Okay, I decided to change this page into a FFX Review. The pictures that were on here will either be taken down or arranged as I complete this, so they will most likely be looking quite odd at first. Anyway, onto the review.
Graphics
Do I even need to say this? The graphics are beyond beautiful. The In-game graphics are better than any you've seen on any game to date, with one minor exception. Metal Gear Solid 2 rendered hair better. Yes, that is the only expection (note: do NOT email me with 'other exceptions'). The FMV's are even more beautiful. Remember the Final Fantasy movie? Well, they used that technology, slightly improved, to do the FMV's in FFX. They are so well done, I found myself wanting to see them more often, simply to admire them. So, yea, the graphics are beyond exceptional.
Characters
Another stellar accomplishment of square. Each character, whether you like their personality or not, is very well developed, and equally well expressed. You really get a clear picture of who the person is. Why? Several reasons. First, the graphical capabilities. They might as well be real people, for goodness sake. Also, the dialogue for each character is very distinctive. Little eccentricities in their speech, different levels of emotion in their words, etc.
Another thing that contributes to the characters development is the voice acting. I can't see why people were against the idea; I think it's an excellent addition. The voice acting is very well done, save for few lines that sound like they were added later by a digitizer or something (by 'a few', I mean about 4 lines in the entire game). And not only is the voice acting well done, but there's a significant ammount of it. Most of the time, either no one speaks enough to make the voice acting worth it, or it's not implimented enough to notice. Not so here. For characters who have voice actors, every line they have is voice acted. Even characters like the mayor of the village, who is only saying something because you keep pressing 'X'. And don't think that they only made plot-crucial characters with voice actors. Several minor characters have it, even if you only speak to them once or twice. Anyway, my point here is that the voice acting is superb.
Music
As you may or may not know, the guy who has done every single Final Fantasy score to date (can't spell his name to save my life) was joined by two other composers to write the music for this game. You can find excerpts from the songs over at IGN.com. The origional music is quite good, and set's the mood very nicely for whatever the situation calls for. In addition, the 'vetran music', aka the chocobo theme, battle theme, etc., has been tweaked in a most delightful way. The chocobo theme, for example, has been given a strong swing influence, which adds to the feeling of a chocobo ride quite well. Another star on square's chart. Or something.
Storyline
Where to begin. Square has taken an idea as absurd as being thrown back in time by a monster made out of *spoiler edit*, and turned it into a feasible concept everyone's willing to accept. They attempted a time travel plot somewhat in FFVIII, but it wasn't very well recieved by the masses, most likely due to the suddenness and under-thought delivery. Well, they certainly got it right this time around. The most important part of a plot/storyline, in my opinion, is the consistancy. People don't like twists and turns that arn't called for (The final boss in FFIX, for example). Square stayed on target quite nicely, so no matter how odd the concept, it is very easily accepted and gone with because it's not out of line of anything else in the storyline. That may be worded badly, so if you have no idea what I mean, don't feel bad.
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