Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster review

[nakamura]

400 hours? I thought you had better taste!!

[speedlolita]

I knew someone with a similar amount of play time. OCD on the sphere grid etc.

[nakamura]

Sounds like our Daryl.

[speedlolita]

Suggests he was playing some kind of International version though. There's no reason to do so without content like the Dark Aeons.

[J0e Musashi]

It was the International version on PS2, which I sold to you Martin. I bought it the day it came out in CEX. I was real excited as it had both English language and BB Navigator support. I did everything you possibly could in the game. Then I'd just walk around trying to find enemies I couldn't kill in one hit.

[nakamura]

Yeah I figured as much. Still got that bad boy!

[shaffy_oppa]

Playing up to the first save point of X-2 made me feel 14 again. So amazing to see what they've done.

Haha I was also around that age the first time I played it. I'm saving X-2 till after X but really itching for that battle system and I don't care what anyone else thinks X-2 was fantastic. Really excited to finally play Last Mission in English.

I've got the International version of XII on my PC and play it whenever I've got nothing to do. It's the only FF game I've completed more than twice and I've put 100s of hours into it. I really hope SE remaster it, it already looks brilliant unscaled on PC and it can only look better if done properly.

[speedlolita]

I'd like FFXII HD simply because I never completed XII. Gave it about 20 hours and completely lost all interest in it for some reason.

With FFX/X-2 HD I'm not sure if I can even be bothered to replay them any time soon but I just had to grab the package anyway.

[Guts]

How did they manage to **** up Tidus' face like that? He looks retarded with his glow-in-the-dark eyes. I was never a fan of his pretty boy design in the first place, but now he looks like a shemale.

[danholo]

Haha I was also around that age the first time I played it. I'm saving X-2 till after X but really itching for that battle system and I don't care what anyone else thinks X-2 was fantastic. Really excited to finally play Last Mission in English.

I've got the International version of XII on my PC and play it whenever I've got nothing to do. It's the only FF game I've completed more than twice and I've put 100s of hours into it. I really hope SE remaster it, it already looks brilliant unscaled on PC and it can only look better if done properly.

I agree. I've beat it three times. Twice the normal version, and once the international one. Unfortunately my backwards compatible PS3 got fried so I can't play FFXII in HD. My computer can't handle PS2 games...

[MadMarc]

I'd like FFXII HD simply because I never completed XII. Gave it about 20 hours and completely lost all interest in it for some reason.

With FFX/X-2 HD I'm not sure if I can even be bothered to replay them any time soon but I just had to grab the package anyway.

So you expect to not completely lose all interest with an HD remake?

[sj33]

Haha I was also around that age the first time I played it. I'm saving X-2 till after X but really itching for that battle system and I don't care what anyone else thinks X-2 was fantastic. Really excited to finally play Last Mission in English.

I've got the International version of XII on my PC and play it whenever I've got nothing to do. It's the only FF game I've completed more than twice and I've put 100s of hours into it. I really hope SE remaster it, it already looks brilliant unscaled on PC and it can only look better if done properly.

I'm a massive fan of both X-2 and XII, as well.

With X-2, it was just great to play a light-hearted Final Fantasy game that didn't take itself so seriously, didn't focus on annoying characters suffering from teen angst, or some overly-epic story about the impending end of the world. Instead, it focused on things to actually do, the battle system, an open approach to tackling areas, and characters that were likeable (as long as you're not some self-conscious male chauvinist who cringes at anything girly). It provided plenty to do, and was just an enjoyable game.

XII was excellent for other reasons. It was a genuine attempt to modernise the JRPG genre and bring it up to date with other progressions in the RPG genre overall. It was still a very Japanese approach to an RPG - focus on the characters and the relationship between them, and the overarching plot. But the characters were also more mature and felt a little less like you were dealing with a team of teenagers, it took a more open-ended approach to the world and encouraged players to explore. Ditching the turn-based system was controversial, but I would argue a positive step as it allowed SquareEnix to evolve the battle system and think beyond the confines of the actual encounter - the gambit system, for example.

Unfortunately, people don't like change. They kicked up a fuss because it wasn't yet another cookie-cutter turn-based JRPG. So SquareEnix listened, and gave everybody FF13, and thus began the decline of the (single player) Final Fantasy series,

[Guts]

Unfortunately, people don't like change. They kicked up a fuss because it wasn't yet another cookie-cutter turn-based JRPG. So SquareEnix listened, and gave everybody FF13, and thus began the decline of the (single player) Final Fantasy series,

The problem is, that FF13 wasn't any sort of return to the roots of what once made the series good, neither was it turn-based.

[sj33]

I guess it depends how you look at it. It was Active Time wasn't it? That's really still more turn based than real time, although I respect that people may disagree there.

My basic point was that FF13 was extremely conservative, and rejected the (admittedly experimental) progressions they made in FF12. Once you got used to the impressive graphics and overall flashy visuals, it felt like a massive backwards step not only for the series, but the genre as a whole. Very depressing because for all its flaws, FF12 showed how the genre could possibly evolve. The game was imperfect (the plot wasn't the most interesting, for instance), but you have to wonder what the next step would have been had they continued down that route.

[Dogg Thang]

X-2 was the very first FF game I started and couldn't be bothered to finish and, possibly as a result (but also just general burnout) it was also the last new FF I have played. Have played many classic ones since then but haven't been inclined to get a new one. I would love to play XII as I hear great things and I love the soundtrack but my PS2 is long packed away so I'd need it on something else. Would love a vita version.

In spite of X-2 being my FF breaking point, I'd still like to revisit it and give it another go.