Final Fantasy X2 Review (PS2) By LeonardQuirm

5 / 10
06 Nov 2004 at 18:41

Review by: LeonardQuirm

Final Fantasy X-2 is, despite its number, in many ways a first. It is the first game in the main series (well, this is debatable) produced by Square Enix, so had to be good. It is the first actual sequel in the Final Fantasy series, taking the characters and world of FFX and following the story up two years on. It's also the first with an all female line-up for the party.

So, really, it's a shame they messed up.

The problems list is long. The very concept of it was dubious - Final Fantasy X was a perfectly self-contained story, and needed no follow-up. Don't you just hate those films and books where a sequel has been created just to cash in on the first one's success? By doing this, they have also lost some of the series' best points - such as the ability to explore a whole new world. You've been to most places before. Kilika has been rebuilt (it was destroyed by Sin in FFX), and there are few extra dungeons/caves, but a lot of the locations are reused. Also, the story is very much "tacked on", as there is nothing in the first game to link into this one; a few points have been made here to try and link it back, but it feels artificial.

The style is a betrayal for dedicated fans. The opening sequence is of Yuna perfoming a pop song in Luca Stadium, and it is a pop video. The female cast suggest Square Enix is aiming for a "girl power" theme - but with the girls' gratingly happy style, who wants it? If you found Tidus and Yuna too irritating in FFX - which I didn't personally - then you don't stand a chance of lasting out the style of this one. Traditional points are also lost - such as summons (although they do appear, but the reason given makes no sense, especially when linked to the end of FFX) and the infamous victory theme that was used way back when in the original "Final Fantasy". An almost desperate sense of trying to make the game cool is blindingly obvious - for example, you no longer "find" items in chests; you "score" them. Is this cool? For the large majority of dedicated fans, it won't be - Auron was cool in FFX, with his suave style and immense strength. Girls jumping up and down just doesn't appeal to the same audience - and while it may want to find a new audience, it risks losing the old one.

As for the actual gameplay? The battle system returns to bars filling up (Active Time Battle, or ATB), but in a far more conditional way than previous games - if you use a more powerful move one turn, the bar in preparation for the next turn will longer. Characters' actions can take place simultaneously and the combatants don't stay in two lines, facing each other, but move about and, in a small way, can use facings (the direction an enemy is looking in) to their advantage. The power up system is much like the job system in Final Fantasy V or Tactics Advance on the GameBoy Advance, and works quite well - although the change in costumes from one revealing dress to another during battle again irritates dedicated fans. Rather than a simple story and path, the game is now split into five chapters, in which there are "missions". The sidequests are numerous, making up more of the game than the main story, but are sometimes long and boring - this is the opinion of someone who enjoys the challenge of dodging 200 lightning bolts in a row to get an ultimate weapon (althogh getting hit at bolt 169 or so put me off for a very long time).

The game is actually a relatively enjoyable thing to play, and wouldn't be too bad if it weren't for the fact it ruins the style of the Final Fantasy series, and especially the amazing Final Fantasy X. If you liked the characters in the last one, you may be disappointed by the way they've changed. If you didn't like the main two you quite probably won't like the way Yuna, now the main character, and Rikku have changed. Paine, the thid female in your party, is a poor substitute for Auron, although her attitude and sword suggest that was intended as part of her role. And if you didn't play the first game, you probably won't understand this one.

The game gets 5 because the battles are quite good. But if you play the series for the stories, then you may well want to forget this one exists.

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