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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.
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.
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?!
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