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110 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Square/Enix surprised me with such a great sequel, February 12, 2004
I have to admit that when I first heard that Square was going to make a sequel to one of it's FF games that I was a little skeptical. I had even more doubts when I found out that Tidus was absent from the game and Yuna had taken over as the main character. I bought the game anyway and decided to give it a chance. Here's what I thought:This game ties in so much with the origanal FFX. Trust me, if you didn't play the original FFX all the way through then you'll be lost in this game. It's amazing how Sqare made the events from FFX tie into this game so much. Now for the battle system. As you already know, the battle system changes on each Final Fantasy game. On this one the characters use dresspheres (jobs) and they can change jobs during the battle. The combat is non-linear, which means multiple characters can attack all at once to increase damage. There's no more attack-be attacked-attack patterns. Another huge difference is the absence of aeons (remember they were destroyed at the end of FFX). Believe me, once you get into the game you won't mind there not being any aeons. The ATB system has also been brought back to FFX-2. As for the storyline I have to honestly say that it's incredible. Almost as good as FF8 and FF7. Yuna becomes a sphere hunter and on a journey to find Tidus. The great thing about the story of this game is that so many different things can happen depending on what decisions you make. In Chapter 2 of the game you will make a decision that will determine most of the events to occur in the rest of the game. There's also a completion percentage in the game and you can view various endings depending on how much of the game you completed. As for the sound, it's slightly above average. It's not as good as FF7-10 but it's not nearly as horrible as FFTA. Some of the tunes are nice while others are annoying. The replayability of this game is one of its biggest assets. This game is designed so that different events occur depending on the decisions you make. You can play the game more than once to experience different outcomes. This game also lets you start a "New Game Plus". This means that you can carry over the items, gil, accesories, dresspheres, abilities, etc. that you had in your first game. Oh yeah your levels don't carry over to your new game, so don't think you're going to get god-like characters that easily. I've beaten it once and I'm definitely playing it again to get all the things I missed in my first game. The sidequests/mini-games in FFX-2 are immense. This game has more mini-games than ANY other FF title before. That adds a lot to the overall plot of the game and this game has a challenging 100-floor dungeon called Via Infinito for veteran FF players. Believe me this place IS A REAL CHALLENGE. I still have yet to beat it. There's so many various rewards and great accesories to be acquired by doing the sidequests. Overall this is a great game. I saw some of the other 1 sentence reviews where people said this game sucks because Tidus isn't here. You can tell that they obviously haven't played the game and show their ignorance with those simple-minded reviews. I recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of RPG games. Also you need to play FFX if you haven't already or else you'll be confused with this game.
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Final Fantasy X-2, November 19, 2003
Final Fantasy X-2 is a brand new world in the beloved series. While it is based on, and set in, FFX's world of Spira and containing the core characters of Yuna & Rikku, and a plethora of the supporting characters seen previously, it as much different as it is similar. Some 2 years have passed since Yuna, Wakka, Sir Auron, Rikku, Kimahri & our lost dream (and Yuna's love,) Tidus defeated Sin to bring the eternal calm. For anyone that hasn't played and beaten X, it's a good idea to pick up a copy and play it through first simply because X-2 doesn't give you a lot of backstory, instead alludes to things and moves forward. Storyline:
Yuna is now a Sphere Hunter with the Gullwings and travels with her cousin Rikku and a brash new character, the Gothic female Paine. Rikku arrived on the Isle of Besaid and gave Yuna a sphere containing a video of someone that looks like Tidus trapped for trying to use some kind of weapon. I can't elaborate more or I would spoil most of the adventure. So, Y. P. R. (as they call themselves) are hunting every sphere in Spira trying to find out just who this is. Along the way, they are constantly hounded by the Leblanc Syndicate (another Sphere Hunter group) and the rise of New Yevon. If X's tagline was "This is my story," (meaning Tidus,) than the tagline for X-2 is appropriate as "This is Yuna's story." In fact, it is a deep story as I have come to find out and far moreso than the brief synopsis by Square-Enix. (This is a good thing.) Graphics:
The same source code was used for many of different area's seen in FFX, but have been tweaked and updated to bring the world of Spira 2 years forward. Some area's look exactly the same, however, with new people and places to explore. Graphically, FF X-2 is better looking and superior to X because of these added elements. Graphics II:
The character models are sharp and gorgeous. The speech to mouth movement has been overhauled and plays out smoothly. You'll notice the incredible graphics while in battle and especially while changing dressspheres. Gameplay:
This is where X-2 differs so much from FFX. Instead of the linear world of moving from place to place, you now have a beautiful airship to roam wherever you want to, when ever you want to. In short, you can play this game any way you want too as there's no preset way to go. The world map has returned and with your airship you pick where you want to go instead of waiting until deep into the game to acquire the ship (as was the case in previous FF titles.) Also, instead of one defined mini-game, like Blitzball & Tetra Master, there are many (sorta like the things you could do at the Gold Saucer in FFVII.) Gameplay II:
Ah, the battle scheme. It is easy, and it is tough. ATB, "Active Time Battle," seen in Final Fantasy IX has returned and you can change job classes in the middle of battle. Be careful however, changing classes in a tough fight could leave your party vanquished. Gone is the usual fight stance and style where one party stays on one side and the fiend on the other. X-2 presents the battle in a realistic form. You may surround the fiends once, or they may surround you. Also, I can't leave out the mentioning of the "Chain Attack," a cool feature done in other games and now bringing a great strategy to FF's turn-based battle system. (You'll notice in X-2, that it doesn't as heavily rely on turn-based as previous FF's and could be an Action RPG like Summoner 2 if was loosened any further.) Again, a good thing. Sound:
The voice acting is suberb by the same cast as the original. The music is upbeat and lively and bear's no, and I mean NO, resemblence to Nobuo Uematsu's awesome scores and themes. This may be the games only drawback and is sorely missed, at least by me. Overall:
X-2 is presented as a game in itself with ties to X. The mission-based gameplay, free roaming world and familiar meetings make the game an incredible RPG. Square-Enix has outdone itself. Don't expect to be replaying FFX, this is a forward-driven, exceptional new chapter as much as a sequel. Note:
I have left a lot out in this review, simply because to divulge too much would be to give away spoilers. There is something at every turn in the game that is new and connecting the 2 games.
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248 of 297 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Review Over Some of the Game's Elements, November 7, 2003
Final Fantasy X was a great game, and a lot of people agree. However, many people may not know that Final Fantasy X had the highest selling rate and history, and not many knew that many unsatisfied crowds of RPG fans complained to Square about the mysterious ending of Tidus swimming to the surface of water.Only too many people have already judged Final Fantasy X-2, based on very lacking information. People who oppose this game usually have a dull and opinionated mindset of having to have a Square tradition of non sequencial Final Fantasy games. They also think that the characters and the setting are the same, making the game dull. However, like said before, many people who remark with such shallow comments don't have enough information. This game is awarded with an extremely high score, even just based on storyline. The gameplay's a little bit different. No more Aeons, no more Overdrives, and no Overkills. However, the Aeon command has been replaced with the "Change Dress" command, where the character changes their Dress Sphere into a different one, taking on a job of a different position. A good example may be from White Mage to Dark Knight, and so on (by the way, these "Dress Spheres" determine the character's HP, Strenght, and etc.). Yuna has also been given the ability to do some extra things on the field (something like... jumping?). The music has been replaced completely. If you're expecting the old tunes from Final Fantasy X, forget it. The composer is not Nobuo Uematsu, but two new directors. The music genre seems to be quite wide however. Songs like "Shuin's Theme" or "Memory of Lightwaves" seem like something that may have been the work similar to of Nobuo Uematsu, but the new Blitzball theme and others take on a complete new genre of retro. The replay value is very high for Final Fantasy X-2 as well. Because there are multiple endings that come to totally different results (and I mean, TOTALLY different results). Also, there are a lot of side quests and optional missions that can determine the outcome of the game (wow, isn't that neat? You get some control over the chronological order of the game). Character depths are quite deep as well, which ties in perfectly with the storyline of twists and turns. Scenes like Yuna and Tidus being shot to death wreck a high shocking curiousity from the gamer (as well as suspense) while scenes like a familiar friend of Yuna (or is it him?? I won't give it away..) embracing her gives a sense of retrospection and nostalgia. I do have a few disappointments about this game, however. It seems to have a slight touch of nudity, probably in order to pull in a lot of male gamers. As you've probably heard over and over again, the "Dress" feature does involve the transformation of the female characters which goes through the process of them having some flesh shown while the new clothes appear over the old. However, it's actually not as bad as everyone says. I have watched 6 trailers so far, and the dress scenes do not show much detail. Lastly, for those reviewers who have maliciously attacked this game, I would recommend that you watch some trailers, and at least get the basic grip of it (I read some of the unsatisfactory reviews, and it just made me laugh over the way how they were talking over the game with the one or two facts they have about the game. I even read one review that complained "Where's Tidus anyway? He's the hero of the story.." Lol...). I've tried my best to give a good description over the game, but what the heck? If you want to buy the game, buy it. If you think it's really stupid and that Square shouldn't have released a sequel, then don't buy it! It's that simple! No need to go round about complaining about how stupid the game is. And as for my rating of "4" stars, I'd love to rate it a "5", but I have to be fair. Although I have tons of info over the game, I haven't personally beaten it myself.
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