Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy X-2 is the first true playable sequel in the Final Fantasy series by release date, 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 attempting to come to terms with living in a world without Sin, when political conflicts and a force from the ancient past rise and threaten to destroy the newfound peace.

A remastered HD version of the game for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita was announced at the Sony Press Conference in Japan on September 14, 2011 as part of a 10th anniversary special. The game will be bundled with the original Final Fantasy X, which is also remastered.

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 allocate dresspheres to each character for use in battles. The grids have inherent powers, which are activated when equipped, or as the player changes spheres by passing 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.

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.

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. For the first time, the player has access to most locations early in the game. 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, excavating for machina in the Bikanel Desert, and the new coin game, Sphere Break, make for diversions to the game's main plot.

Playable Characters
Unlike other Final Fantasy games, the playable cast of Final Fantasy X-2 is set early in the game, and for the first time in the series, only three characters are playable and the playable cast is all female. The player controls Yuna, Rikku, and Paine, leaving the jobs for each character as the angle for variation. Many characters from Final Fantasy X returns as non-playable characters.


 * Yuna: The High Summoner who defeated Sin and brought Spira the Eternal Calm two years ago, now a sphere hunter and member of the Gullwings. After Rikku shows her a sphere of a man resembling her lost love, Tidus, Yuna left her uneventful life in Besaid for the chance to reunite with him.
 * Rikku: An upbeat Al Bhed girl who's Cid's daughter, Brother's younger sister, and Yuna's cousin. Rikku served as one of Yuna's guardians during her pilgrimage two years ago. During one of her visits to Yuna on Besaid, Rikku shows her a sphere of a man who looks like Tidus. Believing Yuna should have some fun in her life and do something for herself, Rikku convinces her to join the Gullwings and embark on a personal journey.
 * Paine: A mysterious young warrior woman who joined the Gullwings shortly before Yuna. Paine has a cynical nature, mostly keeps to herself, and only reveals important information when she needs to. She doesn't like to talk about her past, but has ties to Nooj, Baralai, and Gippal.

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. A ladies' man and Rikku's old friend, Gippal is a former Crimson Squad member in the same team as Nooj, Baralai and at first unnamed Movie Sphere recorder.
 * Leblanc: A sphere hunter driven by whims and her infatuation with Nooj. She is also the leader of the Leblanc Syndicate, the sphere hunting group that acts as the Gullwings' rival.
 * Kimahri Ronso: One of Yuna's former guardians, 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 the Celsius. An Al Bhed, Cid's son, Rikku's older brother, and Yuna's cousin. 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, founding member of the Gullwings with Brother and co-pilot of the Celsius.
 * Cid: Former leader of the Al Bhed, Brother and Rikku's father, and Yuna's uncle. Cid is at loose ends in Final Fantasy X-2, with Home in ruins and estranged from his children.
 * Shinra: An Al Bhed 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 story. Died 1000 ago in the Machina War.
 * Shuyin: Lenne's lover from the times of ancient Zanarkand; his refusal to die and failure to save her makes him the primary antagonist of Final Fantasy X-2.
 * Lulu: One of Yuna's former guardians, now settled in Besaid with Wakka and is pregnant with his child. Lulu is the inspirational force behind his leadership.
 * Wakka: One of Yuna's former guardians, now Lulu's husband and Besaid's leader, both of which responsibilities keep him busy.
 * Tidus: The protagonist of 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 never named in dialogue as he can be renamed by the player in Final Fantasy X; he is referred to as "him" or "you know who".

The Eternal Calm

 * The game begins on the context of events featured in "Eternal Calm", a prologue included with the release of Final Fantasy X International.

Two years after defeating Sin, Yuna has led a quiet life in Besaid when Rikku arrives and presents a sphere discovered by Kimahri. The footage shows a man resembling Tidus caged in prison and demanding to see the summoner, and motivates Yuna to believe Tidus might still be alive. She joins Rikku as a sphere hunter to learn more about the mysterious sphere.

Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are members of a sphere hunting group called the Gullwings. 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 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, 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.

Uncovered Mysteries
The hostilities between the Youth League and New Yevon build to a head as an "awesome Sphere" is discovered in Kilika. The Youth League and New Yevon compete over it but the Gullwings, hearing about this, take the sphere for themselves. It turns out to be an ancient sphere containing images of a machina weapon called Vegnagun secretly buried beneath the city of Bevelle. The weapon has enough power to threaten all of Spira, and 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 to destroy the weapon. Discovering a 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 escalate 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 machina's artificial intelligence allows it to detect hostility and respond by activating itself and fleeing. 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 the three men, assigned as 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 candidates were swarmed by pyreflies and driven to kill one another. The only survivors were Paine, Baralai, Gippal and Nooj, who were targeted by the Yevon order afterward when they revealed having seen images of Vegnagun while in the cave. Nooj shot his surviving comrades, and although all parties survived, the act severed the friendship the group had with one another. Nooj was not acting of his own accord when he shot his friends, but was being possessed.

The feelings that drove the squad members to kill one another are were the despair of Shuyin, a man who died 1000 years ago. Before the four survivors could leave the cave, the spirit of Shuyin – requiring a host to interact with the world physically – had possessed Nooj, and forced him to shoot his comrades. In the time since, Shuyin had been goading Nooj on a subconscious level, coercing him to approach Vegnagun so he could use Nooj's body to control it.

A Thousand Words Never Spoken
Nooj's will was too strong for Shuyin to be completely controlled, and his desire to destroy the machina prompted it to flee. Desiring a new host, Shuyin leaves Nooj's body and possesses Baralai, pursuing Vegnagun to the Farplane. Nooj and Gippal follow asking Yuna to keep things under control on the surface. Yuna fights and defeats each of her aeons from Final Fantasy X, their spirits 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, she listens as Shuyin describes how he "awoke" after dying, alone and unable to find Lenne. He is angry that after 1000 years Spira's citizens have not come to understand the heartache war can cause, and has developed a plan to use Vegnagun to destroy all of Spira, ending the possibility of there ever being a war again.

A thousand years ago 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 Zanarkand ordered all summoners to the front lines, separating the couple. Believing Lenne would die 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 followed him.

When she caught up to Shuyin in Bevelle, he had begun to operate Vegnagun but before he could use the cannon to destroy the city, Lenne pleaded for him to stop. A group of Bevelle soldiers shot the couple and Shuyin failed to hear Lenne say she loved him before they died.

Over the following 1000 years Shuyin's despair and resentment over his failure to save Lenne bonded to pyreflies and caused him to re-experience the anguish of that moment. 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 returns 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. The Songstress dressphere Yuna wears is 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 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 to destroy Spira from beneath its surface. Joining forces with the Leblanc Syndicate, the Gullwings make their way to the Farplane and find Gippal and Nooj battling Vegnagun. They disable the machina before its cannon can fire at Spira. Lenne's consciousness emerges from the Songstress dressphere and convinces Shuyin to abandon his mission and be at rest, guiding Shuyin's spirit to the Farplane in peace.

Endings
Final Fantasy X-2 features multiple endings. Depending on certain criteria additional cutscenes will be featured before or after the regular ending FMV.
 * The standard ending FMV features Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai addressing the people of Spira in Luca's stadium and announcing the dissolution of their respective factions for the peace of the world. Yuna and the Gullwings depart for Besaid on the Celsius, and as YRP ride onboard the deck, Yuna's final narration states her story will continue as she embraces her new life.
 * If the player fails to defeat the fourth and final part of the Vegnagun battle in time, Shuyin fires Vegnagun's cannon and destroys all of Spira.
 * A short cutscene will play before the ending should the player fail to reach at least 75% storyline completion and/or the certain criteria. As YRP departs from the Farplane, the spirit of Tidus appears to say goodbye to Yuna. Yuna accepts she will always love Tidus and he will always have a place in her heart.
 * An additional ending FMV will play after the credits roll should the player reach at least 75% storyline completion and fulfill the ending criteria. The fayth have located Tidus's scattered pyreflies and sent him to Besaid, where he surfaces from the water where Yuna and Tidus reunite, an event witnessed and celebrated by Wakka, Lulu, and the people of Besaid.
 * A final cutscene will play after Tidus and Yuna's reunion, should the player achieve 100% storyline completion. Tidus and Yuna have a conversation in Zanarkand, where Tidus wonders if he might still be a dream.

Last Mission
Three months later, Yuna, Rikku and Paine each receive a letter asking the trip to regroup and investigate the newly discovered Iutycyr Tower.

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 to 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, and also, the team didn't want a game with no female playable characters.

Director Motomu Toriyama has commended it's not uncommon for women to star as main characters in Hollywood movies and the team looked into films like Charlie's Angels and Tomb Raider for inspiration, but the Hollywood stories were using 'macho' women to fill the same type of roles usually played by men. With Final Fantasy X-2, ideas from movies were used as a starting point but the goal was to base the story around cuter and more feminine characters. This was achieved in offering various outfits for the characters, using ladylike movements in battle, and the group's lively reactions to events to keep the atmosphere light-hearted and reinforce the cuter aspects of the game's heroines.

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 big 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.

It was known since the beginning Final Fantasy X-2 was not going to have summons and that something else was needed in the summons' place; this is where the idea for the Spherechange system came from, since it provides something appealing both visually and in terms of gameplay. Since Final Fantasy X-2 was the first game in the series to use the same game world as a previous title, the developers wanted to offer something new in other areas of the game and took a different approach to the battle system.

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.

Themes
Possibly the main theme of Final Fantasy X-2 is the search for the lost as Kimahri's discovery prompts Yuna to set on a journey to find her lost love. The theme of memories and how they affect certain characters is also prominent. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine think about the events of the past and find strength in them to keep going and look towards the future. As Shuyin's despair over the Machina War and his failure to save Lenne grew over a thousand years and began to act on their own, he became a monster believing that destroying Spira would make things better. Lenne's memories and emotions are shown through Yuna acting as her vessel, and she sought to have Yuna help her express the pain that results from war and stop Spira's people from repeating their past mistakes, and ultimately help Shuyin find peace.

Another prominent theme is friendship. Paine joins the Gullwings and initially keeps mostly to herself, but as the story unfolds, she opens up even though she is often annoyed by Yuna and Rikku. The party discovers Paine's past friendship with Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai, but those three are also a reason for Paine joining the Gullwings. Yuna's journey of self-discovery is another theme in the story. Since she is no longer a summoner and burdened by its responsibilities, she is now free to embrace the life she believed she would have to sacrifice for Spira's sake. Through her time under Rikku's influence, Yuna finds a new role for herself in the new Spira, and finds a strong and confident woman inside herself.

Another theme is the humans' conflicts. Spira has greatly changed since Sin's defeat. With the arrival of the Eternal Calm, a reformed Yevon fights with the recently formed Youth League over the control of Spira's future, while the Machine Faction tries to remain neutral by supplying machina to both sides. An accompanying theme is the aftermath of the events of Final Fantasy X. Now that Sin is gone forever, Spira now has its independence, and the people are now free to have fun in life and live in their own ways, no longer subject to Yevon's teachings. However, they have to deal with the repercussions of the actions taken to achieve that independence and the people who lost their lives in the process. They also have to come to terms with the changes overtaking Spira and the consequences that come with progress.

Music
The game's music was composed by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi, two composers who had also created music for the obscure racing RPG Racing Lagoon, a game from 1999 that was never localized and was developed under the former SquareSoft label; 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's, including many lighthearted and upbeat tracks. Unlike "Suteki da ne", Final Fantasy X's vocal themes, "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."

Final Fantasy X-2: International + Last Mission
On February 19, 2004 (the day before the European and PAL release of Final Fantasy X-2), a special edition of the game was released in Japan. The new version features two modes: International and Last Mission. While the dialogue is the English dialogue (except for Last Mission), the subtitles and menus are all in Japanese.

International is the entire game itself, with general tweaks to the look, feel, speed, and dialogue; as well as two 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 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 small storylines and 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 going their separate ways after their victory to explore the recently-discovered Iutycyr 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 many people the girls encountered three months prior. 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 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.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster


On 19 March, 2013, it was confirmed that Final Fantasy X-2 is receiving an HD remastering alongside that of Final Fantasy X and that it will be based on the International version of the game. The two games will be available together on a single Blu-ray disc for the PlayStation 3 version. PS Vita owners can either download both games digitally for $39.99, or purchase a retail version that comes with a physical copy of Final Fantasy X and a voucher to download Final Fantasy X-2. The HD remaster has trophies and improved music and graphics.

Reception
Final Fantasy X-2 sold well; within nine months of its Japanese release, the game 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 received 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. As of June 2011, it has sold at least 5.3 million copies.

Trivia

 * As Final Fantasy X-2 is set two years after Final Fantasy X, it was also released two years after Final Fantasy X.
 * During the first mission in Chapter 1, when the Gullwings race the Leblanc Syndicate to the top of the Mt. Gagazet ruins, an animated picture which resembles the logo of Final Fantasy X-2, but with Leblanc, Logos and Ormi depicted, is shown at the top of the screen.
 * Kingdom Hearts Final Mix contains a trailer for Final Fantasy X-2.