Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2

Final Fantasy XIII-2

PS3 (reviewed), Xbox 360

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Square Enix

Release Date: 31 January 2012

JRPGs have suffered this console generation. The heavy hitters in the genre have moved to hand-helds (like Dragon Quest IX) or were met with fan backlash and derision (like Final Fantasy XIII). The problems facing XIII-2 were daunting: the original was blasted for being too linear, not having shops, taking way to long to open up into the larger world, having a weak story/characters (I disagree on this point) and having a battle system that was innovative, but also frustrating. The producer of the game, Yoshinori Kitase, promised to rectify the issues fans raised about the first game and deliver a sequel that not only made apologies for the first game, but expanded and improved on the game. I was worried, but after playing through, I can safely say, “Apology accepted, Square Enix.”

Serah, Mog and Noel traipse through time

XIII-2 opens with the end of XIII. The heroes have won the day and happy reunions are happening. But Lightning is missing, even though Serah (her sister) remembers her being there. Three years later, Serah is plagued by nightmares about Lightning and the feeling that something isn't right. She then meets Noel, a young man claiming to come from the end of days and a moogle named Mog, a gift/lucky charm from Lightning. The three set off through time to right the past and prevent the horrific future of Noel's life. The trio right temporal wrongs, help others resolve their various issues and strive to set history to rights again.

Honestly, the story is one of the weaker parts of the game. Time travel is always tricky to do properly, and the catch-all explanation of “time paradox” wears thin rather quickly. The story also hinges on the oft repeated axiom, “If you change the future, you change the past.” I tried to wrap my head around that, even with the in-game explanations, and still came away with a headache. While the essential lynchpin of the story is bizarre, I found myself truly caring by the end. I got wrapped up in the adventures and the daunting choices made in the name of saving history. While the ending offers up a “To Be Continued...” line, the story succeeds despite a dubious premise.

Those crazy kids in love are reunited

One of XIII's strengths, in my opinion, was in characters that developed and were interesting. Not many share that view, but I loved the cast of the original game overall, even if they were whiny brats. I was honestly worried about Noel, but he fast became one of my favorite characters. He started off pretty standard as a JRPG hero, but by the end, he had depth, tragedy and nobility. Serah similarly underwent changes, but I wasn't as pleased with these. There were some essential changes in her character that fly in the face of the entirety of XIII's story. And Mog, while cute, annoyingly adds “kupo” as a vocal tic. This is adorable for about 3 seconds before it becomes the new “Hey! Listen!”. The returning cast are the same overall, though the new character models are awesome (especially Snow). For XIII-2, the supporting cast outshines 2/3's of the main cast, but that's OK.

Hope is back, and he's pretty cool

Graphically, the game isn't as beautiful as its predecessor. The loads are the biggest issue. Randomly long loads when opening the Historia Crux (the map of areas you can visit) and the jarring loads before cinemas were disappointing. It's still a beautiful game, but it suffers from the shortened development cycle. The hair, in particular, suffers. This is quibbling, but it was slightly disappointing after the eye-melting beauty of the first game.

The last negative thing has got to be the music. Final Fantasy has always had a solid musical score. Over the years, games have changed, but the music was always something you could count on to be stellar. XIII added vocals to some of the maps, which was strange, but oddly fitting. XIII-2 continues this trend, but makes some really awkward choices in lyrics. The “Crazy Chocobo” sounds like something from the depths of Nu-metal Hell (of note, the lyrics: “Saddle up and ride in this rodeo. Are we in Hell, I dunno!”). This theme plays when you ride the Red Chocobo (and strangely during a chocobo-free boss fight). It is an aural atrocity, in my opinion. The rest of the soundtrack is a mix of acid-jazz, easy listening, pseudo-rock and then a few amazingly beautiful orchestral tracks. If it wasn't for the moogle alert sounds, which signify hidden items, I may have played on mute. Music is a disappointment, but it's not something that ruins the game overall.

Yeah, ride that chocobo!  Nu-metal rocks!

Now that the bad/dubious things are out of the way, it's time to focus on the changes made for the better. The game's systems for combat and leveling are different or changed for the better. This is where the game is like a dance. There is positive movement overall, but sometimes it seems like the steps are more sideways than forward.

The battle system remains more or less the same, with some nice streamlining and upgrades. Paradigm Shifts are now instant, and don't interrupt attack streams. The same strategies that worked before are still the same. The biggest and best change is that the leader can die and it doesn't result in Game Over. As long as either Serah or Noel is alive, the death of the leader results in a Leader Swap and a chance to throw a recovery item. It's a small change, but it takes the major complaint I had with the battle system in XIII and fixes it perfectly. Although the battles are still too fast and basically force you to use the Auto Battle system, it's a solid battle system.

Battles are flashy and hectic as ever

The biggest change is the addition of monster collecting. Monsters may drop a crystal when defeated that will allow you to use that monster in combat. Monsters fill a specific role in combat, such as a Chocobo is a Commando, a Cait Sith is a Medic and a Pulsework Solider is a Sentential. You can have three separate monsters in your party who will swap out with each Paradigm Shift. After a time, the monsters can do a Feral Link (think Overdrive, Limit Break, special attack). These are monster specific, though some are more useful than others. The “Bellow” of behemoths heals and instills positive buffs on the party, while a gremlin will stop casting magic and do a butt stomp. Each monster has it's own stats and “personality” that determines development cost and level cap. You can also combine monsters to add up to 10 passive skills. This part of the game, so very much like Pokemon, is addicting and making the perfect team is a fun diversion.

The Crystarium returns in an altered form for XIII-2. Each character has their own path to follow, with nodes large and small that confer an extra bonus. The individual jobs now all share the same path, and each job gives a specific bonus at each node. Things like health come from the Medic or Sentential jobs, while strength bonuses are generally reserved for Commandos and Synergists. Instead of having multiple crystals per level, each crystal is now a level itself. So upgrading three nodes as a Commando will up your Commando level by three. When you complete a “lap” around the path, all the nodes reset and you get to pick a “bonus.” Bonuses are either new jobs, upgrades to a job (larger bonuses at nodes), special attacks or larger accessory points (I'll get to those in a bit). Monsters use materials dropped to upgrade. The higher the level for the monster, the higher grade the material is needed. The Crystarium was more muddled this time around, but it was still a solid system overall.

Antagonist Caius Ballad: bad name, awesome character

The other additions to the game are, again, steps forward and a bit sideways. One of the biggest complaints about XIII was how linear it was, and XIII-2 took that lesson to heart. Before too long, the game opens up and allows you to pursue your own goals nearly unhindered. Hub areas have plenty of people, some of whom offer side quests (something completely missing before). In each area, a crazy half-chocobo lady named Chocolina offers her wares. She shows up frequently, and offers a one-stop shop for all your needs. A major improvement is that weapons can be purchased. Nicer/Rare weapons can be crafted by Chocolina if you have the right parts and base weapon/accessory. This is a major improvement from XIII. Accessories are handled differently this time around. Each accessory has a value, and the more useful the accessory, the more it costs to wear. You begin with 50 points, and most accessories cost 30 to wear. You can wear up to four accessories if you have the points for it. I found the bonuses to each class more useful than more accessory space, but that might just be me.

Repairing the timeline, one paradox at a time

Overall, XIII-2 has everything you could want from a JRPG. There are a lot of positives about this release that have gone a long way to rekindling the magic of the Final Fantasy series to me. I loved the battle system, collecting stronger monsters and wandering the timeline in search of lost items. The critical path will take about 30 hours, and doing just that netted me only 58 of the possible 160 fragments. The robust post-game content will offer many more hours of entertainment for those willing to explore. There is a deep chocobo breeding/racing game, casino games, a battle coliseum and plenty of smaller quests to dive into. Square Enix listened to fan complaints to make XIII-2 a better game. Despite some strange story elements and awful music, the game is great. It's the first JRPG that I've lost track of time playing in years. That is some of the highest praise I can give it.

Score: 7 out of 10

Bottom Line: Strange story aside, this game goes a long way to right the Final Fantasy franchise

Check it out if you like: Final Fantasy series, PS2-era JRPGs