My Brain Hurts!

[Guest Helluin]

Well, i gave in and bought it, because I have a soft spot for Yuna, possibly through that strong self-identification with Lulu.

Okay, I expected this one to have scary amounts of Perky Tits, and I'm coping. I can occasionally enjoy the moments of Cute, although cute is not my thing; Lulu's moogles tend to be suspiciously absent in my writing as it is. The dialogue is fun. I can't drool on the girls because they're all acting like children. But they're allowed, seeing that they practically are children. I am feeling my white hair and being strongly reminded of my last girlfriend's daughters.

The opening sequence is enjoyably cheesy: hoorah for silly J-pop! And there is Paine, which is the main reason to play the thing, besides dropping in on a few old friends. i was always fond of Kimahri and wished I'd found more uses for him in the game.

Brother must be strangled. Now. I'm beginning to miss Tidus' bad voice dub.

The game is vapid, but it's fun if I turn off my higher brain functions (much like Tomb Raider). I like the realtime battle system, though on the whole I prefer thinking and strategy to gut-instinct flailing. The system of dress-up isn't too bad, but I tended to behead Barbie dolls as a child and can't quite grok the need for accessories and costume changes. I miss the battle system in X.

So far I haven't found much story with any depth to it. I fear the actual meat of the story is going to turn out to be politics and factions; I prefer character-driven stories. Hence my fascination with X, with deeper layers concerning the nature of death, oaths, loss, and dreams; and for that matter, 8, where the plot was wifty but the characters were at least slightly interesting. I'm probably one of the few who enjoyed all the Laguna flashbacks. (Well, most. Esthar creeps me out.)

I was desperately relieved to find X-2's Lulu being her shrewd and calm self; if she had started jiggling I would've had to fall on Paine's sword. I liked her observation that Yuna's finally getting to stretch her wings without big sister Lu around watching over her. And of course Lu's the first one to notice-- too bad Yuna didn't check with her sooner-- "er, that doesn't quite look like Tidus."

Wakka's being his usual heart of gold self, but I still cannot fathom why Lulu would marry him. He's a decent fellow, but he's just so... normal. I would have pegged him with Rikku. Only she's acting so young that the prospect makes me nearly as nervous as Aurikku.

Lulu's little "He's always like this" made me giggle. Even without her voice, she's still the same old Lu.

It is quite possible to tell a story with a majority of female characters without ODing on clothes, cuteness, and ... *waves hands vaguely* all this perky stuff. I'm not sure why Square felt the need to make everything stereotypically "girly". Speaking as a tit-wearing person, I am so much happier with battles, angst, and heroics. Quistis and Rinoa were never airheaded. (er, well, almost never.) Lara Croft is quite female, but one takes her seriously.

Ah well.X-2 is what it is, flawed and a bit silly. I bought it knowing it would be. It's still enjoyable, just a bit mindbending.

For spoiler purposes, I have so far gadded about the high ruins on Gagazet, dropped by Besaid and hacked my way through Wakka's cave, and peeked in on Kimahri.

[Guest ChibiShiva]

After reading this review, I highly doubt I'll buy it... I like my games manly, rather. All this "cute girly girl" stuff gets on my nerves, maybe because I'm tired to see it in video games. Seems Square-Enix will have to review their female characters someday... I miss the good ol' FF6 days X_x'.

[Guest yamsham]

Give it a chance. You haven't unearthed the heart of the story. The angst is coming. It might seem girly and cute...actually it is girly and cute...but there's some serious stuff bubbling under the tranquil surface. I'll put it this way, X2 makes good use of its parallels.

Game-wise, I actually thought it was more difficult than X...at least until you get the Mascot spheres and then it's cake. The only disappointment for me was Blitzball. I loved that in X and was bummed by the changes in X2.

[Guest Serenanna]

Long time lurker, first time poster. Most RPG's become addicting by about half-way thought, X-2 was no different for me. As soon as the plot got rolling, it really got rolling, the only downside is three guys in it have left me flailing on what the hell their personality is like to write for them. I even went back to read the game script and I still don't get them.

The part I did like about X-2 though is that under all the girly stuff, Yuna got something of a backbone. I played the game with the view of it being her second childhood and second chance at life after her near martydom in X, which made it easier to stomach the cuteness. It probably helped that part of me is still a barbie-loving, cloths horse geeky-girly-girl despite the inordinate amount of DnD books, computer junk, and anime DVD's. But I'm digressing. Honestly, if you were as sheltered and driven to sac your life to save everyone as Yuna was in X, and your death sentence turned into a get out of jail free pass, wouldn't you got a bit nuts with freedom too?

Hummm, I gotta remember that line, that's good. ::takes notes::

Serenanna

[Guest TrekQueen]

Firstly... heh... I warned you, Helluin!!!!

Just wait till you get to the Mt Gagazet part when the threesome decides to jump into the hot springs in their bathing suits. Rikku seems to have the hots for Paine or something.

Anyways, I have to disagree with most of the people on here who enjoyed X-2. I hardly found it difficult at all. I beat it in less than 13 hrs with side quests and everything (with FFX it took me a good 80hrs). The plot sucked balls in my opinion there was absolutely NO DEPTH at all. The only thing I could see come out of it was that Yuna realized she could do things on her own without having to lean on anyone. But the point of that was somewhat ruined if one got the Tidus endings. I was expecting a full out hunt for Tidus through the game but it hardly has anything to do with him and then he just decides to pop in? pffffffffffftttt!!!

Helluin, you're right in seeing through the predictable plot so quickly, easily and early. Pretty much everything has to do with factions and politics. If there is any character development in it, I'd have to say it is for Paine because it delves into her mysterious background. She's the only real character in the whole thing and Yuna's hard work from FFX seems like it was pointless for the way she turned out.

And you think Brother is bad now? just wait.....

[Guest yamsham]

I hardly think it's possible to beat X2 in 13 hours, but maybe I was taking my time because it was such a fun ride and I didn't want it to end.

X2 isn't everyone's cup of tea. I knew that the moment I started playing it. I thought to myself, "Ooh, the hardcore fans are not going to like this..." It is too sentimental, saccarine sweet, naive, and I would not want every FF to be like that. But I thought it was a fun and lively break from the usual stuff. And I thought that the ending was perfect, far better than the downbeat end to X. I thought Yuna perfectly encapsulated in the speech before the final battle not only her feelings, but mine as well.

Oh well. To each their own.

[Guest Helluin]

I am a sucker for romance, so hopefully that will carry me along in the end. I've gotten a little farther along now and it is fun, now that I can stuff Yuna into the gun mage outfit and leave the other two with sharp pointy bits so that they're fiercely effective.

The game itself expresses my concern. Zanarkand as a tourist attraction was as painful for me as for Yuna (hopefully Yuna giving her uncle a piece of her mind will help there). Auron died there. The dead should be allowed to rest, as he was fond of saying.

i think the most difficult thing is having Yuna being a sphere hunter. I suspect she will get tired of playing games soon, but the part where she swiped the sphere in Kilika seemed strangely out of character for me. (I just dropped off the sphere with Nooj; Lucil and Elmo are fun, despite the bad voice acting, and their ability to ride chocobos in thong leotards without getting butt burn always impressed me.)

I don't want to turn this into an unmitigated bash of the story. It's got its good parts, I'm just... mindboggled... at some of it.

A pity the Gatta/Luzzu storyline in the last game means this one can't show either of them. I liked them best of the bit characters, save for Rin.

Speaking of which -- where the HECK is Rin? No, no, don't tell me. I've been poking around hunting for him in every travel agency on Spira; I assume he'll pop up in due course.

[Guest TrekQueen]

One thing I must add that I actually thought was a good idea:

The ability to come back after you finish the game and play it again with all the upgrades and level ups on abilities and dress spheres.

Other than that it was in a weird alternate universe japanese Charlie's Angels.

[Guest neosildrake]

I do not like X-2 very much. Mainly because you only have 3 main charas and they are all girls. I prefer the male charas like Auron and Tidus. Maybe it's because I'm female and thus like looking and handsome, sexy boys/men.

I only played half of the game, then I got kinda distraced by other games, something that normally does not happen with a Final Fantasy game. It's probably because X-2 does not really sparked with me.

The story (as far as I've played) is decent. It takes a while to get into it, but it's not that bad. However, whoever has some experience with RPG and adventure videogame-plots, will be not too hard pressed to figure things out easily.

The fact that you cannot return to a finished chapter, should you have missed something, irks me. You have to wait to start a new game.

The graphic is, like expected, superb. The voice actors, especially the non-japanese dubbers, are ... not very good.

The whole fighting is a matter of taste. While it's certainly different in the beginning, it soon becomes a dress-me-up orgy. I might be a girl, but I alwys hated to play with dolls... I did prefer cars, lego, action-figures and such things.

I think X-2 is only something for hardcore-fans who simply have to have everything or for people who like Yuna, Rikku and/or Paine very much. The game is more like a filler to feet the masses and a shot to milk even more money from the fans of FFX.

I rather (im)patiently wait for the Eurpean Pal version of FFXII.

[Leonhart29]

I have played X-2 and I enjoyed it - to a point. The fan girl in me was drooling at the possibility of a Barali, Nooj, Gipal thing... *sigh* but I haven't found the time yet. Pain is by far the best female character, but I agree with an earlier statement about my games being "manly". If I don't have a guy to droll over (HELLO Squall!) I'm not too far into it.

All in all, if I wanted something fluffy and girlish (I am female after all - even if I don't act like it sometimes) I put in the game - otherwise it stayed on the shelf.

[Guest kirameki]

I have played X-2 and I enjoyed it - to a point.  The fan girl in me was drooling at the possibility of a Barali, Nooj, Gipal thing... *sigh* but I haven't found the time yet.  Pain is by far the best female character, but I agree with an earlier statement about my games being "manly".  If I don't have a guy to droll over (HELLO Squall!)  I'm not too far into it.

All in all, if I wanted something fluffy and girlish (I am female after all - even if I don't act like it sometimes) I put in the game - otherwise it stayed on the shelf.

Yeah, I must say, I love having a few hot guys to ogle in a videogame.

I didn't hate or loath it, but it wasn't completely my thing. I got pretty far in and then, my interest just faded right as I started to get to the final chapters. It's a bit of a bad habit.

I find it interesting how there was such a big to-do about FFXIII's main character being a female and some guys said they just couldn't get into it because of that, when a lot of girls I know actually prefer playing guy characters in rpgs. It's a strange strange thing, to me. At least she looks pretty kick ass and it doesn't seem like it will be a sugary trip like FFX-2.

[Guest Big Samurai]

At least she looks pretty kick ass and it doesn't seem like it will be a sugary trip like FFX-2.

Since the release of that trailer, Square Enix has been muttering about Lightning -- that's her name, though it's not 100% confirmed -- not actually being the main character. Indeed, for FFXII, they've admitted that the main character was supposed to be Ashe, and that Vaan was added as an afterthought.

[Guest Evil_Labs]

Well, heck, the pirate was supposed to take the spotlight ahead of Vaan, but they looked at their 'target demographic' and made the game designers change it to suit them. ...>.<

[TerraBreaker]

Since the release of that trailer, Square Enix has been muttering about Lightning -- that's her name, though it's not 100% confirmed -- not actually being the main character. Indeed, for FFXII, they've admitted that the main character was supposed to be Ashe, and that Vaan was added as an afterthought.

Hell it'd be nice if we got to play as a female main character for a change, but I'm sure SE will cock it up somehow. The pretty FMV's mean nothing if you can't relate to the characters. Ideally i'd like to play a dark, gritty game that actually dealt with non-standard RPG issues, and keep it small scale rather than this save the world nonsense.

Well, heck, the pirate was supposed to take the spotlight ahead of Vaan, but they looked at their 'target demographic' and made the game designers change it to suit them. ...>.<

That is what I remeber hearing, I'm looking forward to the day when I get to play as the main character in an rpg who is over 20 and has a mental age above 12.

[Squallfan]

I played it, but never finished it. Just didn't grab me like some of the other FF games. The girl power thing got annoying after a while, and I'm a chick...I guess I like looking at the male characters too much as well.

[Guest kirameki]

Since the release of that trailer, Square Enix has been muttering about Lightning -- that's her name, though it's not 100% confirmed -- not actually being the main character. Indeed, for FFXII, they've admitted that the main character was supposed to be Ashe, and that Vaan was added as an afterthought.

That explains a lot actually.