In addition, the re-releases include plenty of new content that the original North American 2001 PS2 release didn’t have. So even those who played the original, still have lots of new stuff to experience. And whether you’re a fresh face to Spira or an unsure returner, we’ve got some great tips here to make your journey be as successful as possible.
10. Get Valefor’s Second Overdrive
The first time you meet Yuna she’s emerging from Besaid’s Chamber of Fayth, where she had just earned the aeon Valefor. This is her only summon for a while. So she’ll lean on it pretty heavily. Now, you could just use it as-is with its default overdrive Energy Ray… Or you could head back into the village after departing to get Energy Blast from a girl and her dog near the temple. I mean, it’s free too. Energy Blast does much more damage than Energy Ray, and will help a lot until you’ve gotten your feet wet.
9. Become an Item Hoarder
Between starting the game and getting a full party, you’ll accumulate a lot of items ranging from basic healing stuff to various seemingly useless knick knacks. It’s important to hold onto everything! In fact, it’ll be a tremendous boon to get into the mindset of finding and hoarding everything you can. Get one of everything from stores, rob every chest… the more items you have, the easier things will become as the game progresses.
8. Normal Grid v. Expert Grid
If it’s your first time playing Final Fantasy X, you might be concerned when you’re presented with the choice between two sphere grids. The normal sphere grid is the classic default version, and what’s been in the game since the original release. It has straightforward & defined paths for every character, and makes growth much more accessible for new players. The expert grid shuffles everything around to allow for a higher level of early character personalization, and it assumes a familiarity with not only the sphere grid, but the game as a whole. Which grid you choose will depend on you and how comfortable you are with Final Fantasy X. If you’re ever in doubt, just go with the Normal Grid. You can always branch out certain characters as they progress anyways.
7. Steal is Way Useful
When you get the ability to steal, use it. Swipe stuff from everybody and everything. Stealing common items has a high rate of success, so it’s always worth spending a turn to take them. You’ll get healing items, or items for money and customization, all for free. Further, it’s very satisfying to look at your inventory and see it get fuller after every battle. Or if you want to focus your stealing efforts, we’ve got some recommended enemies worth stealing from.
6. Give Everybody Equal Time
One of the key features in Final Fantasy X’s new battle system is the ability to swap characters in and out on the fly. This is important because certain fiends are weak to certain character attacks. However, as the game goes on, you might find a set of three characters that you become comfortable with, and start ignoring others… Don’t do this too long! Make the effort to try and get everybody in during battles, so they all get some experience over time. It’s all kinds of upsetting to see a character that has been ignored for so long, eventually be forced into the party for a battle (and suffer for it).
5. Customize for the Situation
Customizing opens a whole world of different weapons and armor. You can get caught up in the whole thing quickly, and making your favorites is a lot of fun. But don’t forget the purpose of it all: to make battles easier. It sounds like trite advice, but it really is easy to just make what you like instead of what you need. Pay attention to the attack and status trends that local baddies set, and act accordingly. Nobody wants to show up to a trendy party in old fashion – and the same thing applies to the strengths of your gear.
4. Don’t Leave a Cloister Incomplete
Cloisters of Trials are sphere-based puzzle palaces that are requirements to obtain the Aeons they guard. Every Cloister has two objectives: solve your way to the exit, and find the hidden treasure. The treasures are entirely optional (except for one) but put it into your mind that they’re not. These extra items hidden away in the Trials are always worth getting, so put on your thinking cap and get to solving. Even if it takes you an extra ten minutes of swapping spheres, you’ll be super glad you did.
3. You Can Customize Aeons
Under “Aeons” in the menu, you can access both ability and customization tabs that let you add onto them, as you would a piece of gear. The game only tells you this once, and the option is somewhat buried. While not a necessary thing to do (and not as important as gear), juicing up your Aeons can help a lot. Even if you only end up doing it a little bit. And who knows, you might be the kind of person that wants to see each beast have 255 for every stat.
2. Status Ailment Customizations are Better
When it comes to affixing things to your weapons and armor, you’ll get easier access to stat augmenting things like strength and magic ups. But the better choice is to take the time to make abilities that both protect against, and inflict, status ailments. A weapon that inflicts sleep, or some armor that stops poison, will typically be better than nominal stat gains. Think of it this way: you can always increase stats through the sphere grid. But nowhere on that grid is there an immunity to afflictions.
1. You Can Always Go Backwards
Aside from one or two non-important items, nothing in Final Fantasy X is missable. You might have to wait some time until you get the means to travel fully back, but there’s nothing around that you can’t come back for. Keep this in mind so you don’t stress too much about exploring every little nook and cranny your first time around – especially when the story is pressuring you to move on.
