FFX-2 (Spoilers, if you haven't played it)

[St. Ajora]

I thought I would get some opinions on this after I read some comments in the other FF thread. What do you think of FFX-2?

Personally, I really liked it. It didn't really introduce anything entirely new (though it had elements all its own, storyline and game-wise) but continued from FFX. That alone could put many people off, consider the um, change in Yuna. Not to mention Rikku.

I liked it. It wasn't that serious nor complicated. I liked the romantic backbone to it and how beautiful it was that Yuna was looking for her lost love and then puts to rest the feelings of another failed relationship. If you got the ending that I did (which did not include Tidus) then the story ended abruptly, and very happily. Sure we missed O Whining One (I'm just kidding, he was my favorite character) but it's hard to feel sad when he was absent the entire game. All the loose ends were tied up; everything complete for the player. That happy ending increases ten fold if you do get one of the better endings (but in my opinion it wasn't worth it) but this only reinforces my statement that everything is happy happy at the end which is a bit...not Final Fantasy. Unless you are excluding FF8, of course (which had the best happy ending for me). There is always a hint of despair after you beat the final boss, but FFX-2 had none. Which brings me to say that it was a fun game! I remember putting it off for a few days and then one night around midnight I just decided to see what it was like and ooooh from the opening movie I was hooked. It just astounded me. The music, the pace, the voices (not matter how cliche) just really got me pysched to play, and it gave off a sense of Woman Power (!). Maybe it's because I'm not a guy, but I really got a feeling of empowerment while starting to play, and the opening scene is what did it for me. Here's Yuna dancing, and making something of her life and moving on and uh oh it's not Yuna! The real one comes in and she has guns and she is half naked and I don't know, I just thought she was plain cool. She turned her life around, bettered herself and started living for herself. Even though nothing like that is ever talked about, I got that feeling while playing. I guess my imagination runs wild, but I could identify with this game, and treasure it as more than a newfound T&A game.

As for the new...non-clothes thing, well, that originally put me off. I thought FFX-2 was going to be stupid and all about flaunting the looks and whatnot, and even though with outfits like Rikku's thief (HORRIBLE), I didn't really mind since their personalities were the same. They may have looked a bit scandalous, but Yuna was still shy and hesitant, and Rikku was still cutey in your face wanna have fun girl. Their personalities justified the lack of clothes which wasn't all that bad. Now given, some of the dress spheres just looked atrocious (who designed them anyway...?) but nothing like a lot of the comments I had heard about how "slutty" the game was.

I think it was just fun, and meant to be taken lightly. It's a character picking up the pieces of her life and learning to not care what anyone thinks of her. When I played FFX, Yuna came off as very needed, yet loyal, but everyone looked up to her. In the abscence of Tidus, her leadership skills are just very believable (how come Rikku doesn't have any fans when it comes to saving the world?) because she's forced into the spotlight without any guardians (except Rikku) to steal it away.

I dunno, I'm rambling. You can tell I liked the game. I got bored of it easily, but I just started a New Game Plus, and I'm just pointing out what really attracted me to the game. I hope that there are sequels in the future (aside from FF7's dozen or so spin offs) or more FF games focused around a girl from the beginning. Not since FF6 did I get to see that.

So tell me what you thought of it? Good? Bad? In between? Embarrassing to FFX? I personally believe it just tore away most of the importance to FFX, especially from its ending, but I can't help but love the sequel.

[Sarah]

To tell the truth, I was disappointed.
It wasn't bad, not bad at all, but I just felt FF was starting to evolve into something else (which makes me feel somewhat nostalgic when I think about it)...

I wasn't shocked at all when I saw the new Rikku, because she wasn't really new... changed her outfit, but still kept the familiar Rikku style. It's Yuna that I was most disappointed with. Yuna was my second favourite in FFX (after Auron) and one of the main reasons to that was her rather collected yet charismatic personality (a little bit different from the typical FF heroines);that's why I found her new appearance in X-2 to be somewhat of a tremendous change. It just... doesn't become Yuna!
There are things that may suit some characters but not necessarily all of them.

Game-play was fine; not much compared to the original FFX interesting plot and constant intrigue, but fine. I haven't beaten it yet, and I don't know if I ever will. Dress Spheres were certainly a good addition, and I just love the character design and the art in general, the animation of the cut-scenes and the game is fantastic.

All-in-all, it's really okay. It is a bit of a shock, as I said, if you are too used to the traditional FF feel(and none of the characters was that interesting, a bit like in FF9). You may not be able to accept it very easily at first, but then you gradually get over that as you play.

(I would like to know what you found so fascinating about the ending... But I am not very sure if I can carry on with this game. It isn't bad, but I just feel it's not my taste.)

[Beecham]

Heh, I downloaded the perfect ending; I doubt I'll ever get the 100%. The fact that I -accidently- STEPPED on Buddy when I tried to comfort him in the second freaking scene in the game causing me to lose the 100% pissed me off more than words can describe.

I have much more to say on the topic, but I'll have to come back to that later.

[kuwaizair]

a friend of mine didn't acctualy like the *whiney falseto* "go girl" *end voice* atmosphere, and she's a she! maybe they did it wrong, but if you want impowerment, maybe to it differnly, I've seen bad opions of the game, and i'm thankfull there are -possible- 2 peole i can borrow it from with no collateral.
at least there are multipul endings to keep things intersting. I'm not into mush right now, because have no mush in my life.

[Luna Nova]

I don't like it, it's disgraceful!!

It would've been better if they left FF10 without any sequel. It was perfect, and more than perfection itself...

I agree that the animation, especially the opening bit, was so amazing, but what about the story? The characters? They've ruined them!! They've ruined the touchy, profound story those characters spent their lives creating!!!

I used to like Yuna aswell, but not anymore! Not because she became a gunner or because she changed her clothes, but because she's now proved to be a versatile, even shallow character, who's changed so easily (from a noble Summoner to a mere commodity, probably to attract fans and customers). That's at least how I feel, so please don't reproach me if you don't feel the same way (I haven't even gotten to the middle of the game to get to the ending, but this is from what I've seen from it so far).

It makes me sad :*(

[Keriaku]

(A little off topic)

I have to agree with Sarah, on one point, ever since Square merged with Enix it seems they've only been out to get money and not to please the fans, like they seemed to be doing before Final Fantasy 10. Now this is just my thought, but 4 Spin-offs to FF7, and the first sequal the main FF series has seen?!? They even said (in an interview, I'm pretty sure) that one of the reasons they made a sequel was becasue they could reuse graphics from the prequel (correct me if I'm wrong). This just bugs me alot.

</rant>

*More on topic*

I actually liked FFX-2, though as you've said everyone was saying it was going to be bad and was too girly and too much like Charlie's Angels. One problem I found with the Garmet Grids was I'd tend to only use 2-3 through the whole game, even though I got around 20-30.Also, the same with the Dress Sphere's there were some I just never used (like Singer and all the Character-Special Dresses). Though I did like the ability to switch dresses in battle, if they ever make another game that uses classes/jobs/dresses, this is a very nice feature.

After seeing Luna Nova's post I have to agree with him (her) that it's unrealistic that Yuna would totally change so suddenly. For people that didn't see the Eternal Calm video (that was included at the end of the japanese version of FF10 and on one of the demo discs in OPM) Rikku offers to Yuna to join their Sphere Hunter group, but she says that she'd need new clothes so that she wouldn't attract a whole bunch of crowds. Then they change, and (I think) a few months later the game starts, I don't understand how she could change so fast! Also, I found the story a bit... lacking. It just wasn't anywhere near as fufilling as <almost> every other Final Fantasy.

Overall, even with all the stuff I didn't really like, I still found it a pretty fun game to play.

P.S. My eyes have been burning ever since I saw Paine in the Singer dress... So horrible... x.X
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Inspired by everything

[St. Ajora]

[Beecham]

Hee, saw a very attractive girl in the Paine Songstress dresssphere costume at Otakon last year. In person, I don't think I could complain too much ;)

anyway, to people who say there is no story, at least tell me how far in to the game did you get? I find that there very much is a story, but like many games you need to get further into the game to find where the -true- story is. Rarely does a game - and FFX is an exception to this, which could be why people have such a problem here - get into the real story until you're almost halfway in or further.

[Elc]

I... uh, how do I put this diplomatically? I didn't like it. I was looking forward to it after having played the demo, particularly since Bahamut made an appearance, and he's my all-time favourite Aeon. When I actually played (part of) the finished game, it seemed to share almost nothing from Eternal Calm, which really acted as a set-up for the game. It leaves me wondering how Yuna and Rikku deciding to search for Tidus (to find out if it is really him she saw in the sphere) suddenly had them become Sphere Hunters.

I think I played about 20% of the game before I couldn't take anymore and haven't even considered giving it another shot, the game just didn't do anything for me to make me want to keep playing.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Beecham]

I'd think the idea of looking for spheres - especially those containing additional as to "his" whereabouts [why for the love of God couldn't they say his name? They said it in Kingdom Hearts!!!] - seemed pretty logical to me. The rival spherehunter storyline hurt - LOTS - but I think you didn't give the game a proper chance. Actually the story is -amazingly- deep, if you only just get far enough into it.

[Elc]

Hmmm, I gave the game about six hours, and got similar feedback from a friend who loved the game. Ironically, this was a guy who turned Final Fantasy VII off after 30 minutes because it was too old and the way the characters walked annoyed him. I didn't totally hate Final Fantasy X-2, it just failed to keep me interested.
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"You make me smash the clock and feel, I'd rather die behind the wheel.
Time was never on my side, So on I wait my whole lifetime."

[Beecham]

Ah well. Wish I could just give you a saved game from right before some of the plot points, so you could see for yourself if it becomes worth trying. I didn't think it would be either, until ... well honestly I don't remember what the catalyst for my interest was, it's been awhile, but I do remember it was one key defining moment.

Honestly the world spun out of the Spiral of Sin that we see in FFX-2 is so very believable. It's precisely what would happen if the world were "real." From the religious backlash to the actions of the Youth League... it's all believeable. And everything just makes so much more sense when you finish the game.

Well, almost everything. There're a -few- unanswered questions. But it's a fairly complete story at that point. I much enjoyed it, once I gtot that far.

[kagematsuri]

You know, FFX-2 is the only FF game I actually really like and I've played 4 all the way up to 11. I honestly think X-2 is just a whole lot of fun (as long as I ignore Chapter 4). The battle system is just...fun. I love that each of the characters can be any and every job in the game and switch from dressphere to dressphere whenever the battle calls for it. Sure, fanservice abounds but it's not like the last few games haven't had their share too. Besides, Tidus is GONE and NEVER EVER COMING BACK. Therefore it must be good.
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[Beecham]

[kagematsuri]