Final Fantasy X-2: It's better than you think

Unfortunately, school work has gotten in the way of what's really important and I haven't been able to play anything to conclusion this week. However: fear not, gentle reader, I have Gears of War 2 which I hope to finish by next week, and On a Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness which I'm sure I can complete by the week after. In the meantime, I feel that an older game needs to be brought to your attention and submitted for your approval.

If your views coincide with mine, and you like games to have a compelling story, then you have probably played a few RPGs and you know that the most popular series of that genre is Final Fantasy. Setting aside all the games that bear the name Final Fantasy yet are not really Final Fantasy (Crystal Chronicles, Tactics, Dirge of Cerberus, etc) the bastard step-child of the series is the only RPG sequel to be made from a previous game. I am of course talking about (if the title didn't give it away already) Final Fantasy X-2.

This is a good game. I know what you think, gentle reader, but I maintain that it is more than simply playing dress-up with Final Fantasy characters. It is playing dress-up with Final Fantasy characters then destroying things. The fact is that the Dress Sphere system is just another form of the Job Class system. The only characters that the player uses are Yuna, Rikku, and Payne. These three girls level up independently of whatever dress-sphere (I.e. job-class) they are using but the more a character uses a dress-sphere, the more abilities they can use with it. This means that if Yuna puts on a Warrior dress-sphere at the end of the game, she is still a high-level character, but she will not be as effective as Payne, who has been using that dress-sphere since the beginning of the game.

I suppose the best way I have to explain how well the combat and leveling systems work would be this: I like RPGs in theory, but I don't usually finish them. Since the combat is almost always strictly tactical, it tends to get boring before the end of the game. This problem is compounded by the fact that RPGs are notoriously long games. I have played all of the Final Fantasy RPGs and the only ones I have beaten myself are VII, XII, and X-2. The gameplay was good enough that I never really got tired of playing it, which is quite an accomplishment for an RPG.

The story takes place a year after the events is Final Fantasy X. The world is changing and there is a lot of hostility over it. Embroiled in this change is Yuna, the famous summoner that finally defeated Sin and dethroned Yevon. Yuna is attempting to live a carefree life as a sphere-hunter (think treasure-hunter, but with other people's home movies) but what she really wants is Tidus. With the people of Spira left without the guidance of Yevon, they have broken into factions that are on the verge of war and something is stirring underground that threatens to destroy the world.

Considering that it is Final Fantasy game, the story is pretty common, but the idea behind the story is compelling. The end of Final Fantasy X is not the end of the story of Spira. There are more stories here, just like there are many, many stories in Middle Earth. In any setting where an entire world is created to tell a single story, there are an infinite number of stories that have never been told. Final Fantasy X-2 reminds the player that just because Sin is defeated doesn't mean that Spira is suddenly going to become a utopia. There are still monsters to kill and stories to tell.

Now go forth and play,
-Zac