At the end of Final Fantasy X, Yuna believed Tidus had disappeared forever. No matter the strength of their love, it was not enough to keep Tidus from his fate. Months later, as Yuna settles into her new administrative position during the Eternal Calm, she comes across a sphere depicting her beloved Tidus screaming to be released from a mysterious cage. At Rikku’s insistence, the two set as sphere hunters in the hopes of learning more of Tidus’ fate.

As soon as the introduction played, I had a feeling Square Enix’s latest effort was not going to be my cup of tea. There’s nothing wrong with being a little silly, but when Yuna was prancing around on stage lip-synching a J-Pop song – I have to be honest here - an overwhelming feeling of dread clouded my thoughts. Charlie’s Angels comparisons have been all the rage for commentators on X-2, and these would be on the mark - except you don’t have to spend 40 hours with the Charlie’s Angels flicks and Cameron Diaz, etc. are a hell of a lot more appealing than a set of polygons, no matter how well-rounded they may be. X-2 does, however, nail the stiff, boring and asinine dialogue of the Charlie’s Angels films to a T, so the comparisons certainly have their merits.

There is an arcing narrative structure to X-2, but it doesn’t come in the form we’ve been issued in the series’ past. Instead of trudging from town to town in search of the next story event, X-2 has been broken down into chapter form. You are presented with a map of the world and a set of locations featuring enough small missions and mini-games to keep you plenty busy. Locations are rated in terms of their enemy difficulty, and there are always a couple of higher difficulty “hot spots.” As you level up, the difficulty rating for these locations will decrease. Completing the hot spot objectives advance the plot and move the chapters along. This is a radical departure from the adventures in previous Final Fantasy titles, and I can’t help but hope it’s the last installment to implement such a feature.

X-2 allows the type of freedom that doesn’t usually open itself up until the end of a normal Final Fantasy quest when an airship variant has been acquired. Some gamers might find this type of open-ended gameplay appealing, but one of the reasons I’ve continued to return to this series is the entertaining stories they possess. The first few chapters do nothing to introduce X-2’s central plot, but if you explore all the available options, you’ll easily spend over 10 hours before reaching the end of Chapter 2. At that point, I’d been wondering when the heck things would pick up. Side stories and mini-games were becoming a bit irritating at this point (Paine's robot voicework wasn't helping matters), and I ended up skimming through them the rest of the adventure. X-2’s freedoms structure the plot strangely; half a dozen hours can pass before the story returns, and to me, that isn’t what Final Fantasy should be about. You can argue these are optional quests, but blowing through the hot spots would reduce X-2’s gameplay hours to a dire minimum.

One of the primary reasons gamers found themselves so enthralled by Final Fantasy X was the updated take on the battle system. Faster and more strategic, the process of leveling up characters suddenly wasn’t such a disastrous task anymore. There are only three main characters in X-2, so it’d be difficult to keep the uniqueness of the battles intact. In response, Square Enix made sure to mix things up even further for their wacky sequel by bringing back the job system in the form of dresspheres. Last seen in Final Fantasy V and strategy spin-offs, the job system has been girl-enhanced in the form of dresspheres. Each dressphere corresponds to its own character class (i.e. Gunner, Black Mage, Songstress, Thief, etc.), and Yuna, Paine or Rikku can equip them at any time. Dresspheres earn experience points in each battle they’re utilized, accumulating toward enabling new abilities players have chosen.

Bringing back the job system is a highlight of X-2, but unfortunately, its downfall lies within Square Enix overlooking how powerful the jobs can become in a short amount of time. Once you’ve assigned a White Mage, it becomes almost impossible to die thanks to the multitude of Cure-related spells, and it’s not an exaggeration to state that most battles, due to unbalanced strength, are reduced to pressing X over and over and over and over again. There are opportunities to string combo attacks, but where’s the motivation when the battles can be ended three times as fast by pounding X? Gamers who do take full advantage of the battle system will be surprisingly rewarded with the amount of options available, and when Garment Grids are taken into consideration, your characters’ abilities can become absolutely menacing.

Not everyone will have the same gripes about the changes made to the trademark Final Fantasy formula. Really, change is not the problem here; it is simply Square Enix’s approach. X-2 comes off as a flashy expansion pack, and not the full fledged sequel promised. The mission-based approach will work for some, but to me, it comes off as a cheap excuse to skimp out on a proper narrative. Here’s to hoping Yuna and the gang has been left to enjoy the Eternal Calm for good, and the so-far-spectacularly looking Final Fantasy XIII ends up delivering the well-rounded Final Fantasy experience missing here.