Just need to gush about this game. I've been thinking about FFX lately, and how much of a fascinating case it is of a game that had a lot of bad characters and story elements, that were elevated so goddamn much by everything else. As annoying as Tidus comes off, and as ditzy as Yuna can be, the game still made so many people, myself included, cry at the end. The setting and music in the game is god tier. You've got your medieval, steampunk, future, and cyberpunk settings across all of fiction, but Spira is probably the most unique setting I've ever seen. It's hard to describe it, it's like an alien beachworld. Then there's the music, which I honestly think deserves to be in the Mount Olympus of greatest video game soundtracks. It's rich and diverse with so many different types of music that are catchy, emotional, relaxing, and heartpounding. The gameplay was peak Turn Based, what else is there to say? The graphics and cutscenes at the time were groundbreaking in so many ways. In terms of graphical leaps between console generations, FFX really showed the difference in power between the PS1 and PS2. Even towards the end of the PS2's run, FFX was still one of the better looking games on the console. As for the writing, for every annoying character there was, there was one that was likeable and cool. For every dumb story moment, there was one that was amazing or heartbreaking. Even almost 20 years later FFX holds up. It doesn't feel too outdated.
FFVII Remake certainly brought back some of that old school Final Fantasy magic, but for me FFX is still the last great game in the franchise. That isn't a knock on everything that came after, how good FFXIV can be. But X was the last one to blow me away and make me feel like I was a part of an amazing journey.