Final Fantasy X - 2 Final Fantasy X - 2 is the first true playable sequel in the " Final Fantasy " series by release date , released in Japan and North America in 2003 , and a year later in Europe . It follows the story of Yuna , taking place two years after the events of " Final Fantasy X " . An HD remaster version for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita was announced at the Sony Press Conference in Japan on September 14 , 2011 as part of a tenth anniversary special . The game is bundled with the remastered " Final Fantasy X " . A PlayStation 4 version was released in May 2015 . Gameplay . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " utilizes the interchangeable job system featured in " Final Fantasy III " , " Final Fantasy V " , and the " Tactics " series . In " Final Fantasy X - 2 " the party member ' s abilities vary depending on which dressphere she is wearing . Garment Grid s allocate dresspheres to each character for use in battles . The grids have inherent powers activated when equipped , or as the player spherechanges by passing through gates . New Garment Grids are acquired from the story and from sidequest s . The dressphere system grants the freedom to customize the battle style for each character , assigning them jobs mid - battle to adjust their strengths to best suit the opponent ' s weaknesses . By changing through all the dresspheres on a character ' s Garment Grid they may change into a special dressphere unique to them . The battle system is the classic Active Time Battle , rather than the turn - based system of " Final Fantasy X " , but is faster and party members can take actions simultaneously as opposed to the one - at - a - time system used in previous Active Time Battle systems . When a character takes actions and kills enemies they gain Ability Points that unlock new abilities on their dressphere . When a character chooses a command there may be charge time before the command can be executed . New to the " Final Fantasy " series , the players can chain attacks to stun enemies and deal more damage . As the character ' s battle gear is determined by the dressphere , the player can only equip accessories . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " diverges from its predecessor in many ways , including a fluid mission - based storyline , allowing the player to participate in many sidequests and minigame s . A significant portion of the game ' s events are unnecessary for the completion of the main storyline , but much of the depth of the story – including characterization and background details – are featured in the optional content , which generally follows how each part of Spira is healing in the time since the passing of Sin . The mission - based system allows the player to create their own journey , making the story somewhat non - linear . It is up to the player to determine which and how many sidequests to attempt and complete . The game is divided up into five chapter s , and most locations have a new sidequest to undertake during each chapter . For the first time the player has access to most locations early in the game . Several quests encompass the entire game , while others can only be started during a specific chapter . For those who complete the game with 100 % , there is a special cutscene . Episode Complete is an end result that can be achieved within each area in the final chapter . Getting an Episode Complete provides the most satisfactory outcome for an area . Obtaining Episode Complete for all areas in a single playthrough awards the player with the ultimate dressphere , Mascot . Minigames , such as blitzball , chocobo raising , excavating in the Bikanel Desert , and the new coin game , Sphere Break , make for diversions to the game ' s main plot . Synopsis . Setting . Spira entered an Eternal Calm two years ago when Sin was defeated for good . The temple of Yevon crumbled as Spirans learned of its corrupted ways and how following its precepts was never a path to salvation from Sin . With the Yevon faith disbanded and the fayth from its temples having departed to the Farplane , the plane of afterlife in Spira , the summoners ' means to call forth aeons is also gone , as well as the rite of the pilgrimage . Thus , some come to view summoners as obsolete . The fayth ' s disappearance has had some positive and negative effects in the wider world as well , among them are the reveal of the Floating Ruins at Mt . Gagazet , the melting of Lake Macalania , and the withering of the magical flora in Macalania Woods . Yevon ' s fall led to a power vacuum that newly founded groups are seeking to fill . The Youth League , led by Maevyn Nooj , wants to unveil Spira ' s true past it considers concealed by Yevon . Its members frequently clash with the followers of New Yevon , accusing them of continuing down the path set by Yevon in oppressing Spirans and keeping them in the dark of many truths . New Yevon is led by Praetor Baralai with the motto " One thing at a time , " to ease Spira into a new way of life gradually . The Al Bhed are no longer as vilified as before , as the ban on machina was lifted in the wake of Yevon ' s downfall . The Al Bhed can thus mingle with the other races of Spira more freely as Spira begins to adopt automation to ease everyday life . This effort is aided by the Al Bhed group , the Machine Faction , led by Gippal . Its goal is to change perception of the previously forbidden technology by calling it " machines " rather than machina , and helping introduce its benefits to the wider society . The Guado on the other hand have been exiled from their homeland , many blaming its tribesmen for aiding Seymour Guado , the late Maester of Yevon who tried to annihilate Spira by becoming Sin . Many of the Ronso , guardians of Mt . Gagazet , swear vengeance for Seymour ' s actions , who had killed many Ronso in his quest to apprehend Yuna ' s party . Characters . The playable cast is set early and , for the first time in the series , only three characters are playable and the playable cast is all female . The player controls Yuna , Rikku , and Paine , leaving the job system as the angle for variation . Story . After her pilgrimage two years ago , Yuna has joined the Al Bhed sphere hunting group , the Gullwings , and goes on missions with Rikku and their new friend Paine while traveling Spira on their airship , the " Celsius " . She has an ancient sphere recording showing images of a man resembling Tidus , and is on the hunt to find more with hopes of solving the mystery . During their missions , the Gullwings develop a rivalry with the Leblanc Syndicate , another sphere hunting group . New technology developed by the Al Bhed whiz kid Shinra , who travels with the Gullwings , allows the girls to use the spheres they uncover as dresspheres , and the crystallized memories within the spheres empower them in battle . One such sphere , which the Gullwings use as the Songstress dressphere , has a special affinity with Yuna , making her feel ancient emotions that intrigue her . They find a sphere that contains images of a colossal machina weapon known as Vegnagun that originates from the time of the Machina War , and is powerful enough to destroy Spira itself . It is being roused by the ancient spirit of Shuyin , or rather , his feelings of despair and anguish that have imprinted onto pyreflies and begun acting on their own . Shuyin ' s spirit has possessed Nooj , the leader of the Youth League , one of the three new leading factions of Spira now that Yevon ' s fall has left a power vacuum . Shuyin has Nooj seek out Vegnagun hidden in the Bevelle Underground , but Nooj is not under Shuyin ' s complete control , and wants to destroy the weapon . Sensing Nooj ' s intentions , Vegnagun burrows underground and flees to the Farplane , the otherworldly realm of afterlife that exists on the inside of the planet . Nooj is pursued by his old friends , the leaders of the New Yevon and Machine Faction groups , Baralai and Gippal , who cannot fathom Nooj ' s changed demeanor and inconsistent actions . When the two confront Nooj beneath Bevelle , Shuyin ' s spirit abandons Nooj to possess Baralai and takes him to the Farplane to find Vegnagun . The absence of Spira ' s leaders causes discord between the Youth League and New Yevon , and the groups threaten to wage war with each other . Yuna becomes embroiled in the events , and when Shuyin sends fiends to pour out of the former temples ' Chambers of the Fayth , the Gullwings embark to stop them from destroying the villages where the temples are situated , encountering the aeons possessed by Shuyin ' s despair . During one such mission , Yuna falls into the hole from where the fiends are emerging from , and finds herself in the Farplane , where she meets Shuyin in Baralai ' s host body . Shuyin mistakes Yuna for Lenne , an ancient summoner and Shuyin ' s lover , of whose memories Yuna ' s Songstress dressphere is comprised of . Shuyin is the man who resembles Tidus whose image had prompted Yuna to embark on her new journey , but his personality is nothing alike : 1000 years of reliving the memory of dying with Lenne has manifested as a desire to destroy the world . After dissolving the tension between New Yevon and the Youth League , the Gullwings eventually follow Shuyin to the heart of the Farplane , where he is attempting to activate Vegnagun . Shuyin gains a corporeal form when he abandons Baralai , and the Gullwings defeat him in battle . Lenne ' s spirit emerges from Yuna ' s dressphere and puts Shuyin ' s spirit to rest , and they fade away together . The Gullwings return to Spira where Nooj , Baralai and Gippal address the Spirans to announce their pursuit of world peace as a united front . Yuna returns to Besaid , where she has a chance to reunite with a revived Tidus if she asked the fayth to return him to the world while she was at the Farplane . " Final Fantasy X - 2 . 5 ~ Eien no Daishō ~ " . In a companion novel , soon after reuniting , Yuna and Tidus end up shipwrecked on an unknown island and come in contact with ghosts of the Machina War . Last Mission . Three months later , Yuna , Rikku and Paine each receive a letter asking the trio to reunite and investigate the newly discovered Iutycyr Tower . Themes . The main theme of " Final Fantasy X - 2 " is the search for the lost , as Kimahri ' s discovery prompts Yuna to set on a journey to find her lost love . The theme of memories and how they affect people is also prominent . Yuna , Rikku , and Paine think about the events of the past and find strength in them to keep going and look towards the future . As Shuyin ' s despair over the Machina War and his failure to save Lenne grew over a millennium and began acting on its own , he became a monster who wanted to destroy Spira . Lenne ' s memories and emotions are shown through Yuna acting as her vessel , and she sought to have Yuna help her express the pain that results from war and stop Spirans from repeating their past mistakes , and ultimately help Shuyin find peace . Another prominent theme is friendship . Paine joins the Gullwings and initially keeps to herself , but learns to open up even though she is often annoyed by Yuna and Rikku . The party discovers Paine ' s past friendship with Nooj , Gippal , and Baralai , who are also a reason for Paine to join the Gullwings . Yuna ' s journey is that of self - discovery . Since she is no longer a summoner and burdened by its responsibilities , she is free to embrace the life she believed she would have to sacrifice for Spira ' s sake . Through her time under Rikku ' s influence , Yuna finds her place in the new Spira , and finds a strong and confident woman inside herself . Another theme is human conflict and change . Spira has changed since Sin ' s defeat and with the arrival of the Eternal Calm , a reformed Yevon fights with the recently formed Youth League over the control of Spira ' s future , while the Machine Faction tries to remain neutral by supplying machina to both sides . Now that Sin is gone the people are free to have fun in life and are no longer subject to Yevon ' s teachings . However , they have to deal with the repercussions of the actions taken to achieve that independence , and the people who lost their lives in the process , and have to come to terms with the changes overtaking Spira and the consequences that come with progress . Development . " Final Fantasy X " wasn ' t originally planned to have a sequel , but after a strong fan reaction to the short story titled " " included with " Final Fantasy X International " , the development team decided to continue the story in a sequel . Producer Yoshinori Kitase has commented that at the time the team was ready for a new challenge , and thought that creating a sequel to " Final Fantasy X " would be a kind of challenge they hadn ' t yet tried . The developers didn ' t want " Final Fantasy X - 2 " to be a mere extension of the previous game . Even before the team had completed the story for the sequel , they had worked on recreating Yuna ' s look , and decided on a story to fit that style . In the beginning , the team decided on an action - adventure game with a trio of female characters ; the decision to have a female cast was one of the new challenges the developers wanted to try out with the game . One other approach that had been discussed was depicting the story of Jecht and Auron ' s generation , but the idea was scrapped for being too traditional , and also , the team didn ' t want a game with no female playable characters . Director Motomu Toriyama has commended that it ' s not uncommon for women to star as main characters in Hollywood movies and the team looked into films like " Charlie ' s Angels " and " Tomb Raider " for inspiration , but the Hollywood stories were using " macho " women to fill the same type of roles usually played by men . With " Final Fantasy X - 2 " , ideas from movies were used as a starting point but the goal was to base the story around cuter and more feminine characters . This was achieved in offering various outfits for the party , using ladylike movements in battle , and the group ' s lively reactions to events to keep the atmosphere light - hearted and reinforce the cuter aspects of the game ' s heroines . The developers wanted a change from the previous game ' s theme . The " Final Fantasy X " theme was described as independence from the ties of law and customs , whereas " Final Fantasy X - 2 " was to be about the changes that occurred from the chaos after gaining that independence . In " Final Fantasy X " , each character had something big to face , but in " Final Fantasy X - 2 " the developers wanted to show their journey searching for their new self . To contrast with " Final Fantasy X ' s " at times sorrowful atmosphere , " Final Fantasy X - 2 " was to have a " pop " and upbeat tone in the game ' s beginning . To portray Spira ' s change , summons were excluded , locations were redesigned , and new vehicles were included . It was known since the beginning " Final Fantasy X - 2 " was not going to have summons and that something else was needed to take their place ; this is where the idea for the spherechange system came from , since it provides something appealing both visually and in terms of gameplay . Since " Final Fantasy X - 2 " was the first game in the series to reuse a game world the developers wanted to offer something new in other areas and took a different approach to the battle system . The production team for " Final Fantasy X - 2 " was only a third the size of the previous installment ; because the team was already familiar with the material and content from " Final Fantasy X " could be reused , it allowed the game to be developed in one year , and at half the time it normally takes to produce a " Final Fantasy " title . One challenge with the localization was getting the tone right , as explained by Brian Grey who worked on the localization of the game : Music . The game ' s music was composed by Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi , two composers who had also created music for the obscure racing RPG " Racing Lagoon " , a game from 1999 that was never localized and was developed under the former Squaresoft label . The regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu did not contribute a single track despite having composed the majority of the first game ' s soundtrack . The " Final Fantasy X - 2 Original Soundtrack " was released on two discs in 2003 and after the release of " Final Fantasy X - 2 International + Last Mission " , an album titled " Final Fantasy X - 2 International + Last Mission Original Soundtrack " composed of the songs added to the soundtrack was released as well . The game ' s musical style is different from its predecessor ' s , including many lighthearted and upbeat tracks . Unlike " Suteki da ne " , the vocal theme of " Final Fantasy X " , " real Emotion " and " 1000 Words " received English versions for the global release . None of the tracks from " Final Fantasy X " were re - used in " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . When asked about the chosen composers , the game ' s director , Motomu Toriyama , stated , " As symbolized in Yuna ' s live performance in the opening , we wanted to incorporate a pop feeling even with the music this time , which is very different from the typical " Final Fantasy " world . Ms . Matsueda and Mr . Eguchi were a perfect fit to the changes we were trying to achieve so we asked those two to handle the music for " FFX - 2 " . In fact , the drastic change in the music is one of the big differences that gave new direction for " FFX - 2 " . I wanted Mr . Uematsu to participate but due to other projects , we weren ' t able to have him on board for " FFX - 2 " . " Release . " Final Fantasy X - 2 : International + Last Mission " . On February 19 , 2004 ( the day before the European and PAL release of " Final Fantasy X - 2 " ) , a special edition of the game was released in Japan . The new version features two modes : International and . While the dialogue is the English dialogue ( except for Last Mission ) , the subtitles and menus are in Japanese . International is the entire game itself with general tweaks to the look , feel , speed , and dialogue ; as well as two extra dresspheres , new Garment Grids , and the inclusion of a Creature Creator system similar to the Monster Arena of " Final Fantasy X " where fiends can be captured , trained and used in battle . Among these are Almighty Shinra ( a demonic - energy infused Shinra ) and Major Numerus ( the final boss of Last Mission , a four - headed snake beast that rivals other " Final Fantasy " bosses for the spot of most difficult ) . Many of the " Final Fantasy X " and " Final Fantasy X - 2 " non - player characters can be trained and used in battle , including Tidus , Auron , Seymour , Lulu , Kimahri , Lucil , Nooj , Baralai , and several others . Over 150 additional party members can be gained through this system , with the majority having their own small storylines and endings ( some including familiar faces , such as Seymour and Jecht ) . Last Mission is a storyline - based mission set three months following the defeat of Vegnagun where Yuna , Rikku , and Paine meet up for the first time since going their separate ways after their victory over Vegnagun to explore the recently - discovered Iutycyr Tower . The tower has 80 levels with a boss battle on every 20th level . On every 10th level , the girls discuss the current events in their lives and in Spira , adding many post - game conclusions for many people the girls encountered three months prior . These conversations are altered depending on how the player begins the mission . Selecting New Game at the start screen prompts the player to load a save game file from " Final Fantasy X - 2 " normal or International , or to begin without loading . When beginning from scratch , the dialogue will be based on the normal ending of " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . If the player loads a save game file with the happy or perfect ending , Yuna will talk about her new life with Tidus on Besaid Island at 30th floor . It is possible to remove certain pieces of dialogue : i . e . , at one point the girls mention Wakka and Lulu ' s baby , Vidina , has had his first tooth , but by loading a save game set before completing Besaid in Chapter 5 , any references to Vidina will be removed as the girls have not met him . " Final Fantasy X / X - 2 HD Remaster " . On 19 March , 2013 , it was confirmed that " Final Fantasy X - 2 " would be receiving an HD remastering alongside that of " Final Fantasy X " and that it would be based on the game ' s International version . The two games are available together on a single Blu - ray disc for the PlayStation 3 version . PS Vita owners can either download both games digitally for $ 39 . 99 , or purchase a retail version that comes with a physical copy of " Final Fantasy X " and a voucher to download " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . The HD remaster has trophies and improved music and graphics . The PlayStation 4 version was announced by Square Enix via its official site . The game was released in May 2015 . Microsoft Windows ( via Steam ) . " Final Fantasy X / X - 2 HD Remaster " was listed in Steam ' s database in December 2015 . It was released on May 12 , 2016 . Reception . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " sold well ; within nine months of its Japanese release , the game sold a million copies in North America , and nearly four million copies worldwide . The game ' s stylistic changes from past " Final Fantasy " titles created controversy ; " Final Fantasy X - 2 " was the first direct playable sequel to a " Final Fantasy " title , and the game ' s atmosphere was a drastic change from that of " Final Fantasy X " . The reuse of content from " Final Fantasy X " received criticism . Despite negative comments the game ' s critical reception was largely positive . The game maintains an 86 % approval rating on GameRankings and an 85 % rating on Metacritic , both only slightly down from its predecessor . As of June 2011 , it has sold at least 5 . 3 million copies . Allusions . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " makes numerous allusions to contemporary pop culture , among other subjects .