Final Fantasy X-2

aka: FFX-2
Moby ID: 8706
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Description official descriptions

Final Fantasy X-2 is the first direct sequel in the history of the series. The events of the game take place two years after Yuna and her guardians defeated Sin in Final Fantasy X, and peace was restored in Spira. The Yevon religion has all but disappeared, and two political factions begin to compete for dominance: the Youth League, led by Mevyn Nooj, and the New Yevon Party, led by Praetor Baralai. Meanwhile, Yuna's cousin Rikku finds a strange sphere that mysteriously shows an image resembling Tidus, Yuna's one and only love. Rikku brings the sphere to Yuna. Determined to discover the truth behind the mystery, Yuna organizes a journey of "sphere-hunting", to collect more spheres scattered around the world and perhaps find Tidus.

The sequel brings back the ATB (active time battle) system, which was replaced by turn-based combat in its immediate predecessor. The battles develop at a somewhat quicker pace than earlier games in the series, with more emphasis on quick decision and timing. The player can control only three characters throughout the game, all of them female: Yuna and her friends Rikku and Paine. The job system similar to that of Final Fantasy V is featured, with the possibility to learn various abilities and customize character classes. Limited jumping and climbing are now possible in certain locations. The game's structure is less linear than in most other games belonging to the genre. Though there is only one way to advance through the main story, the player can opt to visit most other locations early in the game, since the airship is available already at that stage.

Spellings

  • ファイナルファンタジーX-2 - Japanese spelling
  • 最终幻想X-2 (Zui Zhong Huanxiang X-2) - Chinese spelling (simplified)

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

258 People (230 developers, 28 thanks) · View all

Producer
Director
Main Programmers
Main Character Designer
Art Director
Real-Time Graphics & 3D Map Director
Scenario
Image Illustrator
Music
Field Planning Director
Battle Planning Director
Chief VFX Programmer
Menu Programmer
Real-Time Programmer
Alternate Costume Designer
Conceptual Art Director
Modeling Director
Motion Director
Chief Menu Designer
Movie Director
Sound Programmer
Supervising Dialogue Editor
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.1 out of 5 (based on 85 ratings with 9 reviews)

An unworthy sequel, but it could have been worse

The Good
Final Fantasy X-2 is the first direct sequel in the Final Fantasy series. In this review I'll assume you know a little about the mighty Final Fantasy series of RPGs, because if you don't, you should play them but for sure not start with this game ! (if this is your case you must without a doubt check for older games in the series, they are absolutely awesome despite their age and are way better than this). Now for Final Fantasy veterans, let's continue...

Back when that game were released, I haven't finished FFX yet so I wouldn't rush on it anyway, and everyone who played that games told me how badly it sucked. Most people seemed to badly hate this game, so I considered it wasn't worth playing, after all I loved FFX and I didn't want to ruin that. (although reviews on the net doesn't look as bad as what most of my friends said).

But a few years later, after I finished FFX a second time, I was still curious enough to play the game (copies are a lot cheaper than when the game was released). I basically played the game to see how bad it was. But I was almost surprised to see it's not that bad. It's definitely by far not as good as previous FF games, but I never excepted it to, and maybe that's why I don't hate that game as much as most people do.

Anyway when it comes to the good points, I should mention the battle system is pretty interesting, ATB system is back (CTB was very good in FFX, but ATB was also very good in FF4-9), for people that doesn't know what this means, there is again a time meter for all of your characters that fills with time and allow you to do an action when it's full.

The job system from FF3 and FF5 is back too (for those who have played them), but this time it's slightly different, and you can change jobs (called vetishperes) during battle, which is cool (the drawback is that being used to this makes FF3 and FF5 harder...) The jobs you get are a mostly classical jobs (insert color here mage, fighter, thief), and a few brand new jobs too. Also, black and white mages can't attack physically at all, which encourages job switching during battle.

While Final Fantasy X was extremely linear (and in fact I liked it that way), Final Fantasy X-2 claims to be unlinear. In fact I'd say it's half unlinear, as the game take places in 5 acts, and you still have to do them in order. But you're not forced to do all available missions, and you can do them in any order. That's cool, but the price for that is a flat storyline (see below).

The graphics are pretty good too, and detailed (although way too much ripped of FFX). A couple of music songs found in the game are really good.

The Bad
The most interesting thing to do in a RPG, among with battles and story, is to discover a new world. Unfortunately FFX-2 sets up in a world the player already knows (unless he has never played FFX, which isn't likely the case). So there is few really new to discover of course there is brand new dungeons, and some places have really changed (Kilika comes to mind), but aside of that you'll be disappointed how unexciting it is to go through the exact same places again but just with a different goal.

As much as the story is unlinear, it's really flat, boring and almost pathetic. You take the control of Yuna, Rikku (from FFX) and Paine (not from FFX). As you should probably known if you finished FFX, Tidus has disappeared as he was a dream all along, and of course, Yuna who loved him is not very happy about that (this is understandable). 2 years later, Yuna finds a sphere (remember those sphere in FFX that can hold videos ? They are back here.) with a guy that looks like Tidus. She somehow joins with Rikku, her brother Brother and the unknown Pain to form a group called the Gullwings in order to go sphere hunting.

At the same time Spira seems to go into war again as there is political parties that fight against each other aggressively. Your goal : To find Tidus! In fact I didn't understand the story, I feel like I completely missed something here (maybe this is due to the fact I didn't play the game very frequently (to to it not be attractive enough), so I forgot some parts of it).

Considering how the stories of previous Final Fantasy games were awesomely awesome (in fact is was their #1 selling point), this is kind of degrading to them to give them a sequel like that. Sure, a bad story doesn't make a bad game (gameplay is more relevant), but it will make you less likely to turn on the PS2 with the game in question when you're bored. I sometimes almost found myself thinking "oh no, I should play FFX-2 half an hour before doing my homework". This is backwards as it would supposed to be.

The graphics are detailed, but not only all backgrounds and characters are from FFX (only Yuna, Rikku have their models changed, and a few new characters have appeared like Paine and some others), but almost all enemies and boss are just ripped off FFX. They made little effort here, but in the end it ends up all right because latter places to discover didn't exist in FFX, and later bosses aren't from FFX.

Although a couple of pieces of music are really good (title screen theme is awesome), most of the music heard in that game is complete crap. The battle music is disastrous, and most other songs tends to try being that modern pop style which is annoying to hear.

Again how awesome the music of previous Final Fantasy games is, it's really a scandal they couldn't give anything better here. Sure Uematsu (composer of FF1-9 and half of FF10) isn't at square any longer, but who cares ? The ambient style of FFX was different, but good too, and there is plenty of good video game music composers around (the music of most non-FF Squaresoft games aren't by Uematsu at all, and still are very good if not even better).

The ATB system seems to slow down terribly when your characters are wounded, which is NOT good, since you'd want to heal them as quickly as possible. Sometimes the bosses can attack 5 times while one of your girl only attack 1 time, which is unfair. Even with that the game is easy except some later bosses which can be annoying. I still had to look at some online FAQs to be able beat the last boss.

Also Brother seems to seriously hangs on Yuna (in addition to being incredibly stupid), but they are cousins aren't they ? Does Squaresoft promote incest or does they just not remember relations between their own characters ? This is terribly bad.

The Bottom Line
I played Final Fantasy X-2 basically to see how bad it is, and in fact I ended up being surprised because it's not all that bad. But definitely it's not a must-have hit like almost all Final Fantasies released prior to this, and it's merely an average game at best. It's playable, but definitely not great at all.

Also, the length is shorter than in FFX, playing FFX takes about 35-40 hours, while this games only lasts 25-30 hours (depending on how much sidequests you do, I guess I did a good 70% of them personally, but I haven't checked any walkthrough). Ironically, playing FF7, 8 or 9 on the "old" PS1 would take about 80-100 hours for each. Square seems to release shorter and shorter games. For me it's not that much an issue, as I wouldn't want to play FFX-2 for much longer anyway, and if I want truely awesome games I know I shouldn't buy them from Square anymore, yes, time has changed.

But while it definitely isn't a very good game, it's not the worst of Final Fantasy series as some people says. I personally find that at least Final Fantasy II for the NES (that most people haven't played, or not on the NES at least) is far worse, so FFX-2 is at least the second worse of the series, which isn't that bad. '2' should really a cursed number for games.

Even if you are a fan of FFX and haven't played this yet, I'd suggest playing FFX again once more, it'd be just as much fun and you don't have to buy an additional game. If you are very curious and see a copy for cheap, I'd say go for it, but be warned that the story is crappy and uninteresting, that most things are ripped from FFX and that only the battle system is any good. If you decide to not play this game, I can't say you really missed anything.

PlayStation 2 · by Bregalad (937) · 2008

Its OK...but nothing special

The Good
I like Square Enix's attempt to create a real sequel to a Final Fantasy game and in a way they succeeded. Compared to FFX, the story is very light-hearted which usually what RPGs aren't. They reunite us with old characters like Wakka, Lulu and Kimahri and introduce us to new ones like Gippal, Nooj and Baralai. As far as graphics go Square Enix is numero uno with pushing the PS2 with its CGI. The new dressphere battle system is similar to the job system in Final Fantasy III but each job has its own specific skills which is kinda cool.

The Bad
Where Final Fantasy X-2 excels in some areas, there are setbacks in many other areas. Square Enix got really lazy and just used the entire Spira world again instead of creating new worlds to explore therefore losing the mystique created by its predecessor. The music is my second complaint. I love collecting game soundtracks and while I wanted to enjoy the music, a lot of it was just plain annoying, especially LeBlanc's theme song and the Celsuis theme. Next, is the story process itself. Its mission based gameplay is a different way of going through it. But around Chapter 3 it starts feeling like a chore than an adventure. Its also ridiculous to get 100 percent to get the best ending. With a mods to the game, most notably a deeper storyline, increased difficulty, eliminating "missions", more playable characters and not even including LeBlanc this would have been another classic. Instead its another so-so RPG.

The Bottom Line
For those who have to finish the two-parter, its a buy. Even people who bought Final Fantasy X shouldn't purchase just to preserve the memories of the classic 2001 RPG. General RPG fans shouldn't even touch this one.

PlayStation 2 · by Jacob Gens (1115) · 2008

It IS the true sequel to Final Fantasy X!

The Good
First off, the concert at the beginning blew me mind away! I never expected that. On graphics were as good if not better than its predecesor. I'm glad the turn based battle system is back and learning skills while you battle is back and better than ever. Storyline was predictible, but still fun. I've already gotten 27% through the game and I only had the game for 3 days! The treasure spheres are like mini movies which are fun except for the one were Tidus is in that cage.

The Bad
Not much. The only thing is that they only added a few new places to visit and blitzball is gone so far. A lot of things have changed since FFX. Yuna has lost her summoning ability which I thought was the coolest part about her.

The Bottom Line
Get it! If your a Final Fantasy fan and you don't have it, smack yourself in the face! If your not a FF fan, then buy it and become one because this game pushes your PS2 abilities to the max!

PlayStation 2 · by Exodia85 (2145) · 2003

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Trivia

Characters

If you look more carefully at Yuna's face, you'll notice her eyes are different, one eye is blue and the other is green with a swirl pattern on the iris. Her eyes are like that because she is half Al Bhed. If you notice Rikku's eyes, they are both green with swirl patterns because she is a full-blooded Al Bhed.

Development

Squaresoft originally planned to make two spin off titles to Final Fantasy X. One was to be focused on Yuna, and the other on Rikku. However, that idea was scrapped, and both characters play a central role in this game.

Music

Kumi Koda did the motion-acting for the opening. In the Japanese version of the game, she sang the theme song and voiced the character Lenne.

Story

Final Fantasy X-2 is the first Final Fantasy game to continue a storyline from a previous Final Fantasy game.

Version differences

There are two FMVs that are sort of like concerts, one where Real Emotion song is sang (intro) and one called 1000 Words (1000 no kotoba for Japanese version). US version, of course, dubbed even the songs, but there's much more to it. Seems like SquareSoft changed the FMVs for US market as well. In 1000 Words FMV you will notice that Yuna and Len are singing together and you'll see more of Len singing, whereas in Japanese version you can only see Yuna shifting to Len and vice-versa.

Video collections

SquareSoft released on July 16, 2003, a set of three separate CD/DVD combos called Final Fantasy X-2 Vocal Collection (name), where (name) stands for either YUNA, RIKKU, or PAINE. Each of double-cases holds CD with two vocal as well as instrumental version of FFX-2 songs, that in the game appear only as instrumental tracks, and a DVD that is comprised of a music video of first song from the CD, an interview with the singer (voice-actress for original Japanese game version), and a theme trailer for each of the three main female protagonists. In addition to that, each case holds manuals that contain full lyrics, once fully opened form a smaller version of poster with pre-rendered picture of Yuna, Paine, and Rikku. The contents of each CD/DVD is next...

FINAL FANTASY X-2 Vocal Collection PAINE

-- Megumi Toyoguchi -- * CD-ROM + Nemuru Omoi + Misty Eyed + Nemuru Omoi (instrumental) + Misty Eyed (instrumental) * DVD-ROM * "Nemuru Omoi" music video * interview with Megumi Toyoguchi * Final Fantasy X-2 Special Movie - PAINE Version

FINAL FANTASY X-2 Vocal Collection RIKKU

-- Marika Matsumoto -- * CD-ROM * Hadashi no Kiseki * Without You * Hadashi no Kiseki (instrumental) * Without You (instrumental)

  • DVD-ROM
  • "Hadashi no Kiseki" music video
  • interview with Marika Matsumoto
  • Final Fantasy X-2 Special Movie - RIKKU Version

FINAL FANTASY X-2 Vocal Collection YUNA

-- Mayuko Aoki -- * CD-ROM * Kimi e * Morning Glow * Kimi e (instrumental) * Morning Glow (instrumental)

  • DVD-ROM
  • "Kimi e" music video
  • interview with Mayuko Aoki
  • Final Fantasy X-2 Special Movie - YUNA Version

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2003 – PS2 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Alan Smithee and Tiago Jacques

Analytics

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Related Sites +

  • FF-Fan
    A fansite that offers all kinds of information on the entire Final Fantasy franchise, including walkthroughs, game media, discussion boards and fan art.
  • Final Fantasy Extreme
    Site that contains movies, wallpaper, codes, guides, walkthroughs, and general information on the Final Fantasy series.
  • Official US Home Page
    Story, characters, features, downloads, and more.
  • Wikipedia: Final Fantasy X-2
    Information about Final Fantasy X-2 at Wikipedia

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 8706
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Unicorn Lynx.

Additional contributors: MAT, DreinIX, —-, Patrick Bregger, 64er.

Game added March 27, 2003. Last modified January 11, 2024.