Final Fantasy 10 and 10-2

Final Fantasy is an exciting, ongoing series by Square Enix. All of the games are different but have certain aspects that tie them together. This review will cover the tenth game and it's sequel 10-2 for the PS2.

Final Fantasy 10 has you playing as a young man name Tidus, who is a star player on his team in a game called Blitzball. When his home, Zanarkand, is attacked by a monster called Sin, Tidus is thrown a thousand years into the future. It's here that he meets his friends; Wakka, the captain of his blitzball team the Besaid Aurochs, Yuna, a summoner in training to become strong enough to defeat sin, and Yuna's guardians, Lulu, and Kimahri, among a few others. Tidus decides to travel with Yuna and the others in an attempt to figure out what's going on in his life and how he could get back to Zanarkand, which is now destroyed. Tidus and the others run into trouble when they meet a guado named Seymore who tries (and almost succeeds) in forcing Yuna to marry him. A hint of romance between Yuna and Tidus make everything much more difficult for everyone, and eventually Tidus is asked to become one of Yuna's official guardians. Eventually, Tidus decides that the only way he can possibly hope to get back to where he belongs is to once again confront Sin. After doing so, Yuna defeats Sin making both him and Tidus disappear without a trace.

Final Fantasy 10-2 takes place a few years after 10 ends. This time, you play as Yuna who has now become whats called a sphere hunter. After finding a sphere that contains who she thinks is Tidus, she becomes a part of a sphere hunter team called the Gullwings, hoping to find more clues as to where Tidus could be. Yuna, and her new team involving Rikku and a mysterious woman named Paine, travel the world looking for these spheres that explain the history of Spira. Soon, Yuna discovers a huge weapon that has the potential to destroy Spira called Vegnagun. When they decide to try to do something about it, it disappears, as do the leaders of the main groups in Spira; Nooj of the Youth League, Baralai of New Yevon, and Gippal of the Al Bhed. Not only are they missing, but now Spira is split in two and each side is fighting the other. Among the chaos and disorder, Yuna has to find a way to bring everyone together and finally solve the mysteries that she's been confronted with.

Okay, so Final Fantasy is one of my favorite series in RPG gaming. As of right now (that I know of) there are 14 games in the main series, and more are always in the works. On top of that, there are the few that have sequels such as 10 and 13. Also, there are countless other spin off games such as Dirge of Cerberus,
which spins from 7, or Crystal Chronicles for the Gamecube. Also, the games in this series are continuously being re-released. 10 and 10-2 for example, are planned to be re-released for the PS3 in the near future.

Anyway, Final Fantasy 10 is a pretty straight forward RPG. Pretty much all you do is run around the world with your team, beat on some enemies, rinse, and repeat, until you get to the end. It sounds boring, but if you've ever played an RPG game, they're all basically the same, which isn't bad. In this game the battle system is your typical Final Fantasy sequential battle system. Pretty much, you wait your turn, choose an attack or an item or from another option you may have, hit the enemy, and repeat. Now, if timed correctly, this can be chained, which can be pretty epic, especially in 10-2 with the Gunner dress sphere. Another thing that makes these game fun are that the maps are huge. There are so many different places to go, it's ridiculous. In 10-2, you're living on an airship, where you can go to and then teleport to any place on the map, which makes things much more easy and convenient. But, if you want, you can still walk from place to place if you so desire. I know of a few people, my boyfriend included, who hates the fact that you always end up back at the airship in 10-2, but I don't mind it for I think it makes things easier, but that may be just me.

There isn't much of a difference graphics wise going from 10 to 10-2. There also isn't too much difference when it comes to gameplay. However, the leveling systems are very different between the games. You also have this nifty dress sphere system in 10-2 which can be complicated to those who aren't used to it. Again, this is a feature I like, but I can see it frustrating others since some are VERY difficult to get a hold of. These leveling systems and dress spheres are a little complicated to explain, so you're probably better off to Google it if you want to know the details. But overall, even if you play and you're not a fan of 10 or 10-2, this series is a must play for anyone, not just RPG lovers. Try them all, pick your favorites, eventually I'm sure more of them will make it onto this blog. Have a nice day. :)