Final Fantasy X-2

"A Worthy Game To The Name of FF!"

As you should know, this is a sequel to the a popular Final Fantasy(Final Fantasy X.) And a lot of sequels of highly acclaimed games turn out badly, this game does not fit into that category! It's a less serious view in the world of Spira though and it's focused on the lifestyles in Spira and small missions and minigames.

Storyline: [5/10 if none sidequests are done. 10/10 if they're all done]

The storyline of this game is a complete sequel to Final Fantasy X. It's only 2 years after the defeat of Sin and the loss of Tidus in the end of Final Fantasy X. Yuna joins a sphere hunting group named the Gullwings, which had the return of Rikku and a new character Paine. The story goes very deeply into the hearts of our main characters. You may find yourselves feeling how they feel. After the feel of seriousness in FFX this game can be a great change of scenery. As the story goes on, problems stir up and many things goes into mind. It's a great story but there it's important to do sidequests(over half the game are sidequests.) If you do not do these sidequests, the story is very plain and has nothing other than Yuna. You can discover history behind characters such as: Paine, Rikku, Cid, Brother, O'aka, and history of the new characters. And many times they refer back to FFX, bringing back your favorite FFX scenes(maybe.) Tidus is not back but there's a special surprise in this game for those who love Tidus.

For better or worse, overall this game is not as linear as the other games because you don't go to one place then another without having the choice to go to another place.

Characters: 10/10

Old lovable characters such as, Yuna, and Rikku are back. But what's a big difference is the characters developed in this short period of time. Characters like Seymour is gone now! But many people had taken his place such as: LeBlanc, Ormi, Logos, Baralai, Nooj, Paine, Tobli, new Ronsos and many more! Each of these characters you'll learn about them in the sidequests. You would not know alot about these characters without the sidequests. But if you do those sidequests you'd learn so much about the characters and you'd see the development of the characters in these years.

Graphics: 9/10

Of course the backgrounds and map are highly similar compared to the FFX. Well that makes sense because it's only 2 years apart. Many monsters are the same and many graphics are the same too. But that's great because FFX had amazing graphics to start with and Square-Enix used lots of effort. Though many are similar, some are different. The characters and monsters and sceneries are polished up to date! Some of the designs for towns had minor changes but there are specially unlocked new dungeons and places of FFX-2 which FFX didn't have!

The designs of the characters changed too, well Wakka and LuLu and Kimahri are still their regular self as far as graphics. Each job's outfit is specially done and is different from the other ones. The cutscenes are once again breath taking and nonetheless as great as FFX. It really shines in PS2 Games. One complaint of FF gamers will still be the similarities of the backgrounds and some characters. The really neat part is the animation of changing dresspheres! There's a different one for every dressphere, but this does get mediocre quickly. It reminds you of Sailor Moon and such.

Gameplay: 9/10

The Turn Based Game of FFX is over and the FFIX battle system is back. Though it's less strategical but it's still as satisfying. It gives the feel of going back in time and discovering the PS1 and Super Famicom of Final Fantasy but on PS2. It's Active Time Battle again which means picking skills and items had to be done quick or else you'd die against your enemies. There are no more 1 Black Mages in your party. If you want you can have 3 black mages to fight! They all get new jobs now! Many battles require different jobs, so it's your choice to choose what to use! Also you don't get new skills by gaining levels now. By defeat enemies, using skills such as pray or using items and such you can gain AP [Ability Points] which will allow you to learn specific abilities. While some can require only 10AP others can require 200, 400 and couple requires 999AP!

The battle system has this nice ability to chain up your damage. This means when one of your members attack and the other one attacks within a certain time the damage is increased. Later on this may become very useful because bosses can be truly hard and require lots of strategy.

The Weapon system is gone, while this is considered a bad thing to many, the new system is amazing too. The new system is of course when you change dresspheres the stats change according to the job. If you're a warrior and you change to a thief, your attack and defense will go down but your evasion and speed will increase. Also the weapons are determined already, all you equip is accessories. You can equip items that give you Auto-Haste, Auto-Protect, Abilities like Thunder, HP Up, Strength Up or ones that absorb certain damage. The accessory depends on the character, for example, a mage may need defense more rather than attack, so you'd probably add defense accessories instead of attack ones.

The Sphere Grid is gone too, as this maybe a disappointment, you should be aware the old-fashioned leveling system with Level __ is back! You shouldn't be sad that you can't possess different skills now because the dressphere has much more skills that the Sphere Grid can provide. This in my opinion is a turn for the better!

[Side Note: There is no attack command for some jobs such as songstress, white mage or black mages]

Sound: 7/10

The soundtrack of this game may not be as great as the original game's, but it still packs quite a punch! The game is not a serious so the Hymn of the Fayth everywhere may not be a good idea. So Square-Enix decides to go fun-loving and pop! The game has songs such as "Real Emotion" and "1000 Words" that are great to the ears. While some songs may be annoying, but mainly they're fine.

The Voice Acting is VERY average, there isnt a great voice acting because the mouth and words are not synchronized. But it's not the worse ever voice acting.

Replay Value: 7.5/10

The Replay value is not especially high because this game can give you a lot of fun the first time around already. You can get 50+ hours on your first time! This is the a very high # of hours compared to other games but it's still very satisfying to your gaming needs! The 100% Completion is hard to obtain in the first playthrough, so Square-Enix created the New Game-Plus familiarized in Chrono Trigger. You can keep items and Dresspheres obtained in the first game as well as the % that means you can go back and get to 100% without missing something! The Perfect Ending is special treat for the 100% people. Also there are other choices to make in the game which affects gameplay.

Fun Factor: 8/10

Fun Factor varies because at parts the game is exceptionally fun! While others is extremely boring(Commspheres.) Most of the part of the game, you'll enjoy it. The sidequests are mostly fun and it reveals the story to you. For people who loves a challenge they shouldn't beat the game and think it's too easy for you because it's not! There are MANY secret dungeons in this game, and bosses within it are not for fun! They're for pure challenge and for 100% of course. There's a boss in the game with an overwhelming HP(like 999999) and considering that you start off dealing damage in the the 2 digit range it is a challenge. There's also a certain amount of fun running around doing chocobo hunting, digging, blitzball[in a new way], Gunner's Gauntlet, hunting dresspheres or garment grids and uncovering mysteries.

Overall: 9/10

As this is Final Fantasy's first direct sequel to a game, they may have worked their magic again! The game is a great game to start of with and you should rent it atleast because you may love it! A FF fanatic will love it anyways and they would have it by now. But if you like RPG in general, you'll fall in love with Final Fantasy series. If you're just a normal gamer, rent it and see if you're the RPG type. Now it's time to wait for the next Final Fantasy to come out! But in the meantime play this over and over again!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/05