OK, so it's a Final Fantasy sequel... what's the story?
The story is set after the events of Final Fantasy X. Rikku and Yuna appear to be Sphere Hunters. This is probably due to the fact that they are searching for more Spheres like the one they were sent in Final Fantasy X:Another Story - the additional movie included with Final Fantasy X: International. This had footage of what appeared to be Tidus imprisoned somewhere. As of yet we are not exactly sure how the third character Paine fits in.
The grapics look to be using the exact same engine as FFX. There are even a lot of effects reused in this game. This is not necessarily a very bad thing however, as FFX had rather good graphics in its time. However, something must be said about Yuna's running animation. She runs in the manner of a pansy not wishing to break a nail. It is so overdone that it almost appears as though she is constantly on the verge of falling over.
My kingdom for Japanese Voices...
This game also includes voice acting. Now, the voice acting in FFX was not that bad, however the voice acting here has definitely not improved and if anything may even be worse. Let's just hope they decide to include the Japanese audio track this time ala .hack. An interesting addition is actual song like snippets sung by the characters when performing a Singing move - but more on that later.
The game features random battles in true Final Fantasy style. The menus are in the exact same style as FFX, and even the little minimap has returned. Running around the environments is a lot more interesting this time - due to the fact that by holding down the circle button Yuna will automatically climb walls and jump across gaps. It is a little strange however to see her clamber up a wall then resume her bizarre gait.
Laa laa laa, lalalala laa laa
The battle system is basically the same as FFX only with more of a real time slant. It appears as though regular attacks can be timed together for combos, and the enemy turns happen whilst you are making decisions on what abilities to use. Battles on the whole seem to be faster and encourage quick thinking as opposed to more strategies. The main feature of the game is the class changing. By use of various spheres each character can change to different classes with different costumes and amazingly overdone transformations. So far the classes observed are: White Mage, Black Mage, Gunner, Swordsman (or should that be woman?), Entertainer (Singer and Dancer) and Thief. NB - These are my names for the classes as I saw them. The Entertainer can sing songs or dance to give status enhancements to their allies or negative effects to the enemy much in the same way as Bards and Dancers in Final Fantasy Tactics.
As per every other sequel Final Fantasy X-2 appears to be more of the same - although with a healthy dose of fan service and more action. It will be interesting to see how the whole package turns out.
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