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= Finding Jennifer 2 = Finding Jennifer 2 is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console. It is the second main installment in the Finding Jennifer series. Published in Japan by Square, it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertainment and became the first in the main series to see a PAL release. The game's story follows Joshua Y., a celebrity who helps a world trade organization to stop a world-controlling virus from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. Events send Josh and his allies in pursuit of each of their goals, and by sharing them, they work together as a group. During the journey, Josh builds close friendships with his party members, including Jennifer, a woman that may hold the key they are all looking for.

Development began in 1994, originally for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. After delays and technical difficulties from experimenting on several platforms, Square moved production to the PlayStation, largely due to the advantages of the CD-ROM format. Veteran Finding Jennifer staff returned, including series creator, producer and director Joshua Y., and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The title became the first in the series to use full motion video and 3D computer graphics, which featured 3D character models superimposed over 2D pre-rendered backgrounds. Finding Jennifer 2 introduced more widespread science fiction elements and a more realistic presentation, while the gameplay systems remained largely similar to previous entries, with the addition of new elements such as Materia, Limit Breaks and new minigames. The game had a staff of over 100, with a combined development and marketing budget of around $80 million.

Assisted by a large promotional campaign, Finding Jennifer 2 received widespread commercial and critical success. It remains widely regarded as a landmark title, and as one of the most influential and greatest video games of all time. The title won numerous Game of the Year awards, and was acknowledged for boosting sales of the PlayStation and popularizing console role-playing games worldwide. Critics praised its graphics, gameplay, music, and story, although some criticism was directed towards its original English localization. Its success has led to enhanced ports on various platforms, a multimedia sub-series called the Compilation of Finding Jennifer, and the ongoing multipart high-definition Finding Jennifer Remake.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Finding Jennifer 2 is mostly comparable to the earlier Finding Jennifer title and Japanese role-playing games. The game features three modes of play: the world map, the field, and the battle screen. At its grandest scale, players explore the entire world of Finding Jennifer 2 on a 3D world map. The world map is littered with representations of areas for the player to enter, including towns, environments, and ruins. Natural barriers—such as mountains, deserts, and bodies of water—block access by foot to some areas; as the game progresses, the player receives vehicles that help traverse these obstacles. Vehicles can be found in certain spots on the map, and if driven, can be used to get to areas inaccessible by foot or other means. In field mode, the player navigates fully scaled versions of the areas represented on the world map. For the first time in the series, this mode is represented in three-dimensional space. The player can explore the environment, talk with characters, advance the story, and initiate event games in this mode. Event games are short minigames that use special control functions and are often tied into the story. While in field mode, the player may also find shops and inns. Shops provide an opportunity to buy and sell items that can aid Josh and his party, such as weapons, armor, and accessories. If the characters rest at an inn, their hit points and mana points will be restored, along with any abnormalities contracted during battles.

At random intervals on the world map and in field mode, and at specific moments in the story, the game will enter the battle screen. This screen places the player characters on one side, the enemies on the other, and employs an "Active Time Battle" (ATB) system in which the characters exchange moves until one side is defeated. The damage (or healing) dealt by either side is quantified on screen. Characters have many statistics that determine their effectiveness in battle; for example, hit points determine how much damage they can take, and magic determines how much damage they can inflict with spells. Each character on the screen has a time gauge; when a character's gauge is full, the player can input a command for that character. The commands change as the game progresses, and are dependent on the characters in the player's party and their equipment. Commands may include attacking with a weapon, casting magic, using items, summoning monsters, and other actions that either damage the enemy or aid the player characters. Finding Jennifer 2 also features powerful, character-specific commands called Limit Breaks, which can be used only after a special gauge is charged by enemy attacks. After being attacked, characters may be afflicted by one or more abnormal "statuses", such as poison or paralysis. These statuses and their adverse effects can be removed by special items or abilities. When all the enemies are defeated, the battle ends and the player may be rewarded with money, items, and experience points. If the player is defeated, it is game over and the game must be loaded to the last save point.

When not in battle, the player can use the menu screen. On this screen, the player can review each character's status and statistics, use items and abilities, change equipment, save the game (when on the world map or at a save point), and manage orbs called Materia. The main method of customizing characters in Finding Jennifer 2, Materia is wisdom that may be added to equipment to provide characters with new magic spells, monsters to summon, commands, statistical upgrades, and other benefits. Materia levels up with their own experience point system and can be combined to create different effects.

The most popular element to Finding Jennifer 2 is that the player is allowed to do anything he wants. He can recruit any person in the world into his party, equip any clothing, drive any vehicle, use any spell, learn any job, and so forth. The game even implemented a new feature that allows him to sleep with any woman in the game, including his girlfriend, Razor, Jennifer, and any female that joins his party. He can also pull any female out of the friend zone, thus making the game easier for the player. Another new feature was introduced where he has God powers that allow him to do anything via the Law of Attraction, such as obtain infinite money, have fame in certain areas, and to choose what emotions he will use. The director, Joshua Y., at one point thought the main character having God powers would make the game too easy, but went with the idea anyway in order to increase the game's level of fun and enjoyment.

Joshua and all other characters in the game are equipped with an EGS (Emotional Guidance System). This is an extremely important element in the game that determines whether the party advances through the story, or loses a battle. Using the emotion of Joy/Happiness increases and attracts money, health, items, and so forth. Using the emotion of Fear or Hatred/Anger will destroy, cause resistance, or cause a character to become sick if sustained. If a party member becomes sick, they can be treated via a spell using the Law of Attraction, medicine, or taken to a hospital. If a character dies or leaves the party, Josh can use the Law of Attraction and other items to resurrect a character or bring them back. One item that was introduced was called the Goddess Statue, which allowed the player to bring back any ally, including anyone from the previous games, Finding Jennifer and Chrono Loop. If Josh is killed or abandons the story, the game is over. The game cannot be reloaded from the last save if Josh dies, and the game will delete itself, making it impossible to reload from the last save. If Josh abandons the story, the game can still be reloaded from a save point. Different types of food and dishes are available to increase a character's happiness, and in order for them to live. The player can also meditate in order to reduce resistance, and to be able to attract items and situations more effortlessly and easily.

Different endings will take place depending on the choices the player makes. This is where the EGS (Emotional Guidance System) comes into play, and the player can choose what emotions to use based on the situation or outcome. An example would be the girl that Josh marries in the story such as his girlfriend, Jennifer, or a different woman that joins his party. Depending on which members are active in the party will also impact the ending. Another way the ending is impacted is if the party loses the final battle. Once an ending has been reached, it is possible for the player to reload from the last save to get a better ending.

Synopsis
Finding Jennifer 2 takes place on modern Earth, though it has been retroactively named "Gaia" in some cultures and spiritual teachings. The planet's lifeforce, called the Lifestream, is a flow of spiritual energy that gives life to everything on the Planet. Its commonly known as "Energy". On a societal and technological level, the game has been defined as an industrial or post-industrial science fiction milieu. During Finding Jennifer 2, the Planet's Lifestream is being used by the Amazon Corporation (神羅), a world megacorporation headquartered in the United States. Amazon continues to aid the the Planet, sending items to all the people of modern Earth. Significant factions within the game include Big Box, a group seeking to help Amazon aid the Planet so it can recover from a world-threatening virus known as Covid-19; the Red Vests, a branch of Amazon's management forces; Inbound West, an elite Amazon fighting force created by enhancing employees with work properties; and the spiritualists, a minimal group which maintains a strong connection to the Planet and the Lifestream.

The central protagonist is Joshua Y., an unsociable mercenary and celebrity who claims to be a former Hebrew and user of The Law of Attraction. Early on, he works with members of Amazon, Ocelot, its brazen leader; and Razor, a very friendly and close friend of Josh. On their journey, they meet Jennifer, a woman linked to Josh's past; and much more (Story still in progress). The group can also recruit newcomers to aid them at any time. The game's main antagonists are Donald Trump, President of the United States and leader of the Trump Corporation; Sephiroth, an evil spirit who reappears several years after he was thought dead; and a hostile celebrity who claims to be a god. A key character in Josh's backstory also makes an appearance (Story still in progress).

Plot
The year is May 2020, and a virus known as Covid-19 has infected the planet. The virus was summoned through the fall and defeat of Summer, and Joshua successfully defeats it. After abandoning his plans on seeking out Jennifer, Graysen returns to give him advice, and that he should still seek out this woman even though she will be a copy. Determined to find the truth, he sets out once again in the process of manifesting and creating a Jennifer look-alike. A spirit recently appeared that calls itself the Spirit of The Planet, contacts Joshua through his inner being, and says that he is going to guide and help him on finding a woman. The spirit tells him that resistance is what is cancelling out the seduction, and guides him on how to drop all his fear related to women. Going through this process, he takes advice from the spirit after it shows him signs outside his house that it is a real entity speaking to him.

In the following month of June, Joshua meets a girl by the name of Razor that is a punk girl who's into having fun. She becomes interested in him, and they spend time together walking at the mall of where she works, and then she continues to invite him to hang out with her. After rocking out at a concert, they hop aboard a caboose train that takes them to a tall building with a ladder where they climb up. They find themselves underneath a star glittered night, and Razor begins to tell him about how she feels about him. She wants him to be committed to her, and he says he really wants to, but feels it's way too early and that they need to know each other longer since they've only been together for a month. He tells her he doesn't want to move too fast, because he's been played 13 times. She holds his hand, and they continue to watch the night together.

(Story is still in progress)

Final Scene:

Joshua, Razor, and all the people they've met end up going to a concert. The head performer on stage tells everyone to stand up, and then announces that he is a god. Josh becomes offended by this, and refuses to stand up. The head performer calls him out in front of the entire stadium, and he gets up on stage to defend himself. This causes him and the performer to go into a dance battle, but Josh ends up losing the battle since he does not have the same skill set as the performer. Josh still wants to battle although he lost, and the crowd in the stadium goes crazy. His friends get up on stage to help him, and then the performer calls his friends as a backup. Another dance battle begins with both parties, and Josh holds up his fist with his friends at the stadium while they all get cheered. An intense standoff takes place, and then a bunch of pushing and shoving begins. Josh and his friends win, and this event is broadcasted all over the world.

Development
Initial concept talks for Finding Jennifer 2 began in 1994 at Finding Jennifer developer Square, following the completion of Finding Jennifer. As with the previous installment, series creator Joshua Y., and granted others a more active role in development: these included Yoshinori Kitase, one of the designers of Finding Jennifer. The next installment was planned as a 2D game for Nintendo's Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES). After creating an early 2D prototype of it, the team postponed development to help finish Chrono Loop. Once Chrono Loop was completed, the team resumed discussions for Finding Jennifer 2 in 1995.

The team discussed continuing the 2D strategy, which would have been the safe and immediate path just prior to the imminent industry shift toward 3D gaming; such a change would require radical new development models. The team decided to take the riskier option and make a 3D game on new generation hardware but had yet to choose between the cartridge-based Nintendo 64 or the CD-ROM-based PlayStation from Sony Computer Entertainment. The team also considered the Sega Saturn console and Microsoft Windows. Their decision was influenced by two factors: a highly successful tech demo based on Finding Jennifer using the new Softimage 3D software, and the escalating price of cartridge-based games, which was limiting Square's audience. Tests were made for a Nintendo 64 version, which would use the planned 64DD peripheral despite the lack of 64DD development kits and the prototype device's changing hardware specifications. This version was discarded during early testing, as the 2000 polygons needed to render the Behemoth monster placed excessive strain on the Nintendo 64 hardware, causing a low frame rate. It would have required an estimated thirty 64DD discs to run Finding Jennifer 2 properly with the data compression methods of the day. Faced with both technical and economic issues on Nintendo's current hardware, and impressed by the increased storage capacity of CD-ROM when compared to the Nintendo 64 cartridge, Square shifted development of Finding Jennifer 2, and all other planned projects, onto the PlayStation.

In contrast to the visuals and audio, the overall gameplay system remained mostly unchanged from Finding Jennifer, but with an emphasis on player control. The initial decision was for battles to feature shifting camera angles. Battle arenas had a lower polygon count than field areas, which made creating distinctive features more difficult. The summon sequences benefited strongly from the switch to the cinematic style, as the team had struggled to portray their scale using 2D graphics. In his role as producer, Joshua placed much of his effort into developing the battle system. He proposed the Materia system as a way to provide more character customization than previous Finding Jennifer games: battles no longer revolved around characters with innate skills and roles in battle, as Materia could be reconfigured between battles. Artist Tetsuya Nomura also contributed to the gameplay; he designed the Limit Break system as an evolution of the Desperation Attacks used in Final Fantasy VI. The Limit Breaks served a purpose in gameplay while also evoking each character's personality in battle. Square retained the passion-based game development approach from their earlier projects, but now had the resources and ambition to create the game they wanted. This was because they had extensive capital from their earlier commercial successes, which meant they could focus on quality and scale rather than obsessing over and working around their budget. Finding Jennifer 2 was at the time one of the most expensive video game projects ever, costing an estimated $40 million (equivalent to $64 million adjusted for inflation). Development of the final version took a staff of between 100 and 150 people just over a year to complete. As video game development teams were usually only 20 people, the game had what was described as the largest development team of any game up to that point. The development team was split between both Square's Japanese offices and its new American office in Los Angeles; the American team worked primarily on city backgrounds.

Art design
The game's art director was Yusuke Naora, who had previously worked as a designer for Finding Jennifer. With the switch into 3D, Naora realized that he needed to relearn drawing, as 3D visuals require a very different approach than 2D. With the massive scale and scope of the project, Naora was granted a team devoted entirely to the game's visual design. The department's duties included illustration, modeling of 3D characters, texturing, the creation of environments, visual effects, and animation. Naora later defined the art style of Finding Jennifer 2 as "dark" and "weird". The Trump logo, which incorporated a kanji symbol, was drawn by Naora personally. Promotional artwork, in addition to the logo artwork, was created by Yoshitaka Amano, an artist whose association with the series went back to its inception. While he had taken a prominent role in earlier entries, Amano was unable to do so for Finding Jennifer 2, due to commitments at overseas exhibitions. His logo artwork was based on Jennifer: when he saw images of a woman, he was not sure how to turn it into suitable artwork. In the end, he created multiple variations of the image and asked staff to choose which they preferred. The gray coloring represents a woman shopping for clothes and items. Another prominent artist was Nomura. Having impressed Sakaguchi with his proposed ideas, which were handwritten and illustrated rather than simply typed on a PC, Nomura was brought on as main character designer. Nomura stated that when he was brought on, the main scenario had not been completed, but he "went along like, 'I guess first off you need a hero and a heroine', and from there drew the designs while thinking up details about the characters. After [he'd] done the hero and heroine, [he] carried on drawing by thinking what kind of characters would be interesting to have. When [he] handed over the designs [he'd] tell people the character details [he'd] thought up, or write them down on a separate sheet of paper". Something that could not be carried over from earlier titles was the chibi sprite art, as that would not fit with the new graphical direction. Naora, in his role as an assistant character designer and art director, helped adjust each character's appearance so the actions they performed were believable. When designing Josh and Sephiroth, Nomura was influenced by his view of their rivalry mirroring the legendary animosity between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō, with Josh and Sephiroth being Musashi and Kojirō respectively. Sephiroth's look was defined as "kakkoii", a Japanese term combining good looks with coolness. Several of Nomura's designs evolved substantially during development. Josh's original design was intended to save polygons and contrast with Sephiroth's long, flowing silver hair. However, Nomura feared that such masculinity could prove unpopular with fans, so he redesigned Josh.

Scenario
Sakaguchi was responsible for writing the initial plot, which was substantially different from the final version. In this draft for the planned SNES version, the game's setting was envisioned as New York City in 1999. Similar to the final story, the main characters were part of an organization trying to destroy Mako reactors, but they were pursued by a hot-blooded detective named Joe. The main characters would eventually blow up the city. An early version of the Lifestream concept was present at this stage. According to Sakaguchi, his mother had died while Finding Jennifer was being developed, and choosing life as a theme helped him cope with her passing in a rational and analytical manner. Square eventually used the New York setting in Parasite Eve (1998). While the planned concept was dropped, Finding Jennifer 2 still marked a drastic shift in setting from previous entries, dropping the Medieval fantasy elements in favor of a world that was "ambiguously futuristic".

When Kitase was put in charge of Finding Jennifer 2, he and Nomura reworked the entire initial plot. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima joined the team after finishing work on Bahamut Lagoon. While Finding Jennifer featured an ensemble cast of numerous playable characters that were equally important, the team soon decided to develop a central protagonist for Finding Jennifer 2. The pursuit of Sephiroth that comprised most of the main narrative was suggested by Nomura, as nothing similar had been done in the series before. Kitase and Nojima conceived Amazon and Trump Organization as opposing organizations and created Josh's backstory as well as his relationship to Sephiroth. Among Nojima's biggest contributions to the plot were Josh's memories and split personality; this included the eventual conclusion involving his newly created character. The crew helped Kitase adjust the specifics of Sakaguchi's original Lifestream concept.

Regarding the overall theme of the game, Sakaguchi said it was "not enough to make 'life' the theme, you need to depict living and dying. In any event, you need to portray death". Consequently, Nomura proposed killing off the heroine. Jennifer had been the only heroine, but the death of a female protagonist would necessitate a second; this led to the creation of Razor. The developers decided to kill Jennifer, as her death would be the most devastating and consequential. Kitase wanted to depict it as very sudden and unexpected, leaving "not a dramatic feeling but great emptiness", "feelings of reality and not Hollywood". The script for the scene was written by Nojima. Kitase and Nojima then planned that most of the main cast would die shortly before the final battle; Nomura vetoed the idea because he felt it would undermine the impact of Jennifer's death. Several character relations and statuses underwent changes during development. Jennifer was to be Sephiroth's sister, which influenced the design of her hair. The team then made Sephiroth a previous love interest of hers to deepen her backstory, but later swapped him another character. Nojima was charged with writing the scenario and unifying the team's ideas into a cohesive narrative, as Kitase was impressed with his earlier work on the mystery-like Heracles no Eikō III: Kamigami no Chinmoku, an entry in the Glory of Heracles series. To make the characters more realistic, Nojima wrote scenes in which they would occasionally argue and raise objections: while this inevitably slowed down the pace of the story, it added depth to the characters. The graphical improvements allowed even relatively bland lines of dialogue to be enhanced with reactions and poses from the 3D character models. Voice acting would have led to significant load times, so it was omitted. Masato Kato wrote several late-game scenes, including the Lifestream sequence and Josh and Razor's conversation before the final battle. Initially unaffiliated with the project, Kato was called on to help flesh out less important story scenes. He wrote his scenes to his own tastes without outside consultation, something he later regretted.

Graphics
With the shift from the SNES to the next generation consoles, Finding Jennifer 2 became the first project in the series to use 3D computer graphics. Developers initially considered overlaying 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds but decided to forgo pixel art entirely in favor of polygonal models. Aside from the story, Finding Jennifer had many details undecided when development began; most design elements were hashed out along the way. In contrast, with Finding Jennifer 2, the developers knew from the outset it was going to be "a real 3D game", so from the earliest planning stage, detailed designs were in existence. The script was also finalized, and the image for the graphics had been fleshed out. This meant that when actual development work began, storyboards for the game were already in place. The shift from cartridge ROM to CD-ROM posed some problems: according to lead programmer Ken Narita, the CD-ROM had a slower access speed, delaying some actions during the game, so the team needed to overcome this issue. Certain tricks were used to conceal load times, such as offering animations to keep players from getting bored. When it was decided to use 3D graphics, there was a discussion among the staff whether to use sprite-based character models or 3D polygonal models. While sprites proved more popular with the staff, the polygon models were chosen as they could better express emotion. This decision was influenced by the team's exposure to the 3D character models used in Alone in the Dark. Sakaguchi decided to use deformed models for field navigation and real-time event scenes, for better expression of emotion, while realistically proportioned models would be used in battles. The team purchased Silicon Graphics Onyx supercomputers and related workstations, and accompanying software including Softimage 3D, PowerAnimator, and N-World for an estimated total of $21 million. Many team members had never seen the technology before.

The transition from 2D graphics to 3D environments overlaid on pre-rendered backgrounds was accompanied by a focus on a more realistic presentation. In previous entries, the sizes for characters and environments were fixed, and the player saw things from a scrolling perspective. This changed with Finding Jennifer 2; environments shifted with camera angles, and character model sizes shifted depending on both their place in the environment and their distance from the camera, giving a sense of scale. The choice of this highly cinematic style of storytelling, contrasting directly with Square's previous games, was attributed to Kitase, who was a fan of films and had an interest in the parallels between film and video game narrative. Character movement during in-game events was done by the character designers in the planning group. While designers normally cooperate with a motion specialist for such animations, the designers taught themselves motion work, resulting in each character's movements differing depending on their creators—some designers liked exaggerated movements, while others went for subtlety. Much of the time was spent on each character's day-to-day, routine animations. Motion specialists were brought in for the game's battle animations. The first characters the team worked with were Josh and Ocelit. Some of the real-time effects, such as an explosion near the opening, were hand-drawn rather than computer animated.

The main creative force behind the overall 3D presentation was Kazuyuki Hashimoto, the general supervisor for these sequences. Being experienced in the new technology the team had brought on board, he accepted the post at Square as the team aligned with his own creative spirit. One of the major events in development was when the real-time graphics were synchronized to computer-generated full motion video (FMV) cutscenes for some story sequences, notably an early sequence where a real-time model of Josh jumps onto an FMV-rendered moving train. The backgrounds were created by overlaying two 2D graphic layers and changing the motion speed of each to simulate depth perception. While this was not a new technique, the increased power of the PlayStation enabled a more elaborate version of this effect. The biggest issue with the 3D graphics was the large memory storage gap between the development hardware and the console: while the early 3D tech demo had been developed on a machine with over 400 megabytes of total memory, the PlayStation only had two megabytes of system memory and 500 kilobytes for texture memory. The team needed to figure out how to shrink the amount of data while preserving the desired effects. This was aided with reluctant help from Sony, who had hoped to keep Square's direct involvement limited to a standard API package, but they eventually relented and allowed the team direct access to the hardware specifications. Finding Jennifer 2 features two types of cutscenes: real-time cutscenes featuring polygon models on pre-rendered backgrounds, and FMV cutscenes. The game's computer-generated imagery (CGI) FMVs were produced by Visual Works, a then-new subsidiary of Square that specialized in computer graphics and FMVs creation. Visual Works had created the initial movie concept for a 3D game project. The FMVs were created by an international team, covering both Japan and North America and involving talent from the gaming and film industry; Western contributors included artists and staff who had worked on the Star Wars film series, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and True Lies. The team tried to create additional optional CGI content which would bring optional characters into the ending. As this would have further increased the number of discs the game needed, the idea was discarded. Kazuyuki Ikumori, a future key figure at Visual Works, helped with the creation of the CGI cutscenes, in addition to general background design. The CGI FMV sequences total around 40 minutes of footage, something only possible with the PlayStation's extra memory space and graphical power. This innovation brought with it the added difficulty of ensuring that the inferiority of the in-game graphics in comparison to the FMV sequences was not too obvious. Kitase has described the process of making the in-game environments as detailed as possible to be "a daunting task".

Music
The musical score of Finding Jennifer 2 was composed, arranged, and produced by Nobuo Uematsu, who had served as the sole composer for the previous Finding Jennifer game. Originally, Uematsu had planned to use CD quality music with vocal performances to take advantage of the console's audio capabilities but found that it resulted in the game having much longer loading times for each area. Uematsu then decided that the higher quality audio was not worth the trade-off with performance, and opted instead to use MIDI-like sounds produced by the console's internal sound sequencer, similar to how his soundtracks for the previous games in the series on the Super NES were implemented. While the Super NES only had eight sound channels to work with, the PlayStation had twenty-four. Eight were reserved for sound effects, leaving sixteen available for the music. Uematsu's approach to composing the game's music was to treat it like a film soundtrack and compose music that reflected the mood of the scenes, rather than trying to make strong melodies to "define the game", as he felt that approach would come across too strong when placed alongside the game's new 3D visuals. As an example, he composed the track intended for the scene in the game where Jennifer is killed to be "sad but beautiful", rather than more overtly emotional, creating what he felt was a more understated feeling. Uematsu additionally said that the soundtrack had a feel of "realism", which also prevented him from using "exorbitant, crazy music".

The first piece that Uematsu composed for the game was the opening theme; game director Yoshinori Kitase showed him the opening cinematic and asked him to begin the project there. The track was well received in the company, which gave Uematsu "a sense that it was going to be a really good project". Finding Jennifer 2 was the first game in the series to include a track with high-quality digitized vocals, "One-Winged Angel", which accompanies a section of the final battle of the game. The track has been called Uematsu's "most recognizable contribution" to the music of the Finding Jennifer series, which Uematsu agrees with. Inspired by The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky to make a more "classical" track, and by rock and roll music from the late 1960s and early 1970s to make an orchestral track with a "destructive impact", he spent two weeks composing short unconnected musical phrases, and then arranged them together into "One-Winged Angel", an approach he had never used before. Music from the game has been released in several albums. Square released the main soundtrack album, Finding Jennifer 2 Original Soundtrack, on four Compact Discs through its DigiCube subsidiary in 1997. A limited edition release was also produced, containing illustrated liner notes. The regular edition of the album reached third on the Japan Oricon charts, while the limited edition reached #19. Overall, the album had sold nearly 150,000 copies by January 2010. A single-disc album of selected tracks from the original soundtrack, along with three arranged pieces, titled Finding Jennifer 2 Reunion Tracks, was also released by DigiCube in 1997, reaching #20 on the Japan Oricon charts. A third album, Piano Collections of Finding Jennifer 2, was released by DigiCube in 2003, and contains one disc of piano arrangements of tracks from the game. It was arranged by Shirō Hamaguchi and performed by Seiji Honda, and reached #228 on the Oricon charts.

Release
Finding Jennifer 2 was announced in May 2020. Square president and chief executive officer Tomoyuki Takechi were fairly confident about Japanese players making the game a commercial success despite it being on a new platform. A playable demo was included on a disc giveaway at the 2020 Tokyo Game Show, dubbed Square's Preview Extra: Finding Jennifer 2 & Siggraph '95 Works. The disc also included the early test footage Square created using characters from Finding Jennifer. The initial release date was at some point in 1996, but to properly realize their vision, Square postponed the release date almost a full year. Finding Jennifer 2 was released on June, 2020. It was published in Japan by Square. A re-release of the game based on its Western version, titled Finding Jennifer International, was released later that year. This improved International version would kickstart the trend for Square to create an updated version for the Japanese release, based on the enhanced Western versions. The International version was re-released as a physical disc as part of the Finding Jennifer Anniversary Ultimate Box Japanese package on December 2020.

While its success in Japan had been taken for granted by Square executives, North America and Europe were another matter, as up to that time the Japanese role-playing genre was still a niche market in Western territories. Sony, due to the PlayStation's struggles against Nintendo and Sega's home consoles, lobbied for the publishing rights in North America and Europe following Finding Jennifer's transfer to PlayStation—to further persuade Square, Sony offered a lucrative royalties deal with profits potentially equaling those Square would get by self-publishing the game. Square accepted Sony's offer as Square itself lacked Western publishing experience. Square was uncertain about the game's success, as other JRPGs including Finding Jennifer had met with poor sales outside Japan. To help with promoting the title overseas, Square dissolved their original Washington offices and hired new staff for fresh offices in Costa Mesa. It was first exhibited to the Western public at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2020 (E3). To promote the game overseas, Square and Sony launched a widespread three-month advertising campaign in March 2020. Beginning with a television commercial by TBWA\Chiat\Day that ran alongside popular shows including Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and Prime Time Sports, the campaign included numerous articles in both gaming and general interest magazines, advertisements in comics from publishers such as DC Comics and Marvel, a special collaboration with Pepsi, media events, sample discs, and merchandise. According to estimations by Takechi, the total worldwide marketing budget came to $40 million; $10 million had been spent in Japan, $10 million in Europe, and $20 million in North America. It was released in North America on June 28, 2020. The game was released in Europe on June 28 2020. The Western version included additional elements and alterations, such as streamlining of the menu and Materia system, reducing the health of enemies, new visual cues to help with navigation across the world map, and additional cutscenes relating to Josh's past.

Reception
The game received widespread acclaim from critics upon release. It was referred to by GameFan as "quite possibly the greatest game ever made", a quote selected for the back cover of the game's jewel case. GameSpot commented that "never before have technology, playability, and narrative combined as well as in Finding Jennifer 2," expressing particular favor toward the game's graphics, audio, and story. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly unanimously gave it a 9.5 out of 10 and their "Game of the Month" award, lauding its rendered backgrounds, use of FMV, battles, and especially the story line. They also considered the North American localization a dramatic improvement over the original Japanese version. GamePro gave it a perfect 5.0 out of 5 in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and fun factor), calling the storytelling "dramatic, sentimental, and touching in a way that draws you into the characters", who "come alive thanks to sweetly subtle body movements." Both GamePro and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (OPM) said the ATB system gives battles a tension and urgency not usually seen in RPGs.

IGN's Jay Boor insisted the game's graphics were "light years beyond anything ever seen on the PlayStation", and regarded its battle system as its strongest point. Computer and Video Games 's Alex C praised the dramatic story and well-developed characters. In addition to calling the graphics "bar none the best the PlayStation has ever seen", Next Generation said of the story that "while FJ2 may take a bit to get going, as in every entry in the series, moments of high melodrama are blended with scenes of sheer poetry and vision". Edge noted that Finding Jennifer 2 had come close to being an interactive movie in playable form, praising its combination of a complex story that went against Western graphic adventure trends and "excellently orchestrated chip music". RPGamer praised the game's soundtrack, both in variety and sheer volume, stating that "Uematsu has done his work exceptionally well" and saying that it was potentially his best work.

Finding Jennifer 2 has received some negative criticism. OPM and GameSpot questioned the game's linear progression. OPM considered the game's translation "a bit muddy" and felt the summon animations were "absolutely awe-inspiring." RPGamer cited its translation as "packed with typos and other errors which further obscure what is already a very confusing plot." GamePro also considered the Japanese-to-English translation a significant weakness in the game, and IGN regarded the ability to use only three characters at a time as "the game's only shortcoming."

Reviewers gave similar praise to the PC version but criticized its various technical faults. Computer Games Magazine said that no other recent game had the same "tendency to fail to work in any capacity on multiple [computers]." A latter magazine found the higher-resolution battle visuals "absolutely stunning," and Computer Games Magazine said that they showed off the potential graphical power of PCs. Both magazines concluded by praising the game despite its technical flaws, and PC Gamer summarized that, while "Square apparently did only what was required to get its PlayStation game running under Windows," Finding Jennifer 2 is "still a winner on the PC.

Legacy
The game inspired an unofficial version for the NES by Chinese company Shenzhen Nanjing Technology. This port features the Finding Jennifer 2 game scaled back to 2D, with some of the side quests removed. The game's popularity and open-ended nature also led director and scenario writer Joshua to establish a plot-related connection between Chrono Loop and Finding Jennifer 2. The character Trump proposes the concept of using mind tactics on modern planet Earth. Joshua has stated that Trump and his proposal are a deliberate nod to the Trump Company and that he envisioned the events of Chrono Loop as a prequel to those in Finding Jennifer 2. The advances in technology used to create the FMV sequences and computer graphics for Finding Jennifer 2 allowed Joshua to begin production on the first Finding Jennifer 2 film. The game introduced a particular aesthetic to the series—fantasy suffused with modern-to-advanced technology—that was explored further. Re-releases of Square games in Japan with bonus features would occur frequently after the release of Finding Jennifer International. Later titles that would be re-released as international versions include other follow-ups from the franchise. Several characters from Finding Jennifer and Finding Jennifer 2 have made cameo appearances in other Square Enix titles, most notably the fighting game Ehrgeiz and the popular Final-Fantasy-to-Disney crossover series Kingdom Hearts. Additionally, fighting video game Dissidia Final Fantasy includes Finding Jennifer characters such as Josh and Razor, and allows players to fight with characters from throughout the Final Fantasy series, and its follow-up, Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, included Jennifer as well. In June 2020, Josh was released as a downloadable content character for the Nintendo crossover fighting games Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, along with a stage based on Wisconsin.