![]() Here’s the thing Final Fantasy X lived up to its hype. ![]() For the target audience, which we were unquestionably members of, Final Fantasy X was the second coming. The usual speculation-the more Final Fantasy changes the more Final Fantasy stays the same-was the only topic of conversation that summer. ![]() We bought into the dream that Final Fantasy X was going to change everything. The way the water was spherically gathered in suspended animation, the return of turn-based battles, a reemergence of Eastern-styled characters, and the near-abandonment of pre-rendered backgrounds sent my friends and I into a wild frenzy over its potential. ![]() Individual results may vary, but, as senior in high school, I fondly remember abusing the computer lab’s T1-line to download a postage stamp size video of Final Fantasy X’s opening computer-generated sequence. In 2000’s discourse surrounding the next generation, Final Fantasy X sold the promise of the PlayStation 2. Both left Final Fantasy X, like the original Final Fantasy years before it, as the apocryphal make-or-break point for the entire company. A cool reception of The Bouncer, Square’s beat ’em up PlayStation 2 debut, was another insinuation of impending doom. The beloved company that could do no wrong lost a ton of money on a misguided portfolio expansion. At the same time, Square’s business was reeling from the spectacular failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, one of the larger box office bombs of 2001. It was the third numbered Final Fantasy in three years and was fit to be the jewel in Square’s Western crown on mainstream gaming. In the real world, Final Fantasy X arrived at a difficult time Square. In the case of Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD’s Xbox One appearance, the better story is how two opposing forces became a cohesive package. This is always true when a classic is remastered. How these games played is as important as what they meant the strength of their impact is can’t be denied, even if their technical novelty faded with time. Both are integral parts of a disparate narrative and emblematic saviors of Square’s, and then Square-Enix’s, post-millennium operation. Final Fantasy X-2 replaced weight with whimsy and functioned as a celebration of its legacy. Final Fantasy X served as the model for its generation of Japanese role-playing games.
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