FFXIII-2 Only 2!?

[Hayate]

So, throughout the previews I have seen for this game, it all seems to revolve around Sereh and Noel. Are there not any other new main characters to join the party? I am a little nervous Thad it won't be diverse enough like other FF titles or maybe they are just not telling us the other characters. =\.

 

[C i d]

Yes only 2, very very likely only Serah and Noel are permanent party members. There are guests like Snow, but the guests are uncontrollable. Tere are also some Lightning playable segments.

But in exchange for the absence of other permanent human party members, there are more than 150 monsters to be recruited. The monsters are very customizable and each has their own growth stats, skill and roles. You can choose what skills and stats each monster get by giving certain items to them. There's also some kind of monster breeding where monsters can inherit abilities from any other monster, making customization possibilities versatile. Crystariums for characters and monsters are also more diverse than before. For example, when a character levels up a role, you can choose one bonus from a list.

So diversity in terms of stats/skills is not to be worried about. It's the lack of playable character interaction and development that many people are worrying about. I personally don't mind the two human party because a character does not necessarily have to be playable to be a major character.

 

[Hayate]

I really feel like it's taking away from the game. All other FF's have at least 3. I just think 2 seems very slim. I like to have a whole interactive party on a journey together. . I'm a bit worried.

 

[ribbit]

Honestly, with the monsters being your party members, it looks like it'll feel similar to Dragon Quest V where your remaining party members weren't actual characters (at least when you were short on a few) and were just enemies you picked up as you went. I just hope the monsters feel like actual characters instead of...well, they don't feel right, if you know what I mean.

 

[C i d]

The monsters will not appear in cutscenes, thus as far as I know, they won't play any important part in the story.

Let's just wait and see how the character development and such are handled with only 2 permanent characters.

 

[Hayate]

Well now that I think about it, throughout most of XIII they had the party split up in two for majority of the game. But I guess I am more worried about character development and not having enough variety in the game.