Bac k to the sequel
Square Enix’s attempt at redeeming the Final Fantasy series brings lots of improvements that make XIII-2 a solid game.
MOST people would agree that Final Fantasy
XIII wasn’t the best entry in the series. The problems ranged from an overly complicated story rich with jargon, cheesy voice acting, lack of towns and linear dungeons in the game.
It was rude a wake-up call for the king of Japanese role-playing games (JRPG) as its most well known series failed to live up to the expectations set by past titles.
With Final Fantasy XIII-2 Square Enix hopes to correct most of the mistakes made in the last game by giving players greater choice and a better story. But does this sequel restore our faith in the Final
Fantasy series or is it a little too late?
A better story
One of the major complaints people had with
XIII was the convoluted story that was difficult to follow. In comparison, XIII-2’ s story is a far cry from that as it is now easier to understand and it even has a Beginner’s Primer section that fills in the blanks in for people who have not played or finished the previous game.
Set three years after the events of the last game, Lightning (the heroine from XIII), has mysteriously disappeared to the realm of Valhalla and is now locked in a ferocious battle with the game’s antagonist, Caius Ballad.
Midway through the battle, Lightning meets Noel, a boy from another time and tasks him with finding her sister Serah and bring her to Valhalla.
The two time travelling heroes make for a decent team and have better chemistry than most of the characters from the original game.
Serah may seem like your typical bubbly JRPG heroine at first but she slowly matures to be a strong character towards the end of the game.
Noel too is a strong character who is determined to change the future for the better, even if it is a future where he does not exist.
New features
Unlike the last game’s slow build up, XIII-2’ s pacing is much better as you learn most of what you need to know about the game’s battle system and time exploration mechanics within the first two hours.
Though you may be limited to just one or two time periods at first, you can visit places in the timeline in any order.
Even better, you can save your game anywhere in the world. No more hunting for save points and you won’t lose too much of your progress should you die in the game.
There is still a set path you need to follow in order to progress through the story but you have the freedom to wander off and complete side quests at any time.
Even the game’s level design feels more open with branching paths and towns to explore rather than the narrow corridor structure of the original game.
Square Enix has taken some notes from Western RPGS because the new “Live Trigger” system brings up dialogue trees, Mass Effect- style into the game during key moments.
It offers an illusion of choice in what you say but it has no impact on the overall story. Added to that there are qu engaged during fig elements, bot
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uick time events to keep you ght scenes, and some light puzzle oth of which feel out of place and essary. The game’s main quest is considerably shorter compared to the previous one — it has around
25 hours of game time from the usual 40-50 hour epic quests from before. Even so there’s still a lot to be done as you have the ability to close the time gates and explore different possibilities that could result in multiple alternate endings.
Presentation
Visually, XIII-2 is a good looking game that is on par with the original — it has clean and impressively detailed character models that really shine during dialogue scenes.
The environments in which you explore look great and believable though there are far too many invisible walls, which end up breaking the illusion of a living breathing world.
Though the game runs smoothly most of the time, there were moments where it struggled to maintain a consistent frame rate during frantic battles with lots of effects.
The main problem we had with the game’s presentation was with its music. Most of the tunes were not memorable and there were some recycled tracks in the mix.
The greatest offender though is the awful death metal-inspired boss battle music that forced us to put the game on mute throughout the duration of a battle.
Fight!
Fighting in XIII-2 should feel familiar to anyone who has played the previous game as the same battle system is present here albeit with a few improvements.
One significant change is that random encounters are back, though not in the traditional RPG sense. Monsters will periodically appear on the field and you have a small window of time to attack them to get a pre-emptive strike.
You can of course opt to avoid them by running away but there are still situations in which you are forced to fight.
The Paradigm Shift mechanic, which changes a hero’s role in mid-fight, plays a central role in the game but this time the transition between roles happens more smoothly resulting in quicker and more fluid battles.
Instead of controlling numerous characters, Serah and Noel are the only playable human characters with a third slot open for a monster companion.
There are shades of Pokemon at work here and though we weren’t fans of it at first, the system works well.
Each has a specialised role as, say a healer, magic caster or physical damage dealer.
Not only can you tame wild monsters to fight with you, but you can level them up alongside the main heroes using items you find. Monsters even have a special meter, which when fully charged, let’s them unleash a powerful attack.
Speaking of which, the level-up system is more streamlined now with a single path to follow but it allows you to choose which roles you want to improve and unlock more powerful abilities.
The game’s difficulty has been toned down significantly (even on normal mode) and you can retry battles (even during boss encounters) as many times as you like.
There isn’t a whole of level grinding in the game but it is an optional activity if you want to tackle the harder opponents or bosses.
Conclusion
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is by far a better game than its predecessor and is a worthy addition to the venerated series.
Square Enix, for the most part, has improved the game with a better battle system, more interesting story and open environments to explore.
Considering there are many more side quests and secret endings to find, there is a fair amount of content to enjoy and extend your time with the game once you are done with the main quest.
However, we can’t help but point out that the game still suffers from technical issues like slowdowns during big battles and the music is by the far the weakest we’ve heard in a Final Fantasy game. Overall, XIII-2 may not be the perfect or best Final
Fantasy game out there but it certainly is a step in the right direction to get the series back on track.
Pros: Improved battle system; freedom to explore the game world; lots of hidden extras; better story pacing.
Cons: Slowdowns during battles; game is too easy; music is forgettable.