Final Fantasy X-2

What can I do for you? What can I do for you? Ugh that song still haunts me till this day when I played the game unbeknownst to the horrors one could face. I am back with another review of a Final Fantasy game only this time we take a tangent to sub entries and sequels. Final Fantasy X-2 is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy X and is the best example of fanfiction coming to life. Final Fantasy X was a great success of a game at the time and strong positive fan reactions and fan fiction lead towards the development of a direct sequel. That doesn't make it the only game that adds more to an entry of the series. At the time, Square-Enix was known to add a lot to a Final Fantasy Entry in all mediums such as the 7th entry where they added an anime episode, a PSP, a PS2 game and a novel where I will most likely rant about their failed attempt at hyping up the series or was it success because I bought them in the first place.

Anyway, FFX-2 continues the story from Yuna's Point of view where she happily rid the world of Sin and bringing up the eternal calm upon spira. Unfortunately, the political issues around spira haven't died at all and it is her job to go around mitigating conflicts and resolving issues with their political leaders as well as go about treasure hunting because apparently that's what she is into. Yes, I know it is the complete opposite of her personality but people change and by change, I mean they crash into a blitzball stadium, sing a few songs in a concert then steal a dress sphere from a heavily guarded and secured city such as Luca. Did I mention she saved the world a game ago? I guess she feels she can get away with anything these days. Yuna is accompanied by the less level headed and troublesome rikku to the more level headed payne who is reconsidering her life choices on treasure hunting.

Saving the world with the power of a song =/

The three of them go around uncovering mysteries about Spira's past, and resolving tensions between factions and eventually siding with one of them to make it even more tense. Not to mention finding an underground weapon that has been hiding under spira for thousands of years that can be activated if you know how to properly play the piano or the organ or whatever. Wow, the more I get into detail of this story the more ridiculous it sounds like. Oh, also Yuna finds a thousand year old songstress from a dressphere that looks exactly like her and she diffuses political tensions using the power of a song. Okay I'll shut up now and the rest is up to you to endure. The thing is, it is a really enjoyable game altogether with its mini games and combat system but the presentation, exploration and writing threw off a lot of current fans of the series and new fans that it is argued as one of the worst Final Fantasies out there for being ultimately shallow and superficial but who am I to judge if I enjoyed playing it twice in a row to watch an extra cutscene that shows the good ending where Yuna reunites with Tidus? I can't judge it but I have to be fair that it had an enjoyable combat system to say the least and to be fair.

A simple example of a garment grid where the blank spots are for dress spheres to be used during battles and the colored parts are the passive abilities one gains from switching to them. They can be more advanced such as ice eater (absorbs ice damage)

The combat system is the most fun aspect of the game as far as I am aware, and I am having a deja vu moment where I've said this in the past game because the combat in both games are innovative and creative. In FFX-2 it is oddly reminiscent of the job systems before the 10th entry where a character switches classes and retains those skills gained while using other classes. It also retained the EXP system where stats boost every few levels instead of adding stats based on a sphere grid. The Garment Grid shows up in this entry where every character places their own dress spheres and the more you change, the more passive and active abilities you gain during a fight. This urges the player to change dress spheres or "jobs" more frequently not to mention the quicker pacing of the fights in this game where I wrongly defined it initially as an action RPG because actions are instant in the sense where characters can overwhelm and damage an enemy when they focus on one and the critical hit chances increases. There are no limit breaks in FFX-2 but there are special dress spheres that are available when the character changes dresses three times at least and they are considered overpowered by all means so that counts as a limit break.

Wakka, its been 2 years, change your outfit, you stinky bastard

I thought it was great to see Yuna narrating the whole game instead of the annoying Tidus

Final Fantasy X-2 right off the bat gives you access to hotspots and locations using the airship, very reminiscent to the last part of the previous game. However, halfway through it, you get a fork in the story line where you make a decision and the cutscenes change, forcing you to play through it at least twice to unlock the full ending. Very JRPG of them, I know. 

An example of dresspheres that may or may not look ridiculous at all

Final Fantasy X-2 has a nice soundtrack for the most part apart from its battle tracks without any exception. It uses the same backgrounds and environments as its prequel so the game is familiar initially. It is ultimately a fun game and arguably in my opinion has more fun value than its predecessor if you simply dont care about the story. If you actually get more in depth with its sidequests, you will find out how difficult it can get and I know if I were to play it now, I would not have the tolerance I have had to get equipment that breaks the HP limit and Damage limit but it was fun fighting some bosses that didn't die from 20 hits of a trigger happy move from the gunner dress sphere that did 99999 damage, and yes you read that right, five nines. Very much like the other entries getting ported and remastered, you can find it on consoles and digitally available on all markets especially steam, so you can either revisit it if you'd like or finally give in and experience a cheesy story. Till the next Final Fantasy review, I'll see you when I'll see you