6 replies to this topic

[TriumphForks]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 came out a week ago, but I finally just picked it up, and all I have to say is...wow! I'm not that far in it (not even done with the first chapter) but I think so far it's great. The "prologue sequence" really captivated me, and the new functions really make me want to keep playing more.

I'm holding this thread for general discussion of the game, spoiler and non-spoiler alike, but I'll try not to spoil it too much...

[Muigi]

I played the demo.

Ugh. Still can't stand this and its prequel. Barely anything has changed, but at least it actually PLAYS like a Final Fantasy game should. The plot is still uninteresting, the characters are still unlikable, the hub worlds are boring when you STILL can't talk to people unrelated to the plot besides a select few, just...guh. Heck, the only real thing I liked while cruising the demo was the banter with Mog and the party of two.

- Noel looks [and kind of acts] like they took Emil from Symphonia 2 and gave him a redesign

- Battles feel drawn out and rather pointless sometimes....at least the battle theme is somewhat catchy

- Quick time events.... WHY ARE THESE HERE?! IN THE MIDDLE OF BOSS BATTLES?! GODDAMNIT. This function is SO abused in almost every single game that I swear that I may as well be back to the Atari 2600 joystick. In an RPG, this feels like unnecessary padding for what I could be doing NORMALLY in a game. I don't need these in order to kill a boss, I CAN DO IT MYSELF THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

While I do appreciate then going back to using the 'Fantasy' element that made previous FF titles good, in this it just feels like a giant ass-kiss in disguise of a copy-paste from Symphonia 2. Some of the gameplay ideas are even the same from what I've read, like having characters from the previous game leave your party after a certain amount of time has passed. I felt bored out of my mind playing the demo, and if that's how the final game is then I don't want any part of it.

[TriumphForks]

I am near the end, and although I really don't agree with about 90% of what you said, I can somewhat agree on some things.

-Serah is literally the most boring character I've met in the series, I wish it was just Noel and Mog, Serah honestly just makes me mad, I mean, I know she can see future stuff and all that, but she is seriously so boring, and she has this weird thing she does in cutscenes where she makes her eyes HUGE!

-The battles are definitely NOT drawn out, of course, it actually does take practice to make sure they aren't as such.

-The story does kind of remind me of Sonic the Hedgehog '06, with it's BS paradox timeline story, but I think it works better than it did in the former.

-As for the QTE's, I'm honestly getting tired of everyone ragging on them, seriously. My only problem with them is that there is never any fair warning. Oh wait, except in FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, before a QTE starts it literally tells you it's starting and let's you know when it ends.

Trust me, the demo is NOTHING compared to the final game, even I was bored with the demo, so that can say a lot. The final game really is a great experience, you'll literally spend hours on sidequests alone (the only reason I haven't beat the game yet) and the Crystarium (the leveling up system) is definitely improved from the first title. You'll be able to battle a normal amount of times and still be able to get through each boss comfortably (and grinding doesn't even take that long either!).

Sure, there are some dull moments, and there is some weird, questionable music, but any fan of an RPG should be able to fully enjoy this game, if you don't, well I'm sorry to hear.

[Muigi]

TriumphForks, on 16 February 2012 - 03:12 AM, said:

-As for the QTE's, I'm honestly getting tired of everyone ragging on them, seriously. My only problem with them is that there is never any fair warning. Oh wait, except in FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, before a QTE starts it literally tells you it's starting and let's you know when it ends.

The point is, they shouldn't BE there to begin with. It's an RPG, I'd rather beat the boss myself rather than have a cutscene do it for me. That just screams 'lazy' to me.

[TriumphForks]

I guess I see where you're coming from, I guess I just seeing it as the creators making sure you're paying absolute perfect attention, and it's a way of giving out small rewards for doing something simple, but yeah, I guess I'm picking up what you're putting down.

[Qxer]

I'm still finding the naming of this XIII 2 very weird, it should be called XIV since it's a sequel to XIII...

[TriumphForks]

There is a XIV, it was an abomination of an MMO that Square Enix is actually fixing and re-releasing. On that same note, no Final Fantasy game is a sequel to its predecessor, each one has it's own unique story, so for instance, IV isn't the sequel to III because of the completely different setting. XIII-2 denotes it as the sequel to XIII, and haven't you ever heard of X-2, it was the direct sequel to X, XI was also a fcrap MMO (which I'm starting to find a weird connection between sequels and MMO titles).

I hope you understand.