FF10 HD: So...I finally finished this, took me long enough! Blame...I'm not sure, I really should have played this faster. Screw it, whoever posts directly after me is to blame for this!
So yeah, I need to finish my plot rant? Well, let's get started!
So first we go to Bevelle! Shelinda is all "I'm a captain and OH GOD I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" It's not a meaningful scene per se other than further establishing Yevon really is falling apart. Not only are the priests arguing, but someone like Shelinda being made Captain of the Guards? Uh, yeah, that proves your options are slim.
Then they meet with Mika, because that was Kimhari's idea. Mika is all "You met Yunalesca? GOOD! KILL SIN NOW!" and Yuna is like "uh, yeah, about that...we sort of killed her...I mean, she was already dead, but well...you know how it works...you're unsent yourself" Ok, so she didn't say THAT, but basically Mika spills the beans on Yu Yevon's existence (That Yunalesca name-dropped), and pretty much spells out that Sin is just an armor protecting the real deal. One thing I have to say is that this "Man behind the Giant Evil Whale Monster" reveal doesn't do that I want to say happens often is exonerate Sin of his wrong doings, as it doesn't say "It's not Sin's fault!" but rather merely establishes Sin is just a weapon (or an Armor as Mika puts it), and so long as Yu Yevon exists, Sin can always come back. With this bit of news finally established, Mika loses his will to live, and dies fully without a sending.
Shelinda obliviously appears and goes "where's Mika" and Auron gracefully fibs about how Mika hasn't arrived yet just to remove suspicion. Shelinda falls for it; she's such a cute little tool. I will make one comment about FF10-2 here:
I do find it funny how Shelinda actually ended up as a news reporter 2 years later. I'm not sure I'd call it "in-character" but she wasn't exactly a major character so giving her a funny little role just to cover what she did was nice. For all it's faults, FF10-2 did at least remember the existence of a lot of secondary and tertiary characters, and tried to cover their bases there. Yes, Isaaru's role is completely out of left field, but at least they REMEMBERED Isaaru exists! Gotta give credit where credit is due. I think only Luzu and Gatta are absent, and that's understandable since it avoids having to establish a canon fate for them, and you can't show both for obvious reasons.
...well, ok, it also lacked Wakka/Lulu's previous summoner, but he has literally one scene and just existed as a guy who would logically trust Wakka/Lulu over Yevon while still being part of the order to help some exposition, so whatever there. We can assume he got eaten by a Shoopuff and move on!
Anyway, into the Chamber of the Fayth, Bahamut explains further that Yu Yevon was once a summoner, and is now trying to call THE ULTIMATE SUMMONING! He is neither good nor evil! Dead nor alive! Etc. etc.
...yeah, Bahamut, bullshit on that "Good nor evil" thing. Yu Yevon is clearly the bad guy; there's no excuse to torture a civilization for 1000 years just because you're trying to summon your village back. You killed millions to save thousands. That's not how it works! See, in Doctor Who, it at least establishes the Doctor killed billions of Timelords to save trillions of lives across the galaxy! Legitimate moral dilemna, it comes up several times throughout the "kill mass amounts to save even more!" Yu Yevon is doing the opposite; he's restoring mass amounts by killing way more than he's saving.
The only defense you can play is "Yu Yevon has lost all semblance of sentience is and acting entirely on instinct" which I guess is what Bahamut is trying to say; he doesn't really have a will of his own, more just acting entirely on auto-pilot, and as a result, can't really be considered good or evil, just kind of existing. Anyway, Bahamut explains that Yevon needs Aeons to create Sin, and if all Aeons are dead, Yu Yevon will be exposed...well, no, he doesn't say this, he just urges you to summon him, and later Yuna comes to this conclusion but jumping the gun!
The final thing Bahamut says is the whole "The dream will disappear" nonsense to make sure Tidus understands and Tidus is cool with it, but Yuna is puzzled. Yuna questions Tidus, Tidus goes "oh, it's nothing, let's go kill Sin!" and Yuna pulls Auron's "You're a poor liar!" card.
Ok, so major fight with Sin! Screw plot, WE WANT ACTION!
I'd explain this but really, I think
this imagery works better for how the fight ultimately goes.
Well, ok, there are gravity bolts involved but ultimately, you get the idea. The dialog here is mostly action scene stuff, until Yuna speculates how to beat SIn once and for all. Summon Aeons -> kill them on the spot as they're possessed when they're still Aeons and not Sin. Yuna notes what disturbs her here is that this is the first time the Aeons personally requested to be used; they've been allies for a while, but never said "USE US NOW!" Yuna shows discomfort in the idea, but pretty much understands it's the only way.
So after being eaten by Sin and Seymour's giant incorporeal chest, we run through some water and fight...Seymour!
I love this scene. No, it's not important or reveals anything, it's just a nice stylish exchange of lines between Hero and villain. It's utterly stock Hero vs. Villain dialog too, in that you could replace Tidus and Seymour here with just about any Good Guy vs. Bad Guy, arrange the wording to fit the characters in question, and it'd still work. Observe!
Sanctus: Ahahaah!
Nero: Don't you ever give up?
Sanctus: The Savior has chosen me! I am part of the Savior, one with the Savior, FOREVER! IMMORTAL!
Nero: The Savior just absorbed you!
Sanctus: I will learn to control it...from within! I have all the time in the world! Since you were so gracious enough to dispose of Dante...the only means of defeating the Savior and myself...is forever gone...NOW NOTHING CAN STOP US!
Nero; Well I can.
Sanctus: By all means TRY! You should thank me, your death means Kyrie's life!!!
SEE WHAT I MEAN!? And of course, doing this properly means you let Seymour long enough to his Ultmia phase so he can be all "There is no salvation for the damned! Rest in peace in eternal darkness!" and "Let Darkness take you!" Something about that exchange of lines just works for an Ultima quote...shut up Ramza and your "Brush off vanity, Show reality!" nonsense! YOUR ULTIMA SUCKS AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD ABOUT CALLING IT ULTIMA AND...
...wait, getting side tracked. Anyway, Seymour beaten, Yuna sends him, even as he's dying he's basically refuses to admit he was wrong, and is only admitting defeat because you have him against the corner and he pretty much acknowledges there's no hope for him left.
MORE DUNGEON CRAWLING! Then we get to the stupid crystal room WHY DO YOU EXIST GO BURN IN A DITCH OF PAIN AND TORMENT AND...
...oh hi Jecht. Nice to meet you finally!
So yeah, we finally meet Jecht face to face; all we've seen of him thus far is flashbacks from Tidus' perspective, and the Jecht Spheres, and that one scene in Zanarkand. Jecht's first thing he says?
"You're late, Auron."
This is just quickly establishing that Jecht still has some of him left; he's not completely taken by Sin and that this is in fact Jecht speaking. It establishes he still has that bad sense of humor left in him that we've seen plenty of. After that, he follows up by referring to Tidus' growth, and how he looks scrawny, which you can't tell if he's bullying Tidus or just teasing him. Then he goes "You've really grown up, haven't you" in a sincere voice, which establishes the first line was Jecht just being himself, and the 2nd line was him getting his act together and showing both recognition that his son is now indeed a man, and there's a sense of remorse in his voice, almost like "and I missed all this happen", understandable situation for a father.
Tidus' response is "You're still bigger", which can be interpreted to mean multiple things. Could be that Tidus is acknowledging that he's still not as big and tough as Jecht literally, could also mean Tidus' way of saying Jecht is more of an adult than he is, and showing some respect, etc. Then Jecht goes "well I am Sin" and Tidus calls him out on it not being funny; Jecht's trying to lighten the mood, and said the wrong thing. Jecht then goes on about how Tidus came here and knows what he's got to do, etc.
Then we get the moment Tidus has been waiting his entire life for. The one thing he was never able to do to Jecht when they were together because he was intimidated, and never afterwards since Jecht was gone:
"Dad." "Yeah?" "I hate you!"
Now for all the irony things to kick in! First off, Tidus said "Dad" for like the first time in the entire game. He never referred to Jecht by "Dad" or "Father" any such I believe; it's always "My old man" and what not. The fact that he calls him "Dad" shows that this is the first time Tidus thinks of Jecht as family, so that's important. The "I hate you" is also said in a way that's holding back from crying, almost like he's forcing it out, and he doesn't actually believe it himself, but he needs to let it out.
Jecht's response? "I know, I know, and that's why you need to do it." He goes onto explain how there's very little left of him. He then explains that once it starts, he can't hold back Sin. Why does he say this? Well mostly works around that annoying plothole of "if Jecht wanted to die, why not just let them kill him?" The Answer is sort of given here. We assume Jecht can only be killed in Aeon form, and that the form he's taking now is just an avatar of himself. Once he's in Aeon form, he's no longer himself, but Yu Yevon is in control of him, so yeah, that's why he's fighting back! It's a cheap explanation but gets the point across for why there is a final boss fight at all!
As Jecht transforms, Tidus tries to stop him, fails, then goes "I'll show you, GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT DAD!"
Personally, I like to think the next part goes a little something like
this.Jecht falls, and Tidus does the dramatic "run over to grab his body from falling." Jecht starts calling him a crybaby, and sure enough, Tidus is completely bawling here. For a game that keeps saying how much Tidus cries...this is the first time we see him cry. Granted, Jecht last saw him when he was like 7, so things have changed, but I digress. Tidus is crying "I hate you!" and Jecht pretty much spells out that he's proud of Tidus and that he's his son and he hasn't disappointed him, and Tidus says "For the first time, I'm glad that you're my father." Quite a contrast from how the first we saw of Tidus and Jecht was Tidus looking at a billboard of his father and giving him an angry "HMPH!" and well, yeah, it's almost like Tidus and Jecht have grown a lot over their journeys and it only took saving the world for them to finally be a family...and now Jecht is dying...
OH CRAP YU YEVON! QUICK YUNA SUMMON AEONS AND KILL THEM! You do that, Yuna gets upset after each.
Then Tidus drops the Bombshell of "yeah, so I'm going to die after this fight." Why now? Because they literally cannot turn back, so it makes sense. Again, the irony thing kicks in; the whole purpose of the mission was to kill Sin without losing Yuna, and ideally kill Sin FOREVER. The only way to do that is to lose Tidus instead, and the reason they go through with ti is because only Tidus knows about it (and possibly Auron, who Tidus is the only one who knows HIS secret), and they didn't, and well, now they don't have a choice!
...it's also why Yuna's "WE DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE!" rant at X-2 is bullshit because, well, she really didn't have a choice because she didn't even know there was a choice to be made! She went in thinking "ok, we're killing Sin; we need to lose Aeons, but there's literally no other way!" Yuna's rant somehow glosses over this and misses like the entire point of FF10 and people who defend his "It sucks" rant is because "HER CHARACTER COMES FULL CIRCLE" when uh, it already came full circle in FF10? She was clearly NOT ok with this decision, but it's not like she could do a damned thing about it.
Yu Yevon goes splat, victory! MASSIVE SENDING! Auron dies. One thing I do wish is Tidus and Auron actually exchanged some last words because Auron has been Tidus' second father of sorts, you'd think he'd have a stronger emotional reaction. I do appreciate the pat on the chest he gets Kimhari, because Kimhari is the one who fulfilled Auron's dying wish, after all.
Then we see Spira recovering leading to Tidus' death. Strong emotional scene between him and Yuna, between Tidus saying "I have to go, sorry I couldn't show you Zanarkand" since that was like the one thing he promised her and he failed. I'm not going into details here because you all know what happens, but I will again hype the decision to translate Yuna's line as "I love you" being the right thing to do here, instead of the awfully cliched "Thank you." Considering how emotional this scene is, and how clear her feelings are, the "Thank you" thing just falls short, and it's just a corny way of going "She loves him but doesn't!" Explicitly saying "love" instead gets the emotional context across way better, and a nice change of pace. I get that sometimes using "Thank you" works to keep the relationship ambiguous while still suggest they are a thing, but with Tidus and Yuna, we already KNOW they're a thing, we KNOW they have strong emotional feelings for one another, just have her come out and say it, and it gives Tidus nice final words to go off as he dies.
Then he high fives his dad, ending the relationship on a strong positive note! Yay character development!
From here, Yuna has a speech, blah blah, game ends.
So that's FF10! Overall, plot still holds up and character work is still strong. I am convinced that anyone who calls Tidus a whiner really doesn't pay attention to the game, instead hears his voice, listens to some early game dialog (which isn't whining, I should note), and just assumes everything he says is grating nonsense. Yes, he has some moments where he whines (the "What do you want to do?" "Scream really loud...AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" scene comes to mind), but most of his complaining is justified.
Whining is defined as unjustified and grating complaining. Getting emotional after being told "Your father is Sin" is totally understandable. I was discussing this with someone and we both agreed that the problem with Tidus hatred is people expect him to act perfect and take everything with strides, but instead he takes things...like a person would. He has a realistic reaction to a lot of it, instead of a fictional super human mentality, nor does he have an overly depressed but quiet self angst that you see him slowly overcome. He's a normal dude (...plot twist aside), and gets thrown in an extremely exceptional situation and does what he can to adjust. The culture shock makes sense why he'll suddenly be all over with these mood swings, and worth noting he has plenty of positive emotions mixed in with the negative ones early on, and by Kilika his mindset is "guess I'm not going home anytime soon, might as well make the most of it." At Macalania, he's pretty much convinced himself he's never going home, ever, and takes it pretty well...because he's slowly growing use to Spira and gotten use to this notion of "getting home won't be easy" so when he's convinced "it won't be possible" he already was considering that option.
Tidus is not a whiner. He's normal person put in a really bizarre situation. Likewise, Jecht is not a good father either, and Tidus had every right to complain about him. Now yes, Tidus did always assume the worst when there was more to it, and Jecht is a better person than Tidus gave him credit for, but you have to remember that from Tidus' perspective, Jecht was being an emotionally abusive father. Jecht didn't see it that way but that's because Jecht's inflated ego and "it's tough love!" mindset blinded him to the reality. While JEcht may have
meant well, the end result was he is still abusive to Tidus, and he really only recognizes this once he's in Spira and it's too late. That's why he's so accepting of Tidus telling him outright he hates him. If Tidus told him earlier, when they were in Zanarkand? Jecht would have laughed it off, just going "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that kid! I'm the best!" or something. The fact that his reaction is "I know" shows how much Jecht has grown.
Rikku is ruined more by FF10-2 than I remember, because I was reminded of how FF10 establishes pretty early how she's intelligent and competent. She's not "stupid" just young and immature and energetic. She's clearly capable of holding her own in an intellectual conversation and thinking outside the box, and even calls her father out on the "LET'S JUST BLOW OURSELVES UP AND TAKE EVERYONE OUT!" on why that is dumb. The fact that they degraded her to the "Energetic idiot comic relief" is insulting to what was being established in FF10. It really shows they didn't care for her character, and instead went "We need the Sweet Girl, the Fun Girl, and the Tough Girl!" and Rikku fit the bill for the middle one. She has some great interactions with Tidus and Wakka, and even some minor scenes like the scene with Kimhari where he's all "Rikku should stay Rikku!" She really needs that interactions to work, and she doesn't really bounce off Yuna much in FF10, so it's only natural she wouldn't bounce off her much in FF10-2...which is really bad because that's one of the two primary characters she works with. Likewise, Rikku didn't interact with Auron much, who is probably the closest thing to Paine...uh-oh...
Really don't have much else to say about the game other than a lot of my suspicions were confirmed on this playthrough, and I noticed a lot of little things I didn't pick up the first time in terms how the plot actually goes together. I know these rants won't change anyone's opinions, but I do feel more confident in countering points people make about this game specifically. Tidus is not a whiner, Rikku is not an idiot, and Jecht is indeed an awful father, and it's not just Tidus.
