2) Final Fantasy X
“I will defeat Sin…I must defeat Sin.”
Final Fantasy X marked a lot of firsts for Hironobu Sakaguchi’s genre-defining franchise. Not only was the tenth numerical iteration Square’s first release on the PlayStation 2, it was also one which featured full voice acting — and, of course, Blitzball — for the first time in the series.
At its beautiful, quasi-religious core, Final Fantasy X was an atypical love story centring around Tidus and Yuna — a young, naive summoner tasked with defeating Sin in order to restore a new era of Calm across Spira. In doing so, Yuna begins her pilgrimage to the forgotten city of Zanarkand alongside a select and indeed eccentric group of guardians.
Granted, Final Fantasy X is brimming with emotionally poignant scenes; Tidus and Yuna’s memorable cinematic in the Macalania Woods, for instance; or, when you discover that Auron is, in fact, unsent and his brooding ass belongs on the Farplane. Nevertheless, it is FFX’s ending that serves as the culmination of a long, heartfelt journey.
Essentially, in order to overcome Sin, Yuna must complete an archaic ritual known as the Final Summoning. However, the definitive spell also means that Tidus himself will fade away too, as he is figment of the Dream Zanarkand created by Yu Yevon — a corrupt deity responsible for the creation of Sin.
And so, as the Fayth retires from its thousand-year slumber, Yuna runs desperately across the deck of the Al Bhed airship to hug Tidus one last time, only to fall through his ghostly arms. It’s a surprising, touching scene; one that typifies the heartfelt and ultimately tragic relationship between the beloved pair.
– Michael Briers