Final Fantasy X-2

[marcus]

I know the part you mean. I spent ages digging in that desert, it was quite addictive and good for levelling up. Im also enjoying Chapter 5 a lot more mainly because of the difficulty. I found chapters 3 and 4 to be over very quickly, so will take my time in chapter 5.

[Prof Frink]

I definatly agree about chapter four which was just comm spheres I liked chapter 3 as their is quite a lot of good optional content in it particularly relevent to the story in bevelle and guadoslam and I also enjoyed sphere break but could not beat shinra now there is a challenge. Also at the end of chapter 3 did you get the whistling event.

[womblingfree]

I got this last Friday and have clocked up about 12 hours.

I've been killed a whole bunch of times already

Anyway I'm loving it, especially all the references to FF's of the past.

What's surprising me most is that it's really starting to feel like a fully fledged FF game, albeit with a few quirks.

Those worried about a quick filler needn't worry, this game is the real deal.

[djtickle]

is it true that there are no summons in this game?

[Che Musashi]

No comment.

They are in the game to 'some' capacity. But there isn't summoning as far as I know. Was that vague enough...

[womblingfree]

is it true that there are no summons in this game?

Although there are no summonable Aeons as such the Dressphere system is basically very similair, especially some of the later ones.

[Naiera]

Nevermind

[JetBlack]

Well, I finished the game......and only got the "normal" ending. Sad really. Because I spent more time doing extra side quests and attempting to get more percentage complete. I didn't use a guide book, and as a rule I never go to GameFAQs until AFTER I've beaten a game.

However, for FFX-2....now that I beat the game, I may have wished to break that rule.

My daughter is also a slut for FF games, so I've sent it along to her, and for Xmas, I picked up the official guidebook for her. I figured she'll need it. I spent hours diggin' in the desert (to the point where I had nearly all the Al Bhed Primers ? except for the ones given in the story), running around doing publicity, and marriage counsel, and Chocobo raising, mini games, and all that stuff......

It got tiring after a while, so I continued the story, only to find all my running about had leveled me up to demi-god status. The final boss (each stage) would fall in 2 or 3 rounds. (I am not joking). I was planning my attacks 2 steps ahead, only to find when the next round started that less targets were on my menu. Characters that were priming their attack had nothing to hit. A final boss that last only 3 rounds is no fun at all. I?ve had tougher fights in the side dungeons with regular fiends that had tougher ?tricks? up their sleeve.

Let this be a lesson.....if you want to run all over Spira doing as many side quests as possible (especially just wandering about without a guide book)....then for the love of god, put a "Charm Bracelet" on, or something. Give yourself a challenge at the end of the game. Don't let this happen to you. All psyched up and nobody to fight.

I finished with a lousy 75%. After checking GameFAQs I noticed there were things you needed to do within the first 20 minutes that made a difference in your game. Amazing.

Worth the time and fun, I recommend it.....but, don't be upset if you don't reach 100%. Some of the side quests and percentage points are well hidden. And some are not "side quests" at all. I had no idea simply sleeping in your cabin each chapter gives you a percentage point. Hell, why do I need to sleep? Each chapter starts off with me in perfect health. How would I know that?

In short, stuff like that.

And yes....the "whistle event". Randomly pushing the "X" button where there's no indication to do so. And to do it several times. Beautiful. After a while I gave up looking at all the secret handshake underground club secret society info and admitted that I missed out on a lot of the game. And I went straight up and down the list, forward and backward?.and did a LOT of revisiting old places and people.

My daughter (using the guide book) claims to be at level 26 by the end of the first chapter. She's loving the game. All that bleedin' bloody girl-power stuff mind you. I liked it, it was fun. But for my daughter, it's almost a religion.

I have plenty of other games I need to get off my shelf.

I do wish I had foresight looooong time ago to pick up those "tiny bees" PS2 controllers back early in the year. I know they went for a small fortune, but I'd love to have experienced the game using them. Especially when Yuna pulls out her Gun Play routines.

[marcus]

Im not after 100% myself, I just want to finish the game so I can move onto something new. The problem I have is that my charecters are about level 45, up until the final chapter there has been no problems whatsoever, the random enemies havent posed a problem at all and like you I now run about with the charm bracelet. However there are several bosses which I cannot yet beat, the one in the Thunder Plains, the weird one in the desert, the ultra rock Machina being such examples. Im not really sure where or what to do next as I really just want to beat these bosses, Im not so interested in the remaining side quests. Like you also Ive spent hours digging in the desert, and Im kinda tired of that now. Presumeably I need to beat these bosses to progress, I wondered what sort of levels you were when you faced them. The Machina boss wipes out my whole party in one attack...

[Naiera]

I'm on level 50 with Paine, I got access to the final dungeon ages ago, and I'm still only on 48 %. I don't think I'll have the patience to get to more than 55 %

[JetBlack]

Yuna : lvl 70

Rikku: lvl 68

Paine: lvl: 69

75% complete

Normal Ending

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Plus, I had went back and found (by accident I must say) several bracelets that doubled my HP and MP. So level 70 + double the HP. The final boss only scratched me. He even had the nerve to try and play Sepheroth with some crazy long spell (longest part of the final battle), only to knock me down a mere 1000 HP. My White mage was Praying at that recovery level.

I never even got a chance to use the Special Dress spheres.

Furthermore, when I went "down" the hole I still had the charm bracelet on. Lord knows how many more levels I would have jumped if I didn't have it on (while down in the hole)

I will admit, when I picked up a certain dress sphere I studied the "abilities" when I saw it has "DOUBLE EXP" as an auto feature I made sure that was the FIRST thing to learn. Hence for my levels.

But Marcus, if I had known this I'd trade games with you in a second. I like long battles. I want 60 hours to be worth it at the end. The fiend in the desert is a better match. However, and I stick this as a negative to FFX-2, that certain fiend in the desert should NOT be there until after you beat the final boss. Simply put, that desert battle is like a Weapon fight in FF7. It should be AFTER the game. Of course, if you find all ten Cacturs and trigger it then I guess it's our own damn fault.

I was pissed because I dug and dug and never got a chance to find that Key in the Central area of the desert. Dumb Jet went out on a Cactuar hunting mission found them all and promptly CLOSED off the desert because I triggered the Uber fiend - (which I couldn't kill for a LONG time!)

I blew that......another lesson learned.

I played about 2 hours of "new game +". Not thrilled with starting all over from level 1. But it is nice to read all the Al Bhed that was missed very early in the game.

Hell.....you guys got me thinking about it....when my daughter returns it I just might give it another spin.....this time with a guide.

[marcus]

How do I open up the central part of the Desert? Also did you beat the Machina baddie that was being built? Your levels seem quite high, you must of been levelling up for quite a while, I tend to do this in the desert as they appear to be the only foes really worth fighting from what I can tell.

[JetBlack]

I don't want to spoil anything, but I got lucky as all hell, and it came rather late. Sadly, the Central expanse has nothing to do with your digging rank. Too late for me I had ranked up twice by the time I happened upon the "real" way to open up that area.

Spoilers
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In Chapter 5, once you have the ability to catch those pesky yellow birds, then you will need to send a Chocobo to the desert to "search" the area. I was just toolin' around and ended up at the desert and I talked to the woman (forgot her name), she tells me I can now go into the Central area because they discovered Chocobos were running about inside it. I searched for that damn key but didn't find it right away, so I did some more Cactaur hunting. But as I said, I blew it and triggered the desert fiend, which locked out ALL the digging. I never went back to beat the desert fiend (which would have helped my percentage), so I don't know what's in the chest.
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End Spoilers

Needless to say, if you're worried about that chest don't be until Chapter 5 - that's the only time you get a chance at it.

As for the Machina in DJose Temple that all depends on how much you dug up in desert prior. You can beat the machine on two levels, I beat it down twice and walked away. I didn't have any more repair manuals (because of that damn desert Fiend locking me out of digging). When I was digging I would go to the temple and access that computer screen telling me what I had dug up so far. I kept digging until I had all the parts (and even more). I had no idea I'd be fighting against them later.

I've read there are other places to get "repair manuals" besides the desert. But a few of them were so bizarre I would have NEVER thought of it.

Like I said I found that dress that had DOUBLE EXP as an auto ability. Once I had that it was all over. And the Charm Bracelet I didn't wear until I went down the "hole". I figured I was plenty good for the last fight. I did pick up a TON of exp down at the bottom of Bevelle temple. There are two open doors going down into that pit. If you can open the doors and move the platforms to reach the bottom. But each time you move a platform you have to fight a sub-boss. I did a lot of that.

However, the payoff at the bottom wasn't that great.

I guess I just got lucky with the exp. point thing. I was trying to max out my other dresses, too. So I did some experimenting. I fought for hours in Kilika woods looking for those damn squatter monkeys to give to that lady. I only fond 11, and still I got nothing in return but pain and misery - and exp. points.

Did anyone figure out what all that Squatter Monkey biz was about? I got tired of it after a while. But I walked out the woods with plenty of Chocobos (the BOLD ones! - which helped later on) and higher levels. But the time was long and boring.

Marcus keep in mind I played this game for hours on end - with no "day job" to hold me down I clocked 60 hours in just 6 days. Trust me, I was up all damn night and all day. I don't advise killing yourself over it.....especially when I don't get even near 100%. Right pisses me off.

And I even tossed out my first game of 12 hours because I feared I missed too much stuff (which I did).

[Che Musashi]

Men talking about dresses and bracelets sounds kind of gay. Just thought I'd mention it.

This game sounds pretty groovy, I think I'm holding out for the International version though.

[Razz]

Is International version in english? I heard it was just Japanese with an extra story mission (if you use your old save). If its in english I'll get the international. that way I can save it to my HDD too.