#9
YoY: +1 My Rating: 9.5/10
Final Fantasy X was the game I originally bought a PS2 for back in 2002. It was also the first time I had ever bought a console with my own money, and gotten one specifically to play a single game. If it hadn't lived up to my expectations I might have been a bit annoyed, but fortunately it turned out to be one of the best games I'd ever played. I've never been too bothered by graphical quality, but this game absolutely blew me away at the time. It was so far beyond anything I had played up to that point that I still remember that feeling to this day. The music was the second that stood out, the To Zanarkand theme that plays in the intro instantly burying itself into my mind forever.
I've since replayed the game several times, and I find myself enjoying more and more every single time. While the visual aren't as mindblowing as they once were, every other aspects of the game seems to grow on me over time. The battle system remains one of the best in the whole series, allowing for an impressive level of tactical depth, the music is among the best video scores ever, and the story and characters resonate with me even more strongly than they did back in the day.
To this day, Final Fantasy X remains my second favourite PS2 game ever, as well as my second favourite game in the series. Though some of its elements were constrained by technological limitations and Squaresoft's inexperience with certain things, it remains one of the most emotionally powerful entries in the whole series, the ending being commonly cited as particularly heartbreaking by many fans of the franchise. 20 years after its original release, Final Fantasy X is still just as great as it was back then, and it probably won't be too long until I once again go back to replay it.
