Final Fantasy XIII-2

[Matty]

I did a quick search and nothing came up for this instalment of the Final Fantasy series.

I just seen the ad on telly for the Xbox and it mad me wonder, will this game be realised on PlayStation 3? Because it was a Xbox ad and didn't mention the PlayStation in it at all and I think it would be a shame since Sony carried this series from FFIV in English and before that in Japan maybe FFII.

So is this even going to be on PlayStation and if so would you buy it?

I know I would since I missed out on XIII.

 

[TJ13]

Its on the PS3
I heard it was more linear then the previous one but its worth its time I hope 20-35 hours depending on difficulty and a quick end to the game also.
So I would just stick with FFXIII

 

[Matty]

Its on the PS3
I heard it was more linear then the previous one but its worth its time I hope 20-35 hours depending on difficulty and a quick end to the game also.
So I would just stick with FFXIII

They seem to be getting a lot better now though, I remember back on FFVII - FFX that they were very good, especially FFVII as I really liked (Can't remember the name if it now) blade gun things in it, I must be honest I haven't played it since FFXI II but I would if it's realises weren't quiet/clashing with something else I need the money for, etc.

Hopefully this will be good now as I've never seen a FF game for sale second hand in a game shop.

 

[poolhaas]

More linear?? FFXIII is already pretty linear

 

[Matty]

More linear?? FFXIII is already pretty linear

I'm guessing you mean straight to the point and not as many sub-stories when you say that correct?

 

[TJ13]

I'm guessing you mean straight to the point and not as many sub-stories when you say that correct?

Yea since FFXIII has 64 side quests that I believe were optional.

 

[Matty]

Yea since FFXIII has 64 side quests that I believe were optional.

I'd still do most of them anyway.. It's like a spec in GT5, you don't have to do it to get to level 40, but it helps.

 

[JWalker]

There's a demo available on psn store. One of the main issues they adressed in XIII II is the linearity. Supposedly they made it more variable than XIII. I didnt even finish XIII because after 40 hours i was sick of running straight forward and mashing x button.

 

[Matty]

There's a demo available on psn store. One of the main issues they adressed in XIII II is the linearity. Supposedly they made it more variable than XIII. I didnt even finish XIII because after 40 hours i was sick of running straight forward and mashing x button.

And it will be the next thing I download from it 👍

 

[Icarus25]

Ok, to clear some things up:

XIII-2 is LESS linear than XII. They have opened the areas up a bit more, creating more than one path to get to the objective. FF stories have always been fairly linear, and I can't recall any from VII onward where you could choose what order you completed the story in.

They have included a new place to go to escape the story. It has Chocobo racing you can bet on and slot machines. Unlike the Golden Saucer in VII, it's not involved in part of the story.

There are various hunts and other side quests you can do just like XIII, though I don't believe the monsters are as massive and powerful as XIII.

Your party consists of two people Serah and Noel. A monster rounds out the 3rd member of the party. You gain these monsters by defeating them in battle. Each one has a specific role, and you can swap them in and out during Paradigms. You can also level them up, similar to how you could improve your Summons in X. The demo does a decent job of introducing you to this new wrinkle in the party/battle system.

You have the ability to switch who you control in battle (Serah or Noel) and no longer is it game over if the leader dies. You will automatically switch to the remaining member so you can heal and continue fighting.

 

[dan0543]

Icarus hit the nail on the head.

Its less linear, but as a result the story apparently goes nowhere for a while.

Looking good so far, but since kingdoms of amalur is coming... not enough to warrant a purchase from me.

 

[Seismica]

Yea since FFXIII has 64 side quests that I believe were optional.

What I think is meant when FFXIII is said to be linear is the following:

-The first 15-20 hours of gameplay is 100% linear
-No backtracking
-No cities
-Very little NPC interaction
-No minigames, at least for that first 15-20 hours
-Combat system that encourages the user to spam the 'auto' button, making every fight feel the same
-Your characters can never be more powerful than the game says; the stat improvements hit a soft limit that you can only remove when advancing to the next chapter.
-Bad storywriting meant you had to study the ingame manual to even understand the basic terms (i.e. l'cie, fal'cie. I still don't know what those mean). I didn't really follow what was going on as the very poorly written story and dialogue had to be backed up by explanations that I had to seek out.

I hear it opens up after 20 hours or so. I traded it in after 15 because it was just mind-numbingly boring. I liked VII to X and even X-2 and XII had their merits, and I played them through to the end. Despite trying to keep and open mind to XIII I still found it to be a bad game. I will not be buying XIII-2 as the series is well and truly dead in my eyes.

 

[Imari]

What I think is meant when FFXIII is said to be linear is the following:

-The first 15-20 hours of gameplay is 100% linear
-No backtracking
-No cities
-Very little NPC interaction
-No minigames, at least for that first 15-20 hours
-Combat system that encourages the user to spam the 'auto' button, making every fight feel the same
-Your characters can never be more powerful than the game says; the stat improvements hit a soft limit that you can only remove when advancing to the next chapter.
-Bad storywriting meant you had to study the ingame manual to even understand the basic terms (i.e. l'cie, fal'cie. I still don't know what those mean). I didn't really follow what was going on as the very poorly written story and dialogue had to be backed up by explanations that I had to seek out.

I hear it opens up after 20 hours or so. I traded it in after 15 because it was just mind-numbingly boring. I liked VII to X and even X-2 and XII had their merits, and I played them through to the end. Despite trying to keep and open mind to XIII I still found it to be a bad game. I will not be buying XIII-2 as the series is well and truly dead in my eyes.

I have to agree. Reviews I have read have stated that the storytelling in XIII-2 is mostly abysmal. The voice-acting in the demo is terrible, as is the gameplay.

I've lost faith that Squeenix can pull out blockbusters like VII and X any more. They're merely milking the cash cow as long as they can.

 

[RTSolvalou]

Yes, R.I.P. FF, I managed to finish X-2 but it wasn't fabtastic. Since then they've been churning like EA.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

the story apparently goes nowhere for a while.

I read a recap of the plot over at the Final Fantasy Wikia. I barely understood it.

 

[Sanji Himura]

As a Final Fantasy fanatic, even I barely understood SE's sudden moves in FF XIII and in XIII-2. You got to remember that this isn't Sakaguchi's baby any more, it is Kitane's, so 100% of the decisions that run by him are made by him in his capacity as series producer.

Take that and factor in the fact that this one Final Fantasy is supposed to be told over three games is just flat out embarrassing on the story telling.

But the battle mode and navigation method is our fault really. If we had not complained that FF XII was so open ended, I would think that we would not had our hand held for the first 15-20 hours in the first game.

 

[Touring Mars]

I got FFXIII-2 last week and I'm pretty impressed by it so far.

The improvements on FFXIII are big and the game is more enjoyable from the start. I always liked the Paradigm Shift battle system, and now it's more versatile. There's only two main characters to level up, but the addition of monsters as a third member of the party is great. Because your 3rd member only has limited skills, it makes choosing your paradigms a bit trickier - but it also makes battles more nuanced and more interesting.

The locations, the openness of the new layout, and the ability to re-do various sections if you want are all big improvements - not only are there many new locations, but there are also different versions of many of them (i.e. at different points in time). There is also a new 'New Game +' mode, apparently, for those who complete the story but want to replay the game in more detail - a bit like going for the Platinum trophy in FFXIII, which was alot more fun than the actual story.

Alot of the flaws of FFXIII have been addressed and, for the most part, resolved. My biggest complaints about FFXIII-2 are relatively minor things - the story is (predictably) nonsensical, and the voice acting (and some of the characters) are a bit childish for my liking, and their is an overuse of apocalyptic cut scenes at a very early stage in the game. I'm about 25 hours in, and so far, I haven't struggled to beat any boss - atleast nothing a quick tune-up wouldn't fix anyway. That said, I am hoping that FFXIII-2 has as many challenging battles as FFXIII had.

All in all, I reckon it's quite a bit better than FFXIII - although I enjoyed FFXIII alot...

 

[Raitziger]

Too many good games nowadays too little time.