Sora96's FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 Review

[Sora96 17,256]

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 is the sequel to FINAL FANTASY XIII, however this time you'll be controlling different characters. This time you're controlling Lightning's younger sister, Serah and a boy from the future called Noel who is the last person alive in his time which is about 700 years in the future. Serah's trying to find her sister and Noel's trying to save the future.

 

Pretty simple right? Well that depends on your opinion of time travel. You'll be traveling to different areas in time to solve paradoxes and complete side quests. A lot of the time you'll find yourself going to the same places but in a different time. By doing this you'll obtain fragments which are used for unlocking the game's secret ending which requires every single one of them. No easy feat.

 

Now I mentioned that you control Serah and Noel, but you'll also get a third party member. This third party member is simply a monster you've captured, and you can change the monster as much as you want. Golden Chocobo was my favourite. Through DLC you'll unlock characters from FINAL FANTASY XIII who'll take the monster's position. Gameplay is a lot like XIII's, however with a different party system it is slightly different. 

 

Square Enix even threw in paradox endings which occur when you complete something an alternative way. I enjoyed these, however I found the final two quite hard to unlock considering you have to defeat a very powerful boss with one character.

 

Serah's friend, Mog which is a gift from Lightning also proves useful looking for things and being used as a weapon for Serah. Also fighting alongside Snow is also fun.

 

Changing your outfit is an option, but I chose not too. Nomura's design's are too good. And if you're worried about the lack of an Easy Mode like in the English version of XIII, don't. Square Enix have included it in the English version this time.

 

As per usual cutscenes, voice acting and music are great. And the ending is beautiful and sad at the same time.

 

I also strongly recommend purchasing Sazh and Lightning's DLC episodes to expand upon their stories and unlock the ability to use them as the third party member. There's also plenty of DLC boss battles to fight in the coliseum if you want a challenge.

 

There's also a ton of replay value and side quests to do.

 

And if you're one of the people who hated XIII for reasons like it being too linear, Square Enix's 1st Production Department took the feedback and addressed it into this game.

 

You have to purchase DLC to get the full story, but the DLC is very cheap now and the DLC isn't required to enjoy the game.

 

Overall, FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 is another great game and has a great story with great graphics, music and more. However, I wish they made the secret ending worth all that time.

 

9/10

[dabestgamer 62]

I totally agree with this.

 

In my personal opinion, this is probably my favorite out of the trilogy to play in terms of battling.

 

Also, an interesting perk about the Lightning and Sazh episodes is that you can access them the moment you go to the Historia Crux and before you travel to Bresha Ruins 5 AF.

 

You know, if you want to just screw around. (Although, Lightning really is only OP early game and it begins to balance out around when you get to Academia 400 AF, assuming you only play the story and don't go for all the side quests.)

[Sora96 17,256]

My FINAL FANTASY XIII review.

My LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII review.

[opinion 83]

Finally got around to playing this game this week after it sitting in it's packaging since near release date.  Never had the time/had the motivation to play it.  Got a deal for LR so I thought I might as well try it, if I don't like it I'll put it up on ebay and profit off of it.

 

Great game.  Loving every part of it right now.  I'm not a blind hater of FF13 but I found myself getting really bored at times playing it but I enjoyed the story.  

 

Haven't been bored at all with this game and I love the time traveling system they have in this game.  

[Sora96 17,256]

Finally got around to playing this game this week after it sitting in it's packaging since near release date.  Never had the time/had the motivation to play it.  Got a deal for LR so I thought I might as well try it, if I don't like it I'll put it up on ebay and profit off of it.

 

Great game.  Loving every part of it right now.  I'm not a blind hater of FF13 but I found myself getting really bored at times playing it but I enjoyed the story.  

 

Haven't been bored at all with this game and I love the time traveling system they have in this game.  

 

Great to hear you're enjoying it.

[Jiraiya's Disciple 631]

I loved this game I spent so long trying to get the perfect Sentinel monster and leveling up and Caius was an absolutely amazing final boss and antagonist to begin with. I really liked how he did everything for a reason. And he destroyed THE FREAKING TIMELINE HOW BA.

[Sora96 17,256]

Increased from 8 to 9.