Final Fantasy X is the first in the series to make it to the Playstation 2, and it makes a strong case for being the best yet. An interesting variety of characters, some of the series most innovative gameplay, and graphics so stunning that you won't want to blink combine to make this a top of the line RPG.

The game starts off with your main character, Tidus, preparing for a game of blitzball. It looks like it's going to start off slow from there, but looks can be deceiving. It picks up quickly from there and never really slows down. His hometown of Zanarkand is attacked and a friend of his father, the mysterious man Auron, arrives and takes him away. Tidus wakes up not knowing what's going on or where he is. What lies ahead is around 50 hours of greatness (well, most of it anyway).

Blitzball was one of the low points of the game, at least for me. It didn't help that the main character happens to be a professional blitzball player. Fortunately, you really only have to play blitzball once and the surrounding events are cool enough to easily make up for the horrific game of blitzball. Tidus is probably one of the most annoying main characters I've ever seen in a game. He's whiny, he's the stero-typical 'dumb-jock' and I really wanted to slap him multiple times through the game. As the game progresses, though, he gets less annoying, and the fact that Wakka, another one of your party members, is twice as annoying makes Tidus seem to be cooler than he really is. The remaining characters consist of one of the best casts I can think of in any RPG. I honestly can't think of many characters in any game ever who are half as cool as Auron is. Character development is done very nicely throughout the game, and all of the characters are important to the game in some way, unlike many RPGs that have characters jump into your party for no reason. FFX has pretty clear cut classes for each character, but depending on how you evolve their abilities you can change them.

As your character levels up you're allowed to move through the sphere grid. This sphere grid is a giant intertwined set of spheres with spaces spread all through it. Each sphere contains abilities and you can move from space to space learning these abilities. Each character starts at a different area of the grid and learns abilities associated with their class first. The sphere grid can be a little frustrating and confusing, but it works.

The weapons and equipment in this game all contain different abilities that can be unlocked by combining items with them. Unlike most games, your weapons don't necessarily get any stronger as you progress. All that really matters is the abilities each weapon has. This way seemed a little silly as it often made buying equipment worthless, but once you start getting the better abilities it more than pays off.

The summoner, Yuna, is the only party member capable of summoning, which is something you are likely to do quite often. Unlike other Final Fantasy games, the summoned creatures in FFX come in and take the place of your party until you dismiss them or they're killed. Being able to totally control the summons was an interesting twist, and you can even teach your summons different abilities.

What I found the best addition to FFX was the ability to change party members during battle. This was not only extraordinarily useful, but also great fun. You can rotate your party members in and out of the battle so that all of your party gains experience from every battle and none of your characters will fall behind. You will also be able to call in the strong character and get rid of the weak one when you need it. Fighting something that flies? Get Rikku out of there and bring in Wakka. Your characters can also change their equipment during battle, which proves very useful against elemental foes and creatures vulnerable to status effects.

Now onto the graphics...WOW. Graphically, FFX is among the best of the best. The backgrounds are beautiful and brightly lit, the characters are very detailed and move very convincingly, and the cinemas are just about the greatest things I've ever seen. You may often find yourself in awe of the pure beauty of the game and stop to stare, but I recommend you keep going because it just gets better.

The voice acting was also pretty good. It didn't always sound right and some of the things they said seemed kinda silly, but it's still some of the best voice acting I've ever heard. Listening to Auron calmly say "Its over..." as he slashes through an enemy is something you'll probably find yourself addicted to. The cinemas are full of voice acting, and voices constantly find their way into the battles.

Overall, the most important factor making FFX so great is that it's just a fun game. Sometimes it's really hard to make yourself quit, but if you don't you'll dehydrate in a few days. Don't say I didn't warn you. Visually, FFX showed us the great potential that the Playstation 2 has and we can only hope future RPGs, such as FFXI, follow in its footsteps. I highly recommend that all RPG fans play this game and just remember to bare with Tidus for a while and everything will be okay.