Story/Plot: This game's greatest downfall is the story. I've played A LOT of Jrpgs and I can say from experience that stories sometimes don't make sense or you have to dig real deep to get a full comprehension of the game. The first game FFXIII-2 spun out from didn't have the qualities to meet a standard Final Fantasy game in regards to story. Anyone who would like to argue this has never truly played the past games therefore do not know what Final Fantasy is capable of when it comes to telling a story. Although I can say that FFXIII's story was not a total failure. I was able to look pass the very bland way the story was projected and still enjoyed it. It had a few confusing parts and a few areas where I wondered why they kept going about in circles only to end up doing what they didn't want to do in the first place. The conclusion of the game however brought it the player and the characters a sense of closure. The battle was won, the antagonist (which there wasn't a real solid one) was defeated, and everyone for the most part got what they desired with a real good twist that explains FFXIII's symbol. Well it appears that the end of the game brought an opening for a FFXIII-2 and man it was a ride.
Unfortunately it wasn't a good ride at all. It was bumpy, redundant, confusing, and down right a sloppy mess even for it being a spinoff. Like I said, I get Final Fantasy plots. First they'll introduce the main characters, confuse you with the whole enigma behind them, then add the twists from the main conflict along with the trials of the party, then put it all together hoping to hell that the player would get it. Well normally the characters would be interesting enough that you are able to comprehend the elaborate story through their eyes. For the most part the narration through past Final Fantasies were decent and entertaining that I was able to get it. If worse comes to worse, the game would be so good that I'd play it at least twice and I would get the story the second time around. FFXIII-2 was not the case.
I think I kind of get it since they mentioned 'Paradox' fifteen times a sentence. There was a disturbance in the waves of time that caused history to be thwarted. People got thrown left and right through different time lines and the only person that can save them is the person that can see the whole timeline which happens to be Lightning's younger sister, Serah. The player will have to jump through past, future, and the present left and right to fix the paradoxes that are created. If one has to guess what the reason was for their next problem it was plainly obvious that it would end up being a paradox. But with all that past, alternate dimension, and just awful presentation, it was just hard to grasp. The whole meat of the story was just all jumbled up in the completely different and non related to its predecessor. What's even worse was what made Final Fantasy XIII confusing they capitalized in the sequel and made it harder to understand with the concept of time traveling! I couldn't get into the conflict cause I just didn't get it! Maybe I'm just plain incompetent but I don't think I'm the only one. I did beat the game, hoping that the ending would put it all together. Well, not so much. Pretty much what I got was a solid NEGATIVE and 'see you next time'. There was no closure, instead it left me on a cliff hanger that pretty advocated the idea of 'Buy our next game!' It was a damn struggle just to get through the game as it is, but to end it the way it did and get no real closure for what I did for the past 30 hours?! Well, I guess that's my fault for not liking the story and the characters as much.
So my biggest advice, don't expect a great story for this game and SLOW down. Or maybe you are smarter than me and you'll actually grasp it in the first shot. As bad as this may sound I will play it again in the future just so I can say 'I really tried.' But as for right now, here's the score:
4/10
Gameplay: Final Fantasy had always been about the turn base system. The gameplay that allows you to make smart and tactical moves which involves lots of reading and picking and choosing in a very slow paced manner. But time proved that even great games needed to adapt and change their ways to the demand of not only their loyal fans but the mainstream population in order for their games to thrive with the constant changing generation. Unfortunate as that may sound it's business. I don't necessarily think that Final Fantasy's on going route is on the turn for the worse as many believe, at least their decision to evolve the gameplay of Final Fantasy is not at all a bad decision in my point of view. Final Fantasy XIII back in 2009 brought a new fresh start while still keeping some elements of turn base but adding a lot more haste to the feel.
Along with the faster pace, FFXIII also brought a new way to access the 'Class System' that had always been a popular asset to the Final Fantasy Series. One can change 'jobs' in mid battle for all three characters adding a new twist to the whole game. One doesn't have to go through 4-5 slots just to access white magic; one can just flip and switch and all the abilities for curing (or whatever one needs) is right there for one's disposal.
(*NOTE* FFX-2 did the same thing, but not a lot of people were impressed at the whole 'Sailor Moon' Transformation with the girls. Personally, I didn't mind watching Rikku jump about, flailing her body and all her nice wonders just to go from Thief to Dark Knight. I'm a pervert when it comes to video games. what can I say?)
Final Fantasy XIII-2 kept all its predecessor's strengths with the faster feel of combat but also did its own modification that made it an even more enticing game to play in the gameplay sense. First let me point out that FFXIII had a pretty great flaw with the whole 'leader' concept. A player can only use one character in battle and once that character dies, the battle is over. FFXIII-2 took notes on fan complaints and remedied that. Between Serah and Noel, the player will be able to switch in mid battle as well as not completely dying when the leader falls in battle, instead it will automatically go to Serah/Noel which doesn't take the turn to a complete game over. It gives the player a fighting chance so to speak and not an annoying outcome like it did in FFXIII. One thing though is that you only have Serah and Noel and a monster which was a good twist, but a full on party is still a better choice.
Fixing that slight error in judgement was a big step for making the gameplay even more up to par with expectations and it made me happy (as well as others). The one other thing which I thought was a good flare to add was the popular interactive cut scenes where a player must respond with the button sequence desired at the moment. This had been a popular and successful tool for many games and FFXIII-2's decision to bring that into gameplay was well worth it for it made the game more intense for after boss battles. One can't simply assume anymore that s/he can just sit there and awe at the beautiful rendered cutscenes.Although I am not entirely sure what would've been dire consequence for failing since I didn't miss a single cut scene, I would actually hope that they had some ramifications for failing to do so, however it was gratifying to hit every button at the most perfect moment.
In the grand scheme of things FFXIII-2 just kept the tempo that its predecessor started with a few different twists and turns for the better. It is the main reason that I kept playing and probably its second strongest attribute. I would say that the whole 'auto battle' should be taken out since it does give the player a bit more of a lazy get away when one simply doesn't want to choose different attacks.
8.0/10
Graphics: Let's face it, Final Fantasy had always been really good with polishing how it looks. Aside the regress it did with FFVIII to FFIX where they went backwards with the whole 'chibi' look, every single Final Fantasy that followed always took advantage of the ability to make the game just plain beautiful. The art style is still FFXIII which to me was just plain eye candy. Great looking game in a very JRPG environment full of vibrant colors, too perfect looking gals and pals, and monsters that are out of this world wether big or small. The sequel itself provided the same aesthetic vision. Through the character designs, which I have mentioned are too perfect for the norm, I mean come on, how much hotter can Lightning get? She looked damn good in the first game in her 'female Cloud SOLDIER' uniform. Then she ends up donning armor that properly compliments her feminine attributes (which yes, the armor does like to show her sexy side, but it is freaking badass, admit it!). Her younger sister, Serah abandons the school girl look but ends up gaining her own sexy side in an attire only a JRPG can conjure up. While she lacks the real prominent feel of a lead female like Lightning did, she is in her own way a very attracting individual as Square's graphics have proven time and time again through their female characters.
I'm not going to talk about the male characters and how they look since, well, they can pass for females most of the time. And what the hell was up with Snow's hair?! But my point is that they graphically look amazing (not that way). But let's talk about the flares and what not. The environment paid homage to the original game with mix of Sunleth's very green color and then of course we have some very future based areas like Academia which goes to show Square's ability to imagine many different kinds of places wether it be a forest or 'Tron' like metropolis. There were many familiar places to visit as well as some new ones so they didn't completely recycled every single land; some they just kind of tweaked through the Paradox events which added a different tint to a very familiar place way back in FFXIII. I'd have to say Academia 4XX was a magnificent sight and I had the incentive to just walk around the city just to indulge on the beautiful setting of sci fi and fantasy mixed into one.
I can't quite explain how incredible the graphics are in-game and during acts like casting spells. The flare that Square had been able to do just makes things more alluring. Each spell adding its own majestic color in the screen, making battle vibrant while the details on each action from both enemy and player seems to just awe inspire. The creative look of each enemy monster is something from Final Fantasy but far more whimsical to say the least. Even the little things like certain parts of the game where there is rain, the camera seems to get rain drops adding the extra sense of 'involvement' on the player's eyes. Speaking of incredible graphics, FFXIII-2's CGs are just another testament of Square's ability to capitalize on the modern console's capability for beauty. I'm even at awe at the in game CGs. There is vast difference between the two obviously, but watching the in game CG doesn't bother my eyes like they used to in old FFs. Then to add one more final perk, if you get the DLC outfits, they can be seen in the in game CGs! Yeah I know, it's not much, but hey, watching Serah in her swimsuit hop about is food for thought (or something else) and it sure takes away Noel's lack of epic outfit for supposedly such a 'bad ass' Hunter.
So there's nothing to it. In my opinion this is one, if not the most attracting thing about FFXIII-2. From cut scenes to in game, to the battle, to the environment and of course the 'easy on the eyes' heroines and the usual pretty as girls heroes, FFXIII-2 is just astonishing and a beautiful game. It's a dying shame that Square can't put anymore of this effort on everything else to make it on par on just how good the game looks.
10/10
Audio/Voice Acting: The actors from FFXIII retained their roles for the direct sequel of the game. Truthfully, I was impressed with the acting in FFXIII. Nothing extraordinary, but nothing less than adequate to be able to convey emotions when speaking. There were probably a few NPC's that were just generic, but none of the main NPCs really bothered me. Lightning had always had that somber, but in a way somewhat attractive voice that highlights her strong character as well as the tender feminine side of her; She narrated a lot of the time so hearing her voice didn't bother me at all, in fact it had a nice nostalgic moment when I played the living hell out of FFXIII back in '09. Serah and Noel are the protagonists and I was able to tolerate their acting. If there was any hint of annoyance from the two, it wasn't from their voice, that's for sure. However Mog seemed to hold the title in this game for the most irritating character both in voice and the way it is. I guess from playing FFVI and having a badass Moogle in you party I didn't expect the voice to sound anything like the way it does in FFXIII-2.
As for the music is concerned, Nobou Eumatsu's absence in the soundtracks of Final Fantasy was a for sure obvious gaping whole in the series. It's a little bit too J-pop'ish and every single classic music just have to have lyrics now. Well I'm not totally against vocals at all, in fact I loved 'Eyes On Me', 'Melodies of Life' and 'Suteki Da Ne', however I don't need to hear singing when I'm walking around the world map. I don't need to listen to the Chocobo tunes with a girl singing in the background. Not at all. Not interested. The victory fanfare disappeared altogether since FFXIII and the Crystal Theme doesn't have it's original nostalgia because of the fact that they don't use it the same way anymore. I miss the old soundtracks. I really do. Maybe sometime down the future they will be able to revive what made Final Fantasy well known for its music. As of right now it seems to stick to how it started out in FFX-2: J-pop and way too impersonal for a lot of Final Fantasy veterans.
6.5/10
Difficulty: It starts off pretty simple but gradually gets difficult. Just like any other game in the series, the player has to spend some time grinding through leveling up and getting the right weapons, armors, and accessories. FFXIII-2 also took out the limits to building one's character through progressing in the main story which was good; the player can modify his/her team the way s/he wants, which adds more compatibility between the gamers and the game; and not to mention it also addressed a complaint that fans had about FFXIII. If I was not in a hurry to beat the game, I'd say the last stage of the game would not have been so hard. I was literally barely on my fifth weapon, I picked the wrong ranks at the wrong time, and I had no care to hunt for specific enemy item drops to get the better accessories and/or weapons that I struggled through the random encounters and the final boss. I honestly feel that I would've had a pretty decent time with the final part if it wasn't for me being so impatient with the game.
There are some minor puzzles in the game which were too easy. At times solving the puzzle felt like it was more of a filler rather than a challenge which didn't help the score for the difficulty of this game in my point of view. Even the fun interactive cut scenes weren't overly bearing and they weren't anything like God Of war's demands.
Honestly, if I had the patience like I did with FFXIII I would think this game would somewhat be a breeze. Sure there would be the uber hard bosses and the gigantic Adamantoise and all the crazy side quest creatures, but truthfully, the main road with story and enemies would probably be moderate. But considering how 'hard' it was for me at the end, I'll raise the bar a bit. But again I will emphasize the idea that it was because of my lack of real patience for grinding in this game that resulted in my defeat (yeah yeah, sounds like excuses).
7/10
Overall: My experience for the game was nothing short of a coin toss on a day by day basis within the two months it took me to beat it. There were days when it was just a task to just barely crawl through one part because I had to hear about confusing events on time rifts and paradoxes. Then the days that I found the game breath taking as I watch the cut scenes (Serah in beachwear both sun and snow environment) and obliterate monsters with the amazing graphics this game had to offer. I can't decide which one I had more until the very end of the game where I am given this "Ending" and it leaves me appalled at the fact that they would end it just like that. So was it worth it? In all the trophies I have lined up for Final Fantasies beaten, will this make a rank worthy of the game it spun out of? Of course not! To me it ruined Final Fantasy XIII and now I can't even bare to think that I have to play the next game because I don't like how this on ended. I need closure. I need for my own self to say: "what you did was worth it."
If they keep the same gameplay with of course change for the better, stay on track with their graphics, revive some of their characters that they decided to just cast aside, and of course improve vastly on the story line, FFXIII-3 may have a chance for redemption. But for now, FFXIII-2 is a game that I am ambivalent about. But my score reflects which side the spectrum my ambivalence falls at the moment (it might change after I replay it. MIGHT.)
6/10
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