Now granted, the game wasn't great. The story was stupid and it was way too camp for its own good, but it's not as terrible as people say. Technically it was fine, it looked just as great as Final Fantasy X and it played alright, I even liked how it compensated for the low number of playable characters with the whole 'costume' system, and part of me even preferred it because it meant you didn't feel obligated to level up seven different characters in case the story split your party up at some point and forced you to play with characters that you don't usually use.

People who say that the game ruins the ending of the first game don't know what they're talking about. If you've played X-2 all the way to the end you'll realise that the game doesn't spoil, contradict or alter anything in Final Fantasy X's story. There's no Tidus, there's no Sin, there's no Yu Yevon, in fact the only slight discrepancy is that there are Aeons even though the Fayth have left. All Final Fantasy X-2 does is suggest that there is life after the events of FFX, whether the continuation of Yuna's life needs to be told is, well, another argument, but since nothing in FFX-2 has any bearing on the story of the previous game, and in fact has no bearing on much of anything since the antagonist in the game is ridiculous and the game ends with the characters being in the exact same state as they were in the beginning, I don't think it deserves all the hate that it's been getting. The game's not that bad, it may suffer from a poor story, but the game play, visuals and to some extent, characters, are enough to deem it an 'okay' game.

Does the story suck? Yes.
Is the game bad? No.
Does the game defile its predecessor? Hell no.

I agree, to some extent, with the people who think this game should have never been made, but only in the sense that FFX was a great game and didn't need anything added to it, and even though a 'sequel' exists I still think of it as being a singular, complete game. FFX-2 gains nothing from being set in Spira and having Yuna and Rikku as returning characters, and if the developers had set it in a different world and had thrown in some original characters I think it would have been a fine game. It still wouldn't have been as good as FFX, but it'd be a decent RPG without any of the baggage and hate.

It made a mockery of my favourite game's storyline. And heads up, you get to watch a scene where Yuna and Tidus are reunited if you beat it 100%.

I don't think it's as bad as everyone says. I enjoyed it but the story sucked. Final Fantasy X is one of my favorite games, and for X-2 while I like the fact there's a continuation doesn't live up to FFX. The game only fails in story but excels in everything else. I

"It made a mockery of my favourite game's storyline. And heads up, you get to watch a scene where Yuna and Tidus are reunited if you beat it 100%."

The 'secret ending' is just fan service for people who enjoyed the relationship between Yuna and Tidus in FFX, and, to me at least, is just a little bit of bonus content and isn't supposed to factor into the game proper. Though, admittedly, anyone who’s enough of a fan to get 100% complete in FFX-2 would have preferred to preserve the ending of the first game. I'll put that down to poor judgement on the part of the developers.

It didn’t make a mockery of anything. Considering that it’s set in the same world and features many of the same characters, there’s surprisingly little reference to the events of FFX. Take away a couple of flashbacks and internal monologues from Yuna and it’s a separate game.

I still have yet to finish X-2. I've spent about 80+ hours on X. Something about X-2 just really does not want me to play it. It's like slapping a huge "DO NOT PLAY" stick on the front of the case; except the sticker is invisible.

 How the fuck do you go from defeating Sin to being a pop singer? Like what fuck happened thar? A little mini-game where you have to massage that bad girl's back? Really?

I agree, this plays like a totally separate game and that's the problem. They should've used entirely separate characters placed in the FFX universe instead of completely destroying Yuna's character. I do think it's kind of neat to be able to see what the world is like post-Sin and see what happened to everyone, but that could've been easily accomplished with new characters.

"I agree this plays like a totally separate game and that's the problem. They should've used entirely separate characters placed in the FFX universe instead of completely destroying Yuna's character. I do think it's kind of neat to be able to see what the world is like post-Sin and see what happened to everyone, but that could've been easily accomplished with new characters."

I agree completely with the multiple endings. I understand how this can be seen as fan service but to me it's like they're completely trivializing the events of the first game.

" How the fuck do you go from defeating Sin to being a pop singer? Like what fuck happened thar? A little mini-game where you have to massage that bad girl's back? Really?

I agree, this plays like a totally separate game and that's the problem. They should've used entirely separate characters placed in the FFX universe instead of completely destroying Yuna's character. I do think it's kind of neat to be able to see what the world is like post-Sin and see what happened to everyone, but that could've been easily accomplished with new characters."

To be honest, the thing about the story that irritates me the most isn't the fact that she ends up being a singer, I mean what else is a moderately attractive girl with no discernible talents supposed to do with her free time, but it's the whole idea of someone coming back from the dead just because they dislike the state that the world has got in to, so they can destroy it and start again. I mean forget about cliché, that's just plain retarded.

I wouldn't mind seeing square implement the sphere/costume system in some of their future games, maybe even in conjunction with the sphere grid from FFX.

I agree. The gameplay mechanics were interesting and different enough from FFX to make the game entertaining, but the story and probably the pacing as well were where it fell apart for me. I mean, going with an open ended approach instead of a linear one turned the bulk of the game into 'Mass Effect' style sidequests.

I don't know what people have against the game. I loved it! One of the best in the series if you asked me. I even managed to look past the story! (( Which wasn't that bad -_- ))

The game was fun. I remember having a lot of fun with the shooting range game. Although I never finished it, one day i'll go back.

The only reason I would consider getting this game is to dress Rikku up in all of the different costumes.

I really liked the game, my only problem was that for an FF game it was super short

The percentage system is rediculous. You can't skip cutscenes, have to do rediculous things you would never be able to find without a guide, and you have all of these rules and stupid things attached. For example, you have to press X to whistle in a cutscene to get the good ending? WHAT THE CRAP?!

However, call me crazy, but this game had my favorite FF gameplay. It was the perfect blend of strategy and fast paced tactics. My favorite Final Fantasy game play wise so far.

The problem isn't that its an 'okay' game. The problem is that its a final fantasy title and a sequel to a much loved game that is 'okay'. I think thats why people get frustrated or angry while trying out this game. I was dissapointed in the game rather than angry. 

FF-X2 is terrible.  It is an abomination.  It is an affront to man, beast, and god.  If there were one thing blamed for the inevitable downfall of civilization, humanity and social conscience, it would be FF-X2.
This thread is an excersize in futility.  The next time you feel inclined to display apologetic prostration before the Final Fantasy franchise, do it before your homemade shrine to Squeenix, not on the internet where people will ridicule you for your ridiculous opinions. 
That is all.

Perhaps I may have expressed my disain for this thread a little too succinctly.  When one installment is responsible for my disinterest of an entire series that at one point was my favorite in all of gaming though, I'll feel free to express my opinion when apologists seek to downplay the atrociousness of that specific installment, which is what this thread is, and what I've done. 
You got a problem?  Let me know, don't just give me negatives from the safety of your end of the internet, coward.

The gameplay is the best in the entire series.

Let alone FFX was crap FFX2 was omega crap it was the first sequal ever in a series that was never to have sequals, it took characters and story from FFX and made them crappier then they all ready were.

Yuna was a reserved prude of a priestess then in X-2 she turns into a gun toting WHORE wearing next to nothing.

Lol one thing Final Fantasy is always good for - imbuing people with very strong opinions.

It ruins my favourite thing about the Final Fantasy series: music. What a horrible soundtrack. Gawd.

yeah, that's true. I think one of the worst things about the Jap culture is the Jap-pop. It's horribly annoying. unless it's in Ouendan.

Sorry for posting in this long dead thread, but I agree with the OP. I really liked the combat as it was fast paced (fastest paced combat up until that point) and I liked the dress sphere system a lot. Being able to change on the fly and not just get other skills like in FF13, but also a new look. I'm so tired of characters in JRPG's always wearing the same thing all game (do they never need to wash their clothes?). At least in many WRPG's your look changes depending on what gear you have instead of just the weapon changing as in most JRPGs. Too bad the rest of the game was no good. It really felt like an expansion (in a bad way) or a rushed sequel (which it was).

Pfft, X-2 was great if you weren't trying to put on a fake macho front. 
 
Shit, just saw how old this thread was. Apologies for contributiong to the necromancy.

" Pfft, X-2 was great if you weren't trying to put on a fake macho front.  Shit, just saw how old this thread was. Apologies for contributiong to the necromancy. "

" @GunslingerPanda said:

" Pfft, X-2 was great if you weren't trying to put on a fake macho front.  Shit, just saw how old this thread was. Apologies for contributiong to the necromancy. "

I despise that game, and it's not because I'm trying to be macho.  It's because I feel that it shits on everything that FFX established. "

Best modern Final Fantasy by a landslide.

" @Hailinel said:

" @GunslingerPanda said:

" Pfft, X-2 was great if you weren't trying to put on a fake macho front.  Shit, just saw how old this thread was. Apologies for contributiong to the necromancy. "

I despise that game, and it's not because I'm trying to be macho.  It's because I feel that it shits on everything that FFX established. "

How?  FFX is probably my favourite FF, so genuinely interested to hear why you think this. "

The combat system was actually decent.

FFX had a death metal intro song.  I was captivated from the very beginning, to the very end.  This actually made me feel like Asian culture wasn't so pussified, even.  As soon as FFX-2 opened up with some kind of J-pop parody of this, I knew I was heading into tragedy, and that Japanese culture is in fact, fucked.
 
The battle system made combat fun, exceptionally fun, I might say.  The stat system was pretty cool, too, what with the learning new skills as you play a job, which you can ultimately master.  Everything else about the game was a train wreck, however.

" @Mesoian:  The Black Mages' cover of Otherworld is usually heard when the song is looked up.  Bill Muir, the vocalist who performs on the song, led a band that broke up before FFX's release, and someone at Square got their last demo, and brought Bill Muir in to record Otherworld.  But their band never got back together, so that's why you never heard about a band that got any publicity from that song's inclusion in the game.  If I worked for Square, I would've kept him in the sound department.  Seems like he could've come in handy when making music for tribal warrior themed characters and whatnot. "

The biggest problem with FFX-2 is that it carried a lot of preconceptions and baggage because it reused characters from one of the best FF games.  Had it been a completely new world, with new characters, people wouldn't have hated it so much.  The story was really stupid, but I absolutely loved combat in that game.  It was fun and fast-paced (for an RPG), and the dress sphere system worked really, really well.

If you can allow your mind to disassociate the story of FF10-2 from FF10 for a little while and just consider them as two stories, rather than the continuation of one longer story, FF10-2 is quite enjoyable. It's cute, like Jem and the Starlights from the 80's. It's not nearly as good as 10's story, but it's still fun and enjoyable. Like a summer movie for kids.
 
And the game is good, so that helps it be palatable.

" There is a scene after the credits of FFX that shows tidus coming back, they shouldm't have made it so difficult to trigger that in X-2 tho.  Also, how many times did I hear that music trying to beat the final boss of X? "

" @GunslingerPanda said:

" @Hailinel said:

" @GunslingerPanda said:

" Pfft, X-2 was great if you weren't trying to put on a fake macho front.  Shit, just saw how old this thread was. Apologies for contributiong to the necromancy. "

I despise that game, and it's not because I'm trying to be macho.  It's because I feel that it shits on everything that FFX established. "

How?  FFX is probably my favourite FF, so genuinely interested to hear why you think this. "

Basically by taking established characters and reducing them to caricatures of themselves, or pushing them in directions that don't seem particularly natural.  As an example, I found Rikku particularly insufferable, as she seemed to develop some sort of crack cocaine addiction since Final Fantasy X ended and would simply not stop being a spaz.  Then there was that one minor character from FFX (can't remember his name) who when he shows up in X-2 is suddenly using a Game Show Host Voice to promote what had become a tourist attraction.  What the hell?
 
And then there's the actual game's structure, where completion percentage is based on the performance of the largest series of inane, obscure tasks and completion of absurd minigames.  I'm all for games that have a sense of humor, but FFX-2 takes things too far from the tone established in FFX.  It's like following up The Godfather with a sequel not like The Godfather II, but like Johnny Dangerously. "

I think people forget that Yuna ISN'T the girl in the intro. Her personality doesn't change that much, she's just more action oriented rather than sitting on her laurels and letting summons fight.