Timey Wimey with Noel and Serah

The FFXII-2 protagonists

Final Fantasy XIII-2 seems to be entirely themed around the phenomenon of time travel. With the threat of the Fal'Cie now gone, players take control of Serah Farron and mysterious newcomer Noel Kreiss to unravel the mysteries of the paradox. The plot plays out like a series of vignettes from time-travel show Doctor Who. The sidequests and minigames are reminiscent of games from the PS1 era... even the graphics look like they were made about half a decade ago for the PS2. Yes, you read that right... graphics were a major fail! Was it at least better than X-2? Read on to find out.

Plot

"Dear Square Enix... was FFXIII-2 really supposed to be that Chrono Cross sequel we've been waiting years for you to come out with? Did you just happen to throw a time-travel plot into an existing game to cut costs? Why exactly did we need a sequel anyway? On that note... why was I so stoked for this sequel?"

The plot for the first game, Final Fantasy XIII was incredibly flat. The storyline was predictable, the drama was too forced. And every time token couple Snow and Serah started getting luvey dovey at each other I had to keep fighting the urge to hit the mute button.

Serah and Noel travelling through the Historia Crux

With the addition of the time travel element, the sequel's plot tends to fare a bit better than the original. Still not the classic writing the series is known for. (Remember Final Fantasy VI? I was watching people made of pixels and I felt more moved.) But XIII-2 does have its moments. They withhold just enough mystery to keep the suspense going. Unfortunately, the dialogue still sucks.

Design
Back to the Chrono Cross thing. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who's noticed that Noel's outfit looks a little too much like Chrono Cross protagonist Serge's.

Same hideously baggy pant-shorts with bottom tribal print, same skin-tight black shirt under seaside-inspired top. They didn't even bother to change the colour scheme. The difference is, every time Noel gets a close-up, I can very clearly see the outlines of his muscles defined on his shirt. Apparently for someone who likes really baggy pants, you can go as tight as you want from the waist up.

As for Serah, she's apparently taken a visit to the silicone doctor and gotten the twins enlarged. Or puberty just happened to hit her really late. Because every time I get a close-up of her, all I see is cleavage! Thankfully, I pre-ordered the game and got her traditional Japanese-inspired outfit, Summoner's Garb. Really, Square-Enix, did you really think lots of cleavage would make Serah more appealing to more gamers?

DLC outfits for Noel and Serah... I really don't think they're going for gay or girl gamer appeal

Music
The team who created the soundtrack for XIII reunited to make the soundtrack for the sequel. A lot of the more memorable tracks from the original reappear in XIII-2. Unfortunately, they are still the most memorable pieces. The new score is thematic enough, and for some reason there are way. too. many. vocal tracks. There was one scene with a repeating vocal track in XIII and that drove me near-batty. The ones in XIII-2 are nowhere near as annoying, but I still prefer my instrumentals. Keep the vocals to the FMVs and cutscenes please!

Gameplay
Do I have anything good to say about this game? Yes, I do! The battle system in FFXIII-2 is a modified Paradigm System. Gone are the days of strategically picking out your party's each and every move. You now directly control one leader and you assign your party members different roles based on each combat situation. I've always been a fan of the original system and well... not much has changed.

Paradigm Menu Screen

Save for one factor... with only two protagonists, you'll need to catch monsters to fill out the rest of your party. In a very smart move by Square Enix, they've added a monster catching element to the game. As you fight enemies, you'll receive a monster crystal that will allow you to summon said monster to aid you in battle. Monsters can be leveled up and will gain more abilities... and can wear some incredibly random accessories (a feature that I have very mixed feelings about). On the downside, you can have only up to three monsters in your Paradigms at any given time, so that limits the number of paradigm combinations you have access to. Also... the whole monster crystal thing kinda came out of nowhere... but I have to remember it's Final Fantasy, so I'll let that pass...

Ready... Set... Chocobo Racing's Back!

Besides monster catching, another throwback to late 90s gameplay is the sheer number of minigames. Chocobo Racing is back! It's nowhere near close to the Golden Saucer in design, but the world of FFXIII gets its own casino in Serendipity (incidentally, it's called Palace of Pleasure Xanadu in Japanese... go figure). The minigames are almost unavoidable, as it's necessary to solve a multitude of puzzles to solve the time paradoxes. They're a fun enough break from all the paradigm-shifting (except for the clock mini-game... grr!) Unfortunately, in a lot of the minigames, there isn't that much pretty to look at.

Graphics
Which brings us to graphics. Such. A. Huge. FAIL! Apparently Square-Enix no longer wants to be a visual leader for graphics in the gaming industry. Seriously, I thought my flatscreen needed to be reset at first. Whatever visual delight the original FFXIII was, they kinda threw all that work down the gutter with FFXIII-2. Seriously, FFXIII was so thematic, I played the game sometimes just to roam around! XIII-2, not so much. The visuals are all recycled, and you can tell most of the new graphics because, well, they're not made for high definition. And the most annoying part... Chocolina (and that's all I'll say on that catastrophe).

Mog's back! (See what I mean about the graphics? Lazy!)

The Verdict
Buy it if you liked the Paradigm system or the original FFXIII in general. If you didn't play XIII first, go get that game instead (it's probably cheaper right now anyway). If you're looking for something light or monster catching games are your thing, this might also be the game for you. If not... there's better games out there.

Posted by SnapDragon