Has any one played Final Fantasy XIII-2 yet? If so, i would like to here your opinion!

foevanimeboi

foevanimeboi

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I am really anticipating the sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. Since it was release in Japan on the 15th, I was wondering if anyone had bought it the japanese version yet. I don't get it until the 31st of January...tch! Anyways I just want to know everyone's thoughts on it.
 
A japanese friend of mine has played the promo and filled me in with detail, he says its better then the first and less linear apparently! I cannot wait to play this game!
 
My friend Jamie got to play a trial version, and she wouldn't shut up telling me how cool it was and how I had to wait. :gasp: From the sounds of it, the graphics & plot are still excellent, and it'll be awesome!
 
I have just gotten the game and have played a few hours into it.

It is definitely much much better than FFXIII. In fact, I now think that FFXIII is a bad, unplayable prequel to XIII-2.

It feels much more like a proper FF game, with towns, exploration, non-linearity, sidequests, etc.

There's much more than just run, fight, run. You have to ask the locals for info to move on. There was one time when you have to run after a cat and then a boy to look for information. It's really like the old FFs.

There are also often multiple choices when answering questions from other characters. It's really fun, just like the older FF games where you get to say what you want.

The areas are much more memorable as you don't just run the path once. You really have to explore and revisit areas to move on. The NPCs have great AI settings and are very lively and interactive.

There are also sidequests offered by NPCs, which are more than just hunting monsters.

Battle customisation is great. The new crystarium system makes customisation possible from early in the game. I also have a hard but fun time choosing which monsters to become my allies. Capturing monsters is fun too! Reminds me of pokemon.


But loading times are quite slow in some parts.


About public opinion, amazon jp ratings are much better than FFXIII.
 
Cid Raines said:
I have just gotten the game and have played a few hours into it.

It is definitely much much better than FFXIII. In fact, I now think that FFXIII is a bad, unplayable prequel to XIII-2.

It feels much more like a proper FF game, with towns, exploration, non-linearity, sidequests, etc.

There's much more than just run, fight, run. You have to ask the locals for info to move on. There was one time when you have to run after a cat and then a boy to look for information. It's really like the old FFs.

There are also often multiple choices when answering questions from other characters. It's really fun, just like the older FF games where you get to say what you want.

The areas are much more memorable as you don't just run the path once. You really have to explore and revisit areas to move on. The NPCs have great AI settings and are very lively and interactive.

There are also sidequests offered by NPCs, which are more than just hunting monsters.

Battle customisation is great. The new crystarium system makes customisation possible from early in the game. I also have a hard but fun time choosing which monsters to become my allies. Capturing monsters is fun too! Reminds me of pokemon.


But loading times are quite slow in some parts.
Click to expand...

that sounds really promising it funny how you say that final fantasy XIII is now 'bad' after playing this one, but from what you said it sounds much more like a proper FF game which I like very much, maybe preordering wasn't a bad idea after all :)
 
An unbiased impression from me so far:
(I also posted this in another forum I am in)

No story spoilers, don't worry.

CUSTOMISATION and BATTLE SYSTEM

I am really impressed by the improvements in the combat system. The fact that you can customise which roles a character should focus on since very early in the game, and the fact that monsters can be infused to create better ones, are really cool. I enjoy adjusting and experimenting with these systems. The feral links and cinematic actions are so fun and exciting. They keep you involved. I get a sense of satisfaction by quickly and accurately pressing the buttons. The paradigm tune is good, but it could have been better if it can be adjusted in battles.


MAPS and EXPLORATION

Maybe I had really high expectations for the exploration part of the game, but I was quite disappointed that the maps are soooo small. Not small as in corridor-ish, but small as in compact. If XIII was a really long and thin rectangle, XIII-2 is more like a short, concentrated square.

Yes they have branching paths, but they shortly meet together, or become dead ends. They do not go to a totally new, long route, most of the time. Even the map for archylte steppe is shrank by half or so.

Okay enough complaining. Despite the small areas, I still enjoy the exploration. Partly because you have to move around the place more than once, due to story reasons. Thus as I said before, the places are more memorable.

Furthermore, it was actually a good thing having a concentrated map. Revisiting and backtracking is much much easier. Imagine having to backtrack the whole stretch of sunleth waterscape in FFXIII. In XIII-2, backtracking can be done within a minute or so. This ironically encourages exploration in the concentrated map.

So I am slightly disappointed, but yet impressed by the cool technique of an illusion of exploration in XIII-2 that was missing in FFXIII. It could, however, be improved by having even more sub-areas within an area. But I guess having multiple time periods has fixed that problem somewhat. I just haven't explored enough time periods yet.

But hey, the maps are almost as open as XII now. Just that the sub-areas have no loading times. Thus you will find yourself going sub-paths to find treasures or other gates. But as I said, these paths are not too long.

When it comes to treasure gathering, the use of Mog is surprisingly amusing and fun. It adds a lot to the satisfaction in exploring.

DIFFICULTY

The game is probably as difficult as FFXIII, for normal mode. The regular battles seem to be easier than XIII, but the boss battles are probably slightly tougher. A certain major boss battle I had, required me to retry 3 times before winning. I had to level up and customise my monster line-up before doing so.

Gameplay difficulty in progressing the story is what I am quite disappointed in. Again, due to my high expectations. It is great that, what you require to progress the story are no longer run, fight, run. They are much more like older FF games with fetch quests, NPC interactions, etc. However, they are very easy to do. You don't even have to understand what the NPCs are saying. Even the temporal rifts are easier than I thought (but I'm sure the later and optional ones are more difficult).

BRANCHING STORY?

I really thought that almost everything you do will affect the way the story goes. However, I don't see any true branching in the plot so far. Maybe it's just the language barrier though. There was 1 or 2 points where you have to choose which gate to go. But eventually you have to travel in both gates, just that you decide in which order. Not that I mind whether the story truly branches or not. Honestly, one linear story is perfectly fine. Just that I am puzzled why SE described that things you do affects the future and the story.

CHARACTERS

Can't say much because I only understand a little of what they are saying. But I notice the melodrama is less now. It may just be me, but the characters are less annoying. Noel and Alyssa are likeable. But I don't quite like the voice actor for Serah. Serah herself is a good character in my opinion, but her voice can be childish at times. She's a really good VA, but perhaps she doesn't suit Serah? The English VA should be able fix this. Oh and I really like Yeul. She's interesting and unique for an FF character.


So my current stand about the game:
I really like it. But it was not as good as I had expected. Blame my high expectations for it. While it's much much better than XIII, it has not managed to really REALLY impress me like previous FF games. But I am quite sure if I replay with the English version, I will love it even more.


I will do a proper review when I finish the game.
 
Supposedly....

a successful completion of FFXIII gives you some kind of bonus for XIII-2.
Has anyone determined what that was ? Or what it will or should be ?

I am curious about that.:megusta2:

It seems the developers are still limited by the system or the platform or both.
I did read something about them buying the rights to another system a month or so ago. Here it is:

http://mediakick.org/2011/11/17/square-enix-signs-unreal-3-deal-with-epic/25025

There was also this from back in August:

http://mediakick.org/2011/08/27/square-enix-detail-new-engine/21079

The unreal 3 engine.I wonder how that compares to the current engine they are using.Maybe they can use bigger locals/maps with this new one.Who knows ?
Anything out there game wise we could compare it to that uses this unreal engine ?
Anyway, I had missed the February release date.I thought it was still slated for January.So it's still over a month away for us here in the US.

Thanks for the headsup on the Japanese version.I hope the English release clears up the confusion about the diverting pathways /decisions in the game.
 
Last edited:
ANGRYWOLF said:
a successful completion of FFXIII gives you some kind of bonus for XIII-2.
Has anyone determined what that was ? Or what it will or should be ?

I am curious about that.:megusta2:

It seems the developers are still limited by the system or the platform or both.
I did read something about them buying the rights to another system a month or so ago. Here it is:

http://mediakick.org/2011/11/17/square-enix-signs-unreal-3-deal-with-epic/25025

There was also this from back in August:

http://mediakick.org/2011/08/27/square-enix-detail-new-engine/21079

The unreal 3 engine.I wonder how that compares to the current engine they are using.Maybe they can use bigger locals/maps with this new one.Who knows ?
Anything out there game wise we could compare it to that uses this unreal engine ?
Anyway, I had missed the February release date.I thought it was still slated for January.So it's still over a month away for us here in the US.

Thanks for the headsup on the Japanese version.I hope the English release clears up the confusion about the diverting pathways /decisions in the game.
Click to expand...


I think it's a bonus in-game item. There's also a Lightning wallpaper if I am not wrong.

I don't really know why but it seems I don't have access to these bonuses. Probably due to the different language versions.

I don't know where you heard it, but the release date for NA has always been 31st January 2012. Then 3rd February for EU.
 
Alright! Thanks for everyone's opinon. Hopefully i will buy the game...or even the collector's edition since i'm really into final fantasy!
 
My better half dropped down on a pre-order of the collector's edition as a Christmas gift. January can't go by fast enough now.
 
A friend from another forum gave me a link to translations for the game. I read it till the point I'm currently in the game, simultaneously, to avoid spoilers.

I have to say the story is great. Some of the characters are really good too.


I'm now at the last boss fight. It's really hard, even in easy mode (the game allows free interchange between normal and easy mode). So I can only imagine how insanely hard the last boss is in normal mode.

I think the final boss is one of the best FF final bosses in terms of design, difficulty and strategy.

So I have yet to beat the game. I was really close to beating that final boss, but he killed me suddenly...
 
I cannot wait to see and play final fantasy 13-2 i like the story plot of final fantasy 13 and so i cannot wait to play it i already preordered it.
 
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