Final Fantasy X's Incredible Progression: Making the Levelling Process Fun

Picture this, you just got a new video game to play and it also just so happens to have some sort of progression system within it to help help you feel more motivated to play the game.

It could be any sort of progression system. It could have EXP requirements, a hugely complex skill tree with branching paths and traits, or just a simple but gradual onslaught of weapons you could pick up that give you bigger numbers with each upgrade to your kit that you're able to find.

These little incremental dopamine hits fuel you to play even more of the game that eventually: You lose track of time and completely forget about the incredibly endearing story of the game after becoming entirely invested in just the gameplay alone.

Does this sound familiar? Well, it does for me, because it's happening right now. If it wasn't obvious by now, I very recently received the Final Fantasy X remaster as a gift, and I'm absolutely loving it!

It's honestly a surprise for me, personally. Now keep in-mind that I'm speaking on the basis of my very own opinions, but I'm admittedly not the biggest Final Fantasy game-buff ever. I played VII, then found its remake to be interesting - albeit lacking. I then greatly enjoyed the Crisis Core remaster, but by then I had already had enough Final Fantasy for that year. I eventually decided to simply just leave the series for a bit, and that ended my time with the series as a whole during 2023. In fact, I might have been too good at forgetting about Final Fantasy, since VII Rebirth wasn't on my mind at all during these past few months. My wallet was feeling particularly hollow, anyway, so it wasn't too big a concern for me in the moment.

But of course, I couldn't stay in my Persona and Fire Emblem rabbithole forever. Eventually, one of my friends had taken notice. Upon asking what sorts of games I'd prefer to play, he realised I'd generally preferred older turn-based titles as opposed to the newer real-time combat Final Fantasy games. It was at this point I then proceeded to get a surprise message, surprise visit, and then promptly had a surprise box of the game gifted to me right then and there before I could even comprehend my friend driving off, telling me to play the game.

But what was I meant to do? I mean I was going through Ni no Kuni II at the time as well, and that game was fun enough to keep me away from starting other games... right? But I let FFX sit on my shelf. It sat, staring down at me.

If you've ever had the experience of having the protagonist, Tidus, stare at you with his face from below, begging you to open up the disc case and plop it into your PlayStation, then you'd know how I felt. It's a normal experience for any Final Fantasy fan, I'm sure. This isn't unusual at all and I definitely do not have any sort of stubborn principles about quitting and leaving games behind whatsoever. I also definitely didn't intentionally put the game at a very noticeable place out of guilt for potentially accidentally disregarding my friend's kind gift to me.

Not

At

All

So anyway, I'm 25+ hours into FFX and have barely touched the true end point of the story. According to my close friend, who had beaten his first playthrough in just under the time I've been putting into the game now - I've been over-levelling myself - a LOT.

But it's not my fault! This game is beautiful and incredibly fun! It's also (allegedly) a well-known classic before the series departed from its turn-based roots entirely. It's practically a love letter to fans of JRPGs as a whole! It's a showcase of just how powerful and emotionally telling a game can be at pulling the heartstrings of gamers worldwide before slapping you in the face with its credits (which I have established I have yet to reach yet).

I've been enjoying this game a lot. That's putting it mildly. Will I potentially make a full review or analysis of this game? I kind of want to, but I'm also very clearly savouring this game. I'm also still very new to the blogging scene, so maybe I should be writing smaller-tier articles before making a full analysis.

I think. Yohane the Parhelion is tempting me to write a review on it, but this is definitely not a passing foreshadowing sentence to make you interested in what else I have to write. Not at all - whatsoever.

Anyway-

I've finally narrowed down why this game is so captivating for me.

Putting it completely honestly, my favourite genre of games has always been Roleplaying Games, or RPGs for short (this is Captain Obvious speaking - welcome aboard!). I've always enjoyed experiencing beautiful stories alongside having some engaging gameplay on the side. For an RPG, these two elements need to go hand-in-hand for the player to fully enjoy their time with a game. This is why a heavily story-driven game will often take queues to make the player feel a sense of progression as they play through through a game.

And if you want to show your characters engaging and growing in the game's narrative, you, of course, have to show that link through the gameplay as well.

In Persona 3, Makoto can slowly host more Personas in his stock the higher his level goes. Similarly, Makoto's friends, his party members, cam only have one Persona in their repertoire, and these Personas can level up and grow stronger with each battle they participate in. For a newcomer who's never even heard of these games before, think of Persona like Pokémon, because this is also how I had to unfortunately explain the concept of the game to my sibling one time (ah, good times...).

To emphasise these elements of growth in-line with the story, the remake of the game, Persona 3 Reload, also introduces Theurgy attacks, that act as “special attacks” that they can use once a meter is charged up. While they initially seem helpful enough in combat by their own, they also become much more powerful as the player progresses through the latter parts of the game's story. This is because at some point, characters begin unlocking a second Theurgy, which oftentimes end up being much more powerful than the initial ones the game gave out originally.

On a fundamental level, these Theurgies are unlocked through realizations and developments of the characters in their own dilemmas within the story. Their powerful attacks are proof of their resolves growing, but it also acts as a way of rewarding players for their progression and interest so far into the game, by giving them powerful attacks capable of wiping out fiends and bosses alike with the press of a button or two (provided they charged up that meter beforehand).

If it wasn't obvious from this example alone, a game's story linking to its gameplay is an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to creating a memorable feeling of progression, and it was this sort of similar feeling that I could sense as I played more of Final Fantasy X, as well.

Now I'm only saying this mildly: But Final Fantasy X is an old game. I wouldn't call it incredibly difficult, but there are times the game isn't afraid to pull punches if you've under prepared for the challenges ahead. However, the it's also a game capable of making its playable cast of characters all relevant , and it's for this reason that you'll find yourself wanting to utilise everyone available to you in battle.

Putting it simply, Final Fantasy X has seven party members that you can utilise in your team. Each of these seven members prioritises themselves towards one or two roles that make them useful for different points in the game.

Tidus, the protagonist, is your Hero character. He's a middling ace who excels in dodging enemies with albeit standard defence. While he may not hit incredibly hard, his speed allows him to quickly dispatch certain enemies if they're too slow to counter.

Yuna is the Healer of the game. She becomes incredibly useful if you're wanting to save any money from being used if you can avoid spending it on healing items. Not only does she provide your team with their main form of rejuvenation, but she can also heal what ails them when they're given status effects such as Poison or Petrification.

Wakka is your Debuff Specialist. Him and his trusty ball (yes, he fights with a ball) can be thrown at aerial enemies to secure One-Shot kills in an instant. He becomes incredibly reliable at inflicting status ailments on enemies, often allowing you to blind or silence fiends to prevent your team from taking heavy enemy fire during unavoidable situations.

Auron is your reliable Tank unit. Unlike Tidus, he doesn't have as much speed - but he makes up for this through his healthy reserve of HP. Auron can take hits and dish them out in return. As a result of his huge sword, certain hardened enemies can be dispatched in an instant by his sword if he's ever tasked to attack them.

Lulu is your primary Spellcaster. She doesn't have as much defence or HP as Auron, but she makes up for this by being able to somewhat easily dodge enemy attacks. She's an incredible asset to your team, as she's able the only one initially to dish out elemental attacks towards enemies who are weak to them. While bringing her out to fight is a primary risk due to her low defensive capabilities, the player is often rewarded for it by Lulu dishing out big damage to enemies with elemental weaknesses.

Rikku is your resident Thief. She joins late in the party and suffers initially for it, but it's through levelling her up that the player can be rewarded for their labour. Not only does she easily steal and rack up loot from her enemies, but she's also able to nimbly escape with her high Evasion stats when the time calls for it. You won't often call her out to deal damage for you, but you can still find use from her if you're running low on primary items, as she's able to craft and utilise unique accessories unique only to her in the heat of a battle. If you need an example of her utilities: At some point in the game, you'll find Al Bhed Potions that only Rikku is able to use during battle. In moments where Yuna might not be available to you, these potions become a vital asset to your group when you need it.

Khimari is a mixed bag of different types. I'll explain the specifics of it later, but he's someone able to absorb the unique attacks of enemies through his “Lancet” skill, allowing him to them dish them out in return through his Special Attacks. You'll quickly find that Khimari can become just about any sort of fighter in your party as a result of his circumstantial placement in the game's leveling system, and as such, he can be just about anyone’s role very early on in the game.

That last part about Khimari "being anyone" surely sounded heavily confusing for you, so I'll need to go into much more detail now to help you make sense of it.

If I hadn't said it before, then let me say it now: Final Fantasy X doesn't use a traditional levelling system that most games in the JRPG genre are well accustomed to. Whereas in other games, you would be given an EXP requirements for your characters to reach before the game can reward them with stat increases, Final Fantasy X gives some choice to the player. In turn, this allows the player to decide how it is they want to build their characters the more they progress through the game.

The game utilises something known as a “Sphere Grid”. This might seem confusing at first, but it's really just the game’s way of saying it's got a fancy Skill Tree with no apparent end in sight.

The Sphere Grid is a large open canvas with branching paths, locks and nodes just waiting for their activation upon inspection. Each primary node needs an Sphere item to activate it which in turn gives you benefits relating to an increase in one of your stats.

Each character has a different placement in the grid overall, allowing them to unlock skills mainly relating to their class specialty. Whereas Auron may often find Strength and Health nodes, Yuna will mainly see Magic and Agility nodes in her path. Every character has a different set of skills along their corresponding path, but there's always a catch.

Each path has branching paths, and those branching paths often lead to another character’s skillset. If you wanted to, you could send Lulu halfway down her path straight towards Wakka’s, and vice versa. That is - if you can figure out how to break through the locks along the way.

To break through these rigid locks, you'll need Lock Spheres. These are late-game items that you can often find sprinkled around the main game if you search your parameters correctly. They're the game’s way of allowing you to diversify your character builds without giving you too much power. Since you're often limited with which Lock Spheres you get early on, you'll often be trying to plan along as much as you can on which optimal path you want for your characters. This ended up making me constantly look forward to growing my characters, since I got to explore more of the Sphere Grid the more I played the game.

It also helps that the game makes it obvious which character has unlocked their specific set of nodes, which allows you to easily plan out your perfect build. This is because you can always see what's possible despite it being so far out of reach through simply scrolling along the grid.

As an example, I'm planning on having Lulu and Yuna exchange paths and act as both simultaneous Healers/Mages for my team. To do this, I've already decided that Yuna will cross through Rikku’s path and dilly-dally her way to the far side all the way to Lulu’s nodes. As for Lulu, well I accidentally miscalculated and shot her way far away from Yuna’s healing skills, but I'll figure something out. Each character's paths often criss-cross with one another, so it's not often a huge detriment if you veer off-course occasionally by accident.

This, to me, is the beauty of Final Fantasy X’s combat system. Every character has a set purpose. Provided you make everyone participate in battle as you go along the game, you'll find that everyone has a use to each other. This is even more so because items such as Skill Spheres often allow you to obtain abilities for your desired character which they don't have yet, provided another character has that Skill Node unlocked beforehand.

This is Future Ismail talking here, but believe it or not: I have an example to illustrate this now that I'm much farther in this game compared to when I first drafted this article. Here's a picture of Yuna and Lulu each learning spells way out of their reach in the grid because I had the specific Sphere for it: That's all for now. I just wanted to post this to help show why I love this game. The utility is insane, honestly. Anyways - have fun reading the rest of this article.

The game also nudges the player to use everyone available to you, and this is because of the way that the EXP system works in this game. During combat, you're often operating under a turn-based system where each character goes after another in order of their Speed stat. At any point in one of your character’s turns, you can choose to swap them out with another character not in your battle party at the moment. For example, if Yuna wasn't out in the field but Wakka was. I could take out Wakka and swap him out with Yuna, provided he doesn't choose to do anything in his turn.

As long as each character participates in battle somehow, they can get EXP after the battle, even if they were later swapped out. While it's cumbersome at first to constantly swap over one another when you can help it, this becomes a fun way to strategise as you play the game. For example, I mentioned before that the thief, Rikku, was the last one to join my party. This often meant that I was often whittling down enemies in battle up until there was only one left for her to steal from them. If I could help it, I often tried to have Yuna alongside her to heal my brittle Rikku whenever she was in trouble. So long as Rikku stole something at the last second of battle and quickly got away, she would then quickly level up with everyone and benefit as a result.

It's an almost ingenious method of making everyone involved in the game without tying the player down or wasting their time. Oftentimes with turn-based games, it becomes a struggle to justify building every single character when there isn't a valid way of keeping them all levelling beside one another . Some games, like Persona 5 or the latter Pokémon entries, try to solve this via an EXP share mechanic that allows members away from battle to level up as well after a fight ends. However, the player can often take this for granted, sometimes leading to them never using their benched party members thus forgetting them as a result.

On the other hand, if the player doesn't choose to build their benched characters at all due to negligence, they may find themselves struggling later on if the character winds up being needed later in the game. This might then lead to them having to spend time “babysitting” them up until they can be on-par with everyone else in your party again. This is admittedly an issue I had with the older Persona games. While it didn't entirely block the road for me, it did make me miss out on content I would have otherwise had freely available to me had their been a better system relating to balancing party members out individually.

You could also argue that this issue in RPGs allows for more replayability. This could mainly be because the player might then go a different route and use their previously benched characters, should they ever choose to replay the game again. While this is a compelling argument for not having some sort of EXP management in an RPG, I personally would say this isn't a good excuse to justify it. Not everyone is willing to replay games again, and this is especially the case for a genre of game that oftentimes forces you through exposition dumps before you can even play through the meat of the gameplay.

Instead, Final Fantasy X circumvents this by allowing you to freely swap party members in the midst of battle, making it incredibly satisfying to get everyone involved if you play your cards correctly. Each character grows together as a result provided you swap them out, and it truly does end up feeling like a team effort the more you play the game.

Admittedly, I wasn't fond of Khimari at the start of the game. I thought he was uninteresting and frankly leagues below characters like Auron, Tidus and Yuna at the beginning of the game. As I began leveling him, though, I got further in the story. As I got further in the story, he began opening up more in the narrative, which would often coincide with the point where I had him learn and grow with each of the nodes he opened up on the Sphere Grid. In a weird way, I almost felt as if the effort I had been putting into building Khimari’s stats had coincided with his gradual openness in the story.

Of course, I understand just how strange I'm sounding right about now. Not everyone becomes overly attached or sentimental to the fictional and unreal characters they learn out about in the games they play. Unfortunately for you, and very fortunately for me: I do.

I said this before and I'll say it again. I've already spent far more hours in this game than I need to. Final Fantasy X’s Sphere Grid has become my bread and butter. If you wanted to, you could add coffee to this batch and I'd be a happy gamer. In this scenario, I suppose the coffee would be the amazing story, though… right?

Here's a fun story before I wrap this article up:

During one of my optional grinding sessions in the game, I had realised that my PS5 allowed me to utilise Discord’s voice chatting utilities if I chose to link it to my account. Through this, I ended up talking to my FF-obsessed friend, where we then spent roughly an hour trying to (but ultimately failing) to dodge 200 lightning strikes for an achievement in the game. After the call ended, my friend realised that if he could find it again, he would be able to show me his old PS Vita save file of the game, where I could then see his Sphere Grid progress if he used his camera to project it in our call.

The next part of the call then proceeded to be me being very impressed with his activity in the game. According to my friend, he had been near the end of the game when he decided to put time into grinding before the final boss. As he did this, his characters ended up becoming far more powerful than he anticipated, and his Sphere Grid as a result was almost filled out. According to him, "Yuna could hit like a truck", and I honestly didn't have trouble believing that.

Just seeing what he had done had inspired me . I wanted to attain a similar level of this kind. I almost felt jealous of his time and effort put into this game. It was an incredible sight to behold, and it was one that I wanted to truly delve myself into when I could.

So that's the point I'm at right now. Somewhere out there, I can hear my copy of Ni no Kuni II crying in the corner for having been abandoned by me in favour of Tidus and his silly antics. I'll get to it soon, I think. For now, I want to immerse myself in Final Fantasy X’s incredibly engaging combat. I think after I finish that, though, I'll return to Ni no Kuni in due time.

I'm often asked by others around me (sometimes even my own family members), about whether I'll get tired of the genre of games I play. To that, I truthfully don't know myself if I'd ever tire of these engaging stories, fun gameplay loops and immersive worlds. I want to deny those boredom allegations with all my heart, but we never truly know what the future holds. I'll hold out hope in my heart that I never change, even if the time I have left to freely play videogames like this whittles down as a result of me taking up more responsibilities. If there's anything I've learnt from this at all, however, it's that Final Fantasy X has solidified my love for the RPG genre as a whole, and I'm glad for it.

You should play the game by the way. It's really good. Look at how obsessed I am with it! :D

There really is no going back for me, huh?