So I finally got my hands on the well-kept secret that is the sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, none other than Final Fantasy XIII-2. I say well kept because I had never really heard of it until… well it came out.

I’ve always been an avid fan of the Final Fantasy series and I often curse my birth year for not letting me be of a rational age during the release of VI and VII. Nevertheless, I’ve had fun learning the lore and playing the subsequent se/prequels (Crisis Core and the like!~) and I was still lucky enough to be able to remember the wonderful experience that is Final Fantasy X and IX!

Back to the game at hand! Final Fantasy XIII-2 follows the efforts of the former-protagonist-Lightning’s sister Serah’s attempt at travelling through time with the mysterious Noel Kriess to save her sister. The only problem is – she is the only one who remembers her sister being alive! I won’t go any further because I’ll inevitably present some spoilers, but I have to say that there is one heck of an ending!

I managed to get my hands on the “Chinese+English” edition of the game, which I actually chose over buying the Limited Edition of the regular English version. Why? Simply because the “Chinese+English” version retains the original Japanese voice acting. I’m fine with the dubbing from the earlier games, and even in FFXIII, but it was truly a completely different experience playing it with their original voices. A positive one mind you – the villain’s voice especially! Also helps me in my studies ^^

The “Chinese+English” version also comes with complimentary DLC in the form of new costumes for both protagonists. I don’t really dig the designs, Serah looks too pink with her hair already like that and Noel looks like something out of Dynasty Warriors but the prospect of additional game content via DLC is rather mouthwatering. As does the Square Enix-Ubisoft partnership to create the Assassins Creed DLC costume for Noel!

DLC Costumes

Being a die-hard Final Fantasy fan, you will find me hard pressed to find any flaws within any Final Fantasy. Yes, that includes FFXIII with its super-linear gameplay. Yup, I didn’t dislike it. But many did, and they will be pleased to know that Square Enix has listened and has tried to correct that.

No… I don’t look like something out of Dynasty Warriors.

You still get your rather linear dungeons within each location, but the integration of free time-travelling into the game system along with the abundance of side that has you hopping from not just one zone to the next but one zone to the same zone in a different timeline promotes a unique and varied gameplay. And you will be exploring a lot, because the game world, like every other FF out there, is simply beautiful! Although the graphics have not changed since FFXIII since it is a sequel and thus utilizes the same engine, it shows how advanced the FFXIII graphic engine was at the time for it to not look too dated now.

True to the Final Fantasy series – though with the exception of FFXIII – you get a lot of unlockable stuff now that encourages you to play beyond the story ending. In FFXIII-2, these are Paradox Endings – multiple endings which can be unlocked after making in-game certain choices (and after completing the main storyline too I think: it’s essentially a New Game+). I didn’t find them to be an “ending” per say, though I haven’t unlocked all of them yet, but rather each is a special cutscene that reveals something about the game’s world and lore that you might not have known before.

Look familiar?

There is nothing much to say about the battle system, which is very reminiscent of FFXIII. The mechanics are all the same, except you don’t get summons anymore and you get a customizable third party member (play to find out about this)! I might not have encountered it yet but all the sprays from the game before that you could collect to buff up your character before engaging into a battle seem to be gone to. Here’s a video of the enhanced battle system:

In its place is a cute Moogle named… Mog, who introduces an entirely new engaging system called the Mog Clock. It’s basically a timer in which a preemptive strike in the world map will give you a combo and buff advantage in battle. You could do this in FFXIII too, but there wasn’t a timer and you didn’t get buffed as a reward. Mog also helps you uncover hidden treasures and squirms rather pitifully when you try to throw him into hard to reach places D: Mog is awesome!

Moogle magic indeed.

Oh, and Paradigm Shifts have no more animation – immediate effects! I really hated the transition timings that kind of screwed with battle strategy sometime.

While the battle system is fun, and I appreciate Square Enix’s continued effort to recreate Advent Children-style battles in every current-gen FF game, I still miss the old turn battles from before. Nevertheless, playing in normal mode, I still found the need to plan battles and strategize before rushing into them as opposed to comments that I read online where people would just rush-in and tap one button. That might be possible in Easy mode, but in Normal, for a normal leveled party, that would not be too wise.

The cinematic action feature is very cool too – you get to finish off certain boss battles with a whole “tap the button by the timer” mini-game which if successful, greatly raises your overall battle score.

All in all, Final Fantasy XIII-2 (that’s Fainaru Fantajii Saatiin Tsuu for you Japanglish-philes) is a great game, a step up from its predecessor! Admittedly, I am biased and you will notice that I didn’t mention any flaws about the game. You will find that people still have their complaints, ranging from raging hatred to the battle system, to the utilization of the same graphic engine among other flaws – but I rate a game on whether I enjoy it or not, and I enjoyed it! It’s also good to see that the people at Square Enix are actually reading and acting on user feedback – if not a little too obviously!

I hope this entry sheds a little light onto the game, and I do recommend that you pick it up, if only just to enjoy the rather cute Serah Farron strutting her stuff around!

Most images found on Google Images so credit to Square Enix and otherwise where necessary!