I will not go into details about the plot of the games, as that has been covered in other reviews, but I wanted to point out some of the important features of this particular release.
The good things:
In my opinion, FFX was the last great game in the franchise, and the battle system has held up very well, with its simple turn-based system and the ability to swap characters in and out of battle as needed. Throw in a high degree of control over how your characters develop (via the Sphere Grid) and weapon/armor modification, and FFX is a highly customizable experience.
Speaking of the Sphere Grid, the expert grid is available. If my memory from playing the original game is accurate, the expert grid seems to allow for a little more early and mid-game flexibility than did the original grid.
FFX was a good looking game even on the PS2 and the HD upgrade does not disappoint. The area maps and the battle screens have never looked better.
These games include all of the extra content from the international versions. When I first played FFX years ago, I was a little disappointed by the endgame. After doing a few side quests (unlocking a few of the characters' celestial weapons, getting Anima and the Magus Sisters, fighting a few monsters in the Monster Arena, but not really grinding significantly), I was able to easily demolish the final bosses. Now, there are the Dark Aeons to fight as well as a very formidable optional boss. All this can be ignored, but if you are something of a completionist, these will be welcome features.
In terms of value for money, this package is hard to beat. For $39, you get two complete games (three if you count X-2's Last Mission), good for at least 100 hours of play time, and maybe 300 or 400 hours if you want to go the 100% completion route.
The bad things:
The English voice acting was (and still is) inconsistent. Some of the characters are voiced quite well (Auron and Rikku stand out), but some of the performances seem a little stilted at times (Yuna comes to mind).
The extra content (the Dark Aeons for example) is a nice feature, but if you are not following a guide, you can be in for a rude surprise or two. For example, it is not too hard to stumble on Dark Yojimbo early in the game (before getting the airship), and such an encounter will almost certainly result in a dreaded Game Over. Most of the Dark Aeons can be avoided until if and when you're ready to fight them, but after the Airship is obtained, some locations in the game will be inaccessible unless those Aeons are defeated.
The temple puzzles are as they were. This was a feature of FFX that I always found more annoying than fun, a chore to be done to advance the game.
While the expert Sphere Grid is a little more flexible early and mid-game, once the end-game is near all the characters start playing the same (like once Yuna is able to deal 99999 damage with her staff, for example).
While the game looks nice in HD, some of the cutscenes look quite muddy on an HDTV. This is understandable, since HD was not really on the radar at the time of the games' original release, and I'm guessing these scenes would have been prohibitively expensive to completely redo.
In X-2, if you want to get 100% completion, you still are almost forced to use a guide. Certain events can be easily missed unless they are accessed at a particular point in game.
However, the good far outweighs the bad, and I'd say this game has a place in the library of anyone who is even remotely interested in the Final Fantasy franchise.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2014
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Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2014
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Simon Man
Great game
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sue t
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2019Platform: PS3 StandardVerified Purchase
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Incredible game for a Wide Audience
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Highly recommend seller
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Mr Richard Jones
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