Official Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: RPG

Number of Players: 1

I’m one that gets fairly emotional about my Final Fantasy games. We’re not necessarily talking about the storyline here, although that does have something to do with it. Instead, I’m talking about the game itself. I’ve been a fan of the series ever since the first game came out, and since then, I’ve been passionate about each and every one of them, taking it to the extreme of taking vacations around releases and forgoing things like eating, sleeping, phone calls, friendships, and everything else. After ten regular entries into the series, and countless other versions that have appeared on portables, the one thing that has remained constant is a few key creatures, some weapons, and the title, and there has yet to be a real legitimate sequel. That is, until now. Square-Enix has decided to finally take the plunge into creating an actual follow up, and that brings us to Final Fantasy X-2.

If you have actually played FF X, X-2 takes place approximately two years following the events that closed out the game. The Eternal Calm is still in effect, and life has come to a peaceful resolution. The skills of Summoner’s are no longer needed now that Sin has been defeated, never to return again, and the brave new world that everyone wanted is beginning to slowly come to fruition. Yuna has recently come across a sphere containing an image that looks just like her lost love, Tidus, and has since joined up with Rikku and Paine to become a Sphere Hunter, with her intent being to find out if the man in the sphere is really Tidus, or just someone that looks like him.

In FFX, Tidus boldly proclaimed towards the end of the game that in fact, this was his story, but FFX-2 is now Yuna’s story, with her as the central character. Think of this as being the FF equivalent of something like Charlie’s Angels. There are plenty of opportunities that come about for the girls to strike a pose or two, do a little dancing, and even sing a few songs. That in itself isn’t really a bad thing, this is just a bit of a different game.

Much of the hype around FFX-2 before the games release outside of Japan claimed that this entry into the series was more or less a fan service title. Well, that’s fairly accurate, and much of what had taken place in the previous game is in fact referenced, but unless you’ve got a good knowledge of it, most of it is not going to make a terrible lot of sense. If you never played FFX, there are a few things that you should probably know. In FFX, Tidus was whisked into the future after his home city of Zanarkand was attacked and destroyed by Sin. In the world of Spira, he discovered that now Zanarkand was nothing more than a devastated husk, and his claims of it being his home weren’t believed, at least not a first. It was Tidus, along with Yuna, Rikku, and their other friends who put an end to Sin, although the religion of Spira claimed that Sin would always return. However, together they stood up against the powers of Yevon to end the cycle once and for all, although the decision and final battle seemed to have cost Tidus as well as the groups close friend Auron, their lives.

FFX-2 will take you to many familiar locations through the world of Spira, and you’ll also meet many familiar faces. Wakka and Lulu for instance are married now, and expecting their first child, but the two serve merely as minor characters in the grand scheme of things. Even minor NPC’s that graced the first game will pop up from time to time, giving you a bit of information on just what has been going on in their lives since the Eternal Calm began. Other places such as Kilika, which was ravished by Sin in the previous game, has been rebuilt and is prospering quite well despite the tragedy they once faced. The Al-Bhed are back again, and Yuna’s Sphere Hunter team, the Gullwings, actually work with them to locate these treasures. Apparently though, being away from them for a while has caused her to forget about how to speak the language, so you’ll have to locate all of those books again to understand what they are talking about.

There are quite a few things with FFX-2 that are a little bit different from
the previous game, but have also been drawn straight out of other games in the
series. The active battle system is in effect here, something that we have seen
in just about every FF game that's been released. What that means exactly is
that there really isn't too much of an opportunity to think strategically,
unless of course you are thinking about things ahead of time. You need to be
fast on your feet with this one, and the battle modes are extremely fast paced.
You can change this of course, but I honestly find that active battle is the
way to go with this one. There's also a chain attack option, so if you manage
to get attacks in succession without pauses in between, you'll be doing a great
deal of damage.

The summonings are gone now, the reason being that, just in case you never
played FFX, the defeat of called fro Yuna and her friends to go against the
Aeons in order to finally face Yevon in an attempt to break the cycle. With
both Sin and Yevon defeated, there was no longer a need for them to exist in
the world, and thus they have all been put to rest. However, in order to replace this, there is something that's a little more unique and interesting for the world of Final Fantasy.

They say that clothes make the man, but here they make the woman. FFX-2
introduces a Dresssphere Gird system. Much like the job class of the Final
Fantasy Tactics series, players will have the chance to change what their job
class is, and there are quite a few of them. Initially, you'll start with the
basics of course, those being warrior, thief, and the new songstress class, an
interesting addition where characters dance, with various effects happening to
foes or friends, depending on your dance. You also will find a variety of other
classes as well, and even some that are unique to each character. With the
different grids you find, you can customize these for each class, giving you
benefits depending on how you set things up. Once you've got your classes set
up, while in battle, you can switch what your class is, and it's here that we
get a transformation that is similar in some aspects to the classic summoning
effect. The various classes are also set up like FFT in the regards that there
are different abilities that you gain as you continue to fight. You earn job
points of course, and once you've gained an ability, you can use it assuming
that you have a way to access it.

For the most part, FFX-2 isn't as linear as other games in the series. There's
still the overall objective that you need to accomplish, and there are the
usual amount of areas that you are required to visit in order to achieve this,
but you also have the option of taking on a few side missions as well, often
times a great idea since you'll gain access to other items that will help with
the main task at hand. All of this is done using the airship, something that
you have right from the start and don't need to spend over half the game trying
to locate. There are also a few others ways to get from point A to B, including
the shoopuff introduced in the last game, a new hovercraft, and the famous
chocobo. When Yuna is out on her own though, stuck to just walking, she now has the ability to jump, letting her and her friends access some of those more out
of the way places.

Since FF VII, mini games have become a staple of the series. We've seen chocobo breeding and racing, a variety of card games, and even blitzball, and FFX-2 isn't' without these either. You'll have a chance to take on the gun gauntlet,
do a little gambling in the Clam Lands, and a few other things as well. While
some may help you gain items, others are there just for fun, letting you take a break from the action from time to time when necessary.

Strangely enough, buying new weapons isn't really a huge part of the game. You
can buy some accessories to help you out during battle, but there's no
requirement to locate items to upgrade weapons or search some far off place to
get a sacred relic that's going to do more damage. It's all about the spheres,
and the clothing of course, and even the most unlikely of places may yield good
results, and that includes the usual degree of talking with someone
repeatedly.

If you're a fan of the musical works of Nobuo Uematsu, you're going to be sadly
disappointed here. Although he's been a part of every Final Fantasy that's been
released in the regular series, he's nowhere to be found here. It could be that
it's a sequel, or then again, it could further those rumors that have been
flying around that he plans on retiring soon, although I really don't see that
happening. The soundtrack goes for more of an upbeat feeling most of the time,
but don't expect a rehash of any of the old and familiar FFX music anywhere.
Even the familiar battle, victory, or even the resting music has been replaced
by other music, and while not bad, it still doesn't replace the classics. And
on another note, if you saw the preview of the game that was included on the
Unlimited Saga disc, don't expect to find any trace of that funky sounding J-
Pop song. The lyrics have been redone in English; something that I suppose was
to be expected.

What FFX-2 reminds me of a little is a game version of Charlie's Angels, and
there are even a few poses that reinforce that fact. The word on the streets,
or the Internet rather, was that FFX-2 was more or less a fan service title.
Well, it is, in just about every sense of the word, but that's not necessarily
a bad thing. To do something like bring back Sin or Yevon would have been too much like a horror film. This wasn't Jason Voorhees that they fought, and there's no reason to drag things out. There are of course a few foes that you'll encounter that will become thorns in your side, but nothing like you've ever faced before. Instead, this tends to be a more lighthearted adventure, taking girl power to a whole different level.

While it's not a bad game, it also really doesn't quite match up to what fans
have come to expect from the series. This isn't the type of thing where there
was some major facelift for the game, nor is it the sort of thing where Square-
Enix decided that a director's cut was needed, we'll just leave that all up to
Capcom trying to bring in more money from the Resident Evil series. The
problems really are that this really is a fan title, and although bits and
pieces of the first story are brought up, unless you've played FFX, a lot of it
will go right over your head, even if you read the back story that's included
in the guide. The overall plot itself doesn't seem to feel quite as well
thought out as what it should either, nor does much of the dialog, which tends
to have more of an MTV feel to it, but thankfully we never hear Yuna or Rikku
mention "bling-bling" at any point.

If you're looking for something to kill the time before FF XI is released next
year, this might do the trick. It's Final Fantasy, but it really lacks much of
what has made the series so successful. If online adventures and girl power
aren't really your thing though, you've got a while to wait until the recently
announced Final Fantasy XII finally gets released, so until then, this really
might be the best solution. Thought I can't really recommend this for those
that have never played a role playing game before, those that were more than a
little disappointed by the ending of FFX might find a thing or two here to give
them a little bit of happiness, but overall, it doesn't quite pack the punch,
or the desire to continue for countless hours to see how the story moves, that
other games in the series have had.

 -mike-