I want to like the story and everything but i just can't get through it honestly.
*Not X-2, I have 22 hours in just X
Everyone is saying that this is Mega-Giga-Unmatched-Peak but I think that they're just blinded by nostalgia. This is probably some of the worst writing that I've ever seen, every plot point is pulled out at a Disney movie or any kind of animated feature film from the time it was released. I think anyone with the IQ of a lab rat can predict the next thing that's going to happen. Gameplay wise it's the most generic RPG I think I've ever touched, all that jazz. It's style is not unappealing though. FFMVs are fire character modelsa are clean and aged well (minus NPCs those are butt fuck ugly) other than that its clean.
First FF game I think its a little better than mid.
Everyone is saying that this is Mega-Giga-Unmatched-Peak but I think that they're just blinded by nostalgia. This is probably some of the worst writing that I've ever seen, every plot point is pulled out at a Disney movie or any kind of animated feature film from the time it was released. I think anyone with the IQ of a lab rat can predict the next thing that's going to happen. Gameplay wise it's the most generic RPG I think I've ever touched, all that jazz. It's style is not unappealing though. FFMVs are fire character modelsa are clean and aged well (minus NPCs those are butt fuck ugly) other than that its clean.
First FF game I think its a little better than mid.
The story is so so so bad that make the rest of the game worst because of it
i was lied to
this game wasn't about a pop band touring the recently liberated world
big marks against it for that tbh, lost opportunity, and what it actually did was... fine but you know
give me what i was promised, cowards
lots of systems in this game that mostly feel superfluous (the creature capture stuff especially) until the superbosses that require the usual obscene amount of grinding that these games always ask for, and that shit sucks
ps fuck atb
the last mission standalone thing was just a bad roguelike and the most i have to say about it is that while looking up info on it i stumbled on a guide where a guy went on a rant about how the girls spend a lot of time "bickering about nothing" but they literally only had one fight and it lasted thirty seconds
that said it was still a bad story, just... completely pointless and offered nothing new
this game wasn't about a pop band touring the recently liberated world
big marks against it for that tbh, lost opportunity, and what it actually did was... fine but you know
give me what i was promised, cowards
lots of systems in this game that mostly feel superfluous (the creature capture stuff especially) until the superbosses that require the usual obscene amount of grinding that these games always ask for, and that shit sucks
ps fuck atb
the last mission standalone thing was just a bad roguelike and the most i have to say about it is that while looking up info on it i stumbled on a guide where a guy went on a rant about how the girls spend a lot of time "bickering about nothing" but they literally only had one fight and it lasted thirty seconds
that said it was still a bad story, just... completely pointless and offered nothing new
FFX-2 abandons FFX's thoughtful characterization, strategic gameplay, and epic story for disjointed side quests, a chaotic battle system, and upskirt shots. To be fair, the combat is fast and punchy, and the job system is an interesting and streamlined take on class building. It's just a shame that this game's take on female empowerment is lascivious camera pans over slutty-halloween-costume versions of classic Final Fantasy classes. Levels also have really poor collision and the jump controls are awful. I love the idea space this game is playing in, but the execution is just awful.
Não tankei, embora o X seja do caralho, e esse traga um desfecho pra o que aconteceu com o tidus no fim do FFX, eu achei esse jogo insuportável, gostaria de desejar um otimo ano novo pro cara que pensou nas dressphere
This review contains spoilers
FFX-2 is a really odd game. Rather than feeling like a standard sequel to FFX, it takes a rather daring route of having a completely different tone, story structure, character dynamics, gameplay, and hell even music. The only thing that's really similar to FFX is the graphics, since well this is clearly a bit of a lower budget game that reuses a ton of graphical assets. Also, while we technically have a different protagonist this time, it feels like a natural transition, considering Yuna was the hero of FFX's narrative. Unlike how FFX tells a sombre tale of accepting death and finding hope in a broken world, FFX-2 is unabashedly campy, over the top, and all about living life to the fullest. Obviously, this makes the game pretty divisive, and I don't blame anyone that found the experience jarring and a disappointment.
So... how did it work out for me? I'd say surprisingly well. Admittedly, I was lucky to go into this with the right expectations—if I played this when it released 20 years ago, I probably would have been pretty miffed. But I really did appreciate how different this was to FFX, and how we get to see Yuna enjoy a life without her old burdens, instead focused on finding her place in a world where summoners are no longer needed. I enjoyed the more straightforward conflict between New Yevon and Youth League (renewed old ideals vs entirely new ideals), and it's frankly really nice to see a sequel that isn't afraid to pull back on scope, and take a magnifying glass on more grounded, human conflicts.
For a lower budget sequel that's mostly in the business of reusing assets, X-2 uses this to its advantage by putting a big emphasis on side content, and showing the aftermath for all the areas and side characters we met in FFX. Instead of dragging them into some big new conflict, these side stories are more interested in showing what all these cultures and characters do next—for example, what do all the minor summoners do now, what happens to the Guado or the Ronso, what's going to happen to the Zanarkand ruins. While these issues are explored with a lighter tone relative to FFX, I think they're mostly pretty nuanced and do justice to aspects of the world that FFX didn't have enough time to focus on/portray the aftermath of. A highlight for me was seeing Wakka and Lulu get some final resolution on Chappu's death, and watching them grow together as a couple. I really wish more franchises were willing to explore epilogues to the characters we've spent tens of hours with, and let us see a bit of their lives after—this isn't just fanservice, but it also makes them feel more human, and the world more lived in.
The core party of this game is significantly shrunk back from FFX, now being a trio of Yuna, Rikku, and our new addition Paine. While FFX's party dynamics were a lot more serious, and designed to dig into some pretty heavy topics, these three instead have the fun factor in mind first and foremost. There's lots of dorky comedic moments spread throughout the game with this trio, and a big emphasis on girl power. It's cheesy, but it's also fun and feels surprisingly ahead of its time—no wonder this game wasn't received well in early 2000s western gaming culture, lol. While not explicitly queer, a lot of this game feels pretty queer coded, with the amount of flamboyant characters and outfits, as well as the vibes in general. Not to say there isn't some male gaze going on here—there's no way the creators' intentions were entirely pure, let's be honest—but I do appreciate how the dialogue is more interested in empowering the girls rather than being sleazy about it.
In the gameplay department, this game takes the foundations of FFX's combat, keeps some of the spirit of it (such as dress spheres based off party member roles in FFX), and chucks the rest away, building a completely new system from scratch. We're back to ATB, jobs have returned from FFV, battles are absurdly fast-paced, the dress sphere/garment system encourages job changing on the fly mid-battle, and normal levels have returned. While I missed the fantastic sphere grid from FFX, I think this was all an excellent decision, as the new combat is absurdly fun and fits the tone of the game so well. Of course, there's some clearly broken combos that can utterly cheese the game, but hey, what's the fun in doing that? Job systems are all about experimenting, and X-2 offers so much room for that it's crazy.
Of course, all of what I mentioned about does have its flaws. For example, learning all the abilities for a job can be a huge grind, which is especially annoying when there's so many of them and skills are learnt on a per character basis (compared to FFV where it felt like you gained job skills at a more natural rate). A lot of the side content is really hidden, obtuse, and practically impossible to do without a guide—it's very clear this game expects multiple playthroughs, a game design philosophy that sadly hasn't aged too well. Not to mention most of the minigames kind of suck... which granted, FFX was no better at. But I didn't let this bother me too much, as I wasn't going for 100%—something I definitely don't recommend unless you're truly in love with every tedious aspect of this game. 100% also nets you an interesting reward... but more on that later.
The story itself is fairly straightforward and not all that long, as most of the content in this game is side content. It's primarily focused on Paine's old friends who all lead the three big factions, along with Yuna's hunt for spheres that tell more about this Tidus-looking fellow. All of this ends up tying together pretty well when we learn Shuyin is the original person Tidus was based on, and sort of represents an alternate Yuna x Tidus ending where the 'Tidus' fails to save the 'Yuna', and is left with such massive regret he continues to materialise in the world for one thousand years. While Vegnagun is a walking plot device, it's a good one that represents the cause of the original conflict between Bevelle and Zanarkand, which is tied in well with the conflict between New Yevon and Youth League.
This reaches its climax in the 1000 Words scene, where we see Yuna connect with Lenne's spirit to convey her wishes and regrets to the present, in an absolutely incredible cutscene, preventing history from repeating itself once more. The 1000 Words scene rivals Suteki Da Ne in its direction and how amazingly the song is conveyed, and I loved the extra touch in the eng dub where it turns into a duet, with the cutscene adjusted to fit. This serves as an impetus to the finale, where Paine resolves things with her old friends, and Yuna confronts Shuyin through Lenne, freeing him from his regrets and allowing both to move on to the afterlife. In turn, Yuna is forced to accept Tidus' death, and move on with her life.
While I only watched the cutscenes, Last Mission is a nice addition to all of this, letting us see how the main trio have changed after half a year and giving us resolution to the story.
As for the true ending... I don't like it, at all. It's not a bad idea in theory, but it comes completely out of the blue and feels really unearned, after the game was building up to Yuna accepting Tidus was gone throughout the whole game. Maybe if the scene had more build up and weight to it, it would have felt better, but to me it just seemed like incredibly forced fanservice that went against everything this game stands for. Perhaps the X-2.5 novel will change my mind, but for now this is easily my least favourite aspect of X-2.
The music is an interesting one, as none of the original three composers from FFX return, all replaced with a new duo (who I believe married years after this game released!). I actually think this was an excellent decision, as their jazzy and energetic styles mesh perfectly with FFX-2's tone, and it was a nice surprise giving all the old towns new music to represent how they've changed. I do think it's a step down from FFX's ost, as a lot of tracks can be pretty repetitive with their short loops, along with less general variety compared to FFX's three composers with pretty different styles. But overall, I would say I'm quite happy with it, and it added to the experience.
So yeah, overall? I loved FFX-2. It's by no means a perfect game—there's a lot that feels like it needed more time in the oven—but I've found myself firmly on the side of appreciating the tone it went for, and enjoying it as a lighter epilogue to FFX, as well as a nice continuation of Yuna's arc from that game. I can't possibly say it's as good as FFX, as that game really is something else for me, yet I certainly wouldn't say it brings that game down—it instead enhances it, and just left me mostly satisfied (barring the true ending). I'm not sure if I want a FFX-3, unless it were to focus on new characters, but who knows, maybe the novel and drama CD will change my mind (we'll see though... they seem even more divisive than this game).
Also happy I can call Yuna the best FF protagonist for real now :^)
So... how did it work out for me? I'd say surprisingly well. Admittedly, I was lucky to go into this with the right expectations—if I played this when it released 20 years ago, I probably would have been pretty miffed. But I really did appreciate how different this was to FFX, and how we get to see Yuna enjoy a life without her old burdens, instead focused on finding her place in a world where summoners are no longer needed. I enjoyed the more straightforward conflict between New Yevon and Youth League (renewed old ideals vs entirely new ideals), and it's frankly really nice to see a sequel that isn't afraid to pull back on scope, and take a magnifying glass on more grounded, human conflicts.
For a lower budget sequel that's mostly in the business of reusing assets, X-2 uses this to its advantage by putting a big emphasis on side content, and showing the aftermath for all the areas and side characters we met in FFX. Instead of dragging them into some big new conflict, these side stories are more interested in showing what all these cultures and characters do next—for example, what do all the minor summoners do now, what happens to the Guado or the Ronso, what's going to happen to the Zanarkand ruins. While these issues are explored with a lighter tone relative to FFX, I think they're mostly pretty nuanced and do justice to aspects of the world that FFX didn't have enough time to focus on/portray the aftermath of. A highlight for me was seeing Wakka and Lulu get some final resolution on Chappu's death, and watching them grow together as a couple. I really wish more franchises were willing to explore epilogues to the characters we've spent tens of hours with, and let us see a bit of their lives after—this isn't just fanservice, but it also makes them feel more human, and the world more lived in.
The core party of this game is significantly shrunk back from FFX, now being a trio of Yuna, Rikku, and our new addition Paine. While FFX's party dynamics were a lot more serious, and designed to dig into some pretty heavy topics, these three instead have the fun factor in mind first and foremost. There's lots of dorky comedic moments spread throughout the game with this trio, and a big emphasis on girl power. It's cheesy, but it's also fun and feels surprisingly ahead of its time—no wonder this game wasn't received well in early 2000s western gaming culture, lol. While not explicitly queer, a lot of this game feels pretty queer coded, with the amount of flamboyant characters and outfits, as well as the vibes in general. Not to say there isn't some male gaze going on here—there's no way the creators' intentions were entirely pure, let's be honest—but I do appreciate how the dialogue is more interested in empowering the girls rather than being sleazy about it.
In the gameplay department, this game takes the foundations of FFX's combat, keeps some of the spirit of it (such as dress spheres based off party member roles in FFX), and chucks the rest away, building a completely new system from scratch. We're back to ATB, jobs have returned from FFV, battles are absurdly fast-paced, the dress sphere/garment system encourages job changing on the fly mid-battle, and normal levels have returned. While I missed the fantastic sphere grid from FFX, I think this was all an excellent decision, as the new combat is absurdly fun and fits the tone of the game so well. Of course, there's some clearly broken combos that can utterly cheese the game, but hey, what's the fun in doing that? Job systems are all about experimenting, and X-2 offers so much room for that it's crazy.
Of course, all of what I mentioned about does have its flaws. For example, learning all the abilities for a job can be a huge grind, which is especially annoying when there's so many of them and skills are learnt on a per character basis (compared to FFV where it felt like you gained job skills at a more natural rate). A lot of the side content is really hidden, obtuse, and practically impossible to do without a guide—it's very clear this game expects multiple playthroughs, a game design philosophy that sadly hasn't aged too well. Not to mention most of the minigames kind of suck... which granted, FFX was no better at. But I didn't let this bother me too much, as I wasn't going for 100%—something I definitely don't recommend unless you're truly in love with every tedious aspect of this game. 100% also nets you an interesting reward... but more on that later.
The story itself is fairly straightforward and not all that long, as most of the content in this game is side content. It's primarily focused on Paine's old friends who all lead the three big factions, along with Yuna's hunt for spheres that tell more about this Tidus-looking fellow. All of this ends up tying together pretty well when we learn Shuyin is the original person Tidus was based on, and sort of represents an alternate Yuna x Tidus ending where the 'Tidus' fails to save the 'Yuna', and is left with such massive regret he continues to materialise in the world for one thousand years. While Vegnagun is a walking plot device, it's a good one that represents the cause of the original conflict between Bevelle and Zanarkand, which is tied in well with the conflict between New Yevon and Youth League.
This reaches its climax in the 1000 Words scene, where we see Yuna connect with Lenne's spirit to convey her wishes and regrets to the present, in an absolutely incredible cutscene, preventing history from repeating itself once more. The 1000 Words scene rivals Suteki Da Ne in its direction and how amazingly the song is conveyed, and I loved the extra touch in the eng dub where it turns into a duet, with the cutscene adjusted to fit. This serves as an impetus to the finale, where Paine resolves things with her old friends, and Yuna confronts Shuyin through Lenne, freeing him from his regrets and allowing both to move on to the afterlife. In turn, Yuna is forced to accept Tidus' death, and move on with her life.
While I only watched the cutscenes, Last Mission is a nice addition to all of this, letting us see how the main trio have changed after half a year and giving us resolution to the story.
As for the true ending... I don't like it, at all. It's not a bad idea in theory, but it comes completely out of the blue and feels really unearned, after the game was building up to Yuna accepting Tidus was gone throughout the whole game. Maybe if the scene had more build up and weight to it, it would have felt better, but to me it just seemed like incredibly forced fanservice that went against everything this game stands for. Perhaps the X-2.5 novel will change my mind, but for now this is easily my least favourite aspect of X-2.
The music is an interesting one, as none of the original three composers from FFX return, all replaced with a new duo (who I believe married years after this game released!). I actually think this was an excellent decision, as their jazzy and energetic styles mesh perfectly with FFX-2's tone, and it was a nice surprise giving all the old towns new music to represent how they've changed. I do think it's a step down from FFX's ost, as a lot of tracks can be pretty repetitive with their short loops, along with less general variety compared to FFX's three composers with pretty different styles. But overall, I would say I'm quite happy with it, and it added to the experience.
So yeah, overall? I loved FFX-2. It's by no means a perfect game—there's a lot that feels like it needed more time in the oven—but I've found myself firmly on the side of appreciating the tone it went for, and enjoying it as a lighter epilogue to FFX, as well as a nice continuation of Yuna's arc from that game. I can't possibly say it's as good as FFX, as that game really is something else for me, yet I certainly wouldn't say it brings that game down—it instead enhances it, and just left me mostly satisfied (barring the true ending). I'm not sure if I want a FFX-3, unless it were to focus on new characters, but who knows, maybe the novel and drama CD will change my mind (we'll see though... they seem even more divisive than this game).
Also happy I can call Yuna the best FF protagonist for real now :^)
Lo dejé a medias en PS2.
https://www.backloggd.com/games/final-fantasy-x-2/
https://www.backloggd.com/games/final-fantasy-x-2/
This shit sucks so much ass. Holy shit. What type of crack were they smoking back then? This game is arguable contender for worst game ive played, so much so that i dont even know where to being. The atb bar is back for some fucking reason. I dont like the atb bar, and i dont know why square has kept it around for 6 games up till x-2. FFX had a great system with the ctb bar. It made the game more methodical but also retains the speed too. The atb bar is fucking boring, its either too god damn fast where you just hit the first option that seems optimal or its awfully slow like FF9. Theres also not much thought that goes into playing an rpg with the atb gauge, you pretty much do the same shit in every game from FF4 to 9. X-2 does little to make itself stand out from a game like FF3. A game that came out on the nes. In 1990. On way inferior hardware. The dresspheres is just ff3's class system but they tell you what they do at least unlike 3. The gameplay is damn near identical, i dont even thinks theres limit breaks in this game which was a part of every game from 7 to 10. I'd love for someone to tell me what about this gameplay is so drastically different from the nes games. I could tell you why 8, 9 and 10 play way differently but this game? Hell no. Its dull, the battle music isnt even good, and it does nothing to deserve the name of an main finaly fantasy title.
The story is nothing. It just shows the character from the 1st game but now theyre living boring normal lives now. Paine is a nothing character whos only purpose i belive was to be the female warrior character in the party. Rikku is a gag character. Yuna is kinda interesting in how drastic her character shifts but its so unrewarding because we, the players, dont really get to see the change occur. It just time skips ahead and now shes a new character. The game comes off like im playing a shiiltty charlies angel rpg. I dont like the multiple endings, i dont like the perfect one. Getting 100% to get the real ending is a fucking wild decision, whoever made it needs to be fired. Mission select is especially annoying considering you could waste time in an area thatll kick your ass. The creature mechanic is awful and confusing, why did this need to be a thing? Game just woke up and decided it wanted to be pokemon for a bit. The music sucks ass, albeit the theme on the airship is pretty cool. People say "its fine, its just camp". Just because its camp doesnt make it good, its still a slog to play through. Theres plenty of game that are both but this one is not. To reiterate, this game just feels like square enix wanted to make a game that was a rpg about charlies angels, and just ripped the characters from a pretty good game and just fucked it all up. Going from 10 to this feels like playing mario galaxy and then playing mario on the nes. The only reason id prefer playing this over FF3 is because 3 is annoyingly bad at points, but has better highs where this game is just boring all the way through. Its like choosing between two different piles of shit. I went in with expectations that it wasnt gonna be as good but it cant possibly be that bad after a quality game like 10. Now im just sad and upset.
The story is nothing. It just shows the character from the 1st game but now theyre living boring normal lives now. Paine is a nothing character whos only purpose i belive was to be the female warrior character in the party. Rikku is a gag character. Yuna is kinda interesting in how drastic her character shifts but its so unrewarding because we, the players, dont really get to see the change occur. It just time skips ahead and now shes a new character. The game comes off like im playing a shiiltty charlies angel rpg. I dont like the multiple endings, i dont like the perfect one. Getting 100% to get the real ending is a fucking wild decision, whoever made it needs to be fired. Mission select is especially annoying considering you could waste time in an area thatll kick your ass. The creature mechanic is awful and confusing, why did this need to be a thing? Game just woke up and decided it wanted to be pokemon for a bit. The music sucks ass, albeit the theme on the airship is pretty cool. People say "its fine, its just camp". Just because its camp doesnt make it good, its still a slog to play through. Theres plenty of game that are both but this one is not. To reiterate, this game just feels like square enix wanted to make a game that was a rpg about charlies angels, and just ripped the characters from a pretty good game and just fucked it all up. Going from 10 to this feels like playing mario galaxy and then playing mario on the nes. The only reason id prefer playing this over FF3 is because 3 is annoyingly bad at points, but has better highs where this game is just boring all the way through. Its like choosing between two different piles of shit. I went in with expectations that it wasnt gonna be as good but it cant possibly be that bad after a quality game like 10. Now im just sad and upset.
why
Such a hot mess in so many ways that it's almost inconceivable. The story is terrible, the music is mediocre, the pacing is awful, the performances are horrible, the writing is disastrous and the structure of the game is mind-bogglingly bad. The one and a half stars are for the wonderful combat system and what little I enjoyed of the camp this game has in droves.
I've been doing a series replay and have been platinuming all the games as I go and will continue to do so, but I'm not platinuming this one. Not because the platinum is hard (FFIX and FFX were much tougher), but because I don't feel like playing more of this game. This is by far the worst mainline Final Fantasy game and it's not even particularly close, and it's definitely the poster child of games I tolerated as a child but can't stand now.
I've been doing a series replay and have been platinuming all the games as I go and will continue to do so, but I'm not platinuming this one. Not because the platinum is hard (FFIX and FFX were much tougher), but because I don't feel like playing more of this game. This is by far the worst mainline Final Fantasy game and it's not even particularly close, and it's definitely the poster child of games I tolerated as a child but can't stand now.
Many people say this game is just pure Fanservice but the gameplay is good and if you liked X you should definitely give it a try!
I honestly had not heard great things about this game, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The plot of many games focus on the most exciting period of time for the characters, and often the world they inhabit. That story was already told in FFX. This game shows the aftermath of the first game several years later. I like the more laid back tone, you get to see how the world has evolved due to the events of the previous game, and what your new place is in it. Another big highlight is the combat, which is some of the best in the series. In someways, it goes back to a more traditional system than what FFX used, but the addition of the 'dressphere' system is what really makes this game stand out. Basically, you can swap between jobs mid-battle for free, allowing you to optimize which class would be best suited for each situation. It works really seamlessly, and makes me wish that other games would adapt to it. There are some downsides though, I do feel that this game is not quite as good as its predecessor, particularly in the writing department. Any character who was not in FFX has zero character development, including one of the three main leads. They also pulled a main villain out of nowhere, as exploring the changed dynamics of the world doesn't lend itself to a good final battle.
It's extremely jarring how SE gave us this thing only a couple of years after realeasing one of the best games ever (in my opinion), Final Fantasy X.
This game is simply a joke and I find it kind of disrespectful to all the fans of the original FFX. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the silliness and absurdity of some of the scenes, and I also find the YRP stuff quite funny. I just don't get for the life of me why they had to use the FFX setting for it. The tone shift is extremely jarring.
The story is VERY dumb and completely undoes the most powerful moment of the previous game. Yuna and Rikku don't feel like the same characters, which I get is kind of the point, but still feels wrong. I liked Paine, nothing to complain there.
The battle gameplay is okay. I enjoyed the dressphere system, even if I ended up always using the same ones (dark knight is broken). I still much prefer FFX's battle system, I find it more strategic and engaging. This one was too much "press X to win" for my like.
The music is not bad either, but again, FFX's OST is unbeatable. It's pretty weird how the game shamelessly reuses character and enemy models, and environments (they didn't change a bit in 2 years?), but they did not put a single FFX track in it.
However, the real worst thing about this game for me, something I can't understand at all, are the "misseables". This game will punish you for not doing very concrete actions in really concrete moments by locking you out of content. "You didn't press X three and half times during this cutscene? Congrats! You get the bad ending." Oh boy, am I salty about it.
Anyway, this game is a minigame marathon with some FFX themes thrown in. You can complete it in less than 10 hours if you ignore the side stuff (which is like 90% of the content, admitedly).
I can only hope for Final Fantasy X-3 to never happen which, knowing Square-Enix, is very unlikely.
This game is simply a joke and I find it kind of disrespectful to all the fans of the original FFX. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the silliness and absurdity of some of the scenes, and I also find the YRP stuff quite funny. I just don't get for the life of me why they had to use the FFX setting for it. The tone shift is extremely jarring.
The story is VERY dumb and completely undoes the most powerful moment of the previous game. Yuna and Rikku don't feel like the same characters, which I get is kind of the point, but still feels wrong. I liked Paine, nothing to complain there.
The battle gameplay is okay. I enjoyed the dressphere system, even if I ended up always using the same ones (dark knight is broken). I still much prefer FFX's battle system, I find it more strategic and engaging. This one was too much "press X to win" for my like.
The music is not bad either, but again, FFX's OST is unbeatable. It's pretty weird how the game shamelessly reuses character and enemy models, and environments (they didn't change a bit in 2 years?), but they did not put a single FFX track in it.
However, the real worst thing about this game for me, something I can't understand at all, are the "misseables". This game will punish you for not doing very concrete actions in really concrete moments by locking you out of content. "You didn't press X three and half times during this cutscene? Congrats! You get the bad ending." Oh boy, am I salty about it.
Anyway, this game is a minigame marathon with some FFX themes thrown in. You can complete it in less than 10 hours if you ignore the side stuff (which is like 90% of the content, admitedly).
I can only hope for Final Fantasy X-3 to never happen which, knowing Square-Enix, is very unlikely.
This game is not the affront to god I always heard it was.
Gameplay wise I think its great, one of the best ATB systems I've used. The Dressphere and grid system, while a bit more limiting than I would have liked at times, were fun to mess around with. I like that each girl, despite using the same dresses, has different weapons, animations, transformations, battle quotes and victory screens.
Story wise I can't say I enjoyed it and ended up with 90% completion. I found the story to be mostly dull but I think a lot of that has to do with how it presents itself in its mission like structure. Lead to more swift tonal shifts and out of place moments than not.
This isn't the Yuna you know from Final Fantasy X and Rikku is more comedic in comparison than I remember as well. I wouldn't call it character assassination but if the plot wasn't so directly tied to FFX, having new characters taking over the whole thing might have went over better.
In terms of music I think it was mostly forgettable. One or two tracks I liked and a few I really disliked such what might be the worst chocobo theme I have ever heard in a FF game.
In the end its decent but the gameplay does 99% of the carrying, especially if you like job systems.
Gameplay wise I think its great, one of the best ATB systems I've used. The Dressphere and grid system, while a bit more limiting than I would have liked at times, were fun to mess around with. I like that each girl, despite using the same dresses, has different weapons, animations, transformations, battle quotes and victory screens.
Story wise I can't say I enjoyed it and ended up with 90% completion. I found the story to be mostly dull but I think a lot of that has to do with how it presents itself in its mission like structure. Lead to more swift tonal shifts and out of place moments than not.
This isn't the Yuna you know from Final Fantasy X and Rikku is more comedic in comparison than I remember as well. I wouldn't call it character assassination but if the plot wasn't so directly tied to FFX, having new characters taking over the whole thing might have went over better.
In terms of music I think it was mostly forgettable. One or two tracks I liked and a few I really disliked such what might be the worst chocobo theme I have ever heard in a FF game.
In the end its decent but the gameplay does 99% of the carrying, especially if you like job systems.
This review contains spoilers
Did a bit of an odd thing with this, put some hours into it, and even though I appreciated the dressphere's as quite a fun concept, there's just something about the combat flow and management I wasn't quite clicking with.
One issue I found odd was the framing of a lot of the fights, made it oddly difficult to parse all the information. Also, the "platforming" that was added was very bad even though it's not really that big of a deal.
So, I knew I was going to struggle to have the patience to see this through, as I'm not really feeling it at the moment, and to make things worse there's some endings that are locked behind some completion stats which I wasn't going to do well on.
But I really wanted to see how things play out, as it'd been on my mind to get round to for years. So I’ve watched a youtube edit of all the cutscenes with the important gameplay bits inbetween. I wouldn't normally think doing that would be worth writing anything about it afterwards, but considering that I think the main draw is the story, combined with feeling like I at least got a good sense of the combat and loop of the game, it left me wanting to write some thoughts down.
I think this game has been hard done by in perception because of its initially much lighter/comedy and campy tone. This is probably the most queer-friendly Final Fantasy game, (hope that’s a fair observation from a cis-het dude) and even though I don’t really vibe with it so much myself, and a lot of the humour I think is just bad, I think it's great they did this.
The idea people seem to have that this is an unserious Final Fantasy seems so far off. The story of Spira trying to figure out how to move forward after the events of the first game, and falling into factions and conflicts is a very believable story to follow on from the original.
The story of Yuna's personal growth and journey to put her own thoughts, beliefs, desires first in light of who people expect her be is really strong. I think it's kind of meme'd on but Yuna's "I don't like your plan, it sucks" line is genuinely so powerful and brilliant.
I can't quite decide on the fact that there's multiple endings though. In some ways I feel like getting the super-happy ending almost undermines Yuna's growth in the game by giving her, her the fairytale dream boyfriend back. But on the other hand, it works with her attitude of "no more sacrifices, there's a better way of doing things."
Then I watched the last mission add-on cutscenes as well, and I was taken aback by the maturity of the story and how much it resonated with me.
By all accounts I've seen, not fun game to play. But the story of the girls getting back together for the first time in months, then getting into arguments and realizing they've already grown apart and coming to terms with that. Really hit home to an extent I wasn't expecting.
So I can’t say I’ve truly engaged with all the game’s systems, as I haven’t played deep enough into it to give it a fair enough shake. But I think where it matters this is an excellent sequel to X and stands with it as part of the same piece.
One issue I found odd was the framing of a lot of the fights, made it oddly difficult to parse all the information. Also, the "platforming" that was added was very bad even though it's not really that big of a deal.
So, I knew I was going to struggle to have the patience to see this through, as I'm not really feeling it at the moment, and to make things worse there's some endings that are locked behind some completion stats which I wasn't going to do well on.
But I really wanted to see how things play out, as it'd been on my mind to get round to for years. So I’ve watched a youtube edit of all the cutscenes with the important gameplay bits inbetween. I wouldn't normally think doing that would be worth writing anything about it afterwards, but considering that I think the main draw is the story, combined with feeling like I at least got a good sense of the combat and loop of the game, it left me wanting to write some thoughts down.
I think this game has been hard done by in perception because of its initially much lighter/comedy and campy tone. This is probably the most queer-friendly Final Fantasy game, (hope that’s a fair observation from a cis-het dude) and even though I don’t really vibe with it so much myself, and a lot of the humour I think is just bad, I think it's great they did this.
The idea people seem to have that this is an unserious Final Fantasy seems so far off. The story of Spira trying to figure out how to move forward after the events of the first game, and falling into factions and conflicts is a very believable story to follow on from the original.
The story of Yuna's personal growth and journey to put her own thoughts, beliefs, desires first in light of who people expect her be is really strong. I think it's kind of meme'd on but Yuna's "I don't like your plan, it sucks" line is genuinely so powerful and brilliant.
I can't quite decide on the fact that there's multiple endings though. In some ways I feel like getting the super-happy ending almost undermines Yuna's growth in the game by giving her, her the fairytale dream boyfriend back. But on the other hand, it works with her attitude of "no more sacrifices, there's a better way of doing things."
Then I watched the last mission add-on cutscenes as well, and I was taken aback by the maturity of the story and how much it resonated with me.
By all accounts I've seen, not fun game to play. But the story of the girls getting back together for the first time in months, then getting into arguments and realizing they've already grown apart and coming to terms with that. Really hit home to an extent I wasn't expecting.
So I can’t say I’ve truly engaged with all the game’s systems, as I haven’t played deep enough into it to give it a fair enough shake. But I think where it matters this is an excellent sequel to X and stands with it as part of the same piece.
I loved the story and characters in X so much that I couldn't wait to play X-2 and see what Journey Yuna, Riku, and Paine would have. I was surprised to see how different this game is than the original, both the gameplay and narrative are different and maybe that's why most people don't like this game.
Is the Story good : It was enjoyable, had great humor, and a nice conclusion to some of the characters. I just have this MAJOR criticism, and it's about the RIDICULOUS Perfect ending requirement as it needs 100% Story Completion, and to attain that on the first playthrough it's pretty much impossible without a guide. Even then it's still difficult, lots of things that can be missed. But the Good and Perfect endings wrap up the story very well for Yuna.
Is the Music good : It was alright, not as GOOD as the 10's music, but its nice.
Is the Gameplay good : The gameplay mechanic for X-2 is based on dresspheres, which are equipable and changeable outfits with different abilities, I liked it myself. But another criticism I have is the ANNOYING Trophies like defeating the boss under Bevelle, "Via Infinito" is an ATROCIOUS dungeon, 100 Copy Pasted Floors with some good bosses in it.
Overall, it was a great game and people who couldn't handle the depression after X's ending, then you should go for the GOOD ending, which has a few missable steps. X and X-2 are games I will never forget, absolutely amazing Final Fantasy games!
X-2 LAST MISSION is a complete joke of a game, the gameplay is horrible, and only reason you'd climb 80 floors of generated nonesense is for the achievements. You can just watch the cutscenes on youtube if you're not a trophy hunter... The story is nice but not worth that gameplay
Is the Story good : It was enjoyable, had great humor, and a nice conclusion to some of the characters. I just have this MAJOR criticism, and it's about the RIDICULOUS Perfect ending requirement as it needs 100% Story Completion, and to attain that on the first playthrough it's pretty much impossible without a guide. Even then it's still difficult, lots of things that can be missed. But the Good and Perfect endings wrap up the story very well for Yuna.
Is the Music good : It was alright, not as GOOD as the 10's music, but its nice.
Is the Gameplay good : The gameplay mechanic for X-2 is based on dresspheres, which are equipable and changeable outfits with different abilities, I liked it myself. But another criticism I have is the ANNOYING Trophies like defeating the boss under Bevelle, "Via Infinito" is an ATROCIOUS dungeon, 100 Copy Pasted Floors with some good bosses in it.
Overall, it was a great game and people who couldn't handle the depression after X's ending, then you should go for the GOOD ending, which has a few missable steps. X and X-2 are games I will never forget, absolutely amazing Final Fantasy games!
X-2 LAST MISSION is a complete joke of a game, the gameplay is horrible, and only reason you'd climb 80 floors of generated nonesense is for the achievements. You can just watch the cutscenes on youtube if you're not a trophy hunter... The story is nice but not worth that gameplay
The combat system is pretty good (I really like this job system take especially since you can do it directly in battle). Story and characters are cringing me quite a lot and the exploration is as bad as og FFX, which had to be expected since it's a sequel using the same engine and all that.
It's a game that shouldn't exist and I feel like I wasted my time playing it
This game would be 5 stars except that all the little fiddly stuff to get 100% is such a pain in the butt.
the combat was fun and real emotion slaps. other than that yeahhh this game didn't need to exist. we could've gotten a prequel game with auron and jecht
This is a truly difficult game to judge. This game is notorious for being such a chore for to complete, and after getting 100% myself, I agree. Put that on top of the larger-than-story side quests and minigames and the game can feel like an absolute grind at points. But by the mid/end game X-2's battle system feels like one of the best in the series. So can I ignore the bad for the good? Absolutely not. It's strange for the best part of the game to feel like filler, when that part is supposed to be the main system, and in order to unlock some of the best parts of this game, it is almost essential that you follow a guide.
nah
2003-me would have despised the tone and style of this game. 2023-me absolutely adored it...which is why it kind of pains me to find myself abandoning it. Its structure, which essentially amounts to a selection of side quests that you can pick and choose from, wears exceedingly thin, and without a compelling enough hook for the narrative to push me forward, I found myself burning out extremely fast. This is compounded by the fact that many of those quests amount to little more than a collection of uninspired minigames, and the daunting task of doing all of this to see 100% completion weighed too heavily on my motivation to keep going.
Had Final Fantasy X-2 stuck with the same combat system as its predecessor, I might have been able to find enough enjoyment in the game to justify finishing it. However, the switch back to an ATB system kind of doomed the whole experience for me in retrospect. ATB isn't a bad system by any means, but it's always been a weird middle-ground between action and turn-based. Even when done well, as it was here, I still find myself longing for either of the other two options. As a result, my journey with the Final Fantasy X universe ends here. I wish I enjoyed my time in Spira more than I ultimately did.
Had Final Fantasy X-2 stuck with the same combat system as its predecessor, I might have been able to find enough enjoyment in the game to justify finishing it. However, the switch back to an ATB system kind of doomed the whole experience for me in retrospect. ATB isn't a bad system by any means, but it's always been a weird middle-ground between action and turn-based. Even when done well, as it was here, I still find myself longing for either of the other two options. As a result, my journey with the Final Fantasy X universe ends here. I wish I enjoyed my time in Spira more than I ultimately did.
One of the first bosses in the game is straight-up named after a Who song, which is simultaneously hilarious and completely out of place. I think that sentiment applies to most of this game.
i really don't like the progression of this one
A silly, camp romp through Spira. Gave me big 'Man, I Feel Like a Woman' energy.
if you think this is a character assassination of yuna you're retarded
My review.
I remember a conversation I had at 2am in the con suite at Anime Iowa 2004 about FFX-2. I was cosplaying as Rikku and the other girl I was talking to was cosplaying as Lum.
We started talking because I was chatting with my friends and she came over and told me that I, too, must be as upset at her about “the new final fantasy,”
I didn’t really know what she meant—I LOVED X-2–so we started chatting and ended up smack dab in the middle of what I remember being at the time a raging debate: is this game fun for girls or is it patronizing?
The only online space I exist in where people talk about video games is unlike any other I’ve ever really been in in my whole internet life, and it’s a space where people give genuine credence and recognition to like, fashion games on the DS and whatnot. I cannot stress how unlike the rest of the internet that is, especially back when X-2 was contemporary.
At that time, girls like the Lum cosplayer were aghast at X-2, the word “ditzy” got thrown around, so did the word “embarrassing,” In that time, being a girl who liked video games meant wading into pretty awful places: game stores where they hate and leer at you, online spaces where they hate and leer at you, and games themselves where they hate and leer at characters like you.
To like games as a girl in the early aughts meant you had to learn to deal with never getting to play a game with strong women and you had to learn to deal with men who would make fun of the games that did have strong women.
And some women learned how to deal with those things by demanding nothing be feminine. It was a defense mechanism; our femininity was a curse in nerd spaces, so why embrace that curse?
I get it, and I wish I could remember Lum’s real name—we hugged after the chat and she said she would give X-2 another shot.
I love X-2 very much and I’m glad 16 year old me got to play it.
We started talking because I was chatting with my friends and she came over and told me that I, too, must be as upset at her about “the new final fantasy,”
I didn’t really know what she meant—I LOVED X-2–so we started chatting and ended up smack dab in the middle of what I remember being at the time a raging debate: is this game fun for girls or is it patronizing?
The only online space I exist in where people talk about video games is unlike any other I’ve ever really been in in my whole internet life, and it’s a space where people give genuine credence and recognition to like, fashion games on the DS and whatnot. I cannot stress how unlike the rest of the internet that is, especially back when X-2 was contemporary.
At that time, girls like the Lum cosplayer were aghast at X-2, the word “ditzy” got thrown around, so did the word “embarrassing,” In that time, being a girl who liked video games meant wading into pretty awful places: game stores where they hate and leer at you, online spaces where they hate and leer at you, and games themselves where they hate and leer at characters like you.
To like games as a girl in the early aughts meant you had to learn to deal with never getting to play a game with strong women and you had to learn to deal with men who would make fun of the games that did have strong women.
And some women learned how to deal with those things by demanding nothing be feminine. It was a defense mechanism; our femininity was a curse in nerd spaces, so why embrace that curse?
I get it, and I wish I could remember Lum’s real name—we hugged after the chat and she said she would give X-2 another shot.
I love X-2 very much and I’m glad 16 year old me got to play it.