First look: Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy 4 giving you a hard time?

Are you playing the PSX version? Cause I think that's the Japanese version, which was way harder than the version released here for the SNES, which was re-named Final Fantasy 2.

And I'm glad they toned it down a bit. Because it's cool when a good RPG provides a challenge and gets hard as the game progresses.

But some of the older RPG's were insanely hard from the get go andonly got easier once you advanced and leveled up.

Such as when I first played the original Final Fantasy.

I wander out of the town and am in the field for the first time. Then I get jumped by 6 elf things who proceed to give me an ass kicking and give me a battle that drags on for what seems forever. Yikes!

Hey, who's excited about the FF remakes coming out for the original PSX this spring?

It's gonna have FF and FF2. Now all we need is 3 to come out. Still odd they are releasing it for PSX instead of PS2. But I can't wait, as the translated roms I played of FF2 and FF3 were terrible. Game played fine, but the translation job was piss poor.

But anyway, I liked Tidus. Only complaint? Oh why oh why did they give him those shorts. Ok, the whole hooded sweatshirt thing was cool. Those shorts with the overalls looked like they came out of a 1992 hip hop band.

I wonder if the dub for FFX-2 will use the same voice actors. I hope so. And with luck, Yuna's VA will be improved.

Because Square does seem to improve.

Look at Kingdom Hearts. Great voice acting and top notch cast as well.

But hey, as long as Yuna reunites with Tidus, I'll be happy. If that happens.

 

But hey, as long as Yuna reunites with Tidus, I'll be happy. If that happens.

Yeah, I feel the same way.

 

I played the european version of FF4 from the FF Anthology for PSX. I believe it's the same as the US version, since it's in English.

 

Yep, that's the same. Its kinda hit-and-miss with me. I love the original SNES/Super Famicom version, though. My second favorite behind FFX.

I like the PS1 remake because they added the CG scenes, add the items "dummied" out of the US translation (FFII), increased the difficulty, and most of all retranslated and fixed the script.

The two things I don't like about the remake are the load times, and the sound quality as compared to the original cart (sounds muffled). The mode 7 is not as smooth, either. I wish they would've done more with the O-make also.

 

I wonder if the dub for FFX-2 will use the same voice actors. I hope so. And with luck, Yuna's VA will be improved.

With luck, there won't be an English dub.

On a related note, has anyone heard whether Xenosaga will have an English dub or not? It's supposed to have a lot of voice acting and the dub from Xenogears (which, incidentally, I'm currently replaying) was simply dreadful.

EDIT: Blah, nevermind. From EBgames.com on Xenosaga: "Full English Voice-overs enhance story and character development"

My version: "Poor English Voice-overs destroy story and character development."

Sigh, another great RPG soiled by lousy American voice acting. Blasted ethnocentric American companies. Only a few more years till I move to Japan, only a few more years....

 

I don't know if I'll ever play it, since I haven't played any of the other games, but they're all fun to watch, so I know what I'll be doing as soon as one of my friends gets FFX-2.

 

I don't mind subtitles in a movie, but in a game it's just a pain. I'd rather hear voices that aren't as good that I can understand, than have to read everything. All the loooong PS1 RPGs with no voices at all were kinda ANNOYING to read, even if I did love them.

 

I'd rather have no voices than a cruddy English dub. It annoys the heck out of me to hear English voices in Japanese games, movies, or television shows. Yeah, I realize I'm in a rather fanatical minority of American gamers, but the least these companies could do would be to provide an option to disable the voices. But they won't. American companies don't give a flying flip about cultural or artistic integrity.

Blah, sorry for the rant. It's just something I feel very strongly about.

 

Well, you're not alone. I wish everything'd be available in subs, wherever it comes from. Movies, games... books ( ). In fact, I seriously consider becoming the Master of the World and banish all the dubs. (Personal note : check your mental sanity with your psy.)

 

Alright, got some more info from the lastest V-Jump (courtesy of Quiter). Any discprencies might be due to mistranslation (Japanese doesn't quite convert to English all that well):

-Two new jobs: Dark Knight and Gambler. The Dark Knight job will be like Cecil's in FFIV. The Gambler will be like Setzer's in FFVI. Strong and powerful, the Dark Knight will be able to sacrifice HP for special attacks (like Cecil's dark sword). Gamblers are able to attack their oponents with dice, damage pends on how the dice turn up (just like Setzer's).

-Job skills will be learned via AP again. You can take skills that you have learned from one job, and import them over into another job. For example, if you learn the Dark Knight's "HP Sacrifice", you can use it as a White Mage. Similar to what was done in FF Tactics.


-as part of this game's story branch, there will (of course) be the opportunity to change scenarios. You start out as neutral, but depending on how you behave you will either side with "New Yevon" or the "Youth Alliance" as the story progresses.

-As mentioned before, New Yevon seeks to use its influence to monopolize spheres containing the true history of Spira. New Yevon is supported by the older people of Spira. Also, like Seymour, the leader of New Yevon seeks a marriage of Seymour. However, unlike Seymour, this is probably for a symbolic show (since Yuna is a Spiran idol).

-The Youth Alliance, founded by Nuuji, is researching and excavating ruins to find spheres that will reveal the true nature of Spira's history. Of course, the younger people of Spira support the Youth Alliance.

 

Can't wait for Xenosaga.

Although, I love a good story, I'll admit I am a bit turned off by the amount of cut scenes in the game.

According to Namco, it has 8-9 hours of cut scenes.

Now, some mags have said that figure is a lie and there are more than that.

Too many cut scenes can really make me want to break a game.

FFX had a TON when the game started. But with luck and great relief, once you got to Luca, that nightmare ended and we got standard amount of cut scenes.

But some of the people at GameFaqs who have imported the game, mentioned that Xenosaga has at least two cut scenes that last 45 minutes each and one that is about one hour.

That troubles me, but I'll give it a try.

But I heard some of the dub on IGN, which has movie clips up. Sounds good to me.

I'm sorry you didn't like the dub they did for FFX. I really liked it. Their voices fit their personalities.

Again, my only problem was Yuna. not because of the voice, because she sounded great, but those pauses.

 

As I've said before, I thought FFX's dub was surprisingly adequate (aside from Yuna's reprehensible VA), but I still would have preferred an option to turn the voices off. I'm strongly opposed to dubbing in principle. Plus I'm sure I would have liked Yuna a lot more if such an option had existed.

Anyway, I like the sound of the job classes. Always nice to see them make a return. I can't imagine I'll be using the Dark Knight class much, though. I've never liked sacrificing HP to do damage in games. It's rarely ever worth it.

 

But some of the people at GameFaqs who have imported the game, mentioned that Xenosaga has at least two cut scenes that last 45 minutes each and one that is about one hour.



Wellll.... sounds like a game to play when you have a LOT of free time on your hands.

 

The official FFX-2 site has been updated with new pictures and info. You can tell which sections are updated, because they have a flashing UPDATED icon next to them.

Even if you can't read Japanese, the pics are pretty cool. Some updates include:

-new enviroments, like presumably the Youth Alliance HQ. Also what appears to be a new "dungeon".

-shots of the Bahamut-like fiend, and underneath Bevelle

-the former Chocobo Knights, now members of the Youth Alliance. My guess is that Clasko has something to do with Chocobo breeding. Also, judging by the pics, it seems you fight against Elma.

-a bio section on Nooj (once thought to be "Nuuji"), leader of the Youth Alliance. Pictures included. You can clearly see he's lost his left arm and leg. Has Donna sided with the Youth Alliance?

-some pics of the new jobs, Dark Night and Gambler, in battle. Note the dice in some of the screens.

-shots of the new dressphere menu. Background basically looks like the sphere grid background, but the menu itself is completely different.

-shots/pics of some of the new dresspheres, including this cool one of Yuna as a white mage:

[image=http://www.playonline.com/ffx2/images/ab_dress1.jpg]

 

The mysterious (missing) third trailer has finally been leaked. It's the one where Tidus and Yuna are shot at the end.

You can find it HERE. 3rd movie, on the bottom, requires DivX 5.02 codec

If you don't wanna download it, you can view screen caps HERE

 

New info.

 

Possible US release date: November 2003.

 

November? Yuck. I hope I can get someone to spoil it for me before then - I'm bad, but I just can't wait!

 

FFX-2. Hmm. I'm really torn about this game. On one hand, I really want to play it. The new gameplay additions sound intriguing, especially the job class switching sounds interesting, and something I would love to see in action.

On the other hand...I guess the main problem I have with the game is that it seems to have been created for fanservice alone. I really squicked out when I see Yuna in an outfit totally against her character and extremely squicked when I see Rikku so sexed up. She doesn't look like she should be in a videogame; she looks like she should be in one of those "We are 18" ads they only show on late night TV. Even Payne isn't spared, though her outfit is certainly the most conservative. This really disappoints me, especially after the relatively unfanserviced outfits in FFX. I'm sure they'll have a perfectly "legitimate" (read: fricking stupid) reason for dressing that; probably something like they have to go in disguise because Yuna, etc. all are too famous or some other BS.

It's really disappointing when game developers just use sex to sell a videogame; it's all over the industry and all it does is alienate people who are over 13 and aren't particularly looking to play a videogame to look at hilariously unrealistic women.

Hopefully the characterization won't suffer for the exploitation, either. I liked Yuna and Rikku very much in FFX; I would be extremely disappointed if they suddenly completely changed direction and become total opposites of what they were. I already have a somewhat negative view of Payne, since she looks like a female Squall. Squall was one of the worst things in FF8. I can just see FFX-2 now:

Rikku: PAYYYNIEEE!
Payne: ...Whatever.
Rikku: Do you have a scrunchie? I seem to be all out of 'em!
Payne: ..... ..... .....
Rikku: Aww, c'mon...Loan me a scrunchie!
Payne: ...
Rikku: *puff* You big meanie!
Payne: ... ... ... ... ... ...Whatever.

Ah, the joys of repetitive characters...

Also, are Rikku, Payne, and Yuna the ONLY characters you can play? >_<

I'll probably rent this game, but I doubt I'll buy it.

But some of the people at GameFaqs who have imported the game, mentioned that Xenosaga has at least two cut scenes that last 45 minutes each and one that is about one hour.

[face_shocked] And I thought MGS was bad. [face_shocked] They better come with a pause button.

(And whatever happened to doing things using real time? Honestly, it's getting to the point where games are just movies where you occasionally have to walk from one place to another...-_-)

 

Personally, I wouldn't consider it "fanservice" since I don't find any of the female leads to be particularly attractive. Their initial outfits are pretty hideous if you ask me, which is why I'm hoping they can wear their alternate job class outfits in the field. And I don't think they're really that unrealistic either. Sure they're thin, but um, er, when you look at someone like Tifa or Lulu, the FFX-2 girls seem a lot less... substantial, shall we say, in certain areas.

 

RPGamer has some early reviews of the game's Japanese release. Pretty good marks, overall.

 

Hey! I dig Squall! Hell, in my opinion, he is my second favorite character in the FF series, right behind Vivi.

In fact, FF8 is my favorite in the series. It was also the only one I never got to play until a couple of months ago. After beating it, I saw myself replaying the game again and again the the future. Best story in a FF game (sure it had some flaws in it such as no development on Laguna and the whole GF amnesia factor).

I guess I will be one of the few to say that I really liked the Junction system. Not as great as the Sphere Grid System, but right up there. Now, if Square managed to make a blend of the Junction System and Sphere System, I would love it (and yes, I realize the Sphere System is like an upgrade of the Junction System, but I felt Junction had a bit more broad custimization).

And I have no idea who felt the Junction System was too confusing. Not at all. In fact, my only complaints about the game was that the GF's were way too strong in which it got to the point that I used them way too much. Second is that while I loved the limit breaks and was a blast once I got auras,the fact reamains that until late in the game I hardly saw them because it only occured during critical status. FFX had the best limit system of them all, although towards the end it got way too easy to pull them off and way to strong (I killed the last boss on one hit!).

Anyway, back on the subject.

Rikku was pretty sexed up in FFX too.

Remember that shot of her exiting the water and removing her heavy gear in front of Tidus?

And what about Lulu's massive jugs that seemed as if they were going to jump out of her dress?

It's not sexing them up because it's the "in" thing to do. It's just a style. I've been watching anime for over 20 years and well, I notice that many many heroines were sexed up outfits.

 

Actually, I thought the GFs were kind of weak. I only used them early on for tough fights until I found the Ultima draw point. Once you start junctioning Ultima to your STR stat, the game's difficulty level is basically a non-issue. Also, I didn't like using GFs because doing so hurts your SeeD ranking. The whole SeeD ranking thing really annoyed me because it was so easy to get demotions. If you take a stroll on a chocobo for only a few minutes, you're essentially guaranteed to lose a SeeD level.

But, um, back on topic, FFX-2 looks interesting...

 

Does it actually hurt SeeD rankings? I finished the game with an "A" rank and I used GF's non stop almost.

Anyway, I am looking forward to FFX-2. As long as we get some closure with Tidus in any way, I will be happy. Because the ending to FFX really bummed me out. That, and I thought that with the exception of the Tidus good-bye scene and that last image of Tidus in the coean, that the ending was a bit short and weak and I hope FFX-2 makes up for that.

The whole mission based engine really worries me. I hope the game is more open than the thought of that implies.

I will miss the CTB battle system, but I can live with an ATB system. I still for the life of me cannot figure out why they want to throw away the sphere grid system or the overdrives. Two of the best gameplay elements in FFX.

Oh well. I guess we'll see.

 

New Final Fantasy X-2 Details: Tidus?!
Editor: Paul Flood
Date: Saturday, March 8, 2003

A new article on Square's upcoming, first-ever sequel to a Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy X-2, in V-JUMP Magazine has revealed new details regarding the game's story, or should we say, raises new questions - in particular about Tidus' relationships to both Yuna and Lenne, the songstress looking almost identical to Yuna. Also, all of the sudden the leaders of Spira's three factions, Balalai, Nooj and Gippel have disappeared. On the gameplay side of things, players will be able to re-use their clear save file to play through the game once more. The abilites learned by the characters on their first run through will be taken over to the new game (similar to Parasite Eve and Vagrant Story's systems).

Final Fantasy X-2 will be released in Japan next week, on March 13th. Square Enix USA will probably release the game on this side of the Pacific sometime in November.

[image=http://www.ffextreme.com/ffx-2/mag/ffx2-8-big.jpg]

[image=http://www.ffextreme.com/ffx-2/other/tidus.jpg]
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If you all want to talk more about the FF series in General, there is a FF thread over at the JC Community. Here is the link. Now you all have two places to go to enjoy your FF experiance two fold!! LoL!

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