One of the best RPGs ever made. Truely deserving of a perfect score.
/Graphics- For its time in the PS2's lifespan, this game's graphics were revolutionary. No Final Fantasy (or any RPG) had ever looked this good. Characters showed emotion through gestures and facial expressions. Character's mouths moved in sync with words said. It was breath taking.
/Sound- The music was fit to be in a Final Fantasy title. It was great. Suteki Da Ni ( I believe thats how you spell it :/), translated to "Isn't it Wonderful" played as a CG sequence of Tidus and Yuna finally realizing their love... it was wonderful. The sound effects fit perfect to everything, sword slashes sounded nice, and spells were devastating (and sounded like it).
/Gameplay- You had a huge world to explore, and plenty of fun to have doing it. Battle was great and felt tight and controlled due to a turn based battle system NOT using the ATB (the turns were displayed in a box based on speed ratings). It also made things more strategic. Leveling up was with a brand new system called the sphere grid, which you moved along, upgrading stats as you went. The levels you gained were used to move from sphere to sphere. Linking to others sphere grids sections provided awesome possibilities, like having Tidus (your main character and warrior type) learn White Magic spells that belonged to Yuna (your white mage and summoner).
/Story-I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just generalize. No specifics.. The story transcends time, and brings a likable cast of characters together for one cause, each having their own personality though. You play through the game with a mainly cheerful mood to it, but plot twists burst through with action and sometimes sadness. The threat of Sin (the game's main monster) looming over your shoulder provides tension as well as anger as well (it got you into this mess). There are plenty of evil characters who will actually make you (in real life mind you) angry. The ending is absolutely amazing, and forced me to spend five playthroughs of FFX2 to get the perfect ending and resolve the ending of this game. It will draw you in, and you won't be able to stop playing till the final boss is dead.
Overall, if you have not played this game, where have you been, what have you been doing, and do you have any interest in video games? Lol, you need to play this game. You will enjoy it, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good time ^-^
***If you're wondering why I have played over 100 hours, I got most of Tidus's stats to max, and completed nearly every side quest. No, it did not take me that long xD***