First look: Final Fantasy X-2

Started playing on FFX-2. It's off to a very, very bad start so far. Hope it gets better.

Now I start to heed Pooja's warning.

 

Ok... Played for about 5-6 hours.

Crappy gameplay.
Crappy music.
Crappy characters.
No good story hook.

For me the story of Spira ends with the credits of FFX (not including the video of Tidus after that). I won't be wasting my time on this one.

 

I actually like the game. I did not mind Rikku in X, but I hate her in X-2 and the game does get better. I was not really happy with the game until I got about 7-8 hours into it, and then I liked it a lot better.

I hate how they screwed up Blitz, I have a good team in X and now it is not worth playing anymore. Manager? I want to play. Is it me, or did the change the look of some places, like the Thunder Plains? I never get hit by lightening anymore and I miss that.

I hate the camera angles though, I have to use the area map to travel at times and I hate doing that.

I did love one of the music videos that occur about 10 hours into the game. 10 hours if you progress the main story and not do any secondary missions.

 

I was glad I didn't have to play anymore blitzball, since I never liked that game.

And there's actually an explanation for why you don't get hit by lightning anymore. If you talk to the guy near the entrance he tells you why.

 

I haven't bought it, but I've played it at a friends' house.

Things I like:
Visuals (duh)
Battle system (duh)
Menu design

Things I do not like:
Everything else.

This includes music, story, characters, etc., and those are very, very important. I've heard people say it gets better and less... stupid... as you go along, and more serious. Couple that with the fact I'm off school for the next 4 days and that I need something new to play, so I'm going to give this game a full on chance. If it doesn't get better I can always take it back. Yeah, it's fun, but in a FF game, I expect just a bit more.

 

I talked to that guy and he won't tell me. I missed so much, when I decided to progress the storyline instead of doing all of the other quests. I figure that is what the replay is going to be.

 

Well, I just bought it. Shows how much of a Square fanboy I am. It also proves that if they put their own feces out on the market, I'd probably buy it. Ah well, I'm sure it will provide a lot of fun.

 

I havent even played it and I already think that is isnt worth playing, I mean there are some nice looking girls on the front but when it comes to story and gameplay(which matters most) it just dosent seem that promising.

On the other hand, the prequel ROCKED!

 

A game should never be judged on it's looks. If you judge it on that alone, you might miss out on a fun game. I think this game deserves a chance.

 

Well, I've played it quite a bit- mostly because I have nothing else to play- and while it can't compare with any of the previous Final Fantasies in terms of quality or storyline, it does kind of grow on you. It can be fun if you don't let yourself be bothered by the various annoying things and the soundtrack, and it does get better later on. I like the battle system... no more waiting your turn, back to the good ol' ATB with some slight improvement. The class system is pretty good, but not perfect. I would have liked it better had it been more customizable, like FF Tactics, but I think it works pretty well.

Things I don't like:

The storyline is nothing much... no big plot twists or anything truly interesting, and not enough was done to expand on the world shown in the previous game. It seems like Spira has changed far too much in far too short a time, and the people who live in it as well. Some familiar characters have been rendered nigh unrecognizable in terms of personality- Rikku in FFX was a cheerful, sometimes slightly childish girl, but she had a serious and intelligent side that was shown as well. Here it seems that she has regressed greatly in both maturity and fashion sense. And Lulu is too cheerful. And Isaaru is a freakin' TOUR GUIDE! What were they thinking with that one? Some new characters are fairly annoying, like LeBlanc. God, I hate her. But most of 'em are OK.
Also, some of the mini-games were slightly annoying, but nothing as bad as Blitzball or that stupid butterfly catching game, so I'm not going to complain there. Sphere break really isn't too bad, in my opinion.
Also, I'm sure I'm going to draw flames with this one, but Yuna can't sing to save her life, and, lets face it, one crappy pop song is NOT going to reconcile everyone's differences and make them all just get along. I'll buy it making a difference, but not that big a difference. Something else would have been neccecary.

Things I do like

The battle system is cool. Some of the classes have some neat abilities. Being able to get a glimpse of the lives of various characters post-FFX was interesting. I rather liked the freedom of the semi-non-linear mission system and the numerous side quests. I actually like the Gunner's Gauntlet, crazy as I am. Kimahri finally gets a girlfriend. NO BLITZBALL! WOOHOO! Later on some of the stuff you can do is pretty fun. You finally get to see what the Farplane is like (even if it doesn't turn out to be pure evil, which has been my theory since it was first mentioned in FFX) I don't know, I'm just generally enjoying playing it, against all reason and expectation. Its fun. I don't take anything too seriously, so part of the fun is making fun of everything that happens.

I'd say this is pretty much an average game, nothing special, but not bad either. Buy it if you're a Final Fantasy fanatic or someone with plenty of cash to spare. Otherwise, spend your hard-earned gil on something else, like one of those FF anthologies with the classic games, because those are awesome.

 

I'm near the end of chapter three, I think, and I just figured out how to power up my dress spheres. Ain't I a rocket scientist?

I was browing though the menu, trying to figure out how to turn off the dress sphere battle changes (I found it, BTW) when I came across the "abilities" menu. I had seen it, but never clicked on it. I had only one dress sphere at maximum: warrior on Rikku. I had three that were close on Paine, so I set to work on maxing those out today. None of my Yuna's are even close. I changed her spheres around a lot, apparently. So now I'm running around on Mt Gagazet with the lure bracer on picking fights and maxing out my dress sphere abilities.