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Preview
The past few years have seen quite a bit of upheaval and change in
the industry as developers and publishers have tried to find their way
in an increasingly crowded and competitive market. Square has managed to
weather the various industry changes pretty well for the most part.
While the developer stumbled a bit toward the beginning of its
development for the current crop of consoles, it has since found its
stride and has produced some of its most engaging work yet. Final
Fantasy X-2 is the developer's upcoming revisit of the world and people
seen in Final Fantasy X. The game marks a break from tradition for the
developer, because it's the first true sequel to any of the Final
Fantasy games, and it's one of Square's most experimental games in terms
of gameplay. FFX-2 appears to offer a tight graphical package that
builds on the visuals used in FFX and contains gameplay that blends
elements from several of Square's previous titles into something
surprisingly new.
For those unfamiliar with the game's story, FFX-2 follows Yuna's
experiences after the climactic battle against Sin. The final battle's
price and the dramatic changes made to the world as a result have put
the young former summoner at a personal crossroads. Her struggle to come
to grips with everything that's happened has led her to fall in with
Rikku for a walk on the wild side, which makes for a rather dramatic
change in her life, as evidenced by her new look. In the wake of the
battle with Sin, groups of sphere hunters have emerged to search for
spheres scattered throughout the world. The spheres are unique
historical items that contain movies of the history of Yuna's world,
Spira--much like the Jecht spheres seen in FFX. The primary members of
Yuna and Rikku's group of sphere hunters, the Kamome Clan, are Yuna,
Rikku, and a fresh face, Paine (pronounced "Pine")--an
amazonian 18-year-old fighter with a mysterious past whose combat skills
are complemented by her facility with the Al Bhed language. The Kamome
Clan's roster is fleshed out by a host of supporting characters from FFX
as well as another new face. A bespectacled young Al Bhed boy, whose
glasses clearly mark him as one of the brains in the outfit, joins
Rikku's brother Aniki, Dachi, and Master from FFX. The supporting cast's
main duty is to man the Celsius, the Kamome Clan's airship, which serves
as the group's primary means of transportation. Yuna's hardy band of
hunters isn't the only outfit in the sphere-hunting business, though--a
rival clan called the LeBlanc Gang is on hand to offer a healthy dose of
competition. The gang's leader, a busty woman named LeBlanc, is joined
by two men, the rotund Uno and the lanky Sano, who look like the poster
children for a big and tall store. Sphere hunting becomes the game's
central focus after a sphere showing a sequence with what looks like
Tidus is found. Yuna sets off to gather spheres in the hopes that she'll
piece together enough information to discover the fate of her former
guardian. It's a safe bet to assume that, as in any role playing game,
Yuna's simple quest will likely become a much larger experience with
revelations and repercussions that will come to affect more than just
her own life.
While FFX-2's sequel status may lead you to assume that the game will
offer a similar gameplay experience to FFX, the game actually heads off
in a new direction entirely. FFX-2 will feature a fairly free-form
mission-based structure that differs quite a bit from FFX's fairly
rigid, linear setup. The Celsius will serve as the game's hub and let
you travel pretty much anywhere on the world map. As you go through the
game you'll find that certain locations on the map will offer missions
for you to undertake. The missions will range from simple
single-objective affairs, such as collecting a sphere or a specific item
in a level, to more complicated multitask assignments. As you take on
missions you'll notice that exploration has changed a bit in FFX-2
thanks to the expanded move set. You'll apparently be doing a bit of
traditional platforming such as climbing and jumping on platforms and
ledges. While the missions themselves are obviously linear due to their
task-oriented nature, their availability is not. You'll find that the
missions that become available as you go through the game will hinge on
how you play. Another unique element to the missions is their tone.
While the types we've mentioned are fairly straightforward and dry, the
game will offer an extreme range of tasks that will run the gamut from
serious to over-the-top campy missions that will inject quite a bit of
humor into the proceedings. The way the missions unfold for you will
also have some impact on how the story will unfold, although there
doesn't seem to be much information on the specifics of that mechanic.
The humor and light tone we've mentioned in relation to the missions
you'll undertake also extend to the game's combat system, which makes
some notable departures from FFX's. Core combat has changed a
bit--there's now a three-character limit in combat, and a few new
elements have been introduced. While you had the option to take a
sizable entourage into combat in FFX, FFX-2 appears to force you to be a
bit more strategic in your battles by limiting you to three party
members. The active battle system for which the FF games are known has
seen some changes--different actions now take different amounts of time
to perform. For example, using an item is a much speedier process than
casting a spell, while the time required for a physical attack lies
somewhere in between the two. Physical attacks will vary in the amount
of damage they do. Certain characters will even be able to supplement
their attacks by chaining them together and causing significantly more
damage.
The most notable addition to combat, the new dress-up system, is also
the craziest. While the core mechanics of the system are rooted in the
job system that Square has toyed with in previous games, such as FFV,
the way the dress-up system works is much less dry. Once you've
collected the proper spheres, you'll be able to switch any of your
characters into a different outfit on the fly during a battle. The
process, done with all the stylistic flourish of FFX's summons, offers
more than a just cosmetic change. The new threads change your
characters' job classes and can radically affect their stats and
abilities in a fight. The change is accomplished by calling up a
miniature sphere grid that has spheres containing the different outfits
you've found. While the initial sphere grid you'll use will be pretty
small and will hold a limited number of outfits, you'll eventually find
much more elaborate outfits that will have a significant impact on how
you fight. The larger grids will apparently hold more than just a
greater number of outfits--you'll actually see colored spheres that will
unlock new abilities if you perform the proper actions in battle, which
definitely changes the dynamics of combat. In addition, in keeping with
the traditional character development in the job-class system, you'll be
able to master different unique abilities associated with the individual
outfits. So far the classes that have been revealed include gunner,
thief, knight, mascot, gambler, pop star, mage, and samurai. You'll also
find dark and white variations in certain classes, which will provide
even more variety.
The graphics in FFX-2, while making use of some of the assets in FFX,
appear to be higher quality than those in FFX. Character models are
crisper, and the special effects we've seen, most notably those used for
dressing up, offer a broader selection of eye candy. The high level of
detail is also apparent in the plethora of areas you'll travel to in the
game, and you'll find that areas of Spira you visited in FFX have
changed considerably due to the passage of time or as a result of the
battle with Sin.
Audio in the game should be on par with the audio in FFX, since the
Japanese voice actors have returned to voice their alter egos again. The
game's soundtrack has been beefed up by a contemporary J-pop track,
which we've heard in new trailers coming out of Japan that show off Yuna
making like a pop star.
Based on what we've seen and heard of the game so far, FFX-2 will
offer a decidedly different and downright quirky experience. Many of the
gameplay concepts are unique, and the zealously guarded game manages to
feature its own personality. The game's light tone is considerably
helped by a very consistent approach toward offering a unique
experience. In many ways the game is similar to the deceptive package of
Kingdom Hearts, which offered as rich a quest as any of Square's RPGs
despite its cartoony exterior. It looks as though FFX-2's mission system
will offer a good number of quests to undertake, with some secret ones
to uncover, which should put it in the same ballpark as its predecessor.
We'll be curious to see how it all comes together when the game ships in
Japan this March. Look for more on the game soon.
Thanks to Gamespot for the Preview
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