Final Fantasy X was Square’s big jump to the PS2 era. On top of giving their beloved series a graphical makeover, they also decided that it was the best time to rework some of the principles that defined their games up to that point. The result was a game that not only challenged conventions of its own series, but of JRPGs as well. The success paid off as well, with Final Fantasy X being one of the most popular ent꧂ries in the franchise.

There are many reasons why the game is so beloved, and still popular today. The Sphere Grid system remains one of the most praised aspects of the game, changing ꦺhow characters could evolve in a JRPG. There was also the soundtrack, which many regard as the best in the franchise (though that remains a bit more subjective). The point here is that there are tons of factors that lead to this game’s success. Square is still re-releasing the game to this day, with the HD remaster coming to Nintendo Switch next year.

However, Final Fantasy X is not a perfect game. In re-imagining some of their own g🐼enre conventions, Square did present a set of problems for themselves when developing the game. While it’s still an excellent entry 🐻in the franchise, it does have some issues that many fans ignore because of their deep love of the game.

Without further ado, we’re going to look over 25 issues with Final Fantasy X that fans seem to ignore.

25 𝓰 Lightning Dodging

Perhaps the most irritating part about getting the Celestial Weapons was that it required some tedious quests. In the Thunder Plains, there was a mechanic where you ꦬcould dodge lightning bolts. If you dodge 200 in a row, then y♍ou’re rewarded with the item you need to power up Lulu’s Celestial Weapon. The problem was that the timing was so difficult to get right, and if you screwed up even once, you had to start all over. It was a nightmare.

24 💎 Subpar Celestial Weapons

On the topic of Celestial Weapons, they are all strong, each having great abilities to enhance their respective characters. However, it was later discovered that players could create weapons more effective than the Celestials. It’s surprising to know that after certain tedious quests like butterfly catching and lightning dodging, you’re rewarded with a wꩲeapon that isn’t the best the game has to offer. Granted, making a weapon that’s even better requires a lot of time, work, and dedication that most players don’t have🀅.

23 ☂ Spo𓆏tty Voice Acting

Final Fantasy X was the first game in the series to have full voice acting. While it was certainly a worthy addition to the world, it was spotty in a lot of places. Tidus’s voice is often criticized as being “whiny and bratty” while Yuna occasionally has a soft and mousy voi🅠ce that doesn’t fit her character. Some of the voice clips cut off too quickly, and not all characters were treated with the same level of quality in their voices.

22 ꧃ That Laughing Scene

Perhaps the most infamous scene in Final Fantasy X was when t🐼he party was leaving Luca. Yuna was dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding her pilgrimage and what that meant for her life afterward. Tidus, being the carefree goofball he is, decided to introduce her to the concept of laughing. The two then had an awkward and poorly-acted laughing fit that went down in gaming history. If you thought that the English version sounded weird, then go watch the Japanese version. It gets worse.

21 NPC Models ♍

It’s impressive how well-designed the character models for the main cast were. It’s to the point where they all hold up in 2018. However, the same can’t be said for the NPCs in the game. Many of them have significantly less detail around them, leaving to some character🐼s that look disturbing. Some have faces that look like they were painted on, and others have movements that are stiffer than petrified bark. While it wasn’t an uncommon thing to do in video games at the time, it was more noticeable in a game with good-looking characters.

20 ඣ Watered-Down Airship 𝕴

With the airships in preceding Final Fantasy games opening up a whole new world of exploration, the hopes were high for what a new generation would allow for a new airship. Unfortunately, Final Fantasy X’s airship exists as little more than a glorified map. Players are presented a map of Spira, but they’re not allowed to fly across it or manually travel to new lands. All that’s required is selecting a destination and sitting through a brief loading screen. Even Final Fantasy VIII knew how to incorporate an airship.

19 ✨ Sphere Grid End G🐼ame

The Sphere Grid is a revolutionary, yet controversial, mechanic in Final Fantasy X. One complaint that people have thrown out is that, once you get to the end game/post game, the characters have gone through their main paths. At that point, characters begin upgrading the same way. Once you’re finished with every character on the Sphere Grid, they all functio🔜n identically to one another. It takes away the uniqueness of their stats and hurts any reason to have more than three characters in the party.

18 Blitz Ball 🍎

Blitz Ball isn’t the best mini-game in the Final Fantasy series. There isn’t a lot of control involved. Most of the game boils down to watching a cutscene happen and making decisions. Most of the time, winning or losing a match is entirely due to what the game decides. There are ways to upgrade your characters’ stats, but only alters with the odds. At the end of the day, the outcomes are still random. It doesn’t help that the games can go on for a lonꦿg time either.

17 Trials

There are a few sections in Final Fantasy X where players have to go through certain temples and complete puzzles to acquire new aeons for Yuna to summon. Not only do these sections halt the progress of the game, they seem added without any thought. There isn’t anything gained by forcing a player to complete puzzles th♔at have no bearing on the actual game. Getting an aeon could’ve been something as simple as a cutscene with chanting- there was plenty of that in the game anyway.

16 ♊ Confusing S♓tory

In one sentence, could you effectively explain how Sin works? How about the existence of Spira alongside Zanarkand at the start of the game? While the story has some serious high points, it’s quite confusing to follow. Some players didn’t fully grasp it until they played through it a few more times. While the rules of the universe are we❀ll-defined, as are the cultures that live in it, the major plot points are difficult to comprehend, especially on the first playthrough.