Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2

*Spoiler Warning - You have been warned!*

If you've been any sort of Final Fantasy, or hell, gaming fan over the last few years, you'll probably be aware of the furore that was made over the release of Final Fantasy XIII. It was like Square Enix omni-slashed down the middle of the Final Fantasy fanbase with the introduction of new battle mechanics and the much more story focused gameplay. Also, if you've been any sort of Final Fantasy fan, you'll probably have your own opinion on whether the changes worked or not.

For me, it was a partial success. I loved the new battle mechanics; the quick pace and the paradigm shifts which gave it a nice layer of depth and also a new urgency and visual flair which the older games lacked. I also liked the difficulty (towards the latter stages of the game); the game forced the player to have a good grasp of the mechanics to succeed, which was nice. Where the game fell down though, was its mind numbing linearity through the first half. In a game, even in a Final Fantasy, gameplay should still be king, and clearly when all a player has to do is run down a corridor and press X, this is not the case.

I do realise what Square-Enix were trying to do; they were trying to tell a character focused story, and for people who connected with the characters and their struggles, I imagine it would have been a much more fun ride, but personally, I found much of the dialogue and interactions forced and a little bit hokey. It wasn't that the voice work was of poor quality (it was good, although I wish Vanille could have been less ear achingly high pitched), it was just something about the character dynamics that betrayed too much of the authorial hand behind it; things didn't feel like they flowed naturally.

So, by the genre defining standards that Final Fantasies usually set, it was a bit of a mixed bag, and after I finished the game I put down the controller with as much of a feeling that I'd endured a trial as the feeling you get when you close a good book.

Anyhow, fast forward to the sequel; only the second time that the main franchise has received a direct continuation. I've now sank about 55 hours into the game, and am on the verge of completing the post game (just need that damn slot machine to pay out...), so you can rest assured my opinions are not formed from a half assed toe dip into the world of Pulse and Cocoon. Nope. I've wound the game around myself like a noose, and have pretty much devoted the last week and a bit of my life to it.

So, the story in a nutshell is a bit of a deviation from the first game. Lightning gets sucked into the Unseen realm, into Valhalla, where she is now locked in an endless war with the game's antagonist, whose goals are of course, the destruction of life, the universe and everything. Whilst this is going on, Noel, a boy from the future is tasked by Lightning to bring Serah to her, and along the way, they must fix a world history that left to itself would result in the doom of the human race. So far so good; it wouldn't quite be a Final Fantasy if the fate of everyone and their chocobos weren't at stake.

The game's protagonists

I was initially a bit hesitant about the fact that I would be stuck with only Serah and Noel to play. Serah, from what little of her is present in the first game, struck me as a fairly weak girly-girl, and Noel, well, he dressed funny. However, with less characters to the main cast, it seems the writers were able to really pin them and their interactions down well, and for the most part it really worked for me. Serah's growth from a  somewhat helpless civilian into a hero is quite a touching tale, and Noel, although he doesn't have such a dramatic arc, falls squarely into the "slightly cocky but very likeable guy" category the same way that Snow doesn't, and his relationship with Caius and Yeul provides for some great drama at the climax. There were of course a few awkward moments where the writers had no choice but to use the characters as talking heads to deliver exposition to the player, and some of the body animation (and some lip-synching on the side quests), were clearly rushed when translated from the Japanese version, however, it detracts very little from the whole experience.

The effect of the time travelling storyline on gameplay essentially means that all linearity has gone flying out of the window, as the player is given a good amount of choice about where to go and what to do very early on in the game. There are a plethora of sidequests and distractions for those who want to explore and take a break from the main quest., and although a lot of them are fairly standard fetch or kill quests, the slightly tweaked battle system (which is now even better) makes them fun. The ill effects of making the game so non-linear is that although I was never stuck on where to go next, fitting all the pieces of the plot puzzle together was a fairly arduous task, not aided by the fact that the writers saved all the important reveals until nearly the final act. This made the character motivations seem a little murky for much of the game, and put a damper on what in hindsight was a very character driven story which was also surprisingly dark for a Final Fantasy. I don't think there has been another major villain in the series who had as much humanity as Caius Ballad, and yet he still managed to be a great villain and provides a thrilling final boss fight along with a great theme, and this is something that for me bodes well for any future installments in the series.

Lightning's badass new outfit. Feather half skirts are apparently considered timeless fashion in Valhalla.

Characters from the previous installment all have an encore, albeit very briefly for some, although their reasons for also travelling time is disappointingly not explained in the game. and if rumours are true, are things that we will have to play DLC for to find out. Speaking of DLC, the whole "To Be Continued" ending really infuriated me to be honest, because I'm sure I speak for many when I say that one of the prime draws of a Final Fantasy game is an awesome story. An awesome story that finishes. It's what I pay the RRP for, and so SE's decision to leave us all dangling on what felt like a cliffhanger to me, is a huge let down. It wasn't as if they had too much story to fit into one game; the main quest was only 25 to 30 hours long, some 10 to 15 hours short of some of the other games in the series, and there was a perfect opportunity to wrap it up neatly, or even turn Serah's death into a bit of a Aerith moment and continue the game to the story's true conclusion without her. But no. Square Enix clearly were thinking of the money here, and not the art, and it puts a huge shadow over the game, and also where they are headed as a company. Are we in the not so distant future going to be purchasing Final Fantasy XV in episodes a la Half Life 2? I sure hope not.

I think had they told the story to it's conclusion, it would have made this a truly great Final Fantasy. All the other elements were there; sympathetic characters, a satisfying and interesting post game, chocobo racing, a few super bosses (which were actually far too easy) and that mysterious Final Fantasy fun factor which just didn't seem to be present in XIII.

It also had a much better realised and cohesive soundtrack than FFXIII, and I found it both refreshing and enjoyable, albeit a departure from what Uematsu would have done. I think the music for FFXIII was a little bit all over the place, and although Hamauzu did his best to provide a cohesive soundtrack, he went about it a little too bluntly, weaving too few themes into too many tracks. It isn't so in the sequel, which musically, has developed a great deal; there is a huge variety of styles present, from jazzy battle tunes to a heavy metal chocobo theme which had me chuckling, and a lot more vocal tracks than previously. I feel most of it works really well, and although it won't be what Uematsu fans would expect from a "classic" FF soundtrack, it is a good evolution in my books. I do wish that the main Final Fantasy theme and the Prelude would have been included in all their glory however, as for me they are like the musical stamp that says "Here. This is a Final Fantasy."

For all its good points however, there are a few things which disappointed me a bit about the game, story conclusion aside. Although the concept of time travel was great, I feel like the team didn't flesh out the way the world would change over the years as much as they could have, so in some ways it was difficult to feel the effects of the passage of time, as for example, Bresha Ruins in the year 300 was pretty much the same as it was 200 years previously, except for the weather. Would there not be collapsed tunnels or plant growth or any number of things that would signify the passage of time? Also, the use of the Historia Crux, which is basically a glorified menu, along with the lack of a world map, really stamped out any feeling of "place". This might seem like a minor issue to some, but it bothers me greatly, because one of the trademarks for Final Fantasy games was the character the setting provided; Spira is different from Vana'diel, is different from the world of FFVII, is different from...well, you get where I'm going with this. For XIII and XIII-2, we have the beautiful locations of Pulse and Cocoon, but rarely do we get any sense of where the story events take place in the world in relation to each other. There's no sense of any sort of journey; it's just clicking through a list of menus. Bring back the world map please.

Oh, and there's no summonable Eidolons, which makes me sadface. But anyway....

All things considered; as a game, XIII-2 is a fine game. It's one of the few Final Fantasies which I have genuinely enjoyed the post-game in and it's just a really fun experience, which is probably the most important thing (although very much on the easy side). As a Final Fantasy, it addresses a lot of the issues that I had with XIII, and is a respectable addition to the series. However, it could have been so much more, and I think the amount of wasted potential, more than anything else, makes the shortcomings in the title more disappointing than they otherwise might have been.

If you hated XIII because of the linearity, the storyline or the characters, give XIII-2 a try. It's definitely a step up. If you hated XIII because of the battle mechanics, then you should probably get your kicks elsewhere; not a lot has changed.

Final Verdict: 7 / 10