FFXIII-2 I Have Just Beaten Final Fantasy XIII-2, Here is my Review

[Steve-O]

For anybody that has played FFXIII-2, you may write your reviews here, remember to use spoiler tags when talking about major parts of the storyline

 

[Lirael]

Spoilers will be in spoiler tags so don't look at these unless you're ready to hear about the story!

Story:

Spoiler

The story takes a few hours to pick up speed, beginning with sequences which some reviews have described as 'fillers.' However, I would like to suggest that instead, the slow pace towards the beginning is necessary as Serah and Noel build the foundations of their friendship through the events they face together and their actions within these events. I personally felt that this was more realistic. People don't reveal who they are or where they've come from immediately; you have to connect with and trust one another first.

As you progress through the story, you come to understand that Noel is burdened by his past. What happened to him is revealed slowly, and only then in short segments. These segments certainly generated curiosity, and before long I was fascinated. I played on, hoping to discover more.

Noel's past is revealed at a steady pace. In episodes 4 and 5, the player encounters a major crises and most of the backstory is revealed. I absolutely loved the events. Although there weren't exactly clever twists, the scenes were poignant and thought-provoking. The scenes with Noel, Yuel and Caius struck a chord. Everything in their world felt so desolate, yet Yuel and Noel continued to smile and love one another. They knew they was no hope of a future, yet they remained strong.

I appreciated how the story touched upon the connections between people and the incredible courage of those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the people they love. This is the theme which connected Caius to Serah, Noel and the other characters. He wasn't your average villain. You could empathise with his desire to protect Yuel and to erase her painful history.

Empathy was also generated for Caius by the words he says to Serah in The Void Beyond. He tells her that a miracle for her may lead to pain for others. For every paradox she fixed, Yuel had to die... This also linked back to the events in XIII as Etro saved Serah and the others, causing a paradox to occur. Yuel was made to suffer again and again. Yuel had to suffer so that they could have their miracle. I love being made to ponder and think over issues like this.

I wasn't entirely disappointed by the ending. Yes, it's a cliffhanger, but the whole point of the story for me was the love the character's shared. Even if the world was consumed by chaos, Serah and Noel never gave up. The characters strove to create a world filled with people who were happy, a world unlike the reality Noel had grown up with. The ending didn't have to be happy to give their actions meaning.

Characters:

Spoiler

Serah is a lot stronger than people think! At first, she did come across as a little naive, but she grew strong very quickly and matured into a positively beautiful young woman. Midway through the tale, she began to remind me of Yuna. By the end, I couldn't help but see Yuna in Serah. Serah sacrifices herself for the common good. Despite the odds (she could die), she strives to change the future. She is willing to die if it means saving others. She will fight and die for peace.

Noel is a mixed bag. On the one hand, he is generally mature, he's dedicated and loyal. However, there were moments in the game at which he came across as conceited and short. This is one reason I really like him. His painful past has had an effect on him, but it comes across as complex and very human. Noel tries to use his past to drive his vision of a better future, but there are still times when pain filters through, affecting his words and actions (and perception of Snow!) I loved learning more about Noel and only wish I could have seen more of him.

Hope - I didn't mind his character in XIII, but XIII-2 was an improvement on him. He's incredibly noble and balanced.

I really like Caius' character too. He isn't evil. He's just lost Yuel, his friend of sorts, time and time again. He's seen a young girl whom he's meant to protect die a countless number of times. I can empathise with him wanting to protect her and erase the history of her deaths. I can't really empathise with the destroying the world bit, but I suppose his purpose to protect Yuel was like a Focus of sorts, something he couldn't avoid.

What little we see of Yuel suggests that she is beautiful - selfless, devoated and positive. The game shows her through the eyes of Caius and Noel a few times, but this only adds depth to her character as the gamer is able to apprecaite smaller quirks to the personality of each Yuel...As Caius says towards the end, each is unique. 'One loved to sing, one collected flowers...' They are all simple everyday things that make Yuel real.

I was fairly satisfied with Lightning's role. She does appear to watch over the events and characters in the game. Even though she's in another world, she's always present. This feeds nicely into the idea that she has taken the place of the goddess, Etro, and watches over the timeline.

I enjoyed the appearances of Fang, Vanille and Sahz too, though I am wondering WHY Sahz is still the same age, why his chocobo is still a chick and why his son is still a boy. Cid Raines Do you know?

Snow is my only complaint... I didn't mind him in XIII but in XIII-2 he is incredibly conceited and treats Serah like his property.

Gameplay-Exploration:
There is so much to do in XIII-2! You can take part in quests, collect monsters (which actually works well - it's also interesting to explore how the mechanics work and how merging monsters affects your party), visit the Casino, visit the Colosseum...

The majority of quests are fetch quests, but the environments help make these exciting and undertaking each quest will ensure you get the full experience. The casino is simple, but chocobo racing seems fun and apparently there'll be further games in the form of DLC in the future. I haven't yet visited the colosseum.

All of this can be done gradually, at any point, which allows one to focus on the story first if they so choose. In a way, it could be likened to Skyim. You can play through the story then explore the world further and complete the quests. I'm actually looking forward to getting involved in these and will edit the end of this review with further details on the quests when I've finished.


Gameplay-Battle System:
The encountering system, the mog clock, works superbly! It's the best encounter system in a FF game I think. [I enjoy aiming to make that initial attack before the clock times out!]

The battle system is pretty much the same as XIII's, with action button sequences appearing very occasionally during boss battles. These sequences certainly add a new dynamic which makes battles more exciting and varied, but I do wish they'd used it more in everyday encounters too.


Gameplay-puzzles:
I can't knock Square for trying to make the game varied, but the puzzles were my least favourite aspect to the gameplay; thankfully they don't appear too frequently. I enjoyed collecting crystals and following a certain path in the first set, but connecting crystals in further puzzles was a little irritating. I hear there's also a clock puzzle which has caused some gamers frustration...


Design:
The environments and exploration is fantastic. Exploring The Archetype Steppe in the latter part of the game as a break from the main story helped me appreciate just how much this game has to offer in terms of variety. The rain effect is superb as droplets appear to stick to the screen and I very much appreciated the realistic effects in the snowy areas, as snow stuck to the clothes and hair of each character. My only qualm was having Serah walk about in her clothes without getting cold.


Music:
Initially, I wasn't sure what to think of the OST. The heavy metal pieces didn't feel right in a FF game, despite being similar to Otherworld in X. The track in Serah's hometown New Bodhum was suited to the beach but clashed with the voice acting, occasionally singing (badly) over words which were meant to be emotional. But despite its foybles, overall the OST is absolutely beautiful. Tracks such as Yuel's Theme and Noel's Theme and poignant and add to specific moments in the story, whilst others create ambience in towns, forests and landscapes, adding to the overall feel of each zone you visit. Further pieces have been taken from XIII which creates a feeling of nostalgia. Overall, I was very pleased with the music and am even tempted to say it's one of the top OSTs for any FF game - though I admit, were they able to improve the quality of sound in VI, VII, VIII and IX, these would surpass it. X already does.


Voice Acting:
When it comes to the trigger sequences in conversations, the decisions you can make are only semi well-done. Some of the dialogue is spoken in an awkward, slightly static way. However, the voice acting through most of the game is fantastic. The voice actors for Serah and Noel did a fantastic job. Hope has matured, but his original voice still shines through certain words in the intonation.

 

[C i d]

Lirael

Spoiler

I'm not too sure either, but did you notice the chocobo chick in Serendipity too? There are also plans for a Sazh DLC in serendipity. So it could be explained in this extra scenario. I also heard a paradox'ed Sazh can be seen in Vile Peaks, an optional area.

Or they could simply have used the same time capsule method as Hope.

 

[Thief of Hearts Joker]

I suspect...

Spoiler?

Spoiler

Chance's are Sazh will come with the Blackjack/poker DLC that goes with the Casino I dunno why but I suspect that he's a card player and will appear as a dealer

but anyways I found this review very informative nice work

 

[CHIP]

Despite the developers’ promises to reinvent FFXIII, I saw FFXIII-2 as more of an iteration than anything else. The Crystarium is largely unchanged from FFXIIII. You earn EXP points by fighting battles which you then use to progress the Crystarium, unlocking new abilities and status enhancements. The problem is it’s just too restrictive. The Crystarium is essentially just a predetermined path which means you can only unlock abilities in a designated order. You can change Paradigms (for the uninitiated, Paradigms are simply different fighting styles) and level up different ones so your character is balanced to your preferred fighting method, but it’s still very restrictive. Compared to FFVII’s endlessly inventive and flexible Materia system, where you could combine different types of Materia in hundreds of ways to create different effects, FFXIII-2’s system feels too simplistic and lacks depth. You can experiment with different Paradigm set-ups, and I’ll admit its fun frantically changing your set-up mid-battle, and you constantly feel like you’re on the back-foot, one wrong move away from defeat. A boss at the beginning of the game for instance requires you to switch quickly between Sentinel and Ravager/Commander in order to mitigate the damage being dealt. So there is some tactics to it. Not much, but some.

Most battles however are relatively easy and don’t require you to change Paradigms. These battles (which are 90% of battles in the game) require little more than successively tapping the ‘auto-attack’ option as your other characters, whose actions are governed by the AI and act autonomously, will heal you and take care of most of the work. It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s possible to complete the game (if you are sufficiently levelled up) by simply tapping ‘auto-attack’.

The environments, while gorgeous, are largely aesthetic. Some of the larger environments only serve to highlight everything that’s anachronistic and restrictive about the game (press A on a floating ball to get an item, and that’s it). There’s a very limited amount of interaction with the environment. Essentially, it’s just there to be gwaped at. With games like Fallout 3, Skyrim, and Deus Ex (which funnily enough was co-developed by Square Enix) offering a huge amount of interactivity and exploration in massive open-worlds, a cornucopia of side-missions, magnificently fleshed-out characters that aren’t all histrionically emote teenagers who look like they’ve walked straight off the Milan Catwalk and a huge scope for character/weapon customization, FFXIIII-2 feels immature, rigid and stuck in the last generation.

The prolix cut-scenes only serve to exacerbate everything that’s wrong with FFXIII-2: it’s too restrictive and would rather you watch it than play. In all honestly, FFXIII-2 isn’t really a game, not in the traditional sense, because the surfeit of cut-scenes means that the game should have been classified as a new genre of electronic entertainment. It’s amazing that Square has avoided violating any trading standards rules by labelling FFXIII-2 as a ‘game’ because for the first 2 hours I was taken through one protracted cut-scene after another, interspersed with annoying QTEs that only give you the illusion that you’re ‘in control’, while I was growing increasingly more agitated thinking to myself ‘When do I get a go?’ When I eventually did get some control, I was ordered to run about on a non-interactive beach with an annoying floating piece of tofu following me everywhere. The game then ambled from one limited interaction location to the next, all the time while spamming me with a mastabatorily excessive amount of cut-scenes.

Perhaps if the developers weren’t so focused on making the game look good and put more effort into making a game that we know the PS3 is capable of producing, such as massive open-worlds similar to those found in Skyrim and even semi-open worlds such as Deux Ex, and wasn’t so relentlessly linear, this review would have been more positive. There is a common counterargument that previous FF games have been linear so why should anyone complain about the linearity? The level-progression of FF games on the PS1 was linear, but they still gave the player freedom to explore a large world-map dense with NPCs, side-missions and mini-games and while FFXIII-2 has mini-games, to me, they paled by comparison to the PSone games, especially FFVII. FFVII was developed 15 years ago on the PSone which offered very limited technological scope and apparently Square with the PS3 still can’t match FFVII’s sheer scope and depth, while other games such as Fallout 3, with its huge interactive environments, innumerable NPCs, diverse side-missions and inexhaustible freedom, makes FFXIII-2 look like a small kiddies game. I would go into the story, but I found it largely incomprehensible.

 

[Rydrum2112]

This review is pretty easy actually.

Gameplay- really good 4/5, battle system is better than 13's. The choice of 1 of 3 monsters as the 3rd member really makes you think about your paradigms. It is fun and yet challenging. I enjoyed the addition of real side quests. I also thought it was cool you could transfer abilities among monsters.

The bad: serendipity is utterly underwhelming. FF7 had a cool race course, and numerous fun mini-games (roller coaster & target practice, snow boarding, battle arena). FF13-2 has boring race course and a slot machine that leads to the game guide telling you to hold a button with rubber band and leave it for hours- at what point is that fun or "playing" the game?

Storyline- weak 1.5/5.

Spoiler

so many things are introduced unexplained (how does noel know how to use historia crux and who is the friend that taught him? yuel does not time travel and there is no indication caius did), left without explanation (in secret ending caius is killed and yet alive, where do farseers live? why do they claim noel is last human but there is still a tribe of farseers living...), or just dumb (serah is ok with the love of her life ditching her life to find her sibling... after all they went thru in 13 you would think they would go together. She is also totally non emotional after finally seeing him for the first time in years for 30mins and then ditching him).

Characters 2.5/5- well they removed the best character from 13 and didn't replace her with anyone nearly as good.
Serah- is sort not entirely credible as a fighter, and while "coming of age" is trite in RPGS this was well done.
Noel- is a plot device, his growth is a reincarnation of hope's from 13 but without the drama. The ending

Spoiler

makes you think the he has somehow fallen in love with serah but this is out of the blue.

Hope- has become not annoying & likeable.
Snow- is the exact same, and his relationship with Serah has 0 part in the game... which makes no sense.
Sazh is a deus ex machina.
Caius- what a redeeming factor, he is a fresh non-evil antagonist that is utterly human in emotion.

Crystarium 2.0 is 10x better than the crystarium in 13, and yet still 100x worse than the sphere grid. At MAX you can augment Sara and Noel's raw stats in an area by about 300 in strength/magic with meticulous planning, or give them an additional 700hp.


I would def. recommend this game as the fun in playing overwhelms the weakness of story & characters.

 

[Basch1990]

even though i loved XIII, XIII-2 was definitely a 1up..the story it told had many different paths to follow and is all out exciting... i beat it and honestly i give it a 9.5/10

its challenging, exciting, and it leaves you wondering the whole game on a lot of points till the end... i definitely cant wait to play it again

 

[Zeroxys]

I Loved XIII-2. possibly one of my favs in the series, i cant seem to ever walk away from it.
Music-the usual epicness u find in FF games, goes along with the emotions/feelings at the point in time. Hard rock during boss battles gets me amped up as well. 5/5
Gameplay-pretty good, its not bad by any means, could it have been better? possibly. but still good nonetheless 4/5
Combat-You get to choose which character u want to control throughout the whole game which is a HUGE upgrade from XIII and i love that. and its more than just hitting auto-attack like you could in XIII or any other game. u get tons of moves depending on your role. 5/5
Navigation-One of the biggest things in the game is that you get to revisit places you have already finished to go back & pick up missing items/train more without having to complete the main story first. The general exploration in this games is really good as well, lots of places to visit, not a straight line map, not linear at all. every place u visit is fully developed. 5/5
Mini-games-2 words... SO MANY.. that it all 5/5

Overall i give this game a 9.5 outta 10 due to the fact of if u cant find the right item, u cant advance in the story & its hard to locate these items without a little help, but other than that, its a almost perfect game in my opinion

 

[Steve-O]

time for a review from me.... if you remember I did one on FFIX when i finished it... I'll do the same here... I will be including DLC soo far as a section

Storyline (SPOILERS AHEAD) - as a person who likes final fantasy, and the storyline, this is a very big factor that i take into account with any game, once again square enix has shown that they are masters at storyline writing. it not as good as some earlier games, say FFX or FFIX but the storyline is very good none the less. the storyline is very solid and works very well as a storyline for a sequal... there were twists and turns, shock and heartbreak. while this final fantasy has less of a factor on love this time, the connection between Noel and Serah is there. and Caius has the best villan character development that has been seen in years, I would even go to say the best character development the series has seen (sorry sephiroth fans). A very good yet heartbreaking ending as well.

Gameplay - The one thing that put me off FFXIII was the battle system, it felt to automated and the paradigm system stopped the flow of battle sometimes. well, i'm happy to say that the switching problem has been fixed, shifting is now almost instant, the way it should be, this means that I could freely switch between paradigms without worrying that the long animation could get me murdered..... the fact that the system felt too automated is kinda fixed. auto battle still there...... and you still can get the game to fight for you, but the Ai brain has been toned down a bit. I found myself needing to access the menu and start picking commands myself more often in the game.... soo it is slightly better on that front

The inculcation of monsters in your party is a very good one, this system works great, it allows more freedom in your party building and it allows you to build your right system and paradigm deck.... the infusion feature is great as well. but I think that material should be easier to get, as I found it hard to get it to upgrade my monsters in the game

another feature that has seen major change is the crystalium system, no longer is the need to beat boss fights to upgrade it.... move as much along it as you want, also... say goodbye to needing to open up the three roles the characters can't master. this makes level grinding much easier in this game. say goodbye to weapon upgrading as well.... this was the one feature that I hated in FFXIII...... it was to confusing and hard for me, now you just buy or find new weapons.... or download if your using DLC Weapons. Also, the game is a little troo short for me as well, it only took me 22 hours to finish, but I would expect at least double for a RPG on current gen systems

Music - I wasn't a huge fan of the soundtrack that FFXIII had, the battle themes were ok but apart from that the rest of it wasn't that great, this is a different story with FFXIII-2, the soundtrack is amazing, I pretty much loved every song that I heard in the soundtrack soo far. the fact that they have used more vocals in this game as well is a great plus. Songs like the Historia Crux theme and Yuel Theme is just a masterpeice.... the final boss theme is the best I heard in a FF Game yet.

DLC - this is also the first main FF Game that has DLC content added, this seems to be a big thing for square enix. the weapons are in simple terms not worth buying, their not even that strong... if you are going to spend 2 quid on a weapon you want it to at least be stronger than the weapons in the main game... this isn't a case. Costumes are Costumes... some are good, like Serah's Bikini and the Style and Steel costume... I like noel's Assissan Creed one as well

The Battle DLC on the other hand are great.... this have soo far given me 25 hours extra gameplay... trying to beat them and obtain their crystals..... also I love the fact that old bosses from other games have been added to the game as well, like Gilgamesh.

Final Comments - Overall Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a great game and is well worth adding to your game collection..... Battles are still a little automated from XIII and alot of the DLC is not worth the money, and a little on the short side, but with a great story, good gameplay, and amazing Battle DLC... Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a game that FF Fans will love, and have memories come back to them from the classic fights.

Story - 8/10
Gameplay - 9/10
Music - 10/10
DLC - 7/10

Overall - 34/40 - Great

 

[L]

i am posting from a psp so this is going to be more like short thoughts on the game than an actual review.

overall? id say 6-7/10

the game is still riddled with some stupid long battles and some battles that are just straight up dumb as fuck.

half the time when i am fighting a boss, i am not even primarily fighting them, i am fighting the fucking terrible battle system.

so you were working on beneath a timeless sky and it occurs to you that this game cant even tell that 2 durable and an iron bangle is more hp than a silver/iron bangle combo, how the hell are you supposed to depend on an npc to do anything right?

i cant tell you how many times silver chocobo ignored that taunt fell off and just sat there with his thumb up his ass doing mediguard while caius raped the living shit out of serah.

you have NO control over something like that, and it made the fight significantly longer than it should have been, and maybe even made the difference of vicory or death for someone.

these games are getting closer and closer to mmos with every title, but everyone who plays an mmorpg knows that speed matters and only an idiot (or someone who is as dedicated to the style as koreans are to gaming) uses a controller instead of a keyboard.

it is stupid that reaction time matters so much in a game where you have to click a button five times before your atb gauge charges. it's not that it can't be done, but do you, the makers of this title really feel like it is fair to twist our arm behind our backs like that and expect us to show the same level of dedication to a title in a dead series that we would if we were playing at high ladders in wow arena, starcraft or LoL just so we can compensate ourselves for your icompetence?

i do not have a problem with a game being difficult, but when you are making players fight the battle system and the powerful enemy before them that is extremely unforgiving and tuned for few mistakes that may not have even been made by the player, it is time to review your concept and approach to design.

that being said, encounters have improved significantly since ff13, so icannot let that go without praise.

ithoroughly enjoyed being able to initiate pre-eptive encounters and not having to fight every single damn monster in the area (academia 400 af can go to hell!)

the music, as always, was great. a lot of people despise hiphop because they have never even heard of artists like nujabes or tsutchie, worlds collide was one of my favorite tracks from this ost even if the lyrics were a little corny.

there are still a lot of great things about this game, but the story and battle system are not among them.

i have to say that i am disappointed with chocobo racing, which i have not seen since ff7. you cant even control your chocobo or even ride it its just a hands off gambling deal.

i was really looking forward to my first chocobo race in hd graphics and was upset to find out you had done the exact same thing to it that you had done to blitzball with the release of ffx-2.

i really dont want to get stuck on the story, time traveling was cool i guess, but the ending was a bigger dick move than unlocking the jet in drakengard.

i mean, i could tell it was coming with you evangelion inspired bit there and actually wondered if the game was ending... i just did not believe you would fuck me like that. i didn't realize i was watching season 3 (or wasit 4? QQ) & 6 of dexter.



Mod edit:
*posts merged*

 

[SaShman]

Story: Without going into too much detail, I thought the story was interesting enough to keep me playing. However, I felt that it was, in essence, a simple story made more convoluted than it needed to be. I thought the characters seemed believable.

However, I would have liked for the time travel thing to have explored the past more i.e. pre-FFXIII/during FFXIII/FFXIII in another universe etc.. Also I think that, considering the theme was time travel and alternate universes, the developers passed up a good opportunity to tease us with some Versus XIII elements.

In regards to the ending.

Spoiler

I know that many were disappointed, but to be honest I was pleased with it. I didn't see it coming and I thought I had gotten the 'bad ending'. When I found out that it was the proper ending I was surprised and impressed that SE would take the risk and end it the way they did.

On that note, I was also glad that the 'alternate' endings were just minor things. I hate it when games want you to do hours worth of ridiculous shit for the 'real' ending.

8/10

Gameplay: The battle system is essentially the same as FFXIII's. You only control one character and you set paradigms to determine the roles that each party member will play. Much like FFXIII, you can get by by pressing X and chcnging paradigms where appropriate. Initially I found it hard to get back into this system, but after a while I got used to it again and it didn't bother me that much. While I can understand why some people would hate this battle system, I actually don't mind the paradigm system. Although I enjoyed it more in FFXIII and would have liked to have seen something new, I didn't mind it.

In FFXIII-2 you can also incorporate monsters that you have 'caught' into your party. Each monster has a fixed role and set of abilities. Although monsters fight one at a time during a battle, you can have up to three monsters in your party and select them by switching paradigm. In this sense, monsters work as a third party member which can have up to three different roles.

In terms of general gameplay, you basically travel to different locations at different time periods; it reminded me a little bit of kingdom hearts in a sense. I wasn't that big a fan of this to be honest. The Historia Crux kind of disrupted the flow of the game/story for me, it kind of felt like I was just moving on from one level to the next.

Another annoyance was that it seemed like the developers cut corners in some areas. For example, quite often I would try to take a shortcut by jumping off or onto a staircase but my path would be blocked; little things like this made the game feel cheap and dodgy.

Finally, the game was for the most part pretty easy. I had to grind a little bit for one of the earlier bosses and as a result I coasted through the rest of the game up until the last few bosses. Most of the puzzles were almost insultingly easy, I had to do about 20 which were essentially dot to dot puzzles. I thought the clock puzzles were pretty fun though.

7/10

Music: The soundtrack is fine, it's not repetitively annoying or anything and it compliments the game nicely. At the same time it didn't leave me in awe. There was one thrash metal song about Chocobos which I found pretty funny.

8/10

Graphics: Fine. The cut scenes and FMVs were splendid as expected. Not much else to say really, they weren't exactly a breakthrough but these days, I imagine it would be hard to stand out in terms of graphics.

9/10


Overall
32/40
Not the best FF, but not the worst. I initially found it hard to get into this game, I almost gave up on it early on. But after a little while I started to enjoy this game.It was difficult for me to not think about FFX-2 when I started playing this game but thankfully this game is definitely one of the better of the FF spinoff/sequels, it actually felt like they put some effort into this one.

With that said, there are a few short comings. Overall it's a decent game, but you aren't missing out on too much if you decide to give this one a miss.

 

[Sheechiibii]

Okay, so I finally gave in and played this game despite hating XIII and...I am so glad I did. I have literally just finished the game, the credits are playing as I write this. I am...kind of speechless, but I'll try and give it a little review anyway. This game is brilliant, far better than XIII. Anyone who hates XIII - like me - should play this one anyway. It's well worth it. There's barely any connection at all to XIII, the only character from XIII that plays any sort of large role in XIII-2 is Hope, and I like Hope so it's all good, and even if I didn't he's changed a lot in 3 years. The story is completely different, nothing at all like XIII's. This game is everything a FF should be imo. It has the great story, the massive world, heaps of sidequests and secrets. The game feels kind of short, but I played over 40 hours so it isn't actually as short as it feels.

The story:
This was the part I worried about after the catastrophe that was XIII (imo) I thought for sure I wouldn't like this game because it had the same characters, the same world. But it doesn't, not really, the main characters Noel (who is amazing, I love him) and Serah were either not present at all in the first game or inactive. The story here is so completely different from XIII's that it could have been a totally different game altogether. I felt like the only reason they made this a sequel instead of a new game was because they wanted to keep Lightning involved.

Spoiler

Anyway, I say all this with tears on my face because the ending was really...quite shocking. Even for someone who knew Serah died. It was like a total slap in the face. Here, look at your happy ending, you did it, you fixed all the timelines, you saved all the people and erected the new Ark and Serah didn't even die, isn't it great? Then bam - Serah dies, and that's pretty heartbreaking all on its own, and then bam - you didn't save the world because the goddess is dead and chaos is coming, then another bam - Lightning's a crystal and who knows what happened or will happen to her, and then that's it. That's the end. Thanks Square, that was really nice of you, tricking us like that.

So anyway, the reason I was so affected by the ending was probably because I really grew to like the characters, in contrast to XIII where I didn't and so didn't care about what happene to them at the end. Serah grew on me so much in this game, her character development over the course of the game is really solid, she learns to stand on her own and fight for what she believes instead of depending on her Hero. She and Noel have really good chemistry, they go from strangers to such good friends and it's so believable. More than my love of Serah though, it's Noel's story that really got to me.

Spoiler

Honestly - the poor guy! He just can't catch a break can he? First he grows up being one of the last people on earth, with only Yeul and Caius by his side, then Caius leaves him, then Yeul dies, he's the only one left, has lost everything, then he finds Serah, grows to care so much for her, has to kill Caius and then watch Serah die and then thinks it's his fault the world is pretty much ending. I just...poor Noel.

I love his character, his perseverance instead of just giving up when things got tough, his loyalty, his humility, he's just such a great character and he deserved a happy ending.

Caius is an awesome villain. I say that because he's actually a good guy in bad guy clothing.

Spoiler

I mean, going on for thousands of years loving someone, protecting someone and having to watch them die over and over when they're still so young. It's enough to drive anyone pretty insane, and I don't think Caius was insane, I think he knew too much, he knew what he had to do to save Yeul, and he loved her enough that he was willing to destroy time and himself to do it. I cried when Caius died, because he really was a good person, his reasons weren't selfish or power-hungry, they were for Yeul and that's pretty sad. Also, Noel Caius was his teacher, his friend, almost a father figure to him, and to have to see him die like that, fighting to protect someone he loved too. It's just too sad.

Their journey is really good, I like that you didn’t really know who or what you were fighting until nearly half way through the story. I never got confused even though I spend time doing sidequests constantly, from what I'd heard it's supposed to be easy to get sidetracked and confused because of all the different timelines but I never found it confusing at all. Really though, the highlight for me was seeing Serah and Noel become friends, finding out Noels past slowly and seeing Serah change so much.

Gameplay:
Now, this is well improved from XIII. I like the monster system. It's not unique and I've seen systems very similar before, but it's good, it's fun building monsters and making them badass killing machines. You can switch characters during battle! Yay! I don't default to auto either so it's all manual for me and it felt awesome. The crystarium felt so free in this game compared to XIII - where you were restricted until something stupid like chapter 12 out of 13. It was great and felt a lot like the sphere grid in X, you could choose which roles you wanted for the two characters, you could chose to level up their roles individually or all together. The paradigm system works a lot better when you're given the reigns to the crystarium as well. The battles tend to be easy, but that's possibly because I spent a lot of time doing sidequests and was generally overdeveloped all the time. When I ended the game I had one level 99 and the rest level 80 or 90 + for both characters without having done any grinding whatsoever during the game. I don't know why there's the option to go for easy, but I think they should have had a hard mode as well at least to balance things out.

World:
This is not the world of XIII is it? It certainly doesn't feel like it. There are many new places and the places you do recognise from XIII are totally rejuvenated. There is a lot of freedom in this game, and there's a lot of exploring to be done. Seeing the same places in different times and doing quests where you have to jump between the times is fun and enjoyable because every time there's differences to keep you feeling like you're in a different location, not just a different time.


Music:
I don't normally bother saying anything about the music because it's not something that usually bothers me. But this time I had to say it, because I didn't like the music in XIII, and this music is pretty similar, but this time there's a lot of good music instead of bad. Noel's theme is absolutely beautiful, it's possibly my favourite FF theme ever, possibly second for To Zanarkand. The Red Chocobo theme is pretty bad, but in a way that makes me smile every time I hear it because it's just so...weird.

Sidequests:
This is a big thing with FF, if there aren't sidequests it doesn't feel right. There are plenty here, and you get paid in crystogen points as well as items which is great, because you'll always use crystogen points whereas sometimes items just stock up in your inventory and never see the light again. Heaps of npc's to talk to and favours to be done, nearly every location in the game has at least 3 sidequests or more. Then there's the paradox endings, of which I've only seen one so far since I've only just completed the game. Serendipity is cool, it's what Nautilus (sp?) should have been like in XIII.

Scratch that actually, because everything about this game is the way XIII should have been. This game brings back what I love about FF, great characters, great story, great world, numerous sidequests, secrets, variety. I will still never like XIII, but anyone who is thinking about trying this game and doesn't want to because you don't like XIII or haven't played it - but it! This game is so different it may as well be a separate game all on its own. And a great game all on it's own too.

 

[AuronX]

Before I start reviewing anything, I should say that I benefited a lot from watching an abbreviated "movie" walkthrough of this game before getting it and playing it myself. It really brought the story into focus and made bearable a potentially disappointing ending.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. While I can't call it the best Final Fantasy ever, I can say that it was by far my favorite Final Fantasy experience thus far. Very little of it felt like a necessary chore to get through to the good stuff, but it was also not so easy that I felt like I didn't have to try to be good. Just when I thought my characters were over-leveled I'd get thrown a curve-ball that really got my fingers flying through the menus to execute battle commands. In between battles I was taking in the scenery both new and familiar and really enjoying myself with sidequests and Chocobo races. It was odd, because not much of the game directly reflects older FF games, but despite the differences, XIII-2 felt so much like a FF game in ways that XIII didn't. It was a little bit shorter of an story than XIII (I clocked in at 40 hours, not counting the Lightning DLC which I started but have not finished) but honestly the brevity of the experience was due to how many hours I put into it on a regular basis--I just couldn't put the game down. If you want the short and sweet, then I wholeheartedly recommend XIII-2. Go for the gameplay before the story, but there's plenty of story there if you're patient and keep an eye open for it.

The longer version:

Graphics: For the most part what we have here is on par with XIII, but a few minor visual effects were tweaked and corrected to improve the overall quality of the scene. Shadows and transparency were noticeably less glitchy this time around. Otherwise it's what you'd expect from a FF game: beautiful characters, beautiful scenery, GPU-staggering battle effects, and so forth. Even though current-gen consoles are really starting to show their age, XIII-2 is almost as much a visual feast as XIII, if slightly less so because of the more open areas forcing the developers to be a bit more sparing on the detail for each given area. Don't even get me started on the cutscenes...I'm still trying to figure out how they found a real life Serah, Noel, Hope, and Mog for the closing sequence. (If anyone figures it out let me know...I wouldn't mind meeting a real life Serah )

Music: At first I was turned off by the music in this game. It didn't seem like proper Final Fantasy music at all. It wasn't epic or catchy or beautiful...some of it was borderline trashy. Oh sure, it starts out strong in the opening sequence, but as soon as you're let loose in New Bodhum things fall off a cliff. Thankfully, full recovery is found as the game progresses. By the time I reached Academia for the first time and Caius' theme began playing, I was once again enthralled with the music Square Enix produces for these games. No, our beloved Uematsu did not make a return, but the composers for XIII-2 did a really fantastic job with the majority of the game's soundtrack. The aforementioned theme song is quite possibly the best villain theme I have ever heard in any game or film, and though not quite as remarkable, other characters' themes are also very well done. I especially enjoyed the brief return to classic FF music leading up to the game's final battles (listen closely, you'll hear it). In the end, I basically forgot about the rough start in the music and fell in love with the OST.

Battles: If you weren't a fan of XIII's battle system, you might not like XIII-2's system either, but give it a chance. While not a lot has changed, what was already there is used so differently this time around that you won't find yourself mashing X (or A, if you're on a 360) nearly as often. There's a lot more purpose, focus, and freedom to Paradigms, which also no longer include an animation which momentarily suspends you from the action (sounds minor, but was pretty annoying in intense battles and led to more X spamming). You're generally better off sorting through menus than always using Auto Battle, but the Auto Battle function has found its proper place in the world where it is not a lame way to progress for non-RPG gamers and instead is actually a useful way to execute the commands you intend to quicker than manually choosing them individually (which is thanks to the improved Paradigms). I wasn't sure how I'd feel about being stuck with two characters plus a captured monster the whole time, but it was actually a really great experience. It allowed me to develop those few characters very effectively and create a fighting style for myself that I could actually stick with and improve upon over time rather than be forced to scrap later on when I had to switch characters as happens in other FF games. Larger parties are fun too for sure, but this was a nice diversion from the norm.

Gameplay: Too big to really go into sufficiently. If you hated the linearity of XIII, you'll love XIII-2. Not only do you have the freedom to go where you want when you want, but each place is big and full of pathways. Sometimes you'll have to go to the same place in different time periods to access certain areas, which is a nice touch. There is LOTS to do, and it really makes you want to explore. While a lot of the sidequests boil down to "I lost this object, go find it for me, here's a different object I found that has no use to me that you can have as my thanks", others were more unique and brought a real challenge or just brought a smile to my face (yep, telling a few good jokes is really and truly a sidequest). It was also great that this time around the game's traveling merchant was everywhere, and I could save anywhere, anytime. The whole system of combining the stores and save spots into a floating computer was not one of XIII's strengths, so I was glad to see that gone. Then of course there's the Chocobo riding, the Golden Saucer-like Serendipity area, Fragment Skills, and a plethora of other goodies. Basically, if you find yourself bored with XIII-2...well, there's just something wrong with you. It's just really a fun FF game.

Story: At first I thought I was going to be disappointed with the story like I was the music, but again, as time goes on and it is expanded more and more, it turns into something pretty great. It's still just barely comprehensible by the end, and there are arguably several loopholes (as tends to happen in any time travel story) I ultimately found it to be satisfactorily deep and sufficiently well executed. The connections with XIII are a little quirky, and a lot of times it feels like the characters have to monologue their discoveries because there's no way you, the player, would catch on as quickly as they do, but it's such a consistent thing that before long you kind of tune in to this sort of information delivery and don't notice it. The ending also makes much more sense now that we have some idea of where Lightning Returns picks up.

All in all, it's an absolutely terrific game. After debating so much on whether or not I'd buy it, I'm surprised I'm saying that, but I am. For its current price, it doesn't make sense for FF fans not to get it. XIII-2 may not be a shining example of everything the FF series stands for, but it's certainly the most enjoyable game in the series we've had in a long time, and really does feel like it belongs in its series despite the distinctly sci-fi aesthetics and unusual time-travel-based storyline.

I don't really like giving numerical ratings, but if I had to assign one to XIII-2, I'd give it a 8.75/10.