Final Fantasy X-2 review (PS2)

Sphere hunting... learn from the past to guide the future, or something.

Let’s cut to the chase here; I loved Final Fantasy X. In fact, while we’re at it I loved IX, VII, and well, all of the modern games (as well as most of the classic ones). The combination of a massive world to explore, gorgeous cinematics and a complex and immersive story sucked me in for each instalment of the franchise, which is why I was thoroughly looking forward to Final Fantasy X-2.

Taking place two years after the events in Final Fantasy X, Yuna, the female lead, has become a pop sensation having discovered a hidden talent for singing through her exploits of ‘sphere hunting’. These spheres often contain recordings of past events and by searching for as many as she can find, she hopes to find more information about her love interest from Final Fantasy X, Tidus.

First stumbling block

You can't fall off, but still have to hold circle to jump across areas like this.

While the idea may sound no more quirky than plenty of the other stories told in previous Final Fantasy games, the problem lies in showing the change in a world many of us will have spent hours exploring and getting to know. Yuna’s pop concerts that occasionally take place throughout the game are cheesy and while very well made, do make me cringe at certain points. Undeniably it is nice to revisit locations to see how they’ve changed in two years and unlike other Final Fantasies you can immediately choose where to visit since you still have the airship from the last game under your control. Since you will have visited most of the locations before, it feels a little less exciting to pass through each area, since you know exactly what is coming next (and can just skip there in your airship anyway).

Fortunately, the gameplay style has changed considerably to accommodate this, now giving you specific missions at certain points in the world and letting you work through them in a non-linear manner. A funky looking ‘Mission Time’ screen introduces each quest and sub-quest, finally ending with a satisfying ‘Mission Complete’, although if I’m honest, I feel that simply leaving out these mission screens would not lose anything from the gameplay, merely enhancing the open aspect of the game. As it is now, breaking the story into chapters is necessary to stop you from charging headlong into the harder enemies and gives you an incentive to revisit areas, though it does mean that the story itself seems weaker and much simpler (although it is not free from a few nice plot twists).

Take a deep breath, Boss ahead

The mission based gameplay normally ends each mission with the collection of a sphere or new Garment Grid (don't ask).

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the series is the boss battle, generally the only fights that you can’t escape from, as you take on a much more powerful and harder to kill enemy. In Final Fantasy X-2, bosses are plentiful, normally situated at the end of each mission, giving you little time to worry whether or not you’re trying a mission far too difficult for you. In fact on the world map, an enemy difficulty bar shows you how tricky the enemies will be to beat wherever you choose to go. This works well to keep early areas challenging and even if you do end up fighting the same enemies later in the game, they can often pull a trick known as ‘Oversoul’ which basically charges them up into a souped-up version of themselves.

It is slightly frustrating to end up fighting the same enemies from Final Fantasy X, in fact you will have even of fought some bosses before, making the game feel more like an expansion pack (albeit a very nice one). Battles are more unique due to the new (and very deep when you get used to it) system of dress spheres, which are similar to the job system from previous games as well as a faster system that allows you to interrupt opponents’ attacks. You can even change between dresses mid-game (and I’m still trying to pause it at certain moments to see some pixellated flesh but I’m starting to lose hope) if you need a certain ability.

If it ain’t broke

Absolutely gorgeous FMV, although there's very little of it in the game.

Graphically, the game remains pretty similar to its predecessor which is by no means a bad thing. Some new nicely detailed 3D environments compliment the large selection of previously seen areas and aside from some improved cinematic animation (and the equally expressive facial animation) another noticeable enhancement is the shadowing during battles being more impressive.

A small amount of very impressive but sparsely used FMV sequences round off the visuals, showing that in terms of quality, Square Enix can hold their own for CG work. (Keep your hopes up for Final Fantasy: Advent Children.)

The second Final Fantasy to use voice acting

Old faces, new stories... Would you believe Lulu is pregnant with Wakka's child?

Looking at the credits it’s nice to see that the cast from Final Fantasy X have reprised their roles in this game. A few new actors provide some equally well acted (especially due to the cheesy script) characters and the vocals during Yuna’s pop concerts are sung to perfection, if that style of music hits your button. Series regular musician, Nobuo Uematsu is notably absent from the credits in this case, and while the music is certainly stylistic, it lacks much of the hummable nature of previous games. This does not mean that the quality is bad, since the very first music you hear on the title screen is incredibly beautiful and worthy of loading the game just to hear it.

Sound effects in cinematics are typically chirpy and unique, although like most of the rest of the game a lot of them are reused from Final Fantasy X when new ones for certain moments would have been nice. Fortunately, mini-games and the side quests are all new.

Still gotta learn that damn Al Bhed though

Fear not, a whole load of new adversaries are there to keep you on your toes. Why's there always a fat and a thin one?

From playing Blitzball (though in a managerial way this time) to the all new Sphere Break coins game a lot of work has been put into keeping the player interested in all manner of different side-quests and mini-games. At one point you even have to pretend to be an enemy guard by giving a good massage to their leader, accompanied by enthusiastic responses.

Let’s face it, Final Fantasy fans who have already played Final Fantasy X should certainly pick this little gem up, if only to keep them occupied until Final Fantasy XII reaches these shores (Final Fantasy XI is online only, so may be less appealing to many). If you didn’t enjoy Final Fantasy X, then the chances are, you won’t find much that will sway your opinion of the genre here. If you’re new to the series however, and think it sounds like fun I would heartily recommend the superior Final Fantasy X since it is not only longer, but will fill in a lot of the plot that you’ll need to get the most out of X-2. Still, I’m going back to the game, if only to try and locate my missing dress spheres! It may be a slightly poor Final Fantasy game, but that still makes it a great game overall.