Revisiting Spira: My first impressions from playing through Final Fantasy X Remastered

It’s no secret that I love Final Fantasy X. I was in high school when the game first released for the PlayStation 2, and, seeing how I was under my father’s roof, I had to live with a primitive form of torture that restricted video games to a weekend activity. This left me with nothing but my imagination during the weekdays, and I have far more memories of my daydreams in Spira than I do of what happened in my Earth and Space science classes.

I say all of that to say this: I openly admit a bias. I love this game. I would have found myself ecstatic with a straight up port, let alone remastered in HD. So when I say these first five hours of playing through FFX has been my favorite gaming experience in the past decade, take it with a grain of salt.

Having been over a decade since this game came out, it’s highly likely that many haven’t played or simply have forgotten about the game. So let’s have a quick refresher.

Final Fantasy X is a roleplaying game that takes place in the world of Spira. The game starts off by introducing you to Tidus, a big shot Blitzball player with daddy issues, who has his world turned upside down by a seemingly indestructible monster named Sin. Sin sends Tidus a thousand years in the future where he is introduced to a world void of the luxuries and technology he is used to.

As Tidus quests to figure out what is going on, he decides to team up with a summoner and her guardians in an attempt to defeat Sin. FFX is a story of love and adventure, but as you learn more about Yuna’s plight you see that above all else this game is about sacrifice.

Enough of my ramblings though, let’s talk about what’s new.

The look

Saying that this game is gorgeous just isn’t enough. Everything from Kimari’s shiny fur to the bounce in Lulu’s bosom looks absolutely incredible in HD. Then there is that opening cut-scene that shows Tidus playing Blitzball and Sin approaching Zanarkand…it just all looks sooo good.

I will say that although the cut-scenes look better than ever, and the overall look of the game is incredible, there are some aspects of layering that are a bit off. For instance when Yuna first summons Valefor in Besaid, she gets close to him and pets his neck. Everything looks fine except for it is very obvious that Yuna’s hand isn’t actually touching Valefor. It looks as if her hand is hovering right over its neck. Awkward, but forgivable seeing how it is a remastered version of an older game, and not a new installment.

The sound

As someone who owns two versions of the FFX soundtrack and has listened to To Zanarkand 2,745 times on iTunes, the upgraded sound was at the top of my list of things to look forward to with this remastered version. Square Enix did not disappoint. At the very first note of To Zanarkand from the opening scene, I was so overpowered that I had to close my eyes and just listen. The voices are crisper, the sound effects are just nicer, and everything just feels so much better with this remastered sound.

Just better in Japanese