History FinalFantasyX / TropesDToH

** An extremely subtle one, but when Wakka recruits Tidus to the Besaid Aurochs, Tidus asks him what their plan is. In response, Wakka, in a confused tone, says they just want to do their best, which Tidus rejects and pushes them to go in with the mindset of winning instead, which surprises Wakka, but ultimately he agrees with. This interaction is, on a whole, a huge piece of foreshadowing for what Tidus' impact on Spira will be; questioning why something is the way it is, and then ignoring it if it gets in the way of their goals.

* HopelessBossFight: Not exactly a boss fight, but the first blitzball game, and the only one you are required to play. You're intended to lose. You have the worst team in the league, and you're playing against the favored champions, who are [[Smug Snake]]s. It's possible to win, but incredibly difficult, and all but requires abusing bugs in the opponents' AI.

* DistressedDamsel: Subverted. It looks like Yuna is this because she's being forced to marry Seymour. However, [[spoiler:she's doing it willingly, hoping for a chance to send him]].

** The only hint as to the location of [[spoiler:Anima's Fayth]] is NPC chatter in Al Bhed and a hint from a few Guado in Guadosalam. And you still have to figure out how to get to Baaj Temple even once you've worked out that there's a Fayth there. Completing this quest requires that you obtain the destruction sphere treasure in each of the six temples, some of which are easy to miss the first time around. This can become really problematic in the International or Remastered versions of the game, as revisiting either the Besaid or Macalania temples at this point requires the player to successfully defeat a [[BonusBoss Dark Aeon]], which most players will be woefully unprepared for.
** Same thing goes for one third of Tidus's InfinityPlusOneSword. If you failed to pick it up [[spoiler:straight after you defeat Yunalesca]], then you'll find BonusBoss [[spoiler:Dark Bahumut]] there to kick your ass when you retrace your steps in the International/PAL version. Same with Dark Valefor who will guard Valefor's second overdrive in Besaid at the beginning and one of the Jecht Sphere required to unlock Auron's final Overdrive, the latter would require you to backtrack all the way from Macalania's forest after unlocking the spheres, which is not something anyone would do unless they know about this and are willing to suffer through the hours necessary for this back-and-forth, though the Remastered version allows to speed up gameplay and disable random encounters thus alleviating the issue.

** It's implied this was the case with Tidus's mother. Her spirit appears on the Farplane and Tidus wonders how, since no one performed the sending for her. Yuna says "she must have accepted death while she was still alive". How she died is never stated but it's said that she never got over losing Jecht. So even if she didn't actually take her own life, it's clear that she definitely ''wanted'' to.

*** If Tidus says he thinks Yuna is cute when Wakka asks him about her, Wakka's tells Tidus not try and make a move on Yuna, and when Tidus mentions the possibility of Yuna being the one to do so instead, he comments how that isn't going to happen, with his tone being noticeably somber when he says so.

** There are a ''lot'' of hints regarding TheReveal:

*** Yuna seriously considers Seymour's proposal, thinking about making the people of Spira happy first and foremost, no matter her own feelings on the matter. [[spoiler:Said mariage would not last long if she succeeds her pilgrimage]].

* DoesNotLikeShoes: 2/3's of Spira's population is barefoot, even in the more "advanced" cities like Luca, most likely because of how much the culture revolves around water, the human population consisting primarily around tropical islands.

** It wouldn't be a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game without a BonusBoss that is more powerful than the final boss, but the International/PAL versions of FFX take this to ludicrous levels. For example, the two final bosses in FFX, Sin and [[spoiler:Jecht]] have around 150,000HP. The WEAKEST of the Dark Aeon superbosses has almost EIGHT times that much HP, and the two strongest (Nemesis and Penance) have over 8 million HP each. To put it in perspective, for your characters to be strong enough to even stand a chance against them, they'll be capable of taking out the final boss in just one or two physical attacks.

** It doesn't matter how many Al Bhed Primers you have, Tidus will not be able to understandand conversations that are in the Al Bhed language. You can start a new file after having collected all 26 Primers on an older file, use the Al Bhed Sphere at Baaj Temple so that all Al Bhed text is translated from the get-go, and Tidus will still be absolutely clueless when he's detained by the Al Bhed salvagers.

** Wakka's World Champion is a similarly obscure chain of unlocks to fully power. The crest and the weapon itself are relatively straightforward once you know their (pretty obscure) locations, but getting the sigil is a time sink no matter what, as you first must win all 3 of Wakka's optional overdrives as they show up in various modes before it has a ''50% chance'' to appear as a reward in a League. As a final twist, not only do you need to collect each overdrive in order to get the next overdrive to show up, you also need to have Wakka participate in a certain amount of battles ''outside of blitzball'' as well. If you don't, they won't show up even if other requirements are met, making this a nightmare for players that haven't used Wakka that much or are just getting World Champion upgraded for 100%/achievements.

** Wakka's World Champion is a similarly obscure tree of unlocks you must obtain. The crest and the weapon itself are relatively easy to get once you know their locations, but almost nothing tells you where they are, and you need to come in at least 3rd in a blitzball tournament before you can claim the weapon even if you know where it is. The sigil is the real offender, as you first must get all 3 of Wakka's optional overdrives before it even has a ''50% CHANCE'' to be available as a reward in a league. As a final twist, not only do you need to collect each overdrive in order to get the next overdrive to show up, you also need to have Wakka participate in a certain amount of battles ''outside of blitzball'' as well. If you don't, they won't show up even if other requirements are met, making this a nightmare for players that haven't used Wakka that much or are just getting World Champion upgraded for 100%/achievements. Absolutely ''none of this'' is made clear to you, leaving many players wondering why their luck is so bad with getting Status/Auroch Reels or the Sigil.

* DifficultySpike:
** ''[=FFX=]'' is the final game in the franchise to feature TurnBasedCombat, and it's clear that Squaresoft applied all that they had learned. StatusEffects matter; ElementalRockPaperScissors matter; TacticalRockPaperScissors matter; there are abilities that affect the VisualInitiativeQueue; and because the player can swap any of the seven party members in and out of the active three-person front line at any time, enemies can have complicated and multi-layered defenses which no single player character can pierce through. It's a fun and rewarding system, but the days when the "Fight" command could carry through the final boss are over.
** The first half of the game isn't too bad, but the game takes a sudden jump up when you hit Macalania Woods and the second half and doesn't let up until you get the airship.
** Encountering the Dark Aeons in the International version. Even with all the {{Infinity Plus One Sword}}s, you need the right armor and a ''lot'' of Sphere LevelGrinding (or Yojimbo and a hell of a lot of gil) to even stand a chance against the weakest one. As a [[SarcasmMode bonus]], that weakest one (Dark Valefor) is blocking the path to Besaid, so if you missed anything valuable there the first time (solving the Sphere of Destruction puzzle, or Valefor's second Overdrive), well, good luck. (There's also a Jecht Sphere there, unfortunately for players completing Auron's Overdrives.) And God help you if you missed [[spoiler:the Sun Crest in the place where you fight Yunalesca]] on Zanarkand, as you'll be dealing with Dark Bahamut if you try to return there.
*** And even if you've been knocking down Dark Aeons left and right, Penance is a completely different fight even with all character stats maxed out. Whittling down all of its 12 million HP (for comparison, the story's FinalBoss by this point can be taken out with less than three hits), as well as contending with its regenerating, independently-acting arms to throw every conceivable debuff your way, will take at least half an hour and lots of strategizing to avoid being completely wiped out.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* DarkReprise: Two prominent examples. The first, "Otherworld", the opening, is remixed for [[spoiler:Braska's Final Aeon]] so that the song can loop. This second version has a distinctive opening and has a lot of echo in the song as if in a cave, compared to the original which is pure metal. And the lyrics have a [[{{Foreshadowing}} much different meaning when listening at this point in the game]]. It's not as "dark" as some of the entries on the list, but it qualifies. The second, "Suteki Da Ne", the game's LoveTheme, is first played during the moonlight tryst between [[spoiler:Tidus and Yuna]] at the spring in Macalania Woods with a suitably lush and romantic arrangement suiting the scene's mood. The second time, it's played in a much more melancholy-sounding orchestral arrangement over the closing credits, and the lyrics, take on a new, more ironic, wistful connotation, both shifts which fit [[BittersweetEnding the mood of the ending]].

* DarkReprise: Two prominent examples. The first, "Otherworld", the opening, is remixed for [[spoiler:Braska's Final Aeon]] so that the song can loop. This second version has a distinctive opening and has a lot of echo in the song as if in a cave, compared to the original which is pure metal. And the lyrics have a [[{{Foreshadowing}} much different meaning when listening at this point in the game]]. It's not as "dark" as some of the entries on the list, but it qualifies. The second, "Suteki Da Ne", the game's LoveTheme, is first played during the moonlight tryst between [[spoiler:Tidus and Yuna]] at the spring in Macalania Woods with a suitably lush and romantic arrangement suiting the scene's mood. The second time, it's played in a much more melancholy sounding orchestral arrangement over the closing credits, and the lyrics, [[BilingualBonus if you understand Japanese]], take on a new, more wistful connotation, both shifts which fit the mood of [[BittersweetEnding the ending]].

* DegradedBoss: After defeating a rock creature boss called Defender X, a weaker version called Defender with less HP can be found in the very next available area as a generic mook.
** Lord Ochu appears first as a mini-boss only to be a common aeon fodder mook in later areas.

* FatBastard: Kinoc.

* GroundPound: Ironside's aptly-named "Body Splash".
** Cindy's Camisade.

* HarsherInHindsight:
** [[invoked]] After Tidus learns [[spoiler:that Yuna's pilgrimage will end with her sacrifice]], he reacts accordingly when he recalls certain events from earlier in their travels. Especially [[spoiler:remembering how Yuna acted when leaving Besaid]].
** In one of the most light-hearted scenes of the game, Rikku pokes fun at Auron, saying he always charges into things without a plan. [[spoiler:As it turns out, that's exactly how he got himself killed]].

* HolyCity: The Spiran p[[spoiler: i.e., real]] version of Zanarkand is central to the Yevonite religion, as is Bevelle to a lesser extent.

*** Wakka's World Champion is a similarly obscure tree of unlocks you must obtain. The crest and the weapon itself are relatively easy to get once you know their locations, but almost nothing tells you where they are, and you need to come in at least 3rd in a blitzball tournament before you can claim the weapon even if you know where it is. The sigil is the real offender, as you first must get all 3 of Wakka's optional overdrives before it even has a ''50% CHANCE'' to be available as a reward in a league. As a final twist, not only do you need to collect each overdrive in order to get the next overdrive to show up, you also need to have Wakka participate in a certain amount of battles ''outside of blitzball'' as well. If you don't, they won't show up even if other requirements are met, making this a nightmare for players that haven't used Wakka that much or are just getting World Champion upgraded for 100%/achievements. Absolutely ''none of this'' is made clear to you, leaving many players wondering why their luck is so bad with getting Status/Auroch Reels or the Sigil.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Anima is a dark-powered embodiment of pain and suffering, and frankly, she looks terrifying. Ultimately, though, she only wants to help her party in their quest.

** Yuna is a DistressedDamsel for much of the game's second act, depriving you of your main WhiteMage... but Kimahri's gimmick is that he can easily be routed to anyone else's region of the Sphere Grid, meaning you can totally have access to healing when she's gone. (Of course, there's the question of what you'll do with him for the other portions of the game.) Additionally, Rikku can serve as a back-up healer once she gets her hands on some Al Bhed Potions -- which the game immediately gives you like 60 of.

** Most of the playable characters are Yuna's PraetorianGuard; they're there to fight so that she doesn't have to. To enforce this, all fiends are weak to one of the characters: Auron easily handles armored enemies, Tidus dispatches four-legged beasties, Wakka's blitzball gives him an edge over flying creatures, Lulu can make short work of elemental monsters with Black Magic, and using Rikku's VideoGameStealing skill on robots will often result in a OneHitKO. ''None'' of them are weak to Yuna in particular (in fact, the only way she can replicate this is by summoning Aeons, who also come in elemental flavors... and can [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer brute-force]] their way past most fights), encouraging you to leave her on the sidelines.

* FanDisservice: [[spoiler:Yunalesca]] starts off in her oh-so-revealing metal bikini, then you have her subsequent forms, which are anything but fanservice material.