Day Ten: Final Fantasy X
Tidus and Yuna.
Final Fantasy X is the first game in the Final Fantasy series that has voice acting, which is one of the main reasons why I love this game (not as much as Final Fantasy VIII, but pretty damn close). Another great change introduced in FFX is the huge change from pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas, which honestly brings the series to a whole new level. I love this game not only for the amazing new improvements in graphic quality, but also the story too. A lot of people think that Tidus is a cry baby, but I absolutely love the characters and the story and how everything works together to create this amazing game. The new addition of the sphere grid is one thing I also loved seeing, as it was fresh and gave the game a bit of a new angle.
The story in Final Fantasy X starts out with Tidus, a hot-shot Blitzball player (it's a sport) getting ready for his next game in the city Zanarkand. Suddenly in the middle of the game, a huge monster appears and attacks the city. The monster is known as Sin. Tidus and his mentor Auron are then taken by Sin to the world of Spira. Tidus is found by Al Bhed divers and Rikku tells him that Zanarkand was destroyed 1000 years ago. After yet another attack by Sin, Tidus finds himself separated from the divers and at the tropical island of Besaid. In Besaid he meets Wakka, Yuna, Lula and Kimahri, who are setting out on a journey to collect the last aeon in order to defeat Sin.
The story in Final Fantasy X starts out with Tidus, a hot-shot Blitzball player (it's a sport) getting ready for his next game in the city Zanarkand. Suddenly in the middle of the game, a huge monster appears and attacks the city. The monster is known as Sin. Tidus and his mentor Auron are then taken by Sin to the world of Spira. Tidus is found by Al Bhed divers and Rikku tells him that Zanarkand was destroyed 1000 years ago. After yet another attack by Sin, Tidus finds himself separated from the divers and at the tropical island of Besaid. In Besaid he meets Wakka, Yuna, Lula and Kimahri, who are setting out on a journey to collect the last aeon in order to defeat Sin.
Rikku, Tidus, Yuna, Auron and Lulu
Developer(s) Square
Publisher(s) JP Square
NA Square EA
PAL SCE Europe
Director(s) Motomu Toriyama
Takayoshi Nakazato
Toshiro Tsuchida
Producer(s) Yoshinori Kitase
Artist(s) Tetsuya Nomura
Writer(s) Kazushige Nojima
Composer(s) Nobuo Uematsu
Masashi Hamauzu
Junya Nakano
Series Final Fantasy
Aspect ratio 4:3 (SDTV)
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Release date(s) JP July 19, 2001
NA December 20, 2001
INT January 31, 2002
AUS May 17, 2002
EU May 29, 2002
Genre(s) Console role-playing game
Mode(s) Single-player
Yuna, Rikku and Lula
Plot
Setting
Main article: Spira (Final Fantasy)
Final Fantasy X is set in the fictional world of "Spira", and it consists of one large landmass divided into three subcontinents, surrounded by small tropical islands. It features diverse climates, ranging from the tropical Besaid and Kilika islands to the temperate Mi'ihen region to the frigid Macalania and Mt. Gagazet. Although it is predominantly populated by humans, Spira features a variety of races. Among them are the Al Bhed, a technologically advanced but disenfranchised sub-group of humans with distinctive green eyes and unique language. The Guado are less human in appearance, with elongated fingers and other differences. They also have a natural propensity for magic and conjuring monsters. Still less human in appearance are the large, lion-like Ronso, and the frog-like Hypello. A subset of the sentient races of Spira are the "unsent"—the strong-willed spirits of the dead who remain in corporeal form. It is explained that the dead who are not "sent" to the Farplane by a summoner come to envy the living and transform into "fiends", the monsters that are encountered throughout the game. However, those with strong attachments may remain in human form as unsent. Other fauna in Spira, aside from those drawn from real animals, such as cats, dogs, birds, and butterflies, include the gigantic, amphibious "shoopuf", and the emu-like chocobo, which appears in most Final Fantasy games. Both are used primarily for transportation purposes. Most other unusual creatures encountered in Final Fantasy X are the aforementioned fiends.Spira is very different from the mainly European-style worlds found in previous Final Fantasy games, being much more closely modeled on Southeast Asia, most notably with respect to vegetation, topography, architecture, and names. Character designer Tetsuya Nomura has identified the South Pacific, Thailand, and Japan as major influences on the cultural and geographic design of Spira, particularly concerning the geographic location of the southern islands; Besaid and Kilika. He has also said that Spira deviates from the worlds of past Final Fantasy games in the level of detail incorporated, something he has expressed to have made a conscious effort to maintain during the design process.Producer Yoshinori Kitase felt that if the setting went back to a medieval European fantasy, it would not seem to help the development team advance. While he was thinking of different world environments, scenario writer Kazushige Nojima suggested a fantasy world that incorporated Asian elements.
Tidus and Wakka
Characters
Main article: Characters of Final Fantasy X and X-2
The seven main playable characters in Final Fantasy X are Tidus, an energetic and upbeat blitzball star; Yuna, a reserved and soft-spoken summoner who always puts others before herself; Kimahri Ronso, an exile of the Ronso tribe who is devoted to protecting Yuna above all else; Wakka, a blitzball player and devout follower of the Yevon order; Lulu, a stoic and self-possessed, but well-meaning Black Mage; Auron, a taciturn former warrior monk; and Rikku, a perky Al Bhed girl with extensive knowledge of machinery. The primary antagonists of the game are maester Seymour Guado and the other maesters of the Yevon religion, while the enormous whale-like monster Sin serves as the primary source of conflict.Sub-character chief designer Fumi Nakashima's focus was to ensure that characters from different regions and cultures bore distinctive characteristics in their clothing styles, so that they could be quickly and easily identified as members of their respective sub-groups. For example, she has said that the masks and goggles of the Al Bhed give the group a "strange and eccentric" appearance, while the attire of the Ronso lend to them being able to easily engage in battle.
Kimahri
Story
Final Fantasy X begins late in the story, with the main character, Tidus, waiting with his allies outside the ruined city of Zanarkand. Tidus narrates the series of events leading up to his present situation, which spans most of the game's storyline. It begins in Tidus' home city, the unruined and high-tech Zanarkand, where he is a renowned star of the underwater sport blitzball. During a blitzball tournament, the city is attacked by an immense creature shrouded in water known as Sin. The city is destroyed, and Tidus and Auron are taken by Sin to the world of Spira.After arriving in Spira, Tidus is rescued by Al Bhed divers in the area, and upon asking where he is from, one of them, Rikku, tells him that Zanarkand had been destroyed 1000 years earlier. After another attack by Sin, Tidus is separated from the divers and drifts to the tropical island of Besaid, where he meets Wakka, the captain of the local blitzball team. Wakka introduces Tidus to Yuna, a young summoner planning a pilgrimage to the ruins of Zanarkand to get the "Final Aeon", the only weapon capable of defeating Sin, who is described as mankind's punishment for their sins. Accompanying Yuna are her guardians, Lulu, Wakka, and Kimahri. The party travels to gather aeons, defending against attacks by Sin. The party encounters Auron, who joins them. He reveals to Tidus that Yuna's father, Lord Braska; Tidus's father, Jecht; and himself made the same pilgrimage and defeated Sin ten years ago. Tidus thought his father had died at sea ten years earlier.Following more encounters with Sin, they are joined by Rikku, who is revealed to be Yuna's cousin. Throughout the pilgrimage, Tidus and Yuna draw close through their shared experiences and mutual interest.
When the party arrives in the Guado city Guadosalam, Seymour proposes to Yuna, and she informs the group of her intent to marry him to give Spira hope. Seymour's aide, Tromell, guides the group to Macalania's temple, where they see a message from Seymour's late father. He declares he was killed by his son, and that Seymour's evil nature will destroy Spira. The group engages Seymour in battle and they kill him; soon afterward, Sin attacks the group and they lose track of Yuna. Rikku guides the group to the Al Bhed "Home", which is under attack by Yevonite soldiers. While searching Home's base, Tidus learns that a summoner must give their life to perform the "Final Summoning", leading to his desire to find a way to defeat Sin that would not result in Yuna's death. Using the Al Bhed's airship, they escape the base before it is destroyed. The group finds Yuna in Bevelle, where she is forced to marry the now unsent Seymour. They interrupt the wedding and escape with Yuna towards Mt. Gagazet, where Seymour has slaughtered the Ronso tribe; after defeating him again, the group heads to Zanarkand.
Tidus learns that he, Jecht, and the Zanarkand they hail from are summoned entities akin to aeons. Long ago, a summoner named Yevon had the city's surviving people become "fayth" so that he could use their memories of Zanarkand to create a new city in its image, removed from the warfare on the Spiran mainland. Sin was also created, given form by Yevon to serve as armor; protecting himself and the fayth. While continuously summoning Dream Zanarkand, Yevon lost his humanity and became known as Yu Yevon, a being existing solely to maintain Dream Zanarkand's existence. Sin's true purpose was not punishment for mankind's sins, but to prevent the discovery of Dream Zanarkand's existence by persistently attacking the people of Spira.
Once the player completes Yuna's pilgrimage, Lady Yunalesca—Yevon's daughter and the first summoner to have defeated Sin—tells the group that the Final Aeon is created from the spirit of one close to a summoner. After defeating Sin, Yu Yevon's spirit possesses the aeon, transforming it into a new Sin. The group decides against using the Final Aeon and they defeat Yunalesca. They then seek a new way to permanently destroy Sin that will not require any sacrifices. This leads the group to enter Sin's body and battle Seymour, Jecht's imprisoned spirit, and Yu Yevon. Sin's cycle of rebirth ends, and the spirits of Spira's fayth are freed from their imprisonment, dispersing the pyreflies of the aeons, Dream Zanarkand, and Tidus in the process. Afterward, in a speech to the citizens of Spira, Yuna resolves to help rebuild the world now that it is free of Sin. After the credits, there is a brief scene with Tidus underwater. He opens his eyes and begins swimming upward, and the screen fades to white. This scene segues into the sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, in which Yuna investigates Tidus' possible survival in order to continue their relationship.
Auron
Related Links
Final Fantasy X Wikipedia
Final Fantasy X Official Site
Final Fantasy X - FFOnline
Day Nine: LittleBigPlanet
Sack people dressed as workers.
LittleBigPlanet is an insanely fun and addictive platform adventure game in which you play as a Sack Person and make your way across tons of amazing levels collecting items. The items you collect can later be used to create your own levels, or to decorate your pod (your home base, basically). What I love most about this game is that it allows you to create almost anything you can think of, and if you have a bit of extra cash you can download tons of extra packs or costumes for your sack person. Another thing that totally made me love this game even more is the narrator (Stephen Fry!)that helps you along when you first start playing, and when you view the videos about items for creating your own levels. Some people think it's lame humor, but to me, well I love it, so I guess I love lame humor (I get it from my dad, let's blame him. xP).
If you search on youtube, or google videos, you can see some of the user created levels for LittleBigPlanet. There are a lot of amazing levels that are user made, and some even give you items at the end for completing them. You can also browse the LBP shop for more costumes, as well as packs that contain stickers and objects that you can use to make your own levels. It takes a bit of getting used to when it comes to making your own levels, but it's really fun and rewarding.
If you search on youtube, or google videos, you can see some of the user created levels for LittleBigPlanet. There are a lot of amazing levels that are user made, and some even give you items at the end for completing them. You can also browse the LBP shop for more costumes, as well as packs that contain stickers and objects that you can use to make your own levels. It takes a bit of getting used to when it comes to making your own levels, but it's really fun and rewarding.
Some more pieces from costumes that you can get in LittleBigPlanet.
What is LittleBigPlanet?
If you were to stand on LittleBigPlanet and try to imagine a more astounding, fantastic, and creative place, full of enthralling adventure, uncanny characters, and brilliant things to do... you couldn’t. All imagination is here, and what you do with it all is entirely up to you.
Build new levels and expand the environment, collect the many and varied tools and objects to make your mark on this world, or just simply enjoy the people and puzzles they’ve set.
LittleBigPlanet is the manifested embodiment of your perfect dream world...
Sackboy
On the LittleBigPlanet you’re a little Sack Person like this one here, he’s a cute one isn’t he? Sackboy (or girl) is the fun little character that will share your adventures on LittleBigPlanet. One of the things that makes Sackboy so special is that he can be customised to look as stylish and sexy as you’d like him to look, or just plain weird. You’ll collect all kinds of clothing and things to dress him up with as you explore the world, and you can buy extra special ones from the PSN store too. Take a look at some of the costumes, and learn more about Sackboy.Play
Exploring LittleBigPlanet will take you through a whole host of locations, whether you're playing on the PlayStation™3 or the PlayStation®Portable.On the PlayStation®3 you’ll go from the safety of the King’s Gardens, through the Sahara and into the Arctic tundra. On the PSP™, join Sackboy as he takes a holiday, and travels all around the world collecting Creator Curators to take place in a Creator Carnival in Brazil.
Each location is packed with unique levels and challenges, using realistic physics and lots of jumpy-grabby action to deliver plenty of surprises and a great deal of fun. There are items to collect - clothes for Sackboy, stickers, and creative tools, some in plain sight, some hidden, and some given as rewards for being a super skilled player.
On the PS3™ LittleBigPlanet is multiplayer - up to four players can Play or Create together, at home or over the internet, co-operative or competitive!
When you’ve completed the story mode, you can head out into the big wide world, and play some of the levels made by other players - there are over a million of them, so you won’t ever run out!
On the PS3™ LittleBigPlanet is multiplayer - up to four players can Play or Create together, at home or over the internet, co-operative or competitive!
When you’ve completed the story mode, you can head out into the big wide world, and play some of the levels made by other players - there are over a million of them, so you won’t ever run out!
Read more about playing on either PSP™ or PS3™.
Story
PlayStation®3
Upon arrival, the first place that your Sackboy will find himself in is known as the King’s Gardens. This idyllic playground is the perfect area to learn the tricks and skills required to successfully explore the colourful landscapes of LittleBigPlanet.
You’ll soon learn that the King is one of the fabled Curators responsible for all of the creations within LittleBigPlanet. Once Sackboy has proved his worth in the King’s realm, he’ll be sent off to other lands to learn the skills of other Curators.
Read more about the story in LittleBigPlanet™.
Read more about the story in LittleBigPlanet™.
From the LittleBigPlanet about page.
Related Links
Official LittleBigPlanet site
Day Four: Final Fantasy VIII
Balamb Garden in Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII was the very first Final Fantasy game I ever played, and I still regard it as my favourite Final Fantasy game. I remember the first time I played, it was at my cousins in Prince Albert. One of them was playing and I was immediately hooked, it looked like so much fun! They eventually let my sister and I try playing, and I absolutely loved it. I remember buying it shortly after we got home from that trip, and playing it into the wee hours of the morning for days afterwards.
The game starts out with the above opening before you get into any of the gameplay. Afterwards you find out that your name is Squall Leonhart, and that you and another student named Seifer had been training earlier that morning when you got injured. Squall and Seifer attend the military accademy, Balamb Garden, and are in training to become part of "SeeD", a group of mercenaries paid by the academy to perform various tasks around the world.
Zell
Characters
Main article: Characters of Final Fantasy VIII
The six main playable characters in Final Fantasy VIII are Squall Leonhart, a loner who keeps his focus on his duty to avoid vulnerability; Rinoa Heartilly, an outspoken and passionate young woman who follows her heart in all situations; Quistis Trepe, an instructor with a serious, patient attitude; Zell Dincht, a martial artist with a passion for hot dogs; Selphie Tilmitt, a cheerful girl who loves trains and pilots the airship Ragnarok; and Irvine Kinneas, a marksman and consummate ladies' man. Temporarily playable characters include Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill, and Ward Zabac, who appear in "flashback" sequences, and antagonists Seifer Almasy and Edea Kramer.
Selphie
Final Fantasy VIII begins as Squall duels with Seifer in a training session outside the Balamb Garden military academy. Meanwhile, the Galbadian regime invades the Dollet Dukedom, forcing Dollet to hire assistance from the Balamb Garden branch of "SeeD", Garden's elite mercenary force. SeeD uses the mission as a final examination for its cadets; with the help of his instructor, Quistis, Squall passes its prerequisite and is grouped with Seifer and Zell. Seifer disobeys orders and abandons his team, forcing Selphie to accompany Squall and Zell for the duration of the mission. After the mission, SeeD halts the Galbadian advance; Squall, Zell, and Selphie graduate to SeeD status while Seifer is disciplined for his disobedience. During the graduation party, Squall meets Rinoa, whose personality is apparently the opposite of his. When assigned with Zell and Selphie to help Rinoa's Galbadian resistance, Squall learns that a sorceress named Edea is behind Galbadia's hostilities. Under orders from Balamb and Galbadia Gardens, Squall and his comrades—now joined by Rinoa, Quistis, and Irvine—attempt to assassinate Edea. However, the sorceress thwarts the attempt, and the party is detained. Squall's party also learns that Seifer has left Garden to become Edea's second-in-command.
Quistis
After the team escapes, Edea launches a missile attack on Trabia Garden. Fearing that Balamb Garden is the next target of Edea's revenge, the team splits into two units. Squall's group returns to Balamb to warn of the attack, but must first stop an internal conflict incited by NORG, SeeD's financier. Selphie's team travels to the Missile Base to stop the launch, but fails. Squall inadvertently turns Balamb Garden into a mobile fortress, allowing the facility to evade the missiles; however, he loses control, and Garden collides with the docks at Fishermans Horizon. While local technicians repair the Garden, Galbadians invade in search of a girl named Ellone, who had been staying at Balamb Garden until recently. Ellone eventually escapes to Esthar, the world's technological superpower. During Squall's meeting with Ellone, he learns that she had been "sending" him and his allies into flashbacks set seventeen years in the past in a vain effort to alter the present. The scenes center on Laguna and his two friends, Kiros and Ward. During the flashbacks, Laguna changes from a Galbadian soldier to the defender of a country village, and then from leader of a resistance movement against Sorceress Adel to president of Esthar.
Squall
Meanwhile, Squall confronts his personal anxieties fueled by ongoing developments, such as Headmaster Cid appointing him as SeeD's new leader, and his increasing attraction to Rinoa. While investigating Trabia Garden's wreckage, Squall and his comrades learn that they, along with Seifer and Ellone, were all raised (with the exception of Rinoa) in an orphanage run by Edea; they later developed amnesia due to their use of Guardian Forces. It is also revealed that Cid and Edea had established Garden and SeeD primarily to defeat corrupt sorceresses. After these revelations, the forces of Balamb Garden and the Galbadian army, led by Squall and Seifer respectively, engage in battle above the orphanage. After Balamb defeats Galbadia, the player learns that Edea is merely an unwilling tool for "Ultimecia", a powerful sorceress from the future who wishes to compress time into a single moment; it is for this reason she has sought Ellone. Edea loses a decisive battle against the SeeD, forcing Ultimecia to transfer her powers to Rinoa; Edea survives, but Rinoa enters a coma. Squall becomes obsessed with waking her and goes to Esthar to find Ellone, as he believes that she can help save Rinoa.
Rinoa
While Rinoa is being treated on Esthar's space station, Ultimecia uses her to free Sorceress Adel from her orbital prison. Ultimecia then orders Seifer to activate the Lunatic Pandora facility, inciting a rain of creatures from the moon that sends Adel's containment device to the planet. Having selected Adel as her next host, Ultimecia abandons Rinoa in outer space. Squall rescues her, and they return to the planet on a derelict starship. Upon their landing, delegates from Esthar isolate Rinoa for fear of her sorceress abilities, forcing Squall to rescue her. President Laguna apologizes for the incident and announces Dr. Odine's plan to let Ultimecia possess Rinoa, have Ellone send Rinoa (and thus Ultimecia as well) to the past and then retrieve only Rinoa back to the present, enabling Ultimecia to achieve Time Compression, as it would allow Squall's group to confront Ultimecia in her time. To do this, Squall's team infiltrates Lunatic Pandora, defeats Seifer and Adel, and has Rinoa inherit Adel's sorceress powers. Time Compression is thus initiated; Squall and his allies travel to Ultimecia's era and defeat her.
Ultimecia
With Ultimecia defeated, the universe begins returning to normal; however, Squall is nearly lost in the flow of time as he witnesses the origins of the game's story. When a dying Ultimecia travels back in time to pass her powers to Edea, Squall informs Edea of the concepts of Garden and SeeD that she will create. Afterward, he is able to properly recollect his memories and was able to regain consciousness and thus return to the present. The ending cinema depicts the events after Squall's return to the present. Seifer is once again reunited with Raijin and Fujin; Laguna visits Raine's grave (and recollects his proposal to her) along with Ellone, Ward, and Kiros; and a celebration takes place in the Garden, with Squall and Rinoa kissing one another under the moonlight.
Related Links
Final Fantasy VIII on Wikipedia
Final Fantasy VIII on FFOnline
Final Fantasty VIII on FFInsider