Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Playstation 3

So my package arrived with the game in it 3 hours ago and I have been playing non-stop since then. In this review I will be discussing what I think of the game so far and I will update the review as I progress into the game. I will not be revealing any spoilers for obvious reasons. Anyway, the first few scenes of the game show some familiar faces from the XIII, but we meet some new characters as well which you might have seen in the commercials for the game. The first 20-30 minutes of the game is just cutscenes, but they are fairly interesting and keep the player entertained. Over time we start to see some past story development and how the original story fits into the new XIII-2 timeline. Funny I should mention "timeline" as time has an interesting concept, especially in the beginning of the game. So basically the first few hours of the game is basically an introduction of sorts. Square Enix does a fantastic job of explaining what happened in XIII so that even players who have not played XIII can get right into it with no difficulty. Players who have completed XIII will be in for a treat as the first few hours explain what happened after the ending of XIII and where the characters are now. I haven't delved deep enough into the game to fully understand the main conflict, but I am sure in time I will get to know what is really going on. I found XIII to be very similar: As time progressed I understood more and more what was going on. I quite enjoy the new features of the game as well. The pre-battle system is somewhat changed where monsters appear out of nowhere. A meter displaying green/yellow/red is what allows you to attack your enemies. You basically approach the enemy and attack it (with X [PS3] or A [Xbox 360]) and the meter goes further towards red the longer you stall. If you attack while in green you get a pre-emptive strike. If you attack while in yellow it is a normal battle. If you attack while in red it is a normal battle except you have no "Retry" option if you die. The speech system is very interesting in that from time to time you get 4 different options and you can choose what to say. Each option has a completely different response. In this way it is similar to Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect. The battle system is exactly the same except now from time to time you get a "live" battle function where characters do moves based on if you press a button in time or not (more like a cinematic battle). I also noticed that you can change characters outfits in the menu but I have not unlocked any yet. The crystarium looks different than in XIII and operates slightly differently, but XIII players will instantly get the hang of it. You basically still get points in battle and you can use those points in the crystarium. Instead of being able to navigate the crystarium you just press buttons depending on your class of choice (you only have COM, RAV, and SEN at the start of the game) to unlock skills. Another great thing they added to the crystarium is that you can choose a special power-up when you get to a certain level in all your skills combined. I don't remember what level it was but for one of my characters I had a choice between an ATB gauge segment, a RAV power-up, a COM power-up, and some other things which I do not remember off the top of my head. So far I haven't seen a single new skill or attack but that will most likely change. The one small gripe I have is that on the PS3 version (which I own) I get lag spikes from time to time during intense cut-scenes. I am assuming this is because of the aging PS3 graphics processor. I know that Square Enix decided to use the game's engine to create cut-scenes, could that have something to do with it? It's not annoying or anything but it is definitely noticeable. At some points I even saw the FPS drop down to ~10. Also, I have the PS3 slim and I just purchased it in November so I highly doubt it is an over-heating issue. Xbox 360 and PS3 users please leave a comment if you are noticing any FPS drops. Anyway, I really enjoyed the first few hours of the game. The game is not as linear as XIII which is a huge plus, and from the first hour you can explore the city that you are in and claim all the treasures. I will try and update this review as much as I can so players have a good idea of what they are getting into!

A lot of things can be said about this game but I think the closest to the mark would be "we want to make good looking games". Well, anyone who agrees with this remark will have noticed the finely made flowers, the good looking character models and the beautiful scenery. Final fantasy games generally have many characters in the main party or in the list of primary characters but in this game they reduced the usual party roster of eight to just Sarah and Noel. This actually makes a lot of sense for this game. The benefits it provides makes for a better sense of story by concentrating focus on fewer characters. When you look at Sarah's role in the previous game, it's surprising that she gets a much more active one this time round. From being very passive, she is now quite active, almost matching Noel, who is one of the stronger Final Fantasy leads. They both come across well in their journey. Sarah and Noel confront many things both marvellous and dire. One thing like that was the machine god; something that Hope, one of the major characters of the series, had created to replace the old demons. It was marvellous because it had the power to hold a massive sphere high in the atmosphere, yet dire because it held no love for the sphere's inhabitants. Moving back to Noel and Sarah, when they arrive in Academia, the greatest city of future Earth, it holds a dark promise of something greater. There's the sullen threat of the machine god, but also the possibility of its destruction. They learn in the Augusta Tower where Hope created it, that if they are to become great, it will be through their own efforts not a machine's. One thing that can be said of this is that the puzzle elements are quite well integrated into the experience and the level of polish holds up. A lot can be said for a fun game and this certainly has that in spades.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the sequel to the controversial 2010 release Final Fantasy XIII. It is loved by many, and hated by others. This is something that it has in common with many of the predecessors that came before it. Square-Enix was determined to try and fix many of the mistakes they felt that they had made. Personally I have enjoyed every Final Fantasy, even Final Fantasy XI, XII, XIII, and XIV (now). I come into each, and every one of them with a different set of eyes. This is not a series that is not going to stay along a specific formula. Each chapter in the Final Fantasy saga is constantly evolving, and changing. It is up to the fans to embrace that change or sadly this Fantasy may be Final for you. Story (Spoiler free): The story in XIII-2 is pretty interesting. It plays off similarly to a mystery. It starts off 3 years after the events of the previous game. Lightning is gone, and Serah is determined to find her along with Noel. They set off on their grand adventure. Where did Lightning go? How is Noel involved? Who is Etro, and how is she involved? What is the main goal of the antagonist? All of these questions popped into my mind several times. Luckily XIII-2 succeeds in the story department, especially in the later segments of the game. XIII-2 has an excellent cast of characters, with one of the best antagonists in recent memory. If you aren't a fan of getting the overall plot in smaller portions, and then a grand finale in the later segments of the game. You will more than likely dislike XIII-2s story. Also one needs to remember that this is a time travel game so you need to keep an open mind of what is happening because there are certain things that don't make sense at first, but they will later on. Outside of the story from the cinematics, some bits and pieces are told through data logs and through NPCs (Talk to ALL of them). This was a nice addition because I really enjoyed reading those extra tidbits from the datalog fragments. Gameplay: Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a time traveling game. You will be delving through the Historia Crux jumping between the timelines to enter new areas. In these areas you can of course do the main plot, but Square also implemented many outside additions for the players to do. These biggest additions include: Monster Hunting - One of the best additions to the game. The 3rd slot in the party belongs to a monster, so hunting is essential. You can capture tonberrys, cactaurs, ochus, and even in some cases primals! Each monster has a different role, and can be leveled through the Crystarium (similarly to the main characters, except they take monster components). In certain cases, there are even one of kind monsters. So choose wisely before you level them up. Monsters can be infused to inherit abilities, and traits. One can lose hours of their lives with this system, especially if you want to catch them all. Sidequests - There are tons of these throughout the game. There are simple fetch quests, killing quests, detailing a map, obtaining 100% of the beastiary, solving puzzles, answering questions, and many more. The nice addition that Square did here is that every character in the game has a voice over, and they aren't reused. If Square did re-use voice actors for NPCs they did a darn good job of hiding it, and I'm pretty good at catching that sort of thing. Also every quest is started in the form of a basic cut-scene. Gone are the days of long dreadful text walls. Paradox Puzzles - Square implemented puzzles to the game in the form of Paradox Puzzles. These puzzles take place in what seems like a rift between time, and there are three different forms of puzzles. Running tile puzzles, connect the dots of sorts, and the brain crunching clock puzzles. Some of these puzzles had me stumped. One in particular took me close to an hour to figure out. (By the way, those clock puzzles are random. Good luck finding a guide). Serendipity - This optional area is a theme park of sorts if you wish to call it that. There is Chocobo Racing, Slot machines, and more that will be added later via DLC such as card games. There are dozens of adornments to be found, tons of prizes to win, and lots of money to be lost. The battle system is pretty much the same as Final Fantasy XIII. At first I actually had a hard time readjusting to it because it's so darn fast. I still dislike the "Auto-Battle" option but I do understand why it's there. You never have to use it once through the entire game if you wish not too. Square redid a lot of the animations, especially in the magic department. The later tier magic spells seemed to have a lot more effects than its predecessor which I found to be really nice. Though there was a lot of reuse in abilities such as "Ruin, Blitz, Imperil" and more. Monsters from XIII are also reused in a lot of areas, which is also understandable because it's still the same world so they aren't going to just disappear. However if in the future a sequel is made (oh and there will be) I would like to see more additions. There is enough for it not too be annoying, but I would like to see more variations. Characters advance through the Crystarium, a system used in Final Fantasy XIII. While it may look similar in style to its counterpart it's actually a lot different. There is still a one way path for each role, but depending on what role you level and when, the stats you have at the end of the Crystarium may differ greatly from another player. When leveling the "Bigger Orbs" there are stat bonuses determined by that role. For example a Commando is a 2 STR bonus, while a Ravager is 2 MAG bonus. Choose wisely. Square implemented dialogue trees, and cinematic actions for more of a western appeal approach. These additions were alright, but as a fan of JRPGs over WRPGs. I hope that in the future, they stay far away from the genre. It's not that I dislike them, but I would rather appreciate 100% of the story, and watch the impressive cutscenes. Graphics: As always Final Fantasy XIII-2 boasts some of the best visuals you will find. The graphics may be a slight, and very slight step down from XIII-2 but I challenge you to find a better looking game in the JRPG genre besides XIII. Lastly Square-Enix is still unrivaled in the cinematic department. The cut-scenes are just too gorgeous for words. Music: The music in Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a bit of a departure from other games in the series. A good portion of the soundtrack which boasts over 70 songs has vocals. Luckily the rap tracks have been eliminated from the western version, but almost all of the songs are a delight to listen too. Naoshi Mizuta, Masashi Hamauzu, Nobuo Uematsu, and Mitsuto Suzuki put together a very decent soundtrack. There were only a few songs I really disliked, and unsurprisingly they were composed by Nobuo. I am a big fan of Nobuo's early work but that Crazy Chocobo theme was entirely unnecessary, and didn't fit with the Final Fantasy universe at all. Head banging, and really crazy death metal isn't my style especially in a boss fight or, when riding a cute little bird. Naoshi Mizuta continues to impress me with themes like "Warrior Goddess" and "Caius Theme." I really hope that he is a part of all future Final Fantasy installments. In my opinion he is the new Nobuo Uematsu of this time period. Technical Problems: In a generation where video game technical issues seem to be the norm, it is nice that Square-Enix is ahead of the curve with their single player Final Fantasy games. However the game is not perfect. There are frame drops in cut scenes. They aren't anything that will significantly irritate the player (and most people probably will not notice it at all) but it does break my focus. Thankfully though out of the entire time I spent with the game that was all I encountered. No freezes, no screen tears, no cutting out music, hell my entire 24MB save didn't drop to 10 frames at all! What I played: My adventure in XIII-2 lasted about 65 hours (the main story took me roughly 35 hours, and I skipped some content). That time will differ heavily depending on what content you do. The Platinum trophy has been obtained, and I have conquered a majority of the games content. I have seen every Paradox ending, the secret ending, and all 160 fragments have been found. I however did not capture every monster (but I did kill them all ^^), or obtain all of the adornments that can be found throughout the game. I also did not collect the weapons that require ridiculous farming time. My score and final thoughts: Final Fantasy XIII-2 is by no means a perfect game, because it isn't. Not everyone will enjoy XIII-2 but I do believe that Square succeeded in bringing back the joy for many Final Fantasy Fans. XIII-2 boasts a very decent story, great music, decent characters, one hell of a protagonist, and one of the most memorable endings I have ever seen. Time literally flew by while playing XIII-2 for me, so thanks Square for the fun. Quick Recap: Pros: Characters Story Music Caius is EPIC Monster Hunting Ending Illusion of freedom is back Graphics Neutral: Dialogue Trees Cinematic Actions Re-use of Monster assets Cons: Inconsistent Difficulty (Luckily the Final Boss is insanely fun!) Frame drops in cut scenes Nobuo's ridiculous head banging music

I thought this game would be good but it is actually turning out even better than I thought it would be. The story now seems easier to follow, though the story is still quite complex, it takes its time going through each aspect of the story instead of just throwing you in head first the way XIII did. I am feeling less confused while going through the game. I like what they have done with the characters as well. Hope is not a whiny brat anymore and is a mature leader which might please people that thought he was a little annoying. Snow is as awesome as ever but I think he might have lost even more of his marbels if that is possible! There are many interesting changes in this game if you were a fan of XIII. If you didn't like XIII I would say you still might like this game, because many of the problems people have had with it were fixed. SE did a good job listening to fans and changing aspects of the original game people were aggrivated by such as the linear levels. The action has the best aspects of XIII with some extra features that make the battle mechanics even funner such as finding and training mosters. I think the one feature I like the best about this game though is the time traveling aspect. I really have enjoyed seeing what different times look like, and there are some really interesting places such as the colosseum, but I won't spoil who or what you meet there. If you have played XIII think of that game as a prototype for this game. It took the foundation and built on it, making a much wider and complex game experience that is very enjoyable. Its great to have high hopes for a game and STILL be blown away.

Update # 2: i was wrong about the DLC, they are going to add the extra ending for the game, the director of the game stated that the Be Continued at the end is for the Lightning, Snow and Sazh story DLC. they are all in production currently. That in mind I'd recommend to wait till this game is released as a 'Game of the Year Edition' and you actually get the full game. Then it might be worth $60 till then it's still not worth over $30. I've have gotten all the fragments 160 and the Platinum Trophy, leveled up my character to max and ran out of things to do. It took just under 70 hours. I will say 5+ hours of my game play were in the casino serendipity. to get the most annoying fragment possible 'Lucky Coin.' You have to win 7,777 in the slot machine. to do this i taped my remote's L1 button to auto play and i watched a few movies, switch my TV back and i had the fragment. And yes i was right there are 160 fragments which means 160 things to do in this game, about 40 of them are from the main mission, with about 120 coming from random "side quest". I liked the post game much more then the actual game, mostly because i just went around beating up monsters, instead of trying to pretend this game had a good story. also there aren't any puzzle quest at the end. a very nice plus. RECOMMONDATION: Wait till the 'Game of the Year Edition' comes out or get this game for dirt cheap. Update: I just beat the game 35 hours with 98/160 fragments found. And i'd agree with myself the game is just a ton of filler with a little bit of interesting story. that said when the story really starts to swing, at about 25 hours of game play, its really fun. Basically the last two levels after all the middle junk. Funny thing, in FFXIII the first 20 hours were all story and no game play, this game is all game play and no story. guess they took everyone option way to seriously. And i want to stop all the people saying this game is lacking an ending, it has one, there's a final showdown between the hereos and the boss and it's epic. think The Two Towers or Empire Stikes Back. they have endings, but they also lead to a much bigger story. Also the DLC with lighting is not an extra ending, its simply the areana, and you get to use her as one of your monster. pretty lame actually. I want to move my rating up from a 3 to a 4 star review but i paid $60 and this games not worth that much. at best it's worth $30+shipping and if your a total nerd like me you already have it. hope you got the $20 promotion Origanal review remain below. It was written after 5 hours of grinding and a really anoying set of puzzles. i really hate the puzzles in this game! This game really feels like a 10 hour maybe game stretched out to be a 40 hour game, with then a huge amount fetch quest to add it up to a 60 hour game. there is so much filler. Story: When this game was announced it was rumored that FFXIII was actually cut short and this is the part that was cut out. well if thats true, there a good reason they cut it out. this story really has nothing to do with FFXIII. Whenever you travel to a new time zone, your instantly informed of all the issues in the area. you never get to go and figure stuff out which usually is simply some paradox that Dr. Who hasn't solved yet. Combat: It's faster, that is true, and capturing monsters is actually a lot more fun then i thought it would be. That said, because the the battle are random now, they way easier. Just set up a commando group and press X and you'll get 5 stars. in 13 it was about getting the monster stagger as fast as possible to get the kill. now unless it a boss, there really isn't any reason. also the encounter level is so high, i over leveled massively. That said, if you played 13 then you'll realize that all the monster are the same from 13, with little changes, often a color change, besides for the bosses. they usually new. World: Think Mass Effect 2, with time travel instead of space travel. That and the same level repeats over and over with a simple zone change. and when you change time zones, the item some how remain in the same exact places. making it seem like a waste to even go back. but no, there will be some random quest item stashed away in the same exact level you've already been to. Graphic: Averagely as good as the FFXIII. But there are parts that totally feel like a 720p up converted, but the nice finished vid that are the Hallmark of Final Fantasy games are almost nonexistent in the game. Side Quest: Honestly through out the game i just did stuff. most of the time after a bit of going, I'd realize i was side questing, and it's because side quest and the main story quest look exactly the same. All you do is fetch quest, and some monster killing. But a ton of fetch quest. they get a bit boring. oh, but the game has 160 fragments to find, and well ever time you do a side quest you get a fragment, so it's pretty safe to assume to there are about 125+ side quest in the game to finish. you also get fragments randomly when your doing the story, usually after you kill a boss. I got bored and haven't finished all of them yet, not even close. The puzzles and casino in the game feel like nothing more then waste of time. Also when you get to the casino your told that you need to get the DLC to play some of the card games. So there's really only slots, or chocobo racing. which both really aren't any fun. Pros: When the combats difficult it a lot of fun. Graphics when they make the 1080p PS3 shine. Voice Acting lots of looking for stuff, if you care to find stuff. Cons: Story Puzzles Lot's of looking for stuff you if you don't like finding stuff. (i personally don't, so i found it tiresome) Filler Casino is boring, unless you like slots or watching your chocobo loose. Conclusion: I feel like i played this game because i paid $60 for it. if i paid $30 or less for it, I'd probably would have stopped after the first clock puzzle and felt like it was money worth spent. I loved 13 so this game has been a pretty big disappointment. good thing i got the $20 Amazon promotion with it. makes it feel a little bit better.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS (TL;DR): The game is significantly less flawed than recent installments in the Final Fantasy series, but rarely shines as an example for other games to follow. Highlights include the managerial battle system, monster ally development, characters Yeul and Caius, and the voice acting. While enjoyable on its own, it doesn't have the feel of this generation's masterpieces, such as the big names "Skyrim" and "Mass Effect 2" or sleeper hits "Valkyria Chronicles" and "Catherine". BACKGROUND: Ever since Final Fantasy X was released to massive acclaim in the early 2000's, the series has been very experimental. And it had to be; the "active time battle" which began in the SNES era had been beaten to death, and FFX was a perfect swan-song for the true turn-based RPG. But other elements were seeing change as well: longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu was going independent and leaving the series to new talent. The "high-tech fantasy" setting which was successfully developed for Final Fantasy 6 had grown a touch stale, and Square-Enix had discovered in FFX that alternative settings--in that particular case, a fantastic southeast Asia--were well received by fans. However, much of the experimentation over the next few games resulted in failure. The "pop princess" scenario of Final Fantasy X-2 was unimpressive to many, and the game's battle system (which combined their "active time battle" with their "job system") was glossed over as neither a saving grace nor a damning feature. The following single-player game, Final Fantasy XII, had many MMORPG elements and was received well for it, but ultimately was not in the spirit of previous games due to its vastly different soundtrack (which had zero input from Uematsu), relatively small cast of story characters, and requirements for "grinding". Final Fantasy XIII returned to the core of the Final Fantasy series for the most part. However, to the surprise of many fans, the game was almost entirely linear: there was no element of exploration or, for that matter, personalized character stat development. This betrayed an amazing gameplay and story experience for many people, leaving the game ultimately unsatisfying. This is where Final Fantasy XIII-2 was created: somewhere among the tenuous peaks of revolutionary "progress", after a mixed bag of successes and failures. GAMEPLAY: This is where the game probably shines most. The game allows a huge amount of customization to your characters in battle. Crystogen Points (CP, the game's version of EXP) can be allocated to any of the six roles in Final Fantasy XIII in any distribution: to refresh, they entail a pure damage-dealing job, a job which boosts an enemy's damage taken while dealing moderate damage, a job which protects allies by absorbing damage, a job which debuffs enemies, a job which buffs allies, and a healer. Like in Final Fantasy X-2 and XIII, you can and must switch between these classes during battle for maximum effectiveness. The ultimate effect of this is a managerial gameplay experience that allows you to build a team any way you wish, then control the flow of battle as much as any boss enemy would in previous games. The third playable "character" in the game is actually a set of captured monsters which you gain access to shortly after the game's beginning. Upgrading, naming, and decorating your monsters can become horribly addictive. It's also very personalized: some people want a team full of series-staple chocobos, others want hulking behemoths or trophy boss monsters (many of which are tameable). I used a team of gelatinous flan, because they're classy (duh). The good news is, the monster development system allows a hefty fraction of the monsters to be powerful enough for late game activities, so you can focus on having fun with it! The only downside of the gameplay relates heavily to the monster system. It's quite possible, if you're skilled enough to sequence break in a few places, to break the game's difficulty by raising a monster that stays just ahead of the enemy curve. Much of the game becomes a cakewalk if you do this accidentally, even on the harder of two difficulties. The good news is that the post-game superbosses (when paired with the game's relatively easy-to-achieve level cap) are not trivialized unless you create "ultimate monsters", which is a late-game activity in and of itself, so it's not a problem. TRANSLATION, VOICES, MUSIC: This game was translated with more love than previous installments in the series. A major downfall of many Japanese-to-English translations is a lack of romanticized adjectives: FFXIII-2 flows like a novel in places, so that's not a problem. Voiceover is unsurprisingly excellent, considering its cast includes Troy Baker (as Snow, see also Vincent from "Catherine"), Laura Bailey (as Serah, see just about any other game's voice cast), Ali Hillis (Lightning, see Liara T'Soni from the "Mass Effect" series), and Liam O'Brien (as antagonist Caius, who hams it up as usual, but is for some reason well-received for his hamming). Despite the stars, some of the lesser-known actors who are given main characters in XIII-2 really shine. The character Noel is voiced and written very well, and the antagonist's counterpart Yeul is astoundingly good: she strikes a nice balance between girlishness and the deep, throaty voice of an all-knowing (and occasionally pessimistic) seeress. Also, since *MINOR SPOILER* her character is actually a multitude of characters across time *END SPOILER*, there's an extra bit of goodness due to the slight variety of performances she gives. The music is for the most part a step up from XIII, which focused too heavily on one theme. This soundtrack is much more diverse, but doesn't spread itself out too much for the leitmotivs to be audible. The violin-sawing from XIII's battle music is widespread in the sequel's soundtrack, which is good for anyone who enjoys that particular instrument, and there are many choral pieces as well. The only problem I can mention about the sound is that Mog's voice can become annoying at times. However, these moments usually come and pass, and you'll find it cute again eventually. Just recognize that it's a fifteen year old girl doing it, and you'll grin. VISUALS: Similar to XIII, but with questionable character design decisions. Noel, Yeul, and Hope all have very nice character designs, but Serah's new outfit is too sexualized for how skinny and child-like her figure is. Lightning looks like a lopsided Asian valkyrie, Snow looks like a vagrant, and Caius' outfit is too tight. Its purple hue is not a problem, it's just too tight. New character Alyssa has shorts that come down to about her wrist, which means there's something very wrong with her proportions, though I can't necessarily place it. Environments are very good, although less diverse than XIII's due to a notable lack of Cocoon's disorienting cityscapes. A few snowy environments put snow on your field and battle models, which looks cool on both the characters and the monsters in the allied and enemy parties. Character design flaws in Serah and Noel can be remedied with downloadable costumes at extra cost. I recommend the Mass Effect N7 armor, it makes for some ass-kicking goodness. STORY: Overall less impressive than XIII, but better than XII. Interesting new characters distract from the fact that the cool elements of XIII's setting--the fal'Cie, their control over Man, and their bizarre quest to end original sin by sinning yet again--are now all purged from the world. As has been the trend in Final Fantasy games since IX or X, the antagonist can be sympathized with, at times more than the protagonists. Much of the story is bizarre and really follows from the goddess in question being "a goddess of chaos". If you get the game for the story, know that you will have to wait and cough up more money to complete it. The ending is "To be continued..." and in all likelihood will be completed by DLC. (Note that while the Snow and Sazh DLC can help 100%-ers and do have some fun elements, they do not contribute to the story in the way that the Lightning and future DLC will.)

who would have thought an -2 game would be better than original after the x-2 abomination? Getting the 13-x is an risk for me because i really didn't like 13 that much, let alone the bad memory from X-2. but i heard this game was pretty good (as it was released in japan first) and i decide to give a shot and get release day copy. oh was i wrong, the 13-2 exceed 13 in every aspect possible. a lot of folks may argue the 13-2 (and 13) is no longer a FF game, but what exactly is FF game? turn based? action involved? linear? level grinding? to me, a FF game is a type of JRPG that tells a interesting story with awesome graphics, music and innovating actions. and this game delivers them all. graphic: 10/10. this shouldn't surprise anyone as the original 13's graphic pretty much set the standard. musics: 8/10. the best FF musics, in my mind, came from FF7, FF8 and FF10. let me just say Nobuo Uematsu is an genius and i have yet to find anyone makes better game music than he does (if you don't know, FFx is his last involvement with FF series). 13-2 music isn't bad, just not as interesting. fight: i guess 7/10 is a pretty fair score. definitely less user involvement and it somewhat a evolution from FF13. i guess everyone has their preference but i just don't like it AS much. innovation: big plus, 10/10. the idea of traveling through time isn't new. but the idea of creating a tunnel and give you three version of the same map from different time, and parallel universe of the place as you start changing the story, and the ability to traveling to any of the maps from any era (or its parallel version) is definitely a noble idea. this along is worth purchasing the game for. so does this game better than FFX (which IMHO is the best FF series, i know a lot of folks disagree), probably not. but does this game a worthy FF successor? yes, positively yes. Give it a shot, and i hope you enjoy the game as much as i do.

Even though I was someone who actually enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII, I freely admit it had rather large problems with its design - the level design was painfully linear, not much variety in terms of gameplay mechanics, and the post-game content was not all that interesting. But despite that, I still considered it a fun and enjoyable game. Fast forward to XIII-2, and I can say all of the problems I had with XIII have been fixed, and it's a much better game for it! As someone who lovesss exploring areas - I really enjoyed the nonlinear level design this time around. No more running down a straight path from cutscene to cutscene. As someone who is a rather large fan of time travel related stories, I thoroughly enjoyed XIII-2's story! It was all pretty interesting and held quite a few surprises - especially at the end. While yes, some might not care for the ending, I thought it was rather bold, and I cannot wait to see what happens next. Serah and Noel were fantastic characters, and Noel became one of my favorite Final Fantasy male leads in all the series - he's like a mixture of Zidane and Sora almost. Serah develops pretty well herself over the course of the game, and Caius is now one of my favorite villains in any video game. I absolutely loved his motivations. The battle system - one of XIII's best qualities - remains mostly the same with only a few tweaks here and there. No more 3 second waits for paradigm shifts, ability to tame and recruit monsters (which is a lot more addicting than I initially suspected), strategic use of feral links, and the cinematic actions were interesting (and thankfully were not overused). I especially loved the final cinematic action in the game - it was an epic moment with perfect music. The music is... well, it was mostly fine. I enjoyed many of the tracks (and they also reused some of the older XIII music in perfect spots) with only a few that I didn't care for. Thankfully the ones I didn't like are not a large part of the game. The graphics are gorgeous as always for a Final Fantasy game, but not perfect. While the environments and characters look stunning, there is a little bit of slowdown in some areas - particularly one of the cities later in the game. It's not game-breaking or anything like that, but you can easily tell when the frames dip a little bit. If you race through the game without doing any optional stuff, it'll probably take you between 25-30 hours to complete. If you're like me and love doing everything, all sidequests, all fragments, leveling up to max, and becoming addicted to finding and infusing new monsters, it'll last you a lot longer. I finished off everything I wanted to do (got the Platinum) in 92 hours. So if you didn't like Final Fantasy XIII due to the level design and lack of variety, I can safely recommend XIII-2 to you. :)

USA version as expected.

Item in perfect condition. Customer satisfaction guaranteed.

Muito divertido para quem é fã da franquia.

Llegó en buen estado y antes de tiempo. Corre perfectamente y no hay problemas hasta ahora. Definitivamente recomendado

Great game, and came quicker than expected!