Final Fantasy X-2

OK, So this game is the sequel to one of the best-selling games of all time. Yuna is convinced that Tidus is still alive because of a sphere she receives. Well, that's the storyline, but of all the time it took to get through the entire game, I think I heard about a total of five minutes about it.

Well, that's definitely not the reason why I gave the game such a high score of course. The gameplay is the best I've seen in a while. This is what ATB should have been from the beginning. When you get into a random encounter, the first person to go is the first person to hit their command. But unlike other games, you can attack when someone else is attacking.

The job system also is great. Plenty of jobs and plenty of things to do with each of them. The story of the game might not be that great, but everything else is.

Final Fantasy X-2 had been a game Id been looking forward to for a long time- the end result was hardly what I had been expecting. After the magic of X, I expected some of that magic recreated in X-2. Although the music was beautiful ("Yuna's Ballad" and "Kimi He", which was featured in the Internation version, were amazing for me), the graphics fantastic, and the battle system made effective and efficient by allowing every one of the characters to be of use in battle, I was a bit (okay...REALLY) turned off by Yuna's and Rikku's clothes and most of the game dialog (although some of the lines were hilarious). Simply put, it didn't feel like a Final Fantasy game to me, more like a "Charles Angels" sequel set in Spira and staring Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. The English cover of "1000 Words", sung by Jade from Sweetbox, was a disappointment to me. I felt Jade really killed most, if not all, of the song, and would've preferred that the original Japanese version by Koda Kumi be used instead. On the whole, Final Fantasy X2 delivered good music, great graphics, an awesome battle system, and was actually a fun game to play- but all the while it just did not feel like a Final Fantasy game, and could've been much better.

I was pretty dissapointed in the game. I am not a major Final Fantasy fan; but it never hurts to try new things.

The three female cast reminds me of Charlie's angels too much. The only thing that was cute was the dresshsperes.

As a female gamer, the idea of a Final Fantasy with the main characters predominantly female was an appealing endeavor. Very "Charlie's Angel"-ish in theme in places, but overall a good game.

Pros: They brought back, in a sense, job classes--in the form of dresspheres. Immediate freedom with the Celsius--you take control of the direction of your game. Kept in tradition (mostly) to previous Final Fantasies. Male or female, either will like this game. Nifty battle system. Game-Plus mode for second run (to achieve 100% rating). Multiple endings depending on your percentage of completion.

Cons: High encounter rate of Random Battles. For the first time in the history of Final Fantasy, Nobuo Uematsu did NOT compose the score; we are denied the Crystal Theme and the Overworld Theme that we have grown to love. Chaotic battle system. No...summons? NO SUMMONS?!?! What kind of Final Fantasy has no summons? Sure--you SEE them, but you can't SUMMON them. Randomness of storyline/non-linear storyline; you have complete control over the direction of the game, but missing a sidequest costs you your completion rating. Multiple endings? 100% completion rating for best ending? Sheesh.

It's strengths are also the weaknesses.

All in all, I give it about an 8.5/10. Maybe an 8. I can't put it on the level with...say...VII or III, but I can put it against IX and call it square (no pun intended). Definitely worth the look, not all of it is eye candy...though there are some scenes that will make the boys happy, I'm sure.

I had never before even thought about playing a FF game in my life. That was until this one came out. It's not like the rest of them I'll assure you of that, well except X. There were parts in the dialog where I was like 'what the hell' and others i almost fell out of my chair laughing. That was mostly whenever Paine or Rikku said something funny(or stupid) I loved the characters, some though I wanted to find on the business end of Paine's rather large sword. But I liked the characterization of YRP, Yuna matured, Rikku...somewhat, but Paine I think 'grew' the most. There were, I'll admit,some questions in the story line that I would have liked to have answered. Some say there were too many side missions that had nothing to do with the plot when in fact: THEY DID! OK so the monkey thing...Stupid, boring, i could go on and on about that one. But other things led you deeper into the original thing.

So in short: Love the game, Love the plot (so sweet), and Love YRP.

And if you think this game is sexist ladies (or gents)...grow up! I'm a girl and I love it (just ignore the costumes like i do (Lady Luck dressphere must burn!)

10/10