Final Fantasy 10 - Tumblr Posts
" I made a promise that we'd always be together" I made this draw and I want cry a lot, because i remember Yuna break up with Tidus
Having been born in the 80′s, Final Fantasy was a big part of my childhood. I never finished FFVIII or FFXIII but figured that I should draw them anyways. My favourite? FFVI, which I believe is the most loved of the Final Fantasy series. I could be completely wrong though :P
i sat down and told myself to draw something cool and i accidentally drew a cute...
quick yuna sketch
ffx2 is my favorite magical girl anime
16 years later and this scene is still magic
Let's talk about Tidus and Yuna, shall we?
As someone who enjoys FFX, this probably should have come a long time ago. Tidus and Yuna's characters in the original Final Fantasy 10 are excellent.
Tidus successfully portrays a seventeen-year-old boy in this fantasy situation - slightly annoying, slightly arrogant because of his famous father and his own famous Blitzball career, and utterly overwhelmed by being thrust into an entirely new world without knowing if he can go home.
While FFX tries to fake you out into thinking it's a time-travel story where he has been thrust 1000 years into the future, the city of Zanarkand is a physical location in Spira that just requires you to be made of pyreflies to enter (aka dead or a summon). This makes Tidus essentially a summon, which is an interesting theory for another day. This means Zanarkand is just a place that hasn't changed in 1000 years, likely in some infinite loop imagining and reimagining people who had once lived there - warping them slowly over time, but ultimately just trying to keep the city alive (which is how we got Tidus from Shuyin, I think, idk I really don't care for 10-2's plot). The fayth were trying to imagine what would happen if Zanarkand was never destroyed, but I think they simply would have started running out of ideas for new people who lived there, so it did end up looping old characters into slightly newer forms. Like fanfiction characters, honestly.
But it's so great to see Tidus's journey. He starts the game a confused outsider just trying to survive, someone who doesn't mind speaking up about how he feels and what he believes. His outsider perspective provides a means for the audience to be introduced to Spira's world building as well, and we also get to see an unbiased point of view to Yevon's religion - and not necessarily a disrespectful one. Tidus, though he doesn't preach Yevon as a devout follower for his entire life, still tries to make an effort to be respectful of the good parts. When Shelinda corrects him, "That's MAESTER Seymour, or LORD Seymour", he says "Sorry, I'll be careful."
He dashes into the Cloister of Trials to save the summoner who might be in danger, regardless of the rules or presincts, because he's got a childish outlook life and a good heart despite his many inital arrogant qualities. He wants the best outcome, he's willing to believe in doing the right thing even when it's hard, and yeah it's unrealistic at times, but it's a breath of fresh air for the people of Spira who live rather docile lives always in fear of Sin and dedicating themselves to the kindness of Yevon's teachings. He admits "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea" after he breaks the rules for the first time, and watching Yuna on her pilgrimage and how she interacts with the people who admire her for her father and her own summoner status allows Tidus to humble himself while still remaining fundamentally defiant to anything he doesn't agree is right - aka Yuna sacrificing herself.
Religion isn't always a bad thing, and FFX makes a point to emphasize this. The people of Spira are kind and respectful, banding together in the hard times and unting together to have hope. Yuna is initially a beacon of hope - all summoners are - making people smile and flock to her wherever she goes, and she gives people respect and encourages them to have faith not only in her, but in themselves as well. Even when she's branded a traitor, a significant number of people recognize Yuna's dedication to the people and immediately believe the next tale about it all being an evil Al-Bhed rumor.
Yevon's corruption is just a few people abusing their power, twisting a good message into a cult-like dedication. Wakka is the most notable case, but technically all of the characters go through a period of blindly believing in the teachings and Yevon and eventually finding their own path. Even Tidus, who didn't grow up believing in Yevon or knowing its teachings, finds that the people's way of life living in rightful fear of Sin has them NEEDING Yevon and the messages of kindness and compassion it preaches. Maybe they shouldn't believe in everything the Maesters say Yevon is, but he can understand the intentions behind it and how the regular, uncorrupt people just live their lives trying to be good.
Now that I think about it, the parallels between Yevon and Blitzball actually make a lot of sense - Blitzball is the entertainment people go to in order to forget about the fears of Sin, and Yevon is the religion people worship in an effort to band together and have hope against Sin. Huh. No wonder a Blitzball sign for victory became a religious thing.
Anyway, Wakka eventually apologizes! He recognizes that the Al-Bhed are just people. They don't believe in Yevon's ways BECAUSE they care, just from a different perspective. Just because they don't believe in Yevon doesn't mean they're savages, and when their Home is destroyed by merciless Guado, he hears them singing the Hymn of the Fayth to respect their fallen as well. Wakka admits he didn't want to hear anything he didn't agree with, that he was a jerk, and Cid agrees that he's hated Yevonites just for being Yevonites too.
Here's a Wakka glare just for our collective amusement.
Who were we talking about? Ah, Tidus.
Tidus is indeed a whiny character, childish, toeing the line between humor and annoyance. But he matures throughout the course of his journey, caring for the entire crew but Yuna especially. When they reach Zanarkand and learn the truth about the Final Summoning, Lulu tells him, "If you want everything, you'll end up with nothing," and he replies, "But I want everything!" His unwavering hope and optimism even when everyone is telling him it's impossible is necessary for the story, to tell the characters that yes, your sacrifices will be pretty and give temporary relief, and you'll be dead and martyred and remembered - but how can it be right? It's not.
From his basic, outsider, new perspective on this world he only just joined, it's not right. He didn't grow up with this being normal, so even in comparison to the Al-Bhed, he knows that it's not.
There's a saying somewhere that I forget the source, but basically it goes like "Children are raised to believe the world is good and fair but are outraged when they grow to learn it is not." Tidus asks what an ADULT would do, sacrificing a summoner and just moving on with their lives like it was fine to give one life for many, just happy it wasn't them. Adults are indoctrinated into a way of life and a way of thinking, and it's extremely hard to get people to change their minds - but not, as FFX proves, impossible. Both he and Yuna are still kids, kids who are still able to grow up to see the world for what it truly is.
Yuna was betrayed by Yevon, all her beliefs torn down and the hope she had placed on the system shattered. But she continued her pilgrimage. She dreamt of all the fun things she could do if she quit, knew that all of her friends and Guardians would accept her choice, but she knew she could never let it go. She stood up to the Ronso saying that she was fighting for the people, not the temples or Yevon - impressing Kelk Ronso who says she has an iron will that towers over Gagazette's peaks.
She has given her everything to this trip, but it's not fair. Just because it's the right thing to do doesn't mean it's right - and you need a character like Tidus to put his foot down and say no. Everyone is willing to sacrifice themselves, everyone is willing to be the one to die so that others can be happy. But it's not fair. It's not right to let anyone die, even if they're willing, even if it's one for many. It's a temporary fix, it's feeding an endless cycle of lies and false hope. It's not real.
But it is YUNA who ultimately makes the choice to say no. All this time, she's been insisting she keeps going despite both Rikku and Tidus's protests and desperate attempts to get her to change her mind. She's been the most resolute out of all of them to go through with this, but in the end, it's not Tidus or Rikku who kill Yunalesca before she can get the chance or present her a stirring enough argument or some alternative. No, it's Yuna who asks directly what the cycle of the Final Summoning and Sin mean, hearing that the hope they offer is false, and when asked who will be her fayth, everyone is silent, waiting for her answer - because it is Yuna'a choice, Yuna's pilgrimage, Yuna's story. And she says, "No one."
She would have gladly died for the people of Spira, but she is done. She isn't going to join into this cycle of death and lies. Her father chose to become a summoner and defeated Sin, but it was because he truly believed that it would make a difference. He died because he had hope, and maybe it was indeed false hope, but somewhere deep down, he really did want to find a way to stop Sin for good. He and Jecht went into that battle hoping that Jecht and Auron would find a way to break the cycle. And let's be honest, they did. Tidus and Yuna were brought up differently, but they end up seeing each other's sides of the story and agreeing on so many things. The people are worth fighting for even when they're being misled.
Yunalesca's argument is that sorrow will always exist, and false hope is all anyone can offer to soften the blow. But Yuna is ready to live with her sorrow and brave whatever comes from it. She will find her own hope, even without knowing there will be another way, and she knows she will conquer it. She proved it long before she reached Zanarkand, after enduring Yevon's betrayal; now her methods have changed, but her end goal is as resolute as it's always been. She's going to defeat Sin, and she's going to give people REAL hope, even when it's hard.
Yuna says no to Yunalesca. She joins in the fight to destroy the Final Summoning forever, and slowly she learns that she can function beyond Yevon's teachings. The team who made 10-2 seemed to think that Yuna needed to toughen up and become some kind of badass (which they failed at portraying, Yuna is an utter wreck in that game and let's not talk about how Rikku devolved), but she was already a freaking strong character! She stood up for herself the entire game as a strong-willed summoner willing to give her life for the cause, but she also stood up for herself by declaring she would LIVE. It's entirely in character for her, even when she's changing her mind and broadening her horizons. Yuna was the character who smiled even knowing she was on a long, slow journey that would end in her death, who was willing to do it if it would make others smile too. That is a strong character right there.
I do agree that she might not know what to do with her life now that she doesn't plan to die, but come on, don't make her into a wanna-be who tries to pretend like she doesn't care only to reveal yup she cares, what a pushover. Her caring nature is what makes her great to watch! Frustrating when she tries to do everything on her own with the Seymour thing, but entirely in character. Empowering when she makes her own choices and decides for herself. I don't know why she does nothing for two whole years during Eternal Calm but okay maybe I can see it. But for her to try doing a 180, respecting no one and no one respecting her even though she DEFEATED SIN was such a mistake. Plus the mini games in 10-2 are utterly atrocious. Anyway, tangent over.
But then the script has flipped at the end of 10. Tidus is the one that realizes Zanarkand is what Sin is protecting, that defeating Sin will make the whole city and everyone made from the dream disappear. He is the one who has to sacrifice himself for Sin to be defeated. Unlike summoners, however, Sin won't come back if he does this. He's grown across the journey just like Jecht did, following a summoner and learning what it means to want to give your life living in hope that it'll save everyone else.
Yuna has to sacrifice the Aeons she's forged her own bond with - which, remember, every summoner makes a unique bond with the aeons. She has to say goodbye to Auron, see Sir Jecht only one more time as he gives his life as an Aeon and uses the last of his power to give his sword for the final battles to fight on (did ya notice that?). Then, in the final tragic scene, Tidus becomes intangible and tries to say a cheerful goodbye, apologizing for not being able to show her Zanarkand like they had pondered when Yuna was dreaming of the things she'd do if she abandoned her pilgrimage and lived. Now, Yuna is the one having to say goodbye to the one sacrificing their life. The soft piano, the wailing of the colorful pyreflies as they disperse with all the dead, it's freaking beautiful man.
Yuna's final line hits hard too, her speech about how everyone has lost homes, dreams, and friends. They can build new homes and new dreams, even if they can't get back lost friends. "The people and the friends that we have lost...or the dreams that have faded...never forget them." Get it? Be...Because Tidus is a dream that faded? Anyway I'll just be crying in the corner over here don't mind me.
In the end, it's sort of understandable why Yuna just sits around in Besaid after the end of 10 during Eternal Calm. Maybe. Not only did she have no plans for her life after Sin was defeated (thinking she would be the one to die), but she lost her entire purpose in life AND she's reeling from the fact that even though she made the choice not to sacrifice herself just for everyone else's false hope, someone still had to give their life - Tidus. Someone still ended up dying for the cause, even after all she went through deciding to live.
The ONLY moments I actually respect Yuna from 10-2 is during the end, when Nooj volunteers a plan to give his life to win the battle (which was already stupid even before Yuna's speech because we're talking about an Unsent, Nooj your plan does nothing to stop someone who's already dead, idiot). Yuna's lines are extremely good and well voice acted too: "'We had no choice.' Always 'We had no choice.' Those are our magic words. We repeat them to ourselves again and again. But you know... The magic never worked! The only thing we're left with is regret. No. I don't want this anymore. I don't want friends to die...or fade away. I don't want battles where we have to lose in order to win."
It also demonstrates better than that stupid minigame how difficult it was for Yuna to have destroyed the aeons she had forged a bond with. What I'm saying is, fuck Beclem and everyone else who dares disrespect Yuna, summoners, and everything they went through. Even though that time and age in Spira might be over, that's NO reason to immediately scoff in the face of everything all those people went through - everything YUNA sacrificed and endured for the sake of these ungrateful whelps.
Both Tidus and Yuna were excellent protagonists of X, despite both of them having a lot of growing to do. In conclusion, let me make use of this fun poll feature if you made it this far down:
I think Tidus is one of the most overlooked and overly bashed-on protagonists ever and a lot of what op said about him is why I think he’s awesome, actually.
Okay, yes, Tidus is ABSOLUTELY an annoying, kinda cringe character. He is a superstar teenage boy with daddy issues. But his kinda bratty and childish attitude and ideals are what make him such a driving change in Spira, a place in which death, and the acceptance of the way things are are ingrained in the citizens and ruling powers.
(Also I think a lot of people tend to forget they were also, in fact, kind of bratty and annoying as a teenager.)
Spira and its people accept the status quo. That loving something is deciding to do what you think is “best” for them.
Tidus asks the question, “who decided that this was how it’s supposed to be?” He believes that there ARE other ways of doing things. That there are other solutions. He won’t accept the way things are if he sees other ways of succeeding. To put it simply, bro is in it to win it and I vibe with that a lot.
Also, Tidus is just a very upfront, tell it like he thinks, and eager dude. He’s a super endearing character to me. The way he cares about things, and people with everything he’s got. Pushes constantly towards something better. He says that anyone can learn the Jecht Shot if they practice hard enough, directly opposing his father Jecht, who says that nobody can hope to make that shot, simply because he’s better. Tidus earnestly builds people up, encouraging them to aim higher, while Jecht berates in (I believe) an attempt to “toughen” people up.
Anyways, I could say more but I’ll have to actually gather my thoughts properly for that, but…
Tidus, you may be cringe and annoying and bad to some, but that cringe and annoying personality is ENDEARING TO ME. I’m always defending one of my my top 10 protags of all time to the end, even with his crazy ass early 2000s rpg fit (which is camp and cool I’m sorry, please argue with the brick wall if you disagree) and roots that NEED to be re-bleached‼️
Crystal Lore: Final Fantasy X was the first Final Fantasy I played to completion. At the time, my friends at school who had Playstation consoles were all big into FF7, and insisted I should try it. Well as fortune would have it, my step-brothers had a Playstation 2, so there was hope. But by that point, FF7 was hard to specifically find, and it would take a while before I got ahold of it. FF10, however, was current, so my father got me that. It was the second RPG I ever played, after Grandia 2, which was part of a Dreamcast bundle game my dad got. The fact that both games heavily featured an evil church and defeating god with a group of teenagers meant that I assumed every RPG was just like that.
Anyway, all this to say I actually really like FF10. It's a fun game! It's goofy, but in a way that felt sincere! The specific dialogue is awkward at times, more a matter of direction than anything, but but I loved this game. So unlike the PS1 era, my recollection of its main story was very strong, and I went into this kinda knowing I'd vibe with it. Still, much to talk about.
Usual disclaimer going into this: a lot of my desire to replay the series as a whole stems from playing the Pixel Remasters, then watching Professor Bopper's analysis videos on the games. He has one out for the PS2 games now, and as usual, the assessment of game's themes is deeper than anything I would've come up with on my own, so I'll be trying to stick to personal thoughts or anything I can add while shilling his videos. I like them a lot.
Shortly after the era in which I played this, we had that era of the internet where reviewers would kinda tear into everything for sport. FF10 was, of course, caught in the blast, for being kind of bizarre in a lot of its framing and stilted in its voice direction. Of particular harm was Tidus, a protagonist who is cringe as hell. His dad is a major star sportsman who became a legendary guardian, turning around his shittier ways for the sake of saving a world he barely knows. Comparatively, Tidus is often seen as a whiny braggart who acts petulant about most things. I'm not here to say that Tidus is not those things, but I am here to say that's kind of why I vibe with him.
A major takeaway of the Bopper video is that Tidus, as someone external to Spira who doesn't think like its inhabitants, is the only one capable of looking for solutions outside of the cycle of abuse, violence, and death. Examining Tidus through that lens does offer quite a lot, pretty much from second one. The blitzball angle is played up a lot, and one of the earliest scenes around it is Tidus agreeing to play for Wakka's team. When he asks Wakka about his goals, Wakka expresses he just wants to do his best with no regrets, to which Tidus (correctly) goes "no, absolutely not, if you're gonna play you play to win." The idea of actually winning at the sport he plays never even crossed Wakka's mind. It just never seemed like a possibility, and thus wasn't something worth pursuing. How could there be anything outside of his belief?
This continues all the way through their confrontation with Yunalesca in Zanarkand. They're told the Final Aeon is bunk, they're told that Yuna and one of the guardians must die to see it through anyway, and start lining up to volunteer. When Tidus presses his objections, the others call him childish, and he has to ask "then what would an adult do? Just let Yuna die?"
What I wound up really liking about Tidus is that, while his visions of what should be done seem loftly to the point of absent idealism, he's grounded in material outcomes. You play the sport because you want to win. You fight Sin because you want it gone for good, and no half-measures will cut it. No one should die for something that won't fix a problem. Any fight that's lasted hundreds of years means something is being done wrong. It's an interesting angle, having your petulant, childish protagonist actually be the most materially sensible person here. It also makes for a strong contrast with Seymour, who is similarly about material ends. He signs off on the Operation Mi'ihen plan to destroy Sin with machina, not because he thinks it'll work, but because it's worth trying a different way, and everyone is doing this for the right reasons. Tidus even comments that while it's not something he's supposed to say for his station, what Seymour says there made sense to him.
But their differences are the thematic heart of the story. While Tidus seeks a way to fully defeat Sin, Seymour, like the rest of Spira, cannot see beyond what they know. Seymour's only perceived solution is to accelerate the cycle until it can no longer replicate. When everything is dead, nothing can die, and thus we have defeated Sin. He embodies the defeatist attitudes of the world at large, and the depressing acceptance that things just have to be this way.
The other angle I think is interesting is the dynamics of power and those at the top. There's the obvious in Jecht's braggart nature and constantly putting down his son, but you also have things like the Luca Goers being poor sports and getting away with it because they're favored to win, Biran and Yenke being assholes to Kimahri because Biran's the strongest of the Ronso, or the maesters of Yevon doing whatever they want because you know we need proper leadership so we'll twist the teachings for ourselves while the rest of you sacrifice yourselves. There's a constant sort of bullying going on in the foreground, and wild abuses of power within the structures that govern the world.
But it's important to remember that in his world, Tidus was at the top. He was the best player of the best team, and from his position at the top...he's willing to teach kids how to play, engages more casually with his fans, and builds up Wakka's team of losers so bad they've never won a singular game by insisting any of them could learn the Jecht Shot with enough practice. Tidus is unique in Spira, in how he refuses to really abuse his position. It's a huge point of pride he has, and it's something he throws around a bit to show why he's able to back up his claims, but he's never hostile toward others about it.
This leads into the bigger aspect: everyone in Spira is really bad at love.
Auron makes a point of showing Tidus that no, Jecht really did love you. He cared deeply, but his means of showing that were atrocious. Similarly, Biran and Yenke torment Kimahri, with the belief that if he holds to shame, he will improve as a warrior like they'd want for him. This doesn't work, Kimahri can't overcome them until he finds someone he's willing to fight and potentially die for, but the point remains. In Spira, love is shown in the manner you think is best for them, and it...does not go well.
Yuna's arranged marriage to Seymour really hammers this in. Lulu talks about how sure, she would want Yuna to marry for love, but she can't. Yuna is destined to sacrifice herself, and thus there is no place for her feelings in the matter. The love she must endure is what others want for her, and only Tidus really calls this out as incredibly messed up. Seymour's ambition here is to become the Final Aeon and jump to Sin, which is fully explained when you meet Yunalesca and understand the process. Yunalesca explains the Final Aeon as an "act of love," be it between partners or friends. The willingness to sacrifice yourself for another is the act of love that can defeat Sin.
...except we know that doesn't work. Lingering in the background the whole game is Chappu, Lulu's fiance and Wakka's brother, who became a Crusader to fight Sin. In his passed-on words, he believed "Keeping your girl close is good, but keeping Sin far away from her is better." With that belief that the way Lulu needed to be loved was by him fighting...he died. Uselessly, he died, and the trauma of his loss continues to hurt Lulu and Wakka even now. By loving them in the way he felt best, rather than in the way they would have wanted, he caused more harm than good. This is a microcosm of the cycle of Sin. The Final Aeon is born from an act of love - the love you believe is best for others. But this act causes others harm, and it contorts, recreating Sin in an endless cycle.
(Quick note I can't fit in anywhere else: this is also why Seymour is the way he is. His mother sacrifices herself to become an aeon, anticipating it will make him strong enough to live on his own as he needs to being half-human half-Guado, but loving him like she thinks is best fails him entirely and he falls into a sense that death is the only way out, so whoopsie.)
This is, again, where Tidus is unique. He alone loves others as they would want. He cares deeply for Yuna as a person, and engages her at a personal level, never once deciding that self-sacrifice is a viable option. He connects with Wakka over blitzball and resolves to help Wakka, but pushes Wakka to remember why he picked up the game in the first place. He encourages Kimahri to push back on Biran and Yenke's abuse. For all his whining in Luca about "Why did I have to know, why did it have to be me?" He's right. No one ever really considered his feelings in the matter on...well, anything. And in his position as a star player, in what capacity he can, he's determined not to inflict that same pain on anyone else. He loves deeply and earnestly, but most important, he loves others in the way they would want, and doesn't impose what he believes is best on anyone. I dunno, I...really liked Tidus, actually.
By gameplay, the game is excellent. Characters feel distinct from one another, but notably, the system allows for a fast-paced rotation of characters in and out of battle without consuming a turn. By setting up enemy encounters with a sort of "X beats Y" mentality, you rotate your party around frequently, giving everyone ample play, in order to make the most of your characters. At a basic level, Tidus can beat the fast wolf and lizard enemies, Wakka beats fliers, Lulu beats elementals, and Yuna summons for the major HP blobs like Ochu. What this culminates in is boss fights where you have a machine weak to Electric attacks, but it has a flying magic-suppressant, so you lead with Wakka and Kimahri to take out the suppressor then swap in Yuna and Lulu to dish out heavy damage. It's a great system.
The level up system is also replaced with the Sphere Grid. You actively move your character along a line of progression toward stat boosts and skills, and it's...okay, it's a little too heavy on micromanagement, but it's not much of a problem, and opens up options for customization. Kimahri is the poster child for this, being your Blue Mage who can take any given path to copy another player's stats and skills. I went with White Mage because healing good, but I made sure to grab Steal and Use too for utility. I was also able to double back and get Lulu Lancet so MP was never a concern, and had Yuna (and Kimahri) cross over into Lulu's grid to pick up -aga spells late-game. The grid works out okay.
There are smaller systems, like powering up your Aeons or applying custom effects to equipment, but I never used them. Much like FF9, equipment determines additional effects and skills, but unlike FF9, you're kinda at the mercy of whatever skills drop on items, as customizing takes rare items and quite a lot of them to apply. It's also meaningless. I never bought any equipment, and I rarely swapped things around. Armor for immunities or resistances, sure, but weapons? Not once.
*sigh* At this point, I do need to consider something. It's a question that's been eating at me for nearly two weeks now. When assessing the quality of a game as a full experience...should the optional post-game content count against it?
Because if yes, oh my god does this game fall apart. FF10's postgame is, bar nothing, the worst postgame experience I have ever endured. I finished the main game in like 22-24 hours. My save file is currently sitting at 69 hours, and we have way too many more hours to go. We're frankly not even close to done.
See, the postgame goes through multiple phases. First is monster catching. You're introduced to this early, but the short is you eventually go back and catch 10 of every monster in the world. It's super tedious because there's always a rare one, and you need special equipment to do it. Hooray.
Second is getting the Celestial Weapons. These are infuriating, because they required you to engage with some of the worst minigames known to man. Dodge 200 lightning bolts with precision timing! Race a chocobo that barely listens to you without getting hit by obstacles that swerve a full 90 degrees to hit you! Play Blitzball for like six hours, resetting the league at least twice and starting all your progress over! It's painful, but somehow, at least the pain is a sensation.
Step three! From the captured monsters, you can now fight really strong fiends that are frankly too strong for you, hope you found Anima and/or Magus Sisters, because now you have to farm stat boosting spheres to apply to the sphere grid to cap stats! This involves also farming a billion activation spheres, which were never a problem in the main game but are a massive roadblock now, and dealing with exceptionally slow fights like Jumbo Flan, who takes several minutes to beat one (1) time. You will farm it at least 10 times. All of this is to cap everyone's stats and get all skills on the sphere grid, which has the side-effect of removing the sense of unique attributes each character had, in favor of "Everyone is max speed and attack, and just spams Quick Hit until Yuna summons to block an instant kill death attack." It sucks.
But wait! That's just to beat Nemesis, the strongest fight in the old NA version! The Remaster is international, which means my childhood self can fulfill its desire to beat the Dark Aeons and Penance! You know! Once you farm 300 HP spheres because Break HP Limit feels goddamned mandatory on these fights, and also 53 luck spheres from the worst fight known to the series. Because the Dark Aeons involve fights that can dodge every attack if you didn't cap luck. Yeah, turns out no matter how high your accuracy is, if your foe is even just kinda evasive, you'll never hit. You need to cap luck. But that also means farming Fortune Spheres from another awful monster arena boss. See, both Luck and Fortune spheres are dropped by monsters that counterattack every move you make with high animation time spells. They have 1.5 million and 1.1 million HP respectively, which if you hit damage cap each swing, is 16 and 12 attacks respectively. Oh and the former casts Ultima, which is 12 goddamned seconds of animation. That fight lasts 5 minutes on a good run, and like 80% of it is watching its goddamned counter animation. And you do all of this...so your Quick Hits will connect, and you can tank their counterattacks. Provided you made equipment that has Break HP Limit (farm Nemesis, other Dark Aeons, or fight Shinryu 25 times for one (1) character), Ribbon or Stoneproof because they all inflict petrification that instant shatters removing the party member entirely, and Auto-Haste, which requires a shitload of cash to bribe an encounter enemy, which sucks because you also need a ton of cash to even fight these arena fights (the asshole charges you to deal with this) and then over 3 million to remove the worthless sphere grid nodes with Clear Spheres. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: the sphere grid is cluttered with useless +1, +2, and +3 stat point nodes, and all HP nodes are +200. Remove literally all of them, undoing all your progress and replacing them with the farmed stat boost spheres, or you don't have enough room to get your stats where they need to go in order to participate in the postgame fights. Anyway, you beat all the Dark Aeons with this and then find out Penance doesn't even use status, it just uses big damage so you want Auto-Protect to cut that down and Auto-Regen to recover BUT WAIT! Skills can't be overwritten on equipment in this game, so while you need Break HP Limit and Auto-Haste, you don't need Ribbon, and that earlier equipment is useless, so you have to start that process all over again! Isn't that fun?! Hahaha! HAHAHA! HAAAAAA! AAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Fortunately, I didn't count postgame against 7 or 8, so I won't count it against 10. 10's really good, I liked it a lot. I think 5 and 9 outrank it just on preference for gameplay, but this might be #3. Just do not look at postgame. Ignore it. There is nothing worse. Engage with the really nice story and snappy gameplay and live freely and beautifully. Don't even think about the Celestial Weapons, they're not important. Just keep moving forward. Do get Anima, though. Such a cool summon.