Final Fantasy X-2

Categories: Pages containing IPA | Final Fantasy X | Final Fantasy spin-offs | Computer and video role-playing games | PlayStation 2 games | 2003 computer and video games

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Final Fantasy X-2
Image:FFX-2 logo.jpg
Developer(s)	Square Enix
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Release date(s)	March 13, 2003 (Japan) November 18, 2003 (North America) February 19, 2004 (International Version) February 20, 2004 (Europe)
Genre	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Singleplayer
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2

Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Final Fantasy X-2 (X-2 is pronounced: IPA tɛn'tuː, "ten-two", not "ecks-two", "twelve" or "ten point two") is a computer role-playing game in the Final Fantasy series, and the first to be a true sequel to a previous Final Fantasy game.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Job classes 2 Storyline 3 Trivia 4 Criticism 5 Soundtrack 5.1 Audio clips 6 Voice cast 6.1 English language version 6.2 Japanese language version 7 Packaging artwork 8 External links 9 Notes

Gameplay

The battle system from the previous game (Conditional Turn-Based) was dropped in favor of a fast-paced variation on the traditional Active Turn Based system. Instead of waiting for enemies to attack, it is now possible to interrupt an enemy while they are preparing their attack, or chain your characters' attacks together for special bonuses. Of course, the same thing can be done to the player's party.

Because the party never grows beyond three characters, the ability to switch out characters in battle was invalidated; instead, Garment Grids and Dresspheres are introduced. ^[1] A Garment Grid is a geometric shape with nodes on it; the nodes are slots that can be filled with "Dresspheres", which are similar to Jobs from Final Fantasy V. The Grid-Sphere system allows characters to change from one Class to another during battle, and allows the player to decide which jobs any given character will have. Each Dressphere has a smaller list of abilities than the characters and classes of most role-playing games, meaning that job-switching is often advantageous or necessary in battles. Furthermore, each Garment Grid adds bonuses, for instance allowing the character wearing it to cast Firaga, or triggering combat bonuses when the character moves between two specific nodes. Finally, each lady has a unique Dressphere that can only be used if the she changes between all her Jobs in one battle.

The field system has been upgraded, and now Yuna has the ability to jump and climb, and, in the words of Ken Berry (the SE Product Supervisor), Yuna can also "do heaps of other cool stuff". The field is still totally 3D.

The world map is essentially unchanged. Most of the locations from Final Fantasy X return, though some have changed (the player was never able to visit Bevelle outside the main storyline, for instance, and Kilika is no longer in a state of ruin) and others have been added. Players are also able to visit almost every location from the (near) beginning of the game, via an airship—another major departure from normal Final Fantasy fare, in which the airship is never obtained until late in the game. These two changes allow for a less linear storyline. Unlike Final Fantasy X, in which the player's course through the game's world, and story, was largely linear, X-2 is entirely freeform. The game has many locations and five chapters, and each location has one "event" per chapter. Put together, the five "events" in one locale form a subplot "Episode". Only a few events per chapter are important to the game's main plot, however, and these are marked on the world map as "Hotspots" ("Active Links" in the Japanese version). By accessing Hotspots only, the player can speed through the story (and find out whether Yuna gets Tidus back) in ten or fifteen hours. However, the game keeps track of percent completed, and only by achieving a 100% completion is the search for Tidus brought to an optimal conclusion. In addition to this, the game also features a fork in the plot, allowing the player to make choices that change what scenes and percentage points they see. It is not actually possible to see all of the game's content on a single playthrough, though it is possible to achieve 100% completion. Thankfully, when the game is completed for the first time, it unlocks a "New Game+" that allows you to start the game over with all of the gear, Garment Grids, Dresspheres and percentage you picked up previously.

Job classes

In Final Fantasy X-2 each playable character (Yuna, Rikku, and Paine) is allowed to equip one Dressphere at a time. These Dresspheres differentiate the character's available abilities and function in combat. Each character can change Dresspheres at any time during battle, provided they can act. Following is a list of all of the available Dresspheres as well as their basic functions.

• Gunner: Allows the character to use a semi-automatic pistol in battle. Gunners rely on rapid attacks. Their special technique, Rapid Fire involves multiple hits, useful in building up a long combo chain to deal extra damage.
• Thief: Allows to character to steal items, gil, and HP (among others) from enemies in battle. The Thief Dressphere also aids in quickly acting or escaping from battle.
• Gun Mage: Grants the character access to enemy's abilities, provided the abilities are first used by the enemy. This Dressphere is similar to the Blue Mage class in other Final Fantasy games.
• Warrior: Specializes in dealing major damage to enemies, by either focusing on the enemy's elemental weakness(es) or lowering the enemy's combat statistics.
• Alchemist: Allows the character to combine two inventory items during combat, creating a product item that usually gives greater effects than the ingredient items. Combining rare items often produces stronger or more unusual effects.
• Samurai: Physical class that specializes in dealing damage in various ways such as halving enemy HP, dealing successive damage, or dealing heavy damage to weakened enemies. Also has the very useful ability Dismiss which cancels any action an enemy is preparing.
• Dark Knight: Strong physical class with the ability to inflict various status effects upon enemies while guarding the party from negative status effects. Also has a powerful attack spell, Black Sky.
• Berserker: Melee combat class that inflicts large amounts of damage. Able to activate "Berserk" mode wherein the effected character automatically attacks random enemies fiercely and rapidly.
• Songstress: Non-damaging class that focuses on either inflicting continuous negative status effects on enemies (by dancing) or temporarily improving the party's stats (by singing). Effects depend on the dance or song used.
• Black Mage: Damage dealing magical class that inflicts major elemental damage on enemies.
• White Mage: Magical support class that cures the party's HP, revives fallen party members, and removes negative status effects from the party.
• Lady Luck: Quirky class that relies on random slot machines to inflict various effects to either the enemies or the party.
• Trainer: Allows the character to control a unique pet that has access to various abilites from damage dealing spells to curative spells to stealing items. Unlike most other classes, each character has access to different abilities while using the Trainer dressphere.
• Mascot: Allows the character to dress as a unique Final Fantasy mascot (each is a recurring creature in the Final Fantasy series; Yuna becomes a Moogle, Rikku becomes Cait Sith, and Paine becomes a Tonberry). When in this form, the character has a large range of varying abilities, from dealing damage to inflicting or removing status effects. Unlike most other classes, each character has access to different abilities while using the Mascot dressphere.
• Special Dresspheres: Transforms the character into an intricate three-part "ultimate form" of herself. While in this form the remaining two party members are removed from battle, so using these Special Dresspheres is still like fighting with three party members. Each character has different forms (Yuna has Floral Fallal, Rikku has Machina Maw, and Paine has Full Throttle) and a wide, varying range of abilities.
• In the International version of the game, two additional dressphere were added. The first transforms the user into a kimono-clad festival-goer. The second transforms the user into a sci-fi hero complete with futuristic costume. ^[2]

Storyline

Taking place two years after the events of Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2 follows the reconstruction of Spira, for better or worse. The story revolves around three young women: the returning characters Yuna of Bevelle and Rikku the Al Bhed, and a new character named Paine.

In a prequel story to this game (a bonus ending on the international version of Final Fantasy X, also released on a Playstation Magazine demo disc), Yuna is dealing with the aftermath of having saved the world. The factions flowering in the Eternal Calm all want her support of their ideologies, and she is rudderless now that she has fulfilled her purpose for living and lost her beloved. Rikku arrives with a memory sphere found by Kimahri showing someone very like Tidus in a dark place, being punished. She convinces Yuna that she's done her duty to the world and deserves to follow her heart.

The game is punctuated by Yuna addressing Tidus (as if retelling the story directly or writing a letter) with her thoughts and memories of the places they pass through and their own relationship (much like Tidus' narration in Final Fantasy X), as she searches for a place in the new world. The main storyline of the game follows the clash of philosphical factions as their struggles uncover some nasty legacies from Spira's ancient history.

A significant portion of the game is unnecessary for completion of the main storyline, but much of the depth of the game is in the optional content, which generally follows how each part of Spira is healing, along with Yuna's search for Tidus. The themes of the game include searching for identity and acceptance of that identity, as well as coming to terms with loss, change, and the limits of personal responsibility. Like other second-time saviors, Yuna comes to reject the notion that sacrifice is the only way to solve problems.

For a complete list of the game's characters, see List of Final Fantasy X-2 characters.

Trivia

• This is the first Final Fantasy game to feature an all-female cast of player-characters, and the first since Final Fantasy III to keep the same party throughout the entire game. (Note that this is untrue for the international version of the game.)

• The name of the game's airship is the Celsius. It is named so by Brother to combat his father's airship Fahrenheit from Final Fantasy X. Also, Squaresoft's Bahamut Lagoon features the airship "Fahrenheit."

• The game includes a number of side-quests and minigames, including Gunner's Gauntlet (a third person shooting minigame) and Sphere Break (a coin-based minigame). It also has the typical optional dungeons and bosses, such as the Den of Woe and the Via Infinito. The underwater sport Blitzball also makes a return appearance.

• There are multiple endings to the game, depending on both percentage completed and certain actions taken at certain points.

• The character named Shinra is a reference to the corporation Shin-Ra in Final Fantasy VII.

Criticism

Perhaps the greatest point of criticism of this title comes from the game's "good ending", which many fans felt effectively took the ending of its predecessor and gave it a happy ending. Others noted that the ending revealing Tidus' fate actually uses footage from the very end of Final Fantasy X, thus proving it was intended from the beginning. The same reaction was given when Square Enix announced Advent Children, the sequel to Final Fantasy VII, which caused a similar outcry from the fanbase who had believed the world had been destroyed at the end of that title, while others debated that they had never intended it in the first place.

Also of note was the light-hearted tone of X-2 compared to the grand tragedy of FFX. The protagonists' clothing was also called into question, with some fans believing it was an attempt to use fanservice to sell the game.

This title was also the first direct sequel, which upset many fans at the time who believed this went against the spirit of the franchise. It has waned since the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII has shown the company's dedication to pursuing this path, but remains a point of contention.

Despite the varied responses of Final Fantasy fandom, the title went on to sell over a million copies and entered the Greatest Hits collection, making it a clear financial success, if not a total critical success.

Soundtrack

All of the music has changed, as Nobuo Uematsu has been replaced by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi (composers for The Bouncer). Among the songs are the J-Pop styled "real Emotion" and a slower paced song, "1000 Words" (Sen No Kotoba in Japanese). The Japanese version of the songs are sung by Kumi Koda, a Japanese music artist. The English versions of the songs , are sung by Jade of Sweetbox.

Audio clips

• Real Emotion International sample ▶(?)

Voice cast

Packaging artwork

Final Fantasy X-2 Sony PlayStation 2 Japan, 2003

Final Fantasy X-2 Sony PlayStation 2 North America, 2003

Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission Sony PlayStation 2 Japan, 2004

Final Fantasy X-2 Sony PlayStation 2 Europe, 2004

External links

• Official Site (Japanese)
• Official Site (English, US)
• Official Site (English, Europe)

Notes

1. ^  Many changes occured in the "international release" of the game, and it also changed the party setup.</font>

Final Fantasy series
I  |  II  |  III  |  IV  |  V  |  VI  |  VII  |  VIII  |  IX  |  X  |  XI  |  XII
Compilations and collections
I-II  | Collection | Anthology | Chronicles | Origins | Dawn of Souls
Spinoffs and related titles
Before Crisis | Crisis Core | Dirge of Cerberus |  X-2  | Rise of the Zilart | Chains of Promathia | Treasures of Aht Urhgan | Crystal Chronicles | Mystic Quest | Tactics | Tactics Advance | Kingdom Hearts | Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories | Kingdom Hearts II
Film and television
Advent Children | Last Order | Legend of the Crystals | The Spirits Within | Unlimited

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