Frusturating
Graphics are solid. They're also a bit inconsistent in some of the cut scenes. Some cut scenes will look good, but others will blow you away. It doesn't make up it's mind what kind of cut scene graphic quality it wants to be. The world looks colorful enough. The summons will blow your mind away as well.....that is....the first few times you see it. Then it's just annoying to watch the same 10 second build up whenever you want to use infirit, shiva, bahamut, and company. Controls...not much wrong here. Blitzball, the in game mini game, is confusing to play, but it's probably just due to me not knowing the rules that well. Everything else is standard Final Fantasy controls.
Sound...it's good...but it's lacking. I know I shouldn't compare it to the old ones, but I did enjoy the 7 and 9 soundtracks much better. The opening intro piano theme was touching though I must say.
Gameplay...it uses the sphere grid system (I think that's what it's called). You'll see that it's easy enough to use. Battles are standard Final Fantasy turn based funfests. What's different here is that you can switch between characters that aren't in your leading three. For example, if you change your mind about Tidus while in mid-battle, you can just swap him out for someone that wasn't currently fighting. Puzzles can be difficult. Very difficult.... Then again I am so sure there are expert RPGers that can blitz through the "Trials" as they are called. These are frusturating parts where you have to put sphere balls in certain spots in certain rooms. But there is more to it than that. At times, figuring out where to go or what to do in the trials is just dumb luck. It's unnecessarily difficult for a game that's supposed to rely on its storyline. Bosses...for me...were a nightmare towards the end of my 30 hours where I quit. I finally reached the point where I couldn't do it anymore. I wasn't at a high enough level and the boss I was facing was using a ridiculously unfair combination of attacks. Plus they get like 2 or 3 turns before you get to go! I just didn't want to level up anymore. It's different than FF 7, 9 that's for sure. The graphics might remind of 8. I for one miss the deformed characters. It's decent, but if you are a casual gamer looking for something easy, I wouldn't recommend this.