Retawes Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2

Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 17.5/20

Considering Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix has being headed down an uneasy slope lately. But is that all about to change in Square's new and incredibly improved sequel to XIII, XIII-2?

Story and Setting 9.5/10

This may be the closest we get to KH3 till KH3D!

Final Fantasy 13-2's plot starts as the game's predescessor finishes in other words,  it's not the same as 13. Essentially, its Final Fantasy meets Chrono Trigger meets Kingdom Hearts. I say Kingdom Hearts as one of the main protagonists, Noel looks identical to Sora (In a way) and the game feels more like the later game's art style and the music is comparable to KH's themes. 

The story on the other hand, feels partially copied from Chrono Trigger's
time travelling story but with less bizarre characters. For instance, Snow returns as 'douchey' and stubborn as before yet I was hoping for some character development which was consequentively (due to the paradox system) my problem.
Like the character development, the plot can be considered confusing and disinteresting however I can't explain without giving spoilers. Hence forth, here is a basic analysis of the plot.

Well in my future, you're a goat!

Spoiler Alert!
Due to several holes in timelines (Known as Paradoxes) Lightning is taken to Valhalla, a mysterious world where time is non-existant and inhabited with monsters and the antagonist of the game, Caius. Althouth, he isn't neccessarily 'evil' as he is a (Guardian of Time) "protector's of the Seeress". The seeress are a family of 'fortune seekers' (So to speak!). Due to the protagonists of XIII is another Cauis and Lightning then battle each other until the Noel appears from a portal (Gabe Newell) and is sent (By Lightning) to the present day to help Lightning's sister Serah free Lightning of her curse and save the world from multiple time paradoxes. If you understood that, congratulations as you'll most likely follow the story.
Spoiler Finished!

Speaking of Serah, as she is the protagonist in this title, the whole game is through her perspective. Now this can be seen good and bad. The upside is that you eventually meet everyone else prior to the sequel and they all have different perspectives of you, Noel and the world that's  constantly changing. The downside, Serah's nagging and constant whining of her 'Hero' Snow, finding Lightning and saving the future becomes really old and really fast too! Although, Laura Bailey and Liam O'Brien should be awarded on their superb work as Serah and Caius.

Speaking of the voices in the game, the dialogue is brilliantly casted and goes so well with the music, setting and character models. It's so brilliant in fact, that the voices are some of the best in a JRPG in the past four years (Excluding Xenoblades Chronicles, Last Story). As many other RPGs are following in the footsteps of Bioware's 'fortune wheel', Final Fantasy 13-2 has a similiar concept yet it doesn't hav much of an impact early in the game.


Graphics and Gameplay 8/10

Spot the moogle!

Graphically, the game is a masterpiece with in-depth appearing characters, surreal uncomparable environments with proper, quest giving and individual npcs! Ignoring the pokemon influenced battle system, in Final Fantasy 13-2, there is nothing more satisfyingly new to 13's mini series, than the proper people that you see wondering the towns, villages and battlegrounds, discussing about their lunch, an upcoming event or even what/who you defeated in the past. Each quest-giver has some generalization that something has gone missing or happened due to a paradox and it's your mission to find, defeat, recover or discover for 13-2 version of experience points, CP. CP is for upgrading your character's classes which are all unique and appropriate for the battle system. For instance, Commando is a melee based, damage dealer that sustains the stagger bar used in the original where as the Synergist and Sabotuer roles buff and debuff the enemies stats.

Go Spiky-Turtle/Iguana-Mon!

Incidentally, the combat of the game is swift and oh so fluid compared to 13's. Moves are still accessed via the ATB gauge (Active Time Battle) and the pathetic Auto-battle option is available however they finally disposed of the ridiculous animations when changing paradigm shifts. Although, the biggest change to the combat system is the monster recruitment concept. The idea is that as you battle monsters you eventually obtain their crystal evidently resulting in a monster recruitment. Each monster has a few unique skills and are organised into the specified roles (Medic, Commando, Sentinel, Saboteur, Synergist and Ravager) however they may also be infused into one another. This basically means, taking the defensive (Sentinel) stats of a spiky iguana-like monster and giving it to a magic orientated (Ravager) cheerful bird-like monster.

Speaking of cheerful critters alongside Noel and fellow monsters, Serah is accompanied by a Moogle named Mog. Outside of combat, Mog helps find mysterious treasure, invisible artefacts, Time gates and transforms into Serah's Bow and Sword. It's also rewarding and fortunate enough for us Final Fantasy Veterans to have free roaming back in the franchise!


Overall - 17.5

At the end of 13's timeline, I found the game far more achievable and playable than its predescessor, graphically, combatively and story wise. However, the melodrama and overused nagging and still scenes between Serah and Noel were incredibly dull. I also wished that the rest of 13's cast were more accesible throughout the story and actually playable as Serah or Noel. Although, I do detest the idea of DLC to finalise the mini-series, I could see DLC used to portray each character's further connection to the story, resulting in an extra character or 'monster' slot.