Final Fantasy X-2

THE BAD:
-The combat system can often leave you open for attack when healing or charging, and the energy meter wastes time
-Controlling Yuna can feel clunky or irresponsive
-Hardly any new locations
-Can leave you clueless on the next objective or how to do a certain mission
-No Sphere Grid, so stats and abilities are almost unpredictable
-Only three party members
-Not as many save points, which means you end up redoing more if you die
-You still go back to the starting menu if you die instead of a last checkpoint
-The story can get weak, confusing, or random at times
-A couple of Dresspheres are harder to acquire than they should be…
-Shorter overall than FFX

SUMMARY:
Judging from the surprisingly low scores this game has received, I had my doubts about this one. But at the same time, I thought a sequel to an amazing game had to be good. And I ended up having mixed feelings about it. It’s a great game, but there are some issues I wish I could work out.

Graphics: 10 -- Although the graphics look more of the same, they are still quite astonishing with a few slight improvements. This is especially noticeable in the character models and background animations. Most characters still maintain their original design, while others have adopted a fresh new look, which is always great to have when they’re together. And the look of each and every major character matches their personalities almost perfectly. But what I really love are their animations. When Yuna turns around, she will actually take steps to turn instead of sliding and jerking. All the NPCs are less animatronic. The enemies are faster and more graceful. And while I’m on the topic of enemies, I’ve gotta say these are the coolest-looking enemies I’ve every seen. Not only are they massively detailed with patterns and horns, but they have the most imaginative designs possible, all of which compliment themselves. Some have simple designs, such as the Helms with only armored backs and arms, while some are so abstracted not even the most ingenious artists could think of them, like the dragon-like Guardian Beasts with impressive ‘horns’ and curly, cord-like wings. And there are so many designs that you’ll never get bored with them. The backgrounds are also quite amazing. They all pack about as much detail as the PS2 can handle. The ground is textured to match a real dirt road, without repeating the same patterns like a rug would. They are even touched up with occasional cracks, bumps, gaps, or puddles, and it’s perfectly textured to look like real sand, soil, concrete, grass, etc. And if you’re at all an observant type, you can even see brush plants gently blowing in the breeze in the distance, something only Squeenix would consider and create so well. The other scenery looks incredibly life-like. I bet you could fool elders and toddlers into thinking they were real! You can see every individual leaf on a tree, one-of-a-kind rock formations, realistic cracks in ruins, and pretty much anything you can think of. The water is also just as impressive. It glistens and gleams under the sun’s elegant rays, and it even reflects like real water. It’s also not perfectly smooth, as water tends to be in reality. And you can actually see things under the water, with realistic tinting and shading. In fact, everything is shaded perfectly, save for the circles under the characters. The trees shade anything around them accordingly, and if you walk into the shade, you will be shaded too! Also, I love how underground areas have no natural light, but rather it is lit by adorning torches and lanterns. If you’ve ever seen, say, Indiana Jones and how the caves are lit, that’s how it will look in FFX-2. Likewise, the lighting will brighten only everything in its path, shading everything else perfectly. Speaking of which, the effects are absolutely brilliant. If you are in battle, and someone uses Fire magic, the fire will be akin to nothing less than an actual flame, and you can count on it brightening up the battle field. The same goes for Thunder spells, which could replace real bolts of lightning any day. And I like how spells like Water and Ice give off little light, since they don’t tend to glow in the real world. Other spells are just as impressive, lighting and shading everything correspondingly. This game is just so impressive graphics-wise, that it’s well worth its weight in gold.

Sound: 8.4 -– Okay, in comparison to FFX, the sound was a wee bit disappointing, yet it still put other games to shame. I didn’t like the music so much. Oh, it was perfect for most environments, as it always matched the mood and styling, but it just didn’t have that adventurous feel to it like FFX. Then again, FFX-2 wasn’t intended to be that bold, so this works. Peaceful beaches likewise have peaceful music, while large cities have more social soundtracks. Additionally, the mood wasn’t always matched so well when it came to missions. Even in the most serious situations, the music is usually a little too playful or relaxed. Like, about halfway through the game, you are pitted against the Aeons from FFX. You would think the music would be dramatic and hyped up, but sadly, it was better suited for a temporary good-bye. And if someone is in distress, rather than getting suspenseful, the soundtrack is hasty, like you’re running late for an event. Exploration sounds Mission: Impossible-like or sometimes a little bit scary. Also, the music wasn’t quite as appealing. I just didn’t enjoy listening to it as much as I did with the original FFX. This is less energized, more repetitive, and kind of boring. However, there are a couple of unique, real songs in the game (real Emotion and 1000 Words), and I loved those. (They’re even available on iTunes XD). The music was very well-done, but it just wasn’t much of a pleasure to listen to, and it was poorly assigned to the missions. Oh well, at least it has excellent sound effects and dialog to make up for it. For starters, the sound is simply yet skillfully done. Running is still a clear-cut pattern of thumps, but they were carefully recorded so the thump would be appropriate for the surface you’re walking on. Like, if you’re running through a rainy level, and the ground is muddy, the sound you make will likewise sound squishy without drawing focus away, which I’ve noticed a lot of games tend to do. Also, the noise make by weapon collision depends on the weapon you’re using, rather than just throwing in random slashes and bangs. So if you hit an enemy with a heavy sword, it will make a harsh slashing sound, while smaller swords will sound lighter and faster. The dialog could be tweaked a bit, thought. Yeah, it’s believable and well-spoken, but it seems as if the voice cast tried a bit too hard to capture the characters’ emotions. It’s like they’re trying to force themselves into feeling some emotion. But this is hardly noticeable, save for a few between-chapter scenes, and I doubt anyone will see it as a flaw. Overall, great audio; it’s just not in my favor.

Handling: 7 -- Well, let’s be honest; the gameplay just wasn’t very user-friendly or easy to pick up. The camera, like all of Square’s products, is a non-issue. It’s up in a precisely fixed position, allowing you to see where you’re going and everything in the environment. There are a few things hidden out of view, but it’s extremely easy to find them if you like to explore. Shifting gears now, I don’t really like the new combat system. It’s just not… rational. In FFX, the combat system was very simple; each character and monster got several turns throughout the course of the battle. Non-active characters/monsters sat idle while the selected participant took their turn. You would fight based on the command window of your current character, and there were lots of strategies given from this combat system. And what of FFX-2? Well, it certainly has the same ‘take turns’ system with a command window of battle options. However, unlike FFX, this spin-off isn’t really fair. This time, there is an annoying wait-time bar, which seems to take forever to fill. But the monsters you fight seem to have little or no wait-time, and they can attack a few times in a row while you have to wait. Also, they can attack while you’re taking your turn, so it tends to rush you and cause you to make a mistake, like attacking instead of healing. It can also cause a person to die when they’re trying to charge for whatever move. What really pisses me off is the second wait-time bar for almost every combat move besides regular attacks. Like, if you want to cast Thunder on a water-based fiend, you have to wait for about 30 seconds to finally unleash the attack. That’s just ridiculous, because when we choose an attack, we intend to use it quickly. That’s how it is in real life, so why can’t this game pull it off? And if it couldn’t get any more annoying, the fiends take less time than you to charge for their special skills, giving you a huge disadvantage in some battles. And to make it even more annoying, there is this stupid “Wait Mode” feature that puts your characters’ turns on pause, allowing the enemy to freely use an attack, sometimes lasting for many turns. Even if your wait-time bar is full, or you’re just trying to make a quick escape, you have to wait for the fiends to finish up. This can be fatal if it causes you to be plagued with status ailments or insta-killed. In addition, the Dressphere Sphere Change feature is a bit complicated. Firstly, you are given a grid called a Garment Grid in which you insert certain Dresspheres for use. You then select a Garment Grid to use and pick a Dressphere from it. And you can change Garment Grids to gain access to other outfits. Sounds simple, right? It is until you go into battle. If the time comes when you need to change Dresspheres, you have to press L1 or R1 (I can’t remember which one), which makes you a sitting duck, and switch to a neighboring Dressphere. This can be a problem if the outfit you need is not in your reach, so you have to keep changing until you reach it. If worse comes to worst, it can be fatal if it allows an enemy to use a powerful attack. The combat system is just too flawed for me. In any case, the difficulty is somewhat affected by this. The wait-time can make tough battles more difficult than they should be, because it allows the enemy to attack more. Despite this challenge tune-up, the game isn’t actually hard. Leveling up for experience is easy; just fight enemies until you gain enough experience (now I should add that the combat system flaws aren’t an issue in regular combat). But you should also know that this game’s challenging aspects come from more than just battle skirmishes. There will be timed enemy-chase or escape missions, maze-like dungeons, various puzzles, challenging gaming events from the world of Spira, pedestrian interaction, etc. While most of these sound easy, there are a few that will take some patience. The timed escapes are not an easy thing to master. Also, the gaming events are a challenge fit for anyone, and it’s very easy to lose your cool if you’re not careful. But the non-combative challenges for the most part are a picnic, balancing out the game’s difficulty with combat. All in all, pretty good gameplay, but the combat system needs to be upgraded back to the FFX style.

Entertainment: 9.5 -– Wow, this game was so amazingly fun! The reason is because this game is an open book. It always gives you something to do, and there are lots of other things you can do at your leisure. And most of them are pretty fun. I never got bored throughout the course of the game. And when I finished the storyline, I still had lots of things to try and complete. Exploring new places, getting NPC’s involved with events, digging up various items in a vast desert, and playing Blitzball are just a handful of the fun activities awaiting you. This game is an excellent way to pass time, if you can get over the fact that it’s different from other Final Fantasies. Compared to the bigger world of Final Fantasy, FFX-2 does feel a bit lacking, but that doesn’t take away from the fun. It’s no FFX, but I still enjoyed every minute of this game (when I wasn’t stressing over tough bosses). If you can’t get over the fact that this is a Final Fantasy spin-off, you shouldn’t even play. This game was intended to show what happened after FFX, not to be another dramatic fantasy story. It’s all in good fun. And yet, this game has an unavoidable fault in every game known to man; the lasting appeal quickly dies off when you leave yourself with nothing to do. Luckily, this game compensates by giving you goals so you’ll keep playing it again and again. There are actually multiple ending sequences, all of which require specific tasks to be completed. I will not spoil anything, but it will be enough to give you lots to do. So, yeah, it’s a good, fun game. Just get over the fact that it’s different from other Final Fantasies, and enjoy it!

Features: 8.8 -– There are a good few dozen things to do in this small package! Length-wise, it’s not much, but the actual content sum is just the opposite. Now, this game has roughly twenty locations to visit, consisting of all but one or two lands in FFX, plus an additional realm unique to the game (sort of). Also, nearly every location from FFX has at least some new areas not accessible before. What annoys me is that almost all of them are dungeons or caves, and they all look basically the same. It would have been cool if something like a forest or neighborhood were added, too. In any case, I was disappointed with the playtime of the game. At its longest, the storyline is barely 40 hours of gameplay, if you take your time. Now, there are lots of side quests that will take a good few dozen hours, but it still doesn’t compare to FFX, exceeding a colossal 80 hours. Basically, FFX-2 is divided into 5 chapters, of which you will be asked to do a job or two in almost every location in the game per chapter. Most are optional, while the ones needed to continue the storyline are labeled as “Hot Spot”. But there are only about four or five Hot Spots in one chapter at max, so the game comes up rather short unless you go through each and every area. In fact, the came is a pretty good length in that case. Even so, it will only take about 60 hours if you don’t stall or struggle, which I would consider short for a Final Fantasy. Switching gears, the actual content of the game is pretty imposing. Although a limiting 5 chapters doesn’t allow much, there are still a lot of things to do. Ranging from selling tickets for a show and profit to wiping out waves of enemies, this game often keeps you busy. Just about any mission you can imagine can be found here. Also, other than area-specific objectives, there are a couple of tasks that can be accomplished anywhere and everywhere. You can strive to defeat and record every enemy in the game, collect all the Garment Grids and Dresspheres (very hard), or simply go around at your leisure. There isn’t much else to say. All in all, a pretty good game content-wise, save for the length.

Replay Value: Moderately High

Overall: 8.8 -- It may not be quite as satisfactory as a Final Fantasy should be, but it’s still good enough for any RPG fan. For some people, the gameplay issues and storyline affect their views of the game overall. But if you put too much focus on them, you’ll miss out on one of the most fun gaming experiences on the PS2.