Incorrect. Final Fantasy X-2 was actually the final game to use the ATB and it was more traditional in it’s use in that game than in Final Fantasy X since the battle system was actually called the CTB or “Conditional Turn-Based Battle”.

You could also make the case that Final Fantasy XIII still used the system too, but it was HEAVILY modified.

I actually put X near the top of the franchise, not despite the voice acting but because of it. Bear in mind the state the industry was in when the game was released: this was the first console that could support extensive voice acting without the bloat of 4+ disks (Legend of the Dragoon PS1 took that many and it only had a handful of spoken lines.) So writers were still in the transition from dialogue meant to be read on screen to dialogue meant to be spoken by actors. Contrast with Planescape: Tormet, which very nearly perfected the art of the written word in mainstream games, it would still take a very talented cast to turn much of that into workable, flowing, natural-sounding dialogue, if it could be done at all.

One thing Square has done well, no matter how limited the medium, is non-verbal responses. From Cecil in FF4′s ultra-simplistic “look down” emote—which the player unmistakably interprets as silent shame without needing dialogue—to Lightning in XIII’s sighs of exasperation, they’ve always held up that end.

I won’t say that it makes him an endearing, sympathetic character. But Tidus’s overwrought emoting conveyed an enthusiasm about the journey that was contrasted by the quiet, resigned way the rest of the party handled it. That contrast and inner struggle is one of the most interesting dynamics in the game. While it makes him seem childish when juxtaposed with their stoicism, it very much is a story of his loss of innocence and the way his idealism is tempered and eventually inspires the others.

Yes, the plot twist at the end is something of a cop-out. Even though it had been (poorly) foreshadowed, and attempts to inject a raising of the stakes, the plot actually remains the same: “No, guys, this time when we fight Sin, it’ll be different!” so it fails the first test of plot twists. But it’s meant to show Tidus’s character growth: the selfish brat who washed up in Besaid is now ready to sacrifice himself. As Yuna learns to hope, Tidus learns to sacrifice. They each learn what the other has always known. (Which makes Yuna’s quest in X-2 that much more poignant: it was from Tidus that she learned to hope. Yes, I am one of the three living people on earth who LIKED X-2)

Lastly, FFX is also noteworthy as one of the rare father-son stories at all in mainstream games, and is commendable that they don’t take that plot lightly. Seriously, how often are characters orphans-yet-conveniently emotionally stable? If they have a parent, how often is the only living parent their mother?

That Jecht is written to be deeply flawed, and that his flaws directly influence Tidus’s behavior are not for nothing: a star athlete-turned-warrior hero is still reduced to a petulant child when confronted with reminders of his narcissistic, emotionally abusive father. That’s a hauntingly familiar relationship dynamic for many people, and one that is often left out of games entirely.

FFX puts that relationship front and center. That Jecht is Sin is a rather predictable plot twist. But Jecht’s willingness to sacrifice himself to defeat Sin and purchase Spira a decade of peace, knowing he would then become Sin, coupled with his hope for Tidus to kill him and end the cycle complicates the image of him being a narcissistic emotional abuser and acceptable target for audience loathing.

I don’t think I’m being overly-generous due to having 12 years to forget its flaws. Rather, I think that we look back on some of these things as flaws only because the medium has matured. Because at the time, blitzball’s improbable physics didn’t make me say “Whaaaat?” but rather, “Wow, Zanarkand is that advanced?” (And let’s face it, “Otherworld” makes for one of the best opening sequences in all of FF. )