Yuna had been through a lot between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X2. Her biggest challenge, however, was what the hell to do when you are given a sequel to a story that seems already complete. That detail is extremely tricky with many expecting the story to be bigger in every way like a Hollywood movie.
What Final Fantasy X-2 provided was a completely different game that looks to take its characters in a completely different direction where many couldn't be recognized, even Yuna. So here are 10 things that make no sense with Yuna.
10 Never Actually Searching Out Tidus By the End of X-2
Within the first chapter finding the memory orb that somehow shows Tidus trapped In a cage, it sets off a certain expectation that the story of FFX2 will be about finding him. But then for the next 2 chapters, it might as well quote Seinfield because it is about nothing. And in between this void of silliness, the whole beginning plot is lost for a completely new shoehorned-in-plot with a replica of Tidus, which is never brought up that the two are clones. This changes by the end where if you get the "Good" ending SPOILERS you see Tidus' ghost after doing the whistle he taught Yuna. Never is the first part brought up again how he was trapped and it was clearly not the clone based on speaking patterns.
9 Never Picking Up On The Opening In FFX2
With the orb being found it seemed the initial goal was to find Tidus with this feeling of hope being restored in Yuna who wanted nothing but to find Tidus, but that gets thrown out the window for simple reminiscing throughout the filler stories. The reason of being for the Gullwings for Yuna was to use it as way to, "Travel the world to find Tidus." But it never seems like that because she never follows those actions. She becomes obsessed about finding the next sphere each mission that she never asks when she is in a new area or around new people if they've seen him. She is either completely stressed and obsessed about him or has no care about him at all and there is no in-between.
8 From High Morals To No Morals
The feeling you got from Yuba was that she was very pious and even self-sacrificing with wanting to do good for everyone and thinking about other people and their safety. In a way, her character was "The golden girl," where everyone in the story treated her highly with high expectations and in turn, she had a sense of duty to others. This in FFX2 was thrown out the window where she is a rebel who would be happy to steal from a stranger to get a sphere so she can make money, like some pirate. And she'll do this with this sense of ultra excitement too that is never addressed. This lacked a complete sense of self-awareness and came off as completely petty and superficial, especially when she is still seen as a public figure for everyone to come to and look up to.
7 No Watch Of Her Transformation As A Character
While her story in FFX was about her becoming less reserved and finding her own fate instead of the one everyone put on her, in FFX2 that part of the story was put to the other end of the extreme. It's understandable to change especially when she had to find a life after a planned death, but the game wasn't there to show you when this change happened or how it happened to make her jump to that extreme.
This should have been a pivotal and even happy moment where it's expressed she can do what she wants and she wants to follow that path, it would have made the transformation way more believable. It is actually the most major development of her character and it is left out of the story.
6 The Good Ending Betrays The Character
With in-mind that she now is at the other end of the extreme with her values, personality, and goals, the main point of the story should have been about letting go of Tidus to explore her freedom and new position in life that she gets to choose because that was what FFX2 truly embodied, on purpose or not. The good ending does a 180 degree turn on that point and keeps her in the cycle of constantly looking for her man with a dues ex machina ending that betrays the laws of their own set world.
5 Sudden Sport Player
Yuna wasn't known as highly physical, even stating she can only hold her breath underwater for two minutes in the opening of FFX2 in a world where people hold their breath for much longer. She could all of the sudden play full underwater soccer games in FFX2 that last a good 5-10 minutes while being physical out of nowhere. This all in the very same game where she said she couldn't hold her breath for a whole match, let alone physically exerted herself while doing it.
4 A Story That Doesn't Follow Her Progress
Her character can be an understandable change when you see Yuna actually reflect who she is around with. She is pious, had a sense of duty, serious, and quiet because she was raised by Luna and Wakka. She felt importance to protect others because of the people who talked about her father and because of Khimari. Tidus opened up her world.
Now in FFX2 she reflects Rikku more but still longs for Tidus. But unfortunately this also the goal of Leblanc taking away from this goal. The story also messes with this by having it being much more light-hearted with no sense of importance it danger. None of the messages of the story enhances what she is going through.
3 Monkey Rebellion
In the ultimate passive-aggressive move, Yuna match makes monkeys as a side quest to stop an important place in her journey, Zanarkand, from being a tourist site. If the high-level killer monsters weren't enough to detour tourist it's doubtful an Army of disruptive monkeys she hand breed would either.
2 Too Much Fanservice
This issue comes from FFX2 where it wants to appeal to girls, note not women, but has to latch onto the creepy Japan anime tradition of being paradoxical and over-sexualizing it and taking away any innocence that would justify the tonal change. What you get is a weird tonal fight where you have scantily clad girls with the emotional Dimension of Barbie giving each other back rubs with an overt amount of moaning.
1 Lacks A Foil In FFX2
The idea of a foil is someone or a character that is so opposite of the other character that it forces the other in a new perspective and scenarios and show who they truly are while balancing tone for the player, viewer, and/or reader. Serious and happy, go-getter and pessimist, grouchy and positive dummy. Those are three classic foils that work together great and are seen throughout media because both improve each other as characters by making the other see the opponent's point of view which causes development.
Final Fantasy X2 completely lacked that so Yuna always seemed superficial. She did not have a foil to her new personality to bring it back to the real world and explain why she is what she is now. In FFX, he was the quiet and demure foil to Tidus. But in FFX2, everyone is so superficial and eccentric none of that is highlighted and makes her character flat, without change until the very end. The fact is it made it like every single character had the unending energy of Riku, even the side characters.