Final Fantasy X-2

"It is your mission to play FFX-2"

I have been playing the Final Fantasy games since I was young. And I have yet to see a Final Fantasy game that has failed my expectations for it. So when I heard about Final Fantasy X-2 I knew I needed to get it. And I did I got it for Christmas and I right away opened it and put it into my Playstation 2. I first watched the classic Opening as most Final Fantasy is with soft classical music (Which I love). But then I started a new game. All of a sudden my mind fell in to shock and confusion. I did not know what to think. On my television screen was Yuna but not as how she was in Final Fantasy X. She was singing a Pop song. At first I couldn’t make sense of it but then I realized that the new era of Final Fantasy has started.

Gameplay 9/10
Final Fantasy X-2 has introduced the new age of turn based battle systems. This battle system is more real time fighting and not having one person attack and wait then some one else attack and wait. This allows almost every character to attack at once, which greatly lowers battle time. Everyone probably can remember when you would spend hour of time gaining levels and you would only have done 30 battles but now you can do almost 2 times the battles then you could have done in the old turn based system. There is also a new and improved job system in this game. It is a Dressphere System that is almost like the job systems in Final Fantasy 5, and Final Fantasy Tactics. But in this system you get new Dresses (aka jobs) through doing missions. This Dress system is a bit like Final Fantasy 5 in which you gain abilities from the jobs you have but in this one you can learn a lot more abilities. There is also the ability to change in battle. The only downfall is that there are no weapons in this game, just accessories and sphere grids.

Mission system 4/10
This Final Fantasy took everything we knew about old Final Fantasy and changed it with the new mission system. In the old Final Fantasy games you started at one place then you moved in one direction to the next place and the next place ect. That is how the story built but in Final Fantasy X-2 they completely changed that with the mission mode. In the game from the very start you can chose where you want to go and almost any place has something for you to do. This gives the player more choices and also makes the player feel like he/she is in control of what would happen to the characters. But with that power gives the player more of a challenge to get 100% in this game because many events that happen you know about but their are other events that you have to search for on your own to find. I feel this system in its uniqueness has hindered the game’s story line. This story line does not develop as much as other Final Fantasy games because they fill the game will missions that usually do not affect the story (Their are missions that do affect the story). So while you are out doing missions it might be adding to your percent but it is not adding to the story.

Story 7/10
Everyone remembers Yuna from Final Fantasy X; she was the summoner on a pilgrimage to obtain all the Aeons and to kill Sin. Well when she did that what was left for her to do? The game takes place 2 years after the defeat of sin. She went and joined the Gullwings who is headed by Brother. You should remember him from the pilot of Cid’s airship. The Gullwings are sphere hunters. Sphere hunters are people who look for spheres of the past. They hope to help decipher Spira’s past with these spheres. Rikku is also a part of the Gullwings. She was the perky thief in Final Fantasy X but now she has her sights set on spheres. There is also a new character in this game, her name is Paine and she brings exactly what her name is. She is a very mysterious girl that is very hesitant to reveal her past. These three girls are a trio not to be messed with. These girls together are the ultimate sphere hunters that accept almost any challenge. One day they get a sphere from Yuna’s old guardian Kimahri. In the sphere seems to be a man that Yuna use to know but not any man this was the man that Yuna loved, it was Titus. After Yuna saw the sphere she knew she had to find him.

Graphics/Sounds 7/10
*Stares at the TV in astonishment at how well the voices match the characters* The graphics and sounds in this game are top of the line. Lets first talk about the graphics. The best thing about these graphics is Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. The creators of them had to not only age them from Final Fantasy X but they also had to give them a new sense of style, which they did. These creators brought them into the new age of gaming and they did not stop at just one creation of them. They took each character and remade their cloths 15 times, one for each class. And with each class each character still kept their own uniqueness. But with the good comes the bad and the bad in this game was that they reused the exact same places as they did in Final Fantasy X. Sure they did add places and allowed you to explore some places more with your ability to jump but it is still the same old thing. If I wanted to go back to the same places I would just play Final Fantasy X again. And then their is sound. I feel that they had the perfect voice actors for each character. They get each character’s voices to show their emotions here is an example Rikku is always perky and her voice actor gives her the happy-go-lucky voice. The music in Final Fantasy X-2 is the classic Final Fantasy music but their is also the new age Pop beat for some other songs. If you compare the song at the main menu screen to the song when you start a new game you will see a big difference.

Play Time/Replayability 9/10
Final Fantasy X-2 is a long game if you strive to get 100%. I was at 50% done of the game and I had spent over 20 hours of game play on it. Final Fantasy X-2 is a game that you must be committed to. I am sure if you wanted to you can just go through the main points in the game and beat the main quest in under 20 hours but that is not the way the game was meant to be played. Their is also a new feature added to Final Fantasy X-2 that has not been see in any other Final Fantasy games. They put it in to increase the replayability of Final Fantasy X-2, it is called New Game+. New Game+ is accessible after beating the game and it lets you start a new game with everything you beat the game with so if you missed just 1% or 2% in your last game you can get those percents. Then you can see the best ending to the game that you have been waiting to see.

Final Recommendation 36/50 = 7/10

I recommend anyone who loves Final Fantasy games to buy this installment to the Final Fantasy series. This game will surely keep you busy for hours. It is a great game and it earns the name Final Fantasy. If you are just looking into playing Final Fantasy games or you have not beaten Final Fantasy X then you should not play this game because you would not understand the game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/03