Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2
As with most Final Fantasy games, Final Fantasy XIII gave players the responsibility of saving the world before it was too late. Its characters were marked as fugitives and running away from the authorities and monsters kept you, the player, from taking the time to explore your surroundings. In short, Final Fantasy XIII was full of action, but it was all too contrived and felt too removed from the series.
Three years following its conclusion, the chase has ended, and XIII’s heroine has gone missing. While its characters are on a quest looking for clues to her whereabouts, Final Fantasy XIII-2 gives you the added freedom to explore your surroundings and customize its gameplay to your liking. You may need to save the world again, but you now have time to do the things you want.
In fact, you literally have control over time. Serah, along with her time-traveling companion Noel, relies on time travel to search for her sister. It’s not where Lightning is, but when she is that is the question. Not to mention, time distortions called paradoxes that cause things to exist where they shouldn’t have started affecting events in the timeline. Serah and Noel must travel through time to change history and protect a future where the world may see destruction.
While you knew what was happening in XIII, its sequel has a hard time explaining what is going on sometimes simply because it tries too often to explain what it is your characters are doing. Despite your mission to wipe out the world’s paradoxes and anomalies, the game’s story will eventually fall victim to them after a few hours of confusing plotlines. It’s not easy to explain certain terminology and how the future can somehow affect the past, but the game makes light of these complexities. You will ultimately have to believe what it’s telling you because it’s too confusing to argue otherwise. For a series that usually does a great job with its delicate narratives, the story in this Final Fantasy won’t really amaze you.
Following the details in the plot may be difficult, but the game itself is very easy to enjoy. Having listened to what fans disliked about XIII, the developers have brought back the familiar aspects of Final Fantasy titles including side-quests, puzzles, and even mini-game distractions. There are even dialogue prompts that reward you with special items depending on your choices. Because there isn’t a set route Serah and Noel must travel, you can decide how much or how little of the timeline you want to unlock. For example, certain optional time gates require keys you will need to find. You can spend over 60 hours using your Moogle buddy to douse areas for these keys that open up new worlds, missions, and timelines, or you can choose to bypass them and finish the game in half the time.
A word that comes to mind when playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 is “freedom.” You can exit and re-enter worlds whenever you want by simply pausing the game. The game even gives you the option to redo entire locations so that if you want to fight a boss again, you can. I definitely felt relaxed while playing simply because I was never pressured into doing anything I might regret later. Not only that, but its environments are bathed in sunset hues, Chocobos are free to roam, and the game’s haunting soundtrack keeps you feeling at peace.
The battle system has been tweaked just slightly to make fights less stressful too. Enemies will randomly appear on the field, but you can choose to keep walking or face them in battle. If it seems like you’re about to die and want to try again, the game lets you pause and start the battle from scratch. A Game Over simply means restarting from where you last were before entering battle. Did I forget to mention the Easy Mode option too? Playing the game on normal difficulty, I thankfully never spent as much time on them as I did in XIII.
Battles are definitely faster than the original mostly due in part to the tweaked Paradigm system that lets you choose what set of jobs your characters will have during battle. You can now quickly shift roles with no waiting time mid-battle. While there is still some degree of planning that will go into certain fights, most battles will involve switching to the right Paradigm to quickly stagger and defeat the enemy. Some boss battles also include action sequences that require you to press correct buttons to finish off your target. These don’t take away anything from a fight, and simply make them seem more action-packed than before.
Leveling up is also less complicated as the Crystarium has been simplified and condensed. There are only two characters to worry about this time, and each one can still specialize in attack, magic, healing, or any other skills as before, but you now have the choice to decide which role to boost whenever you want. Weapons can still be customized and created with enemy spoils, but this never becomes a necessity to beat the tougher bosses. While a traveling merchant will always be close by, I rarely found myself purchasing or using items because it was more effective to just use healing magic.
What I truly enjoyed about battles is that you can enlist the help of wild monsters to fight alongside you. Monsters start out with one specialization, but as you level them up using items you pick up from defeating other monsters, their abilities expand even further. Your monster acts as a third slot in your Paradigm, letting you build teams with different combinations for specific situations. You can even give your monsters nicknames and fashionable accessories to wear making it difficult not to get attached to them. I actually wish the monster training feature had been expanded a bit more. Not only are you a bit limited to what abilities some monsters will learn, but you can’t control them during battle either. This isn’t Pokémon, after all.
When Final Fantasy X ended, no one expected it would receive such a lighthearted sequel as it did. Final Fantasy XIII-2 may be more serious than X-2, but both have similar aspects that make them more about having fun and less about grinding your party to max levels. Despite recycling some characters, locations, and music, Final Fantasy XIII-2 feels a lot more like a Final Fantasy game than its prequel, but it also feels less like one too due to the absence of a strong narrative. Sure, there is a lot more room to breathe and there is a plethora of things to enjoy, but I wish its story had been on par with all the other great classics in the series. This isn’t a new Final Fantasy game; it is simply a much more enjoyable sequel to one.
Score given: 8.5/10
Published January 2012 | GamingUnwrapped.com
Giancarlo Saldana is a freelance writer and Gaming News Editor for Blast Magazine.