What Worked In This Game - X-2 Edition

X-2 is something of the ugly duckling in terms of the "Golden Age" of Final Fantasy. Many fans were dissatisfied with the "girlification" of the game and it's sickly up-tempo character reversal of Yuna. Fans also didn't particularly like Paine, whose name isn't used in vain and symbolises her emotional strain. What a drain.

The music is at best, forgettable, though there are some gems in there such as Yuna's Ballad and Eternity of Lightwaves. The battle system was also for me quite good and the dressphere system, while girlified, was at least a good return to more traditional job roles. Even if mascot was seriously overpowered.

As for the story, it was okay-ish. The general concept of a Spira after Sin was good, and how different factions are in turmoil after Yevon's deception. However they could have pressed this more - given how close it was to an eruption of anger, they didn't really do much. Just bicker amongst themselves. I was expecting like a full-on battle that Yuna had to stop. But I guess not. I actually found the Ronso - Gaudo situation better than the Yevon vs Youth League fiasco.

But despite all of it's flaws, I still liked the game. I don't know quite why. Perhaps it's because I'm a stickler for sidequests, and boy is there alot of sidequests. Each chapter has a veritable bucket load for you to complete. And while Chapter 4 was a complete bore, at least the Dectective Rin sidequest was quite fun. Finally, the Via Infinito was genuinely difficult towards the end, compared to the rest of the very easy game.

So what do you guys think worked in the game?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../ffx2stage.png
Yuna here, completely not girling the game up whatsoever

The story was a little bit dumb, and some of the sidequests and minigames were questionable, but overall I enjoyed this game. I can't think of anything in particular it did spectacularly - I wouldn't class is as such - but I had fun when I played it. And that is enough for me.

Except that time Mr Shauna and I got 100% but did not see the Best End. Don't know how we managed it, but it happened. xD That was not fun. My flatmate and my friend laughed at us for days.


EDIT: A lot of people claim the huge character change in Yuna was bad, but I didn't see it too much. *shrug*

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Originally Posted by Shauna

EDIT: A lot of people claim the huge character change in Yuna was bad, but I didn't see it too much. *shrug*

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It wasn't bad for me, just really sudden. It took time for me to adjust to her sudden character shift. She did have her moments of seriousness, any time Yuna was with her former aeons was quite chilling, particularly Bahamut's.

I'm no hater, but frankly Not Much.

I didn't like Yuna's personality in X-2, nor the dress-spheres and accompanying storyline, nor any of the contrived enemies that the heroines face. Payne was just a chore. SE doesn't do emotional baggage very well. At all.

It was fun to enter the world again, of course, and graphically X-2 was pleasing for the most part.

Everything except the story. The music wasn't very great, but it was bearable.

I'd say dress-spheres but the animations for them were ridiculous and prevented me from really using them. :-/

Good thing you could turn them off, then.

The combat system.
The customization system.
The leveling system.
The sidequests.
The Via Infinito.

The Coliseum.
The monster capturing system.

Know what was really retarded? That Yuna needed more exp per level than rikku, and rikku needed more exp per level than paine.

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Originally Posted by Mirage

Know what was really retarded? That Yuna needed more exp per level than rikku, and rikku needed more exp per level than paine.

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That also bugged me. If they really wanted to make everything equal (like they did with their stats) then why not experience points? And if they really wanted to stagger their development slightly, do it by age. Yuna's the oldest, so make her level to 99 the fastest.

yeah, it's not like yuna is new to the whole "bash in the skulls of monsters" business. She did defeat a giant whale after all, and a ton of other things. If anything, she should level the fastest.

Baralai and Gippal. Yuuuuuuuum x 1000 :jess:

bullshat, trema is the hottest guy in that game

That maths mini-game was awesome, Sphere Break of whatever it was called, I was all over that.

On the same note the Blitzball Manager lite-sim was terrible.

I also loved how girlified everything was :redface:

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

That maths mini-game was awesome, Sphere Break of whatever it was called, I was all over that.

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Go away. That smurfing maths mini-game made me give up getting the awesome lady luck on my first playthrough, and I damn near killed myself getting it on my new game plus.

HAVE YOU SEEN SHINRA'S BOARD!!!!! IT'S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE!! :mad2:

Sphere break was a lot of fun. the one where you only needed 50 points wasn't too bad. The 100 points thing wasn't mandatory for lady luck, was it?

When your mental arithmetic is as terrible as mine, you quickly learn to hate Sphere Break.

I loved the nonlinearity, less serious mood, dressphere system, and battle system.

Everything else was...:colbert:. But I still think it's worth checking out, especially if you weren't too keen on FFX.

This was a genuinely touching and well-executed sequence.

The Den of Woe sequences were also quite impressive.

On the same note, the Crimson Squad stuff was neat.

I liked Shuyin as an antagonist.

Yuna was more interesting and likable in this game. She was far too remote and complacent in X.

And finally the best part...

The ability to choose to keep Tidus dead.

I loved that the game gave you the chance to do all the sidequest sand get up your Completion rating but if you preferred the Normal Ending, you could tell teh Fayth to let it be. It's better for Yuna's character anyway.

I loved this game.

The cheesiness and ridiculousness of it appealed to me.

I brought Tidus back. Then I cried when they met each other again.

I'm a complete sap for stuff like that.

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Originally Posted by Aulayna

I brought Tidus back. Then I cried when they met each other again.

I'm a complete sap for stuff like that.

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I know. I chose the make Tidus alive option as well. Sure, it's not the hard-hitting, bittersweet ending that people want, but damn it I want a happy ending!

I also concur with the Den of Woe. That cavern was genuinely spooky. As was the Via Infinito. I only wish Japan released the international version though; the creature create stuff sounds interesting.

The voice direction in this game was better than in X. I fully acknowledge my new love for Yuna is at least partly due to her actress being so much bettr this time around.