Final Fantasy X-2

"First time for everything"

Well this is my first review that I am writing for the Playstation 2 system. So my knowledge about the PS2's hardware and its abilities are still unknown to me. However I have played and beaten Final Fantasy X at my cousin's house. I thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, characters, story, combat system, music, and the overall tone of the game. Right when I picked up my PS2 I hurried up and picked up the sequel. Final Fantasy X was definitely one of my favourite rpg's this generation. The story was remarkable and in all honesty I even shed a tear because of how emotional the game was towards the end.

Anyways with this review and future PS2 reviews I have decided to go with an essay format without any category breakdowns. In the past I have somewhat utilize the essay format, but I was still sticking to scores for each individual category. In this review, and future reviews for the PS2, I will only have the score that will be posted on Gamefaqs. Well now that I have made a small introduction concerning the review and future reviews, it is time to move on to the meat of the review.

Yuna…Rikku…Paine or otherwise known as Charlie's Angels

Final Fantasy X-2 is the sequel to Final Fantasy X. Long time Final Fantasy fans will know that this is the only true sequel to ever be release by Square-Enix. While Final Fantasy has had many incarnations it has never had a sequel where it featured a returning cast. Two returning characters from Final Fantasy X will be playable. Those two characters along with a brand new character will form your group. However you will run into other familiar faces. Being an all girl cast and the opening introduction of the game I couldn't help but think that the girls remind me of Charlie's Angels.

The story takes place two years after the defeat of sin. Yuna has given up her Summoner ways and has taken up sphere hunting. Yuna along with Rikku has joined the Gullwings a group of sphere hunters. Among the Gullwings is Paine and she rounds out your group. Your on board a ship and you will be looking for any clues or alerts on the whereabouts of any sphere's. Throughout the story you will also meet up with familiar faces, so I would recommend playing and beating Final Fantasy X first. That way you will get the full experience of Final Fantasy X-2.

How well a character develops over the course of the game and how well liked they are plays a big part in any rpg. For the most part Yuna retains some of her loveable charm from the prequel, but I can't help but notice her somewhat mature overhaul from the past. Rikku is still the childish and might I dare say the brat in the group. Paine is the quiet, but extremely strong type. When your playing good rpg's you become attach towards the characters. While the character development was not overly strong in this game the memories of Final Fantasy X played a part in my liking of the characters. Yuna was one of my favourites in Final Fantasy X, so my bias is apparent. I have always had a small dislike for Rikku. So if you're playing this without any past experience with the prequel then you might find the characters a bit under whelming.

Character interaction is also a key in the success of an rpg. Talking to non-playable characters help develop the story and a better understanding of the game. Some of the non-playable characters did a nice job in helping the story evolve, while others were not quite as interesting. If you skip any of the cut scenes you run the risk of missing a good chunk of the story. I definitely encourage you to pay attention to the story and watch it unfold.

A step backwards

Square-Enix has always made the Final Fantasy series with dynamic gameplay and epic stories. As it stands Final Fantasy X-2 has a solid story, but if I were to compare it to Final Fantasy X then it would pale in comparison. Final Fantasy X did many things right and the story was one of them. This is not to say X-2 does not have an enjoyable story because X-2 definitely has a story that will keep you interested.

This game sports the traditional turn base combat system. For the newcomers that do not know what turn base combat is, it is basically a combat system where enemies and characters take turn to attack. The way I would describe the combat in this game is a fast pace turn base combat. Yeah I know it sounds weird, but it fits the description. Battles go by a lot quicker then it does in most rpg's. At times this is a good thing and at times it is not. When your looking to blow by an area as quick as possible then this is a good thing, but if you want to plan and strategize against tougher opponents this might make it a bit difficult.

There are random enemies, so you never know when you will be pulled into battle. During battle you can attack, use items, use specials, and etc. What is unique about Final Fantasy X-2 are the dress spheres. You can use them in the course of battle by simply pressing a button. Using different dress spheres allows different moves. For example a Songtress can use her dance to blind an enemy and a warrior will wield a powerful weapon.

Final Fantasy X-2 also uses a traditional level up system. After each fight a certain amount of experience points can be earned. This is of course based on how hard the enemies are. You will also get money and items after each fight. There will be a next word where you can see how many more experiment points you need in order to level up. This is helpful because if your having trouble with a certain boss you can find out how many more points you need before you can get stronger. As you level up your hit points will also get higher.

Straying from the norm

Unlike past games in the series this one is chapter based. When you start a mission a sign that says mission start will come up and when your finish a finish sign will come up. A certain number of missions will constitute a chapter in the game. I really have no quarrels with the game being chapter based, but I did like it, as it was before a bit better.

The overall length of the game is quite solid, but it is still much shorter then Final Fantasy X. It could have been longer for me, but I found the side quest to be rather boring. The game's length is still a good forty hours. The average rpg player will probably take longer. You can also choose to level up your characters and try to get 100% in this game.

One thing that I didn't like was the fact that they reused so many enemies in the game. The familiar faces in Final Fantasy X were great because it helped move the story along, but the rehash of the characters seemed to me like Square-Enix was trying to milk everything. While I don't mind seeing old faces, I do like some fresh new things. I guess I can't really blame them since you will be visiting many familiar places, but it definitely would have been nice had they changed more of the enemies.

Like your basic rpg, Final Fantasy X-2 has you going to towns and chatting it up with the town folks. Some of the characters that are present in this game are quite unique and has a certain flavour to them. I really enjoyed some of the colourful cities and at times interesting people that live there.

Boss fights at times are quite good. Some of them are quite difficult, while others quite easy. Different boss fights require different strategies. For example one boss fight I would use Yuna as a Songtress, so I could blind the boss. In another boss fight I used a white magic dress sphere because the fight was so long drawn that I needed a healer. It is quite nice that you can change your job system in the middle of a fight. Changing jobs allows you to change on the fly if your job system isn't working against that particular enemy. At times I did find some of the bosses unbalanced. Some of them seemed overly difficult at times and it forced me to level up my characters.

Levelling up your characters to beat a specific boss can be repetitive at times. Most rpg's if not all rpg's might force you to level up your characters in order to defeat an enemy. Sometimes if you want to advance the story, then this requirement can be a hassle. For those that love to level up, this will be an added bonus. For me I don't really mind it, but at times it gets a bit repetitive.

The more you play as a specific job the more moves you learn for that job class. For example if I were to play as a white magic user I would find myself learning a bunch of white magic. This is obvious considering that you become more experienced at what you do as you do more of it. What I did not like was I found myself using one white magic user and two warriors for most of the game. I didn't find it useful to use anything else. All I needed was one person to heal and revive and have two others just bombarding the enemies.

One thing I would like to mention was the controls. During the battles the controls were very responsive and fluid, but during the times you were exploring the controls were quite clunky. This is due to the camera system. Every time you were walking in a certain direction and the camera shifted your controls gets thwarted out of control.

At a graphical standpoint Final Fantasy X-2 holds up quite nice. It looks very similar to its predecessor. I would imagine that it runs on the same engine. Most of the places that you will revisit also look quite similar. As you would expect there isn't much of a graphical overhaul. At some places during the game the backgrounds can be a bit blurry, but for the most part it is quite solid. The game runs very smooth with no frame rate issues at all. The character models looks more then good. The fight animations look choppy at times, but it suffices for the most part.

What is very impressive is the CGI cut scenes that are found in this game. Every now and then you will be able to watch some of these impressive cut scenes. When you do you will be amazed at the details. It looks so good that at times you think you are watching an anime movie. Like most Square-Enix games you would expect this amount of graphical detail.

Final Fantasy X-2 is quite possibly the most impressive thing about Final Fantasy X-2. The Al-Bed have a language that really adds to the overall feeling of the game. The main characters have excellent tone of voices that portray their characters well. Yuna seemed to open up a bit more in this game and it showed through the voice acting. Familiar voices also brought a nice tone to the game. What was a bit disappointing was the music. The musical score at time were very good, but at times they were rather awkward. Some of the musical scores just really didn't fit the mood.

Final Fantasy X-2 is quite a bit shorter then Final Fantasy X, but it is still a long game in its own rights. You can take the time and try to do all the side quests, which will add more playing time. I don't really find any incentive to play it again, but the first time that you do play it the game is quite good. This game will appeal to long time Final Fantasy fans and people who are new to the series.

Through involving FMVs and a pleasant soundtrack, Final Fantasy X-2 presents itself quite nicely. The graphics are more then solid and the gameplay is fast and frantic. The story unfolds nicely and is presented in a nice manner. The music at times can be real good, but at times it can also be a drag to listen to. The voice acting was excellent and really determined whether or not you liked the characters. Watching the CGI not only helped enhance the story, but it also looked gorgeous.

A good sequel, but it pales in comparison with its prequel.

Final Fantasy X-2 is nowhere near as good as Final Fantasy X. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because Final Fantasy X is one of the best games this generation. It is very difficult to follow up a great game with another one. As it stands Final Fantasy X-2 is a good game and it is more then enjoyable. I would however recommend playing and beating Final Fantasy X first. I think long time Final Fantasy fans will be satisfied with this game. Even if you're not a fan I think it would still be an enjoyable game. Any rpg fans should really look into picking this game up because it has quite a bit to offer.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/15/05, Updated 03/28/05