Believe it or not, the quote in the title is actually a line used in the game – and let this terrible dialogue set the standard for this entire review. In fact, characters often seem to describe their own feelings about the game during their speech, one of the characters (Rikku) saying “Yeowch” at the start really summed up my feelings at the time. I suffered through the game for the second time to bring you this review, so I certainly hope it will prevent any of the public whom are interested from playing.
In case you haven’t realised, I didn’t think much of FFX-2.
Now I know what many of you must be thinking – a final fantasy game that’s not good? What the heck is going on? You must be one of those people, the ones who always criticise them no matter what. But no, actually I’m a big fan of the FF series (see my top 5 underrated games), especially Final Fantasy X. This however, just made playing X-2 all the more painful. If I could, I would love to erase this entire game from canon, the internet and in fact from the world itself.
Final Fantasy X-2 is a stupidly named game which is a sequel to X, as you may have already gathered. If you didn’t try that yet, in the original you play as Tidus, a blitzball player (a sport kind of like underwater football) ends up travelling a thousand years into the future where civilisation has actually devolved. This is due to a huge monster by the name of Sin, who is drawn to large gatherings of people and tends to treat them in a manner not greatly appreciated. A religion named Yevon has formed which preaches one day, Sin will be gone forever. Summoners make a pilgrimage to a holy land where they receive an Aeon (a summoned beast bound to them) which can beat Sin. However, when this actually happens (not often), Sin just reappears.
Throughout the course of the game, you pretty much shake the foundations of the planet through revealing the truth behind the lies of Yevon, finding Sin’s true weakness, slaying a god and more. At the end of the game, Tidus sadly passes away in a pretty touching scene along with another character (Auron). The other ‘main’ character through all this survives, Tidus’ love interest, a summoner girl named Yuna. She is the main character of FFX-2. So its pretty much a typical Final Fantasy game, utterly insane yet somehow pulls it off and makes it incredible. Definitely one of the best games I’ve ever played. However…
At the start of FFX-2, you now play as the ‘Gullwings’, a group of sphere hunters containing two characters from the previous game and one new. These are Yuna, Rikku and Paine – making this game filled with girls, girls, girls. You start the adventure after finding a sphere (they are devices which record memories) that contains Tidus, implying he could be still alive. You set out on your journey and well…
Spoilers inc. More spoilers anyway. So, just how did I score it?
Plot 0/5
That’s right, quite a change from my Death Note review, I’m actually giving X-2 a zero for plot. Absolutely nothing. I don’t know what happened while they were making and translating this but, the plot is filled with more holes than a block of swiss cheese in no-man’s land, and the dialogue is quite frankly horrific at times. Where FFX was smooth sailing plot-wise, slow but for good reason – the incredible detail going into the unravelling of the story – X-2 is more of a bumpy ride in the back of a dirty truck. The first massive flaw is right at the very start in fact, which is a good place to begin.
What a huge difference between the two... not
Remember how I said that you see a sphere of Tidus, and set out to find him? Well it actually turns out it wasn’t him you saw. It was in fact, a man named Shuyin. Sounds normal thus far? Well, here’s the thing. Shuyin could easily be mistaken for Tidus because… he has similar dress sense to Tidus, he looks so similar he could pass as his twin brother, he fights in exactly the same style, he ALSO is from one thousand years in the past, he is from the same city, he is also a star blitzball player, he’s even voiced by the same freaking guy! Are we seriously meant to believe this? This is the cheapest cop-out I’ve ever seen for a sequel, they revived the main character’s image just to sell more copies only to have him not really take part? What a load of crap. To make it worse, none of the characters seem to realise either. I kept expecting in the middle of dialogue for someone to scream “WHY THE F*** DO YOU LOOK LIKE TIDUS?!”
Moving right along however, the next thing that occurs right after also utterly baffled me. The game begins with Rikku and Paine fighting Yuna, or what appears to be Yuna but is revealed to be an impostor later. While unrelated to the point I’m about to make, this also makes no sense. She literally looks identical to Yuna while in disguise, which is established as she steals one of her dresspheres. Dresspheres are the lamest class system I’ve ever seen – basically how they work is equipping one changes one of the girl’s powers, however you can clearly see equipping the same dressphere on two different characters produces a different look. So why does this imposter look the same as Yuna? Continuity is hard apparently.
So anyway, this imposter it turns out has stolen a dressphere and this is what lets her look like Yuna. So, what do you do in response to this situation? Call for the help from guards? Steal it right back? No, you attack her, slaughter her men in cold blood (and in front of a huge crowd I might add) injuring several innocents in the process in the opening cinematic. Jesus, not only is this clearly unreasonable force, but it’s also premeditated murder. I mean sure you kill people in most FF games lets face it, but with a reason. Whether you’re a mercenary or a freedom fighter, at least you are supposedly fighting for a just cause. Yet this opening scene is so light-hearted they don’t really seem to justify this at all. One character by default has a gun, one a sword and one blades attached to her fists, so let’s face it they aren’t just incapacitating their targets. It makes me sick to think while the three of them dance and pose for the delight of the easily entertained, if the camera panned around slightly you’d see the walkway littered with corpses, with blood and brains spattered all over the place.
I wish I could say any part about the entire plot of this game made sense or was at least interesting, but it failed to grasp my interest at any point at all. It doesn’t help that this game is obviously intended to be far more light hearted than any FF game previously, yet most of the “jokes” really aren’t funny. At all. I pray to god this is just a translation error and the Japanese got a better game, but they really failed to hit the spot here.
An example of these travesties is one plot device that gets described as an “awesome sphere.” I really didn’t get this, when you go out searching for it, even the priests and the soldiers all describe it as an “awesome sphere”. Why? It’s never established – in fact, when you finally get it, the memory inside is rather dull and uninteresting. So why did they go to all this effort to call it “awesome”? I can only assume because it was meant to be funny in some strange way. Instead it just sounds excruciatingly forced, not helped by the appalling voice acting.
It is just me, or does Rikku look like she could be a man here?
Yeah, I can’t believe I just said that about a Final Fantasy game but it’s true. It’s a mixture of taking the most annoying characters from FFX (Rikku and Brother) and adding fresh blood, including an arsehole of an arrogant kid named Shinra (har har FF7 reference). Even Yuna seems to really fail at delivering her lines, quite a change from FFX when she was pretty good. This is probably because of her change of character, instead of being a shy and quiet girl, she becomes cocky and confident – something her voice actor wasn’t designed for I think. Rikku and Brother are by far the worst though, both trying to pull off an energetic and bubbly performance and delivering it with the same quality as a primary school play. These two also bear the brunt of the horrible dialogue (the line in the title is a line from Brother), meaning it’s mainly these two who are responsible for destroying this game.
Another criticism I have of the plot for this game is that it quite simply, just can’t decide what exactly it is. It seems to be torn between trying to stand alone, and being a sequel that relies entirely on the audience playing the previous game. This is shown by when, right at the start, Yuna explains who Rikku is. I’m left sitting in the corner thinking, “Duh? I have played FFX you know.” Yet no, I tell myself. People who haven’t played it could use some explanation. But… then later, once you discover Yuna is searching for Tidus, you notice that in every cinematic everyone refers to him as “You” or “Him”. Now, I know exactly why they did this, but still any new players will have no idea who they mean. It’s never really established just who “Him” is. So, Tidus was actually the only character you could rename in FFX – and as such his name was never actually mentioned in any cinematics (strangely you don’t really notice it). So this is clearly a reference to that you could’ve changed his name – so now we are catering for the people who rename their characters “Fagmaster” or something similar, so that all new players get screwed over?
Christ this rant is getting long, but I’m not done yet. Next up is, progressing along the plot a bit, Vegnagun. For those who haven’t played, Vegnagun is a giant machine that serves as this games version of Sin really – apparently it can destroy the world, and as such it has been deactivated for millennia. However, now Shuyin – the antagonist –
Shuyin, clearly controlling Vegnagun
has come around and is trying to bring it online, as part of his revenge against the world. The reason why Vegnagun was never used against Sin is, apparently, because Vegnagun can’t tell the difference between friend and foe. As such, he was deemed too dangerous to use. Yet, once again, this is riddled with massive flaws. For example, the main one, they claim Vegnagun is uncontrollable and must be hidden away. Yet… when you finally come against Vegnagun (who a few people take apart with ease I might add), Shuyin is CLEARLY seen controlling it. So what, Vegnagun can’t tell friend from foe in the same way an AK-47 can’t then? Surely it depends on who’s pulling the trigger, and what it’s pointed at. If Vegnagun is piloted, then that’s a load of crap. So that raises the question of – why wasn’t it used against Sin? Apparently this game isn’t content with having a terrible story itself, it also wants to punch holes in its predecessor’s plot.
On the same topic with Vegnagun, right at the end of the game before you are about to fight it, one of the characters (Nooj – stupid name, or what?) comes up with a plan. Shuyin has to possess people to control Vegnagun apparently (as he’s just a spirit), so he will shoot the current body and then kill himself – somehow taking the spirit down with him once it comes for his body instead. It’s simple, Nooj and the current body (Baralai) are both characters with barely any screentime –and in this small amount of time its established that at least one of them seeks death. So this is an easy solution to the problem, two minor characters will off themselves and then the world is saved. But no, Yuna has an incredibly painful speech about the importance of friendship which somehow inspires everyone to take part in a far more risky plan with a much lower chance of success. Think about it – the lives of two men, or having nine men with swords try and take on a colossus eighty feet tall described as having the power to destroy all life. Fortunately its powers seem to have been exaggerated, as it doesn’t manage to kill a single one of the nine pitted against it.
My next point, not hugely plot related but more about the atmosphere itself, is actually how Yuna is received by the majority of the population of the world. Having played FFX for hours striving to save the world, I was expecting to walk around and watch as people received me like they would the second coming of Jesus. Being the saviour of all life, I was expecting people to recognise me at least – however it seemed like the majority of civilians actually didn’t really care. Most of them didn’t seem to recognise me at all, or at least didn’t acknowledge it – making me feel pretty unappreciated I must admit. In fact, the few times people actually remembered who the hell I was, was on occasions where they hate me for no really established reason. At one point when you go back to Yuna’s home town, an ex-crusader calls you worthless, and bets that you won’t be able to beat his score on a monster killing challenge. I mean wow, what? I’m the only person in a thousand years who managed to truly kill Sin, the most powerful being in existence, and you think I’m not gonna be able to beat some average enemies? How stupid can you get?
Moving right along again, (this plot section sure is getting long, but I feel like I can’t give a zero without a lot of justification), remember how I mentioned Aeons before? Well, at the end of FFX the statues (called Fayth) that bring life to these Aeons turn to stone and as such all the aeons disappear. This is what leads to the death of Tidus, as was actually created by these Fayth it turns out and when they disappear – so does he. However, just when you think it can’t get worse… guess what happens.
Aeons turn up in X-2.
Remember this from Family Guy? It's pretty much what I was thinking by the time I finally finished FFX-2.
This really sealed the deal on my opinion of this game overall, as they do once again maul the story of its far superior predecessor. This time however, the Aeons are evil and attack you. When this first occurred I actually thought this could be interesting, as presumably there is a reason the Fayth have come back to life. Sadly, I was mistaken – actually it’s never explained. Ever. I… can’t even express in words how stupid this is. At one point they give the weakest explanation ever of why the Aeons have turned evil – a Fayth appears and says, and I quote: “We tried to stop him, but instead we fell into darkness.” That’s it, that’s all the acknowledgement it gets – another massive cop-out. While this happened, I was almost screaming at the screen: “Please! Give me story! Give me coherent plot! Why are you even here?!”
Speaking of Fayth and summoners, do you remember the fiends from FFX? They are the normal monsters sent out into the world, which are established as manifestations of the spirits of the deceased, those who weren’t sent to the farplane (kind of like the next life) and so become envious of the living. Summoners are the people who complete the sending, and so give the spirits peace – however, they disappear after Sin was destroyed. The fiends however are still around, so the same process must still exist. Doesn’t that make you think, that surely that means now no sending can ever take place and as such the world will eventually be overrun with fiends? Maybe that’s why Yuna isn’t acknowledged much, as she just as much destroyed the world as she did save it. Whatever, I get the feeling you aren’t meant to question it.
I’m gonna stop here as frankly this part is just getting too long. But you hopefully have now got the impression with just how terrible and flawed the plot of FFX-2 is, so bad its barely comprehendible. If I was feeling philosophical I would maybe claim that this game represents the downhill slide of adolescents but of course that would just be a lie, all this game really is, is a cheap way to make quick cash. Which I shamefully caved in to, bah. Well let’s continue.
Characters 2/5
Again, not a strong score. As I’ve mentioned before, the characters in this game are plagued with bad voice acting, horrible dialogue and dodgy backgrounds – the main being the antagonist, Shuyin. While I’m not going to repeat what I’ve already said of him as it was related to plot, there are still a few other flaws with his character specifically. One of them is an issue I like to call “Ultimecia Syndrome” – this basically means he comes into the plot far too late for the audience to really get involved with them. Sadly however, where Ultimecia is a challenging boss fight (if you aren’t overpowered at the time anyway) with incredible music, Shuyin is completely the opposite. There is no upside to this character at all, everything about him is frankly quite silly and bizarre.
Next up – the Gullwings, that band of Sphere Hunters who fly around the world in a ship that looks like it once belonged to Zoidberg of Futurama. The actual characters themselves however are some of the worst in the game, as mentioned before, especially Rikku and Brother. While both in the previous game, in X-2 the pair have a much much bigger role – which they really didn’t deserve as they are what can only really be described as comic relief characters increased tenfold. It’s just too much.
Colour schemes and style the same... a pattern in FFX-2 perhaps?
Paine is the new member of the Gullwings, whom I can never really think of any other way than that she’s just trying to cosplay a female Squall from FF8. In fact, after doing some research into this, I actually found that it has been hinted she was based on him – though don’t get me wrong this isn’t actually a bad thing. As she was the new gal I must admit I wanted to hate her right from the start, but in contrast to the rest of the cast it’s actually a refreshing breeze to have her on the team. Sure, she may not be very original, but someone needed to be around to inject some reason into the situations they encounter. A criticism I do have of her however is that she’s another Ultimecia – she hides her background until unreasonably close to the end of the game. By this point it’s far too late to care, and so while I thought she was alright she was still fairly shallow. Nonetheless, she gets a thumbs-up from me.
As for the High Summoner herself, Yuna, I was pretty disappointed. They really changed her character a lot from the young woman in FFX who was willing to lay her life on the line for the sake of her people. Suddenly instead of quiet and shy, she becomes cocky and arrogant, and while they try to weave this into her natural instinct to help others, it doesn’t really work. They also seem to go out of their way to make her look ‘cute’ while doing so, and it just seems to create this strange character who can’t decide which way she should act. To be honest it’s kind of hard to believe she would still be the innocent kid after the amount of lives she must have ended by the end of the two games, so I’d much rather she had matured a bit by now. Wasn’t pleased with how she turned out.
The Gullwings in general were pretty uninspiring and frankly reacted unrealistically to the situations they came across. They also seem to have this weird obsession with attempting to make catch-phrases that are so lame they make you cringe (chanting “Gullwings take the gold!” after a battle ends) and posing in some frankly ridiculous positions, which make me wince and pray no-one saw me playing at the time. Minus Paine, they could’ve made for some basic comic relief if they didn’t have such a huge part, but you spend the entire game with them constantly in your face until eventually you’ll be begging for them to shut up.
The supporting cast have both good and bad characters in, as mentioned before we have Nooj and Baralai who they attempt to make fit an important role but sadly fail. They simply don’t get enough screentime as they disappear shortly after being introduced, and you don’t meet them again until near the end. There’s nothing really that bad about them, in fact I think they could’ve had more impact if we knew more about them, but sadly that’s not the case.
She really needs to wear more. A lot more.
We also have the Gullwing’s rival sphere hunters, the Leblanc Syndicate. Now anyone who’s played FFX-2 will instantly know what I’m about to say – she looks like a strangely expensive prostitute. Other than her and random grunts, there are two other members of the squad called Ormi and Logos – one fat and short, one thin and tall. They come across as another source of comic relief, and with the amount forced into your face by the Gullwings they really weren’t necessary. They also don’t really contribute anything to the story whatsoever, other than as a target for your characters urge to slaughter early in the game. Strangely you actually ally with them halfway through – I wonder how happy the grunts are, considering how many of them you murdered.
Finally, one part which was quite interesting, was seeing how the other characters from FFX turned out. Quite a lot of them make appearances in the game just living a normal life, Khimari becomes the elder of his tribe, Lulu and Wakka get together at last – even some of the minor characters like Dona and Isaaru are there. Apologies to people who haven’t played FFX to know who they are, and apologies on behalf of the game as well. This kind of proves that if I hadn’t played X-2 before, I would’ve given an even lower score.
One aspect of recurring characters I actually didn’t like was the secret ending. If you defeat the last boss with 100% game completion, then it is actually implied Tidus is brought back to life – while I’m no emo and was sad to see him die, it really would’ve been better for the series if he stayed there. The ending to FFX was so conclusive it was perfect, and so not only do I think this should never have happened, I think this game should never have happened.
Still, X-2 gets a few points at last.
Gameplay 3/5
The gameplay for this is…. alright. It’d love to give it more actually, some of the ideas they had were new and interesting, the class system for example. However, it’s all held back by a couple of massive flaws which prevented it from really escalating into anything too special. In fact, the problems can all really be summed up into one main statement:
This game was far too easy.
Some of the dresspheres look silly... at best.
As lame as the “dresspheres” which change your class sound, they were actually quite interesting as it allowed your characters to switch abilities in the middle of battle as well as customise whoever you want to fit any role. That’s all very well however, but as I say, the game is just too easy and really you can breeze through it with any classes you want. While the first time I played X-2 through I did all of the sidequests and got all the optional classes, the second time I just didn’t bother. This had no negative impact whatsoever though, and even though I was underlevelled I still shot through the game using the default classes without any real trouble.
FFX-2 is also missing a pretty iconic part of gameplay that FF is famous for, and that is the summons. With no summoner class, even if it is following the story (for once) it’s still managed to shoot itself in the foot with it. With no summons it not only hurts the experience, but it also means the game will need to be easier to cope with it – and so now all the huge bosses, monsters etc you can just deal with on your own. To their defence, they did include ‘special dresspheres’ that send a character into a strange form with unique abilities and increased power but frankly they were unnecessary. In fact, on my second playthrough I didn’t use any at all. Despite how flashy and cinematic they were, they really didn’t add anything to the game.
I had the same issue with the sphere grid – a system that means if you change class during battle, you actually gain additional stats or powers. But once again, didn’t bother with them at all and still waltzed my way to the end without anything getting in the way. This really isn’t helped by the fact they throw potions and other healing medicine at you like they are armed grenades or something, by the time I finished chapter one without doing sidequests, I had nearly 70 potions.
The ease of this game is really embodied by the final boss, which is hugely disappointing for the apparent machine capable of destroying everything. For some reason, after the first couple of fights the game itself actually heals you inbetween battles – so unlike games such as FF7 and 8, instead of the last boss being an endurance round, its just a couple of boss battles spaced out. And to top it all off, he doesn’t even hit that hard. The very final boss you fight is actually Shuyin, and in typical Tidus style he has a copy of every one of his moves. Yet, he hit incredibly softly – in fact when he used “Hit & Run”, an attack consisting of multiple hits, he wasn’t actually breaching the 100 damage barrier. That’s just retarded.
The magic in this game annoyed me as well it has to be said, which is why I stuck mainly to the physical attacker classes when I could. While Black Mage was actually incredibly strong, the new design for the attack system made it quite frustrating to use. In FFX-2, instead of the turn based system of previous games, all of the characters (and enemies) can potentially attack at the same time, rather than waiting for each other. In fact, the game rewards you for this – chaining attacks does extra damage. However, while the physical fighters just jump right in there and get to cleaving, the mage classes don’t seem to shut up. They clearly like their voice actors for some reason, as almost every special attack results in a character delaying their move to spout some one-liner that isn’t funny. As the Black Mage only has specials, this results in a lot of talking. Nothing is more annoying than watching your mage spend half an hour preparing a spell, then waiting for an enemy to finish attacking, and then it feels like they start reciting the entire works of Shakespeare. My fighters run in and out, in and out laying down the hurt while the mage chats happily to herself, until eventually they kill the mob without her. THEN she suddenly decides to step in pointlessly, and finally casts her highest MP cost spell on a corpse for no effect. Then I changed her class.
FFX-2 does have a nice non-linear world though, which you can explore anywhere you really want to right from the start of the game. While this is a nice addition as it really removes any restriction and has a lot more freedom than many previous titles, it does lead to some pretty weird situations. At one point, I visited one of the old places only to be told a nation was under attack by some huge fiends (one being a superboss, far harder than the final boss) and I had to go find 10 gatekeepers who could prevent it from attacking them. While dramatic music played in the background and people urged me to hurry as the fate of the people lied in my hands, I boarded my airship and went back to my hometown where Wakka and Lulu lived. Lulu finally gave birth to their child, so Yuna decided to spend a few hours gawking over how cute the baby is, until eventually she took up Lulu’s offer to stay the night. While this was progressing, I couldn’t help but think – how many lives were lost because of this?
As a couple of last points that are minor complaints, this game could’ve used some limit breaks, and the ability to skip the experience screen instantly. Think about it, the amount of random battles you fight in a Final Fantasy game, you don’t want the game to force you to read just how much experience etc you gained, every bloody time. You only have to wait a couple of seconds, but those seconds sure do add up. Still, the gameplay while not pulled off too well, did at least have some good ideas.
Graphics 3/5
As we have come to expect from FF games, the graphics for the everyday moving around are impressive. Especially on the main characters that have a far higher polygon count than everyone else, the detail on them is quite superb. While that instantly gains a few points in my book, it seems strangely like the Square team know they’ve done a good job and really want to rub it in our faces. There are so many weird scenes where the camera gets unnecessarily close to Yuna’s face or upper body, as if it’s trying to say
“HEY GUYS, ITS YUNA! You remember Yuna right? From the last game?! She’s in this game too, look! And look at the time we put into her face! It’s awesome!”
I suppose it’s fair for them to be proud of their work – they should be – but it just seemed really strange. In a similar manner, they seemed to use a lot of dramatic camera movements or changes whenever a character says anything of remote importance, that were really random and unnecessary. Maybe I’m just being picky here, but when the dialogue itself fails to grip you, you end up paying attention to how the characters look a lot more.
Not even optional superbosses escaped the copying and pasting.
The main reason why I haven’t given FFX-2 a higher score for graphics however despite its high quality, is because it’s pretty much all recycled material from FFX. Almost all of the backgrounds are the same, id say at least 90% of the enemies are models from its predecessor, sometimes not even with the skins changed. While Rikku and Yuna have their looks and outfit altered a little, the other recycled characters haven’t changed at all in the two year gap between the games. The most amusing of these is probably Wakka and Lulu, as they both have significant changes since FFX. Wakka used to be a blitzball player in the first game, and while out and about he wore his Besaid Auroch’s uniform – however partway through the game he retires. So, why, two years on from his retirement, is he wearing the same uniform? He’s not even part of the team anymore. Obsessed much, maybe?
Then there’s Lulu, who is actually rather baffling. She is heavily pregnant with Wakka’s child, yet… what’s that? They didn’t change her model whatsoever? Wow. It’s true, her model is identical and her outfit is exactly the same – I bet the majority of pregnant women wished they had that kind of luck. All their old outfits fit them like a glove, and no-one would notice they are pregnant until some significant plot device tells them. Amazing.
My final point here is, again, although the in-game graphics are quite nice, there isn’t really a lot of the cinematics which Final Fantasy is quite well known for. Remember how there was a lot of Advent Children quality full CGI in FFX? Well there’s only three or four of those in total throughout this entire game, which is rather disappointing. So, overall, the graphics are decent but still not quite what we’ve come to expect in Final Fantasy.
Soundtrack 3/5
The soundtrack in FFX-2 is actually quite good, but again is not without flaws. Sadly Nobuo Uematsu didn’t have his magical hand to influence the music for this game, and you can really tell. While the majority of the music is fitting, and its actually quite nice to have a more ‘rock’ feel to a lot of the game, such as the normal battle music, some of Uematsu’s magic is missing.
For example, this is one of the few Final Fantasy games to be missing the fanfare, an iconic part of FF history. It’s been used so much even people who don’t know Final Fantasy have heard it – it’s travelled the world from ringtones to World of Warcraft addons. So, why would you miss out on such a piece in your game soundtrack when you have rights to it? It beats me, that’s for sure.
My other major disappointment with the soundtrack for FFX-2 is that there was no real track that stood out. Most Final Fantasy games have had a piece that becomes incredibly popular on the internet, usually the final boss
Some FF characters are said to be too emo, but this game is the total opposite. Happy... Overload...
themes, such as Dancing Mad, One-Winged Angel, The Extreme and the unusual Otherworld. However, Vegnagun and Shuyin didn’t get any musical piece that really added to the moment, in fact if anything the soundtrack choice at the time brought the experience down a level. I remember specifically at the time, just before you fight Vegnagun, Yuna decides to give a speech on the importance of friendship and how, and I quote, “Love conquers all!” Not only have I never heard a cheesier line in my entire life, disturbingly happy and upbeat music began soon after. Nothing kills a dramatic atmosphere than a group of girls giggling and posing for the camera while something I’d expect in the closing scene of “The Life of Brian” plays.
I should however mention the two songs with lyrics composed for this game, 1000 Words and Real Emotion. While not really my thing, both of them were very high quality and a good nice addition to the game. A shame the entire thing couldn’t be of this quality really – though they are a bit mainstream, perhaps a resprentation of how Final Fantasy is headed? Final Fantasy XIII seems to hint that way at least.
So overall the soundtrack is admittedly pretty good, but it’s missing the extra couple of bits that make it really special. So, I just have to rate it with average.
Conclusion 11/25
Not a good score Final Fantasy X-2, not a good score at all. As a stand-alone game, FFX-2 would be passable at least – but its negligence to explain important plot details to newcomers prevents that from ever occurring. To fans of the original FFX, I would be surprised if FFX-2 was actually considered a good game – because it really isn’t, if you look even slightly below the surface, plot holes the size of a country begin to appear.
So... much... posing... And er, is it just me or does Rikku look like a psycho again?
I would highly recommend passing this one up, as it can only spoil your opinion of an actually great game. It didn’t get good marks from me, and I don’t think it was liked by the majority of people either. I think you can really tell how badly this game failed by its rating in plot – as to be honest I personally play Final Fantasy games specifically for their unique and interesting stories. When one fails to present such a story, well, you know it can only bring bad news.
My final opinion is that actually, FFX-2 may not actually be that horrific a game, it’s just far too girlie and far too happy for my tastes. But this makes you think, considering the looming apocalypse feel of FFX, why would you make the sequel to a game for a different target audience? I think, only Square can answer that one.
Better luck next time Square! Maybe FFXIII will be more of a success.
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Judge Reviews 