So, FFXIII-2

[Serephim]

Was reluctant to buy it. In fact, i wouldn't, but i remembered i preorderd it a few weeks ago, so i got it last night. I'm 6 hours into the game.

I don't really know how to explain it, but this game is literally better than XIII in almost every aspect possible. Except graphics. I dont know if they've worn off, or if they just aren't as detailed as XIII, though im expecting the latter.

I expected Serah to annoy me, she doesn't. In fact, she's pretty cool. I still hate her outfit, but they lampshaded it pretty well, which makes it all better i guess. I expected Noel to annoy me, but he's actually a pretty cool guy too. And i expected the Time Travel storyline to be stupid as hell, but it's actually pretty intriguing.

Cinematic Action during battles was another thing i was expecting to piss me off, but they're actually pretty god damn cool -- they not only give you commands for doing things in the cutscene, but they also give you OPTIONS of how the battle will turn out. (For example, during a clash it'll ask something like X = RUINGA Circle = Gravija or something). Contrary to hating the idea of QTE, this actually works for Final Fantasy, ESPECIALLY in a time where Final Fantasy games are completely ran by cutscenes and are pretty minimal in terms of player interaction, which has been on a serious decline since final fantasy 7 came out, to god damn non-existant after Final Fantasy 9 for whatever reason.

The live action choices (or whatever they're called, forgot. The "MASS EFFECT" options) are pretty neat, but are honestly the most annoying point of the game to me. Usually in Final Fantasy if you want to learn something from someone, you just ask them, but the choices usually give you 4 great options you'd love to know but cant because you can only ask them once. It doesn't always do it, but it does it often enough to annoy me. But this is okay i guess, because they all influence the story, and you can literally replay any time sequence by going back in time. This is what i feel one of the main differences between Jrpgs and Wrpgs have been. Final Fantasy does them well enough i guess, because it still feels like Final Fantasy, but hopefully in newer games that use them, it'll be a bit more lenient with how much information im allowed to have. But to reiterate, none of it really matters because you can replay any story segment through time travel, and it's actually worth doing because it changes the storyline.

Bottom line, if FFXIII played like this, it would have been godlike. This game, while still better than XIII in every way possible, still has that "FF Sequel" feeling, because come on, the game was made in like a year anyway. But most importantly, this shit feels like an actual Final Fantasy game now, which i could NOT say for XIII in the slightest. Im glad Square got the wakeup call they needed from XIII being so boring. If the next Final Fantasy game follows this template, then im actually confident they can maybe make something along the FF6/7 range of storytelling. The return of environment interaction and minigames should definitely increase.

I'm actually looking forward to a Final Fantasy 15 (or whatever, they should have just called 11 and 14 "Final Fantasy Online or something) now, whereas after XIII i was pretty positive the series was on an unfalterable decline. Who else has the game? What do you guys think?

[ila]

From a mechanical standpoint I love FF13 and 13-2. However the writing is absolutely terrible. See 13-2's ending.

[Serephim]

Writing has been fine so far, and for a Time Travel plot it's not as retarded as i expected it to be. But i'll wait until the end of the game for that judgement.

Oh, i forgot combat:

The option to switch your party leader ALONE has made the combat in this game 100x more enjoyable. I hated that limitation in FFXIII more than anything (even though i still feel XIII at the time had the best combat in any iteration so far). So even though you only have 2 characters, and nothing has really changed battle engine wise at all, the fights just feel so much more expansive than XIII. Animation variation is much improved as well.

Audio:

The music is amazing, and....well, it's Final Fantasy Sequel grade. They seem to be alot more risky with their music choices in sequels, but luckly the majority of them are very enjoyable. Only once (during an early boss fight) some cheesy rock music came on and completely threw me out of the situation, but THANKFULLY it hasn't happened again.

[ila]

Soundtrack is indeed amazing. And I'm used to it since I normally play Shin Megami Tensei, which is the patron saint of putting crazy almostbutnotquite out of place music in games. And really, like I said, my only complaint is the ending.

[FanGameRevolver]

I started playing this and I'm mad hooked. I think I've got about 14 hours on it with 40 out of 160 fragments gathered. These fragments are a completionist's Nightmare/heaven. It's not hard to figure out where your missing them, but there is some backtracking involved.

I have never played the original XIII, But I haven't had any trouble putting the pieces together. I actually like the idea of telling the story from the perspective of less developed characters. Not only does it give a perspective that new players will have an easier time understanding, but it also gives an excuse to reset the characters stats and let the original cast continue to be strong heroes.

but seriously I'm really enjoying this game. Its just got this really cool sense of wonderment. Each location seems to bring something new, huge, and interesting (Oerba ), and the plot develops at a steady exciting rate. The world jumping is similar to Kingdom hearts, except here it actually works because all these locations make up the same world, and its fun to see it change as time and the story progresses. The monster raising adds a rather cool and addicting element to the game as well. The ease of dropping in and out of the game is fantastic as well. In other JRPGS I'm always afraid of having to save while I'm way out in the "Your fucked" part of a dungeon, and then running out of supplies, but not here. Here I can just drop out of world or out of the story and go do my own exploring and adventuring whenever I want.

Now for some gripes:

Combat-

Its Pretty damn fun to watch and never boring, but it seems easy aside from my first encounter with Caius, which was difficult, rewarding and quite fun. Many of the optional bosses are just way to hard at this point too.

Puzzles-

Generally I've found the Puzzles to be really fun but,

There's a puzzle in Archylte Steppe that your essentially given the wrong directions for, as they NPCs instruct you to spawn the wrong (aka impossible) boss for you to fight. Also Hands of time puzzles. These suck when they are timed, mainly because the puzzle is completely random every time I retry it.

Music

As far as music goes haha, there's another type of chocobo in some space/time locations, and upon jumping on it the soundtrack just begins to scream at you in the most obnoxious way possible while the damn thing eats through all your greens.

-theres also a few areas where the music continues to play as you move in and out of combat, making the music become rather annoying rather quickly

@ila-When you mention the ending (I haven't seen it so I guess im not sure exactly how this works) do you mean the normal ending, or the extended ending you're supposed to get with 100% (160/160) of the fragments?

Aside from the ending, the game has a lot of other things that are inaccessible currently due to coming DLC.

-The coliseum is just an empty arena

-The card tables in the casino require DLC

-There are a couple of space/time locations that are separate from the rest of grid, and I assume they can't be reached by normal means.

-They have stated they plan to expand the story through DLC, and I've heard all sorts of rumors about what it might entail, some say it will continue the story, some say it will be side stories involving the original cast.

But seriously this a great game. Sorry for my wall.

[Serephim]

By the way, im wondering if this is just me.

Did anyone else bother to pre-order the game? I did it from Gamestop so im supposed to get Serah's alternate costume and the Genji Bow, but my receipt only has a code for the bow.

Am i missing something? Where's my other code.

[ila]

Call gamestop. May have just been an error in the system.

[FanGameRevolver]

I did't pre-order it, wasn't interested in the pre-order offers. Hell I didn't even want the game nor did I plan on playing it when I bought it. I mean I knew I would play it eventually, but not on release date.

Honestly the only reason I bought it on release date, is cause I walked past the display at work, and it stated we had a limited supply of copies with posters packed in.

I was like "Shit don't want to miss that!" So I ended up buying the game for the poster.

Glad I got it too. I was expecting it to be a dinky little flyer but its pretty damn big.

[Kirs]

Music in FF 13 for me, is a complete shit. I like just 4 or 5 tunes.

How's the music in 13-2 compared to 13?

I really wanna know this. If it's better enough I'll think about buying it seriously.

BTW thanks for making a thread about this.

[FanGameRevolver]

The soundtrack is extremely varied.

The whole soundtrack is up on youtube, or you could just try the demo.

Here I'll link you to a playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A905D701104EB37

[Kirs]

Thanks, I'm gonna take a look at it

[Serephim]

Music in FF 13 for me, is a complete shit.

how is this even possible

[Kirs]

Too much electronic tunes. And most of them didnt make me feel anything.

I need real instruments and twisted and amazing chords, dunno...

Its really far from the feelings of previous entries.

[Serephim]

even though Uematsu is no longer doing the music for the series, FFXIII was amazing enough that i really don't mind very much. And I cannot recall any "electronic" tracks from that game, im almost positive 99% of them were orchestrated. But if you disliked that OST, our taste in music is obviously worlds apart, so i wont even argue it.

Im at the end of the game now, i honestly did not expect to enjoy this game as much as I am. It's pretty odd that im ending the game at the 25 hour mark, but i guess it's fair enough for how quickly the game came out. Time to find out what could have possibly been such a terrible ending. But this game has been absolutely stellar so far, they should have released this shit first.

Hopefully they'll follow this trend with XV, so we wont need a sequel to redeem the gameplay.

In other news, i tried that Lightning + Aldomar coliseum battle. Holy god, these guys actually switch paradigms and do team combos on you.

[shadowgoten]

Music was one thing I really liked about FF13, I wouldn't want them to continue in that style for the FF15 or whatever, only because I feel the music fits the style of the game world perfectly.

[Serephim]

The final boss of this game is probably the coolest final boss of any final fantasy game since 6/7, but seriously, the fight is full of bullshit. That one thing he does where he pisses you off...it pisses me off.

And the clock puzzles were fun as hell, I dont know about you guys, but once i understood how it worked, it was alot easier to deal with. If the puzzle didn't reset after you finished, then it wouldn't even be a puzzle, it'd be a simple memory game. I kind of miss puzzles where i'd finish them and feel somewhat accomplished.

Edit:

Man that boss was epic

DAT ENDING

dont click unless u beat the game

I dont think it was a bad ending at all. Them mentioning seeing into the future being fatal and having it happen to serah pretty much every gate kind of made her a zombie the moment the mentioned what was killing the Yeuls. Although it did kind of piss me off how that happened right in the middle of my super happy ending. Of course it only goes to hell from there.

If anything, it's just an obvious setup for either XIII-3 or a shitload of DLC, but there's no way they can resolve those plot setups with mere DLC.

You know, while time travel plots are usually the scourge of the universe, this one was actually very mild to me. I enjoyed the plot pretty much the whole length of the game. It was actually very fun to travel to other parts of the world to see what they'd do with the whole paradox idea.

I liked Caius as a villian, but seriously, his motive was pretty...i dont know, weak? It was just irrational as hell, and he didn't even try to make it rational, but i guess that's kind of the point. Im glad the MCs of the game shared my general feeling of "are you serious" during most of his rants.

Yeah, that was a refreshing game. It felt like a $60 well spent, for once in a while. I can actually see me 100%ing the content in this one, as opposed to XIII, because i just got sick and tired of running around that same field in grand pulse wacking shit with nobody to talk to and nothing to do but take orders from floating statues. Square did good with this one. If they stay on this track with the next main FF installment, then i'll be hype for it from announcement to release.

Most importantly about this game, the things they added to the game all worked very well to me. The jumping mechanic made the environments way more fun to run around in (and worked wonderfully on the last segment of the game), the live trigger was simple yet didn't sacrifice too much or annoy the fuck out of me like in Western RPGs, the monster system is neat and fresh, and the improvements to the battle system, while small, went a very very long way. And the return of using actual player mechanics control to set the emotion during certain events (example, that stuff with noel) was very fun to see. The Fragment Skills were alo a welcome addition to the game.

....I still don't care much for that heavy metal boss theme, but you know what, the last boss they actually used it with wasn't all that bad. And besides it only gets used like twice anyway.

Even after beating the game, i dont really have any complains with the writing....I mean what are people really expecting these days? It wasn't bad, but it isn't anything for the history books either. I didn't really buy this game for the story anyway, but it was more than enough to intrigue me, which is all that really counts really. The only FF games i can say had a very well-written story was 6, 7 and 10. Final Fantasy 8 had some elements that i really liked, but they were short lived. That doesn't make the other ones bad games though.

I think the most important thing is making you feel a connection with the characters in the game, and this doesn't take anything serious to accomplish, and can be done with a pretty poor plotline.

[Kirs]

I'm gonna buy it then : UU

[FanGameRevolver]

I'm currently at what I think is the final chapter (I've yet to begin it so I dunno), and I've already got the Ultimate weapons and Moves, an army of surprisingly strong and versatile Moblins. But god dammit I will get as many fragments as I can before this boss. (Why must you be so expensive wild artifact from the casino I need to reach the last optional area!)

But seriously, even some of the side-quest stories are really interesting and unlocking the paradox endings is not only incredibly satisfying and Intriguing as well, So attempting to 100% this so far is surprisingly fun and rewarding.

I'm currently at 120+ fragments. I think I'm satisfied with that number for now, as I'm certain there are at least a couple fragments I wont be able to get until after completing the story.

And really, this length doesn't bother me at all, There's plot develops constantly, even through exploration, even optional areas complete with voiced dialogue throughout, so it feels as though it has the content of an rpg 2 or 3 times larger. Which I find much more satisfying the grinding through the additional 20 hours of fetch quests and elemental dungeons used to artificially lengthen most RPG's.

OH MY GOD HANDS OF TIME. WHY AM I SO BAD AT THIS?! I LOVE IT.

Also yeah, I feel the connection with the characters in this game too, honestly I LOVE the fact that the characters are rather simple, but the world building is what makes the story. It's easier for the player, to...I dunno? ROLE-PLAY?

dat moment in ch.5:

"We WILL change the future!"

*Cue epic boss music*

I was so in the zone at that moment that I literally jumped off my my bed and started cheering. Oh my god. I love this game so much.

This is totally worth the $60, considering I bought this game with the thought that "Meh I'll probably play this shit eventually..."

Also to those of who never played/finished the first game:

don't worry about, its not hard to piece together. I haven't even use the included summary.

To be completely truthful, the fact that I haven't played the first game, make the story that much more interesting, because at the same time I'm piecing together the future, I'm also piecing together the Past events of the first game, which is like piecing together this incredible legend.

I am sorry. I have made another wall. I just like this game so much. I'm probably over-hyping the shit out of this for you guys, but oh well.

[Serephim]

I really adore the diversity in the battle themes in this game. It's really amazing. They have the songs they made for this game, and then all of XIII to take from.

I just initiated combat with this bigass Long Gui, and Saber's Edge (probably my favorite boss theme in existance) starts playing. Of course this fucker has 4 million HP, and opens the battle by casting Ultima. Knowing this game though, i'll probably get him to 2 a quarter of his life left, and he'll sprout wings and fly or some shit lol.

Yeah man, this game is awesome. I can't really find what on earth some people are bitching so hard about. Even from a DLC perspective, this game is nothing but enjoyable and promising to me.

It kills me how this game isn't selling too well, but it's honestly to be expected from how well XIII sold but how many people it pissed off in the process.

Edit:

Like 40 potions and 15 Phoenix Downs later. 28:36 battle time on Long Gui, for the very first time. Jesus christ.

That was fun. But i dont think im going to do it again until im about 100 levels higher. I guess a Fragment and 30,000 CP was worth the time though lol.

Think im gonna go try and defeat Lightning and Aldomar and see if i can get their crystals now. This should be fun.

[Falk]

I need real instruments and twisted and amazing chords, dunno...

The chord structures used in this OST are more complex than 95% of game music.

[Serephim]

Yeah i honestly dont know what OST he was thinking of when he said that.

While Uematsu's music is wonderfully melodic, Hamauzu's compositions are captivating in their own way. He seems to capture more emotion in his music, not so much in the melody but in the entire piece.

I dont know. im not a musician.

[Kirs]

The chord structures used in this OST are more complex than 95% of game music.

Maybe. But they say nothing to me. I really feel the absence of Nobuo's magic.

Meh, I supose I have 'special' music tastes.

Or maybe I cannot feel it cuz of being tired and sick of battling everywhere everytime.

[Falk]

Oi, I'm not saying your opinion is invalid, I'm just pointing it out. ;p

Uematsu's old-school progressions have had so much impact on Japanese game music that a lot of it has actually become cliche/cookie-cutter. That's not to say his music isn't great nor does it say he doesn't continue to come up with amazing stuff. (i.e. The Last Story)

It's more of a case of half the people in the industry trying to ape his sound to certain extents.

[Serephim]

Maybe. But they say nothing to me. I really feel the absence of Nobuo's magic.

Meh, I supose I have 'special' music tastes.

Or maybe I cannot feel it cuz of being tired and sick of battling everywhere everytime.

You act like Nobuo is the only composer capable of making decent music on the planet.

It doesn't have Nobuo's magic, because it has Hamauzu's magic. That's like saying Sonic Games dont have good music unless Jun Senoue is helping with the composition, which is obviously not true. While I dont think i've ever heard a single bad OST from Nobuo, i personally believe that XIII had not only the best battle theme but hands down the best boss theme in the series. XIII-2 only expands on that.

Im not knocking your opinion, but I am knocking your reason. That's a pretty shallow reason to dislike an entire OST.

Now, i could understand if XIII/-2 sounded like FFXII, which had an absolutely stellar OST, but was altogether was pretty forgettable because it sounded like the score for a movie or something. But XIII sounded absolutely nothing like that.

while Nobuo captures things that the current composer/s cannot do, it most definitely runs Vice Versa.

[Falk]

It doesn't have Nobuo's magic, because it has Hamauzu's magic.

Funny that, a lot of the tracks that I actually expected to see Hamauzu's name on in FFXIII-2, were actually done by Naoshi Mizuta/Mitsuto Suzuki, especially the ones giving off a very FFXIII vibe.

Granted, one of my favorite tracks in XIII was Sunleth Waterscape (

) so I'm somewhat predisposed to electronica in that setting.

The two beefs I have with the soundtrack would be that it tends to be a little vocal-heavy, which took some getting used to, and the fact that the first few areas were subjectively pretty poorly scored as opposed to later in the game. As in, in hindsight now I don't actually have a problem anymore with the OST being vocal-heavy, as it really is part of the style, but the fact that you had nonstop droning through New Bodhum alongside a relatively unmemorable track didn't really set the right tone. Then you get thrown into the pseudo rap-rock-electronica boss theme.