So Final Fantasy X is one of my favorite games of all time. It was the first Final Fantasy game I played, and because of it I've played almost every Final Fantasy game to date.

I have a friend who's very much into games, but never played a single Final Fantasy game for some reason. Our taste in games seemed fairly similar up until now. So I decided that I should introduce him to Final Fantasy, by letting him play through Final Fantasy X.

...and he hated it! All the while playing it, he kept going on and on about how Skies of Arcadia was so much better than Final Fantasy X in every way. He did finish it though, took him about 40 hours. Has anyone here played these two games? I wouldn't mind a second or third opinion.

Is Skies of Arcadia as good as he says it is, or is he just being overzealous...? If Skies of Arcadia is that much better than Final Fantasy X, I'm obviously going to have to try it out. Are the differences really that major...? I find it difficult to see Final Fantasy X as "bad" next to any game!

I appreciate any input on this.

Your friend approached that game with a preset opinion and then just looked for things that reinforce that opinion. There's a name for such behaviour: It's called "gaming journalism".

I regret never getting Skies of Arcadia.  I really want it as it looks great and a lot of people lve it.  Being an RPG gamer, it was a mistake of mine not to get it, but even 2nd hand, if you can find it, it is too expensive (in Australia anyway).  That being said, I loved FFX.  No way I will accept that it is bad compared to anything.

Skies is good but not as good as he says it is (though I feel FFX is only moderately better than Skies), it's probably just the "first RPG effect" that's making him say that.

Skies is good for the fact its one of a kind. I actually need to get my copy of it back so i can play it again.

In my opinion, Dragon Quest 8 is way better then both of those games.

I played Skies of Arcadia well before FFX, and while I love both of those games, your friend is crazy.  FFX is definitely the better game, (and the best Final Fantasy) but its also not for everyone.

FFX is my favourite game, so it's always wierd to see people hate on it or dismiss it's merits completely.

Never played Skies of Arcadia myself, but i imagine he enjoyed it so much that he can't put it aside and is just hating on everything else on principle.

I liked Skies better, for a couple reasons. The lead character wasn't a douchebag, it had Suikoden like recruiting elements (but only about 30 recruits or so, which is more reasonable), the characters in general just had more personality, there's a ton of optional shit to discover, and I love how the battle music changed based on circumstance. The music you hear when you start kicking ass might be my favorite game track of all time, it never fails to pump me up especially if the transition is from the track you hear when you're struggling. It sounds like a minor thing but it did a lot. Its really the only game to do sky pirates right. And SE's noticed; FF: CC: Crystal Bearers despite its retardedly long name completely reeks of SOA's influence.

I never played Skies, so disregard my opinion. 

Skies was an awesome game that I'm very glad I got to play and complete.

Having played both games I would say that they both have merit in different areas. Final fantasy X has the polish and in my opinion the superior characters, whilst Skies has a superior battle system, and a far more interesting world. The sound tracks are pretty much dead even, both being fantastic. Both are phenominal last gen rpgs, and if I had to tip the hat to one I would say FFX, but that may just be because I played FFX before Skies, and have grown to really care for all the characters in that game.

I've played both. IMO, FFX was great, SoA was horrible garbage. Both suck compared to Tales of Symphonia, though.

I'd go with FF10, but only because it's the only one of those I've played.

Skies of Arcadia was vastly superior to FFX. Sure, I enjoyed FFX, and your friend may have been slightly too harsh for hating it, but I can't say that I disagree with him about SOA being better.