Dressphere

Dresspheres are an integral part of Final Fantasy X-2 's battle system. Each character has to choose her Dressphere, which roughly translates into a job from other Final Fantasy games; however, Dresspheres are a little more encompassing than normal jobs.

Dresspheres determine the character's weapon, speed, and appearance since there is no equipment that controls these choices. Consequently, and perhaps fittingly, all of the equipment in Final Fantasy X-2 are some form of accessories. Due to the game's New Game Plus function, it is possible to gain several of the same Dressphere and equip them to the same Garment Grid, allowing Gates to be activated while effectively keeping the same Job Class.

During battle, a Spherechange can be implemented at any time to change the current Dressphere. This is done to gain extra abilities from the Garment Grid, to activate the Special Dressphere, or to switch to a different job more suited for the particular enemy. Switching of Dresspheres can be stopped or forced by Status Effects.

As an extra tidbit, the weapons used by the girls while wearing the Dresspheres (particularly Warrior, Samurai, Dark Knight, White Mage, Black Mage and Mascot) are reminiscent of the weapons featured in Final Fantasy X. For instance, as Warrior, Yuna wields Tidus's Brotherhood sword. Another example is when, as a Samurai, Rikku dons a Katana identical to Auron's.

Gunner
Yuna's default Dressphere, the Gunner, allows the player to shoot an enemy from afar. This Dressphere has excellent Accuracy and fair Agility. The Gunner's most useful abilities include Scatterburst, Tableturner, Enchanted Shot, Trigger Happy and Cheap Shot as it ignores target's defense.



Thief
Rikku's default Dressphere, the Thief, allows the player to Steal items (among other things) from enemies. As such, she has high agility, and fair Luck. The stronger moves like Master Thief have a long wait. Thief is the fastest Dressphere and gets two attacks in one command. The Thief's most useful abilities include Flee, Steal, Pilfer HP, Pilfer MP, Pilfer Gil, First Strike and Master Thief.



Warrior
Paine's default Dressphere, the Warrior, allows the player to attack an enemy with strong elemental strikes. Warriors have good Strength and high Defense and their most useful abilities include Power Break, Armor Break, Magic Break, Mental Break and the elemental attacks.



Gun Mage
Players can obtain Gun Mage Dressphere in either Chapter 1 or 2 at the Moonflow. The Gun Mage is quite weak in all areas except Magic. Fiend Hunter abilities, which deal 4x damage to specific fiend types, are where she really shines. Gun Mages also have the Blue Bullet skill, which works like traditional Blue Magic, in that the character learns the enemy ability by having it performed on them and surviving the battle.



Alchemist
Players obtain the Alchemist Dressphere in Chapters 2, 3, or 5 at the old Monster Arena in the Calm Lands. Alchemists can use several items from a limitless "Stash" and Mix items together to make stronger items. This is basically the same as Rikku's Overdrive from Final Fantasy X. The Alchemist's most useful abilities include Mega-Potion, Elixir, Phoenix Down, Mix, Chemist, Elementalist, and Items Level Ups.



Samurai
Found in the Kilika Temple in Chapter 3, the Samurai has high Strength and is useful for dispatching large groups of enemies with abilities like Fireworks and Zantetsu. It also has the useful ability Clean Slate, which heals the user and removes harmful status effects.



Dark Knight
Dark Knight has great HP, Strength and Defense, and also has fair Magic and Magic Defense, but has low Agility. Dark Knights have abilities such as Poison and Break. They also have attacks which drain the user's HP in order to cause damage, similar to the Darkside attack from previous games; and Black Sky, a powerful multi-hit attack. It is also notable that the Dark Knight has more status-proof abilities than any other dressphere. Dark Knight is found in the Bevelle Underground by choosing the right lifts and activating the blocks correctly.



Berserker
The Berserker has low Defense, but is balanced by great HP, strength and evasion. Equipping the Berserker with a Haste-inducing accessory and Berserker is one of the best attackers. Berserkers can double their max HP with Howl, and can inflict Berserk on themselves. The Dressphere is found after completing the Lake Macalania mission in Chapter 3.



Songstress
Songstress relies on the character's dancing and singing skills to inflict status ailments on enemies or to support her group. If the player is using it only to master it, the process may be faster by using a Garment Grid that gives the character Magic, Bushido, or Instinct abilities, as the Songstress cannot attack or defend herself in the normal sense. The party gains the Dressphere after defeating LeBlanc the first time in Luca. All of the dances are useful, and the songs can boost the party's stats. The Songstress is the only Dressphere that plays a part in the story, not counting the girls' default Dresspheres. The Dressphere was created from Lenne's memories. The only way to attack is to have Berserk on.



Black Mage
The Black Mage Dressphere allows characters to cast devastating spells. A Black Mage wields elements such as Fire, Water, Lightning, and Ice. She can also utilise an Osmose-like ability called MP Drain. The spells are limited to the basic Elemental Magic, and higher level Black Magic such as Flare and Ultima can only be gained by equipping a relevant Garment Grid. Players receive the Black Mage after the first mission in Chapter 1 on Mt. Gagazet. The Black Mage Dressphere was created from Maechen's memories.



White Mage
White Mages equip rods, however, they cannot attack. They work similar to White Mages in past games, casting White Magic and healing, higher level White Magic such as Auto Life and Holy can only be gained by equipping a relevant Garment Grid. The White Mages' HP is pretty low, but they have excellent magic defense. The Dressphere is received after completing the story mission in Besaid during Chapter 1.



Lady Luck
Lady Luck is the equivalent of the Gambler job, and has abilities similar to those of Setzer from Final Fantasy VI. It can be obtained either by defeating Shinra in the Sphere Break tournament at Luca in Chapter 3, or failing that, challenging and defeating Shinra in Chapter 5.



Trainer
The Trainer is a version of the Mediator from past games. Unlike in other games, where Mediators equip whips (or daggers and guns, like in Final Fantasy Tactics), Final Fantasy X-2 Trainers attack by giving orders to pets. Yuna uses a dog similar to Daigoro (Yojimbo's dog) named Kogoro, Rikku uses a monkey named Ghiki, and Paine uses a raptor named Flurry. Each animal accepts different commands and perform different abilities. This is similar to releasing monsters in Final Fantasy V, except the monsters are permanent. To obtain the Dressphere, Yuna must talk to and advise Kimahri in Chapter 1 or 2. He will then give the Dressphere to the party in Chapter 3 if the right answers are given. If Yuna rests at least once every Chapter, in Chapter 5 a scene will occur and the player can rename the animals.



Mascot
The Mascot is capable of a wide range of functions in battle, and can be considered the ultimate Dressphere. It can only be obtained by getting Episode Complete in every place without doing Zanarkand last. Due to a glitch, if the player completes Zanarkand last, they will not receive the Dressphere. Yuna is a Moogle, Rikku is a Cait Sith, and Paine is a Tonberry.

Special Dresspheres
Special Dresspheres are similar in function to that of Trance in Final Fantasy IX or that of Overdrives in Final Fantasy X; they provide the user with increased efficiency and functionality in battle. A Special Dressphere is activated by a character highlighting all of the paths on a Garment Grid within the course of one battle. Once the character changes into the Special Dressphere, the other characters are no longer visible or playable until the Special Dressphere is removed. In battle, each special dressphere consists of three components which take turns just as regular characters do.

Additionally, as long as a character is changed into a Special Dressphere, any accessories that character has equipped will have no effect. These Dresspheres also have no access to the Item command. Unlike all other Dresspheres, the base statistics of the Special Dresspheres are directly related to the number of nodes on the equipped Garment Grid, thus forcing a player who intends to make use of the Special Dresspheres to choose a balance between speed of access and power of the form.



Floral Fallal
A giant flower with two petals Yuna uses to dish out magic attacks.

The Dressphere can only be Mastered with two key items found in Chapter 5:

Aurora Rain, Break HP Limit, is found in the back of Yojimbo's cave in the Cave of the Stolen Fayth at the bottom of the Calm Lands northern gorge.

Twilight Rain, Break Damage Limit, is under a waterfall on the long Besaid path; its location can be revealed by using the Search Sphere found inside the temple in Besaid.

Machina Maw
A large salvaged machina Rikku uses to bombard her enemy with attacks.

The Dressphere can only be Mastered with two key items:

Machina Reactor, Break HP Limit, can be accessed in the same chapter as the Chocobo Ranch is set up, by gaining access to the Cave Ruins. The Cave Ruins are a secret dungeon at the back of the Chocobo Ranch.

Machina Booster, Break Damage Limit, in a chest at the bottom of the lift up to the Youth League HQ at Mushroom Rock Road during Chapter 5.



Full Throttle
A large blade suit with two large wings of blades Paine uses to slice and dice her enemies.

The Dressphere can only be Mastered with two key items:

Corpus Invictus, Break HP Limit, found in the second (after Cid is found) secret dungeon in Thunder Plains, behind a false wall.

Victor Primoris, Break Damage Limit, obtained by riding a Chocobo to the northernmost curve in the Mi'ihen Highroad; at the gap, the Chocobo will hesitate and then fly up to a chest. Wait at the same spot a second time, and it will fly into the gorge, where one of the items is found. This is only available if the Gullwings helped Calli in Chapter 2.

Festival-Goer
The girls don traditional Japanese festival outfits and attack with spinning objects and fireworks. Each girl has a different set of weapons. Yuna, using Temari (balls attached to her wrist) and Geta (wooden sandals), specializes in elemental magic. Rikku, using cotton candy and a goldfish in a plastic bag, specializes in elemental physical damage. Paine, using a giant fan and a mask named Omen, specializes in dealing status conditions with physical damage.



Psychic
The girls wear futuristic clothing, and stylized goggles. As the name suggests, Psychic utilizes mental energy and the Laws of Physics to engage in combat.



Bare
In the Last Mission dungeon each Dressphere has a HP and MP designation; if it runs out of HP, it ‘breaks’ and the girls have to wear the next Dressphere in line. If they run out of Dresspheres, they will be reduced to wearing their sleepwear. At this point, the girls are at their highest levels, but there’s no abilities for them to use, and nothing but punching and kicking for beating fiends.

Trivia

 * The concept of the Dresspheres' spherechange sequence is based on the "magical girl" genre of Japanese anime and manga, where the heroines have elaborate changing sequences from civilian attire to magical attire. The most prominent example would be Sailor Moon.
 * Though not appearing in the finished product, designs for an unused class showing Yuna wielding a dagger-like Gunblade can be found in the game's Ultimania guide among numerous other potential classes.
 * The Dark Knight has the least amount of Ability Points to master it, while the Alchemist has the most (without inclusion of Mascot). Mastery in Mascot can be considered the toughest to achieve as it uses abilities from two out of rest of the thirteen Dresspheres, which easily beats a number of about 3,300 AP mastery compared to the Alchemist.