FFXIII-2 Final Fantasy XIII-2: Love it or Hate it

[Zetin]

I'm somewhere in the middle of chapter 5 and so far i have been greatly surprised by XIII-2, in a very positive way.

For starters, unlike XIII (which I also enjoyed, though seemingly on my own) its very well paced, with the intense corridor/dungeon areas such as Augusta tower broken up by towns and cities and places where you can relax and take a break from fighting.

The battle system remains solid, though with the everyday random mobs you come across it can feel like your just mashing the x button, the paradigm system works very well in boss fights or tougher mob battles, and remains fast paced unlike the FF's before XII, as well as visually stunning.

The characters also presented a nice little surprise, in XIII, the little you saw of her made her out to be some teary wussy child inexplicably going out with a thirty year old man, however, square have made a decent job of making her a likeable and solid character, though obviously she's no lightning. Noel too is a pretty decent character, his motives and attitudes are well explained and also, they both compliment each other with their contrasting opinions working well together.

The story has been fairly confusing thus far, something to be expected with a time traveling story, and somethings don't quite add up but its also full off gems, chapter 5 on a whole has nearly had me in tears, I was surprised to see how much the various characters actually meant to me.

The major weak point for me is the hideously inconsistent soundtrack. There are some absolute bangers in there, New Bodhum's theme in particular, and some favourites from XIII making a comeback, e.g. Dust to Dust. However, some of the songs are really terrible, one song in particular, that plays in some boss fights, that contains weird heavy metal screaming, is actually laughable.

In general though I've enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the current chapter I'm on (5) and look forward to playing it some more .

TL;DR - BETTER THAN EXPECTED, AND SERAH ISN'T RUBBISH

p.s. Sahz has yet to make an appearance.... where is he!

 

[Bones]

I'm about to Enter Academia 500AF, which I'm going to put on hold and do some grinding first.

Sooo, my thoughts on the game so far - I freaking love it!

Crystarium - so much better than XIII's version in my opinion, at first I thought it looked more complicated, but it's more simple.

Battle System - I never really disliked the battle system of XIII to be fair, I mean I did hate the main character dying = game over situation, but I do like the Paradigms and the auto-battle system if I'm honest. But yeah I'm happy with the system they have here.

Monsters - Actually one of my favourite bits, I know it's like catching Pokemon and that's a bit of a rip off, but I think it's a nice addition, I like how you get to name them and dress them up, and levelling them up like Noel and Serah works well too.

Plot/Characters - People keep saying there isn't much of a plot, but I actually like what there is, I love all of the characters, even Caius (Noel is my favourite, Hope is pretty awesome too!) They all have some complexity to them, and I like how Etro was integrated into the end of XIII to make the plot for this game work.

Historia Crux - I actually really like how it works, and I like the odd occasion where you get a little lost as well. I like the fact that you have to find gates and artefacts to open them, and that there are more than one gate in some places, leaves the game wide open for exploration in my opinion.

Music - I really like it. My favourite piece from the OST at the moment is Noel's Theme, it's very pretty.

So basically, everything is a positive for me, except for one thing, what I stated in the beginning.

XIII-2 was released in Europe (where I'm from) on Friday, it's only Monday and I'm already near the final battle, I wish the main story could have gone on a little longer, maybe had some more of Lightning's perspective you know? But it's not really much of a complaint as much as the fact that I really want more of this game and it's story.

So yeah I love it, bring on the DLC (or possible sequel).

 

[~Griever~]

I enjoyed it. However, It doesn't seem to have any soul anymore for me The last Final Fantasy game I played that I loved was X. Since then it seems like square has moved towards innovation and graphical displays rather than strong storytelling and great characters. In my opinion the quality of FF games has declined since Sakaguchi left but of well...at least we've got mistwalker.

I definitely thought XIII-2 was an improvement upon XIII but the battle system and the XIII universe itself kind of ruins it for me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just doesn't FEEL like a FF game should. Anyone else relate to me? ANYONE?!

 

[Climhazzard]

I enjoyed it. However, It doesn't seem to have any soul anymore for me The last Final Fantasy game I played that I loved was X. Since then it seems like square has moved towards innovation and graphical displays rather than strong storytelling and great characters. In my opinion the quality of FF games has declined since Sakaguchi left but of well...at least we've got mistwalker.

I definitely thought XIII-2 was an improvement upon XIII but the battle system and the XIII universe itself kind of ruins it for me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it just doesn't FEEL like a FF game should. Anyone else relate to me? ANYONE?!

Feel exactly the same mate. Lately I've been questioning the path SE seem to be embarking on, and so far I can't say I like the look of it that much. Action-based RPG's with a western influence to them.

Also agree about X being the last great Final Fantasy and Sakaguchi's departure having an impact on the series' level of quality afterwards.

 

[Starships]

Love it.

Noel is wonderful and Serah is also wonderful.

The battle system is a great system and it's actually pretty addictive !

Caius is a awesome villain. And hearing what NPC's are thinking/ saying is pretty great too.

Though the storyline feels like find a object to open a gate + cutscence. That's it. Though it could get better, not sure at the moment. And while the monster system is a nice add, and it doesn't really feel like Pokemon even though it looks like that. It would be nice to have another human party member instead, it just has more of that ''Final Fantasy '' feel.


Maybe instead of the Monsters, you could trade between Hope, Alyssa, Snow, Sazh and Snow's crew between battles instead of the monsters while Noel and Serah lead.

The music I don't love however, It feels too 'popish' like SE is trying too hard to be ''cool''.

It's a fun game and it's a huge improvement from FF12 and FF13. Good job SE, keep at it.:dave:

 

[~Griever~]

Feel exactly the same mate. Lately I've been questioning the path SE seem to be embarking on, and so far I can't say I like the look of it that much. Action-based RPG's with a western influence to them.

Also agree about X being the last great Final Fantasy and Sakaguchi's departure having an impact on the series' level of quality afterwards.

Yeah feels as if fans of the older games are being left behind. Then again I got into Final Fantasy after playing VI and VII when I was about 8 so I'm not exactly 'old school' in that I wasn't around or FF I,II etc.

But yeah I guess different people like different qualities in their rpg's. I've always preferred storyline, characters and gameplay over graphics and gimmicks myself but I guess it can't remain the same forever

I like your sig too btw. Nicely quoted

 

[JasonsBasement]

(First off - I somehow put this in the wrong thread first! HA!)

Love or Hate is tough to place. For starters I didn't hate FFXIII - It just really, really let me down. I bought a PS3 for this game alone, waited years for it to come out, and then it held my hand through the whole game. Total let down, but I love Lightning - easily one of my favorite FF leads.

Onto the sequel - 15 hours in - I am completely addicted. I can't get enough of this game. Serah is handling the lead quite well, Mog is cute and gives me that old, old Final Fantasy feel. Noel is a great addition, the perfect balance of GO GET 'EM attitude without being a total jerk. The game play is perfect, the right amount of exploration from the get go. I'm free to grind as I please, hunt out secrets, level my characters in unique and interesting ways, play with the Paradigm System to maximize my efficiency. All of this is amazing!!! It does bother me that all this awesome gameplay was used on a sequel - Why couldn't XIII have this much depth?!

 

[Sheechiibii]

Yeah feels as if fans of the older games are being left behind. Then again I got into Final Fantasy after playing VI and VII when I was about 8 so I'm not exactly 'old school' in that I wasn't around or FF I,II etc.

But yeah I guess different people like different qualities in their rpg's. I've always preferred storyline, characters and gameplay over graphics and gimmicks myself but I guess it can't remain the same forever

I like your sig too btw. Nicely quoted

I know what you mean. I guess I'd probably be consider a newer fan, I started when X-2 came out, played X and then X-2 and then went back and played the older ones. So I'm definitely not old school but I feel the same as you - where has the good storytelling gone? The deep, well thought-out character to connect with? It's just not the same

I haven't yet got XIII-2 and I'm still heavily undecided about whether I will or not. I loathed XIII, so much so that I barely consider it a FF. I'd like to know if anybody who really hated XIII have really liked XIII-2?

Xx..xX

 

[~Griever~]

I know what you mean. I guess I'd probably be consider a newer fan, I started when X-2 came out, played X and then X-2 and then went back and played the older ones. So I'm definitely not old school but I feel the same as you - where has the good storytelling gone? The deep, well thought-out character to connect with? It's just not the same

I haven't yet got XIII-2 and I'm still heavily undecided about whether I will or not. I loathed XIII, so much so that I barely consider it a FF. I'd like to know if anybody who really hated XIII have really liked XIII-2?

Xx..xX

Well, I recently finished XIII-2 and whilst it was better than XIII it still felt lacking that special vibe. Then again it is an 'add on' game like X-2 so I guess it's not expected to be a deep thought provoking journey, but if you hated XIII I'd probably say leave XIII-2. It wouldn't be worth your time. I think the main reason I finished it quickly was because it had Final Fantasy in the title. Something which is steadily losing its power over me...

 

[Starships]

I'd like to know if anybody who really hated XIII have really liked XIII-2?

Xx..xX

Me.

XIII just felt like a mess imo. The battle system was just only one character playable, the characters seemed over dramatic, if Light died it was game over, storyline was terrible, and there was no stand out Villian. Oh and it was linear.

However XIII-2 has made improvement on the battle system. It's still one character playable, but you can always trade between Serah and Noel if one of them dies. It's much less linear and the drama has been calmed down alot.

Expect Alyssa. Omg. I COULD NOT BREAAAATHE THE AIR... WAS CHOKING ME... I SAW DEATH I HELD ON TO HOPE'S ARM AND THE AIR SUCKED ME IN AND I LOST SOMETHING....

It's not the best Final Fantasy ever made, but it's a huge step-up from what SE has been doing lately. :dave:

I do agree about the storyline thing though. Ever since after FF X the importance of the storyline has been going downhill. Even FF XIII-2's story is lacking, as said before it just seems like find a object + unlock the gate + cutscence + New world = Boss, then do over.
FF VII, FF IX and others had you exploring a world with a deep and complexed story, but now all SE cares about is a) graphics and b) downloadable content for money.

I don't have any hope for the rest of the series, because of how SE is acting lately. I read up online that they plan to make FF XV a Call of Duty type game... Call of Duty...
Not to mention even though they gave us a whole lot of different endings in FF XIII-2, the actual ending you're going to have to pay for. What the bullcrap....

They seem to be ignoring old fans and just going ahead with what the newer fans prefer. Flashy graphics and new costumes, story comes last. Which is a shame, because imo they're going to get less and less people buying their games unless they're like... twelve...

 

[Linnaete]

I don't have any hope for the rest of the series, because of how SE is acting lately. I read up online that they plan to make FF XV a Call of Duty type game... Call of Duty...

You make it sound like FFXV will be a FPS or something. xD

They've never said that. At the most, someone read up on something about Toriyama and his game design philosophy, then spun it while distorting it considerably. It was only Toriyama who once implied that he enjoys using FPS games rather than RPGs as an initial source of inspiration because he wants to make the fights in whatever game he is tasked with directing as flashy and tense as you can. Yeah I know, that doesn't make much sense, but hey, FFXIII is as linear as CoD's campaign!

Someone like Nomura will likely tell Toriyama to stick it somewhere, I would hope. I don't see the franchise heading into the direction of anything being like CoD anytime soon, and I would hope they're not as stupid enough to, considering fan feedback for FFXIII-2 has been considerably more approving than FFXIII in terms of how it plays. At the very most, I suspect they may take big inspirational cues from the Mass Effect games and incorporate elements like a little cover system during combat. The Last Story has already done that.

-----------------

Anyway, the above was the only reason why I posted. Otherwise, I have not played the game and I have no intention of playing the game, so you may be pleased to hear that I cannot profess any actual full opinion on this game. I haven't seen enough of the story to tell me whether it can still pleasantly surprise me or not, but so far it's on course to be the weakest story since FFIII or FFV in my opinion.

The whole time travel business so far feels like one enormous, inconsistent mess, and I sure as heck have little intention of getting to the bottom of it all. Then again, I never liked the premise of time travel anyway. The moment I read that FFXIII-2 will be revolved around time travel was the instant moment I knew that I would have issues with the game already.

 

[Chaos_Theory]

I sign up to this forum just so I could have a place to talk about this game, so here is my testimonial so far.

Spoiler

So far I am at Augusta Tower. The story is revolved around the Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory). This mean that a change in your initial condition will cause a chaotic effect in the future. If there no change in a initial condition then there will be no effect. How does this relate to FF XIII-2?

FF XIII was the initial condition. For ages there were just Pulse and Cocoon ruled and ORDERED by the Fal'Cie. 'Order' is a key word because each Fal'Cie had a responsibility, which keep things in order on both Pulse and Cocoon. When the team defeated Orphan and saved Cocoon (supposedly save, which I still don't think they really did) it changed the initial condition condition of FF XIII, which was the order created by the Fal'Cie. With order there is no chaos. Meaning everything is a linear effect (even the game itself is linear). The Fal'Cie had already determined the fate of mankind. With that order destroyed -the butterfly effect is now chaotic. The future has changed.

So now we are at FF XIII-2. There is no order. Everything is chaotic and non-linear (obviously with all the time traveling back and forth through the future and past). The game start with Ciaus and Lightning in an intense battle. Clearly Ciaus want to destroy everything, which was the original fate of mankind. With the ability of time travel now there have been so many paradox created that has cause distortion in just about every time period. Noel is the contradiction that Ciaus has been talking about. Noel is part of reason that everything is now chaotic. Ciaus just want to finish what Orphan didn't do. If Noel would have just died in his time, then butterfly effect would have been completed. But he didn't! He met lightning who was apart of disrupting the butterfly effect originally.

Ciaus is trying to stop Sereh and Noel so he everything will die, but as long as they live the future continues to change and mankind will continue to thrive.

This game is classic Chaos theory and I love it. It relates to me theoretically, mathematically, numerically, psychologically, and quantumly.

"It was said that a flutter from a butterfly's wing can cause a hurricane halfway around the world" -Edward Lorenz

Just remember while you are playing this game think about that pretty butterfly from the Lorenz Attractor (pictured above). Any change you make will cause an effect. I will add more and my thoughts may change as I progress through the game. Love FF XIII-2!

Mod edit: I put in spoiler tags for you. Please remember to use spoiler tags when giving away vital points of the game for those members here who haven't played the game yet. Thank you ~

 

[UltimaWeapon5]

Simple reasons why FFXIII-2 was better than XIII:

- The story was told a lot better: It kept the storyline contained to finding Caius and saving Lightning. It had plots in between, but they were well explained by the main characters and the datalogs were easier to read (at times) than they were in XIII

- The music stepped up: FFXIII had a decent soundtrack, but XIII-2 has a much more casual and meaningful soundtrack. The themes, of Caius, Yuel, Serah and Noel are all linked to the major pieces, so you have familiar themes running through, as well as very strong and consistant tracks in locations like New Bodhum and Oerba. Reprises of old tracks were well chosen, as they were all memorable songs, and more common final fantasy scales such as that of the prelude can be found if closely listened (see Eclipse to the prelude)

- Freedom: Exploration - that has been managed so well in this game. At times, it could get a little annoying for s new player to be searching between places and to be experimenting with side stories, but it's a lot more fun and challenging progressing into a story where each chapter adds new light and you can find your own way to the next major chapter. A very Kingdom hearts feel to it.

Anyways, I dont want to make this post to long, so i'll check out there

Music, Story, Gameplay. Characters would be in there too, but Serah....Hmmm...Well, i guess she was Okay.....

 

[L]

to be honest i like and fucking hate the shit out of this game at the same time.

its well enough off, but in desparate need of polishing. like for example; the paradox endings were fun, but every version of academia besides 4XX af needs to go fucking die somewhere.

the game had potential to be much better, it just wasn't given proper attention.

 

[Maru]

I personally love it. Out of all my games on my PS3 it’s actually one I don’t mind re-playing just for something to do. (Especially since I have everyone beaten in it with all the trophies)


I loved the overall story, especially the time traveling theme to it. I loved Serah’s personality and overall character, though I always liked her in even in XIII when she was just a NPC in the cutscenes. (Though I’ll never understand her attraction to Snow. ) I also really liked how her and Noel interacted with one another in the game.


I can’t say I hate Caius, I actually thought he was a good villain. Plus he had that hardcore song in Acedamie 400AF. Yeul was adorable – though the last DLC has me questioning if she really was the main villain behind everything.


Music was pretty good. Though no judging please, the Chocobo Rodeo was probably one of my favorites just because it made me feel all awesome on a Chocobo. <3 I also really liked Yeul’s Theme and Noel’s.


I didn’t get the unlocking and locking of the gates. Since everyone pretty much said the same things and didn’t really do anything differently. (Especially if you were revisiting – though I guess it does make it easy to play through the story scenes)


Fragments were okay. Though the ones in the Casino were my biggest complain because I hate mini games. The quests were fun, for the most part. I didn’t really hate them. Then I think the worst thing for me was the clock puzzles. T^T


Overall I enjoyed it. It wasn’t really what I was expecting to the XIII sequel but I’ll live with it. As long as they do finish up all the questions they left us with.

 

[ExcessTarantula]

I loved it. Initially I thought it was a horrific idea, Doing another sequel (I was sorely dissapointed by X-2) But that just goes to show that i should never judge on comparrison (if that made sense).

The storyline was very intricate, Well put together and generally beautiful.
Battlesystem was better put together than on FFXIII, although im still not entirely sure if I like it or not.

Spoiler

Working with Monster was brilliant!

And finally, Graphically it was stunning (with the neccessary HDMI cable of course, Forget SCART leads, you're just wasting your time).

10/10

 

[Hliðskjálf]

I haven't finished the game and I'm actually questioning whether I want to or not at this point. Right now I'm searching for the 5 core parts and I've been bored all the way through thus far. Does it pick up any after this point or am I just wasting my time?

 

[TheRealTrxd]

It's a brilliant game, I feel like it really fulfilled all the potential that XIII contained.

 

[Pokémaster]

Compared to XIII, XIII-2 was a huge jump up in my opinion. They really took in the flaws of XIII (the linear maps and zero side quests/mini games) and let us really explore and do what we wanted, when we wanted which, I was happy about.(Although--giving us that much freedom confused the hell outta me with the plot) I've always been interested in Serah so i'm glad that it focused on her being the main character in the sequel.

Even though the battling system is the same as it was in XIII, I liked how they incorporated the monster capture option. It's the first Final Fantasy where you can capture about any fiend and have it. I liked how they all had different roles, which gave them uniqueness. I'm really not use to having just two main characters during battle, so these suckers helped.

I like Noel and Serah's partnership. It didn't feel like their friendship was at all forced and there was nothing there romantically just because they are opposite sex. It's quite refreshing just having the two working together in harmony without it feeling like they have to for the sake of it. They always were trying to get things done, to find Lightning. It was just reassuring to me, that they cared about it as I did.


The theme of Time traveling was a neat concept, but it was really difficult to follow. The different gates linking to different times, accomplishing one thing effects the past/future of the other gate and OMGwhatthefuckwhereami? happens xD.

I liked how they developers put a lot of added content to make me kept busy. I could be collecting fragments, fighting optional bosses, doing those dreadful puzzles, gambling, chocobo racing; I could pretty much be doing anything and I enjoyed not being tied down. It just added to the depth of the game itself, and I unlocked the knot plot as well.


The soundtrack was great as well as the graphics. I was very sketchy when they first announced it, but glad I played the game.

 

[ShadowStar Mila]

I have to go with love it of course, I enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII (Its my 2nd favorite FF game) and this one did nothing but improve on things from the last game. The main things that I liked was the improved battle system. I really liked being able to continue the fight even if my leader dies, I even like the way it looks too. Not being capped on anything for gaining roles and skills went over well with me. Im someone that loves grinding from the start of a game to the end (every chance I get when I visit a new location). Bresha Ruins righ after new bodhum before you fight atlus I trained my main roles commando and ravager with booth serah noel and also gaining =2 atb slots for a total of 4. I was close to lv 50 for both commando and ravager with serah and noel before I fight atlus, that felt good having a strong party again instead of having to deal with crap for skills and stats. The storyline threw me off guard, especially with the time travel stuff and a talking moogle (I hate moogles just as much chocobos) but I always give the storyline a chance and once you get to the middle when you learn about lighting,yuel and caius I started to like the story. The casino was a pretty good asset to the game and it gets better with the Sazh DLC since I spent alot of time playing poker, I dont mind mini games every now again so Ill deal with it. I could careless about a game being linear but they listend to the angry fans and fixed that xD Last but not least the music (which is a big factor on me liking a game) I liked XIII's music better but it wasnt too bad and their was a few songs liked. I still to this day can not get over the boss theme that sounds like it should be in devil may cry (have that song downloaded and I named Devil May Cry final Fantasy XIII style).

However their are some things I didnt like at all but it wasnt too muc of a deal to make me hate the game. The monster allys sucked, I dont see why noel,serah couldnt receive human support or even a guest character maybe. Yes Snow joins you as a guest in the sunleth waterscape, and boy was that fun seeing how all the monsters where weak and my battles ended so quick I didnt even notice snow at all. Having 1 guest for one short part isnt enough, their where times where Alissa,Hope and even team NORA could have joined up as a guest but they didnt. Theirs maybe 4 or 5 monsters I actually like but I sure as hell wouldnt wanna use them, I dont wanna use any monster in any videogame when I rather be killing them for loot/money. This almost made me hate the game in the beginning but when I knew we would be getting dlc that adds "humans" as allys, as much as I hate to have to pay to replace crappy allys, it was worth it if I wanted to enjoy the game. And I will say aside from having the real ending of the game as dlc, Square did do the dlc right by added fun stuff to the game, this totallymade me forget the monster allys (although they could have added fang like seriously). Another thing that didnt sit to well with me was the never ening parodox siequest for almost every location, that I found very boring especially when some of them turned chocobos into a rainbow colored pile of bird crap that "eats my greens" when I ride it x___x

Despite those two things I still liked the game overall,having the dlc pretty much saved the game for me cause If I was stuck with monsters I might have voted for hated the game.