Something about this game was otherworldly, not only in the literal sense of which is manifested in the narrative, but also in the way it was presented.
This was when Squaresoft was at their absolute height, and the swan song of "Square Prime," in my opinion. They'd gone full-in with extreme graphics and innovation in the PS1 titles, which were great successes, and FFX was their chance to showcase what they could do with new hardware. And they nailed it.
Let me go over what I love about it piece by piece:
There is a central aesthetic theme. That theme is tropical scenery and water. It's pervasive throughout the whole game in extremely creative ways. Soft colors like blue are prevalent everywhere. Look at Macalania Forest,
or Tidus' sword,
or the paradise island of Besaid,
and it's very clear that there was a desire to convey a very specific mood with its environments and environmental setpieces. It's calming and serene and cool and natural, and it works even better coming off of the (extremely complimentary and still water-based) technological wonderland of Zanarkand in the prologue.
Which leads me to my next point - the world is made to feel sufficiently alien through Tidus, who comes from a world much more similar to our own (despite still being firmly fantastical). Everything that wows us wows him, everything that seems weird or depressing to us is the same to him. The game and its fantastical atmosphere are conveyed perfectly through the medium that is Tidus, and it certainly helps to sell what the game is going for.
And then there's a major narrative device that the game relies on, which is contrast. The entire game is about contrast. Religion vs. Freedom, Technology vs. Nature, Submission vs. Rebellion, Life vs. Death. Even the ordinarily calm environments are permeated with a constant sense of dread and melancholy because of Sin, who can appear anywhere, and at any time. The father Tidus knows is a deadbeat dad, but the Jecht Spira knows is a renowned hero. Everything contrasts with something else, and the game uses this to make its characters - and the player - question what's really the right answer to certain problems, or what to think about certain people.
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| Praise be to Yevon. |
There's also a sense of intrinsic mystery to everything about the game. Why does Sin exist? If Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago, how did Tidus end up in Spira - is it an alternate universe, time travel, or what? How did Jecht and Auron know Tidus' Zanarkand? Why does Blitzball exist in both universes? The game is riddled with questions from the very beginning, and it delivers a satisfying answer to all of them by the end.
The music also does a wonderful job setting a melancholy, dreamlike tone throughout the game. Wandering Flame or To Zanarkand are obvious examples of this, but even the battle theme is sort of bubbly and subdued, just like everything else in the game. Seymour's battle theme makes you feel like you're caught in a sort of trance despite being generally upbeat, but still manages to have a sinister undertone. The audio is on point.
This game was a wonderful experience. I loved almost everything about it.
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