Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Playstation 3

Even though I was someone who actually enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII, I freely admit it had rather large problems with its design - the level design was painfully linear, not much variety in terms of gameplay mechanics, and the post-game content was not all that interesting. But despite that, I still considered it a fun and enjoyable game. Fast forward to XIII-2, and I can say all of the problems I had with XIII have been fixed, and it's a much better game for it! As someone who lovesss exploring areas - I really enjoyed the nonlinear level design this time around. No more running down a straight path from cutscene to cutscene. As someone who is a rather large fan of time travel related stories, I thoroughly enjoyed XIII-2's story! It was all pretty interesting and held quite a few surprises - especially at the end. While yes, some might not care for the ending, I thought it was rather bold, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. Serah and Noel were fantastic characters, and Noel became one of my favorite Final Fantasy male leads in all the series - he's like a mixture of Zidane and Sora almost. Serah develops pretty well herself over the course of the game, and Caius is now one of my favorite villains in any video game. I absolutely loved his motivations. The battle system - one of XIII's best qualities - remains mostly the same with only a few tweaks here and there. No more 3 second waits for paradigm shifts, ability to tame and recruit monsters (which is a lot more addicting than I initially suspected), strategic use of feral links, and the cinematic actions were interesting (and thankfully were not overused). I especially loved the final cinematic action in the game - it was an epic moment with perfect music. The music is... well, it was mostly fine. I enjoyed many of the tracks (and they also reused some of the older XIII music in perfect spots) with only a few that I didn't care for. Thankfully the ones I didn't like are not a large part of the game. The graphics are gorgeous as always for a Final Fantasy game, but not perfect. While the environments and characters look stunning, there is a little bit of slowdown in some areas - particularly one of the cities later in the game. It's not game-breaking or anything like that, but you can easily tell when the frames dip a little bit. If you race through the game without doing any optional stuff, it'll probably take you between 25-30 hours to complete. If you're like me and love doing everything, all sidequests, all fragments, leveling up to max, and becoming addicted to finding and infusing new monsters, it'll last you a lot longer. I finished off everything I wanted to do (got the Platinum) in 92 hours. So if you didn't like Final Fantasy XIII due to the level design and lack of variety, I can safely recommend XIII-2 to you. :)

So my package arrived with the game in it 3 hours ago and I have been playing non-stop since then. In this review I will be discussing what I think of the game so far and I will update the review as I progress into the game. I will not be revealing any spoilers for obvious reasons. Anyway, the first few scenes of the game show some familiar faces from the XIII, but we meet some new characters as well which you might have seen in the commercials for the game. The first 20-30 minutes of the game is just cutscenes, but they are fairly interesting and keep the player entertained. Over time we start to see some past story development and how the original story fits into the new XIII-2 timeline. Funny I should mention "timeline" as time has an interesting concept, especially in the beginning of the game. So basically the first few hours of the game is basically an introduction of sorts. Square Enix does a fantastic job of explaining what happened in XIII so that even players who have not played XIII can get right into it with no difficulty. Players who have completed XIII will be in for a treat as the first few hours explain what happened after the ending of XIII and where the characters are now. I haven't delved deep enough into the game to fully understand the main conflict, but I am sure in time I will get to know what is really going on. I found XIII to be very similar: As time progressed I understood more and more what was going on. I quite enjoy the new features of the game as well. The pre-battle system is somewhat changed where monsters appear out of nowhere. A meter displaying green/yellow/red is what allows you to attack your enemies. You basically approach the enemy and attack it (with X [PS3] or A [Xbox 360]) and the meter goes further towards red the longer you stall. If you attack while in green you get a pre-emptive strike. If you attack while in yellow it is a normal battle. If you attack while in red it is a normal battle except you have no "Retry" option if you die. The speech system is very interesting in that from time to time you get 4 different options and you can choose what to say. Each option has a completely different response. In this way it is similar to Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect. The battle system is exactly the same except now from time to time you get a "live" battle function where characters do moves based on if you press a button in time or not (more like a cinematic battle). I also noticed that you can change characters outfits in the menu but I have not unlocked any yet. The crystarium looks different than in XIII and operates slightly differently, but XIII players will instantly get the hang of it. You basically still get points in battle and you can use those points in the crystarium. Instead of being able to navigate the crystarium you just press buttons depending on your class of choice (you only have COM, RAV, and SEN at the start of the game) to unlock skills. Another great thing they added to the crystarium is that you can choose a special power-up when you get to a certain level in all your skills combined. I don't remember what level it was but for one of my characters I had a choice between an ATB gauge segment, a RAV power-up, a COM power-up, and some other things which I do not remember off the top of my head. So far I haven't seen a single new skill or attack but that will most likely change. The one small gripe I have is that on the PS3 version (which I own) I get lag spikes from time to time during intense cut-scenes. I am assuming this is because of the aging PS3 graphics processor. I know that Square Enix decided to use the game's engine to create cut-scenes, could that have something to do with it? It's not annoying or anything but it is definitely noticeable. At some points I even saw the FPS drop down to ~10. Also, I have the PS3 slim and I just purchased it in November so I highly doubt it is an over-heating issue. Xbox 360 and PS3 users please leave a comment if you are noticing any FPS drops. Anyway, I really enjoyed the first few hours of the game. The game is not as linear as XIII which is a huge plus, and from the first hour you can explore the city that you are in and claim all the treasures. I will try and update this review as much as I can so players have a good idea of what they are getting into!

This game is a must have IF you have played 13 all the way through. It is a great game for anyone else though who loves RPG's as you don't need to play the first game to play this and the game comes included with a built in Primer telling you what you missed. This game is much better than 13 in so many ways and it just gets better and better. Don't listen to anyone who has given up on Final Fantasy...just like with Microsoft and Windows 7...Square Enix will pull through once they hit rock bottom and come out with something new and refreshing and this is just that! The presentation is top notch. Everything from graphics to music is great. I love the freedom to do whatever I want and be able to explore areas fully and find surprises everywhere. Side quests are everywhere and hidden objects and items are boundless. There's so much collecting to do in this game too! The game may be rated for 30-40 hours but that is ONLY if you are playing for the story alone...if you are playing for everything and the entire XIII-2 package it will take you upwards to 50+hours EASILY. What best there are multiple ways to handle each situation and I love how certain important conversations give you 4 possible choices to ask and you can only choose once. There's no going back. Sometimes you may even be rewarded by asking the right question out of the 4 so it's really cool to have even stuff like that added into the game! They really turned things around. Cinematic Action sequences are fun and refreshing. Anyone who doesn't like them- oh well, because they are here and make battles refreshingly different instead of just non stop fighting. The camera movement is epic as well during huge boss fights. Another cool thing they added to the game not many people mentioned was a "Here's What You Missed On Final Fantasy XIII-2..." During the loading screen when you come back to the game. It's really cool because it makes it like a TV show and gives you a recap of what you did before you left the game. Small stuff like that are cool surprises people love and you just can't hate. Add's more to the games overall presentation. Gameplay- improved. Character development- faster and improved. The use of flashbacks is great as well showing what happened the 3 years between XIII and XIII-2. Overall, I'm loving this game and it starts out fast just like some of the top action games like UNCHARTED and God of War 3. You'll enjoy this and if you're looking for that one review to help nudge you into finally purchasing this game. I hope this is the one...either way, I'm lovin' it, ba da ba ba ba. Enjoy everyone!

If you wanted to enjoy Final Fantasy XIII, tried your best, but just couldn't make it work, you will probably enjoy XIII-2. In terms of its gameplay and design, it's the game the original should have been. While the story is less epic and actually a bit apathetic, you are likely to enjoy yourself much more with this title. The battle initiation system is rather brilliant and brings back some of the live battlefield aspects of XII. Paradigm switching is snappy and rewarding and allows you to be more tactical. The real-time button presses make cutscenes more dynamic. The fragment fetch system helps you actually visualize your progress and makes the game feel a bit more sidequest-y rather than one never-ending story (pretty sure I'm not the only one who begged XIII to end every time the team entered a new world). By far the best addition is the introduction of non-linear levels. You actually have some freedom to roam around the battlefield, and you can choose the order of the levels you fight in. Seriously, this makes XIII-2 a totally new game. You might be surprised at what a significant difference it brings. The addition of monster battles expands the customization options and gives the game a more playful feel. The Mog companion is also a lighthearted element that makes the game fun, rather than a slow drudge (cough cough XIII). I'm not too concerned about the plot here either way as I wasn't a fan of the original - perhaps XV will bring a set of more likable characters. Who knows. I pay half-attention to the plot and find it passable. I was mildly annoyed by the framerate drops during some cinematic-intensive scenes, though. XIII-2 was a rush job by comparison with previous installments, and certainly given the amount of time put into it the results are stunning. Even if it had taken five years to develop, this would still be a respectable entry. Trust me: if a western game company developed this, the expectations would be much lower and people would be blown away by this title. Imagine if EA had developed a title of this ambition and polish! It's inconceivable to me. Square is a victim of high expectations - and that's all for the better. We trust them to make the best RPGs around. If Square decides to develop a XIII-3, I feel confident they will carry over the best of this game and finally pull together the disparate elements around a unified plot. I can't wait.

I basically just want to say that I love this game. The combat, story, characters and monster system is amazing. A lot of people do not like the story and the ending but I honestly thought the game from beginning to end was great. Sure, the very, very end was disappointing because I didn't think Square would go that route, but I'm fine with it. Why? Because I got the secret ending after a ton of hours put into this game just to get to it. I cared so much about the story and characters that I decided to basically go for the Platinum Trophy just so I can see what actually happened. And now that I know, i'm satisfied in almost every way possible from this game. I even decided to read all the fragments to get a better sense of the story and learn all the little details about Mog and other stuff the game provided. The story is very easy to follow and I completely support that approach. Long story short, the game completely exceeded my expectations in every single way possible. I only have a few nitpicks but those are completely subjective. Just like every other review in the world, reviews are opinions. Not facts. Pros would be: Combat, monster system, story, great villain, epic final fight, characters, environments and the freedom you have in this game compared to FF13. Cons would be: The music can be inconsistent. Some of the tracks are sub par while some tracks are fantastic. I like a good amount of the songs in the game to be honest, but some of them are rather...questionable. Another con is just a little nitpick. The Mog design. I wish the art design of mog was better because I <3 Mog. He's awesome. But the design of Mog in this game is a bit disappointing. Those are really the only problems I have with the game. If your a big Final Fantasy fan or just a fan of RPG's in general then I would definitely recommend this game to you. I've already recommended this game to a few of my friends who like RPG games and, surprisingly, they're enjoying it as well. Thank you Square for a fantastic game...:)

Look, I know its not like the Final Fantasies we're used to, but the game's got merits. I think its a great -2 game; hands down, for a -2 type sequel game this is good; price should have been a little lower to start with, but I feel its worth the purchase price. Let me start off, like so many others have, by stating I've been playing Final Fantasy for years. All the way back to the first one, waking up at 5am to sneak down and play it on the NES. I didn't play all the imports all the way through (and to be honest I didn't care too much for FFIX), but I've played and beat most of them several times over. I still rank FF, FFVII, FFVIII, and FX as my personal favorites; FFXII had potential and great gameplay, but the storyline was pretty ridiculous to follow. Then came FFXIII, and I know the point's been beaten to death, but I was insanely disappointed in the game. I could see that they put in a lot of time and effort into it, I just thought it wasn't a very fun game. It wasn't what the majority of us Final Fantasy gamers were used to, for starters, but even beyond that I just didn't care for it. Bad and hard to follow storyline (L'Cie, Fal'Cie, Cie'th, etc etc; who came up with this ----?), multiple annoying characters (usually there's only one annoying character), poor character development, less than satisfying gameplay, plus the number-one complaint: too linear (and don't give me that "all games are linear" BS, you know there's a difference between storyline driven game with certain parts inaccessable at different times and a game that has a 5ft wide path you must follow for 90% of the game). Anyways, FFXIII-2 doesn't fix all my complaints, but it does address a great deal of them. Exploration/openness - You can explore a lot in this game; you can go to areas with way too tough monsters and die, whatever you want, so that's a plus. On the downside, actually following just the main storyline is fairly confusing, you will probably get lost and complete side quests even unintionally along the way. Characters - You play as Serah from FFXIII and a new character named Noel from the future. Neither one is a "great" character, but neither one is that annoying either. I don't care much for the voice of "Mog" though, kinda annoying, but not too bad. Character development - While not as great as some of the other Final Fantasies, the character development does seem to be much improved compared to FFXIII; I did somewhat care for the characters, and their ups and downs made sense for the most part; still not great, but not bad either. Plot - Okay, this is the downside of the game for the most part. I actually enjoyed the plot somewhat, it just doesn't seem very Final Fantasy, and doesn't seem that creative. This would be a great title if it went by a different name actually; I think the fact that it is a -2 game, you should expect it to not be quite up to the main title releases, and its fitting for the game. So, not a great storyline, yes time travel is done to death by other titles and was way too obvious a choice, but they did a fairly decent job. I still can't wait to be done with all the confusing 'cie crud though, the game was built upon a bad plotline to begin with. Gameplay - Its not that we need a Final Fantasy game to be strictly turn-based, but this feels like it should be a different game; this is just a step in the wrong direction. Its fine they wanted it to be more "lively", but they turned it into a button-mashing game. Seriously, unless you are the fastest navigator around, you'll probably just mash X (PS3) and choose auto attacks. The crystarium is kinda boring for customizing, the equipment has practically no choice or customization, and you only get 2 characters to work with. The one highlight of this is the monster-pet, you basically capture and control each of the enemies, they become your "third man" on your team; its fairly fun, but still should be 3 members plus your creature. Graphics - Great, like FFXIII. However, unlike FFXIII, its not quite so dark all the time (aside from a world engulfed by an eclipse), and I think the color pallete is better balanced in this game. Overall, it comes down to having an open mind. I know its hard to get over FFXIII for many of us long-time fans. But, that doesn't mean FFXIII-2 isn't a fun game on its own. Is it perfect? Of course not. However, I am having a great time playing it, and I feel it was worth the purchase price.

who would have thought an -2 game would be better than original after the x-2 abomination? Getting the 13-x is an risk for me because i really didn't like 13 that much, let alone the bad memory from X-2. but i heard this game was pretty good (as it was released in japan first) and i decide to give a shot and get release day copy. oh was i wrong, the 13-2 exceed 13 in every aspect possible. a lot of folks may argue the 13-2 (and 13) is no longer a FF game, but what exactly is FF game? turn based? action involved? linear? level grinding? to me, a FF game is a type of JRPG that tells a interesting story with awesome graphics, music and innovating actions. and this game delivers them all. graphic: 10/10. this shouldn't surprise anyone as the original 13's graphic pretty much set the standard. musics: 8/10. the best FF musics, in my mind, came from FF7, FF8 and FF10. let me just say Nobuo Uematsu is an genius and i have yet to find anyone makes better game music than he does (if you don't know, FFx is his last involvement with FF series). 13-2 music isn't bad, just not as interesting. fight: i guess 7/10 is a pretty fair score. definitely less user involvement and it somewhat a evolution from FF13. i guess everyone has their preference but i just don't like it AS much. innovation: big plus, 10/10. the idea of traveling through time isn't new. but the idea of creating a tunnel and give you three version of the same map from different time, and parallel universe of the place as you start changing the story, and the ability to traveling to any of the maps from any era (or its parallel version) is definitely a noble idea. this along is worth purchasing the game for. so does this game better than FFX (which IMHO is the best FF series, i know a lot of folks disagree), probably not. but does this game a worthy FF successor? yes, positively yes. Give it a shot, and i hope you enjoy the game as much as i do.

A lot of things can be said about this game but I think the closest to the mark would be "we want to make good looking games". Well, anyone who agrees with this remark will have noticed the finely made flowers, the good looking character models and the beautiful scenery. Final fantasy games generally have many characters in the main party or in the list of primary characters but in this game they reduced the usual party roster of eight to just Sarah and Noel. This actually makes a lot of sense for this game. The benefits it provides makes for a better sense of story by concentrating focus on fewer characters. When you look at Sarah's role in the previous game, it's surprising that she gets a much more active one this time round. From being very passive, she is now quite active, almost matching Noel, who is one of the stronger Final Fantasy leads. They both come across well in their journey. Sarah and Noel confront many things both marvellous and dire. One thing like that was the machine god; something that Hope, one of the major characters of the series, had created to replace the old demons. It was marvellous because it had the power to hold a massive sphere high in the atmosphere, yet dire because it held no love for the sphere's inhabitants. Moving back to Noel and Sarah, when they arrive in Academia, the greatest city of future Earth, it holds a dark promise of something greater. There's the sullen threat of the machine god, but also the possibility of its destruction. They learn in the Augusta Tower where Hope created it, that if they are to become great, it will be through their own efforts not a machine's. One thing that can be said of this is that the puzzle elements are quite well integrated into the experience and the level of polish holds up. A lot can be said for a fun game and this certainly has that in spades.

USA version as expected.

Item in perfect condition. Customer satisfaction guaranteed.

Llegó en buen estado y antes de tiempo. Corre perfectamente y no hay problemas hasta ahora. Definitivamente recomendado

Great game, and came quicker than expected!

Très bon état, livraison rapide. Je recommande