Fainaru fantajî X-2

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.

Many people see the title as overly "loose"; the story, the gameplay, the girls.

Many people forget that aside from the fact that we have now crossed the border from interactive entertainment into artistic beauty, many gamers still have one integral requisite for any entry to their video game collection; FUN.

This game is light-hearted, following the events in a world torn apart by a 1000-year war, and the events of a very depressing game in said world.

The main character, once a girl-next-door type, full of excitement and curiosity has broken her shell of naivety and humility to broaden her horizons and look for a lost-love.

Alongside her spunky cousin and a not-so-familiar denizen of Spira, Yuna watches as a plot of love and betrayal unfolds amidst her journey across many familiar towns to reunite with many familiar faces.

The girls are three fun-loving, yet scantily clad - and with good reason - females who hunt for spheres containing video snippets of long-lost Spiraian history throughout the mostly-tropical world -hence the title of "Sphere Hunters", and hence the bikinis.

The game is a dramatic change of venue from the previous title, and not unreasonably so. Along with the removal of a plot-heavy story, yet still set in the same world, a complete reversal of mood is not an unwelcome change, as it is accompanied by myriads of non-pertinent games, missions, and enemies that await those who wish to explore, and a surprisingly cohesive plot awaits those who don't necessarily want to wait, but rush right to the end.

This game was made for everyone, and at the same time, nobody in particular. It is right in some senses to say that this game is hit-or-miss for various gaming audiences, but a strong sense of planning and effort went into this game in the graphics, the music ( be they the cheesy, 70's bucka-bucka-wow tracks, or the beautifully orchestrated tracks sung by a particular main character ), the story, the unbelievably fun and compelling battle system, or the dozens of optional quests that will keep you occupied for hours.

All in all, this is a great game, because that is exactly what it is; a game, and the only thing a game needs in order to be called such is one element; fun.

And trust me, this title is packed with it.

Like Final Fantasy VIII, the focus of Final Fantasy X-2 isn't on the worldsaving-- though worldsaving does, of course, appear. Instead, it's on the characterizations of the protagonists and her allies, and it does an amazing job of it. I clocked in at 77 hours, gaining the Normal Ending; a replay is definitely in order and I'm glad they've included New Game Plus in order to make it easier to get the story again.

X-2 is a game where you definitely have to explore and poke around everywhere in order to squeeze every bit possible from the story; if you only follow the big clue hammer plot points, you will indeed only get the barest sketchings of a story and maybe even finish it in 15 hours. However, I feel that the Square-Enix team has used the previously created world of Spira very well, taking advantage of players' familiarity and interest in the world to weave engrossing stories about not just the protagonists but many of the characters encountered in the previous game.

It's not only a game where you have to explore in order to find more story, it's a game where you can't see and get everything on a single playthrough. It's also a game where you repeatedly run across signs that Yuna and company aren't the only adventurers and explorers in Spira.

I really enjoyed the development of the inhabitants of Spira-- what retired summoners do, the fact that the fiends of Spira encourage even grandmothers to be competent-- the game starts out extremely easy, although it does get harder later, and this is clearly meant to reflect not only Yuna's experience in Final Fantasy X but also the world's experience with wandering monsters.

Finally, the music and voice acting in FFX-2 is just fantastic. Yes, the music is peppy and jazzy. It's also quietly desolate in places, and some of the repeated themes are just beautiful. As for the voice acting-- Yuna, Rikku and Paine's voice actresses all deserve medals, as do several of the other more minor characters. They bring a richness, subtlety and depth to the story that older games could only reach for. Yuna's voice actress in particular once again does a stellar job, conveying a nervous, self-conscious, but determined Yuna who can't help wanting to save people but wants to learn to have fun, dammit. And who misses her boy a lot, underneath it all.

Firstly i consider myself a die hard fan of final fantasy and was a bit put of by the idea of a sequel and the pop prep image and trailer of Yuna however I WAS WRONG i borrowed my friends copy and i was immediately hocked. This game its truly game and for me has been the nearest game including ff9 to the mini games and multi adventures of ff7. To begin with it looks great with new effects that can create emotions even in non cg mode,however some times these can look annoying, the familiar settings of ff10 look stunning and the sound is powerful from the deeply moving 1000 words-i cried to the battle music. The story moves quiet quickly however it still has plenty of game play, and its compelling helping to answer the questions left after the end of ff10, but also with more humour than 10 even slight spoofs evolved-its a carefree, fun but still highly dramatic game. Worth a sport in everybody's collection. Also i must add some things that really made my day with this game- it features job mode were you can change the different characters costumes -each having different abilities -such as in ff4 only you can also do this during game play, also the game features real time game play and the costume changes look amazing just as summoning looked in the past, the game features many side quests and mission based game play which will win over plat formers to the RPG side and a big bonus which i think many fans have been waiting for different endings ....

A fresh and different game but still one every ff fanatic or gamer should have fun emotional and pure class *********

Emili Price

I was surprised that I didn't like this game too much. I mean it's alright, but nothing more then that. This game you shouldn't buy rent it and then the next day you will have beat it so you'll take it back. There is no value to this game that's one of the problems. I am not a FF fan, but I liked X so I said what the hell I'll try this game out. Yuna is cool, but I don't really care for the other two girls. I think they just made this game to make money and go on to the next one. My advice go get FFX if you are a FF fan all though you probably all ready have it. Final Score: 5.1 out of 10