.

But hey, if grinding ain't your thing and you just want an instant win button, there's always the summon Yojimbo, found in an optional section just before the finale which, when he feels like it, can just straight up instant kill ANY boss.
I didn't do this, because it was boring farming for it and I genuinely did want to try get my characters to a point where they can stand a chance, but the amount of grinding needed for stats, the stat spheres, the armour and all the variants I'd need to make to counter certain bosses, it's just absurd I'd more than double my runtime from the story just by grinding with MODDED SPEED UP FEATURES.


I don't hate this game but this is FAR from one of my favourite RPGs and I'm more inclined to recommend several FF's before this one.
It's perfectly fine if you're looking to engage with something casually, or hell maybe you just want a super optional grindy experience, but it doesn't have the most engaging mechanics, story and this port ain't even all that stable which sucks, so I'd recommend checking something else out instead.