Final Fantasy X

Square released Final Fantasy X in Japan on July 19, 2001, and in North America that December — the series' PlayStation 2 debut, produced by Yoshinori Kitase. It was a game of firsts: the first mainline Final Fantasy with voice acting, and the first with fully three-dimensional areas. The old Active Time Battle system gave way to the Conditional Turn-Based Battle system, and leveling happened on the Sphere Grid, a sprawling constellation of nodes that made every level-up feel like charting a star map. Tidus (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), a star blitzball player, is torn out of his world and lands in Spira, where he joins the summoner Yuna (Hedy Burress) on her pilgrimage to defeat Sin, a monstrous destroyer that always, eventually, returns. Blitzball — the underwater sport minigame — became either a beloved obsession or a time sink, depending on who you ask.

For countless players this was the first time Final Fantasy characters spoke out loud, and it was... an adjustment. The forced-laugh scene between Tidus and Yuna became instantly infamous — mocked on forums for years, defended by fans who insist it works in context. The game's emotional arc didn't care about the cringe: the ending, all sacrifice and ambiguity, devastated players expecting a clean victory.

Over 8.5 million copies had shipped on PS2 by 2013. A direct sequel, Final Fantasy X-2, followed in March 2003, and an HD remaster arrived in December 2013 — but the original stands as the era's great gateway JRPG, the one that made you cry at a video game and not feel silly about it.