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Final Fantasy X-2

Developed By: Square-Enix
Review By: HeavyBlade
Written on: Wednesday, June, 21st, 2006 at 06:38:10 am
Rating: 84%
Site: here
System: Playstation 2

A Thousand Words...

The really nicely done song \"A Thousand Words\" (as far as I can tell, made specifically for this game), sums up the game itself rather nicely. It\'s all about the lack of resolution brought about in
Final Fantasy X (and yes, I liked it, before you accuse me otherwise) - and the pain that lack will bring.
Gameplay:
8/10
Honestly, the gameplay kicks ass. Combat is fast and brutal, though it\'s surprising to note that combat damage has been toned WAY down compared to FFX - monster HP for that matter too. Monsters in the final dungeon still had less then 2,000 HP (as opposed to the notorious monsters in FFX\'s Omega Dungeon which sported more then 100,000 HP a piece), and even the final boss rarely deals damage in excess of 1,000. For that matter,
though, unless you\'re a levelling addict, you won\'t have all that much HP to spare yourself!

A nice break from FFX - which was completely linear, is that FFX-2 is split into missions. Basically, with access to the whole globe from the start of the game, the world is your playground. It\'s a great feeling, and a blast to go seeing old characters, like Wakka, and Lulu, and that ever elusive glimpse of... Tidus? FFX-2 also contains more then its\' fair share of mini-games, and an annoyingly picky outcome system - more about that later.

Storyline:
9/10
Honestly, the story was infinitely better then I thought it would be. Unfortunately, the main cast are all teenage/20s girls. For anyone that has a sister, you will know what this means. For anyone who doesn\'t... I\'ll try not to laugh at your expressions. If you can\'t
get past the occasional girliness in this game, you can\'t enjoy it. It\'s that simple. The story is one of regret. Regret over the outcome of FFX, the loss of so many loved ones,
and allies. It\'s also one of rebirth. Most specifically, the rebirth of Spira. With all this time on their hands (not dying all the time does that to you), Spira\'s really starting to take off. Along with it, new factions have formed, and like any new faction does, there\'s
plenty of head-butting. Yuna and gang are a group of \"sphere-hunters\" - you\'ll recall the multi-media purpose of spheres in FFX, an event triggered by Yuna seeing a sphere of what looks like Tidus. Very much alive. There\'s also the relic of Vegnagun, a beastial mechina that exists only to destroy. And when the
wrong guy gets his hands on it, things quickly escalate out of control.

This game also draws a lot of interesting ideas from the concept of a second self - one also toyed with in Terranigma. The idea is something like this. There are two of you. One version of you is a good version - the kind, caring individual. The other one of you is the physical embodiment of your evils. Your dark half.
Virtually every character in this game has both halves present. It makes for an intriguing world.

Obviously, the biggest question here is Tidus. Simply put, how you play this game answers that question.

Graphics:
7/10
The time of FFX-2\'s release was still at the time when FFX was considered the next level of graphic realism. It built on this a little, but to be honest, not that much. As it is, you\'ll get the occasional slowdown from the PS2 as it tries to render everything blowing up
in real-time combat. It may not be Advent Children, but there isn\'t a moment where you\'re taken out of the game by overly-polygonal shapes.

Sound/Music:
10/10
It\'s Final Fantasy. It\'s music. Often this is justification enough for the score. To be honest though, what really took my eyebrows off my forehead was the rendition of \"A Thousand Words\" - a song that not only FIT perfectly with the game, but was LIP-SYNCHED fairly closely as well. Really good stuff. Gun shots and sword slashes,
things dying and blowing up, all is right in the SE department too. A magnificant effort, all around.

Features:
8/10
Honestly, I could give this catagory a 10. It\'s got features out its\' Yang, ffs.
But the outcome system, while a good idea, was overly implemented. Many RPGers are aware that in games like FF7, Star Ocean (the whole series), and others, their actions impacted what would happen over the course of the game. Typically, this revolved around who the main character would hook up with.
In FFX-2, it changes the outcome of the story. Suffice to say the biggest factor is what, or who, happens to Yuna.

So what\'s the problem? Its\' a really cool idea... but. The \"but\" is the kicker, here. It goes too far. For example, the order you talk to characters to, and when, before doing this, and after doing that, but only during these time frames... honestly, you need a walkthrough
to get a perfect ending. And even then, you\'ll be following it to the letter. So if you had any hopes of getting 100% completion on your own, scrap \'em. I wound up with less then 70% - and I\'m GOOD at these things!

To address this, and the game\'s huge selection of secrets, you\'re given a New Game Plus mode, ala Chrono Trigger.
The biggest difference is that your level (but only your level) is reset to 1. BOOO!

Lastly, combat offers a job system, ala FF5. Here it\'s referred to as \"Dress spheres\" each of which come with their own set of abilities to learn. They range from the lame - \"Lady Luck\" to the cool \"Samurai\" and \"Dark Knight\". Despite having a series of uber-jobs - 1 per character - I almost never utilized these classes.

Last Word:
Final Fantasy X-2 is a game full of hit and misses. But chances are, like me, as the final credit rolls off the screen,
you\'ll realize it struck home with you more often then not, and DAMN did you ever have a good time playing it. Now, all you
have to do is overlook the girliness factor.

Score: 84 / 100
(assuming you can overcome the girliness factor!)

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