Final Fantasy X2

The Final Fantasy series is arguably the most popular role playing franchise in console history. One of the main characteristics of the series is that, even though some elements remain constant, each new installment introduces you to a completely new cast of characters, a totally new story, and often a different setting and combat system. Well almost 18 months ago, the good people at Square Enix released the first true sequel in the Final Fantasy series. I'm talking about this now because I finally finished the game on Friday. Final Fantasy X2 continues the story that was told in in Final Fantasy X.

Two years have gone by since the destruction of Sin, and we now follow Yuna on a new adventure. You'll also get to catch up on the rest of the FFX cast, as well as getting an idea of the impact that Sin's destruction has had on Spira for two years. Yuna has since joined a group of sphere hunters called the Gullwings. Two others will accompany Yuna on the field: Rikku, who was a party-member in FFX, and Paine, who is a new addition. These three are the only people that you will ever have in your party, which is a first in the FF series (It's true that you couldn't acquire more party members in FF1, but you COULD restart an adventure with different party members, that's not an option for FFX2).



Having only three party members can seem somewhat limiting for someone who's played through several FF games, but this is compensated by an interesting skill system somewhat similar to the Materia system in FF7. Scattered throughout the world are skill sets called "Dresspheres". Dresspheres are costumes that give a character some relevant skills (i.e. the White Mage dressphere lets the character cast healing magic, the Warrior dressphere boosts attack power, etc). They're kinda like costumes, and the party members can change between them very quickly. Dresspheres also affect the amount of HP and MP that a character will have. If, say, Yuna changes from the Warrior dressphere to the Black Mage, her hit points will go down significantly, and her magic points will skyrocket. Damage taken, and used MP will be scaled appropriately.

This resembles the Materia system of FF7 in the sense that, once the White Mage dressphere is found, all three of your characters can become White Mages in battle. The main difference is that skills must be learned on an individual basis, so even though everyone can become a white mage, not all white mages will be equal. Some will be able to cast Full Life while others can't even cure status ailments. Of course, not everyone will have access to all dresspheres in battle, so managing what options are available to what character adds an element of strategy between battles.

Speaking of battles, the combat in FFX2 has gone off in a bold new direction: REAL TIME. This is a big difference, and anyone who has played many FF games will have trouble adapting at first, but overall, the battle system is great. The game gives you the option of automatically pausing the action whenever you enter sub-menus, like choosing which item to use, or which spell to cast (this option is a must for any boss IMO. If you managed to beat the entire game without this option, you're a MUCH better player than I am). The skill system combined with the combat system are so much fun that this is effectively the first RPG I've ever played where I'd actually spend some time running around in circles just to build up levels. I used to tease some of my friends for doing this, as they seem unable to finish an RPG without all their characters being level 99.

The story in FFX2 does a great job of building on what was done in FFX. Without ruining any surprises of either game, let's just say that they find another valid reason to raise the stakes, and the story builds up from running around Spira collecting spheres to world salvation... again. The thing is that, since the main characters are all young women, there are several "girly girly" moments in the game. As a matter of fact, the opening cutscene is borderline cheesy, and many "WTF?"s were uttered in my brain while watching. Just to give you an idea, one of the available dresspheres is the Songstress (surprisingly useful once afew skills are learned), where the equipped character affects the status of her teammates/enemies by singing and dancing. This dressphere gets downright flaunted in the opening cutscene. What I loved about the story is the fact that you're free to explore it however you like. As opposed to FFX which was almost completely linear, FFX2 is built around side-quests. I once joked around with a friend of mine that FFX2 is one big giant side-quest.



The locations are all colorful and full of life, true to the atmosphere of FFX. Revisiting them is a true pleasure. I can't compare the visuals to FFX, since I haven't played it in a while. The characters are colorful as well and the new additions have just as much personality as the existing cast members. I was quite pleased to find out that my favorite character from FFX got together with the in-game sex symbol and had a baby with her.

All in all, I'd say that FFX2 is one of my favorite FF games to date. Definitely my favorite FF game for the PS2. Another neat feature is that once you finish the game, you get to start it over again while keeping all of your dresspheres, items, and acquired skills. I might end up finishing this one more than once.