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Final Fantasy X-2 - Travesty Or Welcome Change?
Thanks to GameSpot for their hands-on preview of the English-language Final Fantasy X-2, ahead of the RPG's release on PS2 in early December. Early buzz on the title was mixed for fans of the normally staid Final Fantasy series, when "...rejoicing changed to bewilderment as more information and assets appeared - assets that had Yuna kickin' it in a pair of hot pants and packin' a pair of pistols." But the article suggests that mixing things up may be a good idea after all: "While we thought Final Fantasy X-2 would end up being viewed as an aberration in the Final Fantasy franchise, we're not so sure anymore. The localized story stays true to a lot of the classic themes the Final Fantasy games are known for, silliness notwithstanding."
A lot of people had similar reactions when Final Fantasy 7 was released. Though 7 had much more groundbreaking additions to bring to the RPG scene, there were a lot of mixed reviews because it changed the formula that the series had held for several generations of products.
FFX-2 can be seen in a similar light, though I don't think anyone can argue it's brining anything new to the scene at all, in fact it has a good amount of backwards momentum for some existing Final Fantasy mechanics; the class change system existing in X-2 is severly crippled when compared to FF 5 or FF Tactics.
However this iteration just goes to show that Square does not fear change to their flagship product. Personaly I'm not going to touch this game with a 100-foot-pole, I think it's horrible as far as my tastes are concerned, but I have to give them respect for not falling into a repetitious churning of the "what works" formula(examples to this would be EASports and Disney entertainment), and continuing to experiment in the medium.
You have to have a lot of balls to display such extreme experimentation with your multi-million selling franchise as square has in recent years.
That's right, Bah! I say. They really didn't need to do X-2. One thing I've loved about the series, is in each incarnation, there's always something new/different to learn.
FF2 had a different way of increasing stats.
FF4 introduced summons
FF5 had the job system
FF6 had the equipping of Espers to learn magic
FF7 had materia and materia linking
FF8 had the equipping of certain items to learn certain spells
FF9 had a similar system, but introduced special abilities in to the mix as well.
FFX had the sphere system which was an interesting take on the job system
(I haven't played FF3 yet.) From what I understand FFX-2 uses near the same sphere system as before, and I can't help but feel the story is going to be a let down. After a big epic clash in FFX, it's gonna be real difficult for FFX-2 to live up to that.
Of course that's just my opinion, I could be right.
Square has always changed things for each FF game. They've always created good games. Some stories are weaker than others, but the gameplay's been rock solid.
One of the biggest complaints in FFX was how linear it was. It felt like watching a movie rather than playing a game. So in addition to the normal Square gameplay changes, they addressed this key complaint.
It's about as non-linear as it could be. Almost like it's a collection of side quests. The changes in jobs/classes may seem strange but Square's done well in the past with those changes so I'd expect it not to hurt the gameplay. It's been pretty successful in Japan so I'll have to pick it up and try it when it comes out here.
POLL: What was your favorite FF game of all time? And please be sure you mention which numbering system you are using ( for example FF3 US is FF6 JAP).
I would have to say my favorite is the one I just mentioned. FF3/6 may have been the easiest of the games, but it was still enjoyable. It pushed the SNES graphics at the time, and had an excellent story with memorable characters.
So, what do the rest of you think?
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
The game's structure may initially appear to be much more linear than FFX, due to a pretty standard mission-based structure.
MORE linear? How?!
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
.. the more games made of this franchise, the more 'defined' the unwritten rules of making a Final Fantasy game becomes. I'm not up to speed with Square as of late (stopped watching around FF7), but I can tell you I'm not surprised at some of the concern over the game. It kind of reminds me of Enterprise. I frequent a site that's populated by Trek fans, and their biggest bitch about that whole show is... the theme song. "WTF are they thinking? The show is supposed to have an orchestrated song! Those idiots! I could make the show better simply by choosing a different song!" heh.
Oh well. It's to be expected.
Good points, all, neostorm. Although I'd suggest that for Square, Kingdom Hearts represented the about shift that you refer to, not FFX-2 (although, to be fair, I haven't played FFX-2)
Yes you have a good point with Kingdom Hearts. I didn't even bother to pick that game up because I had that exact impression of it. I don't know if it's entirely formulaic because I hear they did try to innovate in some departments (like the gummy ship and what-not), but the Token(tm) Game(R) Characters(tm) every five seconds kept me away.
Actually, if Final Fantasy fans could make a (wise) choice in the matter we would have chosen that NONE of the games received a sequel. The majority of the time sequels are a tired way of recycling existing properties for profit. The only reason that Final Fantasy X received a sequel is because Square had already put so much production into the existing characters and groundwork that it was simple for them to lay down an extension of the pre-existing world. That is to say, it took the least amount of effort for this particular game.
Final Fantasy 7 may get a sequel in the future depending on how well Final Fantasy X does, but as soon as Square starts cranking out direct sequels then they will have truly lost their experimental edge. The Final Fantasy games have always been built on a single, self-structured story that begins and completes it's particular arc within the given title. Generally by the time you are complete with these games there should really be nothing left to see in it's universe, which is why it's so great that we continue to receive unique properties year-after-year in this series.
I agree that Final Fantasy X-2 is for the media-brainwashed masses who crave their pop-culture, but frankly I don't want to see a sequel to Final Fantasy 7 either because, as much as it brought to the genre in the first place, it change too much that was good about the series to begin with.
Disclaimer: I haven't beat FFX yet (stupid lack of a PS2)
FF 7 is not a good game to sequel - it has a story with a definite end, and in the ending movie you get a sense of finality. Shit hit the fan, and the world was made anew.
FF 10 (from what I gather from news of X-2) had a climactic battle with the big bad boss, and people survived. Life changed, but it went on. This directly leads to what-next questions, and allows a better sequel.
With FF7, you'd end up with a "what happened to Red XIII after the end vid", compare with FFX and a "what happened to Yuna, Rikku, etc.... after the end vid" - FFX has more sequel potential.
FFX already had the engine, models, structure, etc. ready on the same platform.
For an FF7 (or 8 or 9) sequel on the PS2, in order to get up to snuff quality-wise, they'd need to practically rewrite the entire thing - all the models/texturing would need to be redone, music possibly rescored, graphics engine rewritten (maybe not too bad if they could gut the FFX engine, but still).
FF7? FF7 sucked. Materia were quite possibly the stupidest thing ever in an rpg. If any FF deserve a sequel, it would be 4 or 6. 6 had the stronger story line, but they'd need to get rid of that lame esper thing.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Anyway, any FF fan knows that it shoulda been FF7 that got the sequel.
You may be right. I don't know, though. I consider myself a true fan and was one ever since I played the first one late at night when I was a little kid. I think the ending of FF7 wrapped up too much for a sequel. FFX's ending left a lot more open and thus easier to write a sequel. I'll buy it and check it out. I have enjoyed every FF. My only criticism of FFX was that some of the side quests at the end were hard and boring. I really don't want to dodge lightning for a half hour to get one character's best weapon.
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Yes. It means that this is a direct sequel to the tenth game. And yes, it goes against the tradition.
Anyplace I can download this video without having to go through Gamespot's spyware?
They specifically mention FF5 and Tactics in the review, why did they think the characters putting on funky costumes is so strange? FF5 certainly had some very odd looks when certain characters equiped certain jobs, so it's not really anything new.
I'm glad that the review says that "new skills and abilities that can be earned and mastered," although I'm unsure how any skills you learn will be worked in given the "change job class on the fly" system. I'd really like to see a full fledged job class system in the mainline FF series again though.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
I said it that the time, but if Square had cinematized any of it's Final Fantasy titles at the time (except for VIII), the results would have been waaaaay different. In particularly VI and VII lend themselves to this sort of thing, although VI would probably need to be done as 2 movies. I couldn't believe how dodgy The Spirit's Within storyline was when I first saw it. Final Fantasy, for me, has always been about excellent story and character, and this was totally blown in the movie.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Go rent Kingdom Hearts, or pick up a used copy. It's not formulaic at all. The familiar settings and characters help the game and add charm to a game that would have worked if cut from whole cloth and released as FF XI. The Gummy ship works like the airship in FF X2, and you can customize them with stuff you find or buy. The TGCs all work very well in the story. The cheese level is amazingly low. It's a fairly straightforward "kid from nowhere saves the universe and the girl" story, but not offensively so. Given the intensity the themes of despair, doubt and loneliness are presented with this is not a "kid game".
Adventuring with Donald and Goofy was actually pretty cool. And useful in combat, they're very good about hitting you with potions and saving your butt. The other characters you run into, some of whom you can bring into your party, are interesting. Well, Merlin and the Fairy Godmother got old fast, but the main story characters worked well. The Beast played in very well. And he kicks ass.
The original material in this is very good. The Heartless make a great enemy, there's enough whimsy in the character design that they aren't creepy, just scary 'cause you know their tough. The environments at the end stages are fantastic, rivaling or exceeding anything in FF X. The big bad boss you fight several times at the end bears a striking resemblance to Seymour. The stages of his transformation into progressively more dangerous forms is, however, executed much better. The sense that FF X was the rough draft of the design for KH is never more present than in how much more polished the Big Baddie is in KH.
Gameplay is just like FF X, except except for, well everything. KH plays like a 3D platformer, and a good one. Plus it has an RPG side that's nearly as deep as FFX. Most of the simplification is in the experience system, and in the fact that you only have one PC. It's an outstanding blend of RPG and platformer, in no way did it feel as if one element was tacked-on to the other.
I played KH before FF X (gonna defeat Sin this weekend !) and the renowned FF X looked much less sophisticated at first. The interaction with the environment in FF X just wasn't that great. Just walking around could be frustrating because there are places in the scene that look like you can jump up on easily, and they just aren't available. In KH you're fully in the environment, just as much as in Ratchet & Clank or Sly Cooper.
Puzzles are more varied in KH, which balances the more repetitive enemy selection. Boss battles in KH rule. Pretty much all the bosses are tough, and fun to beat. The Wicked Witch has a dragon form that is simply gorgeous. I walked into that fight with an odd spell selection loaded ("Stop" I consider to be a specialized spell). She looked at me with one head, open her mouth to breath fire, and I said "Stop !" *wham*wham*wham*. Put her down fast, taking very little damage. Others were brutal killing matches against enemiesI know I can beat, but can't pull off the timing the firs (several) tries.
Best of all, KH has no situations whatsoever in which you view a cutscene, return to gameplay and walk forward two steps to the next cutscene. Number two on my list of reasons to try it if you liked FF X is the ability to save anywhere. Except in between a series of three tough boss fights about 90% of the way through. What a pisser that was. I *knew* I was on the final track and could taste the end, but I had to break off and finish the Hades Cup to level my party just a bit.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
This looks different enough that I'm not too worried about sequelitis. I'll get into it after Xenosaga I. Whenever the heck that turns out to be.
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1992-1951
Personally, I thought it was one of the best innovations in the FF series. (Yes, I've played 3-10, Kingdom hearts, Tactics, and FF Mystic quest. As soon as I find time, I'm going to go snag the new FF origins for PS1.)
I loved how the materia balls gained AP and the spells you could cast changed depending on the balls level. I loved linking them together to do special things. (Linking Final Action to Phoenix down lets you automatically ressurect once if you die in battle.)
I have to admit that it takes FOREVER to level them up all the way. I also accidently sold one once, just before I finished leveling it. There wasn't another in the entire game and to get it back, I had to start over. That sucked.
But again, it was one of my favorite magic systems for FF games.
Calmiche,
The problem with FF: TSW was that Square let their own people write the story. Don't get me wrong, those guys are tops at there craft, but they're used to being able to have a story line that takes 60+ hours to get through, not one that has to be done within 2 hours. I think that had they gone to someone one and said "Here, these are the basic tenets of Final Fantasy, write us a two hour screenplay" they would have had a much better movie.
I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own. - Christopher Walken
Frankly, I don't see how this could be a bad thing (excluding the very real possibility that Square doesn't make funny games because nobody there has a sense of humor). Some of the best games you'll ever play are full of self-referential humor: Grand Theft Auto, Serious Sam, Super Mario Bros. (if you can't see all the drug references in that series you're deluding yourself), and pretty much every adventure game ever made by LucasArts.
Really, the game is just meant to be more fun and lighthearted than the previous games in the series. I don't know why this disturbs people. Bunch of angsty humorless teenagers, I guess.
Anything you might ever need to say about anything has already been said better by Penny Arcade.
Actually, I tend to think that FFX-2 came about less because of the FF movie and more because of FFXI. Because FFXI is a strictly online game, I get the feeling that FFX-2 is meant to appease offline gamers who would otherwise have to wait for FFXII (which has been announced as offline), while allowing them to reuse the FFX game engine. Financially, Square's problems have been basically resolved following the merger with Enix earlier in the year. Also, AFAIK, Square never publicly said that they would not do a direct sequel, and they certainly never said they would not do a remake (they've remade many of the earlier games in the series already). Fans just basically assumed this.
And FF7 should never have a sequel. Not only because it would be silly, thematically, but also because it would be somewhat pointless, since the FF7 engine is too dated to be reused, anyway (which was a sizable portion of the motivation for FFX-2).
Sean Daugherty "I have walked in Eternity -- and Eternity weeps."
They have a new system where you have to dress-up to get some special abilities and stats (seriously!). You have to change clothes in teh middle of the battle to exploit them, and some of the previews say that this makes it very tactical. So, it is not the same system
"There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham