Final Fantasy X-2 Ranking: C
I originally had a shrine to this game as part of my Final Fantasy set of shrines. To be honest…this game makes me a little ill, but I thought of it as an extension to FFX (which I liked) and I also figured that since FFII, FFIV, and FFVIII had shrines and I didn’t like those entries as much as I did the others, it’d be fine to have an FFX-2 shrine as just part of the whole set.
But it kept bothering me. Yes, a game having a shrine but not deserving it in my head bothers me – I’m weird; get over it. Anyway, here’s the thing about Final Fantasies II, IV, and VIII – these are entries where Square was trying to innovate and, in my opinion, fell short. FFII had that weird level-up system that was kind of clunky, but hey, I had fun with it once I made Maria into a face-wrecking machine. FFIV’s really popular amongst the fanbase and I think my opinion of it is in the extreme minority. FFVIII required me to change my playstyle and do a lot of calculated grinding, which isn’t ideal, but once I got around that the game wasn’t bad at all. These games have positives that outweigh their negatives and I don’t really have an issue with them being part of my overall Final Fantasy shrines.
FFX-2…is different. To me it murders the tone and character development of FFX. Yuna goes from being this solemn girl with a heavy burden to…a happy-go-lucky airhead. Rikku goes from being a perky girl using a bubbly façade to hide the fact that she’s trying to save her cousin from sacrificing her life needlessly to…even more airheaded than Yuna becomes. Brother goes from a minor character to a really creepy insane guy who wants to bang his cousin. The game is about resurrecting Tidus, which completely defies the whole point of FFX’s ending – that Yuna did end up having to sacrifice someone to complete her mission, but she grew stronger from it.
The plot about ancient Zanarkand and Bevelle and their war, with the focus on Shuyin and Lenne, wasn’t bad at all. It was actually a tragic story that fit right in with the theme of FFX. But everything else…I find myself wondering whether anyone who worked on this game even played FFX.
The game mechanics – the 100% completion thing where the game can bug out and prevent you from getting to 100% even though you’ve patiently sat through hours of CommSphere fuckery and that goddamn chocobo side-quest that requires you to traverse a confusing dungeon without a minimap while the camera disorients you every few seconds – are nothing short of Bolshevism.
When I think about other “additions” to the main games, such as Advent Children for FFVII or, hell, even Legend of the Crystals for FFV, they don’t really add to or take away from the main games. But this…I feel like the mythos and character of FFX suffer from this sequel existing. It really doesn’t sit well with me. So here’s my honest opinion of FFX-2 – definitely not worthy of a shrine.
I originally had a shrine to this game as part of my Final Fantasy set of shrines. To be honest…this game makes me a little ill, but I thought of it as an extension to FFX (which I liked) and I also figured that since FFII, FFIV, and FFVIII had shrines and I didn’t like those entries as much as I did the others, it’d be fine to have an FFX-2 shrine as just part of the whole set.
But it kept bothering me. Yes, a game having a shrine but not deserving it in my head bothers me – I’m weird; get over it. Anyway, here’s the thing about Final Fantasies II, IV, and VIII – these are entries where Square was trying to innovate and, in my opinion, fell short. FFII had that weird level-up system that was kind of clunky, but hey, I had fun with it once I made Maria into a face-wrecking machine. FFIV’s really popular amongst the fanbase and I think my opinion of it is in the extreme minority. FFVIII required me to change my playstyle and do a lot of calculated grinding, which isn’t ideal, but once I got around that the game wasn’t bad at all. These games have positives that outweigh their negatives and I don’t really have an issue with them being part of my overall Final Fantasy shrines.
FFX-2…is different. To me it murders the tone and character development of FFX. Yuna goes from being this solemn girl with a heavy burden to…a happy-go-lucky airhead. Rikku goes from being a perky girl using a bubbly façade to hide the fact that she’s trying to save her cousin from sacrificing her life needlessly to…even more airheaded than Yuna becomes. Brother goes from a minor character to a really creepy insane guy who wants to bang his cousin. The game is about resurrecting Tidus, which completely defies the whole point of FFX’s ending – that Yuna did end up having to sacrifice someone to complete her mission, but she grew stronger from it.
The plot about ancient Zanarkand and Bevelle and their war, with the focus on Shuyin and Lenne, wasn’t bad at all. It was actually a tragic story that fit right in with the theme of FFX. But everything else…I find myself wondering whether anyone who worked on this game even played FFX.
The game mechanics – the 100% completion thing where the game can bug out and prevent you from getting to 100% even though you’ve patiently sat through hours of CommSphere fuckery and that goddamn chocobo side-quest that requires you to traverse a confusing dungeon without a minimap while the camera disorients you every few seconds – are nothing short of Bolshevism.
When I think about other “additions” to the main games, such as Advent Children for FFVII or, hell, even Legend of the Crystals for FFV, they don’t really add to or take away from the main games. But this…I feel like the mythos and character of FFX suffer from this sequel existing. It really doesn’t sit well with me. So here’s my honest opinion of FFX-2 – definitely not worthy of a shrine.