But I remember what the review said still. The story was that a young man named Tidus is the star player of the Zanarkand Abes, a team that plays blitzball. Blitzball is played entirely underwater and is a completely made up game for the game. FFX never tells you how the characters learn to hold their breath long enough to play a game.

 

The review tells though of how Tidus is playing in a major game with all the town watching when this powerful shadow shows up. What is this? The review described it as a mindless and destroying force called Sin. I had to read that twice. A game where the main enemy is a mindless and destroying force called Sin?

 

I finally got the chance to buy it and I was impressed. The new style in Final Fantasy no longer just has the text written but actors speaking out the parts as they are played on the screen. The battle system is new and the method of gaining experience has changed from experience to a sphere grid where characters improve stats and get new abilities.

 

The story continues, and I won't tell too much lest anyone wants to check it out themselves, with Sin attacking Zanarkand and Tidus being rescued by a strange man named Auron and being lifted through a portal to avoid the destruction. Tidus wakes up alone where he finds a people speaking a language unknown to him except for one girl who knows his language and the native tongue and becomes an ally to him.

 

When she asks who Tidus is he tells her he's the star player for the Zanarkand Abes. The girl asks him if he hit his head to hard or something. Why? Because Zanarkand was a city that was destroyed 1,000 years ago.

 

Eventually, they part ways for a time and Tidus comes across a new ally and a new focus. In the land of Final Fantasy, called Spira in this game, there live creatures called Aeons. These are powerful creatures called forth by people known as summoners. Summoners go to the ruins of Zanarkand where they seek to get the final aeon to defeat Sin.

 

The time when Sin is gone is referred to as the Calm and for some reason no one knows Sin always returns. It is never completely destroyed. Nevertheless, a young lady summoner named Yuna sets out to defeat Sin with her guardians. Tidus joins the group as they travel.

 

He eventually finds out that his old man Jecht was a guardian for Yuna's own father. While Yuna has great praise for "Sir Jecht" Tidus despises his Dad. The reason is obvious watching the game as Tidus has flashbacks of his Dad always telling him he was no good and a crybaby and anything else negative.

The picture with Sin is amazing though. Even with one walking in the map when a battle starts the picture freezes and there is a shattering. It is as if a mirror was just broken and battle is entered into. I see it as a picture that with Sin being a reality the peacefulness can be shattered at any time.

 

And imagine the thought of Sin as a hideous monster. I thought to myself about if I saw my Sin as a monster like that would I be willing to take a sword and cut into it? Perchance if we could see how ugly our Sin really is,  we would take it a lot more seriously than we do.

 

And self-sacrifice plays a big part throughout FFX. We can point in friendship as well. The team learns to work together as they travel to defeat Sin and to stop thinking of themselves but think of the good of Spira. It is better to them that they die than that millions suffer with the agony of Sin.

 

There are numerous religious parallels. Some want to destroy Sin and some want to use it to their advantage. Some see sin as a punishment and they must atone for it. What causes Sin and what it really is are key questions being asked throughout the game.

 

But in conclusion, one can take the words of one member of the party named Auron before a big fight. I will paraphrase but his statement is that now is the time we must choose life or death. It is a very dramatic scene. If we do not deal with Sin in our own lives then when we reach the throne of our Lord we could very well hear the words Tidus says sometimes before one of his special attacks. "Too late to beg for mercy!" Let's defeat it now.

 

Note:Final Fantasy X does contain magic which some Christians will take offense to. If you are one of these, I respect your opinion. Please respect mine as well that it doesn't bother me.

In Christ,
Nick