Tracing the Lineage of Closing Fantasy X-2’s Job System

Closing Fantasy X-2 celebrates its twentieth anniversary this 12 months, first launched in Japan on March 13, 2003. FFX-2 holds the excellence of being the primary true sequel to a mainline Closing Fantasy title – however it has many extra claims to fame apart from.

The sport is notable for a wide range of causes, the least of which is an enormous tonal shift. Whereas Closing Fantasy X opens with an apocalypse, its sequel begins with… a pop live performance. Closing Fantasy X-2 is a stark departure from its predecessor, and whereas folks usually concentrate on the story, that is simply as true when it comes to its fight. That includes one of many sharpest iterations of the enduring Closing Fantasy job system, it is not simply its direct predecessor that FFX-2 shares a lineage with. Somewhat, it owes a good portion of its DNA to Closing Fantasy V, a heritage which might proceed a decade later with one more sequel to a mainline title in Lightning Returns: Closing Fantasy XIII.

Closing Fantasy V, initially launched in 1992, didn’t see a Western launch till 1999. Whereas this title is thought for bettering the ‘Lively Time Battle’ system first launched in Closing Fantasy IV, it’s most beloved for its tackle the class-based job system, first launched in Closing Fantasy III. With practically two dozen jobs, the sport introduces collection staples and a few of my private favorites, together with the Time Mage. Except for grinding for expertise factors to realize ranges, gamers additionally earned Potential Factors from fight. Incomes adequate capacity factors allowed characters to grasp one job and use these job-specific abilities whereas geared up with one other class.

This tweak on the components enrichens each facet of the job system by permitting such breadth of customization that seemingly limitless job mixtures exist. Whereas every character was confined to 1 job at a time in Closing Fantasy III, or to 1 job usually in Closing Fantasy IV, this sport allowed gamers to create Black Mage Summoners or Dancing Thieves, after which some. You do not have to simply take my phrase for it, both – the dimensions is laid naked in our FF5 job information.

Principally, in Closing Fantasy V, gamers can nearly deliver a gun to a sword combat. The collection was by no means this customizable earlier than, and most subsequent video games would chorus from being so indulgent with open alternative on the onset. That is why it is such a pleasant shock to see a lot of this sport’s DNA resurface in Closing Fantasy X-2 a decade later.

The announcement of Closing Fantasy X-2 was actually a shock: a mainline sequel was a shock in itself, however how would it not match with the story? With many of the base get together excised from battle, this sequel targeted on returning members Rikku and Yuna with their new accomplice, Paine. The place Closing Fantasy X was somber and actually stuffed with demise, Closing Fantasy X-2 was seemingly the other. The sport sang pleasure and female allure, and this was no extra obvious than within the fight system. Whereas X gave participant seven disparate get together members with predisposition in the direction of sure skills and fight roles, FFX-2 pares down the get together members to 3 however offers close to full-reign on learn how to use them from the beginning.

Yuna and her companions are in possession of Garment Grids, a geometrical formed pill slotted with nodes which might be geared up with dresspheres to permit the usage of particular jobs. Throughout fight, every character can change their dresspheres (or jobs) on the fly in response to the circumstances, leading to luxuriously skippable transformation sequences. There are over a dozen jobs accessible, together with Gun Mage, Samurai, and Songstress.

Savvy gamers can unlock grid-specific bonuses by swapping via sufficient spheres in fight, with character-specific spheres accessible beneath particular situations. In one other callback to FFV, gamers earn Potential Factors that are used to grasp skills and jobs. Skills should not transferable between jobs — it isn’t obligatory, since our gals can change as wanted as long as the sphere is supplied on their grid — however there are some grids that bestow the usage of different job features in fight.

The tip result’s a fight system whose simplicity belies a way more sophisticated nature. In Closing Fantasy X-2, you truly can deliver a gun mage to a knife combat. Battles are quick and livid, and gamers are required to handle the get together from each micro- and macro views, altering roles throughout fight primarily based on the strengths of the person characters whereas balancing the wants of the get together.

Even when an enemy has a weak point to bullets, the squad can’t go in all weapons blazing, as a result of somebody might have a heal briefly order. That is one of many drawbacks throughout fight this hectic: discerning which position every member ought to have at every second throughout fight might be overwhelming, and it’s a lesson realized for the following sport within the franchise to include a costume-based job system.

Lightning Returns: Closing Fantasy XIII seemingly takes a lot out of FFX-2’s playbook. It is a sequel to a mainline sport and is sort of solely non-linear with the majority of the gameworld is offered to gamers initially. Whereas the primary story is admittedly brief, the plot is buttressed by a bunch of sidequests that are all however essential to advance (and on this case, very important for stat progress). To completely expertise each titles, players ought to immerse themselves in these drastically modified worlds, sidequests included. Like FFX-2, fight in Lightning Returns makes use of a modified model of its predecessor’s battle system with a skew in the direction of frenetic. That, and costume adjustments.

This sport boasts the Fashion-Change Lively Time Battle System, incorporating components from the ATB-based Paradigm system seen within the earlier XIII video games with a dressing up system just like the dresspheres seen in FFX-2. Gamers management Lightning in single-character motion fight, alternating between totally different costumes (known as Schema in-game) on the fly. Every Schema is akin to a job with totally different stats and talents mapped to totally different buttons, with every motion depleting the ATB meter.

As Lightning switches between Schemata, those not used will regenerate ATB, necessitating gamers to modify jobs to make the most of totally different skills and recharge the power queue. The high-wattage fight nonetheless requires technique for achievement, and just like FFX-2 and V earlier than it, the customization permits gamers to organize for fight any manner they see match.

Whereas it’s simple to discern Closing Fantasy V’s DNA all through the collection, it is nuance and breadth of customization is virtually unmatched till Closing Fantasy X-2. Equally, Lightning Returns is a descendant in that line, marrying single-player motion fight with the expansive choices afforded from the dressphere system. It has been a protracted twenty years for the controversial Closing Fantasy X-2, with some maligning the shift in tone or magical-girl model transformation sequences. No matter your place on the themes and presentation of the general sport, it is simple that FFX-2’s battle system, like FFV earlier than it, is in a category of its personal.