Mini-Review // Final Fantasy XIII-2

Main characters Noel and Serah make a good team.

As I placed my new copy of Final Fantasy XIII-2 in the disc tray of my PS3, I expected an experience similar to my many others in the realms of Ivalice, Midgar, Spira, Cocoon and Pulse (of course) and the many others. A fantastic experience, none the less but still inadvertently similar.

How wrong I was.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is to me a new category of Final Fantasy game, much like its predecessors of Dissidia and Tactics. Not that XIII-2 is similar to these games either; but I digress.

Firstly, the sidequest system in XIII-2 is completely new, and in that, quite awesome. You can accept multiple sidequests at any one time and complete them at your leisure. Now, I know that many previous FF games (most of them in fact) had sidequests. However, those were too many simply for full completion, for the hardcore players. I would have never touched half the sidequests in those games (Omega? Count me out.) But the sidequests in XIII-2 are quirky, fun, and for the most part small - sometimes important in something called a sidequest. Some may require hard play and long hours, but those are still there for the completionists- I can finish some small sidequests without devoting a lifetime to the game. And in a small way, that makes me happy.

Beautiful environments abound in this game.

But enough about sidequests, and on to actual quests - the main storyline, including the infamous main character switch that seems to be Squenix's forte. I didn't find myself liking Serah much in the original game (most likely due to the pretty-school-girl stereotype and lack of badassery that the main character of the first game held, my beloved Lightning) but I find her to be bearable at worst and quite likeable at best during this game. Noel I had no expectations for, but I find him also to be manageable. They may take some more time to grow on me, but at least there's no representation of the annual most-unlikable-character-ever in this Final Fantasy, a title most often given to Vanille in its predecessor (and even she was bearable at times). Yes, I'm a little disappointed by the few appearances of Lightning in a game focused on finding her, and Hope may not get as much screentime (albeit a much older look and a much deeper voice) and maybe I still long for Fang a little, but games like these can't stay still for long, and new characters are necessary to give each one that push forward. Apart from the characters, the storyline itself… isn’t terrible. Sure, mix in some time travel anywhere and it’s a bit iffy, but this game manages to pull it off alright, despite being a bit confusing (I had no idea what half the terms they used meant, and I still don’t.)

You can't call it Final Fantasy without chucking in a few weirdos.

The sound track is beautiful as always, with a surprising amount of vocal tracks this time around. The only track that considerably ticked me off was the ‘screamo’ music during the Academia 400AF section. I’ll admit I got a bit headachy. It has a lot of great tracks, but give "Wish" a listen.

But what I really want to discuss here is the changes that almost make XIII-2 a new type of game. Apart from the new sidequest system I already covered, there are many more additions to this game that make it so refreshing. Firstly, upon turning this game on for the first time, I found myself faced with a choice.

Easy or Normal?

I could choose how hard I wanted the game to be! In Final Fantasy, these means a lot - not to me perhaps, as I still selected Normal mode (with a promise of Hard available should I complete the game) but both to the inexperienced players and the hardcore ones, due to the availability of the Easy and Hard modes.

The other most important change, in my eyes, (besides the new sidequests and the refurbished leveling system) is the oh-so-important inclusion of DLC. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the first significant FF game to include this, excepting the MMOs of XI and XIV. Upon preordering my Crystal Editions, I received codes to obtain a bonus outfit for Serah and Noel, and the Omega boss battle. Now, neither of these may mean much to some gamers, but as for me, I love new clothing for my characters every now and again, and I know some of the hardcore players love optional boss battles. The promise of future DLC, including the already announced Lighting and Amodar, is being eagerly awaited by many. I’m quite curious to see how this work out, for inclusion in future games.

The Cinematic Actions are a bit Kingdom Hearts-esque but a nice addition all the same.

There’s a lot more I could talk about, for sure, but I’ll leave it at this for now and possibly write a more comprehensive and more importantly understandable review in the future. I’ll also try to have some gameplay clips up soon! Enjoy.