Aeons aren't fun. I did use them for much of the game and I did keep my discipline in terms of swapping everyone in and out for a while, but TWR are the way to go. Anyway, despite not having a BDL weapon, Attack Reels does a solid 120,000 damage! That's a proper kill switch, Mega Flare's still in the 20-30k region, a properly executed Blitz Ace (full health with Caldabolg) does more already

I'm going for Pennance, so that means primarily powering Tidus, Wakka and Rikku. I'll level up the others at some point for the trophy. But for me, i've just got a lot of bliztball to play and a lot of capturing to do

I disagree. Final Fantasy X isn't the best JRPG on PS2, let alone one of the best of all time. In fact, I would say it's not even the best Final Fantasy on PS2.

wha? I find people's hatred for FFX completely suprising at times. Do tell why this game is lessor than FFXII?(I like XII, just wouldn't put it above X for me). 

Yuna and comany were all really strong characters to me. They all had their personal reasons that made them invested in Tidus and Yuna's journey. Combat was some of turnbase's finest work. And Sphere Grid was a really good non linear progression system. And then there is the game lore which very few gams get as in detailed as this one.

This was the first Final Fantasy I played that truly pushed the linear aspect.  It's something I've gotten used to now, but after a previous generation of playing things like VII-IX; Wild ARMs, it was a completely shock to me to be pushed down corridor after corridor and never have any real choice on what I should be doing.  When I finally got a awarded an airship towards the end of the game I thought "Great!  A little late, but better than not having it at all", only to be presented with a static map which I could point and click at to go places.  It might as well not have been in there at all.

I didn't enjoy the story much at all.  XII's was all over the place but I appreciated in the start it was trying to tell some greater themes that it unfortunately got tangled up in towards the end.  X, on the other hand, was a very straightforward story by Final Fantasy standards.  Not particularly convoluted at all; and also a bit of a drag for me to play as a result.  It felt so focused on the goal of "get the final summon and defeat Sin" that it rarely ever deviated to anything more interesting; save for a few curveballs involving Tidus and Jecht.

And speaking of Tidus and Jecht; the characters weren't any that I could connect to at all.  That may be rich coming from someone who enjoyed VII-IX, but I felt that on the whole this was a particularly unlikeable cast.  I enjoyed Auron and Lulu in a "they're really badass" kind of way, but otherwise I could've taken or left the main cast in X.  Tidus was... by far and a way the worst character I'd come across in a JRPG at the time, and the fact that the story pushed the whole love aspect between him and Yuna so much also dragged her down.  Wakka was fairly average (didn't have any particularly strong feelings one way or another); Kimahri was just a background character until that one bit (Mt. Gagazet or something?) where they actually did something with him; and I felt like Rikku was interesting but never explored properly.  I felt Seymour was a poor man's Sephiroth in both design and the way he was conveyed in the story (and had some incredible wtf moments too - that wedding still felt incredibly out of place to me)

With all that said, the game had some good points.  Sin was an interesting villain to keep track of.  The battle system was solid.  The music was good.  The graphics were great.  But I came away from the game feeling so disappointed with all the design choices they'd made.  This was not the next generation Final Fantasy game I'd wanted.  I wanted a game which took the foundation followed by the previous 3 and run with it; made the world even bigger and more fantastical the first time you saw it (think about when leaving Midgar for the first time in VII and seeing the world map; or being given Ragnarok to drive in VIII); I wanted a story which took different routes and didn't reveal its main purpose until later on in the game etc. 

I've come to appreciate X more as time goes on because I've played linear JRPG's since then that I've thoroughly enjoyed (XIII-2; Xillia) so that isn't of itself a massive deal anymore.  But as a game from the time when it released, I could not have been more disappointed with the decisions they took with it and I think that will always taint my view of the title.

ffx was the last great ff! ffx-2 was good but when compared to ffxii and ffxiii that game was excellent so I don't c the hate for it ! these games ffx/ffx-2 was the last games to have all tings ff good battle system good characters lots of side quest job classes good stories (ffx-2 takes a lil enough to understand) so right now I am glad for these two games ! really not looking forward to ffxv from wat I have seen so far I hope all that talk that square promised the other day really happens

I don't know how old you were when you first played FFX, but I think if you played it now you might have a different perspective on it. I've played all the earlier ones and enjoyed most of them, FFX is my second favorite and playing through it again now has actually reaffirmed in my mind why it helralds over most.

I think you totally miss read some of the characters. I will give you TIdus, as he is whiney.....but he is purposely made to be. That was his character but he "mans up" half way through. I originally thought the love story between Yuna and Tidus was being hamfisted down our throats way back when but now I have noticed the subtly in it as well. Tidus and Yuna actually experience several fond moments where they start to connect, this is before Tidus figures out he is in love with her, before she really sees she cares for him. That scene that everyone loves to make fun of, them laughing awkwardly on that bridge, is actually pretty well put together. The laugh was suppose to be awkward as Tidus was being facecious about the request  and she was trying to make him laugh to cheer him up.

Like I describe in the OP, Yuna is quite the profound female lead. She is strong leader character, not a damsel ala Terra(VI), Garnet(IX),or Aerith(VII). She constantly gives little nuggets of wisdom to her fellow team members, keeping them motivated. At some point in the game you find that they know she takes their happiness very seriously, so they shield her from their sorrows, so she can stop bearing all the world's problems on her shoulders(as she has taken a considerable portion of the load already ya know?)

Lulu and Auron are your go too anti hero arch types that you can't help but like, but they are deep in their own way. Lulu is cold, because of her past. She has been on 3 pilgrimages, 1st two ending in failure, one ending with her Summoner's death. It has weighed very heavy on her. Not to mention her BF, Chappu being taken by SIN, just as her parents were when she and Wakka were really young. Auron was consumed with resentment for Yunalesca and all the powers that be, that would have his best friends, Braska and Jecht, sacrifice themselves for what he deemed to be a futile cause. Death and Time had hardened him, and things became more clear to him. He then gained a sort of cynical approach.

Wakka is weaker than the other characters for sure, but honest in his own way. He reminds me of a Texan. Born and raised in the church and Football Blitzball. Its the only world he knows. He comes off biggoted but how else is he to think when that is how he was raised? He grew a lot by mid game, being exposed to things/people he had placed judgement on before even knowing. Chappu's death really steeled his hatred for a long time of Al Bhed, yet seeing what happened to Rikku's home I think changed him. He realized no one deserved that. Then once they discovered what was going on in Bevelle....his whole world was shook, and he finally could see the world for what it was. Wakka's story is directly tied in to one of the over all themes of the game, religion.

Rikku is the bratty younger character of the group. She has an big heart, but an immature person's mind. She just wanted to save the Summoners(her cousin) from this cycle of sadness. She is also apart of an almost universally hated minority in Spira, so life is tough for her.

Kimari's story seems shallow early on. Big hulking lion who is just very protective of Yuna. Yet he sacrifice so much to get where he was. He made a promise to Auron, the wishes of a dying man, that he would make clear across the world to find this one girl to let her know of what has transpired, and that he would keep her safe. The fact he has kept this promise for so long is remarkable. Kimari is small for his race, and was picked on for not being strong, for not being able to accomplish anything of importance. Having his horn broken meant he was an utter disgrace to his people. Their horn represents their pride, Kimari was a Ronso without pride. He proved Yenke and Biron wrong on that account, and in the end they respected him for it.

Seymour is def a poor man's Sephiroth, and there were many things they could have done better......namely his design. He has some points of merit tho. He is meant to come off warped due to his childhood. He is a product of diplomacy, not love. He understands sometimes couplings and unions are barely more than a business transaction. He also witnessed his mother sacrifice herself as a faith so she could become the fierce Anima Aeon. From that point it seems he became obsessed with sacrifice, and the questions surrounding it. In his own warped way, he gave Spira a viable option out of this endless Cycle of Sin>Sacrifice>Calm>Sin. If everyone lived on as pyrefly abaritions of themselves, Sin could harm them no longer because fiends only seek out the living(unless provoked by the undead it seems). In that way, he could offer everyone eternal life.

And FFX had just the right amount of twists to make a story good but not dipping into M Night Shamalan territory.

-Tidus is a Dream of the Fayth

-The one that Yevonites Worship in hope of delivering them from "Sin" is actually the one that has plagued them with it in the first place.

-Sin is always reborn after requiring two sacrifices;A Summoner and someone they love as their Final Aeon.

-Auron is already dead and remained only to complete Jecht's request.

-First Summoner to stop Sin was Yunalesca(Yu Yevon's Daughter, who sacrificed her husband Zaon as her Final Aeon).......Yuna who took on her namesake was the last (in advertently sacrificed Tidus in the process).

-Everything that was mystical in the game. From fiends, to Fayth/Aeons, to Sin all derive from a single Spira anomoly....Pyreflies.

-Tidus was not from the past but rather a snow globed dream replica of Zanarkand in it's prime. THIS explains why he didn't know squat shit about Spira even tho he lived in it. The Dream Zanarkand was self maintaining in the allusion that it was real. Kind of how we don't recognize obvious fallacies of our own dream's.