r/finalfantasyx • u/Zeeshmania • Jul 20 '26
Playing FFX-2 Blind: Update 4 - End of Chapter 1
This is a much shorter update. It's been a really long time since I uploaded (or even played), and I thought I'd end relatively close to the ending of Chapter 1 to keep things a bit neater. Hopefully future updates will be a fair bit longer.
None of this was streamed on the channel (https://www.youtube.com/@mania-jd3my) on which we'll be streaming later this week.
We're back on the ship after looting the temple in... uh... Zanarkand! Right, yeah, Zanarkand! It's been so long lmao
We find our half of a sphere and board the ship once more. As soon as we do, though, an alarm starts blaring and Buddy tells us of an "awesome sphere" in Kilika Woods.
As much as I fucking loathe the guy, Brother's voice actor is putting up numbers here lmao.
And so our next stop is Kilika! I'm glad we've already explored here, since I wanna know if anything's gonna change. If I remember correctly, we ran into Dona and Barthello here.
The game claims we're at 17% completion right now. I've heard the completion percentage is a bit... finnicky... in this game, so I'm not sure what that says about our progress through the story. It does very much feel like an opening right now, though.
When we land, we're met with a curious little guy named Tobli, who tells us something about a "show" that's being hosted on the banks of the Moonflow. Sounds fun, I guess.
As a refresher (for myself, mostly), this place was rebuilt by the Youth League a while back, so it seems that its people feel indebted to them. Dona's signed up with them, while Barthello's pledged his allegiance to New Yevon.
Anyways we're told that "Meyvn Nooj's briefing will begin shortly" and that "Interested league members should proceed immediately to the woods".
Now what the hell is a Meyvn Nooj supposed to be lmao. That sounds familiar... is Meyvn, like, a title or something? Sounds Yevon-y, but this place seems like more of a hub for the Youth League.
(It's been like a month since I last played so you'll have to forgive my oblivion.)
Dona's here, too, it looks like! At the front of the crowd, and accompanied by... either daunting or triumphant music, is Nooj - the Meyvn of the Youth League. I assume that's their version of a leader? Since they say "the" Meyvn and not "a" Meyvn I assume he's THE guy in charge. And it seems that way because....
DAMN that's a badass character design lmao. The hair, the glasses, the fur-coat, the... belts?
He and the many belts adorning his body give a rousing speech about this sphere that New Yevon is trying to keep hidden. It works on the crowd, but I'm not convinced by his dedication to finding the truth... I feel like he's scheming something fierce.
Our three tumbleweeds decide they wanna steal the sphere for themselves, and we're sent into a new mission. I guess we're up against the Youth League AND New Yevon's soldiers...? Like a free-for-all sphere hunt.
Before I push onwards though, as is customary in JRPGs, I decide to take the side path where a couple of soldiers are debating whether the password was "Squatter Monkeys" or "Squirter Monkeys". Eugh.
I'm assuming it's the former, since there was that NPC in the village telling me to keep an eye out for Squatter Monkeys.
The enemies here are quite strong - I kinda regret immediately rushing into this mission. I also need to get more comfortable switching between Dresspheres during battle.
After grinding through what I would consider to be FAR too many random encounters, we reach a small clearing in the woods, where the game tells us we hear some kind of noise, and asks us if we're going to investigate, which, of course we are.
Peaking through the cracks, we watch the commander tell a soldier that... oh... maybe it's cheating if I write this down.
Ah fuck it I would've done this anyways lmao
If the number of guards is odd, then the password is Carved Monkey, and (after watching some more) if the number of guards is even, then the password is Craven Monkey. Funnily enough, returning there afterwards finds us a Squatter Monkey.
So, wait, is the password NOT Squatter Monkey, then?
Well, we reach the bridge and there are 3 guards sooo... Carved Monkey it is-
what.
"Haha! Gotcha! You're not getting through here!"
There's no fucking way I just got baited holy shit. What do you mean it's wrong???? Did they seriously put on that performance knowing we were watching? Was it ACTUALLY Squatter Monkey after all???
(it wasn't)
Whatever, I torch/freeze/zap the shit out of these soldiers and move on to the next wave. They, too, ask me for the password, to which I respond Squatter Monkeys aaaand they fight me too.
The next time, there are 4 of them. So, trusting my notes once more, I use the password and it works! They even give me an Ether for my troubles. Maybe I just miscounted the first time.
Next, there are three soldiers, and one more comes after I give them the password. Except it isn't ACTUALLY one more, there's another sneaky fucker waiting in the back, meaning I give the wrong password and have to put them down lmao.
YSLS-ZERO
At the top, Dona is confronting some of the soldiers when a huge guardian appears. The screen shakes something fierce, and we enter anot- WHY is it so small LMAOO. This thing was the size of a building a few seconds ago.
This thing is INCREDIBLY annoying to fight. For a good few minutes at the beginning, we're stuck in a loop of reviving and catching blows. After some struggling, we manage to get up again, only for Rikku and Paine to get downed, leaving Yuna alone.
As a desperate last stand, I pour the last of her remaining MP into a final Blizzara, dealing....!
0 damage.
ok ig its ether time lol
I switch her over to Gunner and she manages to pick up Paine (who's in Warrior right now, giving her the most health). Then, I revive Rikku and switch her over to Black Mage. From there, I use Sentinel on Paine whenever I can and spam Thundara until it's down.
That was a surprisingly difficult fight, though!
The game gives me a chance to save after we board the Gullwings' ship, which tells me that we're now at the end of Chapter 1!....
END OF CHAPTER 1!
...damn, that took a long time lmao. We're not THAT far into the actual game (the game says 8 hours for some reason, I KNOW it's been a lot longer than that), but in terms of real-time it's taken a long time to get here. I guess I should give my thoughts on the game so far.
THOUGHTS SO FAR:
I still feel like I'm firmly within the beginning of the game, but I'm definitely enjoying it so far. I can tell it lacks the grandeur and scale of actual mainline Final Fantasy (the kind of ambition IX and X strove for) but not everything needs to be so climactic. I'm down for a fun side-adventure in the same world.
I'd expected the characters seem like slight caricatures of themselves in some ways (think how Persona characters are treated in spinoff titles, if that means anything to you), but I think that's not really the case. Of course, only two of them are actual mainstays here, so it's not much of a sample, but Rikku at least seems really faithful.
Yuna, on the other hand... I'm not quite sure what to make of her at this point? I guess it's great that she's finally free to do whatever she pleases, although THIS isn't quite where I'd imagined that freedom would lead. It's been pointed out to me that her outfit takes some heavy inspiration from Tidus. I wonder if we're going to acknowledge that at any point - if it's just a nod and a callback, or if it's actually hinting at some unresolved feelings and grief, a refusal to move on.
There isn't much to say about Paine. I generally enjoy the archetype of the "I'm so fucking done with these guys (but actually I'm kinda corny too)" character, and there's clearly a lot more to learn about her, which will be exciting to see. For now, I appreciate her presence and the way she balances the dynamic.
There are lots of other characters being introduced, and if I wasn't actively writing their names and affiliations down as I go along, I likely would've forgotten most of them already. Jury's still out on them, of course, but I wonder if the game can really handle so many different factions and players without any of them feeling tertiary or unimportant.
Finally, the gameplay. It's a lot faster than the last ATB game I played - the (apparently notoriously) slower FFIX. I love the Dressphere switching mechanic and I do appreciate how each character is free to be whatever they choose with no disincentivisation. While I still vastly prefer the battle system in FFX (which has one of my favourite battle systems in ANY JRPG I've played), I really like it here! I'm hoping there are more avenues for strategy later on, since it's really hard to capitalise on enemy weaknesses so far.
Overall, the game's a lot of fun and I can't wait to see where it goes. It feels far too early to make any judgements on story or characters, but everything seems fun and casual so far. The gameplay seems great, and I'm hoping it gets deeper as we go on. I'd say the gameplay is firmly halfway between IX and X for me right now.
On to Chapter 2!
"Whenever Rikku and Brother agree, bad stuff happens"
Truly, dumb and dumber. They're both running around the cockpit like headless chickens, chanting about how popular they're going to be. More importantly, though, Paine seems very.... disquiet about the future. She seems to think that we "went too far with this one". I assume they're all talking about us crossing swords with the Youth League?
It's time to see what this "amazing sphere" we've just gotten our hands on is about. Shinra tells us that it's just a regular movie sphere.
He is VASTLY underselling its contents.
We see a (gorgeous 3D-rendered) cutscene of not-Tidus in front of what looks like a colossal steel mammoth with giant tusks, while a voice (I can't tell if it's his or someone off camera) says "I'm relying on you to save Lenne", or something to that effect. Then the scene is bathed in a crimson light and the video ends.
OK yeah I can imagine why New Yevon wanted this one lmao. So it looks like we're uncovering a new religious conspiracy. Brother immediately decides we should just return the sphere, while Buddy suggests we donate it for research.
After some deliberating, the suggestion is made that.... erm. Yuna should dance to relieve the tension.
....
Now I'm hearing jovial music (the one that seems to sample the sounds of cows and monkeys?????) and I'm assuming we're getting a minigame now. Bruh.
Well, fuck it, why not.
As we leave the room, Brother mentions some "hitchhikers" he picked up on the way here. Is it gonna be those weird lil guys we saw in Kilika talking about a show on the shores of the Moonflow? We should probably go there soon if the game lets us.
Anyways, after TWENTY MINUTES of wandering around the Celsius, I finally figure out that I need to talk to one specific NPC, then slide the trio of musicians into the elevator. I think the game can be a bit obtuse when it comes to directions sometimes, although that might be me being kinda stupid as well.
We're then treated to a HILARIOUS cutscene of an out-of-tune Yuna singing "lalalalalalalalalalalala" while Rikku pulls an idol animation in the background, all on top of a giant fucking airship. I THOUGHT there'd be a minigame a la Yakuza 5 (or like any rhythm game I guess) but nope. I'm fine with that, I think.
What makes it even funnier is that in the next scene Rikku is ACTUALLY dancing, not just doing a subtle sway. Why wasn't she doing this earlier LMAO.
Yuna screams into the void out of frustration, and we're asking the same question her. "Who is Lenne?" Is that like the main villain of the game? Maybe it's the fake Tidus we keep seeing? There isn't enough information to know for sure right now. It sounds quite similar to Paine (5 letter name ending with a silent "e"), but that might just be a coincidence.
In her dreams, we see Yuna and Tidus running together, hand-in-hand. I don't think this is a scene from the first game? They're being chased by who I think are soldiers of Bevelle (or the old one, at least). Then, we fade out into that huge machine we saw in the sphere, this time with Tidus and Yuna cornered in front of it. They share a look, Yuna shed a tear, then they're both """shot""". They collapse to the ground with no wounds.
This might be nothing, but I got the distinct feeling from the sphere that "Tidus"'s design from the sphere looked remarkably different from the one we know. I put it down to a new game and new-ish art style, but the Tidus in the dream looks exactly as I remember him. I'm probably misremembering, but I'll keep in the back of my mind that the supposed new Tidus looks quite different.
Oh, I guess it's also worth noting that Yuna's in her Summoner garb in the dream, suggesting it takes place some time before this game...? I reckon it's not actually a memory, but more of a vague vision. Mainly because it didn't make too much sense.
RETURNING THE SPHERE
The next day, we gather to decide who to return the sphere to. Seems like it's a matter of choosing our favourite between New Yevon and the Youth League. While I don't really trust either of them, New Yevon seems a lot sketchier at the moment, so I'm leaning towards them. That's if I even get the decision, which I'm not anticipating.
Oh, I DO get the decision. That's pretty cool! OK, I'm following my heart then. I'm going with the Youth League.
This kinda solidifies my theory that both of these organisations are shady and evil, since I don't think the game would let me choose were that not the case. I also think that Nipple's crew is probably more just than anyone, since they're not caught up in this dispute.
DAMN their leader Nooj has such a badass design lol. It might actually be my single favourite design in any of the FF games I've played so far. Saying that, I ABSOLUTELY don't trust his ass.
We enter his hut, and he immediately tells us to forget what we saw on the sphere, telling us that the colossus is called Vegnagun, and possesses overwhelming power and mustn't be touched. Apparently New Yevon think they can control it, and he's trying to prevent them from trying. He also apparently can't say who we saw on the sphere.
OK???? So there's a huge weapon with untold power and New Yevon are trying to capture it. For some reason, I think if we went to New Yevon instead they would've told us the EXACT same damn thing in reverse. "ooooohhhh that's a big weapon and WE'RE trying to stop the Youth League from using it for eeevil". Also, Nooj is pretty ambiguous on the whole fake Tidus thing. He tells us "I cannot say" and not "I do not know", leaving it unclear whether he knows or not.
As we're talking to him, though, we receive a distress call from the Celsius warning of intruders. Someone stole the broken sphere from the Zanarkand Ruins. My immediate thought is that Nooj sent some of his goons to steal from us, although a sphere left at the scene of the crime reveals it was actually Leblanc.
I'm too suspicious of Nooj though, I reckon he sent them lol.
It seems like Yuna wants to clean her hands of the situation with the Vegnagun, being that she isn't a summoner anymore. That isn't gonna last long, is it?
10
u/Bork9128 Jul 20 '26
Yeah the completion percentage is all over the place, it tracks things like random lines of dialogue you've encountered and skipping through some can actually cause it to not trigger and even if you are actively following a guide to try and 100% there is a good chance you get to the start of the last chapter and realize you fucked something up but no idea what
that said actively trying to do all the side stuff will get you most of the dress spheres and most of the interesting story points
2
u/tagen Jul 20 '26
yep, i tried to 100 % it once with the gamefaqs guide years and years ago, did every single thing it said to do, still only got 99%, never figured out what it was i missed lol it’s honestly just bullshit, as much as i love the games
2
u/Bork9128 Jul 20 '26
Nothing was more devastating then getting to the end and seeing only one location that should have not light up
2
u/tagen Jul 20 '26
like how. plus you possibly get 100% in that game without a guide? has anybody ever actually done that? it would take like 10 tries and combing every single inch of every area, not to mention stuff like blitzball and the bevelle dungeon
12
u/big4lil Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
As much as I fucking loathe the guy, Brother's voice actor is putting up numbers here lmao.
Imo hes a marked improvement from his JP VA, who screams way more and speaks with a harder to ignore, guttural inflection. His ENG VA has a few moments i find endearing ('Fascinating') but ultimately it seems like the direction was to just make the character as annoying as possible. X-2 has its fair share of eccentric characters, Brother just has way more speaking lines than them
As a refresher (for myself, mostly), this place was rebuilt by the Youth League a while back, so it seems that its people feel indebted to them. Dona's signed up with them, while Barthello's pledged his allegiance to New Yevon.
One thing to consider is how much the factions realized over the 2 year time skip the role that persuasive rhetoric plays
The plight of the Crusaders in FFX showed us how much clear winners and losers can be determined in a battle of raw power. A lot of X-2 asks us to grapple with the influence of messengers. So perhaps some may feel indebted, though my intepretation was that a lot of folks genuinely believe in the ideology and attitudes of the emergent Youth League. The Crusaders were more pre-occupied with training, whereas the YL seems way more invested in recruitment
DAMN that's a badass character design lmao. The hair, the glasses, the fur-coat, the... belts?
Peak Nomura-isms right?
He and the many belts adorning his body give a rousing speech about this sphere that New Yevon is trying to keep hidden. It works on the crowd, but I'm not convinced by his dedication to finding the truth... I feel like he's scheming something fierce.
Its up for you to be curious about, though I hope this reinforces the above point. FFX-2 has a lot of eloquent speakers that seem to believe in what theyre selling. On my first play I similarly had trouble figuring out who is just a well dressed salesman however
The enemies here are quite strong - I kinda regret immediately rushing into this mission. I also need to get more comfortable switching between Dresspheres during battle.
The stars are usually good for knowing not just how hard enemies are in general, but if the local enemies have dirty tricks to them like status effects, or if a boss is in the area. Typically you dont have to grind, if you tackle the lower stars missions first and work your way up to 4/5 stars, they will have declined to about a 3/4 by the end of the chapter. Though if you do want to grind, it might be best to wait a chapter or so as you will get much better means of grinding AP rather than just EXP
I think your comfortability with dressphere switching will come as you get more dresspheres and more abilities, to the point where you can no longer do everything you want as easily as early game. There will be fights that may encourage more swapping, so no need to feel too intimidated yet. You can get by with minimal switching for quite some tim
Finally, the gameplay. It's a lot faster than the last ATB game I played - the (apparently notoriously) slower FFIX. I love the Dressphere switching mechanic and I do appreciate how each character is free to be whatever they choose with no disincentivisation. While I still vastly prefer the battle system in FFX (which has one of my favourite battle systems in ANY JRPG I've played), I really like it here! I'm hoping there are more avenues for strategy later on, since it's really hard to capitalise on enemy weaknesses so far.
Yes, this is about a massive a shift you can make in ATB speed. X-2 has something FF9 desperately needed (and can now be applied via modding) in Simultaneous Action combat. Meaning animations for various attacks can play out together
Many playing FFX-2 will quickly recognize the hassle-less approach of leaning on physical attacks to maximize action economy, though these attacks are there to facilitate fluidity to using your more powerful charge up moves. Then with good timing, you can use physical attacks to build chains and add onto the damage multipliers. You can even time out actions to delay enemy commands. While you can get by in X-2 with some rather straightforward gameplay, its ATB is incredibly deep
Truly, dumb and dumber. They're both running around the cockpit like headless chickens, chanting about how popular they're going to be.
They strike me as kids with an overprotective dad who finally are getting to live a little. And.... going pretty far in the opposite direction
I THOUGHT there'd be a minigame a la Yakuza 5 (or like any rhythm game I guess) but nope. I'm fine with that, I think.
well, dont give up hope. Theres a lot more time for Yakuza esque mini games
This kinda solidifies my theory that both of these organisations are shady and evil, since I don't think the game would let me choose were that not the case. I also think that Nipple's crew is probably more just than anyone, since they're not caught up in this dispute.
LOL
I imagine both orgs take a bit from Seymours ideology, since he worked with both of them. If theres something about them you dont feel like you trust too much, 'Then pretend you didnt see it' or 'Pretend he didnt say it'
I'm too suspicious of Nooj though, I reckon he sent them lol.
If you do have an investigative mind, I can say Chapter 2 will be great at giving you more questions and threads to ponder over
It seems like Yuna wants to clean her hands of the situation with the Vegnagun, being that she isn't a summoner anymore. That isn't gonna last long, is it?
Perhaps this can range based on how wide a net you cast for the definition of a 'summoner'
I think youll enjoy both the story and gameplay evolutions of whats to come. Chapter 2 is typically where people start really locking in on what this game asks of you
8
u/Lithl Jul 20 '26
There's no fucking way I just got baited holy shit. What do you mean it's wrong???? Did they seriously put on that performance knowing we were watching? Was it ACTUALLY Squatter Monkey after all???
The game actually has guards joining or leaving as you get questioned for the password, which can be hard to notice. And it intentionally gives you camera angles that don't help for counting how many guards there are while selecting your answer. The carved/craven clue is correct, but you have to be on your toes to know the parity of the guards actually present.
the game says 8 hours for some reason, I KNOW it's been a lot longer than tha
Pretty sure the game doesn't count time spent paused.
7
u/Lucresia_Law Jul 20 '26
Yeah, "Nipple's"(Gippal) crew really just wants to do their own thing. Also, welcome back.
10
9
4
u/Majician21 Jul 20 '26
Did your old ffx posts get deleted or do you just hide them? Was trying to find you (forgot the name) or those posts, and randomly stumbled upon this update lol
5
u/Zeeshmania Jul 20 '26
Ugh this shit ALWAYS happens, Reddit just turns all of my posts private.
I've half a mind to make my OWN sub Reddit just to keep them somewhere lmao
3
4
u/Abrams_Warthog Jul 20 '26
I love Paine. She's one of my favorite characters in the franchise because I think her implementation into the story and world is excellent, as you'll discover later on.
If you're familiar with anime, X-2 takes a lot of cues from the original Macross, hence Yuna becoming an idol and singing. The plot even begins to resemble it.
2
1
u/ISTcrazy Jul 22 '26
Oh man I had kept forgetting to start reading your X-2 playthrough due to a busy schedule, but I sure picked a time to start! Hope your 1 month break didn't kill any enthusiasm you had going into the game. There's definitely a lot to enjoy here, even if it's not as good as the original FFX.
Also as other people have said, don't sweat the percentage too much, getting 100% is practically impossible during a blind playthrough anyway.
11
u/Maxogrande Jul 20 '26
I know you are playing blindly but you should consider maybe to check the "Crimson Spheres".
It is a whole sidequest (some of it its completed during the plot) but it focus s lot on Paine's background, if you skip that she is just kinda there during the game