Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review
By: RJ (@rga_02)
- Final Fantasy XIII-2
- Developer - Square Enix
- Publisher - Square Enix
- PS3, PC & Xbox 360
- Rating - T
This review of Final Fantasy XIII-2 is from my experiences with the game through the PS3 and the PC port. I have played through the English & Japanese version of FFXIII-2 on the PS3 and the initial version of the Steam port.
I recently had a conversation about Final Fantasy in a cafe recently. He noticed I was playing Final Fantasy IV and struck up a small little talk about the franchise we both loved. We talked about the highs and the lows, and what we’d like to see in the future. Then he made a comment on how Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the poor man’s Chrono Trigger but with a better battle system. Now, I was inclined to agree about the battle system, but Final Fantasy XIII-2 is nowhere near the fabled SNES classic.
But one thing Chrono Trigger and XIII-2 do share in common is that you traverse through space and time. XIII-2 tried to break the linearity that plagued it’s predecessor. After a few hours of gameplay, you are “free” to proceed through the story as you like. Of course there is a general flow that you should follow, but it’s up to you whether to proceed or revisit some of your favorite locations first.
One of my favorite aspects (perhaps the highlight) of the game however would be the battle system. Final Fantasy XIII has one of my favorite battle systems of all time in any jRPG, and XIII-2 expands on that without destroying the original feel. The Paradigm Shift system is back and it’s tweaked to be more fast paced. Shifting through your roles now feels more fluid and natural compared to FFXIII. Gone are the summons from the original game, instead you collect various monsters and use them in your party (gee, that sounds familiar). It’s pretty amazing that one of the monsters that you have defeated is now fighting by your side. Collecting monsters and using them in battle is completely optional. Unless you are one of those folks to like to do 100% completion in a videogame, you can beat the whole game without having a third party member.
Speaking of beating the game, this game is very easy to beat compared to other mainline Final Fantasy games. Once you get a hang of the Paradigm Shift system, you’ve practically mastered the whole game. The only remotely challenging battle would be the final boss, and maybe perhaps the battles that you will encounter in the Lightning story DLC.
The DLC story also raises another point with this game. FFXIII ended in a good note. XIII-2 takes that established note and decided to make a book out of it. The plot is simple and relatively heart lighted. Serah and her new friend Noel travel through space and time in the search for Lightning. But just as with it’s predecessor, the plot may be interesting at first glance, but it was poorly executed. I found myself playing and enjoying the Lightning story DLC (which is included with the PC port) more than the actual game itself since I could not care or indulge myself in what was being presented. But for those who want a fresh take on the Lightning trilogy through a new point of view (Serah and Noel) it can be very refreshing.
Unlike Serah, the soundtrack of the game was simply amazing. It’s personally the weakest out of the Lightning Trilogy, but it still hits some high notes. Riding as Lightning on Odin in the beginning of the game while Knight of the Goddess was playing was one of the few moments I enjoyed wholeheartedly in the main game. And as I mentioned earlier, you can revisit some past locations at your leisure. One location that I would revisit would be Archylte Steppe. Roaming around the grasslands of the Archylte hearing Plains of Eternity was always a treat. And whenever Caius would appear and his theme would start playing I truly felt that I was about to face another Kefka.
Lastly, I want to talk about how this game performs on the PC. Unlike the initial Steam release of FFXIII, this port comes with the ability to change your resolution (720p, 1080p, etc) to your needs. But as with all previous FF games released on Steam, there are still issues with them. For one, the audio quality is subpar once more. There seems to be a buzzing sound to some of the tracks and spoken dialog and to get that fixed you would have to tinker around with your sound settings. There are also some areas that look worse than its console counterpart. There are sporadic framerate drops in battle. Whenever you shift Paradigms, it drops from 60 to 45. The rest of the battling is smooth. Let’s hope Square doesn’t take another 3 months for these issues to be resolved. However, one postive aspect would be that a majority of the DLC from the console versions are included in this game. From various costumes for Serah and co. to additional stories from the likes of Lightning and Sazh.
This game is not the poor man’s Chrono Trigger, nor should it ever strive to reach that title. It’s a unique game that attempts to return back to the roots of Final Fantasy (with the returns of towns and such) and at the same time, try to reinvent the formula of how a Final Fantasy game should be played. While it may have fell flat on its face while doing that, this game is worth playing….through the PS3 (until Square fixes up the port). While it is playable on your PC, minor quirks will distract you from your adventure.
