I got around to playing Final Fantasy X-2 today, and I think it has the potential to be fun. The story is a lot more lighthearted and goofy of course, but still may be interesting in that the player wants to know the true fate of Tidus. And its interesting how the success of the party FFX has changed the world. The game is also nonlinear, with access to the entire FFX world from airship early in the game. Apparently, there's a mission setup and after each mission you can explore the world looking for sidequests and secrets. To keep from accidentally continuing the story, the game will mark the areas that will cause the game to progress. I've also heard that there's a New Game + mode for those who want to get 100% completion and a better ending.

The job system is back for this game, which is one of the reasons I wanted to play it. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are the only playable characters, but each has many different jobs (called dress-spheres) to use as the game progresses. Aside from the gimmicky outfits, it sounds much like the old job system from FF5 and FF Tactics. The ATB system is also back, replacing the new system developed for FFX. One difference is that the battles are now extremely fast. It was actually a little disorienting at first how everyone seemed to be acting at once.

The graphics seem a bit better than in FFX. But the main problem is that most areas are going to be recycled from that game. Probably a combination of Square being lazy and also a bit of logic. Afterall, it is still the same planet. Towns and things aren't going to shift around for no reason. And just sending the characters to some previously unexplored part of the planet would seem even more ridiculous.

I haven't played enough to get a good sense of how the music is going to be. Voice actors have returned from the first game though, and the new ones seem to be of the same generally high quality.

"I will do this. Nothing in my life matters except this. No moment in my life exists except this moment. I am born in this moment, and if I fail, I will die in this moment." - Raistlin