Final Fantasy X-2 Quick Review
Cut scenes began- and I was appalled.
If ever there was a sequel that absolutley could not be cheesy or quirky, this was it. And it is cheesy and quirky.
The battles are simple compared to the thought that was required in FFX and at times FFX-2 is just a 'tap x button alot until they all die' game. Eventually you get the hang of dresspheres and garment grids and when you do, even if your characters arn't particuarily levelled up, you can just overwelm foe by bombarding them with a flurry of attacks, without having to change dresspheres. You'll find that you can get most of the way through the game without ever deviating from the character's original style. Don't get me wrong, the gameplay will be fun for a bit but not for more than an hour. And the whole point of an FF is to get engrossed for hours and hours. The problem is the gameplay here is just not deep enough for an RPG, let alone a FF- despite the player having the ability to develop the story in thier own way. This is pretty neat and should be encouraged in more future FFs
The dressphere/garment grid idea i guess is quite novel, and for that I applaud Square Enix. But it's just one of the few things that really cheese up this game along with crap 'mission time' headers and sidequests that gives you the feeling this game no-where near hits the depth or quality or atmosphere FFX did so well in creating. And I'm sorry Gamespot- i don't agree with your comments about the music. Realistically it is very mediocre in comparison to other recent FFs, noticeably X. The soundtrack was created by someone other than Nobuo Uematsu (king og FF musical score) and frankly shows. It further adds to the games cheese and more often than not is just damn annoying after 10 minutes.
However, for all my ridiculing, there are things that made me score this an 8. And it's only or the things carried over from FFX funnily enough. The voice acting, by far the best in any game i've ever played, the graphics- not the most refined nor detailed in places but always charasmatic. The locations still look great as a result as do effects and fiends look like fiends, not toys, like they do in some games. The characters themselves are so well established and so well carried over in some cases, and the mulititude of FFX references, some with an 'afterstory twist' do, somehow keep you playing for more than an hour. Providng you played and enjoyed FFX that is i guess! And although it's not as deep thought provoking as recent FFs as a result it is far more forgiving than, say, FFXII- which is just harsh at times! You'll pick up decent items and will have gill fairly early on. All in all you'll see the Game Over screen far less than most FF's. This means it's more user friendly and so long as you get used to the pace of the fights, sorry- button bashing, far easier and quicker to get into. Which, depending on what you want from an RPG can be a good or a bad thing.
All in all, despite this game's slaughtering of any atmosphere, heart ache or style FFX created and severe lack of technique or thought needed to play it- because it does include alot of good things from FFX and some pretty nice inventive new RPG twists, you some how put up with all that is bad, you concentrate on the good, score it an 8 and probably play it just as much as any Final Fantasy.
But please, Square Enix, no more cheese in Final Fantasies please. I want to feel emotions and become all dreamy when playing a Final Fantasy, not feel like i'm playing an arcade game where you slot in a pound coin for a few minutes of fun.