Final Fantasy X-2

"Good ol' Final Fantasy material, well most of it."

Introduction - Hey, this is Final Fantasy, and you probably know what you're expecting from a game from such a series. This is the first sequel ever in the Final Fantasy series, even so, that's not an excuse for some of the downparts of this game (It's a sequel for Final Fantasy X). It is a role-playing game, which means it is turn-based. Unlike it's very successful predecessor, most of the battle is active, so you have to usually press the actions fairly quickly. But in the config menu, you can turn it to wait mode, which gives you as much time when selecting through attacks and items, and targets. There are three main characters, Yuna, Rikku, (both part of Final Fantasy X), and a new character. These three are the only characters you will be able to use, Yuna being the main one. And please don't continue to read if you hate spoilers, because I am going to give away minor material of the previous game, and this one. Yuna formerly used to be a summoner, one who could summon aeons, and her and a bunch of friends, and the main character of Final Fantasy X, defeated a great monster together, which brought eternal peace to Spira (the world off Final Fantasy X), or so they thought. 2 years after, Yuna finds a sphere that shows a recording of a mysterious man, possibly the main character of the previous one, and her lover. She secretly wants to find out more about this, so she joins the Gullwings, a set sphere hunters. Also, instead of weapons, there are Garment Grids and Dresspheres, which is really easy to use, once you get the hang of it from the inner game tutorial. I'm not sure if it's as good as the highly acclaimed Sphere Grid, but it's close. Your rival gang is Leblanc's goons, who you fight several times through the game as you make progress. So, you can imagine what the point of the game is. Sphere Hunters are basically people that look for old spheres, which are basically like video tapes in the world today, that contribute to the history of Spira. Also, New Yevon has started, and they could be considered the bad guys, since they've created a deadly machina, that could end Spira, just like that. Sorry for the long intro, but I will try to keep the rest of this short, because I know you guys don't want to read too much.

Gameplay - 9/10 Final Fantasy X-2 is a very fun game, which has slight replay value, due to the bonus of New Game Plus, which you can access once you beat the game, and you start off with all dresspheres and accessories. The camera angles can get rather annoying at times, but for most parts, you mostly watch the map anyway. Controls are also good, not too bad, nothing spectacular. A new feature is that you can jump, but you can't really fall off or anything. It's basically impossible. One thing that bothered me was that bosses were much too easy. Once you got everyone's special dresspheres, you could use it against a boss, and it'd really easy to defeat. How you would use the special dresspheres, is pretty complicated. During a battle, you have to fulfill some requirements, then you would transform into a weird outfit, that is huge, so it has 3 parts, the main, the left side, and the right side. During this part, the other two characters leave the battle until the end, or if you die, which hardly happens. Then, if one special dressphere fails you, you have two others which you can trust on to use their dresspheres. The dress system if similar to that of Final Fantasy Tactics, if you remember. Basically everything is literally what the dressphere/job name is, a singer really is a singer, and warrior is also like a blacksmith repairing armor and weapons, but a warrior will also use it in battle. Some other jobs are gunner, who uses a gun, an alchemist, who mixes items, like Rikku does in the first one. But overall, I would consider Final Fantasy X-2 a mediocrely tough game. Especially if you wanted to get a 100%, which is fairly tough too do, or rather time consuming. What else is good is that you don't have to go do everything in order, like Final Fantasy X, but you can choose what to leave to do after, and what you want to do. For example, half the missions have absolutely nothing to do with the story, but they add to your game percentage. Many mini-games are introduced (like Sphere Break), and some older ones are kept (such as my favorite, Blitzball). Another big difference, is the rather skimpy dresses the characters wear, the main ones, and NPC's (Non-playable characters).

Story - 7/10 This was rather hard to rate, because for me, the story was rather superb, since I had played Final Fantasy X. But for people that haven't played Final Fantasy X, will be confused at some parts of the story, even though Square Enix tried their best to explain everything, but didn't do too well at some parts. A downgrade might be that you only get to be female characters, but you get used to it. Yuna is usually the calm type, Rikku the playful one, and Paine mysterious and looking to kick ass. Basically, Yuna is just looking to find out more about her lover, but instead gets involved in something much more deeper, similar to that of what happened two years previously. I basically discussed most of the storyline in the intro. In the full version, or Japanese one, there are a couple more features, but nothing too big to make you not want to get this game. The Gullwings' leader is a NPC named Brother, who was also in the previous game. He is Rikku's brother, but he basically lets Yuna make most of the decisions, so you get to make some of the decisions too. There are some rather surprising things that you find out from Final Fantasy X. One thing is Lulu, who Paine basically replaces in this game, is pregnant. And guess who the father is? Yes, it is Wakka. And also Kimahri, the Ronso, becomes the leader/elder of his tribe. One more thing that they could have done is added a couple of new maps, or areas that you could wander around. Everywhere you go is just about the exact same as Final Fantasy X. I guess it must saved a bunch of time and money for the guys at Square Enix. Just about every character from Final Fantasy X is in FFX-2, and very few new ones. I guess it be good because it gives you the authentic feeling of it being a true sequel, or bad because you didn't pay what you did for most of the game to be the same!

Graphics/Sound - 10/10 The graphics are superb as usual. My first reaction to the graphics was "Goodness, how the hell did they make the PS2 do this?" It's just amazing, everywhere you go, it's just realistic as any other game I've seen. FMVs are also so realistic, it's unbelievable. They could have added a couple more FMV's, because I like those much better than the crappy cut scenes; even at the risk of adding another disc. Voice acting is pretty amazing, it just fits every character's personality rather well. In most of the scenes, the scenes look not that good because when characters are saying something, the emotion seems completely different. I don't get how Final Fantasy games always get the awesome music, but they did it once again with a perfect mix of everything, for every moment. Most of the songs though, seem modern, as if it was a modern era of Final Fantasy. The intro has someone sing a song, that is rather is similar to that of today's pop culture, which you may or may not prefer. She is literally a pop star singer, who is singing this catchy Japanese pop music.

Play Time/Replayability - 9/10 It took me around a good 40 hours, and then some to get a 100%. But you could complete the game a little quicker than that if you just wanted to complete it without getting all the extra stuff, and seeing extra cool scenes, but what would be the fun in that? If you beat New Game Plus, the ending is very good, that you will want to see.

Final Score - 8/10 If you want a good RPG, or something to burn your time, or if you plainly love Final Fantasy, I would no doubt buy this. Once you start the game, you will refuse to put it down, until you get the full story, then you'll want to do New Game Plus. The only thing is that I wouldn't recommend it that highly to people that haven't ever played any Final Fantasy games, or Final Fantasy X, either. If you haven't played FFX, I'd wait for FFXII, or play a previous one, such as 6 or 7.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/06/04