The first Final Fantasy where a face could break before the voice did.
For fourteen games the heroes of Final Fantasy had spoken in silence — feelings spelled out in text boxes you filled in yourself. Final Fantasy X, the series' first leap onto PlayStation 2 in 2001, gave them voices and faces that actually moved with the words, lip and brow synced by motion capture. And then Square did something it had never dared: with X-2 it let one of those stories keep going, the first true sequel inside a numbered Final Fantasy. You start to notice it on the second playthrough — Tidus and Yuna weren't characters you read anymore. They were people whose silences you suddenly couldn't fill in for them.
About this game
Final Fantasy X is a 2001 role-playing video game for the playstation 2, developed by Square, directed by Yoshinori Kitase, with music by Nobuo Uematsu. It belongs to the Final Fantasy X subseries series.
Tricks & Tales
X was the first Final Fantasy with full voice acting, with facial expressions driven by motion capture and skeletal animation so lip movements matched the actors' speech. Its 2003 follow-up, Final Fantasy X-2, was the first direct sequel in the numbered Final Fantasy series — and the first with an all-female playable party (Yuna, Rikku, Paine). X dropped the long-running Active Time Battle for a Conditional Turn-Based system, and replaced classic leveling with the Sphere Grid — director Yoshinori Kitase, a board-game fan, wanted the feel of moving pieces and filling a board.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The PS2 is region-locked. A machine and a disc must belong to the same region to work together: NTSC-J (Japan and parts of Asia), NTSC-U/C (North America), or PAL (Europe, Australia). A Japanese console plays Japanese games. It is also Japanese 100-volt hardware — a fat model used in North America's 120 volts or Europe's 220–240 needs a step-down transformer; the slim models use an external adapter that can be swapped for the right one. DVD films carry their own separate region code, fixed to the console as well.
Maintenance Tips
The PS2's most vulnerable part is its optical drive. The laser pickup weakens with age, producing the famous Disc Read Error — discs that load slowly, read intermittently, or read games but not DVDs (or the reverse). Keeping the vents and internal fan free of dust matters, especially on the larger 'fat' models, which run warmer. Replacement laser units are still made, but match the part number to your exact model before buying, as several incompatible types exist. DualShock 2 controllers commonly develop sticky or drifting analog sticks with age; the rubber and contacts wear, and both are repairable.
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Final Fantasy X copies regularly.
Is the original PS2 disc the only way to play it?
No — Final Fantasy X was re-released as the HD Remaster (bundled with X-2) on PS3, PS Vita, PS4, Switch, PC and more. If you want the story rather than the original 2001 hardware experience, the Remaster is far cheaper and easier to find; the original PS2 disc is worth more to collectors.
What's the difference between the original Japanese release and 'International'?
The original Japanese FFX (July 19, 2001) was later followed by an 'International' version with extra content like the Expert Sphere Grid and bonus bosses, which is the version the HD Remaster is based on. If you specifically want the as-launched 2001 experience, check that a PS2 disc is the original release, not International.
Unexpected Discoveries
Games you weren't looking for — but might be glad you found.
Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Final Fantasy X sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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