Today Final Fantasy X2 turns twenty years old and that brought back a lot of wonderful memories for me, that and one hard learned life lesson. It may be weird of me to say but this game made me a better person.

So what is Final Fantasy X2 (FFX2) ?

If you are familiar with the series then you skip this paragraph, because I’m about to dumb things down. FFX2 is the sequel to Final Fantasy X. If you are wondering why not Final Fantasy XI, well the Final Fantasy games are unrelated and several of the numbered entries have their own sequels so FFX2 is the canonical sequel to Final Fantasies tenth entry, thus Final Fantasy Ten – Two.

FFX2 follows Yuna who was one of the deuteragonists from Final Fantasy X. In the original title she was a shy kind girl who was taking a religious pilgrimage to save the world that would result in her death. Along the way she grows into a fearless confident warrior who finds a better way to save her world. This unfortunately results in the death of the game’s other deuteragonist, Tidus, a mysterious young man who Yuna had fallen in love with.

Set two years after FFX, FFX2 sees Yuna team up with her cousin Rikku and the warrior Payne to become hunters of ancient once forbidden technology. And she is doing this because she thinks it may lead her back to Tidus.

So originally I got this game because as a kid playing the original game I had a huge crush on Yuna. She was classy, elegant, beautiful – like Audrey Hepburn but with white magic and can summon a dragon, so you know the whole package. Plus she was also heterochromatic, having one blue and one green eye, which is very attractive.

Skip forward to FFX2 and Yuna is suddenly showing her confidence, duel welding pistols and exploring ancient ruins, all the while wearing some tiny jean shorts. This my friends was appealing to the toxic teenage me. But along the way something changed.

See this game is undeniably feminine, you play as three women and gain different abilities by using Dresspheres. This was my first time playing a game fronted by a female, let alone three – all with unique styles. And I really enjoyed it, not only that but ever since then I’ve found myself to be as likely to play as a female or a male character in RPGs. I know it sounds utterly daft but Final Fantasy X2 really broke that barrier down for me. It really got me to embrace and enjoy femininity.

And during my play through I went from crushing on Yuna to rooting her along and doing everything in my power to give her the best ending possible. And this is where I discuss the most important lesson I’ve learned from FFX2.

I mentioned how you needed to collect Dresspheres to give your characters new abilities, well during my original play through I managed to miss one by being too brash and rage quit the game so hard it was months before I was ready to restart it. Ever since then I’ve become a lot more patient while playing any video game and in life. Hard lesson learned but one I have been glad for.

The game was a lot of fun, but it still had the depth of the original all the while dealing with political themes as well as those of mourning, learning to let go and of course friendship. To me it’s kind of a pity that FFX2 is constantly overshadowed by the brilliant FFX yet I was and will always be a fan of this game.