Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy X-2 is the first (by date of release) true playable sequel in the Final Fantasy series, released in Japan and North America in 2003, and a year later in Europe. It is a story told by former Summoner Yuna, taking place in Spira two years after the events of Final Fantasy X where she, and the rest of the world, are still attempting to come to terms with living in a world without Sin.

Final Fantasy X-2 diverges from its predecessor in many ways, including a fluid mission-based storyline, allowing the player to participate in many different sidequests and minigames. The main storyline comprises less than half of the total possible gameplay.

Gameplay
Final Fantasy X-2 utilizes the interchangeable Job System featured in Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy V, and the Tactics series. Final Fantasy X-2's unique style is achieved via the Dress system, whereby the character's abilities vary depending on which Dressphere the character is wearing. Garment Grids are used to allocate several Dresspheres to each character for use in battles. The Grids have inherent powers, which are activated when the Grid is equipped, or as the player changes spheres and passes through gates. Garment Grids are acquired as the game progresses, or as the player completes sidequests.

The Dressphere system allows the player to customize the battle style for each character, assigning them jobs and outfits. The unique aspect of the Dressphere system is that it allows the characters to change their job mid-battle, allowing them to adjust their strengths to best suit the opponent's weaknesses. By changing through all the Dresspheres on a character's Garment Grid, the character may change into a Special Dressphere unique to them. The battle system is the classic Active Time Battle, rather than the turn-based system of Final Fantasy X, but is faster and characters can take actions simultaneously, as opposed to the one-at-a-time system used in previous Active Time Battle systems. When a character takes actions and kills enemies in battle they gain Ability Points that allow them to learn new abilities on their Dressphere. When a character chooses a command there may be Charge Time in place before the command can be executed. New to the Final Fantasy series, the players can also chain their attacks to stun enemies and deal more damage.

The game has a new mission-based system that allows the player to create their own journey, making the story somewhat non-linear. It is up to the player to determine which and how many sidequests to attempt and complete. The game is divided up into five chapters, and most locations in Spira have a new sidequest to undertake during each chapter. Several quests encompass the entire game, while others can only be started during a specific chapter. For those that complete the game with 100%, there is a special cutscene.

Minigames such as Blitzball, Chocobo raising, digging for Machina in the desert, and the new coin game Sphere Break, make for diversions to the game's main plot line.

Characters
Unlike other Final Fantasy games, the playable cast is set very early in the game. The player controls Yuna, Rikku and Paine, leaving the jobs for each character as the angle for variation. A large amount of characters from Final Fantasy X make returns as non-playable characters, as well.

Major Non-Playable Characters

 * Baralai: The current Praetor of New Yevon, respected by the citizens of Spira.
 * Nooj: Currently Meyvn (leader) of the Youth League. Known as the Deathseeker, he previously joined the Crimson Squad to find death in battle.
 * Gippal: An Al Bhed and current leader of the Machine Faction. Former Crimson Squad member in the same team as Nooj, Baralai and a movie sphere recorder who is named later.
 * LeBlanc: Sphere Hunter, and the leader of the LeBlanc Syndicate, driven by whims and infatuation with Nooj.
 * Kimahri Ronso: Now Elder of the Ronso tribe, he is tasked with preserving its order and prosperity.
 * Brother: Founding member and ostensible leader of the Gullwings, owner and pilot of the airship Celsius. An Al Bhed, son of Cid, brother of Rikku, cousin of Yuna. A Blitzball player who could be recruited for the Besaid Aurochs in Final Fantasy X, he is a starting player for the Gullwings in Final Fantasy X-2.
 * Buddy: An Al Bhed. First member, with Brother, of the Gullwings, and copilot of the Celsius.
 * Cid: Cid is decidedly at loose ends in Final Fantasy X-2, with Home in ruins and the Fahrenheit gone.
 * Shinra: A technical prodigy aboard the Celsius, designer of the Garment Grid system and the CommSphere communicators; his database helps decode the various spheres the Gullwings locate throughout the course of the game and tracks the enemies the Gullwings encounter.
 * Lenne: a popular Songstress and Summoner from the original Zanarkand and Shuyin's lover; instigator of events with ramifications that extend throughout the game. Died 1000 years before the events in the game.
 * Shuyin: Lenne's lover from the times of ancient Zanarkand; his refusal to die and let her die makes him the primary antagonist of Final Fantasy X-2. Died 1000 years before the events in the game.
 * Lulu: Settled in Besaid with Wakka, Lulu is the inspirational force behind his leadership. And of course, she has a little surprise for everyone...
 * Wakka: Lulu's husband, and Besaid's leader, both of which responsibilities keep him pretty busy throughout the game.
 * Tidus: The protagonist in Final Fantasy X; his disappearance at the end of Final Fantasy X prompts a search that is the initial impetus for Yuna joining the Gullwings. Tidus is in fact never specifically named in any dialogue in either game; one reason being that he can be renamed by the player. This is particularly noticeable in Final Fantasy X-2, where he is referred to as "Him" or "You know who" and seen in movie spheres titled '???'.

Story
The game begins as Yuna, Rikku and Paine, now Sphere Hunters and part of the group called the Gullwings, recover Yuna's stolen Garment Grid from a mysterious group, later known as the LeBlanc Syndicate, in the first of several encounters in which they vie for spheres. The game is punctuated by a narration of Yuna addressing Tidus, as though she is recounting the game's events to him as they occur in a style reminiscent of Tidus's narration in Final Fantasy X. Although Yuna's goal is to find clues that may lead her to Tidus, much of the game's story is concerned with the clash of factions that have established themselves in the time since Yu Yevon's fall and the coming of the Eternal Calm in Final Fantasy X, as well as with the uncovering of hidden legacies from Spira's ancient history. A significant portion of the game's events are unnecessary for the completion of the main storyline, but much of the depth of the story — including characterization and background details — are featured in the optional content, which generally follows how each part of Spira is healing in the time since the passing of Sin.

As the game progresses, the hostilities between the Youth League and New Yevon build to a head. In the meantime, the Gullwings discover an ancient sphere containing images of an enormous machina weapon called Vegnagun that was secretly buried beneath the city of Bevelle. The weapon has enough power to threaten all of Spira, and, moreover, it is revealed to the player Vegnagun is unable to distinguish friend from foe once activated. The Gullwings join forces with the LeBlanc Syndicate to investigate the underground areas of the city in an attempt to destroy the machine before it can be used by either side in the upcoming conflict. Discovering a large tunnel recently dug into the floor of the weapon's chamber, they realize Vegnagun has been moved to the Farplane, at Spira's core.

Disagreements between Spira's factions are soon punctuated further after Baralai, Nooj and Gippal — the leaders of New Yevon, the Youth League and the Machine Faction respectively — go missing. Returning to the underground of Bevelle, the Gullwings discover the missing faction leaders discussing Vegnagun and learn the machine's artificial intelligence allows it to detect hostility and to respond by activating itself and fleeing. Additionally, it is revealed that previously Nooj had come to Bevelle with the intention of destroying Vegnagun, prompting it to flee to the Farplane. Yuna learns Paine had once been friends with all three men, assigned to be their sphere recorder while they were candidates for the Crimson Squad, an elite group intended to be assigned leadership of Crusaders chapters across Spira.

Two years earlier in a cave beneath Mushroom Rock Road called the Den of Woe, just before the failed Operation Mi'ihen, the squad's final exercise was conducted. Within the cave, the various squad candidates were swarmed by pyreflies and driven to kill one another. The only survivors were Paine, Baralai, Gippal and Nooj, who were themselves targeted by the Yevon order afterward when they revealed having seen images of Vegnagun while in the cave. Soon after, Nooj shot his surviving comrades and left them to die, severing the friendship the group had with one another, but it is revealed Nooj was not acting of his own accord when he shot his friends. The feelings that drove the squad members to kill one another are revealed to have been the despair of the game's antagonist, Shuyin, who died 1000 years ago. Before the four survivors could leave the cave, the spirit of Shuyin — requiring a host in order to interact with the world physically — had possessed Nooj, and later forced him to shoot his comrades. In the time since, Shuyin had been subtly goading Nooj on a subconscious level, coercing him to approach Vegnagun so that he could use Nooj's body to control it.

Nooj's will was too strong for him to be completely controlled, and his desire to destroy the large machina prompted it to flee. Now desiring a new host, Shuyin leaves Nooj's body and possesses Baralai, pursuing Vegnagun to the Farplane. Nooj and Gippal follow in pursuit, asking Yuna to keep things under control on the surface. In doing so, Yuna must fight and defeat each of her Aeons from Final Fantasy X, their spirits now corrupted by Shuyin's despair. During this mission, Yuna falls into the Farplane and meets Shuyin, who mistakes her for a woman named Lenne, because of the Dressphere Yuna possesses. Feeling affection toward him that is not her own and finding herself unwilling to move away from him, she listens as Shuyin describes how he "awoke" after he had died, alone and unable to find Lenne. He expresses anger that Spira's citizens have not yet come to understand the heartache war can cause, and reveals he has developed a plan to use the old, but still operational Vegnagun to destroy all of Spira, ending the possibility of there ever again being a war. In so doing, he believes he will be making the world a better place.

Yuna learns that 1000 years before the game events, Shuyin was a famous Blitzball player in the high-tech metropolis of Zanarkand, and the lover of a popular Songstress and Summoner — Lenne. The two lived during Zanarkand's war with the more powerful Bevelle, and during the war's course Zanarkand ordered all Summoners to the front lines, separating the couple. Believing Lenne would die in battle, Shuyin decided the only way to save her was to infiltrate Bevelle, commandeer Vegnagun, and use it to destroy Zanarkand's enemies. Lenne perceived Shuyin's intentions, and — unwilling to allow him to take the lives of many others for her sake — followed him. When she caught up to Shuyin in Bevelle, he had only just begun to operate Vegnagun's control panel, an organ integrated into its head. Before he could use the giant cannon located in its mouth to destroy the city, Lenne pleaded for him to stop. Shuyin did so, but a group of Bevelle soldiers arrived a moment later and shot the couple. Fatally injured, Shuyin failed to hear Lenne say that she loved him before he died.

Over the course of the following 1000 years, Shuyin's despair and resentment over his failure to save Lenne bonded to pyreflies and caused him to constantly experience the anguish of that moment. Over time, his despair became so powerful it began acting on its own, and he came to believe that — in addition to helping the world — he would fade away with Lenne if he destroyed Spira.

Now with an understanding of Shuyin's hatred for war, Yuna manages to return to the surface and the Gullwings organize a concert to which everyone in Spira is invited, supporters of the Youth League and New Yevon alike. Additionally, the Songstress Dressphere Yuna wears is revealed to be comprised of Lenne's memories, resulting in a sphere screen projecting them to everyone in attendance during the concert. Witnessing images of Shuyin and Lenne's last moments, Spira's citizens begin to understand the unproductive nature of their disagreements. Yuna learns it was because of Lenne's memories that Shuyin had mistaken her for Lenne and she had felt affection toward him.

Although the factional fighting has ceased, Shuyin has nearly carried out his plan to use Vegnagun's cannon to destroy Spira from beneath its surface. Joining forces with the LeBlanc Syndicate once again, the Gullwings make their way to the Farplane and find Gippal and Nooj already battling Vegnagun. Working together, they manage to disable the giant machina before its cannon can fire at Spira. Finally confronting Shuyin, Lenne's consciousness emerges from the Songstress Dressphere and convinces him to abandon his mission and be at rest. Thanking Yuna, Lenne guides Shuyin's spirit to the Farplane in peace.

Subsequently, the Fayth once located in Bevelle appears before Yuna and thanks her as well. He asks if she would like to see "him" again. Should the player reply "Yes" — and a sufficient percentage of the game's optional storyline has been completed — the Fayth locate Tidus's scattered pyreflies and send them to Besaid, where they reform. Thus, when Yuna returns home, she is reunited with Tidus. Players who achieve 100% completion see an additional reunion scene in Zanarkand.

Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission
On February 19, 2004 (The day before the European and PAL release of X-2), a special edition of the game was released in Japan only. The new version features two modes: International and Last Mission.

International is the entire game itself, with some general tweaks to the look, feel, speed, and dialogue; as well as three extra Dresspheres, new Garment Grids and the inclusion of a Creature Create system similar to the Monster Arena where fiends can be captured, trained and used in battle. Among these are Strongest Shinra (a demonic-energy infused Shinra) and Major Numerus (the final boss of the Last Mission, a four-headed snake beast that rivals other Final Fantasy bosses for the spot of most difficult). Many of the Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2 non-player characters can also be trained and used in battle, including Tidus, Auron, Seymour, Lulu, Kimahri, Lucil, Nooj, Baralai, and several others. Over 150 additional party members can be gained through this system, with the majority having their own very small storylines and interesting endings (some including familiar faces such as Seymour and Jecht).

Last Mission is a storyline-based mission set three months following the defeat of Vegnagun where Yuna, Rikku, and Paine meet up for the first time since their victory to explore the recently-discovered Yadonoki Tower ruins. The tower has 80 levels with a boss battle on every 20th level. On every 10th level, the girls have a conversation regarding current events in their lives and in Spira, adding many post-game conclusions for NPCs. These conversations can be altered depending on how the player begins the mission. If one selects New Game at the start screen, one will be prompted to load a save game file from Final Fantasy X-2 normal or International, or to begin without loading. When beginning from scratch, the dialogue will be based on the normal ending of Final Fantasy X-2. However, if one loads a save game file with the happy or perfect endings, Yuna will talk about her new life with Tidus on Besaid Island at 30th level. It is also possible to remove certain pieces of dialogue: i.e., at one point the girls mention Wakka and Lulu's baby Vidina has grown a tooth, but by loading a save game set before completing Besaid in Chapter 5, any references to Vidina will be removed as the girls have not met him.

Click Here to find an English translation of Last Mission

Music
The game's music was composed by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi; the regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu did not contribute a single track, despite having composed the majority of the first game's soundtrack. The Final Fantasy X-2 Original Soundtrack was released on two discs in 2003 and after the release of Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission, an album entitled Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission Original Soundtrack composed of the songs added to the soundtrack was released as well. The game's musical style is different from its predecessor game's, including many lighthearted and upbeat tracks. Unlike "Suteki da ne", Final Fantasy X ' s vocal theme, "real Emotion" and "1000 Words" received English versions for the global release.

None of the themes from Final Fantasy X were re-used in Final Fantasy X-2. When asked about the chosen composers, the game's director, Motomu Toriyama, stated, "As symbolized in Yuna's live performance in the opening, we wanted to incorporate a pop feeling even with the music this time, which is very different from the typical Final Fantasy world. Ms. Matsueda and Mr. Eguchi were a perfect fit to the changes we were trying to achieve so we asked those two to handle the music for FFX-2. In fact, the drastic change in the music is one of the big differences that gave new direction for FFX-2. I wanted Mr. Uematsu to participate but due to other projects, we weren't able to have him on board for FFX-2."

Development
Final Fantasy X wasn't originally planned to have a sequel, but after a strong fan reaction to the short story titled Eternal Calm included with Final Fantasy X International, the development team decided to continue the story in a sequel. Yoshinori Kitase has commented that at the time the development team was ready for a new challenge, and thought that creating a sequel to Final Fantasy X would be a kind of challenge they hadn't yet tried.

The developers didn't want Final Fantasy X-2 to be a mere extension of the previous game. Even before the team had completed the story for the sequel, they had worked on recreating Yuna's look, and then decided on a story that fit that style. In the beginning, the team decided on an action-adventure game with a trio of female characters; the decision to have a female cast was one of the new challenges the developers wanted to try out with the game. One other approach that had been discussed was depicting the story of Jecht and Auron's generation, but the idea was scrapped for being too "traditional."

The developers wanted a change from the previous game's theme. Final Fantasy X ' s theme was described as independence from the ties of law and customs, whereas Final Fantasy X-2 was to be about the changes that occurred from the chaos after gaining that independence. In Final Fantasy X, each character had something enormous they had to face, but in Final Fantasy X-2 the developers wanted to show their journey searching for their new self. To contrast with Final Fantasy X ' s at times sorrowful atmosphere, Final Fantasy X-2 was to have a "pop" and upbeat atmosphere in the game's first part. To portray Spira's change, summons were excluded, locations were redesigned, and new vehicles were included.

The production team for Final Fantasy X-2 was only a third the size of the previous installment; because the team was already familiar with the material and lot of the content from Final Fantasy X could be reused, it allowed the game to be developed in one year, and at half the time it normally takes to produce a Final Fantasy title.

Sales and Reception
Final Fantasy X-2 sold well; within nine months of its Japanese release, Final Fantasy X-2 sold a million copies in North America, and nearly four million copies worldwide. The game's stylistic changes from past Final Fantasy titles created controversy; Final Fantasy X-2 was the first direct playable sequel to a Final Fantasy title, and the game's atmosphere was a drastic change from that of Final Fantasy X. The reuse of content from Final Fantasy X also received plenty of criticism. Despite negative comments Final Fantasy X-2 ' s critical reception was largely positive: The game maintains an 86% approval rating on GameRankings and an 85% rating on Metacritic, both only slightly down from its predecessor. Since June 2011, it's sold at least 5.3 million copies.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, as Final Fantasy X-2 is set two years after Final Fantasy X, X-2 was released two years after X indicating changes between the games.
 * Yuna narrates all the story, like Tidus did in X. However, her narration indicates that the story she tells is directed to Tidus assuming that player aims to achieve Perfect Ending, whilst Tidus in original game was rather commentator of the events.
 * During first mission in Chapter 1, when Gullwings race with Leblanc Syndicate to the top of Mt. Gagazet ruins, animated picture which resembles X-2's logo, but with Leblanc, Logos and Ormi depicted, is shown during the chase at the top of the screen.
 * It is the only sequel in the series to feature different battle system and character development system than in original.