Love the breakdown and appreciation for Hamauzu's style of music. For many years his music got unfair criticism for simply being "Not Uematsu". The guy writes music with his own style and distinct feeling to it. You either like it or you don't. That doesn't mean it's bad just because it doesn't match the style of the previous composer. Only Uematsu can write an Uematsu soundtrack anyway. I wish more people would understand that.
Hamauzu's work on Saga Frontier, FFXIII, and The Alliance Alive is absolutely phenomenal. He has his own recognizable, even unique style that deserves to be present in more games.
@@havocbringer2100 One of my favorite Hamauzu tracks from the Saga frontier2 OST: ua-cam.com/video/PBfa735UJ_8/v-deo.html This song just instantly transports me to a far away unexplored forest somewhere.
I don't know if the criticisms are always unfair if the point, which likely underpins the sentiment, is that Uematsu's style is what they associate with and consider a fundamental building block of FF's identity. I don't think most people dislike Hamauzu in the context of, say, FFXIII because they think his music is objectively bad or something.
I hated XIII, but the music made it bearable to complete. I have similar sentiments for Saga 2. Hamauzu is a good composer & has his own style. Just wish his music made it in to better games. Lol.
Hey guys, I wanted to add a few things about the music part, mostly about Hamauzu (it's going to be really long so enjoy the info dump I guess...): -Hamauzu graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine and Arts and Music, more specifically from the vocal music department. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was an opera singer and the manager of a choir for children. This background defined Hamauzu's sense of harmony due to extensive exposure to canonical music. I felt it was important to point that out, since those classical influences are a huge part of his signature style, on top of being very important elements to understand FFX's musical identity. -Hamauzu is one of the first composers to have entered this industry because of his love of video game music (similarly to Shimomura). He got his first jab at composing for games at Square in 1996, and got to work directly with Uematsu, Mitsuda and Nakano on Front Mission: Gun Hazard as a composer, already bearing a very clear and distinct style. He forged very strong and respectful working relationships with all of the above, and they still collaborate to this day as seen with the FF7 Remake series and the recent Chrono Cross Piano Collections. Hamauzu basically seems to be Mitsuda's go-to arranger when it comes to piano arrangerments in general. -In 1997, Uematsu allowed him to work on his first solo soundtrack, Chocobo's Dungeon. Both the opening and ending were recorded with a 50-pieces orchestra, which was a first for Square. He composed, arranged, and orchestrated the whole thing himself. It left both Uematsu and Sakaguchi very impressed, and they allowed Hamauzu to create a fully orchestrated album with 11 of the tracks heard in the game, Coi Vanni Gialli, released the same year. That's right, Masashi Hamauzu (sort of) paved the way for orchestral openings/endings in Square games. -In 1999, SaGa Frontier 2 released. I could talk about that OST for hours, but I'll keep it short. On top of just being very agreeable to listen to - and aging extremely well thanks to Ryo Yamazaki's excellent synth operating - it further semented Hamauzu's eclectic musical identity, to the point that he got attacked for straying away from the musical identity built by Uematsu, Sasai and especially Kenji Ito. Hamauzu had actually tried to imitate Ito's style, but asked himself at some point what was the purpose of creating music by imitating someone else. He ended up scrapped everything he had made to start again. In many ways, it is his "quintessential" work, where he fully asserted his identity as an artist. Uematsu didn't care about ersatz of his style either (he said so many times), and I believe SaGa Frontier 2 and its arranged album - and Nakano's wonderful soundtrack for Dewprism - further convinced him that those were the guys to do it. (We're getting to FFX, I promise!) -You probably know about this already, but Hamauzu both sung and directed the One Winged Angel choir for FF7. The choir was made up of a few of his freinds and his wife, Matsue Fukushi. He was also behind the short extract of Haydn's "the Creation" that plays during the Plate fall as President Shinra is looking at the destruction. He believed classical music would make it more dramatic and even programmed the synths himself. Uematsu called the O.W.A. choir "team Hamauzu" and worked with them for FF8 (remember Liberi Fatali? They were the singers!), FFX and FFXI though of course without Masashi who was too busy composing for other Sqaure games. -We finally got to FFX! So both Hamauzu and Nakano were free to compose as they liked without any particular oversight from Uematsu (though of course he gave his input on the tracks, he was the music producer). A few of the tracks credited as "composed by Nobuo Uematsu" on the OST are arrangements from Hamauzu ("Spira Unplugged", "A Fleeting Dream/Someday The Dream Will End", EVERY single variation of the "Hymn" including "the Sending" (Uematsu only composed the base melody, the harmony/choir arrangement have that Hamauzu sound all over them, especially the "Spira" version)) and Nakano (Movement in Green, A Contest of Aeons...). I think you should keep in mind that, if you recognize an Uematsu melody in a track that doesn't sound like his usual style, he probably isn't the one behind it. Thank you for reading all this, also English isn't my mother tongue so I apologize for the typos. Keep up the good work ! Update : Some of these sources are in french only, but I can translate specific passages if needed. General info: vgmdb.net/artist/145 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Hamauzu en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Final_Fantasy_X www.vgmonline.net/masashihamauzu/ (French only) techno.konbini.com/fr/gaming/on-a-rencontre-masashi-hamauzu-le-compositeur-des-musiques-de-final-fantasy-x-et-xiii/ (French only) www.ffworld.com/ff/final-fantasy-xiii/portrait-de-masashi-hamauzu/ This one is great as it was written by one of the leaders of Wayo Records (they published many Hamauzu albums after he went freelance). It was specifically written by Jérémie Kermarrec, who knows both Hamauzu and Uematsu personally. He's one of the writers of Smile Please, Uematsu's biography. A great interview with Hamauzu and Benyamin Nuss (starts around 56:30): ua-cam.com/video/JqgU7UPwpv0/v-deo.html FF7 credits (the Sephiroth choir appears around 13:30) ua-cam.com/video/DliMpiemUy8/v-deo.html Remake: ua-cam.com/video/karQD6_NI9Y/v-deo.html More specifically about FFX : www.newsweek.com/final-fantasy-x-masashi-hamauzu-interview-1409873?amp=1 the FFX liner notes translated into English! web.archive.org/web/20120523071758/chudahs-corner.com/liners/index.php?catalog=SSCX-10054~7 + some liner notes, specific books about FF games developpement and a few obscure interviews. I'll definitely update this comment if I find any. Hope it helps !
Aside from this being quality information, I'm glad someone was able to tell me what that classical section was from the Shinra tower during the plate collapse cutscene. I've wondered if it was from something for 25 years and I finally have my answer! Thank you for putting some light on that mystery!
Your English is very good! I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to leave this long and detailed comment. I consider myself a fan of Hamauzu and I didn't know half of this stuff! Very interesting. Oh, and I love the soundtrack of SaGa Frontier 2 as well. I don't hear about that game or its OST much, so it's always nice to see someone bring it up.
This was a fascinating in-depth look at Hamauzu's past and his journey to FF X, thanks! I love learning this kind of stuff, and it was so illuminating about how his style came to be developed. So many composers' styles make so much sense when you look at their history and the influences that drove them, it's really interesting. Hamauzu is something special, that's for sure.
One of the things that really defines Uematsu's style is that it's clearly *piano* music. Many of his tracks have a clear left hand (playing arpeggios) and a right hand, that's playing scales. Even when Uematsu changes instruments for those left-hand accompaniments, you'll hear guitars, shakuhachis, oboes, english horns, and bells playing classic piano patterns like the Alberti bass. It's a quirk that comes from his self-taught experience as a keyboardist. The repetitive background you talk about for Hamauzu is (in some cases) an "ostinato."
Yeh this is a really good way of explaining it. It’s difficult to think of an Uematsu track that couldn’t be played satisfyingly on the piano. But how would you play, say, The Cradle Will Fall on the piano?
I hear a lot of Claude Debussy in Uematsu's music. No doubt Uematsu was influenced by him. The crystal prelude reminds me a lot what debussy does with the repeated ascending/descending arpeggio in Deux arabesques, L. 66: No. 1. The FF7 song "if you open your heart" was basically ripped off of Debussy's song "Reverie". Check it out.
To Zanarkand is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard come out of a video game. I had learned how to play part of it on guitar and it's quite difficult (at least for me). And that song is FAMOUS. If you look it up people have done countless guitar covers, piano covers, I mean they have Final Fantasy X orchestra, in concert, you name it and it's there man.
I always thought Auron's performance was miles above the rest of the cast. In retrospect, maybe it was the fact that his mouth was, for a lot of his scenes, out of view due to his clothes that it allowed the actor the freedom to act out the lines naturally rather than force them on the rythm of another language.
That's a great point. I've always found it interesting that most people agree he's the best performed of the main cast, despite his actor being by far the least prominent of the English voice actors. That freedom is likely a contributing factor.
Im trying to introduce my bf to jrpg and gaming in general. I think FFX is a good game to start with. The story is good and aged well, the learning curve for battle is well paced and its fun to watch someone playing it.
I know a few people who it was their first time getting gripped by a rpg/jrpg. Its combat polished just enough without being overwhelming with modern action-rpg style. Fairly organic and fleshed out world, and a fun story. Definitely have him give it a go! ❤
I have watched and listend to numerous different podcasts, videos, retrospective shows ect...you two just do it better than most. The depth, the care of which you put towards the games and how you relay it is top notch....bar none...i have most if not all your videos downloaded and watch most of them over and over. Keep up the good work guys.🤘🏻🙏🏻✌🏻
FFX is one of my favorite games of all time and it's through watching FFX content on youtube that I found Dark Pixel in the first place. Thank you for covering this.
@@mikehumes1483 yeah that’s what I thought! But I guess we were wrong. The game was written in japanese first, the name was Tida which means sun, which they explain around the 38 min mark.
It’s such crazy coincidence that this video came out today. I literally just finished replaying through the game last night. I hadn’t really touched it in years, and it’s interesting to pick on all the subtle moments in the story that completely flew over my head as kid. I’ve always known the game was amazing, but replaying it as an adult really gave me a new found appreciation for it. I’m really interested in seeing what you guys have to say about it.
I wasn't planning to play along with this one cause I've played through FFX 3 or 4 times, but once you played Tidus' theme, I decided I have to play it again with the podcast...Uematsu's music is really special. I think he made Final Fantasy what it was more than anyone else.
Whenever I hear even the tiniest beat of Tidus' theme I need to hear the radio guy from the start of the game. There's just something about it that I "can't live without" for lack of a better way to put it. It's somehow just so precious a moment to me I guess.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this podcast. I have been a huge Mitsuda and Uematsu fan since I was a child. I love how you explore all the details of the development and use examples. Extremely well done. PLEASE keep up the good work- this is a great format!
For the pronunciation of "Tidus", I like many others growing up would use the long "I" ("eye") sound. And a lot of that came from seeing a small subtle pattern (whether correct or not) that had been used for previous (and future) main characters, having names that reference things like the earth, water, or weather - Terra, Cloud, Squall, Lightning. Tidus just seemed to naturally refer to the tide, with water being such a focus in the game, and how the appearance of Sin itself is cyclical, like the tide.
I haven’t watched y’all’s content in a couple years and I just want to say y’all are both looking fantastic! Excited to start following you again and catch up on the backlog of what you’ve been up to.
I am incredibly excited to play along with everyone for the first time! I recently stumbled upon the podcast while replaying Xenogears and have spent the last several weeks going through all of the other analysis series.
I want to thank y’all for what y’all do. I lost my job last year and then more life changing events hit my family even harder. I love y’all’s analysis on my favorite video game of all time. I started a new career in the trucking industry and I had to travel and leave my family for some time to go to school it was the hardest thing, but I came across your podcast and can I just say y’all brought me so much peace when I listen to y’all. It truly helped me while I traveled even now while I’m in my new career. I thank y’all and truly want to support you guys in the future!
I think Final Fantasy X is my favourite piece of art. The one that I can revisit countless times and feel at home and get emotional. I can't recall any book, movie, song, painting or anything that is as meaningful or touching to me as this masterpiece. Or at least one that keeps being that important in my life through decades now.
I never realized how great FFX soundtrack was even though it's one of my favorite games. Instantly when you played the samples (great decision!) It took me back. That's amazing how music does that.
I don't comment often, but just want to say that I love you guys and this channel, as always--a breath of fresh air. I definitely feel like I can say I know a pretty good bit about Final Fantasy trivia, but I always learn something new about the development or history of a game whenever I watch the podcasts. Always so interesting, and it's just always a pleasant experience. Final Fantasy X was the first FF game I bought and played back in the day, so I definitely have a bit of a soft spot for it. I've always loved the incredible music and unique world building and environment this game provides. Anyways, thank you and I am looking forward to the next episode!
Going for a more aisian fantasy story is interesting. Brandon Sandersons recently anounced Secrect Project #3 Is going to be his stab at a eastern fantasy and specifically names FFX as a influence. So now it inspires Western Fantasy Writting But you can also see a lot of FFX themes subconciously in Stormlight Archive. The cylclical nature of devestations and high storms. Spren/Pyreflies. War in the Shattered Plains/Operation Mihen. Chasmfeinds/Sinspawn
Also played through recently. Got a sinus infection when Covid was in full-swing, but it lasted a week and had me a little nervous. First thing I did while stuck at home was start a new run of FFX.
FF 10 is tied with 7 as my favorite game in the series. I love the characters, story, and gameplay. I think it’s the last FF with true turn based combat. I know it’ll probably never happen but I would love another FF like this.
Final Fantasy VI had such a clear style that I have asked multiple artists for a "magitek" style tileset while developing RPGs, and have barely had to communicate anything else about it in order to get what I want. FFVI created its own style.
It was the first (along with Skies Of Arcadia which would be an AMAZING game for the guys to cover) game where I finally felt like I was old enough to appreciate and have the patience for a 50 hr turned-based RPG and it’s stuck with me all this time.
18:53 The music comparison between composers is really interesting because you can very easily tell which composers come from a period of strict hardware limitations and which ones do not, very minimalist versus maximalist purely because of where they came from. Neither approach is better or worse, but they do create VERY different vibes. Uematsu’s compositions tend to be very “intimate” whereas Hamauzu’s tend to be more “ethereal”, and I think both of them have their place, especially in FFX.
34 minutes in, floored by the amount of new information I learned about one of my favorite games of all time. Fantastic job you're doing talking about the creators, their style, the story of the development, just wow. Liked, subbed, will watch the whole series and probably others as well.
1:25:39 I'm sure someone else has pointed this out already, but Far Cry 3 immediately popped into my head when the topic of character progression being shown through tattoo growth came up. Crazy that it's really the only other thing that immediately comes to mind, I don't think any other games have done it that have been popular to any degree.
I cannot wait for more of these episodes! FFX is my second favorite FF game, right after FF7 and right before FF9. It’s also in my top 5 favorite games in general ever. This game has a special place in my video game heart. I still have my original FFX copy all these years later
I bought this the day it came out and was beyond excited. To this day it is my favorite JRPG just because of how it resonated with me at my young impressionable age. I just replayed it a few months ago on Switch and it held up to me so well. I forgave its flaws almost instantly whenever they occurred.
First ep. that I've found you guys, this podcast is a great idea. incidentally on a replay thru 100%ing ffX can't wait to follow this series and see the other games you have done!
FFX is my favorite! It makes sense my favorites are 8 & 10 since they were made by a lot of the same team members! Also, my parents first bought FFX BEFORE my PS2. I was so excited to play this game and they needed to save up to get the console. I sat around reading the game booklet for days before I could actually play the game.
This podcast and the analysis and just endless font of cleverness and curiosity and just aestheticism - I wanted to thank you guys. I'm writing a book, ballooning out of my hands at 400 pages plus, and this series and your analyses of Vagrant Story, Nausicaa, and Xenogears analysis were a fundamental building block of everything I'm trying to fit together. Thanks so much for the inspiration, please keep singing your songs. It's resonating. (Badum tiss)
Seriously... You're guy's show is the best videogame storytelling showcase on UA-cam. I love your guy's show! You guys delve into everything that makes a games story great, in the best ways, at the best times. I'd just like to say thank you to both of you for doing what you do. All the best dudes 👍
Great to see you covering my favourite Final Fantasy, RPG and one of my favourite games of all time! I like that Mike addressed the criticism from his earlier FFX analysis. He did accept criticism which I respect.
I started replaying the game a couple weeks ago before seeing this podcast on my recommendations. Very excited to revisit my favorite FF setting (alongside Ivalice) with others.
This series finally getting me to play FFX. Lots of the other games you've covered I told myself to play along, but this is the one that finally stuck.
I'm looking forward to the Yunalesca fight. I love the amazing moment when Auron reveals that his guardianship actually is a hidden personal agenda of vengeance against Yunalesca.
I still remember when my brother bought the PS2 for FF-X. As a little boy I wasn't allowed to touch anything but I got to watch him play and it was way cooler than watching TV 👀
I very much appreciate the dev history being done up front! This information really provides a lot of context and insight in later discussions, without requiring you guys to stop talking about the story or thematic elements to explain dev decisions/constraints.
Being a lifelong fan since its release, this was a Great video to watch! Thank you! For me personally, FFX is still one of the greatest games ever made. It still uplifts my spirit to this day!
Great stuff guys. I think the anticipation in the build up to FFX's release was the most hyped I've ever been for any videogame. The wait was excruciating as I was in a PAL region and there was a 5 month delay between the US and EU release dates. I still remember having a massive double sided FFX poster on the wall of my bedroom which I got for free from a videogame store as they were clearing out their FFX merch. The game was amazing. Right up there with MGS2 in making the PS2 a must have console.
Hey great work as always a few thoughts if you pronounce Tide-us you can still draw a connect or reference with him being the tides/ocean/water and Yuna being the moon. really excited for this one and love the longer dev history primer episodes before starting the game!
In complete agreement of your thoughts on pre-rendered backgrounds and the movement of FFX's camera. I love and seriously miss FFX's style of camera. I was only frustrated by the camera style once, and that was only because that one particular chocobo minigame is made incredibly challenging by the collision. I also love the linear style games too. Open world has it's place, but I prefer the "tangled web" map design in the older games.
I'm so happy you are finally covering Final Fantasy X! The voice acting has still held up incredibly well in my opinion. And thanks for breaking down some of the music from the game. This is going to be a great series!
@@kevinstreetgaming oh, don’t get me wrong. I completely agree that Tidus is awesome! But not all of the voice acting has aged well. Auron, Wakka, and Rikku hold up. There are moments (not the forced laughter scene that was purposeful cringe for a story telling reason) where Tidus and Yuna are painful to listen to.
@@TheWhipsnap I don't know, I re-played it this past summer and thought that it was fine. Auron probably has the best voice actor though, especially the scene on Mt. Gagazet before you fight Seymour and the scene before you fight Yunalesca.
Edit: I loved hearing your thoughts on the distinct styles of Hamauzu and Uematsu. I generally don't like the former's instrument selection, but the assortment of recognizable late '90s synths on the original are like a delicacy to me. Tracks like "This is Your Story" and "Macalania Forest" sound so quintessentially late '90s my nostalgia gets tricked out on multiple levels. Hamauzu moving onto Massive and other Native Instruments plugins later on was a bummer, though tracks like Midnight Rendezvous and a lot of the stuff on WoFF have that edge from his earlier work. I'd like to learn more about the other composers! Ayyyy! I know you don't like this game much, but I find it's an essential FF. Over even the more iconic games, I found FFX to have the most complete story. FFX-2 and all the tacked on stuff afterwards does tarnish the experience, but this game on its own is excellent.
It's so sad listening to what happened to Squaresoft during that year. Squaresoft revolutionized not just the RPG genre but the entire industry and the way Sakaguchi was treated after one mistake is heartbreaking. He put the company on the map and created countless classics. It doesn't matter if you're a business man, Squaresoft and Sakaguchis design philosophy worked. They were a massive studio, and no one could hold a candle to what they were doing, their production values were head and shoulders above any other studio during that era. I remember reading Gamefan magazine right before release of FFIX where Sakaguchi was interviewed and he was asked about the future of the franchise, he said this was just the beginning. I can only imagine how many incredible entries we would have had during these last 20 years were he still there. But sadly the series died with Final Fantasy X. Square Enix has released only one game since the merger that I consider a true classic. And that was Dragon Quest VIII, and from what I know Level 5 were actually the ones who developed it. Their games are all style and no substance. I wished the entire team departed with Sakaguchi as they did with Kojima. Hironobu Sakaguchi WAS Final Fantasy.
Loved the breakdown, FFX is one of my favourite games of all time. As a teenager, I definitely pronounced it Tide-us, which made sense to me since so much of the game revolved around water. I was so shocked the first time I heard people in interviews saying Tee-dus.
FFX is great. A very solid game the last of my favourite FF games (FF4, 6, 7, 8, and X). I know people like 3, 5, 9, and 12, but I wasn’t able to get into any of those - even though I’ve finished all of them.
I appreciated the old 2016 videos as they captured a lot of my own grievances with this game. I'm curious to see how y'all re-evaluate your assessment of the game.
I always preferred Tidus as in "tide" or modern English pronunciation of "Titus." The other way sounded weird to me. Also I never really got a South Pacific sense out of X. It always felt more South Asian to me. But maybe that's because where I'm from we don't really consider countries outside of the Polynesian triangle (barring any overlap from Melanesia or Micronesia) "South Pacific" per se. Man I can't wait for you two to get into the story! Edit: regarding tattoos, I have a fun fact: in Samoan culture there are two types of tatau; the men's and women's known as the pe'a (or malofie) and malu respectively. The men's is a sign of manhood and grants them the right to have a say in village affairs, whereas the women's used to be reserved for the daughters of the chiefs, but now any woman can get them. The thing about these tatau is that they're done predominantly on the legs (in the men's case, underneath the abdomen and on the buttocks). These days diaspora tend to have arm bands or sleeve, which I think is considered ok. I remember at least one elder, a tufuga ta tatau (tatau master) had expressed an opinion that people should just go the whole hog if they're going to get anything resembling a tatau. With regards to palagi (non Samoans) getting either tatau; permission is usually bestowed upon that person for whatever reason. Anyways I thought it was kinda cool about the tattoo power up thingy and I wouldn't mind seeing it implemented, maybe in place of a crystarium or something? Anyways just finished the podcast, fantast as always! :-)
I bet FFX was delayed in polls because there's SO MUCH analysis out there at your fingertips for every aspect of the game and its dev. It's so popular, and so its stories are so widely publicly broadcasted. I know personally, that I will be super impressed if I learn anything *new* about the dev and even Nojima's storytelling/the writing team's philosophy to FFX's storytelling. That said, I will still eat this discussion up as I do every time literally ANYONE talks about this game LMAO can't wait!
Glad you mentioned FF8 developers because your talk on that game was the first video I saw from your channel. A UA-cam commenter gave your channel a shoutout awhile ago, grateful I'm subscribed, good content
This was the first JRPG I played and always has a special place in my heart, that being said I can’t deny the shock of graphical quality was partially what enthralled me. I love the art style of PS1 FF’s, but I’ll always remember how beautiful this game looked back in 2001-2002, the blueness of the water, even the box art. I’m skeptical anything will ever match that “jump”, as we’re already bordering on photorealism now.
This is why I loved FF6, 7, 8, and X and wanted to love 13. I feel like Final Fantasy really lost its steam as a franchise after X. The non-medieval settings was a major reason for it. I don’t dislike medieval-like settings, but I loved that Final Fantasy was doing something different. I like the Industrial Age setting in FF6 and 8, and loved how there was a really futuristic area in FF8 and ultra-advanced ancient technology (although, I found the way Xenogears opened up with information on the ancient technology to be most satisfying).
Favorite games are a toss up between Xenogears & FFX!! I'm so glad you're reviewing this game too! I'm so excited to dive into FFX with you guys! 🥳 Btw Mike, nice haircut! 😉
@FawkFF15SquareSucks See, I actually like 15. It's not perfect by any means, but I had a good time with it, liked the characters and the story was good. 10 just has... none of that. I do know, however, I'm in the minority with that opinion.
Really excited to watch these. I've always appreciated FFX but thought it was highly overrated and never came close to cracking my top 5. Very interested to hear your guys analysis
FFX is pure magic for me, because I played it when I was 12 years old and it was the first RPG I ever played to completion. I still think it's a phenomenal game, though. Game of the Year 2001 (and FFIX was GOTY 2000).
There is one other reason why Tidus is the only character in your party that the player can name. It's a bit of a spoiler though, but there are other Name options you get throughout for a certain character when they gain new abilities, which ties into the ending. Something I didn't even notice until it was pointed out to me once. In either case, I love these Story analysis', hearing other people share their thoughts on games I love and grew up always gives me a happy feeling, and I thank you guys for it.
This tattoo idea is kinda present in FF XIII as well with the L'cie brand growing in power and size the closer to becoming a Ceith (and thus stronger in most cases) I do wish that the L'cie tattoo was unique to each person too, though the mandala pattern appears in both the crystarium and in the summon entry animations too.
NFL clearly the inspiration for turn based combat Pick a play, run it, stand around for 30 seconds, do it again, finish the instance and watch people talk for 4 minutes before doing it again
Just replayed it after the disappointment that was FF16 and FFX is now my favourite in the series. Such a masterpiece. Didn't appreciate it as a kid back in 2001
Love the breakdown and appreciation for Hamauzu's style of music. For many years his music got unfair criticism for simply being "Not Uematsu". The guy writes music with his own style and distinct feeling to it. You either like it or you don't. That doesn't mean it's bad just because it doesn't match the style of the previous composer. Only Uematsu can write an Uematsu soundtrack anyway. I wish more people would understand that.
Hamauzu's work on Saga Frontier, FFXIII, and The Alliance Alive is absolutely phenomenal. He has his own recognizable, even unique style that deserves to be present in more games.
@@havocbringer2100 One of my favorite Hamauzu tracks from the Saga frontier2 OST: ua-cam.com/video/PBfa735UJ_8/v-deo.html
This song just instantly transports me to a far away unexplored forest somewhere.
I don't know if the criticisms are always unfair if the point, which likely underpins the sentiment, is that Uematsu's style is what they associate with and consider a fundamental building block of FF's identity.
I don't think most people dislike Hamauzu in the context of, say, FFXIII because they think his music is objectively bad or something.
Hamauzu produced my top 3 soundtrack in the series with XIII and contributed greatly to X.
I hated XIII, but the music made it bearable to complete. I have similar sentiments for Saga 2.
Hamauzu is a good composer & has his own style.
Just wish his music made it in to better games. Lol.
Hey guys, I wanted to add a few things about the music part, mostly about Hamauzu (it's going to be really long so enjoy the info dump I guess...):
-Hamauzu graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine and Arts and Music, more specifically from the vocal music department. His mother was a piano teacher and his father was an opera singer and the manager of a choir for children. This background defined Hamauzu's sense of harmony due to extensive exposure to canonical music. I felt it was important to point that out, since those classical influences are a huge part of his signature style, on top of being very important elements to understand FFX's musical identity.
-Hamauzu is one of the first composers to have entered this industry because of his love of video game music (similarly to Shimomura). He got his first jab at composing for games at Square in 1996, and got to work directly with Uematsu, Mitsuda and Nakano on Front Mission: Gun Hazard as a composer, already bearing a very clear and distinct style. He forged very strong and respectful working relationships with all of the above, and they still collaborate to this day as seen with the FF7 Remake series and the recent Chrono Cross Piano Collections. Hamauzu basically seems to be Mitsuda's go-to arranger when it comes to piano arrangerments in general.
-In 1997, Uematsu allowed him to work on his first solo soundtrack, Chocobo's Dungeon. Both the opening and ending were recorded with a 50-pieces orchestra, which was a first for Square. He composed, arranged, and orchestrated the whole thing himself. It left both Uematsu and Sakaguchi very impressed, and they allowed Hamauzu to create a fully orchestrated album with 11 of the tracks heard in the game, Coi Vanni Gialli, released the same year. That's right, Masashi Hamauzu (sort of) paved the way for orchestral openings/endings in Square games.
-In 1999, SaGa Frontier 2 released. I could talk about that OST for hours, but I'll keep it short. On top of just being very agreeable to listen to - and aging extremely well thanks to Ryo Yamazaki's excellent synth operating - it further semented Hamauzu's eclectic musical identity, to the point that he got attacked for straying away from the musical identity built by Uematsu, Sasai and especially Kenji Ito. Hamauzu had actually tried to imitate Ito's style, but asked himself at some point what was the purpose of creating music by imitating someone else. He ended up scrapped everything he had made to start again. In many ways, it is his "quintessential" work, where he fully asserted his identity as an artist. Uematsu didn't care about ersatz of his style either (he said so many times), and I believe SaGa Frontier 2 and its arranged album - and Nakano's wonderful soundtrack for Dewprism - further convinced him that those were the guys to do it. (We're getting to FFX, I promise!)
-You probably know about this already, but Hamauzu both sung and directed the One Winged Angel choir for FF7. The choir was made up of a few of his freinds and his wife, Matsue Fukushi. He was also behind the short extract of Haydn's "the Creation" that plays during the Plate fall as President Shinra is looking at the destruction. He believed classical music would make it more dramatic and even programmed the synths himself. Uematsu called the O.W.A. choir "team Hamauzu" and worked with them for FF8 (remember Liberi Fatali? They were the singers!), FFX and FFXI though of course without Masashi who was too busy composing for other Sqaure games.
-We finally got to FFX! So both Hamauzu and Nakano were free to compose as they liked without any particular oversight from Uematsu (though of course he gave his input on the tracks, he was the music producer). A few of the tracks credited as "composed by Nobuo Uematsu" on the OST are arrangements from Hamauzu ("Spira Unplugged", "A Fleeting Dream/Someday The Dream Will End", EVERY single variation of the "Hymn" including "the Sending" (Uematsu only composed the base melody, the harmony/choir arrangement have that Hamauzu sound all over them, especially the "Spira" version)) and Nakano (Movement in Green, A Contest of Aeons...). I think you should keep in mind that, if you recognize an Uematsu melody in a track that doesn't sound like his usual style, he probably isn't the one behind it.
Thank you for reading all this, also English isn't my mother tongue so I apologize for the typos. Keep up the good work !
Update : Some of these sources are in french only, but I can translate specific passages if needed.
General info:
vgmdb.net/artist/145
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi_Hamauzu
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Final_Fantasy_X
www.vgmonline.net/masashihamauzu/
(French only) techno.konbini.com/fr/gaming/on-a-rencontre-masashi-hamauzu-le-compositeur-des-musiques-de-final-fantasy-x-et-xiii/
(French only) www.ffworld.com/ff/final-fantasy-xiii/portrait-de-masashi-hamauzu/
This one is great as it was written by one of the leaders of Wayo Records (they published many Hamauzu albums after he went freelance). It was specifically written by Jérémie Kermarrec, who knows both Hamauzu and Uematsu personally. He's one of the writers of Smile Please, Uematsu's biography.
A great interview with Hamauzu and Benyamin Nuss (starts around 56:30): ua-cam.com/video/JqgU7UPwpv0/v-deo.html
FF7 credits (the Sephiroth choir appears around 13:30)
ua-cam.com/video/DliMpiemUy8/v-deo.html
Remake: ua-cam.com/video/karQD6_NI9Y/v-deo.html
More specifically about FFX :
www.newsweek.com/final-fantasy-x-masashi-hamauzu-interview-1409873?amp=1
the FFX liner notes translated into English!
web.archive.org/web/20120523071758/chudahs-corner.com/liners/index.php?catalog=SSCX-10054~7
+ some liner notes, specific books about FF games developpement and a few obscure interviews. I'll definitely update this comment if I find any. Hope it helps !
Aside from this being quality information, I'm glad someone was able to tell me what that classical section was from the Shinra tower during the plate collapse cutscene. I've wondered if it was from something for 25 years and I finally have my answer! Thank you for putting some light on that mystery!
Your English is very good! I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to leave this long and detailed comment. I consider myself a fan of Hamauzu and I didn't know half of this stuff! Very interesting. Oh, and I love the soundtrack of SaGa Frontier 2 as well. I don't hear about that game or its OST much, so it's always nice to see someone bring it up.
Can you please give me the sources if you have them? Thanks 🙏
This was a fascinating in-depth look at Hamauzu's past and his journey to FF X, thanks! I love learning this kind of stuff, and it was so illuminating about how his style came to be developed. So many composers' styles make so much sense when you look at their history and the influences that drove them, it's really interesting. Hamauzu is something special, that's for sure.
So great!! Thanks for the information ☺️
One of the things that really defines Uematsu's style is that it's clearly *piano* music. Many of his tracks have a clear left hand (playing arpeggios) and a right hand, that's playing scales. Even when Uematsu changes instruments for those left-hand accompaniments, you'll hear guitars, shakuhachis, oboes, english horns, and bells playing classic piano patterns like the Alberti bass. It's a quirk that comes from his self-taught experience as a keyboardist.
The repetitive background you talk about for Hamauzu is (in some cases) an "ostinato."
This is very true. It's almost universal across his work.
Yeh this is a really good way of explaining it. It’s difficult to think of an Uematsu track that couldn’t be played satisfyingly on the piano. But how would you play, say, The Cradle Will Fall on the piano?
makes sense since most early video game music was basically keyboard.
I hear a lot of Claude Debussy in Uematsu's music. No doubt Uematsu was influenced by him. The crystal prelude reminds me a lot what debussy does with the repeated ascending/descending arpeggio in Deux arabesques, L. 66: No. 1. The FF7 song "if you open your heart" was basically ripped off of Debussy's song "Reverie". Check it out.
To Zanarkand is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard come out of a video game. I had learned how to play part of it on guitar and it's quite difficult (at least for me). And that song is FAMOUS. If you look it up people have done countless guitar covers, piano covers, I mean they have Final Fantasy X orchestra, in concert, you name it and it's there man.
I always thought Auron's performance was miles above the rest of the cast. In retrospect, maybe it was the fact that his mouth was, for a lot of his scenes, out of view due to his clothes that it allowed the actor the freedom to act out the lines naturally rather than force them on the rythm of another language.
Yup that’s most likely it, and thank god that the actor had that freedom.
That's a great point. I've always found it interesting that most people agree he's the best performed of the main cast, despite his actor being by far the least prominent of the English voice actors. That freedom is likely a contributing factor.
Im trying to introduce my bf to jrpg and gaming in general. I think FFX is a good game to start with. The story is good and aged well, the learning curve for battle is well paced and its fun to watch someone playing it.
Agreed! My wife’s first game ever was ffx this year and she loved it. She’s now about half way through DQXI
FFX is great for people who want a more classic style gameplay with a more modern look. It’s a great jumping on point
I know a few people who it was their first time getting gripped by a rpg/jrpg. Its combat polished just enough without being overwhelming with modern action-rpg style. Fairly organic and fleshed out world, and a fun story. Definitely have him give it a go! ❤
Go kingdom hearts II! It’ll knock their socks off!
My 8 year old absolutely loved this game. It's the best introduction to the series imo
I have watched and listend to numerous different podcasts, videos, retrospective shows ect...you two just do it better than most. The depth, the care of which you put towards the games and how you relay it is top notch....bar none...i have most if not all your videos downloaded and watch most of them over and over. Keep up the good work guys.🤘🏻🙏🏻✌🏻
They are awesome
FFX is one of my favorite games of all time and it's through watching FFX content on youtube that I found Dark Pixel in the first place. Thank you for covering this.
38:30 I always thought it was Tidus like the tide, because the Tide’s movement is controlled by the moon (yuna).
Guess I was wrong lol
That is how I will always pronounce it, not just because of it's theme, but because Teedus just sounds stupid.
You're not wrong
It's "tide." This game is full of water!
@@mikehumes1483 yeah that’s what I thought!
But I guess we were wrong.
The game was written in japanese first, the name was Tida which means sun, which they explain around the 38 min mark.
Amazing interpretation.
It’s such crazy coincidence that this video came out today. I literally just finished replaying through the game last night. I hadn’t really touched it in years, and it’s interesting to pick on all the subtle moments in the story that completely flew over my head as kid. I’ve always known the game was amazing, but replaying it as an adult really gave me a new found appreciation for it. I’m really interested in seeing what you guys have to say about it.
I wasn't planning to play along with this one cause I've played through FFX 3 or 4 times, but once you played Tidus' theme, I decided I have to play it again with the podcast...Uematsu's music is really special. I think he made Final Fantasy what it was more than anyone else.
Whenever I hear even the tiniest beat of Tidus' theme I need to hear the radio guy from the start of the game. There's just something about it that I "can't live without" for lack of a better way to put it. It's somehow just so precious a moment to me I guess.
Oh hell yes, my favorite FF by a mile 😍 This is not just my favorite story in a game, it’s my favorite story, period.
Listen to my story.
This, may be our last chance.
There he goes again! Crying!
The tattoo concept would have worked marvelously in FF XIII merging the Crystarium and the l’Cie brands.
I’m so glad I stumbled upon this podcast. I have been a huge Mitsuda and Uematsu fan since I was a child. I love how you explore all the details of the development and use examples. Extremely well done. PLEASE keep up the good work- this is a great format!
For the pronunciation of "Tidus", I like many others growing up would use the long "I" ("eye") sound. And a lot of that came from seeing a small subtle pattern (whether correct or not) that had been used for previous (and future) main characters, having names that reference things like the earth, water, or weather - Terra, Cloud, Squall, Lightning. Tidus just seemed to naturally refer to the tide, with water being such a focus in the game, and how the appearance of Sin itself is cyclical, like the tide.
Don’t forget that his first sword gains waterstrike after a while
Tiedus sounds much better than Teedus. Idgaf what the devs say
I just figured it was a weird spelling of the Roman name Titus.
I haven’t watched y’all’s content in a couple years and I just want to say y’all are both looking fantastic! Excited to start following you again and catch up on the backlog of what you’ve been up to.
I am incredibly excited to play along with everyone for the first time! I recently stumbled upon the podcast while replaying Xenogears and have spent the last several weeks going through all of the other analysis series.
Just commenting to say how much I love this format. Golden emotions from all of this information, I am blessed to experience.
I want to thank y’all for what y’all do. I lost my job last year and then more life changing events hit my family even harder. I love y’all’s analysis on my favorite video game of all time. I started a new career in the trucking industry and I had to travel and leave my family for some time to go to school it was the hardest thing, but I came across your podcast and can I just say y’all brought me so much peace when I listen to y’all. It truly helped me while I traveled even now while I’m in my new career. I thank y’all and truly want to support you guys in the future!
I think Final Fantasy X is my favourite piece of art. The one that I can revisit countless times and feel at home and get emotional.
I can't recall any book, movie, song, painting or anything that is as meaningful or touching to me as this masterpiece. Or at least one that keeps being that important in my life through decades now.
Man... I have hoped for an Analysis on FFX. Thank you for putting in the effort ,again.
I never realized how great FFX soundtrack was even though it's one of my favorite games. Instantly when you played the samples (great decision!) It took me back. That's amazing how music does that.
I don't comment often, but just want to say that I love you guys and this channel, as always--a breath of fresh air. I definitely feel like I can say I know a pretty good bit about Final Fantasy trivia, but I always learn something new about the development or history of a game whenever I watch the podcasts. Always so interesting, and it's just always a pleasant experience.
Final Fantasy X was the first FF game I bought and played back in the day, so I definitely have a bit of a soft spot for it. I've always loved the incredible music and unique world building and environment this game provides.
Anyways, thank you and I am looking forward to the next episode!
Going for a more aisian fantasy story is interesting. Brandon Sandersons recently anounced Secrect Project #3 Is going to be his stab at a eastern fantasy and specifically names FFX as a influence. So now it inspires Western Fantasy Writting
But you can also see a lot of FFX themes subconciously in Stormlight Archive. The cylclical nature of devestations and high storms. Spren/Pyreflies. War in the Shattered Plains/Operation Mihen. Chasmfeinds/Sinspawn
I just finished a 100% run of this last week so good timing. Excited to watch!
Also played through recently. Got a sinus infection when Covid was in full-swing, but it lasted a week and had me a little nervous. First thing I did while stuck at home was start a new run of FFX.
FF 10 is tied with 7 as my favorite game in the series. I love the characters, story, and gameplay. I think it’s the last FF with true turn based combat. I know it’ll probably never happen but I would love another FF like this.
I'm extremely surprised that not even a spin-off (or even it's own sequel) have adopted X's combat.
Well for whatever reason, the Lords of the Rings Third Age game on PS2 reuses the exact same battle system.
World of FF has a turn based battle system. Fun game, but obviously nothing like FFX in terms of world and tone.
Final Fantasy VI had such a clear style that I have asked multiple artists for a "magitek" style tileset while developing RPGs, and have barely had to communicate anything else about it in order to get what I want. FFVI created its own style.
FFX is my favorite FF game. I love this game so much and it means a lot to me. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.
I think FFX was the first game I ever brought with my own money from doing chores and such.
It was the first (along with Skies Of Arcadia which would be an AMAZING game for the guys to cover) game where I finally felt like I was old enough to appreciate and have the patience for a 50 hr turned-based RPG and it’s stuck with me all this time.
Thank you for bring back the development episode. I find them so interesting to learn about the history of the game before starting a game.
18:53 The music comparison between composers is really interesting because you can very easily tell which composers come from a period of strict hardware limitations and which ones do not, very minimalist versus maximalist purely because of where they came from. Neither approach is better or worse, but they do create VERY different vibes. Uematsu’s compositions tend to be very “intimate” whereas Hamauzu’s tend to be more “ethereal”, and I think both of them have their place, especially in FFX.
34 minutes in, floored by the amount of new information I learned about one of my favorite games of all time. Fantastic job you're doing talking about the creators, their style, the story of the development, just wow. Liked, subbed, will watch the whole series and probably others as well.
I wish I had known this podcast sooner! I love the video game book club vibe that keeps all gamers together and no one is alone! Thank you!
Hamauzu doesn't get enough love for his music. Especially XIII's soundtrack. I love his unique style.
1:25:39 I'm sure someone else has pointed this out already, but Far Cry 3 immediately popped into my head when the topic of character progression being shown through tattoo growth came up. Crazy that it's really the only other thing that immediately comes to mind, I don't think any other games have done it that have been popular to any degree.
My wedding's video theme was the piano music ff10. It's A MASTERPIECE forever in my heart
FFX is one of my favorite games ever so I'm very pleased to see you guys beginning a new series on it. Thanks for your work
This outro music is very reminiscent of Xenogears. I really like it. Never change that outro music.
I cannot wait for more of these episodes! FFX is my second favorite FF game, right after FF7 and right before FF9. It’s also in my top 5 favorite games in general ever. This game has a special place in my video game heart. I still have my original FFX copy all these years later
"Listen to my story. This...maybe our last chance."
"I was in a coffee shop, running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone. Vanished into thin air!"
This whole tattoo thing reminded me of Far Cry 3, where your tattoos expand the stronger you get. Would have been cool to see this in FFX!
I bought this the day it came out and was beyond excited. To this day it is my favorite JRPG just because of how it resonated with me at my young impressionable age. I just replayed it a few months ago on Switch and it held up to me so well. I forgave its flaws almost instantly whenever they occurred.
Omggg I am looking forward to this one!! I loved your Final Fantasy 8 Analysis. Thank you so much!!
First ep. that I've found you guys, this podcast is a great idea. incidentally on a replay thru 100%ing ffX can't wait to follow this series and see the other games you have done!
FFX is my favorite! It makes sense my favorites are 8 & 10 since they were made by a lot of the same team members! Also, my parents first bought FFX BEFORE my PS2. I was so excited to play this game and they needed to save up to get the console. I sat around reading the game booklet for days before I could actually play the game.
This podcast and the analysis and just endless font of cleverness and curiosity and just aestheticism - I wanted to thank you guys. I'm writing a book, ballooning out of my hands at 400 pages plus, and this series and your analyses of Vagrant Story, Nausicaa, and Xenogears analysis were a fundamental building block of everything I'm trying to fit together. Thanks so much for the inspiration, please keep singing your songs.
It's resonating. (Badum tiss)
Seriously... You're guy's show is the best videogame storytelling showcase on UA-cam. I love your guy's show! You guys delve into everything that makes a games story great, in the best ways, at the best times. I'd just like to say thank you to both of you for doing what you do. All the best dudes 👍
Great to see you covering my favourite Final Fantasy, RPG and one of my favourite games of all time! I like that Mike addressed the criticism from his earlier FFX analysis. He did accept criticism which I respect.
I found your podcast while searching for more xenogears content. I've been listening to since. Such great quality and content.
Yeah boy! We're finally at the master-class! Thankyou for finally getting around to Square's magnum opus.
Wow this channel is really unique, glad I found it.
I started replaying the game a couple weeks ago before seeing this podcast on my recommendations. Very excited to revisit my favorite FF setting (alongside Ivalice) with others.
This series finally getting me to play FFX. Lots of the other games you've covered I told myself to play along, but this is the one that finally stuck.
I'm looking forward to the Yunalesca fight. I love the amazing moment when Auron reveals that his guardianship actually is a hidden personal agenda of vengeance against Yunalesca.
I still remember when my brother bought the PS2 for FF-X.
As a little boy I wasn't allowed to touch anything but I got to watch him play and it was way cooler than watching TV 👀
I very much appreciate the dev history being done up front! This information really provides a lot of context and insight in later discussions, without requiring you guys to stop talking about the story or thematic elements to explain dev decisions/constraints.
I was playing this 20 years ago at this very time at 16. Amazing timing. I've been thinking about this a bunch
Same here!!
Being a lifelong fan since its release, this was a Great video to watch! Thank you!
For me personally, FFX is still one of the greatest games ever made. It still uplifts my spirit to this day!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Great stuff guys. I think the anticipation in the build up to FFX's release was the most hyped I've ever been for any videogame. The wait was excruciating as I was in a PAL region and there was a 5 month delay between the US and EU release dates. I still remember having a massive double sided FFX poster on the wall of my bedroom which I got for free from a videogame store as they were clearing out their FFX merch. The game was amazing. Right up there with MGS2 in making the PS2 a must have console.
Oh yeah, I got MGS2 and FFX almost at the same time. What a ride.
Haven't played this since I was a kid so I'm really looking forward to replaying it again alongside the podcast!
Hey great work as always a few thoughts if you pronounce Tide-us you can still draw a connect or reference with him being the tides/ocean/water and Yuna being the moon. really excited for this one and love the longer dev history primer episodes before starting the game!
First time I heard this I checked the comments straight away!
Isn't our moon named Luna, though? Also Yuna's name (Yuuna) is Okinawan for a type of hibiscus (a flower).
So excited for you guys to continue this series. Great first episode!
I can't wait to watch this tonight when I'm laying in bed. Awesome voices to listen too when you want to relax.
I do the same!
YO?!? FFX?!?!
Loved the episode. Can't wait for the next one. All the breakdown and behind the scenes development conversation was very informative and interesting.
In complete agreement of your thoughts on pre-rendered backgrounds and the movement of FFX's camera. I love and seriously miss FFX's style of camera. I was only frustrated by the camera style once, and that was only because that one particular chocobo minigame is made incredibly challenging by the collision. I also love the linear style games too. Open world has it's place, but I prefer the "tangled web" map design in the older games.
I'm so happy you are finally covering Final Fantasy X! The voice acting has still held up incredibly well in my opinion. And thanks for breaking down some of the music from the game. This is going to be a great series!
Tidus’ scream upon being sucked into spira has entered the chat**
@@TheWhipsnap Tidus is the man!
@@kevinstreetgaming oh, don’t get me wrong. I completely agree that Tidus is awesome! But not all of the voice acting has aged well. Auron, Wakka, and Rikku hold up. There are moments (not the forced laughter scene that was purposeful cringe for a story telling reason) where Tidus and Yuna are painful to listen to.
@@TheWhipsnap I don't know, I re-played it this past summer and thought that it was fine. Auron probably has the best voice actor though, especially the scene on Mt. Gagazet before you fight Seymour and the scene before you fight Yunalesca.
Edit: I loved hearing your thoughts on the distinct styles of Hamauzu and Uematsu. I generally don't like the former's instrument selection, but the assortment of recognizable late '90s synths on the original are like a delicacy to me. Tracks like "This is Your Story" and "Macalania Forest" sound so quintessentially late '90s my nostalgia gets tricked out on multiple levels. Hamauzu moving onto Massive and other Native Instruments plugins later on was a bummer, though tracks like Midnight Rendezvous and a lot of the stuff on WoFF have that edge from his earlier work. I'd like to learn more about the other composers!
Ayyyy! I know you don't like this game much, but I find it's an essential FF. Over even the more iconic games, I found FFX to have the most complete story. FFX-2 and all the tacked on stuff afterwards does tarnish the experience, but this game on its own is excellent.
The wait is over, can't wait to watch this and play FF10 again for the first time in over 10 years.
I love Masashi Hamauzu. His work on the SaGa series was incredible
oh my god that tattoo level up system sounds so bad ass!! great podcast guys i love the development videos
I feel like that exact system was in a game i played recently
FFXIII looked amazing. Specially in 1080P. It was one first ones to run in 1080P and the TV really made a difference if it was 1080P instead of 720.
It still looks better than strangers of paradise
So excited to listen to this after work!!!
It's so sad listening to what happened to Squaresoft during that year. Squaresoft revolutionized not just the RPG genre but the entire industry and the way Sakaguchi was treated after one mistake is heartbreaking. He put the company on the map and created countless classics. It doesn't matter if you're a business man, Squaresoft and Sakaguchis design philosophy worked. They were a massive studio, and no one could hold a candle to what they were doing, their production values were head and shoulders above any other studio during that era.
I remember reading Gamefan magazine right before release of FFIX where Sakaguchi was interviewed and he was asked about the future of the franchise, he said this was just the beginning. I can only imagine how many incredible entries we would have had during these last 20 years were he still there. But sadly the series died with Final Fantasy X.
Square Enix has released only one game since the merger that I consider a true classic. And that was Dragon Quest VIII, and from what I know Level 5 were actually the ones who developed it. Their games are all style and no substance. I wished the entire team departed with Sakaguchi as they did with Kojima.
Hironobu Sakaguchi WAS Final Fantasy.
Loved the breakdown, FFX is one of my favourite games of all time.
As a teenager, I definitely pronounced it Tide-us, which made sense to me since so much of the game revolved around water. I was so shocked the first time I heard people in interviews saying Tee-dus.
FFX is great. A very solid game the last of my favourite FF games (FF4, 6, 7, 8, and X). I know people like 3, 5, 9, and 12, but I wasn’t able to get into any of those - even though I’ve finished all of them.
I appreciated the old 2016 videos as they captured a lot of my own grievances with this game. I'm curious to see how y'all re-evaluate your assessment of the game.
I always preferred Tidus as in "tide" or modern English pronunciation of "Titus." The other way sounded weird to me.
Also I never really got a South Pacific sense out of X. It always felt more South Asian to me. But maybe that's because where I'm from we don't really consider countries outside of the Polynesian triangle (barring any overlap from Melanesia or Micronesia) "South Pacific" per se.
Man I can't wait for you two to get into the story!
Edit: regarding tattoos, I have a fun fact: in Samoan culture there are two types of tatau; the men's and women's known as the pe'a (or malofie) and malu respectively.
The men's is a sign of manhood and grants them the right to have a say in village affairs, whereas the women's used to be reserved for the daughters of the chiefs, but now any woman can get them. The thing about these tatau is that they're done predominantly on the legs (in the men's case, underneath the abdomen and on the buttocks).
These days diaspora tend to have arm bands or sleeve, which I think is considered ok. I remember at least one elder, a tufuga ta tatau (tatau master) had expressed an opinion that people should just go the whole hog if they're going to get anything resembling a tatau. With regards to palagi (non Samoans) getting either tatau; permission is usually bestowed upon that person for whatever reason.
Anyways I thought it was kinda cool about the tattoo power up thingy and I wouldn't mind seeing it implemented, maybe in place of a crystarium or something?
Anyways just finished the podcast, fantast as always! :-)
I bet FFX was delayed in polls because there's SO MUCH analysis out there at your fingertips for every aspect of the game and its dev. It's so popular, and so its stories are so widely publicly broadcasted. I know personally, that I will be super impressed if I learn anything *new* about the dev and even Nojima's storytelling/the writing team's philosophy to FFX's storytelling. That said, I will still eat this discussion up as I do every time literally ANYONE talks about this game LMAO can't wait!
Glad you mentioned FF8 developers because your talk on that game was the first video I saw from your channel. A UA-cam commenter gave your channel a shoutout awhile ago, grateful I'm subscribed, good content
I've played this game multiple time, every time I listen to the piano I got a wisp of nostalgia and started playing it again.
This was the first JRPG I played and always has a special place in my heart, that being said I can’t deny the shock of graphical quality was partially what enthralled me. I love the art style of PS1 FF’s, but I’ll always remember how beautiful this game looked back in 2001-2002, the blueness of the water, even the box art. I’m skeptical anything will ever match that “jump”, as we’re already bordering on photorealism now.
This is why I loved FF6, 7, 8, and X and wanted to love 13. I feel like Final Fantasy really lost its steam as a franchise after X. The non-medieval settings was a major reason for it. I don’t dislike medieval-like settings, but I loved that Final Fantasy was doing something different. I like the Industrial Age setting in FF6 and 8, and loved how there was a really futuristic area in FF8 and ultra-advanced ancient technology (although, I found the way Xenogears opened up with information on the ancient technology to be most satisfying).
Favorite games are a toss up between Xenogears & FFX!! I'm so glad you're reviewing this game too! I'm so excited to dive into FFX with you guys! 🥳
Btw Mike, nice haircut! 😉
Thank you, Madonna! Yeah, it was time to get cleaned up a little bit. Glad to have you with us on this playthrough!
Only just found your channel and I’m so excited that you’re still working through this series currently. Going to do some catching up 😁
Oh hell yes! Seeing these pop up in my feed is an absolute gift.
My favourite Final Fantasy and one of the best games ever made. This series is going to be unreal, can't wait.
Someone suggested this in a FFX page on Facebook. On episode 4 rn and so glad I stumbled upon it. Game is all time.
I have been waiting for this to be covered here for what feels like forever :)
Haven't had a chance to watch yet, but after watching through FFT and FF8, I'm excited for this one. Love the fresh cut btw 🤘🏼
This is my least favorite Final Fantasy, but I'm looking forward to learning more about it through you guys.
@FawkFF15SquareSucks See, I actually like 15. It's not perfect by any means, but I had a good time with it, liked the characters and the story was good. 10 just has... none of that. I do know, however, I'm in the minority with that opinion.
I really enjoy watching your channel, and always appreciate your in- depth analysis on the games you cover. FFX is a classic!
Really excited to watch these. I've always appreciated FFX but thought it was highly overrated and never came close to cracking my top 5. Very interested to hear your guys analysis
@@Juan-hh8ik It was in my top 3 as well.
@@Juan-hh8ik 9, 7, 6 are better imo
FFX is pure magic for me, because I played it when I was 12 years old and it was the first RPG I ever played to completion. I still think it's a phenomenal game, though. Game of the Year 2001 (and FFIX was GOTY 2000).
I share the same sentiment, it's a great game but not in my Top 5 in the franchise too. Nonetheless, it'll be fun to hear their analysis.
There is one other reason why Tidus is the only character in your party that the player can name. It's a bit of a spoiler though, but there are other Name options you get throughout for a certain character when they gain new abilities, which ties into the ending. Something I didn't even notice until it was pointed out to me once.
In either case, I love these Story analysis', hearing other people share their thoughts on games I love and grew up always gives me a happy feeling, and I thank you guys for it.
Sick, I really prefer the front loaded nature of this and previous podcasts, glad to see a return to form!
This tattoo idea is kinda present in FF XIII as well with the L'cie brand growing in power and size the closer to becoming a Ceith (and thus stronger in most cases)
I do wish that the L'cie tattoo was unique to each person too, though the mandala pattern appears in both the crystarium and in the summon entry animations too.
This was such a great time. Thank you guys for the podcast I'm still working on the Xenogears one
Man, I love ffx so much. Thanks for the video guys, really enjoyed it. Looking forward to more!
NFL clearly the inspiration for turn based combat
Pick a play, run it, stand around for 30 seconds, do it again, finish the instance and watch people talk for 4 minutes before doing it again
Just replayed it after the disappointment that was FF16 and FFX is now my favourite in the series. Such a masterpiece. Didn't appreciate it as a kid back in 2001
Shadow Warrior did a good job with the tattoo upgrade concept.