Total letdown.
I was in love with Final Fantasy X when I played it, and it still resides high up in my list of top 10 games I've ever played. I was looking forward to Final Fantasy X-2 eagerly, even though it looked to be nothing more than a cash-in on Final Fantasy fans. Lucky for me, my friend got this for his birthday and I got to sink a couple of hours into it before I spent the money on the game.
The graphics are great. They're really colorful, high quality, and they stand out. That being said, they haven't been upgraded at all sine Final fantasy X. So all that praise I just gave it, is pretty much praise for Final Fantasy X. They seriously did not improve the graphics at all. Yet another indicator that this is nothing but a cash-in on the fans.
The soundtrack is pretty good at times, and then horrible at others. When it uses more traditional JRPG music it's wonderful. Unfortunately, that's not the only music they use. They also have thins bubblegum-pop kind of music that is disgusting and revolting to listen to. The voice work is good, as it was in Final Fantasy X.
The game-pay itself usually isn't that big of a factor in JRPGs, as the story is the most important part. So there should have been nothing wrong with the original turn-based system, in fact, I kind of liked it. Well they released it with some kind of indescribable crap that can't even decide what kind of RPG combat system it wants to be. It's by far the worst combat I've ever experienced in an RPG, and at least a contender for worst in a game period. Don't even get me started on Square's pathetic excuse for platforming they decided to throw in. As for the story, in the trailers they make you think it will matter and truly carry on from where Final Fantasy X left off, but they're pretty much tricking you. The game has almost nothing to do with anything, except that it includes the same characters. I was so hoping for a continuation of the story, but no luck here.
In other words, this game utterly failed me in every way possible. I guess the game is passable from an unbiased standpoint, so I'll let it slide by with a 6.5. If you're a Final Fantasy fan, this may satisfy your Final Fantasy Hunger, but I seriously doubt it.
