When I visited the Tokyo Game Show this past September, I asked the representative at the Square booth where the announced Final Fantasy X Side Stories were. Were not ready to show anything related to that product, she said but when I walked to the Square merchandise booth to pick up some swag, I noticed that one of the items on sale was an untitled poster featuring Yuna FFXs demure summoner holding a pair of pistols and wearing a skimpy, sexy outfit. Behind her stood two shadowed female companions. We learned weeks later that it was the first piece of production art for Final Fantasy X-2, which would re-use the graphic engine from FFX to create the first ever storyline sequel in the series history.
I wasnt sure what to think. You see, opinion has been sharply divided on the last few Final Fantasy games. Some contend that Final Fantasy IX where Square went back to the series medieval-adventure roots and ditched the angsty, overwrought science-fiction plots of the previous two games was the best of the recent installments. Others found FFIX to be too shallow and derivative, opting for the forward-looking VII and VIII. Still others hate every Final Fantasy game produced on a Sony system. Final Fantasy X-2 wont be ameliorating this split far from it, in fact, since it diverges more from the established Final Fantasy formula than any previous game.
The first thing youll notice is the character design, or rather, the costume design. Yunas is tight cotton and clinging denim, exposed cleavage and taut buttock flesh; one memorable scene early in the game pans the camera between her thighs as she dangles from a cliff, a close-up of her panty-covered crotch filling the shot. Rikku, FFXs scantily dressed 15-year-old, returns nearly naked in X-2, trading in her skimpy top and low-rider shorts for a string bikini and a skirt that folded in half would make a fine belt. Newcomer Paine is clad in dominatrix black and metal with a studded dog collar and skull jewelry.
The costume change for Yuna and company comes with a change in lifestyle: after defeating Sin, Yuna and Rikku find a video sphere that apparently depicts Tidus, trapped away in a cage and shouting to get out. So the girls join with some of Rikkus Al Bhed friends and become a group of sphere hunters who call themselves The Gullwings. They search the world for leftover spheres, hoping to find some that will lead them towards Tidus. Along the way, they meet up with Leblancs Syndicate, a rival group of sphere hunters, and two youth foundations who are trying to establish new political orders in the newly-peaceful Spira. The plot in general seems thrown together a brief, tacked-on addition to the FFX plot for no reason other than this game needed one.
Costumes also figure heavily into FFX-2s gameplay. Much like the Job Change system of FFV, what we have here is the Dress Up system upon finding new Dress Sp, the girls must place them into Result Plates that hold a number of different spheres, then equip the Plate to get access to all of those jobs. You can (and, at times, must) switch jobs in the middle of a battle; this can create some tense situations since the battles have returned to the Active Time system employed in previous FFs and have actually been sped up quite a bit. Of course, in their zest to make the battles faster and more exciting than FFXs slow-paced, strategy-intensive fights, the designers made the battles far too easy. Too many battles can be won by simply holding down the O button. Once you find the girls super-powered Special Dress Spheres and power them up a little bit, even the final boss battles can be won by rubber-banding the controller.
Those super-powered spheres arent found on sidequests; theyre part of the main storyline. Of course, that main storyline actually accounts for less than fifty percent of the game. Since FFX-2 simply reuses all of the areas from FFX, exploring the world in a linear fashion would be pointless. So instead, you have the run of the world from the very beginning of the game.
If you follow the Active Links on the airship map, you can complete the missions that will bring you closer to the end of the game. But if you strike off on your own you can and will find sidequests that will nab you extra spheres, items, and interesting plot points. Once you complete the Active Link missions and advance the Story Level, all new sidequests will open up in the previous areas. Since its unlikely youll catch everything at first, FFX-2 offers a New Game Plus mode a staple of the Chrono series but never before seen in Final Fantasy.
In fact, thats almost this games motto, nearly its raison dêtre it is unlike any previous FF game. Im not sure how youll feel, but I was completely turned off by the characters teenage girls running around in skimpy outfits, constantly getting into Charlies Angels poses, giggling like idiots, and trading girly high-fives doesnt really suggest Final Fantasy to me. FFX-2 positively drips with sticky gobs of fanservice. Yes, I laughed at some of the bad jokes. But
at what cost to the integrity of the series?
Another new addition is the fact that Yuna can jump and climb ledges with the X button. (This plus her dual-gun weaponry caused Japanese game magazine Famitsu to label FFX-2 Yuna Raider.) Sadly, Yuna cant jump around at will only when she is right next to a jumpable or climbable ledge will she jump. Timing and aim are not important, which in and of itself would make this additional feature nearly pointless. But even worse is the fact that unclimbable ledges look exactly like climbable ones, forcing you to run around humping all of the walls while hitting the X button.
The few new areas that have been included are tiny, almost embarrassingly simple affairs, a far cry from the deep, complex FF dungeons of old. The music is entirely new, but although certain tracks have merit, quite a bit of it is flavorless dance music, whether youre exploring dark caves or watching Yuna give one of her two J-pop concerts. I found those songs, by minor talent Kumi Koda, rather unimpressive decent hooks, yes, but nowhere near as ambitious or as memorable as Melodies of Life or even Eyes on Me.
In the end, FFX-2 is exactly as envisioned: a cheaply-made, cost-effective sequel to FFX that reuses the graphics, characters, enemies, and areas to create a mostly new gameplay experience. You might love it, you might really, really hate it or like me, you might be torn between the fun (if short and easy) gameplay experience and the fact that youre groaning every five minutes over the bad jokes and bouncing breasts. If youve been experiencing a growing displeasure with the Final Fantasy series over the past few years, FFX-2 wont bring you back into the fold.
3/5