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Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

The Final Fantasy XIII You Wanted

The only numbered Final Fantasy sequel to exist up to this point was Final Fantasy X-2, and that was nearly universally criticized as a horrible game and overall bad idea. Luckily, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is not Final Fantasy X-2. It’s a wholehearted attempt by Square Enix to listen to their fans and fix the myriad of flaws in Final Fantasy XIII. Final Fantasy XIII-2 manages to bring back most of what you loved from classic JRPGs and will introduce a couple new modern gameplay mechanics as well. It has few weaknesses, mostly in its story, but overall it falls more in line with the expectations of a traditional Final Fantasy fan.

The story of Final Fantasy XIII-2 is seriously wonky. Mere minutes after having saved Cocoon from the Fal’Cie, Lightning suddenly disappears. Also, the timeline is now all screwed up for some reason, and a man name Noel travels from the future to take Lighting’s sister Serah on a time-traveling adventure. Their goal is to fix the broken timeline and save Lighting from having to fight an endless battle against a purple-haired villain named Caius whose motivations are actually pretty poorly explained. Great Scott!

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screenshot

Yes, unfortunately the Final Fantasy XIII plot is sloppily retconned in order to fit with the new Final Fantasy XIII-2 storyline. Luckily, the rest of the story isn’t nearly as fan-fictiony. Much in the style of beloved classic Chrono Trigger, you get to travel between multiple different times and alternate universes. Throughout the story and even the side-quests, you get to see how your actions in the past affect the future. Most of the characters you meet are actually genuinely interesting, and you’ll feel compelled to see how your time-traveling antics affect each of them.

There is plenty of JRPG melodrama still around, but the half-hour soliloquies about nothing that Final Fantasy XIII was so happy to shove in our faces are pleasantly absent. Overall, it feels like the plot is more responsibly written. Characters only talk when they need to rather than to fill the space between one dungeon and the next. The actions of many characters are believable, if only in a sort of “this would happen in an anime” sense. The overall metaplot, while convoluted, will keep you playing till the very end. It’s an enjoyable time-travel story that I would say is more compelling than the story of the original XIII.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screenshot

Actually, I would say the entire game is far more compelling than its predecessor. Think of any flaw you could find in Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 probably fixes it. The linear corridors of XIII are gone, instead being replaced with wide open mazelike dungeons. Towns make a return, giving you a chance to rest, shop, and talk with the local populace. Side quests are present throughout the game and become available only a short way in. Exploration is encouraged, not only in your current time period, but through multiple times and locations as well. The game has an open feel that brings you back to the classic Final Fantasies of the SNES era.

Some people have criticized Final Fantasy XIII-2 for reusing maps. To their merit, you do revisit a lot of the same locations multiple times, but mostly in different time periods. The maps of these locations are pretty much the same in every era with only subtle differences in layout setting them apart. While some say this is lazy, I say it’s actually a rather innovative way to keep exploration from being tedious. If you’ve navigated a map before, you’ll remember how to navigate it again in another time period. You’ll simply have to adjust for the small changes that will alter the path you take through a dungeon. It’s also kind of neat to see how time changes the many locales you visit during the game. A pristine temple in one time period will be a crumbling ruin in the next.

The combat system, paradigms and all, has transferred over intact from Final Fantasy XIII. Once again, the primary strategy of the game lies in shifting between Paradigms (class loadouts) while letting the auto-battle figure out the best thing to do. The auto-battle is very intelligent though, and you’ll need to switch between Paradigms with twitchy, almost fighting game-style reflexes just to keep up with the pace of the now-faster ATB battle system. Luckily, Paradigm Shifts no longer trigger long cinematic animations to break up the flow of battle. The basic “buff your party, debuff the enemy party, build up the enemy chain meter, stagger the enemy, go to town with your highest damaging skills” battle formula still applies, but enemies are more powerful now. If you aren’t on your toes, an unexpected attack can wipe out your whole party.

You can now change your party leader mid-battle, so if you absolutely need to use a specific skill from any of your party members you can always switch on the fly. You’d be surprised how often this comes in handy, especially when fighting multiple enemies at once. This also means your game doesn’t end if your leader dies. Instead, you just switch to the next character and carry on.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screenshot

Speaking of party members, you really only ever have two. Serah and Noel make up your main party for pretty much the entire game. Your third party slot is now filled with a monster companion—there are over 150 different monsters you can train and customize to your liking. Unlike Serah and Noel, who just change roles when a Paradigm Shift occurs, you actually switch between different monsters themselves every time you change a Paradigm. Monsters also give you access to unique monster skills and a feral-link limit-break type of attack that, obviously, the human characters never gain access to.

To be totally honest, it’s rather disappointing that you only ever get two real characters to play around with. Other important story characters will join you over the course of the game, but they will only be guest combatants. You’ll either gain control of them for a few short cinematic battles or not be able to control them at all. It’s a good thing that the monster raising system is so very deep to make up for it. You can use the items and loot you find in battle to power up and evolve your monsters. Crafty usage of the monster raising system can pretty much break the game, giving you overpowered behemoths (sometimes literally) very early on.

However, it never feels like you didn’t earn this power, and the game never gets too easy to the extent of getting boring. It’s almost as if the game is asking you to break it. A couple short trips along the time stream will bring you to areas where enemies vastly out-level you, and a couple completed battles will skyrocket you through the Crystarium level-up tree. There are no imposed story blockades in the Crystarium this time around, so feel free to become as powerful as you like. Gil flows like water after a couple battles, allowing you to purchase the best items and accessories from the shop. The crafting system from XIII has been taken out, so money alone goes a long way.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screenshot

So many other systems make this game great. Quick time events occur mid battle, and succeeding can buff your party, debuff the enemy, or even change what happens in the story. Multiple choice dialogue options also affect how the story plays out. Puzzle-like minigames take place in time-rifts, reminiscent of Final Fantasy X’s cloister of trials. Enemy encounters occur through a genius combination of the random battle and on-map enemy system that allows you to plan to run or avoid enemies even though they can ambush you at any moment. For the first time ever there is an auto-save feature and you can save anywhere without a save point. There are even multiple endings to discover at multiple points in the game. There’s just so much to do here it’s hard to ever get tired of the game, and upcoming DLC will just increase that replay value.

However, one question keeps bugging me. Why is this Final Fantasy XIII-2? The story has almost nothing to do with Final Fantasy XIII outside of the original forced retcon. The Fal’Cie and L’Cie take a major backseat, and recurring characters almost feel like they were merely put in for the sake of fan service. The story isn’t bad; it’s just shoehorned into an inappropriate setting for the sake of being a sequel. This game could have honestly been made with a totally fresh cast of characters and marketed as Final Fantasy XV and might have been more appealing.

Story gripes aside, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is just hands-down better than Final Fantasy XIII. It has more replay value, a more compelling battle system, an open world, an innovative exploration premise, and much more. If Final Fantasy XIII’s laundry list of flaws turned you off to the Final Fantasy franchise, then Final Fantasy XIII-2 will get you back in. If you are a Final Fantasy fan or even a JRPG fan in general, you should probably check this game out.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.7 Graphics
If there is anything Square Enix is good at, it’s making a pretty game. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is no exception. 4.5 Control
The systems that worked from the old game were ported over to the sequel. The systems that didn’t were revised and now run smoothly. 3.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The soundtrack is kind of all over the place and the voice-acting is groan-worthy as usual. It doesn’t detract from the experience, but it’s obviously the game’s biggest weakness. 4.8 Play Value
This is a modern day Final Fantasy with tons of replay value. The story is shorter than Final Fantasy XIII’s but the side quests will have you playing for hours. 4.5 Overall Rating – Must Buy
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • Player-driven scenario with freedom over story progression; Multiple endings offer extensive replay value.
  • Tame and develop over 150 different monsters as party members, including iconic monsters like cactuars, tonberries, and behemoths.
  • Newly added “tuning” feature allows for greater strategic control over paradigms; diverse in-game environments rife with NPCs offer an abundance of exploration opportunities and side missions.
  • Cinematic Action sequences blur the line between battles and cutscenes.

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