Final Fatality X-2

For a series with the word "final" in it, these games don't seem to end anywhere. Even more surprising is when Square-Enix start making actual sequels and spin-offs of their own "final" games.
I've had Final Fantasy X-2 for a while, but I hadn't played it much till now. Now, I'm a big fan of Final Fantasy, and I loved the prequel to this game to death; this was the reason that I felt both elation and irritation at Square-Enix for FFX-2.

Final Fantasy X had such a finality to it's ending that I saw no possible way that they could continue the storyline. The story seems a bit frayed, in that to begin, you're searching for evidence of something that no longer exists -- the whole reason that Yuna, the female protagonist from the last game, became a Sphere Hunter was to find possible clues to another character's whereabouts. In the process, she gets involved with a totally new storyline not altogether involved with Final Fantasy X, which is kind of nice but at the same time it feels like a bastardization of something that was great.
The fact that a reserved girl like Yuna is running around in skimpy short-shorts even at the very beginning of the game heralds another issue I have with this game. It appears to be a blatant attempt to milk one of Square-Enix's most popular Playstation 2 and the reach to the fanboy base who likes skimpy outfits. They try to reach to the girls with a "girl power" type message, the three female heroines forming "YRP" (Yuna-Rikku-Paine) and the Gullwing crew. Think of the anime version of Charlie's Angels, minus Bosley. Yep. This doesn't belong in a Final Fantasy game. Sorry.
This part I'm kind of on the fence about. The Dressphere system, which lets you switch between jobs (Warrior, Gunner, White Mage, etc) on the fly, is a great idea, and very flashy. However, it's just like playing dress-up with your characters. It has a shamefully effeminate feel that, while it doesn't bother me, probably killed a lot of male interest in the game -- or would have, if the outfits weren't so skimpy. It's kind of interesting to be able to switch jobs even during combat though, to be fair, and the Garment Grids (cards that you set Dresspheres into) give useful buffs and abilities. It's a fresh idea, but considering FFX didn't even have defined "jobs" (any character could do anything you wanted them too, if you had the proper items for the Sphere Grid system), it doesn't seem to fit well in the scope of the series. Hell, no Final Fantasy game since 5 had a defined job system except for Tactics, XI, and the GBA games.
The other problem I have with this is the Story % completion -- for each event in the game, you get a certain amount of story percentage completed, even for some of the most mundane stuff like talking to someone. If you miss any of these before progressing to the next chapter or sometimes even just to the next area, you're screwed out of that story %. You can't even get 100% in one play through, but they at least had the decency to put in a New Game+, which lets you start over with your levels, money, items, story %, and garment grids intact.

It's not that bad of a game if you treat it as it's own entity, instead of comparing it to other Final Fantasy titles. It's challenging, but doesn't feel like you have to grind for experience points like you would have in most RPGs. It was kind of nice to revisit old areas in FFX and see what's changed, although some of the plot points in the post-FFX era in the world seem rather off in context with how characters were in the previous game. Meeting new characters while finding old ones has a strange nostalgic feel, and at some points, it feels like the whole game is meant to celebrate one of the most interesting worlds Square-Enix has made in their games.
FFX-2 just feels like a giant side-quest to FFX, an extended epilogue milking the spent udders of a good game. It's not bad, but it just doesn't live up to it's prequel storywise. It tries to be too gimmicky with the girl power and skimpy outfits.