Two great games, one great collection.
This collection features two games both previously released on the PlayStation 2. Final Fantasy X originally released in the UK in 2002 and it's sequel Final Fantasy X-2 which was originally released in 2004. These games have been remastered with improved visuals at a higher resolution and full trophy support for both titles. In addition the majority of Final Fantasy X's music has been rearranged and both versions of the games are the international versions. (For the UK it means we got an additional gameplay mode for FFX-2 called Last Mission as well as some mini games for it).
Here's my breakdown of both games:
Final Fantasy X.
SquareSoft's (Now Square Enix) first Final Fantasy game on the PlayStation 2, the first game in the series to be full 3D with no prerendered back drops and also the first game in the series to use voice acting. Though a little linear and with occasional awkward dialogue Final Fantasy X is an otherwise gorgeous and engrossing game.
The lead character is a man named Tidus, he is a star blitzball player for a team called the Zanarkand Abes. One day after a game the city of Zanarkand is attacked by a city sized monster called Sin, Tidus is drawn into it during it's attack and wakes up to a world he does not recognize. Lost and extremely confused Tidus ends up helping a local summoner called Yuna and her guardians on their pilgrimage to defeat Sin while trying to find his way home. It's quite a nice little story with some really nice emotional payoffs as the narrative unfolds.
Where Final Fantasy X shines though is the gameplay. It's a traditional turn based Japanese role playing game so as you travel from place to place you will get into random battles. During each battle you can use three characters to fight with, but, and this is what makes FFX stand out, you can swap any of them out with the other four characters on their turn meaning you can change tactics depending on what enemies you face. This is especially important early on in the game as certain enemies are weaker to certain attacks such as magic or piercing weapons etc. so taking advantage of this will help you through battles as each character specializes in certain things at first. As you level up from fighting monsters your characters gain higher stats and new skills using a large sphere grid. Each character starts on a different part of the board and by leveling up you can travel around it unlocking new spheres with the upgrades. Eventually if you unlock the whole board every character will have equal stats and skills but that takes quite a long time.
The graphics to Final Fantasy X still look really superb, colourful and detailed. The new resolution and enhancements make everything seem really crisp visually and for such an old game it really holds up against some modern releases surprisingly. The voice acting was always something that impressed me originally and it's still pretty solid going back to it, there are some cringe inducing moments here and there (Tidus's laugh scene, I'm looking at you) but all in all the values are still impressive. The big difference between the original and the remastered release production wise is the music. While exactly the same tracks they have been rearranged with fresh versions and slight differences. I have seen mixed opinions on this but I thought the new versions of the tracks were excellent and Final Fantasy X always had good music anyway.
Depending on how you play, Final Fantasy X can take between 30-60 hours. It's a very linear game where you go from place to place however there are a lot of minigames, hidden collectables and things to do anyway. If you are going for the platinum trophy you have to do almost everything including all Dark Aeon hidden boss fights so you are looking at over 100 hours.
In addition this collection also has a very short epilogue movie called The Eternal Calm. It doesn't add a lot but it's certainly worth the watch if you're a fan of the game.
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X-2 was the first ever direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game. It's generally got pretty mixed feedback. I personally really enjoyed it due to it's excellent battle system and upbeat music. It's not without flaws though as it has very few new areas, pretty much the entire game is in the exact same locations as X and you visit them multiple times. It's also unbearably cringe inducing at times, like vomit inducing, but if you can ignore that then you should very much enjoy FF X-2.
Final Fantasy X-2 takes place after Final Fantasy X but this time focuses on Yuna. No longer a summoner Yuna has joined with her cousin Rikku and another woman named Paine in a group called the Gullwings. They are sphere hunters, they look for ancient spheres to try and unlock Spira's past and are rivals with the Leblanc Syndicate, another sphere hunting faction. The tone of the second game is a lot different to the fist, a lot more upbeat though it certainly can have emotional moments as Yuna tries to find herself.
The battle and level system has been completely overhauled from Final Fantasy X. The battle system is based on some of the older games in the series that had a job system. Each character uses "dresses" which totally change how the characters fight and how they look. Change into a warrior dress sphere, hit things hard, change from that into a white mage and you can heal. Each character gains experience with each dress unlocking new attacks and abilities as they use them more and can be changed on the fly so some fights are surprisingly tactical. It's a great system with a good dozen dresses to get, some of which are quite well hidden and possible to miss. As this is the international version, Yuna Rikku and Paine are no longer the only characters you can use as you can capture fiends as well as some other NPC characters who you can then use in battle should you wish. (Not something I really dabbled in).
The game plays over several chapters where the Gullwings will keep revisiting the same areas on missions and seeing cutscenes showing how much Spira has changed. Each action you do increases the percentage bar of the game. Reach 100% and there is a chance for the true ending but it is very hard to do. Much like X this game is a good 30 hours with over 100 if you are going for all the trophies (took me 116).
The music to FFX-2 takes an almost Jazz type beat to it during battles and scenes, it has some poignant moments though, I especially love the song played on the title screen Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves. A fantastic piano piece. To my knowledge, X-2's music has not been rearranged and is identical to it's original release. The visuals are much the same as X's, colourful, crisp and brought up to more modern standards.
The biggest addition though to this version is "The Last Mission". It takes place three months after the end of FFX-2 (It also assumes I might add that you got the 100% ending, I have warned you) This is a completely new game in itself and is a grid based roguelike where you pick between Yuna, Rikku and Paine and explore an 80 floor tower. This is, imo, really quite hard. You start off with just one dress sphere and have to explore each floor for more as well as items. Dress spheres have their own hit points and act as shields for your health, if they break, you lose them completely (though they can be found again.) As you progress, you can combine spheres of the same type to increase their hit points. Depending on which combination of spheres you equip, you get different skills and abilities which make a big difference because if you die, you go back to the start.
It's a really challenging mode at first though once you experiment with spheres and abilities you can find strong set ups to progress. It took me a good 15 hours to finish though. It was fun and added some insight to the girls lives after FFX-2. The original English voice actors have also returned to reprise their roles which was nice.
In summary this is a great collection. I've always been a Final Fantasy fan so to have these remastered to look their best, include all content for both games previously not released outside of Japan and with two full trophy sets was fantastic. Well worth the price.
+ Upgraded visuals and resolution look gorgeous.
+ Great value collection with two big RPGs and Last Mission.
+ Both games are fantastic fun with excellent battle systems.
- FFX-2 can be a little cringe inducing at times and retreads too many of X's locations.
This collection features two games both previously released on the PlayStation 2. Final Fantasy X originally released in the UK in 2002 and it's sequel Final Fantasy X-2 which was originally released in 2004. These games have been remastered with improved visuals at a higher resolution and full trophy support for both titles. In addition the majority of Final Fantasy X's music has been rearranged and both versions of the games are the international versions. (For the UK it means we got an additional gameplay mode for FFX-2 called Last Mission as well as some mini games for it).
Here's my breakdown of both games:
Final Fantasy X.
SquareSoft's (Now Square Enix) first Final Fantasy game on the PlayStation 2, the first game in the series to be full 3D with no prerendered back drops and also the first game in the series to use voice acting. Though a little linear and with occasional awkward dialogue Final Fantasy X is an otherwise gorgeous and engrossing game.
The lead character is a man named Tidus, he is a star blitzball player for a team called the Zanarkand Abes. One day after a game the city of Zanarkand is attacked by a city sized monster called Sin, Tidus is drawn into it during it's attack and wakes up to a world he does not recognize. Lost and extremely confused Tidus ends up helping a local summoner called Yuna and her guardians on their pilgrimage to defeat Sin while trying to find his way home. It's quite a nice little story with some really nice emotional payoffs as the narrative unfolds.
Where Final Fantasy X shines though is the gameplay. It's a traditional turn based Japanese role playing game so as you travel from place to place you will get into random battles. During each battle you can use three characters to fight with, but, and this is what makes FFX stand out, you can swap any of them out with the other four characters on their turn meaning you can change tactics depending on what enemies you face. This is especially important early on in the game as certain enemies are weaker to certain attacks such as magic or piercing weapons etc. so taking advantage of this will help you through battles as each character specializes in certain things at first. As you level up from fighting monsters your characters gain higher stats and new skills using a large sphere grid. Each character starts on a different part of the board and by leveling up you can travel around it unlocking new spheres with the upgrades. Eventually if you unlock the whole board every character will have equal stats and skills but that takes quite a long time.
The graphics to Final Fantasy X still look really superb, colourful and detailed. The new resolution and enhancements make everything seem really crisp visually and for such an old game it really holds up against some modern releases surprisingly. The voice acting was always something that impressed me originally and it's still pretty solid going back to it, there are some cringe inducing moments here and there (Tidus's laugh scene, I'm looking at you) but all in all the values are still impressive. The big difference between the original and the remastered release production wise is the music. While exactly the same tracks they have been rearranged with fresh versions and slight differences. I have seen mixed opinions on this but I thought the new versions of the tracks were excellent and Final Fantasy X always had good music anyway.
Depending on how you play, Final Fantasy X can take between 30-60 hours. It's a very linear game where you go from place to place however there are a lot of minigames, hidden collectables and things to do anyway. If you are going for the platinum trophy you have to do almost everything including all Dark Aeon hidden boss fights so you are looking at over 100 hours.
In addition this collection also has a very short epilogue movie called The Eternal Calm. It doesn't add a lot but it's certainly worth the watch if you're a fan of the game.
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X-2 was the first ever direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game. It's generally got pretty mixed feedback. I personally really enjoyed it due to it's excellent battle system and upbeat music. It's not without flaws though as it has very few new areas, pretty much the entire game is in the exact same locations as X and you visit them multiple times. It's also unbearably cringe inducing at times, like vomit inducing, but if you can ignore that then you should very much enjoy FF X-2.
Final Fantasy X-2 takes place after Final Fantasy X but this time focuses on Yuna. No longer a summoner Yuna has joined with her cousin Rikku and another woman named Paine in a group called the Gullwings. They are sphere hunters, they look for ancient spheres to try and unlock Spira's past and are rivals with the Leblanc Syndicate, another sphere hunting faction. The tone of the second game is a lot different to the fist, a lot more upbeat though it certainly can have emotional moments as Yuna tries to find herself.
The battle and level system has been completely overhauled from Final Fantasy X. The battle system is based on some of the older games in the series that had a job system. Each character uses "dresses" which totally change how the characters fight and how they look. Change into a warrior dress sphere, hit things hard, change from that into a white mage and you can heal. Each character gains experience with each dress unlocking new attacks and abilities as they use them more and can be changed on the fly so some fights are surprisingly tactical. It's a great system with a good dozen dresses to get, some of which are quite well hidden and possible to miss. As this is the international version, Yuna Rikku and Paine are no longer the only characters you can use as you can capture fiends as well as some other NPC characters who you can then use in battle should you wish. (Not something I really dabbled in).
The game plays over several chapters where the Gullwings will keep revisiting the same areas on missions and seeing cutscenes showing how much Spira has changed. Each action you do increases the percentage bar of the game. Reach 100% and there is a chance for the true ending but it is very hard to do. Much like X this game is a good 30 hours with over 100 if you are going for all the trophies (took me 116).
The music to FFX-2 takes an almost Jazz type beat to it during battles and scenes, it has some poignant moments though, I especially love the song played on the title screen Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves. A fantastic piano piece. To my knowledge, X-2's music has not been rearranged and is identical to it's original release. The visuals are much the same as X's, colourful, crisp and brought up to more modern standards.
The biggest addition though to this version is "The Last Mission". It takes place three months after the end of FFX-2 (It also assumes I might add that you got the 100% ending, I have warned you) This is a completely new game in itself and is a grid based roguelike where you pick between Yuna, Rikku and Paine and explore an 80 floor tower. This is, imo, really quite hard. You start off with just one dress sphere and have to explore each floor for more as well as items. Dress spheres have their own hit points and act as shields for your health, if they break, you lose them completely (though they can be found again.) As you progress, you can combine spheres of the same type to increase their hit points. Depending on which combination of spheres you equip, you get different skills and abilities which make a big difference because if you die, you go back to the start.
It's a really challenging mode at first though once you experiment with spheres and abilities you can find strong set ups to progress. It took me a good 15 hours to finish though. It was fun and added some insight to the girls lives after FFX-2. The original English voice actors have also returned to reprise their roles which was nice.
In summary this is a great collection. I've always been a Final Fantasy fan so to have these remastered to look their best, include all content for both games previously not released outside of Japan and with two full trophy sets was fantastic. Well worth the price.
+ Upgraded visuals and resolution look gorgeous.
+ Great value collection with two big RPGs and Last Mission.
+ Both games are fantastic fun with excellent battle systems.
- FFX-2 can be a little cringe inducing at times and retreads too many of X's locations.