FFX - Walkthrough
Battle SystemThe game has a turn-based battle system, in which time only passes when battle commands are being executed. This means that you can take as long as you like in choosing your battle commands; until you choose a command, it is as if the game is paused. The turn order of your party members and enemies (the CTB gauge) is in the upper-right corner. Depending on what actions the character or the enemy takes in battle, the order on the CTB gauge may change. For example, if a character casts a powerful spell, he or she may need extra recovery time before his or her next turn, while if a character casts a Haste spell, his or her number of turns may increase.
During any character's turn, that character can be switched with another character in the party not presently in the battle. The switching does not count as a turn, so once a character is switched in, he or she may act immediately. Press the L1 button to bring up the switch menu.
At certain points in the game, special Trigger Commands will become available. Press left on the battle menu to access them.
In FFX, characters have special moves called Overdrives (limit breaks, etc. in previous games) that can be performed when the Overdrive gauge has been filled. When the gauge is full, the word "Overdrive" pops up over the battle menu; press left to access the Overdrive menu. The gauge fills up according to different Overdrive modes. The default, Stoic, charges when the character takes damage. Here are some of the overdrive modes (more will be added later):
| Name | Charges... | Aquire |
| Ally | When character's turn comes up | Character gets many turns |
| Avenger | When ally gets KO'd | Allies get KO'd often |
| Comrade | When allies take damage | Allies are damaged often |
| Coward | When character escapes from battle | Character escapes often |
| Dancer | When character evades an attack | Character evades attacks often |
| Daredevil | When character fights with low HP | Character fights with low HP often |
| Healer | When character heals allies | Character heals often |
| Hero | When character defeats a powerful enemy | Character defeats bosses and strong enemies often |
| Rook | When character reduces/nullifies elemental/status attack | Character reduces/nullifies elemental/status attack often |
| Slayer | When the character defeats an enemy | Character defeats many enemies |
| Solo | When character fights alone | Character fights alone often |
| Stoic | When character takes damage | Automatic |
| Sufferer | When character suffers from status ailments | Character inflicted with many status ailments |
| Tactician | When status attack succeeds | Character uses status attacks often |
| Victim | When character is hit with status attacks | Character is hit with status attacks often |
| Victor | When the party wins the battle | Character wins many battles |
| Warrior | When character damages enemy | Character damages enemies often |
Status Ailments
| Name | Effect on Character | Heal |
| Berserk | Increased strength, uncontrollable, attacks continuously | Esuna, Remedy |
| Confusion | Attacks party members as well as enemies | Esuna, Remedy, physical attack |
| Curse | Cannot use Overdrive | Dispel, Holy Water |
| Darkness | Accuracy of physical attacks lowered | Esuna, Remedy, Eye Drops |
| Doom | KO'd when countdown reaches 0 | None |
| Petrification | Turned to stone, cannot participate in battle | Esuna, Soft, Remedy |
| Poison | Suffers damage after taking turn | Esuna, Antidote, Remedy |
| Silence | Cannot use magic | Esuna, Echo Screen, Remedy |
| Sleep | Character falls asleep, cannot participate in battle | Esuna, Remedy, physical hit |
| Slow | Agility lowered, turns come more slowly | Esuna, Remedy |
| Zombie | Takes damage from curative magic | Holy Water, Remedy |
Abilities
There are two types of abilities. Auto-Abilities are either on a character's weapon or armor, and are automatically enabled. They either come already on the weapon or armor, or they can be added using different kinds of items in the Customize section of the menu, which will appear later on in the game. Command Abilities are selectable in battle, and are learned by each character on the Sphere Grid.
The Sphere Grid
In FFX, characters do not "level up" as they have traditionally done in the past. After battle, characters gain Ability Points (AP), which in turn cause their Sphere Levels (S. Lvl.) to increase. Increasing Sphere Levels have no direct effect on the characters; they will not cause their stats to raise, teach them new abilities, etc.
Selecting Sphere Grid from the menu will bring up the Sphere Grid screen. This will display the Sphere Grid itself, the current character (switch between characters by pressing L1 or R1), and that character's current S. Lvl.
Pressing X will give you two options, Move and Use.
Move will move that character around the Sphere Grid. How many nodes you can move is determined by the character's S. Lvl. - 1 level for every 1 node forward, and 1 level for every 3 nodes backwards. Once you select Move, the nodes that you can move to will be highlighted.
Use will let you use different spheres in your inventory (ability spheres, power spheres, mana spheres, etc.). Using a sphere will activate a node. Nodes are either empty nodes, which cannot be activated, ability nodes, which will teach the character some new kind of ability, or stat nodes, which will increase one of the character's stats. Depending on what kind of node it is, different spheres will be needed to activate it. The node that the character is currently on can be activated, as well as any nodes directly adjacent to it.
An example of typical use: A character gains 2 sphere levels after a battle. In the Sphere Grid, press X to bring up the menu, and select Move. Move forward along the sphere grid 2 nodes. Press X again and select Use. Use the available spheres in the menu that pops up to activate any available nodes.