Not the least bit Final

Final Fantasy X hit our shores December 2001 and has since then sold over 1.8 million copies (5.9 million worldwide). Then, in early September 2003, Final Fantasy X graduated to become on of the PlayStation 2 “Greatest Hits” games that retail for $19.99 US. At a price just under $20, everyone could afford to pick it up. Reasons for moving to a mass market price point? Either to jump start sales, or to gear everyone up for a sequel.

Even though Final Fantasy X is the tenth ‘title’ game in the series, you couldn’t really call any of the Final Fantasy follow-ups true sequels. By the American Heritage dictionary’s definition, a sequel is “a literary, dramatic, or cinematic work whose narrative continues that of a preexisting work.” While many of the Final Fantasy games share certain elements (such as Chocobos and a guy named Cid), the worlds, characters, narratives, even play mechanics were all independent of one another.

The Final Fantasy series was one that carried on with sequels that weren’t really sequels… that is, until Square decided to make a sequel.

Who likes short shorts?

About a year ago at the Tokyo Game Show, a teaser poster was released featuring Final Fantasy X’s female lead looking remarkably different and sporting shorts that redefined short. The first Final Fantasy sequel was official.

Whoa.

A very different Yuna

Final Fantasy X-2 hit the streets of Japan on March 13, 2003, but North American gamers will have to wait until early December before getting their official turn in the short shorts.

We were fortunate enough to play through a good deal of the localization-in-progress English version of Final Fantasy X-2, so read on to learn all about the first real Final Fantasy sequel.