Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy X-2 (X-2 is marked " dix-deux" in French and " ten-two" in English) of Final Fantasy X is the continuation. It is the first Final Fantasy with being the continuation of a preceding episode. It left on March 13rd, 2003 to the Japan, on November 18th, 2003 in North America, and on February 20th, 2004 in Europe. It is developed and distributed by Square Enix (in Europe, it is distributed by Electronic Arts). It should be noted that a version known as International left on February 19th, 2004 to Japan only, container of many additional scenes and kinematics ever left in the rest of the world.

The gameplay

The system of combat

The system of combat of Final Fantasy X, called CTB (in English Conditional Turn-Based , in French Combat out of Turns of actions by Beats ) was abandoned with the profit of a variation of ATB (in English Active Time Battle , in French Combat in Real-time ), already used in the other episodes of the saga. It is from now on possible to make combos by synchronizing the attacks of the characters in order to make the most damage possible. The screen of play changed somewhat but remains mainly similar to that of the precedents opus.

The system of missions

Final Fantasy X-2 is not a FF like the others. The play cuts out in five acts, each one of these acts comprising a variable number of missions. There is of course a principal screen comprising of the missions known as " importantes" that it is necessary at all costs to succeed in to advance the scenario. Advance in the play is measured thanks to a percentage of scenario. To finish the play, to reach the 100% is absolutely not necessary. But to reach them, it is necessary to fulfill the many secondary missions which mark out the play and add invaluable % to the score of scenario. Lastly, each mission has a level of difficulty noted by stars (from one to five), dependant on our level compared to the monsters present in the required place.

Pallets and Vêtisphères

One of the great innovations is the introduction of the Palettes and the Vêtisphères .

the Pallets : ( Garment Grids in English) are objects having sites (six maximum for most powerful) in which you will have to place vêtisphères. The majority of the pallets have effects known as " Basic " , i.e. the girl who will carry the pallet will profit that is to say of an increase in its characteristics (Force +5, Magie+5…), that is to say of an automatic competence or orders (for example Extra HP, Compétences White Magic…) only by equipping the pallet. The pallets comprise also studs, which are coloured balls placed between the sites intended for the vêtisphères. The studs give effects (increase in characteristics or launching of a competence) which are activated at the time of a metamorphosis. The effects of the studs last until the end of the combat.

Vêtisphères (English Dresspheres) are kinds of jobs ( trades , as in Final Fantasy V) which determine the characteristics of heroins (Force, Magie, Rapidité…) as well as the attacks which they will be able to learn and to use then. For example, a girl carrying the vêtisphère White Mage will see her points of magic, spirit and HP to increase and will be able to carry out fates of white magic. Each girl can change vêtisphère in the course of combat and thus juggle with competences. Lastly, Yuna, Rikku and Paine lay out each one of a special behavior which they will be able to thread after having put all the vêtisphères being on their pallet lasting a combat. Of course, the number of vêtisphères present on the pallet determines the characteristics of the special behavior. The more the pallet counts vêtisphères, the more the characteristics of the special behavior will be high.

Here the list of the vêtisphères:

Warlike ( Warrior ): armed with a sword, the warlike lance especially of powerful physical attacks, but can also lower the characteristics of its enemies (Trepan, Emousse…).
Robber ( Thief ): having an extremely high speed, it specializes in the flight of objects and has very useful competences (Décamper, Initiative…).
Singer ( Songstress ): it cannot launch physical attacks, but is very fast (thus dodging well) and is especially used to launch fates of support or to lower the enemy characteristics.
Printer ( Gunner ): it compensates for its lack of force by a speed and a precision raised thanks to its revolver. It can also touch several enemies at the same time.
Black Magus ( Black Magus ): the girl who it door will become expert in black magic. It can launch elementary fates (Blazing inferno, Glacier, Foudre, H2O) thanks to its high points of magic.
White Magus ( White Magus ): the white magus launches curative fates (Esuna, Vie, Guérison…) but also of the fates of protection (Boomerang, Shielding…).
Pistomancienne ( Gun Magus ): it has rather average characteristics, but its advantage is to be able to assimilate the attacks of its enemies! It can also use special balls for each monster.
Alchemist ( Alchemist ): it has a satchel from which it draws objects of care and can combine two objects to create new with the often unexpected effects.
Black Knight ( Black Knight ): it is a mixture of Warlike and Magus Black, having points of high attack and magic. Unfortunately, the Black Knight is rather slow and fairly precis. However, it has a powerful magic: sorcery, that compensates of all these falls of characteristic.
Bersek ( Berserker ): it does not have weapons, since it fights with naked hands. Bersek has an incredible force and a speed, but has a very weak constitution and is very vulnerable to the magic attacks.
Flambeuse ( Lady Luck ): as its name indicates it, the attacks launched by the flambeuse one depend on the chance. A throw of dice determines the effects, the power or the success of an attack which can be often turned over against it.
Samurai ( Samurai ): very physical, will samurai it has techniques of engagements removing the HP of the adversary in various manners. It can also launch personal fates of support and kill instantaneously its enemies or wasted with gils (money of final fantasy).
Adjuster ( To trail ): the girl using this vêtisphère sends her animal to fight in her place. Yuna sends its Daïgo dog, which launches elementary fates, of support and care. Rikku sends its Ghiki monkey, which can especially deteriorate the state of the adversary and launch fates of support. Finally Paine has Flurry, its pheasant, which launches fates of support and deteriorations of state as well as care much more impotant compared to the other members of the team.
Mascot ( Mascot ): the girls endorse a costume representing a recurring character of Final Fantasy: Yuna is disguised in Mog, Rikku in Caith Sith and Paine in Tomberry. The Mascots are very powerful (in all the fields) and have a broad panel of attacks and competences.
special Behaviors : When one of the girls threads her special behavior, the two others are isolated combat (and return if it is K.O.). Each special behavior is divided into three parts, that the player can order each one like a character with share.

Flora Flora (+ left Pistil and right Pistil , in English Flora Fallal ): special behavior of Yuna. It resembles an immense flower violet, with Yuna in the center, vêtue of white.
Makina Armed (+ Smasher and Crusher , in English Machina Maw ): special behavior of Rikku. It resembles an enormous metal animal on which takes Rikku seat.
Zankioh (+ Dextra and Senestra , in English Full Throttle ): special behavior of Paine. It is a species of armor with wings whose feathers are swords. This Vêtisphère has the largest number of offensive techniques: the majority of these techniques do not consume a MP.

In the version International , two vêtisphères was added (this version not having left to Europe, nor in the United States, the names were never translated):

Omasturishi : transform the heroin which carries it in a person having fun the festival. One could translate it by " Teufeuse" or " Fêtarde". In competences, it resembles the Mascot.
Psychiker : allows the girl who it revêt to disguise itself in a character of science fiction, with unexpected capacities like that to stop time.

The world of Final Fantasy X-2

Spira

The action always proceeds at Spira, but two years after the disappearance of Sin ( to see the article on Final Fantasy X for more details ). The world did not change much in the form, for example one finds the cities already present in the precedent opus, like Bevelle or Besaid. There are however some changes brought: certain places disappeared like the Lac Macalania , whereas new places are browsable. The Albatross travel on board a vessel, the Celsius .

Characters

One finds certain characters already seen in Final Fantasy X, but being given the changes which have occurred since the death of Sin, number of them do not occupy any more the same function. It is the case of Invokeurs or the Guards for example. Here a short list of the characters of the play.

Playable characters

Yuna : Large in the past Invokeur, it was born in Bevelle and grew on the island of Besaid. It is the girl of Braska, which was also Grand Invokeur. It has demolishes Sin before two years and brought the Eternal Happiness to Spira. After having viewed the sphere of the hope, it engaged like chasseuse of spheres within the Albatross.
Rikku : Cousin of Yuna and girl of Cid, leader of Al Bhed in the preceding episode. Co-founder of the Albatross, it can always keep her good mood even in the hardest moments.
Paine : She was formerly camerawoman within Crimson Squad. Rather cold and held, it is excellent fighting which dissimulates many secrecies, in particular concerning its relations with the chiefs of the three factions of Spira.

Not-playable characters

the Albatross :

Frangin ( Brother ): as its name indicates it, it is the brother of Rikku, with which it founded the Albatross. He car-proclaimed leader besides of it. He adores Yuna (in spite of the fact that he is his cousin) and never hesitates to testify to him to its affection.
Poto ( Buddy ): friend of Frangin, also is to him a Al Bhed. He is rather calm, which is very useful being given its function: pilot of the airship.
Shinra : very intelligent for its young age, this small Al Bhed has creates the system of Pallets/Vêtisphères, Visiosphères but also of other inventions such as the encyclopedia of the monsters… It knows full with things, but when it does not have the answer to the question, it leaves its favorite excuse, " I am only a gosse".
Barman ( Barkeep ): one does not know the true name of this Hypello that Frangin collected in the course of road, and who deals with the bar on board the Centigrade one.

the Gang LeBlanc :

LeBlanc : arrogant, it is the " patronne" LeBlanc Gang. It is very authoritative, especially with its assistants, but becomes very nice when it thinks of Nooj.
Ormi : one of the assistants of LeBlanc. It is small large resembling a sumo, armed with a large round shield.
Logos : the second henchman of LeBlanc. It contrasts with Ormi, since it large, is frayed and has attached eyes. It uses two revolvers to fight.

the League of the Young people :

Nooj : leader of the League. Former Banisher and aspiring to Crimson Squad. It has suicidal tendencies, moreover it has an arm and a leg mechanics.
Lucil : in the past captain of the Knights Chocobo, it is from now on arm-right of Nooj.
Elma : former partner of Lucil.
Gave : ex-Invokor and rival of Yuna.

Néo-Yévon :

Baralai : former candidate in Crimson Squad. Director of Néo-Yévon.
Isaaru : old Invokeur and friend of Yuna. It is from now on tourist guide in the city of Zanarkand (birthplace of Tidus)!
Barthello : former guard of Gave with which it is always in love.

the Pro-Makinas :

Gippel : former candidate in Crimson Squad and chief of the Pro-Makinas. He would have had a connection with Rikku, which she always contradicts…
Nahdala : this woman deals with the excavations in the desert.

Other characters :

Wakka : former guard of Yuna and player of blitzball, it lives in Besaid where it founded a family with Lulu.
Excentric : former guardian of Yuna, it settled with Wakka. They had a son named Vidin.
Kimahri Ronso : former guard of Yuna, he is from now on the chief of the tribe Ronso.
Clasko : stockbreeder of Chocobo, former banisher at the sides of Elma and Lucil.
Trommel : leader of the Guado people.
O'aka XXIII : itinerant merchant who collapses under the debts and who must hide his creditors (Al Bhed).
Shuyin : young man living with Zanarkand at the time of the War of the Machines. It was in love with Lenne, but inopportunely resulted in its death. It resembles Tidus curiously, which gave hope to Yuna.
Lenne : this young woman was the boyfriend of Shuyin. She was also a very famous singer. She died under the shots of the soldiers of Bevelle, at the sides of Shuyin.
Vegnagun : it is not a " personnage" with whole share, but this machine holds a central role in the play. Vegnagun would have been built thousand years ago at the time of the War of the Machines, in Bevelle. Being too powerful, it could not be used (it could have destroyed any Spira) and remained in sleep in the undergrounds of Bevelle.

Organizations

the League of the Young people ( Youth League ): it is a rather radical organization which encourages the people of Spira to reject the old system which had dominated Spira during a whole millenium. They preach the transparency and freedom to think, attracting each other the sympathy of young people. Agitated formerly enough, the members of the League try from now on to keep a policy much calmer.
Néo-Yévon ( New Yevon Party ): a preserving group which falls under the continuity of the religion yévonite. They want to erase the errors made by their predecessors, and to try to rectify the faith lost since the victory against Sin. Indeed, since the death of Sin, the Church crumbled. Néo-Yévon from now on is directed by a council, chaired by Baralai (the Directeur ).
the Pro-Makinas ( Machine Faction ): this third group prefers to remain apart from the political conflict tearing Spira. The Pro-Makinas are mainly Al Bheds, present in any Spira. They have an important influence from the military point of view. They use the " term; Makina" rather than " Machine" , which has a negative connotation owing to the fact that the machines were prohibited during thousand years by the old religion. Their chief is Gippel.
the Albatross ( The GullWings ): this organization " chasse" spheres in Spira. It is made up of Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Frangin, Poto and Shinra. Their HQ is on board the Centigrade one, which is used to them as means of transport. The chief is Frangin, but most of the time, it is Yuna which decides for him.
the Gang Leblanc ( LeBlanc Syndicate ): hunters of spheres also, and rivals of the Albatross, which they call " Albatroces". Composed of LeBlanc (the chief), Ormi, Logos, and of a multitude of henchmen (LeBlanchets and LeBlanchettes). Their HQ is in Guadosalam.

The scenario

Two years passed since the évênements of Final Fantasy X and in particular the defeat cuisante of Sin. Tidus, after its combat with died against you know who disappeared. After the shock related to the so sudden disappearance of his/her lover, Yuna views a vidéosphère on which she sees a person resembling Tidus some share in a cage. Become a strong and combative woman, Yuna joined since then with Al Bheds, and more particularly Rikku, and also with a new arrival of which one knows absolutely nothing. It is about Paine. Together, the three girls belong to a gang of hunters of spheres, the “Albatross”. The acknowledged goal of this company is to solve all kinds of problems by achieving various missions, which lead more or less to the principal search, the search for Tidus. For that purpose, the girls can change of capacity into covering different costumes. This scenario can appear quite light vis-a-vis the first episode, namely Final Fantasy X, one discovers as the history is much darker than it does not appear to with it. If the goal is “funky” and that one with the impression to find in a parody of Final Fantasy X, the continuation reveals us the enigmatic presence of a phantom which obviously decided to be avenged for its death as sudden as tragic. And, consequently occasion, to destroy the world… But which is also this woman who raises the same behavior of singer of Yuna and which appears to him in its dreams? Who is this strange young man who resembles Tidus but seems darker? What wishes exactly the three young chiefs of clans which declare a sympathetic nerve war? Could the church of Yevon did not disappear, as opposed to what one could believe, be that it is at the origin of the captivity of Tidus and especially which are its new objectives since its God disappeared from the surface of the ground? Which y' report/ratio has it between Bevelle and Zanarkand? What explains the return of the Dreams? The main question remains: What Vegnagun?

System of play

Whereas Final Fantasy X was deeply dramatic and took as a starting point the Asian traditional cultures, its continuation propels the player in a completely different universe. It is in a pop environment and even sometimes very off-hand, with the image of current Japan, that the developers decided to report the adventures of Spira once again. It is not a secrecy if the main theme of the adventure is the change. The system of combat completely gives up the strategic prospect for FFX: in FFX-2, it returns in Active Time Battle, more dynamic than ever. For the occasion, the system of classes of episodes III, V and Tactics is of return and makes it possible to change " job" (named vêtisphères) right in the middle of the engagements.

Around the play

Development team

- Production: Yoshinori Kitase - Realization: Motomu Toriyama - Programming: Masaki Kobayashi, Yukio Ishii - Design of the characters: Tetsuya Nomura - Design of the vêtisphères: Tetsu Tsukamoto - Artistic director: Shintaro Takai - Scenario: Kazushige Nojima, Daisuke Watanabe - Illustration: Yoshitaka Amano - Music: Noriko Matsueda, Takahito Eguchi

Musics

The play profits from new musics, all different of Final Fantasy X. The authors of the band are Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi. In addition to these melodies, one finds two songs. The first, real Emotion , is in a J-Pop directed style (pop Japanese woman). The second, 1000 Words ( a thousand of words ), is rather a slow fox trot. The songs are sung in Japanese by Koda Kumi, and in English by Jade from sweetbox. These two type-setters are not with their first collaboration: they already worked together on Racing Lagoon in 1999 then The Bouncer in 2000. Their style of predilection is the jazz-rock'n'roll, which shows through in the two plays quoted previously. For FFX-2, they decided to employ the same style, by diversifying nevertheless their approach: with final, apart from the jazz-rock'n'roll, one finds the pop one but also of orchestral typical with the video game and especially in Final Fantasy. Nevertheless, the reception of this original soundtrack was rather mitigated near the fans, who undoubtedly expected of Nobuo Uematsu.

Discography:

Final Fantasy X-2, Eternity ~Memory off Lightwaves~ Music From
Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission OST
Final Fantasy X-2: Kumi Koda - As With Me
Final Fantasy X-2: Kumi Koda - real Emotion/1000 Words
Final Fantasy X-2 OST
Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collection
Final Fantasy X-2 Vocal Collection - Paine
Final Fantasy X-2 Vocal Collection - Rikku
Final Fantasy X-2 Vocal Collection - Yuna

Voices

Here a short list of the actors doubling the main characters of the play. The first name is that of the Japanese version, the second being that of the english language version. Only the English voices are available in the French version of the play.

Yuna : Mayuko Aoki/Hedy Burress.
Rikku : Marika Matsumoto/Tared Strong.
Paine : Megumi Toyoguchi/Gwendoline Yeo.
Lenne : Koda Kumi/Creates Summer.
Shuyin/Tidus : Masakazu Morita/James Arnold Taylor.
Frangin : Takayuki Yamaguchi/David Rasner.

Anecdotes

Final Fantasy X-2 was rather badly accommodated by the critic and the fans. Although obtaining in the majority of the magazines of the notes classifying it among the " goods jeux" , it does not reach the tops of its predecessors. Many players reproach him on the one hand for being only one continuation of a preceding opus, conceived before very with business ends (Final Fantasy X being the opus best sold series), and this whereas the company had always refused to give one following its plays up to now, all single. In addition, the Fan service of this episode was largely criticized, that it is on the level of the scenario (addition of a special end which answers at the request of certain fans of the original episode) or of the light behaviors of the characters. The light aspect, fashion of the play also rejected certain players or critics to him.
Final Fantasy X-2 is the first FF whose playable characters all are of the women.
It is also the first FF since Final Fantasy III to always propose the same number of playable characters in the part, without possibility of changing.
Shinra is the name of the organization present in Final Fantasy VII (Shin-Ra).
There are various possible ends with the play (two principal). Those depend on your choices during the part.

The version " International"

A new version of the play, known as " International" on February 19th, 2004 left to Japan, that is to say one day before the European exit of the original play. The DVD of the play contains 3 parts:

International FFX-2 : it is the republication of the original play, but with some additions:

of new systems of play : for example the mode Creature Create (a mode allowing to create monsters) or the Monster Colosseum (a kind of arena where one must fight monsters to gain cuts).
2 news Vêtisphères : Omasturishi and Psychiker (see the Vêtisphères section of this article).
the possibility of controlling new characters, like LeBlanc, Frangin, or even of the monsters.
more some other minor improvements.

FFX-2 Last Mission :

The history occurs 3 months after the defeat from Vegnagun. The Albatross separated. But Yuna, Rikku and Paine reform their trio after having received each one a letter putting them at the challenge to raise the challenge of the Tour of Yadonoki . Apparently, only a girl at the same time can return in the famous tower, which traverses stage by stage while killing out of the monsters to advance. One finds there also shops (to perhaps buy potions…)

the No-claims bonus : one finds initially a trailer of the film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, then a video secret to free by finishing at 100% the version International , then by finishing Last Mission .

This new edition of Final Fantasy X-2 will never be born in Europe and in the United States. It is reserved in Japan.

External bonds

the official site
FFX-2 - the guide of the master
Universo Final Fantasy

Simple: Final Fantasy X-2

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