Who would have thought Square would finally do it. Square-Enix's newest release, Final Fantasy X-2 marks a milestone in RPG history. It is the first Final Fantasy game that Square has produced that is a 'true' sequel in the sense that it continues a story using characters and settings from a previous Final Fantasy game. That game was, of course, Final Fantasy X.

While it is a sequel, Final Fantasy X-2 is a whole different ball of wax. The major differences are pretty well summarized by the opening FMV. Final Fantasy X opened with a gritty, hardcore blitzball game, accompanied by a heavy metal theme, which ended in explosions and buildings falling over. In contrast, Final Fantasy X-2 opens with a song and dance J-pop number (think Britney Spears, but Japanese). The opening FMV is also clearly inspired by the Charlie's Angels movies; a fact that's been confirmed by the developers. Put simply, the tone of Final Fantasy X-2 is far lighter than it's predecessor. This really hits home when you finally see Yuna, her outfit is a tad more risqué this time around. This 'girl power' motif might turn off some people.

Despite all these differences however, we'll be starting with what the two games have the most in common, graphics. The graphics in Final Fantasy X-2 are stunning as always, though they feel a little on the dated side. The reason for this is clear, as I'd say roughly 70-80 percent of the graphics are actually recycled from Final Fantasy X. Now, I understand that the cheap development costs are one of the main reasons we even have Final Fantasy X-2, but it doesn't change the fact that it can cause the game to be extremely tedious at times. The worst culprits of all are the reused background environments, but more on that when we get to gameplay.

The quality of the FMVs is, as always, top notch. However, there's far fewer of them, fewer than ten in all, and about half are extremely short. Don't let that bum you out too much though; a couple of them are truly top notch. In fact, the 1000 words FMV is now my single favorite FMV in a game, ever.

While the graphics are the aspect most similar between the two games, the biggest difference can be found in the music. To begin with, Nobuo Uematsu, the usual composer for Final Fantasy games, did not do the soundtrack for Final Fantasy X-2. Instead, most of the music for the game was created by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi. The result is completely new music for every area/aspect of the game. While having new music is great, it would have been nice to have heard some familiar melodies from Final Fantasy X.

It's all right though, because the new music is still good stuff. It's definitely a different style from Final Fantasy X. The music is more upbeat, with far more focus on rhythm and percussion. It's also the most diverse Final Fantasy soundtrack to date. Unfortunately, the Chocobo theme is nonexistent in any 'real' form, and that is inexcusable.

Final Fantasy X-2's gameplay is pretty similar to its predecessor with two big exceptions: story progression and the battle/ability systems. While Final Fantasy X was probably the most linear Final Fantasy to date, Final Fantasy X-2 is easily the most non-linear. I'll talk about progression here and address the battle system in game mechanics.

We all remember how Final Fantasy X ended. It was quite the downer when our favorite summoner saved the world, only to be separated from the cocky young blond she'd fallen in love with. Final Fantasy X-2 starts off with Yuna receiving a sphere that apparently shows Tidus held captive somewhere. Oh and by the way, they refer to Tidus using only pronouns the entire game, which is kind of irritating. (Yes, I know you can change his name in FFX, but it still makes everyone sound really retarded when they talk about 'him'.)

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Tidus held captive. So Yuna decides to join her cousin Rikku and their new friend Paine as a sphere hunter (guess what they do...), and hopefully find out more about this mysterious sphere. Oh, did I mention you don't actually see any of this in the game? It was all in a 15 minute bonus cutscene called 'Eternal Calm' that accompanied the Final Fantasy X: International release in Japan. Umm, why wasn't that included with Final Fantasy X-2 when it was released in America? Bad Square! Very bad! The game itself starts with Yuna already a member of the Gullwings, but at least it's made very clear in the game how she got there.

In another unique twist, this time around you'll have an airship at your disposal from the very beginning. This is quite appropriate considering the game's non-linear progression. Final Fantasy X-2's story is built around a mission structure. At any point during the game, several locations in Spira will be marked as Hotspots. These are the missions you must complete if you want to progress through the overall story.

However, you're free to go to any other location you want, and this is something you should definitely do since most of the 'meat' of the game is experienced by going to non-hotspot locations and completing these optional missions. If you just rush through all the hotspots, you'll miss about 80 percent of the game. You're also likely to get severely wailed on by enemies much stronger than you, since you haven't been getting stronger by fighting during optional missions. In this regard, Final Fantasy X-2 is either the shortest Final Fantasy game ever, or one of the longest, depending on how much time you spend exploring and completing side-missions. Exploring is a key word here. While sometimes you are told whether an area has a mission for you to complete, much of the time, you have to discover these missions yourself.

Sadly, this exploration becomes a bit dull and monotonous at times. As I mentioned before, most of the background graphics and environments were reused from Final Fantasy X. This means that, despite a few minor changes, Besaid, Mi'hen, The Thunder Plains, Mt. Gagazet, etc... are all laid out in exactly the same way as they were before. Most of the game involves going through the same areas you went to in the previous game, over, and over, and over. Not all the areas are the same however. Kilika, for example, is vastly different in Final Fantasy X-2. Keeping the old areas the same is fine, but I spent way too much time traipsing around places I'd already been. Don't get me wrong, the nostalgia aspect was great, it just wears off after awhile. There are still some new areas to see though, and the story is pretty good, though it kind of drops off at the end and feels a tad anti-climactic.

Final Fantasy X-2 is either one of the easier Final Fantasies to date, or one of the hardest, depending on what you want out of the game. For most of the game, the difficulty is around the same as Final Fantasy X, that is, pretty darn easy; even the final boss is one of the easiest in the series. This free ride has a catch though, since Final Fantasy X-2 has multiple endings. Well, technically it's just one ending, but you see more of it if your completion percentage is higher, and if you want the 'best' ending you've got some work cut out for you. In the final chapter of the game, there are several encounters that are extremely hard. This isn't really a new concept. Ever since Final Fantasy I, there have been optional bosses that are harder than the final boss. Generally, these optional boss fights have nothing to do with the story and generally offer no real reward. This time, however, they aren't just for fun. You'll have to complete them if you want to see the complete ending, and a few will also net you powerful accessories and interesting story elements.

Difficult bosses aren't the only obstacles in your way. Given the non-linear structure of the game, there are all sorts of events and missions hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the game. You might have to talk to person A, after event B, but before event C in order to see a cutscene and get another one percent, and some decisions may influence whether you can get a mission at all. Thankfully, there is a New Game Plus option so you can start a new game using previously saved data. This will carry over your percentage from the previous game. While it's possible to get 100 percent in one play through, you simply will not get it unless you use a strategy guide. Heck, without a guide, you're not likely to get 100 percent after four or five games; many of the ways you see certain events are really just that non-intuitive.

Final Fantasy X-2 also has more minigames than every other Final Fantasy game put together. Most of these are just for fun and don't contribute to your percentage. So don't kill yourself like I did trying to 'beat' them to unlock a few more percentage points; a few will net you some pretty nice items though.

Another really big change is the battle system. While Final Fantasy X's battles were more strategic and allowed you to fully think through your decisions, Final Fantasy X-2 returns to the old standby of the ATB (Active Time Battle) system. Except, calling it the ATB system is kind of misleading. It has a load of new twists and nuances that make it unique. For example, unlike most of the previous ATB systems, different moves have different wait/charge periods. Some moves, like the gunner abilities, have no wait time at all. Others, like many of the more powerful attacks, can have significant wait times.

It goes even deeper than that however. Aside from just wait time, different moves will cause your action bar, which must fill up before you can execute another command, to change sizes. The sizes are also affected by your characters agility. For example, the wait after using an item is considerably less than the wait after using a powerful black magic spell.

The battles themselves feel very fast paced at the beginning when you still aren't 100 percent sure what's going on most of the time. You have the usual options of adjusting battle speed as well as selecting Active or Wait modes. In Wait mode, time pauses while you make selections from large menus. There are many other subtle nuances to be explored, most involving timing. When you are nailed with a really mean attack and are knocked off your feet, your bar will stop while you are standing back up. Similarly your wait bar can be interrupted while trying to perform a special move. You can also chain attacks quickly for more damage, exploit formations to nail enemies from behind and do more damage, and also try to time attacks so enemies never have a chance to do anything. There really is quite a bit more depth to this battle system than the usual ATB.

Final Fantasy X-2 marks the return of yet another version of the famous Final Fantasy job system. This time around, jobs are represented by objects called dresspheres. As you find dresspheres during the game, you will unlock new and interesting jobs. Since you only have three characters this time around, the ability to switch characters in and out of battle has been replaced with the ability to change jobs in battle on the fly.

Characters place dresspheres inside items called garment grids. Garment grids are setup like little tiny board games, and you can only change into jobs that are connected to your current one on the garment grid. Changing jobs takes very little time in battle, so it's never too hard to get to the job you want. Different garment grids can give different bonuses, and some have 'gates' that can grant you even more bonuses if you pass through them during a battle. There are a huge number of different garment grids in the game, so you can come up with all kinds of different strategies.

If you remember, all the aeons were destroyed at the end of Final Fantasy X so there are no summons this time around. The lengthy summoning sequences have been replaced with lengthy job changing sequences. Thankfully, there is an option to shorten these sequences or turn them off entirely. Actually, there are summons in this game, sort of. Each girl can get a 'special' dressphere that can only be used if she's visited every dressphere on her garment grid during the battle. These special dresspheres work very much like the summons did in Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy X-2 also returns to the usual experience points (xp) and levels. In addition to earning xp, when you use special techniques or kill enemies while wearing a specific dressphere, you will accumulate ability points (ap) towards learning abilities from that dressphere. My only real complaint with this system is there is no way to 'mix and match' abilities from different jobs. If you are currently a white mage, you can't use any of the thief abilities you've learned. It's true that it's easy enough to just switch jobs, but all the job changing can get rather tedious. All hope is not lost however; you can find some garment grids and accessories that let you use abilities you've learned from other jobs. Still, mixing and matching abilities was always kind of fun.

Final Fantasy X-2 is a perfectly fun game that throws some unique twists on an old formula. Sadly, the use of graphics and environments from Final Fantasy X, plus the fact that you'll walk through these environments over and over again, detracts the most from the gameplay and loses it the most points. It looks like this review won't be getting the best ending... maybe if it had just pressed the X button.