Post by solidbatman on May 29, 2010 20:27:54 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8.9/10
For the most part, the graphics are the same as Final Fantasy X. There are a few refinements such as better facial animations. What really hurts this game is the frame rate. It gets very choppy and it was not a rare occurrence. Other than that, the game looks good. Cut scenes are well done. Character designs are also good. The dress sphere costumes are not bad either.
-Sound- 9/10
People will fight over this but due to the story, the pop music matches the feel of the game. The voice acting, minus a few less than stellar performances, is good. Wakka sounds bad, as do Cid and O' aka.
-Game play- 9.7/10
The battle system has changed to a quicker active battle system. Instead of the conditional turn base system in Final Fantasy X, there is now an bar that charges for you attacks. This is called the Active Time Bar or ATB. Certain attacks will cause the bar to take longer to refill. Stringing together multiple attacks using your party will cause it to charge faster allowing you to attack at a quicker pace. Only drawback to this new system, you have to be fast and quick in strategical thinking.
In X-2, the leveling up system has changed from FFX. Instead of a sphere grid, there is now something called dress spheres. These spheres you find around Spira contain unique abilities. One sphre you can find contains black mage abilities. Another called warrior has sword fighting abilities. As you complete missions, you find more spheres and garment grids. Garment grids are what you put the sphere in. They may contain four slots which means four dress spheres can be equipped. Other grids may have five slots meaning five spheres can be used. You then equip the grid to one of your characters and that character can switch between the equipped dress spheres. Certain garment grids come with special abilities as well. Some raise attack or defense. Others allow you to cast spells or be immune from certain attacks.
In X-2, you can advance the story at your own pace. You travel all across Spira on an air ship. In the navigation menu, story advancement areas are labeled as hot spots. This allows you to do side missions before advancing past them in the story accidentally. There are plenty of side missions to do and the amount of mini games seem endless. You will have a hard time running out of things to do.
-Story- 9.5/10
Sin has been defeated and Spira is at peace, sort of. Two rival groups have formed: New Yevon and the Youth League. Both groups are competing to find spheres, video recordings of Spira's past, and they have divided Spira. Some people follow New Yevon while others, still understandably sore about Yevon and Sin, follow the Youth League. Yuna has joined a sphere hunting group called the Gullwings. In this group Yuna is joined by FFX characters such as Rikku and Brother as well as new comers such as Paine and Shrina. Your adventure kicks off when Rikku finds a sphere that has a recording of someone closely resembling Tidus. He looks to be captured and is yelling at an unknown person. Yuna wants to find more spheres to find out if this person is really Tidus. The game does a good job of not giving away too much of the Final Fantasy X story.
-Overall- 9.4/10
A worthy sequel to Final Fantasy X. If you can get past a very jarring opening scene and occasional equally jarring scenes later in the game, you'll be fine. The graphical glitches are annoying but I've played through worse. The ATB system brings more action and a quicker paced game that the predecessor. The story is very engaging, especially if you have beaten Final Fantasy X. A very solid RPG. One final note, your characters you use in battle are all women. Just a heads up so you aren't blind sided.