Just played FFX-2 for the first time...

[Dr. Acula]

...and damn, it's a good game.

Don't get me wrong, it has none of the depth of FFX. And the reason I put off playing it for so long is because I was afraid it would ruin my perceptions of the first game.

But I gave it a go. No one prepared me for how FUN it was.

It's a genuinely great game. It has an excellent combat system. The game is silly and knows it, and I love that. It has some genuinely heart-wrenching moments, but it's balanced out by levity.

I felt they did great with Yuna's characterization. She may seem radically different at first glance, but she's still the same Yuna - she's just thrown off the shackles of her religion and really come into her own.

On the other hand, they kind of ditzified Rikku, which I didn't appreciate. In FFX she was a cheerful genius, but I didn't really get such a good impression of her from this game.

Anyway, what's everyone else's consensus? Yay or nay to the Friendly Neighbourhood Gullwings?

[-Demos-]

I only have one mayor grievance with that game. The intro mission is ridiculously over convoluted.

So to recap, Leblanc stole YRP's "Garment Grid" which at that moment contained the Songstress Dressphere, now, from all we see in the game the Dresspheres change only the clothes and skills of the user, not the face or overall body appearance, jet Leblanc used the Songstress Dressphere to fully transform into a exact copy of Yuna, for the nefarious purpose of... making a J-Pop concert.

I mean, the ability to impersonate the legendary great summoner that brought Spira the eternal calm, could have a lot of potential uses, from political manipulation, to fraud, to outright extortion, but.. ¿making a concert? ¿why?

Also ¿who organized and financed this concert? I mean they have a band, backup dancers, laser effects, a giant drummer robot, the whole shebang, so either Leblanc is absurdly rich and have a full concert crew on call, or some entrepreneur financed a whole stage, that costed thousands of gil, for a girl that, famous summoner as she may be, has never singed or danced professionally in her life.

I always had the impression that they made the "concert video" before the game, and then tried to find a excuse to shoehorn it into the story... and they failed horribly at that.

The funny thing is that the video could have worked perfectly as a dream of Yuna, caused by the Songsters Dressphere injecting Lenne's memories into Yuna's brain, kind of the same way they did with Shuyin and Lenne's death memory in a later part of the game. That would have be a lot simpler and a made a lot more sense.

[Del Murder]

I agree with everything you said, Dr. Acula! The battle system is great as is the job system, even if it is hidden by a somewhat silly dress up concept. I also liked Yuna's growth as a character and did not like Rikku's devolution of a character. In FFX Rikku was a great contrast to Tidus and Yuna in that she was a good blend of the very serious Yuna and fun loving Tidus. In FFX-2 they just made her a schoolgirl trope. Paine I thought was a great character, though.

My other gripe about this game is some of the retconning it does with FFX's story which I think wrapped up in a bittersweet but beautiful way. I do like it when the heroes save the world but at a cost, and X-2 undid some of that.

Otherwise, X-2 is a very underappreciated game. Best ATB system SE ever made. They ruined it with the XIII series but I do like how they brought it back and modified it for the modern action RPG world in FFVIIR.

[qwertysaur]

I always say that X-2 has the best version of the ATB system.

Leblanc just wanted attention :p

[-Demos-]

Yeah I thought that too, but then it would make a lot more sense for her to use the Dressphere to sing as herself, so the crow will be cheering for her and no for Yuna... or maybe she had a weird fixation with Yuna, she wants to be one with Yuna, she wants to be inside Yuna...

Mmm that made more sense that it should. No wonder she prefers to be massaged by her female goons.

[Dr. Acula]

Yeah I honestly never questioned that Leblanc just wanted attention, but now that I think about it, it makes no sense. But neither does Leblanc, I suppose!

[BG-57]

FFX-2 would have worked better as an original story instead of a sequel, since then it wouldn't get the endless comparisons to FFX, which overshadows the great gameplay system. I appreciate the New Game+ features, which I don't see in the main FF titles for some reason.

Leblanc's actually my favorite character, partly because she's original to the game, and partly because she's a fun personification of the archetype popular in anime: the vamp with two contrasting flunkies (Time Bokan, Nadia, Steam Detectives all featured this character)

[Dr. Acula]

FFX-2 would have worked better as an original story instead of a sequel, since then it wouldn't get the endless comparisons to FFX, which overshadows the great gameplay system.

This is very true; I think the reason I like it so much is that I treat it mostly as a standalone that happens to be related to the world of FFX.

[Catblepus]

Question: Why did it take you so long to finally play the game?
That said, I still didn't play it :p Online games are a time sucking black hole.. :shifty:

[Dr. Acula]

Question: Why did it take you so long to finally play the game?

I never owned it until the remastered version came out on Steam! Also I thought I'd hate it. :P

[Mr Gashtacular]

I hated it when it came out and hated it the two other times I attempted playing it. Until a few years ago, where I learned that it's actually OK to enjoy the camp and goofiness of it all. I ended up really, really liking it. It's not flawless but as far as spin-offs go it's certainly a good one.

[tony123]

I got this game when I was beginning to lose interest in playing games on a regular basis. I made it about halfway through and then quit as the random missions and disjointed story weren't my cup of tea. Just a couple years ago I watched a youtube video of someone who gave thorough summaries of all the FF games.

All I can personally think about though when remembering this game is all the intentional Charlie's Angels vibes it had and them turning Rikku into a valley girl who began to wear outfits that showed off her thong.

[Christmas]

Think the gameplay and storytelling are pretty decent. It is the choice of clothes that I have some issue with. :bigsmile:

[Dr. Acula]

Think the gameplay and storytelling are pretty decent. It is the choice of clothes that I have some issue with. :bigsmile:

Agreed. Which is why I make all of them Dark Knights.

[Quindiana Jones]

To be fair, I would be similarly scantically clad if I were adventuring in a beach paradise.

[Dr. Acula]

Except for the parts that are snowing.

[Quindiana Jones]

Honestly never played the game, tbh

[Dr. Acula]

Well, it's no FFIX, that's fer sure.

[Christmas]

Honestly never played the game, tbh

Just try it with an emulator or something and cheat your way thru for the story content. :bigsmile:

That is what I do. Too old to grind. :bigsmile: