Final Fantasy XIII-2

So brings us to another release in the main series of Final Fantasy, something that has been a big deal for quite a number of people ever since it's first and astonishingly successful entry into the EU with FFVII.

FFXIII (as with XII) was a long time in the making, XII had it's fair share of devlopment problems midway, but with XIII shown early at the start of this generation, a lot of people were left wondering just what was taking so long. Eventually in 2010 the game released, and coupled with the drama caused by a rather late and shocking annoucement of the game going multi-platform, there was a huge backlash from long term fans of the series.

Now I could spend all day dabbling in the "issues" of FFXIII, but lets face it, if you are one of those people who are going to complain about the direction of the series in terms of it's setting, characters and dialogue/dramatics, claiming there is no longer "fantasy" in your Final Fantasy (dispite the series never actually having a staple) and that it's apparently turned into one big "soap opera", then you will want to steer clear of this sequel, those of you who took issue with the linearity and lack of variety delivered by XIII however may want to take a gander.

I want to start off my comments on XIII-2 by saying that it is strikingly similar to the one other sequel in the main series, that being X-2. This could end up worrying a number of people as, dispite my love for it, I know there was a lot of people who out right hated it. XIII-2 is lighter in tone, is full of mini-games and has a non linear structure in which you will be back and forthing between "levels" or areas in an attempt to reach that critical "100%", again as in X-2, the story can be completed reletively quickly, but with a story so reliant on the player piecing it together, doing so will likely leave you dissatisfied, this is a game where you will want to try and get everything, unlike X-2 however, this is a lot more lenient as you can't really miss things and gives the player much more freedom to go back and collect things or try scenarios again.

Battle system from XIII is back, it's probabally the thing that has changed the least, only this time you will be fighting with the same two characters the whole game. The third member of the party will be taken up by a monster, of which there are MANY to "collect" in the game (think pokemon ;)). These can be trained/leveled and cover different roles dependant on thier type and then swapped in and out dependant on the paradigms you wish to create.

Now I have put in many hours since it's Friday release, and to be honest I still have quite a bit to go in order to feel completed, as a big fan of the series, let down quite a bit by XIII, I really do think this game has made up for what it didn't manage to give us, it helps that it came out so quickly too and as a full "XIII" package with both games together, I am actually thankful of this thirteenth entry.

Expect Melodrama, anime tendancies, eccentric characters (Chocolina is awesome! down with the haters :3), mini-games, a plot to really wrap your head around, tons of hours of things to do and collect, and a smidge of cute fan service too (Mog's adorable). FFXIII-2 is actually .... good, you heard it here folks.

After all the fanfare and publicity, I am sorry to say I was very let down by this game. Rather than a whole new adventure it is more like an add-on. Or something along the lines of a clips show with guest stars. Playing it made me re-assess how good FF13 actually was - despite it having flaws, it was a good solid game with a plot and an awesome battle system. This one...well, sorry to say it, but it's a bit of a mess.

This time around you play as Serah (Lightning's sister, a character with a miniscule role in the preceding game). Serah has been saved from crystal and now wished to start her new life, but Lightning is nowhere to be found. Instead, Serah meets a feisty teenager with a big sword and spiky hair called Noel, who tells her he has come from the future, where he met Lightning in alarming circumstances. Together the pair decide to travel across time and try and find Lightning.

Now as plots go, that's hardly earth shattering. Not much to do with an evil menace trying to wipe out the planet, just a girl looking for her sister. It already screams "expansion pack" instead of a whole new game. And as the duo start to travel through time they come across (yes you've guessed it), stars of FF13 such as Hope and Snow, who pop up in their own little chapters. I found this very lacklustre. Especially when Serah meets Snow - their chapter sees them run around a forest fighting, and when the chapter boss is dead Serah says something like "Thanks for the help, I am off through a portal to the next time rift now" and yet Snow is supposed to be her fiance who had beaten insurmountable odds to rescue her!! The appearance of Vanille and Fang is even worse, they are like celebrity guest stars appearing via satellite to offer encouragement and wave for the camera. A lot of the cut scenes are like this... nothing but schmaltz.

Anyway down to the battle system. Happily, it uses the same Paradigm system as the last game which is great. But here's a shocker - you only have a team of two (Noel and Serah) for the entire game! What happened to the team of 6 to choose from? In this game you never change members, so all your levelling up is exclusively for this pair. As a result I found their rise through levels and experience very speedy as obviously there was no worries about how to distribute Chrystarium points, so both of them rapidly maxed out all their man role abilities. And maybe it was just me, but this game is darned EASY. After I had reached the middle portion of the game I found that I could auto-battle my way through every random encounter by just repeatedly hitting the X button without even looking at the screen. Something's wrong if you can play like that. Even boss battles lasted about 30 seconds, which was quite different from those found in FF13 - remember the battles against Barthandelus? There's nothing like that here.

However despite the problems, i did like one new feature - Noel and Serah have a "monster team"! After random battles there is a random chance that you may "win" a defeated monster as a battle drop, and they can be used as a third team member. The monsters all have set roles Medic, Commando, Ravager, etc, and a set of skills that grow as they level up, including a unique "limit break" skill for each one, too. Monsters are levelled up by using ingredients that can be bought or dropped after battles - and this was actually where the lifespan of the game is extended greatly, as some of the high level ingredients cannot be bought - you just have to fight continually in the hope of earning a few after each fight. The range of monsters you can keep is very large - and it's quite a tough choice deciding which ones to feed up with the rare materials. Of course all gamers will have favourites, and you can have Chocobos, Big Flans, Mini Flans, Cactaurs or Goblins, or whatever takes your fancy, and its fun to see them in action. My personal favourite for a large portion of the game was the Feral Behemoth - gotta love the power!

Still even that became boring after a while - all that grinding just to earn rare drops to build the monsters abilities really outstayed it's welcome, however there are some rare monsters that players might enjoy trying to find.

Finally then, it's back to the plot - For me, this was the weakest part of the game. Anything that involves time travel and it's anomalies is dicing with disaster, and this is no exception. A very ambitious set up makes the plot extremely hard to understand. Changing the future changes the past and vice-versa...characters appear and disappear due to anomalies...I got lost all the time. Later on in the game, you are able to revisit areas and replay them to make different decisions. The game makes out that this is a big deal but it actually isn't, all that happens is you can view a special cut-scene that shows a short clip of an "alternative ending", but the real flow of the game only ever goes in the same direction.

To summarise then, this is a short, easy and un-involving game. Easy yet confusing. Easy because of the battles, confusing because you don't know what you are doing or why. Some side quests ca only be unlocked by meeting a set of incredibly obscure conditions that you would never work out unaided - such as finding hidden artefacts that open time gates, or knowing which weather settings reveal hidden Cactuar statues and where ...you'll know which bit I mean if you tried to do that quest! With two characters who you don't develop any real feelings for. The game is marketing around Lightning, but she's not a playable character apart from in the prologue, yet she's far more interesting that Serah or Noel.

As far as I am concerned, selling this at the same premium price as FF13 is a bit cheeky. It looks fantastic of course - I'd expect nothing less than this superior level of realism, so that goes without saying - but I finished it (reached last boss I mean, not 100% completion) in a couple of weeks and that's short for me playing a FF title.

I can very easily say that I enjoyed this title, but it is flawed.

When compared to FFXIII it is an improvement for sure. It is decidedly less linear and therefore much more playable for long periods of time. The same great visuals are there, and a decent (though unspectacular) story is there to keep you involved. Gone is the standard party system where you have 3 active members and 3+ in reserve here. You have 2 main characters, and you fill out your party with a selection of monsters you have to capture throughout your quest. This system is okay... but again nothing special. I felt as though while it didn't detract from the gameplay it certainly didn't add to it either.

On the downside, the game isn't all that long and once you get beyond the main storyline there is little to keep you going. I actually platinumed the game quite quickly (the first time i've ever done all there is to do in a FF game) and have yet to touch it since.

I love FF games, and have played them all since FFVII (except FF11) and alas this doesn't quite match any of the games since they went 3D. The story is nowhere near as compelling as FFVII or FFX, and the combat system is a lot closer to the button bashing battles of FF13 than it is the fun, free-flowing fights of FF12. Leveling up too, usually a rather in-depth feature in FF, is almost an automatic task.

If you are a final fantasy fan, then I can recommend it... but if you are looking for a more complete RPG experience then something like Skyrim is probably a better way to spend you money.