If you are a huge fan of Final Fantasy X like I am, then no doubt you have read countless articles of the much-anticipated sequel. No? Well, then I will just have to enlighten you on the game that is estimated to release towards the end of 2003 in the US.
If you haven’t finished FFX, stop reading this article now and go finish it. Shame on you for not! You should be playing the game through to the end before looking at this article. Trust me, it’s well worth it, and reading spoilers doesn’t cut it.
Anyway, the first direct sequel in the Final Fantasy series is called Final Fantasy X-2 (no subtitle as originally thought). Square opened its FFX-2 Web site on October 25, 2002. It’s almost all in Japanese, but you may get the idea of what the different sections of the site talk about just by browsing through. The site requires Flash to view, since they have not developed the HTML version of the site yet.
The Story
If you have FFX International, then you have seen the extra footage at the end of the game, which has Yuna reflecting on life two years after the final battle with Sin, hanging out with Wakka back in Besaid, poking fun at how out of shape he is, and mentioning Lulu’s pregnancy (presumably with Wakka). An older man visits them and warns them about a new faction called the “Young Persons Alliance” that has splintered off from New Yevon believers (most of the world now, I guess). Then a younger messenger arrives from that new faction asking Yuna to join, but Yuna refuses. The messenger asks her if she will be forming her own group, but Yuna simply asks him to leave. Then Rikku arrives, carrying a strange sphere that she claims Kimahri found up at Mt. Gagazet. The sphere contains a strange fuzzy recording of Tidus, presumably locked up in some kind of jail cell, shouting about wanting to see Yuna, among other things that don’t make much sense (using enemy machina to save the Summoner, etc). Rikku convinces Yuna that they need to find out what is going on. They’ll disguise her with new clothes so people don’t recognize her. The faction’s messenger overhears them and makes you believe that their faction will be investigating as well. No, it really doesn’t make much sense, but it gave many players of FFX International the idea that there would be a sequel.
I’ve only seen fragments of the storyline for the new game, which don’t seem to coincide as much with this extra footage, but it’s difficult to find accurate information on a game that hasn’t been released yet. The world of Spira is in the Eternal Calm, which is similar to the idea of the time between when Sin reappears, but of course Sin isn’t coming back now. However, it sounds like since people don’t know what to do with themselves now that Sin is gone and they now have machina to play with, they have formed clans. I’ve read them being called “sphere collection groups” or “sphere hunters” – what kinds of spheres they are collecting, I’m unsure. Perhaps the kind of sphere that had the garbled recording of Tidus? In any case, there has to be conflict in the world, so the clans are of course starting to become at odds with each other, most likely for power is my guess. There’s also mention about factions wanting the teachings of Yevon to come back as before, perhaps this is just asking for trouble.
The Characters
It sounds like every main character from FFX makes some kind of appearance in the game, except for Auron who is of course finally dead (unless he somehow comes back, which wouldn’t be surprising), and Tidus… we just don’t know about yet. There is an FMV involving him running with Yuna down a corridor being chased by guards – however, Yuna’s outfit is the old summoner’s outfit, so we are led to believe this is a flashback video.
The three main characters to FFX-2 are Yuna, Rikku, and a third female named Paine, who looks pretty mean with her grey garb and blood-red eyes. Could she be related to Auron somehow? No one can tell, yet. All we know is that she is as mean as she looks. Yuna and Rikku have also new outfits, which will probably please the dorky gamer men with their scantily-clad garb, and frankly it’s a bit risqué even for Square. Apparently disguising Yuna in a new outfit means “wear much less clothing.” Rikku’s outfit has been reduced to a bikini with some embellishments, and of course a scarf around her neck in case she gets cold, I guess! And you thought Lulu’s plunging neckline was bad enough!
There’s not much information on the bad guys in English that I’ve seen, but the pictures indicate that it’s a woman who looks kind of like a tall, thin, scantily-clad version of Natalie from the Dixie Chicks whose name is “Le Blanc”, and her two sidekicks, one tall and skinny ( “Sano”), and the other short and chunky (“Uno”). They form (or at least head-up) a sphere-hunting faction of the same name as the woman, “Le Blanc,” who apparently oppose Yuna, Rikku and Paine’s group, known as “Kamome Dan (Seagull Band).”
Most recently, news of another new character who plays a major role in FFX-2, whose name is “Nooj” – I’ve previously seen this as “Nuji,” which frankly would have been better… how can I take a guy named “Nooj” too seriously? (Wink wink, Nooj Nooj?) Now if any character is going to resemble Auron or his brood, it’s this guy. He’s even dressed in similar colors and also wears glasses (not sunglasses, though), and he’s got some crazy hair thing going on. According to 
sources, he’s a former crusader, he uses mechanical prosthetic limbs because of injuries sustained in previous battles with Sin, and leads a group called the “Youth Union” which we don’t know a heck of a lot about yet, but it appears that this is the group referred to in the extra footage at the end of FFX International. It’s hard to say whether he’s a “good guy” or a “bad guy,” but it looks like he could be one of those characters who starts out bad but then becomes good at a turning point in the story.
The Game
Again, things get lost in the fact that they have to be translated. But, here is what I have gathered from the fragments of information I have found.
The graphics seem just as detailed and gorgeous as in FFX. One reason that the game may be produced and released in record time is because they are probably using a similar graphic engine to create this game.
Seeing as you have two of the same characters appearing again, it makes some sense.
However, from the game footage I have seen, it appears it’s a bit improved, especially in non-FMV scenes.
The gameplay itself has changed quite a bit from FFX, as you no longer have the sphere grid at all. It also appears that you only really play with the three women characters throughout the game, except for maybe a few instances, perhaps where you haven’t met Paine yet and are playing with some other random character. Also, the characters have different “job classes”, which you can change during combat, which allows each character to change the style of combat. Of course there will be animation sequences when the characters change into different classes, similar to summoning Aeons. So, instead of the “sphere grid,” we now have the “job wheel,” which is similar to a customizing system in FF Tactics. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine all have default job classes (gunner, thief, and warrior respecitvely), and some other job classes are: white mage, black mage, gambler. I believe that they can all rotate between the different job classes, including the default ones.
Also, they are bringing back the “Active Time Battle” mode which appears to be similar to the way the old Final Fantasy games were played, but more advanced – certain actions will use up different amounts of the ATB gauge. Using items will use less of the gauge, while a full-on attack will use the whole gauge.
The characters will also be able to do chain combo attacks, which look similar to many fighting arcade games like Street Fighter.
Spacial position is a factor also – instead of staying in static positions, characters and enemies can be displaced from their original standing position while fighting.
It also appears that you have an airship – not the same one from FFX, of course, it’s much more advanced! This one is called the “Celsius” and it’s bright red and big and fancy. It appears that you navigate in a similar way from FFX, with the map of Spira and commands superimposed upon it.
However, the map looks a bit different from the old Spira map. The level of detail is higher, or at least they are doing map close-ups and other embellishments that were not in the old game. It also seems that you have the airship right from the start, so you can travel anywhere in Spira from the beginning. Plus, there are missions to be carried out for sphere hunting, which unlock different areas and storylines.
This is all an attempt to make the story less linear, but hopefully it will not be too disjointed.
Otherwise, it seems that many of the familiar aspects of the Final Fantasy games are included. You still run around a map and fight monsters. It’s still got that RPG feel. It still probably has some weird twist to the storyline that doesn’t quite make sense to any of us. The only huge obvious difference is that this is a direct sequel to an already existing Final Fantasy game, so you have an element of history to draw upon as you go through the story, so it seems critical that one would have to play through the original FFX to really grasp the FFX-2 stories and world.
Timelines
FFX-2 is due out in Japan on March 13, 2003. Supposedly, the US version will be out 6 months after that (September).
So, what happened to FFXI in the US? Apparently, it struggled a bit in Japan with servers crashing and whatnot, but it seems to be doing okay now, or at least they are not releasing any new negative publicity. However, the supposed release date for the US was to be Q4 2002, but obviously that hasn’t happened. I have doubts that it will come out here at all, but we’ll see I guess. FFXII is currently in development as well.
Final Fantasy X-2’s official web site is at www.playonline.com/ffx2/index.htm