FFX-2 Theories on Development of FFX-2

[blakstang98]

Ok, so when decided to finish FFX last night, I realized how depressing the ending really was. I've been through the game many times, but only broke myself down to see the ending like 3 times maybe. And I won't lie, it still makes me a little teary-eyed.

So when FFX-2 came out, and I played through it once, it made me theorize why this game has a sequel when the others don't. Now the general demographic for this game is probably from like the ages of 8-18. I honestly think that the ending for FFX was just so emotional that Square had to develop something to put the younger minds at ease. I mean, it was moving to me and I was old enough to handle it, whereas if I was 8, I would have cried myself to sleep every night for 2 weeks.

I think with the fact that Yuna never really got over her emotions in the 2 year period and then a Sphere appears with a man that looks a lot like Tidus was just a means to put a happier, more cheerful spin on a game that ends on such a down note. This in turn eases the thoughts of those who were moved by the sour turn of events to at least see that Yuna ended up having her way 2 years later.

Naturally I'm not a marketing expert and I'm sure my theory might be off, but it makes total sense to me. If ever there were an FFX-3, I would imagine it would have something to do with bringing back the sent, but I won't get into that here.


So what are your thoughts on why Square made this sequel to FFX?

 

[King Sean]

I think they made it as a gift for fans. X probably had great sales and Squeenix wanted to thank their fans with a sequel. Then they added the secret ending with you know who to further the gift giving. X's ending didnt even give the speculation that there would be a sequel,so this was a suprise. There may be a FFX-3, as the overall story is awesome. It could have just been a present to loyal fans.

 

[moogling]

I remember reading somewhere that they made it for people that said they wanted a sequel, so I agree with you in that they did it to please the fans. When I first played through, I was pretty sad about how he had to leave. It made me feel like Yuna was left thinking, what the hell just happened? I mean, sure, the Calm came and Sin was destroyed, but she didn't get to stay with Tidus. I felt when I was playing X-2 that they made it just so people wouldn't be so saddened by the ending of X. That's also why I think they made it so girly... maybe they thought that males would handle the end better than the females who liked Tidus and wanted the romance to continue.

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

I think fans really wanted to, but I kind of thought they had planned from the start, too. They sort of leave you hanging at the end of FF-X, wondering what's going to happen to Yuna, and if Tidus will come back. The only thing missing was a to be continued tag. Of course, it's also nice to think they wanted to give us a break from the sad complex stories that are Final Fantasy, and give us something refreshing and fun to play.

It certainly made me forget my troubles for a while.

 

[Shu]

Good points my good man stang.. and I just want to put this out there once.. please disagree if you think I'm being a tad bit of an ass about it.

FFX-2 was a big marketing scene to get the girl gamers to become more aware of FF. I stopped half way through the game, found it quite cumbersome to follow through with and put it down.

Now I'm not being childish about it, but think about it. You take Tidus.. very lovable character and you take Yuna another lovable character, and you round out the cast with a bunch of other girls trying to find "Tidus". While Tidus was the man in FFX - I wish they didn't even touch the theme in FFX-2. It was meant to be that FFX was a stand alone.

The whole singing, dancing bit.. I understand it.. creative for SE to try to pull massive amounts of more girls into the environment but I call it poor execution. Why.. well follow the FF time line and compare it to this game. (excluding FFXI)

And for you FFXI players, notice how they threw dancer in there after this game came out. Makes you think..

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

FFX-2 was a big marketing scene to get the girl gamers to become more aware of FF. I stopped half way through the game, found it quite cumbersome to follow through with and put it down.

I don't know, I was under the impression that most thought it was a ploy to get sick little boys who like watch half dressed girls. I'd never heard this before. Of course, it's possible, but I thought there were already alot of girl fans of FF before this. My Aunt wasn't much of a game player, but she loved 7, 8, and 9.

Although,with all the girls in it, you could really take it either way. I, however, don't agree that it was a poorly executed game, but that it was a differently executed game.

 

[GBJoker]

Now the general demographic for this game is probably from like the ages of 8-18. I honestly think that the ending for FFX was just so emotional that Square had to develop something to put the younger minds at ease. I mean, it was moving to me and I was old enough to handle it, whereas if I was 8, I would have cried myself to sleep every night for 2 weeks.

I say this is the problem. My impression of all the FFs is that of a young adult... Maybe, MAYBE, late teenager demographic. The point being, the player actually has to have some brains to comprehend the now commonly complex stories they are giving us.

Also, and to be very blunt and mean, if FFX's ending makes you cry your brains out, all I can say is, jeez, are you insanely soft skinned. I can understand being sad, or depressed, or something. But saying that you can barely watch the ending at all is pretty bad.

I believe they made X-2 because people were complaining about how they got their feelings hurt because of bad stuff happening to Tidus. (I don't care to use spoiler tags, so I write around it.)

Now, I really loved the Spiran universe, and I think X-2 was actually done pretty damn good, but still, as for the why they made it? Simple answer. Look who made FFX, and look who made X-2. SquareSOFT, and SquareENIX, respectively. And pay attention to the capatilized letters. Any one who plays XI or even looked at the fifty million spin offs of VII knows how bad Enix is to Soft.

 

[blakstang98]

Good points my good man stang.. and I just want to put this out there once.. please disagree if you think I'm being a tad bit of an ass about it.

FFX-2 was a big marketing scene to get the girl gamers to become more aware of FF. I stopped half way through the game, found it quite cumbersome to follow through with and put it down.

I agree with you Shu, this game definitely had a lot of female aspects to it that didn't appear in previous FF's. And the sort of Charlie's Angels YRP pose they did was a big giveaway of this as well.

I say this is the problem. My impression of all the FFs is that of a young adult... Maybe, MAYBE, late teenager demographic. The point being, the player actually has to have some brains to comprehend the now commonly complex stories they are giving us.

Also, and to be very blunt and mean, if FFX's ending makes you cry your brains out, all I can say is, jeez, are you insanely soft skinned. I can understand being sad, or depressed, or something. But saying that you can barely watch the ending at all is pretty bad.

I believe they made X-2 because people were complaining about how they got their feelings hurt because of bad stuff happening to Tidus. (I don't care to use spoiler tags, so I write around it.)

Well, if you ask pretty much anyone on this website when they played their first FF, they'll probably say it was around late child/early teenager, and some even before that, so I don't agree with your demographic. Even though young adults are playing games these days, it's morely because they grew up with video games and still play them. Video games are still geared towards kids and young teenagers, no matter how complex.

Your 2nd and 3rd paragraphs also contradict each other. You tell me it's bad to feel the way I did, then proceed to say that most feel that way. Maybe you're tougher emotionally, but I'm not afraid to admit that it made me teary-eyed. Saying I was sad and depressed about it was talking about if I was younger, but it didn't hit me that badly because I was older when I played it, I was saying the general demographic would cry themself to sleep.