ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-105-january-2002

(sped-up audio was Ty's fault; it's been fixed!)

FINAL. FANTASY. X. After the final PS1 release was a mechanical, graphical, and literary callback to the deepest roots of the series, the first PS2 release set the tone for what this series would look–and, to an extent, play–like for the next quarter-century of HD video and streamed digital audio.

We also check out how Game Informer has continued to grow and change since we last looked–years away from it being a glorified store catalog, but also years from it being the best magazine in the business. The seeds of the final form are present in here; are there seeds of the former?

Aidan and Ty kick it all off with a surprisingly timely-for-Bluesky discussion on which super-popular games they’ve disliked, why, and what it means when that happens.

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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!