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I'm not a huge fan of this game... It's not BAD, but it's not my favorite FF- not by a long-shot.
The fact that the main cast is almost entirely female doesn't bother me. What DOES bother me, is how "bubble gum" it feels... Not so much that they're females, but that they're so unbearably GIRLY. They made Rikku look absolutely dense, when really she's just sorta scattered and energetic. It's nice to see Yuna coming out of her shell, but I don't like how incredibly dynamic they made her. If you ask me, the drastic change between FFX and X-2 is just too big a gap. I think they should have kept Yuna a little more subdued. As for Paine, she was probably the most likable character for me, but she was very flat. She seemed to have a one-dimensional personality, despite the back-story you get later in the game.
Vegnagun reminded me a lot of Necron from FFIX (another FF I'm not particularly fond of), in that it really seemed to come out of nowhere. They did a pretty good job of cramming it into the story, but it it was still crammed. Vegnagun just didn't feel like it really belonged there to me.
You get the items Enterprise and Invincible which let you break the HP and Damage caps, respectively, but because you can only equip two accessories at a time, it really sorta defeats the purpose, because unless you've got an Iron Duke on every character and plan on spamming Annihilator with Gun Mage, there's no real utility in breaking the damage or HP caps. Besides, the Special Dress Spheres already bust up the damage cap, though it bothers me that they don't benefit from accessories, which means that they'll be lucky to even hit 9999 damage let alone surpass it. They need damn good stats for that kind of power, and that's what the accessories are for.
Yuna sings and is super athletic now, whereas in FFX she seemed somewhat frail. Damn, she must have some personal trainer to be flippin' around like she does in the FMVs, and hoppin' around the environment like she's Superman. The singing is like Vegnagun... It seemed to just come out of nowhere, like, "Okay, she's a summoner, kinda shy, unsure of herself, but she puts a lot of trust and confidence into her friends... *a game later* Btw, she can sing really well."
It's not like the game didn't have ANYTHING for me to enjoy.
I really liked the battle system, in how attacks launched one after the other could initiate Chains, like combos, that increase damage as they go. Unfortunately, it was kinda crippled by the fact that some attacks seem to cause a sort of global cooldown, in which everything seems to stop for a second while that one lone attack is launched, anyone else waiting to simply Attack being unable to start a Chain because of said cooldown.
I really liked the Garment Grid and Dress Sphere system. Being able to change jobs during battle, while more often than not unnecessary, is entertaining, and most Grids have the benefit of granting special auto-abilities or stat boosts upon switching Dress Spheres. It's almost required if you want to survive someone as incredibly powerful as, say, Treima. You'll not likely survive many attacks if you don't go all over the Valiant Lustre Garment Grid, which beefs up your defenses quite nicely. One of the biggest things about this for me is that no character is left as dead weight. Maybe you don't need a Thief, and its not dealing enough damage... BOOM, you switch to a Berserker, and you own everything.
Berserker is easily my favorite Dress Sphere. You can wipe out just about any enemy with minimal effort. They're FAST, they're STRONG, they have tons of HP (not to mention the command Howl, which DOUBLES the users HP), and they respond to each attack with a counter attack, essentially meaning free damage. Berserkers also have tons of skills under Instinct that lets them CRIPPLE tougher enemies, including reducing evasion and accuracy, poisoning, cutting HP in half, shattering Protect and Shell effects, etc, etc. I like to pair a Berserker with the Bushido skills of a Samurai, because it lets them painlessly cast supportive magic on themselves with pretty minimal MP usage, such as stat boosts and Haste.
Songstress is a sorely underappreciated Dress Sphere if you ask me. They can really do so much to support the team, and I enjoy having a Songstress fight along side a couple Berserkers, granting quick stat boosts and running Dirty Dancing, a ridiculous Dance that makes all your attacks instant Crits. Songstress works perfectly with the Shmooth Shailing accessory, which acts as a Ribbon, plus Slow. With Slow status, their Dances last longer. Songstress also isn't too terrible with White Magic for a little extra team support, but Dirty Dancing should really be all you need.
Yuna and Paine
Strength of One/Samurai's Honor
Berserker
-Iron Duke
-Speed Bracer/Ribbon/Force of Nature
Rikku
Valiant Luster
Songstress
-Shmooth Shailing
-Adamantite
I dunno, I like this one. If Yuna and Paine run Strength of One (which adds 10 more Str), then go with Speed Bracer, since you won't have any other way to cast Haste on yourself. If you go with Samurai's Honor, go with Ribbon for status immunity or Force of Nature for elemental immunity, and a little extra kick to your attacks against elemental based enemies, since Bushido lets you Haste yourself. Rikku's something of a tank with Valiant Luster and Adamantite. She'll take hits fine as she runs Dirty Dancing... She WOULD be a Berserker, but her attacks are generally slower. If you notice, she's the only Gunner that bothers to take aim. Paine's the fastest attacker, and of course, Yuna's the most well-rounded, suitable for pretty much whatever. If you don't have two Iron Dukes, you haven't played the game enough. =P
I'm also a big Gun Mage fan, cause it can pretty much do whatever the fuck it wants at the expense of being super brittle. It's the "glass cannon." Alchemist is absolutely ridiculous... Pretty much just Rikku's overdrive from FFX whenever you like, and with any character you wish. Mascot is kinda boring and overrated if you ask me, but Trainer, while not having great stats overall, has tons of variety, and the way it varies between each girl is actually interesting. Rikku sorta retains her Thief status, as she inflicts status and steals with her monkey... Paine, funny enough, is mostly support, and Yuna is basically a Warrior+Dark Knight, inflicting elemental damage and status effects at the same time. It's fun. Gunner's one of the first Dress Spheres you get, and it's pretty fun to use, as it's WICKED fast. Gunner has NO global cooldown and NO charge time for any of its skills, and it gets some DAMN broken skills, most notably Scatterburst, which deals CRITICAL hits to ALL enemy targets. With a memory cursor, or wicked-fast hands, you could abuse the fuck out of that chain. Trigger Happy is also quite broken, as paired with a Cat Nip accessory and low HP, you can basically deal as many hits of 9999 as times you can press R1 in so many seconds. Really, I've found it the only way to beat things like the Black Elemental boss... And even then, I had trouble.
There are some characters I like, too. I really like Baralai for some reason, and Shuyin is kinda cool. Nooj has a weird name, but he will kick your ass.
The BIGGEST thing FFX-2 has going for it, if you ask me, is the EX-game. You can save your data at the end of the game, and start a New Game+, which is basically starting the game over, back at level one, with all the items, Garment Grids, Dress Spheres, and abilities you had at the end of your last game. It's entertaining to go through Scatterbursting everything, or just sticking an Iron Duke and a Bloodlust on Berserker Yuna and watching her raep everything.
Overall, the game has good points and bad points. All the good points for me lie with gameplay, and any grievances lie with story, plot, or execution.
Like I said, it's not a bad game... Just not my favorite. In fact, I think I'll play for a bit, because Gunner's utterly broken.
Also, Sphere Break is the second best mini-game in Final Fantasy history, surpassed only by Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII.
The fact that the main cast is almost entirely female doesn't bother me. What DOES bother me, is how "bubble gum" it feels... Not so much that they're females, but that they're so unbearably GIRLY. They made Rikku look absolutely dense, when really she's just sorta scattered and energetic. It's nice to see Yuna coming out of her shell, but I don't like how incredibly dynamic they made her. If you ask me, the drastic change between FFX and X-2 is just too big a gap. I think they should have kept Yuna a little more subdued. As for Paine, she was probably the most likable character for me, but she was very flat. She seemed to have a one-dimensional personality, despite the back-story you get later in the game.
Vegnagun reminded me a lot of Necron from FFIX (another FF I'm not particularly fond of), in that it really seemed to come out of nowhere. They did a pretty good job of cramming it into the story, but it it was still crammed. Vegnagun just didn't feel like it really belonged there to me.
You get the items Enterprise and Invincible which let you break the HP and Damage caps, respectively, but because you can only equip two accessories at a time, it really sorta defeats the purpose, because unless you've got an Iron Duke on every character and plan on spamming Annihilator with Gun Mage, there's no real utility in breaking the damage or HP caps. Besides, the Special Dress Spheres already bust up the damage cap, though it bothers me that they don't benefit from accessories, which means that they'll be lucky to even hit 9999 damage let alone surpass it. They need damn good stats for that kind of power, and that's what the accessories are for.
Yuna sings and is super athletic now, whereas in FFX she seemed somewhat frail. Damn, she must have some personal trainer to be flippin' around like she does in the FMVs, and hoppin' around the environment like she's Superman. The singing is like Vegnagun... It seemed to just come out of nowhere, like, "Okay, she's a summoner, kinda shy, unsure of herself, but she puts a lot of trust and confidence into her friends... *a game later* Btw, she can sing really well."
It's not like the game didn't have ANYTHING for me to enjoy.
I really liked the battle system, in how attacks launched one after the other could initiate Chains, like combos, that increase damage as they go. Unfortunately, it was kinda crippled by the fact that some attacks seem to cause a sort of global cooldown, in which everything seems to stop for a second while that one lone attack is launched, anyone else waiting to simply Attack being unable to start a Chain because of said cooldown.
I really liked the Garment Grid and Dress Sphere system. Being able to change jobs during battle, while more often than not unnecessary, is entertaining, and most Grids have the benefit of granting special auto-abilities or stat boosts upon switching Dress Spheres. It's almost required if you want to survive someone as incredibly powerful as, say, Treima. You'll not likely survive many attacks if you don't go all over the Valiant Lustre Garment Grid, which beefs up your defenses quite nicely. One of the biggest things about this for me is that no character is left as dead weight. Maybe you don't need a Thief, and its not dealing enough damage... BOOM, you switch to a Berserker, and you own everything.
Berserker is easily my favorite Dress Sphere. You can wipe out just about any enemy with minimal effort. They're FAST, they're STRONG, they have tons of HP (not to mention the command Howl, which DOUBLES the users HP), and they respond to each attack with a counter attack, essentially meaning free damage. Berserkers also have tons of skills under Instinct that lets them CRIPPLE tougher enemies, including reducing evasion and accuracy, poisoning, cutting HP in half, shattering Protect and Shell effects, etc, etc. I like to pair a Berserker with the Bushido skills of a Samurai, because it lets them painlessly cast supportive magic on themselves with pretty minimal MP usage, such as stat boosts and Haste.
Songstress is a sorely underappreciated Dress Sphere if you ask me. They can really do so much to support the team, and I enjoy having a Songstress fight along side a couple Berserkers, granting quick stat boosts and running Dirty Dancing, a ridiculous Dance that makes all your attacks instant Crits. Songstress works perfectly with the Shmooth Shailing accessory, which acts as a Ribbon, plus Slow. With Slow status, their Dances last longer. Songstress also isn't too terrible with White Magic for a little extra team support, but Dirty Dancing should really be all you need.
Yuna and Paine
Strength of One/Samurai's Honor
Berserker
-Iron Duke
-Speed Bracer/Ribbon/Force of Nature
Rikku
Valiant Luster
Songstress
-Shmooth Shailing
-Adamantite
I dunno, I like this one. If Yuna and Paine run Strength of One (which adds 10 more Str), then go with Speed Bracer, since you won't have any other way to cast Haste on yourself. If you go with Samurai's Honor, go with Ribbon for status immunity or Force of Nature for elemental immunity, and a little extra kick to your attacks against elemental based enemies, since Bushido lets you Haste yourself. Rikku's something of a tank with Valiant Luster and Adamantite. She'll take hits fine as she runs Dirty Dancing... She WOULD be a Berserker, but her attacks are generally slower. If you notice, she's the only Gunner that bothers to take aim. Paine's the fastest attacker, and of course, Yuna's the most well-rounded, suitable for pretty much whatever. If you don't have two Iron Dukes, you haven't played the game enough. =P
I'm also a big Gun Mage fan, cause it can pretty much do whatever the fuck it wants at the expense of being super brittle. It's the "glass cannon." Alchemist is absolutely ridiculous... Pretty much just Rikku's overdrive from FFX whenever you like, and with any character you wish. Mascot is kinda boring and overrated if you ask me, but Trainer, while not having great stats overall, has tons of variety, and the way it varies between each girl is actually interesting. Rikku sorta retains her Thief status, as she inflicts status and steals with her monkey... Paine, funny enough, is mostly support, and Yuna is basically a Warrior+Dark Knight, inflicting elemental damage and status effects at the same time. It's fun. Gunner's one of the first Dress Spheres you get, and it's pretty fun to use, as it's WICKED fast. Gunner has NO global cooldown and NO charge time for any of its skills, and it gets some DAMN broken skills, most notably Scatterburst, which deals CRITICAL hits to ALL enemy targets. With a memory cursor, or wicked-fast hands, you could abuse the fuck out of that chain. Trigger Happy is also quite broken, as paired with a Cat Nip accessory and low HP, you can basically deal as many hits of 9999 as times you can press R1 in so many seconds. Really, I've found it the only way to beat things like the Black Elemental boss... And even then, I had trouble.
There are some characters I like, too. I really like Baralai for some reason, and Shuyin is kinda cool. Nooj has a weird name, but he will kick your ass.
The BIGGEST thing FFX-2 has going for it, if you ask me, is the EX-game. You can save your data at the end of the game, and start a New Game+, which is basically starting the game over, back at level one, with all the items, Garment Grids, Dress Spheres, and abilities you had at the end of your last game. It's entertaining to go through Scatterbursting everything, or just sticking an Iron Duke and a Bloodlust on Berserker Yuna and watching her raep everything.
Overall, the game has good points and bad points. All the good points for me lie with gameplay, and any grievances lie with story, plot, or execution.
Like I said, it's not a bad game... Just not my favorite. In fact, I think I'll play for a bit, because Gunner's utterly broken.
Also, Sphere Break is the second best mini-game in Final Fantasy history, surpassed only by Triple Triad in Final Fantasy VIII.
