Final Fantasy X- 2 - Playstation 2

RPGs (Role Playing Games) are among the most popular games out there on consoles. They enable you to improve your character?s skills, usually deliver an engaging story and they last for hours. The genuinely good ones though are few. The Final Fantasy series has been around for ages and each new game seem to raise the bar in terms of quality.

FFX-2 is Square Enix?s first true sequel. In the past, each FF game had a completely different story, with different characters and a different battle system. This one however takes place in the same world as FFX. The central character is Yuna, the high summoner. 2 years have passed since the defeat of Sin in FFX and she?s changed quite a bit: she?s not only turned herself into a Pop star, she?s also part of a group of Sphere hunters called ?The Gullwings?. Without going into too much detail, Spheres (and Dress-Spheres) are what you?ll be looking for most of your journey. They will not only give you vital clues in the form of fuzzy movies, they will also enable any of your characters to change fighter class. Some of these include Magician, Sword master, Gunner, Thief or Healer.


You control 3 characters at all time and I?ve got to admit that I felt a bit weird at first (being a guy) controlling 3 girls. In the end though, it didn?t matter. Once I was through my first battles and saw how the story progressed, it felt like a refreshing change and it didn?t bother me one bit. The fighting system is quite different from the previous episode. It is now much more frantic and it forces you to take quick action as opposed to the system in FFX. During a battle, each unit have a gauge bar, which represent how long they have until the next action can be taken. Once a decision has been made, another bar takes its place to show you how long it will take to complete the move (or spell). These vary depending on the action so some careful planning and consideration is required. As mentioned earlier, each character can change fighter class with their Dress-Spheres. You can do so between or during battles. This is quite good as you can adjust your parties? configuration and change your strategy to best defeat your enemies.


Earlier on in the game, you gain access to all the locations of FFX. Hotspots indicate where you should go to progress the overall story, but the world is littered with mini-games and sub stories to explore. You can go everywhere you please. I personally completed the game in around 40 hours and even so, I skipped quite a few ?side quests?. If they don?t interest you, you can skip them all and get cranking with the story. Other wise, you can turn FFX-2 into a marathon game and try to achieve the ?100% complete? status.

The graphics in FFX-2 seem to be slightly better that FFX. They also seem to be less CGI sequences and the majority of the story is revealed using the game engine. The music has changed a bit as well. It now sounds a lot funkier than anything I heard before in FF game.
You don?t need to have played (or finished) FFX to know what?s happening in FFX-2 but it helps. FFX-2 is similar to FFX but it contains enough differences to make it feel like a new experience. The Aeons come back, but not as you would expect. Most locations are taken straight out of FFX with a few subtle changes here and there. If you?re a fan and are hungry for more, this game is just the ticket for you. If you?re new to the genre, make sure you try it first. RPGs can be rewarding, but they take a lot of time to play properly?and that?s not necessarily a bad thing.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 8
Gameplay 8
Overall: 8