Released by Square-enix in 2003 on the Playstation
2 and rereleased for the PS3 and Vita, Director Motomu Toriyama and Writer Kazushige Nojima
returned to create the first true sequel for a main series installment. Unlike the serious tones emphasized in the
first game, the sequel choose a much more lighthearted approach with pop overtones,
while still addressing the aftermath of a post-Sin Spira. For characters, there are only three, Yuna,
Rikku, and newcomer Paine. For combat, the game chose to adopt a modified
ATB system from previous installments, though it would be faster in pace, and possible for
two actions to occur at the same time. The biggest change was in the adaptation of
a interchangeable class system called the Garment Grid. There are 17 possible jobs, plus an extra
character exclusive one, tied to a garment called a Dressphere that players can dynamically
shift to in the middle of combat, changing their skills, stats, and abilities to adjust
to complex enemies. For gameplay, most of Spira is re-explored
as most of the content is composed of optional activities and sidequests, with plentiful
minigames. Unlike the previous game, the entire pace
is actually player determined and mission-based rather than flowing naturally along a main
campain, allowing players to complete as much or little as they like apart from the main
quest. The story only gets larger from here so lets
cut it down to size with a RECAPitation. It's been 2 years since the defeat of Sin,
and Spira is adjusting to dramatic social culture changes. With the age of summoners ended, Yuna is now
informally leading a group of Sphere Hunters called the Gullwings, whose main agents are
herself, her cousin Rikku, and their friend Paine. They crash a concert in Luca in order to reclaim
a garment grid stolen from her by rival Sphere Hunter Leblanc and her two lackeys, Logos
and Ormi. After winning back her Songstress dressphere,
Yuna notes it seems to take over her body like it has a mind of its own, and their technical
support, a boy named Shinra, says that's possible if the emotions of the person recorded in
the sphere were strong enough. The rest of their Al Bhed crew on the airship
Celsius is their pilot and alleged leader, Rikku's brother named Brother, and their information
operator, Buddy. For Yuna, her journey as a sphere hunter began
when she once saw a sphere recording of Tidus she never saw before, and continues as she
hunts for more clues. A sphere hunter is exactly that, a hunter
seeking valuable spheres hidden across Spira. Since many contain powerful memories that
can even impart knowledge or abilites to its user, powerful or entertaining ones are highly
valued. As her hunt brings her to Besaid Island, its
revealed Yuna ran away to join the Gullwings rather suddenly. Since the eternal calm began, Wakka married
Lulu and they are expecting their first child soon. She shows them the sphere that compelled her
to become a sphere hunter, and its one Kimahri found atop Mt. Gagzet. Within, they see someone with a striking resemblance
to Tidus trapped and in trouble, though she's still looking for clues. Visiting Macalania Woods she meets with Tromell,
Seymour's former aide, and learn that the Guado are on hard times. They apologize for how they treated her, and
now suffer the ire of many races across Spira, especially the Ronso, who delivered firm revenge
for Seymour personally killing so many of their own. Now, they hide in the woods, preferring to
repent for their actions with obscurity. Visiting Zanarkand Ruins, they are shocked
to see Cid has turned the once sacred place into a tourist attraction, which Yuna is less
than pleased with. However, they do find a curious cracked sphere
within and take it anyway. Moving on, they visit Kilika Port, which has
been rebuilt into a propsering community again by one of the 3 major factions rising in Spira,
the Youth League. In fact, when they arrive, there is already
a confrontation occuring between them and another faction, New Yevon, as the Youth League
wants a sphere of historical records that is stored in Kilika Temple. Nooj, leader of the youth league, leads the
organization in their mission to make public the hidden true history of Spira, which previously
was being concealed by the temples of Yevon. It's mostly composed of a lot of former members
of the faith that have become disillusioned and angry at the religion's dishonesty in
the past, and are not afraid to openly fight to obtain their goal. However, New Yevon, which is no longer concealing
the fact they use formerly forbidden machina, are prepared with a golem for defense. Though, the Gullwings defeat the machina and
snatch the Sphere from underneath both groups. Viewing it, they see the Tidus look-alike
in front of a massive monstrous machina and talking of saving a person named Lenne, and
Yuna finds herself oddly upset by this. That night, when she falls asleep still wearing
the songtress outfit, she has a dream of being chased by soldiers with Tidus, and getting
shot down in front of the massive machina they saw earlier. The dream is both vivid and upseting, and
afterwards, they decide to return the ominous sphere back to the Yevon temple in Bevelle. In bevelle, Yuna is greeted graciously as
her reputation as high summoner is still held in high regards. Within, they meet the leader of the New Yevon
organization, Baralai. He explains that the machina they saw in the
sphere is Vegnagun, a weapon built one thousand years ago, and a little earlier than Sin's
appearance. Unfortunately, he doesn't know who the man
in the sphere was. Returning to their ship, they learn Leblanc
has snuck in and stolen away the broken sphere fragment they found in Zanarkand. As they look for disguises with which to sneak
into her mansion with, they run across Gippal, leader of the 3rd major group in Spira, the
Machine Faction, who now celebrate and advance machina since they are not really considered
taboo anymore. Like with Nooj and Baralai, it seems Gippal
also knows Paine somehow. Later, they meet Kimahri on Mt. Gagazet, leading the surviving members of
the Ronso, and after finding the uniforms needed, they visit Leblanc's home, which used
to be Seymour's mansion in Guadosalam. Within, they overhear Leblanc, who's in love
with Nooj, helping him learn the location of Vegnagun, which he has plans for. When they discover a new sphere in Leblanc's
base, they watch it and learn of a bloody selection process for something called the
Crimson Squad, wherein 4 people have unexpectedly survived a supposed death trap. Further within, they locate their stolen sphere
piece, and find Leblance had the other half, and are soon discovered. After beating Leblanc again, they watch the
reunited sphere and see it covers Vegnagun in more detail, including its location underneath
Bevelle. Actually they all agree with Leblanc and Nooj
that it needs to be dismantled before its used to harm anyone, and the two teams cooperate
and head for Bevelle. Descending into the depths of the temple,
they recognize the area as indeed the same as the ancient sphere, and soon encounter
Baralai. The young praetor for Yevon insists Vegnagun
is not to be disturbed, and both sides clash. After edging out a win, they move ahead and
are shocked to be halted by a dark aeon version of Bahamut, as its thought all aeons are no
more since there are no more fayth. Weathering its attacks and winning, Yuna is
still in disbelief, but soon arrive in the chamber of Vegnagun. However, all they find is a large, deep hole
and Vegnagun gone. Worse yet, all of a sudden fiends begin appearing
and flooding out of every temple across Spira, and suddenly Nooj and Baralai disappear as
well. As they choose to start a monster extermination
service, they discover another sphere recording from the old war that once again shows the
same Tidus look-alike warning that he'll use Vegnagun against its creator, Bevelle. It's clear by now the machina is a relic from
the war one thousand years ago between Bevelle and Zanarkand, which resulted in Sin and a
dramtically different Spira. Given that its also from the same time period
Tidus claimed to be from, and he looks just like him, may mean a deeper connection, and
warrants further investigation. Revisiting Besaid, they help out Wakka, who
is clearing out their own temple of fiends, and butting heads with a member of the Youth
League who is rushing to burn the entire temple down as a solution. Within, they find another dark version of
Yuna's first aeon, Valefor, and it seems to be the source of the fiend generation. Defeating it, even Wakka admits its sometimes
foolhardy to risk everything for just one memory, using his nostalgic attachment to
this temple as an example. After taking care of a dark Ifrit in Kilika
temple, they note another hole where the fayth used to be and that it seems similar to what
they found with Vegnagun in Bevelle. Responding to Djose temple, they find Gippal
has up and left too, though take the time to defeat a dark Ixion within. However, after winning the battle, a spontaneous
explosion knocks Yuna into the hole in their fayth chamber. When she wakes up, she's in her songstress
outfit, in a strange place. When the man she's been looking for steps
in, she wonders if its Tidus, but he introduces himself as Shuyin, and mistakes her for Lenne. It turns out that after they were murdered,
Shuyin lingered as an unsent, and observed that Spira is an unsaveble mess of constant
battling. So, he intends to use Vegnagun to end it all
and pass on in peace with Lenne. However, Yuna finds her outfit is suddenly
paralyzing her with an overload of emotions, and she's unsure if their her own or Lenne's. Suddenly, a shout by Nooj breaks the illusion,
and she finds Baralai was apparantly possessed by Shuyin, as Gippal and Nooj help her up. They pass her some spheres for Paine, and
go after him, as she soon finds herself in the depths of Bevelle. After getting picked up by the group, its
confirmed Lenne was the original owner of the songtress dressphere Yuna wears, and Paine
begins to explain her relation to the Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai. Once, the three men were candiates for the
Crimson Squad, and Paine was assigned as their recorder during their trial. The squad was intended to be an elite combat
group under command of Yevon, as a replacement for the many Crusader leaders lost to Sin,
but everyone but them died during an accident during the trial. The cause was unknown, so after they survived
and split up, Paine became a sphere hunter to uncover the truth. Meanwhile, with the 3 main leaders of Spira
all gone, Yuna decides to calm things down for the populus before tensions between the
lost followers erupt into open violence. Somehow, the suggestion to hold a concert
and unite the people to calm things down gets group approval, and they organize a massive
event. Lenne's feelings within the dressphere get
stronger, and before the concert, Yuna reminds the people of Spira of the terrible civil
war that once occured and resulted in Sin. Lenne's voice begins to come out of Yuna,
and urges Spira not to tear itself apart again. As she sings, Lenne's memories manifest themselves
as she takes the place of Yuna and reveals to everyone how war drove Shuyin to try and
activate vegnagun and end it himself, only for Lenne to stop it, and they both ended
up getting killed because of it. After a heartfelt song, the audience indeed
empathizes with each other and begins to end their petty squabbling. Afterwards, they learn Lenne was once a popular
songstress forced to become a summoner due to the war time. Because Zanarkand's summoners were dying on
the front lines, Shuyin wanted to save Lenne and end the war at the same time, and so sought
to steal the enemy Bevelle's machina weapon and destroy them with it. Of course, it didn't work out. Meanwhile, they see a new transmission from
Nooj and Gippal in the Farplane, planning to move on Vegangun soon. Elsewhere, in Besaid village, Lulu's baby
is born, and Wakka names his new son, Vidina. Over in Zanarkand, they learn Vegnagun was
never used, even to fight Sin, because it could not distinguish between friend of foe,
and would kill indiscriminately. Thus, it was hidden and labeled a failure. Over in Guadosalam, Tromell and the rest of
the Guado are ready to stop hiding and accept consequences for their actions head-on and
in peace, though Kimahri insists the Ronso want no more bloodshed. Humbly relieved, Tromell accepts the role
as the new leader of the the Guado. Over in the Thunder Plains, they help Cid
out of a rough spot, help him reconcile his argument with Brother, and resolve a long
family dispute. Finally, over in Bikanel Desert, they find
the hidden Cactuar Village and help with an overwhelming fiend invasion. Preparations complete, they're ready to take
on Vegnagun and save spira, as well as Nooj, Gippal, and Baralai. Making their journey to the farplane, they
jump down the hole Vegnagun left underneath Bevelle and defeat more dark aeons, starting
with Shiva, and followed by Anima. After defeating these former allies, the fayth
of Bahamut comes out and explains they tried to warn everyone, but ended up getting consumed
by the darkness and getting turned into fiends instead. He also warns them that its not the real Shuyin
they're fighting, but his lingering hatred remaining here unsent, to which Yuna decides
she'll dispel with Lenne's love. Further along, they pass their allies in this
mission, team Leblanc who was told to stay behind, and Gippal, who passes Paine a sphere
of their good old times as friends with dreams of flying their own airship. Approaching the self-aware machina, they find
Nooj, who comments Baralai is still being controlled by Shuyin's hate in order to control
Vegnagun. Nooj offers to sacrifice himself to take out
Shuyin and himself at the same time, but Yuna refuses to let more allies be sacrificed for
the greater good, and exusing it by saying there is no other choice. When Leblanc and Gippal catch up, they all
agree that Vegnagun is just an oversized machina they can team up to dismantle, and Yuna gains
support for her plan to beat Shuyin's hate with Lenne's love. Splitting up to catch it in a pincer attack,
they drive into the core of Vegnagun, though Baralai is persistent in activating the cannon
and priming for attack. All teams working together, the Gullwings
succeed in knocking out the head of the superweapon. Next, they get Shuyin to come down and face
them, and Yuna changes garment to convey Lenne's feelings for him. However, he realizes the ruse at the last
second, and attacks, aurprisingly wielding the exact same special moves and skills as
Tidus. And so, Yuna, Rikku and Paine, fight and defeat
the ghost of Shuyin, the Zanarkand native and Tidus Look-alike. Defeating him, the true spirit of Lenne comes
out to confront and comfort Shuyin, and this time he knows its the real deal. Lenne's love reaches through to the lingering
spirit, and after 1000 tormented years, the tragic couple can finally rest in peace and
pass on together. Lenne thanks Yuna, as she fades away with
Shuyin as the battle ends with love and peace victorious. As the game concludes, the allies make their
way out of the farplane, where Bahamut pauses Yuna and asks if she wants to be together
with Tidus again, which she agrees to. Bahamut says the fayth can't promise anything,
but will try something, and fades away. Next, the three young leaders of Spira unite
themselves, apologize to the public, and promise to help lead Spira into a future of prosperity
together. As the game ends, we see the conclusion to
the previous game, in which Tidus wakes up underwater outside Besaid Island. As he makes it to the shore, the celsius flies
in and brakes right above him, in which Yuna leaps off and embraces her original goal at
long last. Almost in disbelief himself, Tidus is truly
back. They're greeted and congratulated by Wakka,
Lulu, and the residents of Besaid, and later, Tidus theorizes the fayth reassembled him
from memories, but wonders if that means he's still a dream. Promising to cherish each other, Tidus and
Yuna look ahead to the future and beyond. Final Fantasy 10-2 has enjoyed the success
of selling over 6.5 million copies worldwide.
