A lot of people were surprised when the first Final Fantasy sequel was
announced, though it shouldn’t have been a big shock. Final Fantasy X
was one of the most beautiful games created for the PS2 and had a rabid
following among the legions of Final Fantasy fans. Adding onto that
loyalty, the somewhat bittersweet ending of FFX left many without the
proper closure they needed to move on. So the folks at Square-Enix
threw a bone to their fans by releasing Final Fantasy X-2.
Our story picks up a few years after Yuna and her cadre of guardians
ended the vicious cycle of destruction brought by the beast Sin. The
world of Spira is picking up the pieces of their shattered world and
celebrating the peace that came from “Yuna’s Calm.” Yuna, however, has
joined up with Rikku and newcomer Paine’s group, the Gullwings, in
hunting down memory spheres that contain videos of Spira’s past. She
found a memory sphere that seemingly showed Tidus being locked up, and
she figures that teaming up with the Gullwings will help her unlock the
mystery surrounding that recording. Over the course of the game,
they’ll be dragged into more political battles between the two new
factions vying for control of Spira, and will be called on to save the
world from an ancient threat yet again, all the while figuring out what
exactly happened to Tidus.
The plot may have some familiar elements from prior Final Fantasy
games, but don’t mistake FFX-2 as a simple cash-in on FFX’s success.
FFX-2 does borrow heavily from its predecessor, but it offers enough of
its own attitude to stand out in the Final Fantasy franchise. The tone
of this game alone is much different than other Final Fantasies. FFX-2
is certainly more playful and less serious, though it does dive into
deep emotion as the game goes on. Yuna starts out the game as a pop
star, and Paine is likely the most sarcastic Final Fantasy character to
date. The tone does fit this game well, but it may be a bit jarring for
long-time fans of the Final Fantasy series.
The visuals and sound of this game are certainly on par with FFX,
though that’s to be expected since the graphics engine, most of the
locations, and almost all of the NPCs are recycled. Since FFX was such
a beautiful game, this is certainly not a problem, though some more
variety would’ve been nice. All of the voice actors from FFX also
reprise their roles, and in most cases do a better job than before.
This is evidenced especially in Yuna’s lines, which delivered with much
more emotion. There are a few new FMV sequences that are absolutely
beautiful. Square-Enix pumped out FFX-2 in about a year, but you’d
never know it from the amount of polish on this game.
Combat is the single biggest change to FFX-2. FFX-2 has a more fun and
fast-paced feel to the story and characters, and this is reflected in
the battle system. Whereas FFX scrapped the Active Battle Timer and
moved combat to a pure turn-based form, FFX-2 brings back the ATB. Your
characters each have an action bar that fills up. Once full, the
character can choose an action. Once you choose an action, another bar
will begin to fill. Once full, the character will act. The length of
the bars and the speed at which they fill depend on the action that you
choose. So, for instance, using an item will likely happen
instantaneously, while casing a powerful spell will take some time to
execute. Not surprisingly, then, timing becomes a crucial factor in
winning battles. You need to learn how quickly an action will take
place, as stringing together several attacks in a short span of time
will do combo damage to your enemies. Unlike previous Final Fantasies
with the ATB, the bars fill quickly and your characters will constantly
be acting. Combat is fun, fast, and frantic, especially as you learn
more and more abilities.
One of the best features of the Final Fantasy series is the large party
roster that you collect over the course of the game. FFX-2 drops this
tradition and focuses solely on Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. Surprisingly, I
found this emphasis on the small party to be a really good move.
Because you’re not constantly swapping out party members, your
characters will level up equally and stay even throughout the game.
Also, because combat is so frantic, I’m glad that I don’t have to worry
about party management and swapping out characters. The whole point to
having a large party is the variety that you get from each character’s
abilities. FFX-2 takes care of this a little differently through the
Dress Sphere system.
The Dress Sphere system combines the concept of jobs and the sphere
grid from FFX. During your adventure, you’ll collect dress spheres that
give you different fighting styles. This includes favorites like the
White Mage, Fighter, Thief, and Black Mage. However, a few new jobs
make it into the mix. The Berserker is much like the Fighter, but with
stronger attacks, higher agility, and the berserk ability. Lady Luck, a
personal favorite, has a number of attacks that depend on blind luck,
such as playing slots or rolling dice. The Dancer’s abilities give
bonuses to the party, like regeneration or haste, for as long as her
song lasts. There are about a dozen or so dresses, each with their
unique skills and stats. Leveling up both increases your characters
stats, but also gives you AP that powers up your dress spheres.
Adding to the complexity of the dress sphere system are the Sphere
Grids that you bind the dress spheres to. Each grid has a number of
nodes where you’ll plop your dress spheres. During battle, you can
change spheres, and depending on the grid that you choose, changing
certain dresses may give you additional abilities, like Poisonstrike or
Firaga that you can use through the rest of the battle. If you traverse
the entire grid, you can unlock your ultimate dress, which is sort of
like a summon from FFX. The ultimate dresses are very powerful, though
somewhat hard to find if you’re not looking for them. The Sphere grid
does add quite a bit of depth to combat.
On the flipside, the Dress Sphere system also highlights one of the
biggest complaints about Final Fantasy X-2, fan service. The party
members, as well as most of the female NPCs, have a startling lack of
clothing in this game. Yuna has transformed herself from a demure,
robed priestess into a gun toting, Daisy Dukes sporting cutie. Half of
Rikku’s outfits involve a bikini top, and a lot of the other women have
even skimpier outfits. One of the minigames involves Yuna giving
another woman a rub down, and you can get the girls to do some skinny
dipping in a hot spring. FFX-2 does run more on the playful side than
the serious side, but the above fan service does detract from this
game, especially given its pedigree. You’d expect Square-Enix to be
more conscious of protecting its superstar franchise from this sort of
thing.
Another problem with the game is that it inevitably “borrows” a lot of
elements from FFX. Pretty much all of the locations that you visit are
100% the same as FFX, and a lot of the enemies are recycled from that
game as well. I suppose that it fits; after all you’re traipsing about
Spira again. However, some additional variety would’ve been nice.
Blitzball makes its return as well, though it’s pretty stripped down in
FFX-2. Rather than controlling the action, games are automatically
handled by the computer. You’ll pick your squad and watch the game
unfold (though at about 10x the speed of FFX). This does pick up the
pace of Blitzball, but it also takes the fun out of it.
Despite a few of the shortcomings, and the regrettable amount of
unnecessary girl-on-girl action, FFX-2 is still a good entry to the
Final Fantasy series. It can’t be recommended to anyone that didn’t
like FFX, but it can be recommended to anyone that did. It’s not going
to give you the same exhilaration of a brand new Final Fantasy game,
but it does do a good job of striking a balance between being its own
game and giving you more of what you loved. It’s good to see that
Square-Enix is beginning to understand that the fans love these
characters enough to revisit them, and I’d like to see them make more
sequels like this in the future.
