Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster review

[MrKirov]

110 hours on FFX and im done. All Dark Aeons beaten and Penance just been crushed by my might.

Only two trophies left, maxing all characters and beating Nemesis. I cant be arsed to grind Don Tonberry anymore, and the unlock requirements for Nemesis are far too grindy for me to want to bother.

Would have liked the platinum, but i'll live without it. 110 hours on a game I never really liked that much

As soon as you get to the calm lands, the grinding kicks in, and you spend about 50-60 hours in the monster arena. I never did everything when it first came out,and wanted to with this remake- however I didnt even realise the kind of investment required. By the time I realised, i'd spent 80 hours on the game and felt like id invested too much time to turn back.

I ended up buying the Vita version alongside the PS3 to help suffer the grind. It worked, but I can honestly say never again. So much of it just was not fun, and the game seems to revel in making you suffer- everything involves so much effort. It annoys me that I still havent done everything- but Im not collecting 10 if every monster, then beating every monster in the arena.

I loved the light hearted tone of FFX-2, and found the game more enjoyable the first time through- but I dont think i'll be investing the kind of effort into the HD version of X-2 as I have here.

[J0e Musashi]

I beat Yunalesca last night. I haven't died once so far.

The side-quests are where all the fun is. Until I have 100% maxxed out all the characters, created specific weapon and armor sets, done all the side quests, beaten every single enemy in the game and amassed all trophies, I won't be going anywhere near Sin.

I've probably played less than twenty (mainly due to language constraints), but FFX is my favourite RPG ever. I'll probably get FFX-2 after I'm done with this one I reckon. ?50 for 800 hours of gaming is pretty good, but I wish they'd hurry up and update them for VTV.

[J0e Musashi]

48 hours in, and I've only got the Dark Aeons, Monster Arena and the 200 lightning dodge left to go. I'm currently power-levelling Tidus, Yuna and Auron in Omega Ruins. They're all about 50% completion on the Sphere Grid, and can take down any enemy in there in one hit.

[MrKirov]

Don't bother grinding in Omega ruins. Just use Don Tonberry/comrade overdrive and you'll level up far quicker.

[J0e Musashi]

One Eye is the best grind in the game, but I can't one-hit him yet, so I'll stay here until I'm able to. I've got extra encounter ability, so I'm fighting every three seconds.

[MrKirov]

One eye does nothing compared to Don Tonberry- apart from getting triple AP weapons and magic defense spheres he's not great.

Don Tonberry gets you 30-40 levels per fight, in a few minutes. Towards the end of the sphere grid you still manage around 18 levels. The genius part is you don't even need to kill him, you flee after he walks forward four times.

Triple AP & Overdrive>AP on a weapon, then setting two characters to comrade overdrive while fighting him. By far the fastest way to level.

[J0e Musashi]

Cactuar King is better than Don Tonberry IMO. I'm still working on ultimate armor's, so Omega Ruins is better for now with bribing Machea.

[MrKirov]

You can get the majority of Ribbon and break HP limit from the dark aeons. Farming armour was even more of a grind than I could be bothered with. Dark Yojimbo has four fights in a row and has a high chance to drop four slots with break HP and ribbon.

Cactuar works too, but you get less for your time sadly. Plus he can run away, and his damage is more random. 99,999 damage turned from overdrive to AP then tripled about 30 times in fight is mental. Although fighting Don Tonberry repeatedly can grate so horses for courses!

Never again though, a ridiculous amount of grind.

[J0e Musashi]

I'm not quite ready to take on the Dark Aeons. This is why I'm grinding Omega Ruins. I need Auto-Haste on all armors to start with, then Ribbon. It's being a bitch and not throwing up Machea enough for me to bribe enough for everyone.

You sound like you know what you're doing though, so thumbs up. I'm around 100 hours in front on this playthrough. I really don't mind the grind at all. I'm pretty much just hammering O to win at the moment. I don't even need to look at the screen.

[MrKirov]

Yeah, normal enemies are of no consequence at that point.

I went though it all without auto haste funnily. A cast of hastega is too easy to waste an armour slot IMO. Auto protect and auto phoenix was far more of a priority for me.

Still, chocobo wings are easy enough to steal iirc. Can you not thieve then from a species conquest in the arena?

[J0e Musashi]

Auto-Haste is the best ability in the game. Add in Ribbon, Auto-Protect and you can't really die. I'm still not decided on the fourth ability. Auto-Med can be decent too along with BHPL. I go Deathproof sometimes, though it negates Auto-Phoenix. I'm mainly going for a full Sphere Grid at the moment, even though I'll never use any of the abilities.

[MrKirov]

BHPL, Ribbon,Auto Phoenix and Auto Protect for me.

The proviso was that Auron had his celestial weapon equipped which has first strike- always meant if cast hastega in the first turn. This way I found I didn't have to waste an armor slot. I found casting Hastega easier than casting protect one by one so I found auto haste was the one to go.

[Panta Rhei]

Bribing Machea is easier from the Monster Arena, though it'll cost you a few bucks per fight to initiate. Ribbon is a bitch to get if you grind for it. I had one Ribbon from a DA drop but otherwise I didn't bother with it. One is also enough to survive Marlboro's, as long as you'll have First strike and the Ribbon character in the fight.

I mainly used Auto Haste, Auto Phoenix and Auto Potion with strictly X-Potions in my inventory. The 4th could be anything, like Defense +20. BHPL is tedious to heal, though it can be somewhat easier against Penance and Nemesis. But for the rest I doubt its use somewhat.

One Eye can be killed with Attack Reels if you've completed a grid or 2 (for Wakka I always go Auron's path after his own is done). Or Magus Sisters with Yuna's ultimate weapon and some MP leveling (Lulu's path) Razzia and Delta Attack did 99999 after not much of a grind. Killing him in 2 hits.

But even with just Double AP, Overdrive > AP and Triple Overdrive weapons, it takes only 2 minutes to get 99 levels against Don Tonberry. The problem however is that you won't have enough spheres, which I believe people farm Kottos for (tedious).

[J0e Musashi]

I can take down a Marlboro without getting hit. Auron's first hit as Dark Buster, and it goes down on the next turn. I've got Yuna as a mega-Mage with all spells. I can't die unless I attack myself. I'm power-grinding for supreme armors. Everyone has Auto-Haste and Ribbon. I'm still deciding what to add, though it's only for Nemesis, Penance and the Dark Aeons. They are the only enemies I need to fear.

I love being this far into the game.

[djtickle]

Not got back into this yet but I remember ribbon being a pain in the ass to get for all 3 chars. I had 2 and was farming Dark Anima? for the 3rd but never finished it!