WK's improptu 100% Playthrough

[Wolf Kanno]

Yep, those obnoxious Queen Coeurls got me in the Clasko quest.

[Wolf Kanno]

I got me some uniforms and I'm sneaking into Leblanc's Chateau. Did the cringy mini-game and got in on the first try, so yay for that!

Pros:

• Now that I have the Gold Hairpin and Soul of Thamasa, Black Mage is going to be awesome.
• I am not far from getting the best dressphere in the game that isn't Mascot.
• Time has been kinder to Leblanc and her cronies for me. I'm finding them far more entertaining this time around compared to the first time.
• Finally got an upgrade for the Vanguard Garment Grid which is now my new default.
• I find it amusing that despite DVDs being very common place at the time frame, SE chose to make Spheres like magic video cassettes that have been left in a dusty warehouse for too long. Interestingly enough, it reminds me of the data spheres in Secret of Mana.
• The dialogue for Kimarhi is amusing because the correct answer is to always tell him to suck it up and figure it out himself. I'm having P2 flashbacks.

Cons:

• I love how Leblanc is trolling me with her Blue Magic.
• I don't know why, but I feel like this chapter dragged on way too long.
• I find it amusing that the game has been frequent with just having palette swap enemies teaming up with each other. Kind of rubbing it into our face how small the enemy variety was in this game and FFX.
• I love that we get a jump button in this game and it's only for the new areas for the most part.
• I am so used to having control of the camera. I didn't realize how much this would annoy me but several times so far I've wanted to move the camera to look at something only to be reminded of the fixed camera.

[Wolf Kanno]

Chapter 2 is finished and Chapter 3 has just started.

Pros:

• Got my favorite Dressphere Dark Knight
• I also gained the amusing Lady Luck dressphere.
• I managed to win two really great Garment Grids, Treasure Hunter (Mug), and one that lets me cast white magic.
• I got to beat a dog at sphere break.
• Though a bit tedious, I made sure to finishe the tower puzzle to get the Ribbon treasure.

Cons:

• Drill Shot is a wonderful example of why Gun Mage is not as good as other Blue Mage classes. The skill itself isn't bad, it's just a pain in the ass to gain it, easily missable without a guide, and becomes even more frustrating when you realize you have to get hit with it three times so it drags a fight out way longer than it should be. Basically you get this off a of boss you only fight twice in the game. One who is very aggressive and fast, as well as one that has the defense of wet paper. His spell Drill Shot only activates if you change his HP by either damaging him or healing him 10 times, at which point he'll use the move on the character who last manipulated his HP. That's a little excessive for a mid-tier, single target Blue Magic spell. The only saving grace is that it's easy to manipulate him to get him to attack who you want so you're not wasting even more time making him hit the right person. Seriously though, I'll never understand why the series never let Blue Mages share their spell list after FFV.
• The one major flaw with Sphere break is that the RNG can totally screw you over. When I battled the dog, I got a session where they kept pulling 1s, making it impossible to reach the 40 quota within 15 turns goal since using the inner coins doesn't count towards your quota and you have to start a round using one. Not a big deal when it happens once or twice outside of breaking your echo bonus, but a little annoying when it happens seven times of your fifteen turns.
• I'm a little disappointed how badly they nerfed Bahamut for shock value. Considering how OP he was in the original, it's a shame the devs chose to make him the first Dark Aeon you fight in the story and a total wimp since you're barely a quarter of the way through the game. Even though he's my least favorite incarnation of the King of Dragons, it was sad they made him a warm up boss.

[Jessweeee♪]

fun fact playing this game made my family think i was a lesbian

Also yeah i can't stand collecting blue magic when the spell list isn't shared. Or, at least let me use it against my own party so they can learn that way if not.

[Karifean]

Pros:

• Got my favorite Dressphere Dark Knight
• I also gained the amusing Lady Luck dressphere.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Dark Knight. It's decently powerful but sacrifices a lot of speed for tankiness and comes in around the same time you get other strong attackers (Samurai, Berserker, even Lady Luck) that are significantly faster. Combined with the infinite healing from Alchemist, the dressphere overall is pretty encouraging of *very slow* playstyles which I don't think is where X-2's combat particularly shines, so it kinda sucks. That being said, it is pretty badass.

Grats on getting the Ribbon. There's a lot of nifty little optional treasures to get in that area. I remember being mindblown the first time I realized I could go up the chain wires behind the towers other than the one you come down on and find some decent chests up there.

Cons:

• Drill Shot is a wonderful example of why Gun Mage is not as good as other Blue Mage classes. The skill itself isn't bad, it's just a pain in the ass to gain it, easily missable without a guide, and becomes even more frustrating when you realize you have to get hit with it three times so it drags a fight out way longer than it should be. Basically you get this off a of boss you only fight twice in the game. One who is very aggressive and fast, as well as one that has the defense of wet paper. His spell Drill Shot only activates if you change his HP by either damaging him or healing him 10 times, at which point he'll use the move on the character who last manipulated his HP. That's a little excessive for a mid-tier, single target Blue Magic spell. The only saving grace is that it's easy to manipulate him to get him to attack who you want so you're not wasting even more time making him hit the right person. Seriously though, I'll never understand why the series never let Blue Mages share their spell list after FFV.

I beg to differ, the skill is pretty bad. It's just a double damage normal attack, with a charge time. It'd be one thing if it was quad damage at a higher MP than Fiend Hunter to act as a sort of general purpose replacement, but as is it's pretty worthless and sort of a completionist's trap. Doesn't help that Baralai is arguably one of the first boss fights with actual fangs to it.

At least the other two missable skills are both endgame and are defense-ignoring and two of the most powerful physical and magical attacks in the game. And yeah I agree, skill list should be shared. It's annoying to split it for no reason.

[Fynn]

fun fact playing this game made my family think i was a lesbian

Also yeah i can't stand collecting blue magic when the spell list isn't shared. Or, at least let me use it against my own party so they can learn that way if not.

lol I wonder why

First time I experienced the Leblanc massage sequence was when my mom’s student came into the living room and had to wait because my mom wasn’t there. Since the lesson hadnt started yet, I just resumed playing. I was not prepared for what was coming, and I don’t think she was either. Worst part os my mom came back and I had to quit without saving, meaning I had to do it again later

[Wolf Kanno]

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Dark Knight. It's decently powerful but sacrifices a lot of speed for tankiness and comes in around the same time you get other strong attackers (Samurai, Berserker, even Lady Luck) that are significantly faster. Combined with the infinite healing from Alchemist, the dressphere overall is pretty encouraging of *very slow* playstyles which I don't think is where X-2's combat particularly shines, so it kinda sucks. That being said, it is pretty badass.

Grats on getting the Ribbon. There's a lot of nifty little optional treasures to get in that area. I remember being mindblown the first time I realized I could go up the chain wires behind the towers other than the one you come down on and find some decent chests up there.

I will have to get back to you on that assessment. DK was pretty much my prime attacker in my first playthrough. I don't remember much about any of the classes after this one. The tankiness is certainly useful, but the real draw is the built in Ribbon the class has with most of it's support skills giving it natural defense against the worst status effects. I'll come back after I've played with the other classes.

Where I do disagree is that while X-2 is speedy, I feel most of its mechanics and classes work against that speed. I can see why XII and XIII chose to automate the system, because it's frustrating how inefficient the system is with the human element involved. X-2's combat often feels like trying to direct a runaway car. It's fast for sure, but unwieldy.

I beg to differ, the skill is pretty bad. It's just a double damage normal attack, with a charge time. It'd be one thing if it was quad damage at a higher MP than Fiend Hunter to act as a sort of general purpose replacement, but as is it's pretty worthless and sort of a completionist's trap. Doesn't help that Baralai is arguably one of the first boss fights with actual fangs to it.

At least the other two missable skills are both endgame and are defense-ignoring and two of the most powerful physical and magical attacks in the game. And yeah I agree, skill list should be shared. It's annoying to split it for no reason.

To be fair, I haven't used the tech since I got it. I probably overinflated it's usefulness since I was basing it on what it did to my party.

Baralai is more annoying than anything. The permanent haste effect, the fact his gets multiple actions per turn, and his annoying attack that drains your MP and casts stop on your party make him annoying. But with less than 3500 health he's a bit of a joke. As I kind of mentioned, the challenge was keeping him alive. My Gun Mages could hit him for 1200 damage with a back attack. It was unreal.

I feel the more annoying aspect here is that a few of the spells I'm still waiting to get are left overs from FFX that weren't terribly great to begin with. Seriously, I had to wait until Chapter 3 to earn Seed Shot and Flame Breath? I may have to change some assessments by the end of the game.

[Wolf Kanno]

I have actually been playing this in between my mad bouts of Sekiro... I'm a good ways into Chapter 3. I got stuck on the Machina Madness missions because I kept failing to get the Rikku scene I'll need to make it easier to pin her as the culprit in the mystery mission in the next chapter. I need that Ragnarok accessory because it's shiny and I want it. So having to redo that mission a few times left me little time to go further than I wanted. I did get to spend more time with Dark Knight, Alchemist, and Lady Luck classes, as well as earn Seed Shot and White Wind for the Gun Mage classes. I'll probably write up a thing about the three of them soon. From the look of my guide, it seems like Chapter 3 is when the game just starts handing out dresspheres left and right because by my account, I have three more heading my way very soon.

I haven't even touched the Special Dresspheres, mainly because I remember them being kind of crappy for the amount of effort it takes to summon them and some of their stats seem to be based on how many dresspheres you transformed into before being able to use them. I'll likely wait until the end of the game to really play with them.

[Karifean]

I have actually been playing this in between my mad bouts of Sekiro... I'm a good ways into Chapter 3. I got stuck on the Machina Madness missions because I kept failing to get the Rikku scene I'll need to make it easier to pin her as the culprit in the mystery mission in the next chapter. I need that Ragnarok accessory because it's shiny and I want it. So having to redo that mission a few times left me little time to go further than I wanted. I did get to spend more time with Dark Knight, Alchemist, and Lady Luck classes, as well as earn Seed Shot and White Wind for the Gun Mage classes. I'll probably write up a thing about the three of them soon. From the look of my guide, it seems like Chapter 3 is when the game just starts handing out dresspheres left and right because by my account, I have three more heading my way very soon.

Yeah between Dark Knight (end of Chapter 2), Berserker, Trainer, Samurai, Lady Luck, and arguably Alchemist still, you get basically a full second batch of dresspheres at this point, although all of them are optional so if you're playing blind chances are you'll miss half of them.

(Also you can get Rikku caught without that scene but it's definitely a lot easier with it - DO NOT forget to have Shinra drop his commsphere topside after the mission as well though!)

I haven't even touched the Special Dresspheres, mainly because I remember them being kind of crappy for the amount of effort it takes to summon them and some of their stats seem to be based on how many dresspheres you transformed into before being able to use them. I'll likely wait until the end of the game to really play with them.

I never do either. They are definitely powerful, it's kinda like summoning an aeon in FFX but having three parts to each give commands to and are kinda totally self-sufficient. They're absolutely viable (at least before the postgame, they kinda fall off then since you don't get stats from your accessories on them), but imo not very fun either, so *shrug*.

[Jessweeee♪]

ooouuuuu the commspheres. those things really screw you on a 100% run. I had 3 guides open at one point because they all missed some teeny tiny details here and there.