Its almost insane to think that Final Fantasy X came out 25 years ago for the PlayStation 2. Final Fantasy X was a big deal before and after its ’01 release because it was the first major entry within its series to appear on the PS2 console. Final Fantasy X was also the final main entry within its series to be released in the pre-9/11 world which makes it even more special. Final Fantasy X was a major step up from its prequel Final Fantasy IX from 2000 which appeared on the PS1. Unlike, Final Fantasy IX the FFX game from ’01 featured voice-over acting with an intriguing cast of characters. Also, the graphics and character designs in Final Fantasy X were top-tier compared to FFIX which utilized childish chibi art stylye which felt kinda of lazy in hindsight. Final Fantasy X had a compelling story which featured a blitzball player by the name of Tidus as the main character.

FFX also saw a summoner named Yuna as the main deuteragonist who eventually became the main protagonist in the Final Fantasy X-2 game in 2003. The story in Final Fantasy X was about Tidus and his party trying to destroy a monster named Sin that was responsible for destroying his world. The Final Fantasy X story was also about getting to the core of religious deceit that plagued his world. In Final Fantasy X players learn that main setting Zanarkand was an illusion and that the real metropolis was destroyed a millennium ago by a monster named Sin. Ironically, Tidus lived in the dream version of Zanarkand while ancient version of the metropolis was located in the fictional world of Spira which was devastated by Sin. The plot for FFX becomes even more shocking when players learn that Sin was actually Tidus’s father Jecht who is main antagonist. The story revolving around Jecht was tragic because he originally sacrificed himself to destroy sin to become the Final Aeon only to be corrupted by the dark entity Yu Yevon. Jecht’s actions lead to him becoming another version of Sin which was ultimately destroyed by Tidus and the rest of his party.

The plot for Final Fantasy X stood out more than its predecessor because it felt darker and had more depth. In Final Fantasy X nothing felt black and white in relation to morality as it was revealed that The Church of Yevon used Zanarkand’s citizens fear of the Sin monster as a way to manipulate them in order to follow their strict doctrine. Also, players learn that Yevon’s heroic journey involving pilgrimage in order to defeat Sin is a lie because it leads to countless life sacrifices on the summoners part. Final Fantasy X was a game that forced players to look beyond the surface while questioning the corruption of traditional moral authority. Aside, from the story Final Fantasy X was also a pretty fun game to play during the PS2 era.

In Final Fantasy X Square Enix had decided to replace the ActiveTime Battle System with a Conditional Turn Based battle system which made the game feel more like old school RPG’s. After its release in ’01 Final Fantasy X ended up being one of the most popular PS2 games of the early-2000’s reaching more than 8.6 million copies in sales. There are many people who would go record and argue that Final Fantasy X was probably one of the last great entries in the series; due to how poorly almost every other entry in the 2000’s was received by critics probably with the exception of FFXII from 2006. Final Fantasy X was a great RPG game in terms of gameplay, storytelling and quality and was among a handful of good things that came out of ’01 which was considered to be a very dark year in general.