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Final Fantasy X-2 (Ten-two) is a video game in the Final Fantasy series, and the first to be a true sequel to any Final Fantasy game.
OverviewIt is set two years after the defeat of Sin in Final Fantasy X, dealing with less dramatics and the more down to earth ossies of the rapidly changing Spira, for better or worse. The story revolves around three girls, the returning main characters Yuna of Bevelle and Rikku the Al Bhed, and a new girl, named Paine. The game is often criticized for its dual cute factor and perceived exploitation of sex appeal. Others view it as attempt to bring a more upbeat tone to the Final Fantasy series as well as attract (Japanese) female gamers. Adding to this issue is the insinuation it is purely a marketing gesture, as it is the first direct sequel in the Final Fantasy franchise. Being set in the same world as its predecessor means that the geography is largely unchanged. StorylineShortly before the beginning of the game, a "sphere" was brought to Yuna's attention, apparently containing what appeared to be an image of her lost love, Tidus. Apparently Kimahri found this sphere on Mt. Gagazet, and gave it to Rikku. Once viewing it, Rikku rushed to Besaid to show Yuna. These events can be viewed on a special prologue named "Eternal Calm, Final Fantasy X-2: Prologue". In the original game, the player had a choice of renaming Tidus and thus his name was never used in spoken dialogue. Perhaps because of this, Yuna simply refers to him as "Kimi," (君) a personalized way of saying 'you.' The world of Spira has basically been split into 2 political groups: the Youth League and New Yevon. Headed by Mevyn Nooj, the Youth League is a radical organisation who believe in a massive upheaval of the system on which Spira has been based for the past millenia. They preach complete freedom of speech, attracting a great deal of support from Spira's younger generation and the former members of the Crusaders, who were disbanded after the defeat of Sin. Opposite them is New Yevon, a conservative group led by Praetor Baralai. Based upon the now-defunct Yevon religion, New Yevon promises to make up for their predecessor's false teachings by aiding those who feel overwhelmed by the rapid changes sweeping Spira. Their motto is "One Thing At A Time", believing that a slow evolution of Spira's customs is the only way to prevent complete anarchy. Following the forced resignation of the last praetor, the party is run by a democracy of the younger members. A third party, the Machine Faction, prefers to stay out of the main political conflict in Spira, but their awesome military influence makes them a definite factor in this power struggle. Headed by an Al Bhed called Gippal, the Machine Faction are the pioneers of machina research, which was banned during the Yevon reign of Spira. The Machine Faction are entirely composed of Al Bhed, and use the term "machine" to distance their creations from the negative connotations of "machina". FeaturesThe battle system from the previous game (CTB - Conditional Turn-Based) was dropped in favor of a fast-paced variation on the traditional Active Turn Based system. Instead of waiting for enemies to attack, it is now possible to interrupt an enemy whilst they are charging their attack or chain your characters' attacks together for special chain bonuses. This also comes with its disadvantages, because the same can be done to members of your party. Because your party contains the same three characters for the entire game, the ability to switch out characters in battle was invalidated; instead, Garment Grids and Dressspheres were introduced. A Garment Grid is simply a geometric shape with several slots on them; the slots can be filled with various "Dressspheres", which are similar to Jobs from Final Fantasy V. The Grid/Sphere system allows characters to change from one Class to another in battle, and allows the player to decide which classes any given character will have. Each Dressphere has a smaller list of abilities than the characters and classes of most RPGs, meaning that spherechanging is often advantageous or necessary in battles. Furthermore, each Garment Grid adds bonuses, for instance allowing the equipped character to cast Firaga, and moving between certain nodes will sometimes trigger bonuses (Automatically cast "Shell", for instance). Finally, certain Limit-Break-like skills (actually a unique Dresssphere) can only be triggered if the triggering character changes between all her Jobs in one battle. The field system has been upgraded, and now Yuna has the ability to jump and climb, and, in the immortal words of Ken Berry (the SE Product Supervisor), Yuna can also "do heaps of other cool stuff". The field is still totally 3D. The world map is essentially unchanged. Most of the locations from Final Fantasy X return, though some have changed (the player was never able to visit Bevelle, for instance, and Kilika is no longer in a state of ruin) and others have been added. Players are also able to visit almost every location from the (near) beginning of the game, via an airship interface--another major departure from normal Final Fantasy fare, in which the airship is never obtained until late in the game. These two changes allow for a third reworking of the game's design, namely in its storyline. As opposed to Final Fantasy X, in which the player always walked from one direction to the other and the story was likewise linear, X-2 is entirely freeform, divided by locations and chapters. The game has many locations and five chapters, and each location has one "event" per chapter. Put together, the five "events" in one locale form an "Episode". Only a few events per chapter are important to the game's overall plot, however, and these are marked on the world map as "Hotspots" (Active Links in the Japanese version). By accessing Hotspots only, the player can speed through the story (and find out whether Yuna gets Tidus back) in ten or fifteen hours if they so desire. But in order to get the full experience--and achieve a 100% completion rate, which is, ironically, the only way to find out whether Yuna gets Tidus back--one must visit every location during every chapter and complete every Episode. MiscellaneousThis is the first Final Fantasy game to feature an all-female cast of player-characters, and the first since FF3 to feature a constant party throughout the entire game. The game includes a number of side-quests and minigames, including Gunner's Gauntlet, the Den of Woe and the Via Infinito, amongst a lot of optional bosses who provide much of a challenge. The underwater sport Blitzball also makes a return appearance. Fairly early on in the game, Yuna and her party must make a decision to give a key item to either the Youth League or New Yevon factions. Though this decision ultimately doesn't matter as far as the overall storyline is concerned, it will affect how certain NPCs react to Yuna and the development of certain plot points. In addition, a 100% completion rate is only possible if the player sides with the Youth League - you can only get to 99% if you side with New Yevon. There are three different endings in this game, all of them are "happy" in relation to its predecessors. The Game also features a 'game replay' function which allows the player to replay the game with all the items and game completion %, getting 100% by replaying the game and sidequests allows you to see a Special Ending involving the reunion of Yuna and Tidus. SoundtrackAll of the music has changed, as Nobuo Uematsu has been temporarily replaced by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi (composers for The Bouncer). Among the songs are the J-Pop styled "Real Emotion" and a slower paced song, "1000 Words" (Senn No Kotoba in Japanese). The Japanese versions of the songs are sung by Koda Kumi, a Japanese music artist. The American versions of the songs are sung by Jade of Sweetbox. Playable CharactersNon-Playable Characters
Release datesFinal Fantasy X-2 was released in Japan on March 13, 2003, in North America on November 18, 2003 and European/PAL regions on February 20, 2004. An extended version of the game, entitled Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission, was released (exclusively in Japan) on February 19, 2004. External links
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