Well that was probably one of the worst puzzles I've ever done. Whose idea was it to set up those ridiculous camera angles? I ended up just looking at a guide for that.
The heroes got caught anyways and were sentenced to death, except the villains of this game are apparently incredibly stupid and just leave the heroes in some dungeon unattended with all their weapons where they can clearly escape from. like ok seymour. Speaking of which, his second fight was as frustrating as his first, but it turned out to be pretty easy after spamming all of my Aeon's OD attacks on him. To be honest, I really hope this guy gets more development soon, because he seems like an incredibly uninspired villain. I just can't point out his motivation for doing anything. Also I hate his hair.
Some
spoilers ahead if anyone even bothers to read this.
I ended up getting up to the scene where Tidus hooks up with Yuna. Honestly, Yuna is such a boring character that this didn't leave much of an impression on me. Also, I don't really think their relationship developed into a romantic one very naturally. I mean, Tidus is clearly interested in her throughout the game, but I didn't really see her reciprocating that at all so far, aside from the very beginning when she requests that he be one of her guardians. But now she's suddenly in love with him. This scene mostly just shows how Tidus alone developed as a character, which is kind of a shame. A scene like this would benefit if both characters changed. Yuna's only "change" is that she realized Yevon is full of sh
it, but that doesn't really
change her personality or develop her character so much as it adjusts her goals. Actually, her goals didn't even change, because she's still trying to fight Sin, so nothing even changes except for her realization of what Yevon really is all about.
There are a lot of other instances of things happening too suddenly in the plot, and the characters just sort of accept things as they go along. Rikku joining the party came out of complete left field. I know that she's Yuna's cousin, but the player doesn't really know that at the time, so it's kind of jarring. Like ok, I guess this random girl that only Lulu and Yuna know can become a guardian? Like, she could've just told everyone they were cousins. It's not like Wakka even knew she was an Al-Bhed at that point. Kinoc's death was also poorly handled. Seymour apparently just thinks this guy sucks so he kills him all of a sudden. Maybe have some dialogue somewhere hinting that Seymour resents this man? Overall I just think the story's pacing is very poor. There are too many sudden plot developments, and nothing feels like it flows organically.
Idk, maybe I'm analyzing it too much. I try to give the game's story the benefit of the doubt by reminding myself it came out in 2001, but plenty of games in that generation (and even before that generation) had better writing, even if those games weren't perfect. Despite my complaints, I am enjoying it. It's definitely not a bad game at all. I think the game's worldbuilding and setting are superb. The battle system is also very fun, aside from either of Seymour's fights, whom I imagine I will be fighting again. I even didn't mind the puzzles, except for the aforementioned Bevelle nightmare.
I really wonder what I would've thought of this game if I played it when I played Kingdom Hearts and discovered Naruto for the first time. I probably would have been more forgiving of its shortcomings. I don't know why I didn't play it at that point in my life, and I actually really wish I did. I probably would've gotten much more out of it.