Review: Final Fantasy XIII-2

If you read my review of Final Fantasy XIII, then you know that I had a lot of things to nitpick in that game, especially in terms of good supporting characters and the ability to explore the world at large. So I was encouraged to learn that Square Enix developed and completed Final Fantasy XIII-2 less than two years after the original, with the previous game's shortcomings still fresh in their minds, and also with input from fans across the globe. I admit that it is quite dangerous to let the die-hard Final Fantasy geeks control any actual game content, for fear of skimpy outfits, Sephiroth-esque villains, and general Japanophilia. But I was willing to accept this risk if it meant fixing the glaring flaws of a game and a setting in which I saw so much potential.

Square Enix... fans... you have all let me down.

zomg bigger swordz!!!!11 lol

XIII-2 gets some things right. First and foremost, it keeps largely intact the excellent battle system used in XIII. There are minor tweaks to how the player can control the battle, some good (changing the leader) and some decidedly bad (fewer actions available to playable characters) but it all amounts to a lot of fun. The addition of the Paradigm Pack system, which allows for the player to capture monsters and use them in battle, is excellent. Developing and customizing each monster you catch can be unique and great to experiment with, if you don't mind a bit of farming (and let's be honest -- anyone playing a Final Fantasy game doesn't). And while I have never played any of the Pokemon games (I KNOW RIGHT) I have been assured that it is different enough from that system to pass the originality sniff test, while still keeping some of the series' best monsters.

Familiarity is a good thing.

More after the jump...

I like to take my time when going through all the content of a game. I don't see the point in powering through the main storyline as quickly as possible, as you always miss little snippets of dialog along the way. I played through XIII-2 at my normal meandering pace, even restarting the game entirely after about 35 hours of gameplay because I had botched my characters wanted a fresh save after experimenting a bit. Even so, it only took me about 80 hours on that second save file to earn the platinum trophy. For a game developed to be more expansive, the content outside of the main storyline seems short, tacked on, and not terribly rewarding.

YAWN.

There are by my count only twelve unique locations the player can revisit. On top of that, two of them (the casino Serendipity and the optional battle arena Coliseum) have no normal enemies and little to do with the plot writ large. Sure, some of the locations have several time periods to explore, but all in all for a game with truly limitless possibilities for zones, it felt rather constricted. I have no problem with reusing or re-skinning zones from XIII because players will obviously want some continuity in the setting. And none of the repeated zones look or feel exactly the same, which is a good thing. In fact, the Archylte Steppe, one of the largest and most interesting zones in the original, gets a complete makeover that works incredibly well within the context of XIII-2. But when the same zone, either old or new, is presented multiple times within a single game with only minor changes between time periods, it screams of lazy design. The ultimate disappointment comes when even the monsters for a zone are repeated across multiple time periods. With only minor changes and often similar monsters, individual time periods for each zone become muddled, which only exasperates the game's problem with content.

The Yaschas Massif in 01X AF, or maybe 100 AF, possibly 110 AF.

Now, as stated above, XIII-2 involves locations which have different playable time periods. This can mean only one thing; time travel. Personally, I am not a fan of time travel in fiction. There is a slippery slope when establishing the rules for how it can affect the plot, characters, and setting. If the characters are allowed to go skipping through time without limitations, it is too unrealistic and oftentimes farcical. If there are too many logical and scientific constraints, it limits the creativity and purpose of the product. And more often than not, time travel just doesn't "work." I would be remiss if I didn't mention Chrono Trigger, a game from the SquareSoft era that is not only one of the greatest video games of all time, but takes the time travel pitch and knocks it right out of the park. So it's not like Square Enix doesn't have experience in developing a coherent time-traveling setting. The problem here is, the developers of XIII-2 try to shoehorn time travel into a universe where it is not needed. I'm guessing the logic to begin down the time traveling path was borne from the desire to undo the problems of the first game. "Was the ending too happy? Not if we change the timeline! Were some of the main characters too unlikeable? Let's just remove them from the timeline! Will rebuilding civilization on a dangerous, feral landscape take too long? Jump forward a few centuries!" It's a catch-all for whatever bullshit ideas are being served up, and it presents a lot more problems than it fixes. The only aspect of time travel in XIII-2 that works is a character's ability to "step outside the timeline." This allows someone to travel to their contemporary periods without the danger of accidentally meeting their future or past self. Unfortunately, the rest of it is crap. One of the central tenets of time travel in XIII-2 and a repeated mantra of the characters is, "If you change the future, you change the past." Read that quote again. I don't know about you, but every time I saw that, an eye roll or a forehead slap follows. So something that happens today can affect reality hundreds of years ago? I'm sorry, but we just passed my threshold for willing suspension of disbelief. In addition, multiple versions of the same time and location can exist due to the presence of time "Paradoxes" (hold the Metal Gear Solid jokes please) which must be solved. However, after solving a Paradox and essentially erasing a person or zone from the timeline, the player can still revisit that person or zone. When a major element of the plot is as poorly executed as this, the rest of the game's content had better carry the way, and sadly nothing else does.

Could you guys stop by Chicago, 14 October 2003 for me? :-(

One of the strengths of XIII, in my opinion, was the main characters. All six (well, five plus Snow) brought their own unique, interesting element to the story and gameplay strategy. Here, we are left with only two playable characters throughout the vast majority of the game. And oddly enough, there is very little difference between them strategy-wise. They both start with similar stats and access to the same three battle roles. Growing their stats and unlocking the other three roles is up to the player, which is all well and good, but doesn't help to truly define the characters. Most Final Fantasy games will have their main characters fall into a job or role, even if the battle system or gameplay doesn't explicitly dictate as such. As with the monster system, the ability for fans of the series to readily associate a character with the history of previous games is a good thing. Through the repeated use of abilities, magic, weapons, and clothing or armor, identifying the tendencies of characters becomes not only easier, but offers a richer gameplay experience. For the main characters of XIII-2, that association is non-existent. Nothing about the two main characters builds on a character, role, or gameplay element from the history of the series, aside from the obvious fact that the battle system itself is largely the same as in XIII.

One is a warrior-mage, the other a mage-warrior. Try and keep up.

And just who are these blank canvases, you might ask? The main protagonist is Serah Farron, Lightning's little sister and a driving force of the plot in XIII. In that game, she was used mostly as a device -- something Lightning and/or Snow has to save. I can't say I had much of an impression of her coming into this game. She had a few decent cutscenes, one in particular with Vanille, but being immobile for most of the events didn't help to define her clearly. One thing I did remember about Serah was the ending of XIII, which the beginning of XIII-2 pretty much negates, so even that doesn't help much. As this game unfolds, we see a lot of Serah. Her personality is that of a quiet yet determined woman, no longer a girl, who has made her own way following the disappearance of both Lightning and Snow. A school teacher in her new life on Gran Pulse, she is thrust into a battle for the future of humanity when Lightning sends her a weapon, a mission, and a companion. She handles her new plight about as well as expected, and I enjoyed Serah's characterization and thought that everything felt very real and genuine within the setting. Unfortunately, the other elements of her character are troubling. The most glaring problem is that she ditches her pleasant yet modest schoolgirl outfit for something that resembles a medieval whore costume, but in pink. With leather straps, a choker, unnecessary cutouts, and a dress so short that is seems like a decorative courtesy to even include it, I have no idea how or why someone is supposed to fight in this get-up. And for a petite girl, Serah seems to be busting out of her top quite a bit. This game was designed "for the fans," and I guess Square Enix realized that we like our fair share of cleavage and side-boob. Another problem, as stated above, is that her role in battle is not clearly defined. She carries a bow/sword/moogle hybrid that is more of a character than a weapon, and although her typical growth will favor magic over strength, most of the time her role will be defined by the battle and not her statistical powers. Still, Serah carries the bulk of the heavy lifting throughout the story, such as it is, fairly well. She is steadfast in her desire to reunite with her family and friends, and protect their future. Through her eyes we see the story, which can be confusing at times, take shape and make a moderate amount of sense.

A little risqué for a schoolteacher, no?

Serah's aforementioned companion is a hunter from the future, because this is a time travel game and things from the future are supposed to be awesome. Unfortunately, Noel Kreiss isn't all that awesome. His time period is 700 years ahead of Serah's, and his home is a barren wasteland where humanity is all but extinct. Still, he's found the time and resources to put together a very fancy outfit of a harness-shirt, Hammer pants, three or four belts, and a necklace that looks like it came from Hollister. Put that together with his boy band-esque haircut, and every girl in the future would swoon over Noel (if there were any). For as intricate as his clothing choices are, his weapons are just two swords that fit together. Sure, the design is pretty cool (it resembles a flame) but seven centuries of weapon technology isn't all that impressive. Noel largely takes up Snow's old job of being the optimistic, confident young man who drives the characters forward when they doubt themselves or their goals. However, he is much more humble, and therefore more likeable, than Snow. Noel's confidence comes through without the boasting or the clichés that plague Snow, and we see their styles clash during a brief but memorable cooperative effort at the Sunleth Waterscape. So Noel gets bonus points for calling Snow a jerk. But there are ways in which Noel interacts with other characters that get on my nerves -- more on that later. One last thing about Noel is his constant memory lapses. Because solving Paradoxes and changing the timeline leaves his very existence in question, memories of his life and his knowledge of history seem to fade away from him. It's an interesting part of his character, providing him with some meaningful internal conflict.

Noel is definitely on the cover of Tiger Beat 700 AF.

You may notice that the two main protagonists of XIII-2 are not on the game's logo or the North American box art. That distinction belongs to Lightning, the star of XIII. And sure enough, this game opens to Lightning's narration and a riveting series of cutscenes and battles. This was certainly a good sign, since the reason the series is successful at all is Lightning is a fascinating, magnetic character. But much to my dismay, she disappears, both literally and figuratively, from the rest of the first act and the entire second act. She is only reinserted into the story in brief glimpses towards the end, and she doesn't even do anything cool. In an odd role reversal from its predecessor, Lightning becomes the object of Serah's journey in XIII-2, and we see way too little of our old hero. This is a massive deficiency in my opinion.

If you're going to have someone on the cover of your video game, maybe you should ACTUALLY PUT THEM IN YOUR MOTHERFUCKING VIDEO GAME.

There are a few more supporting characters this time around, but it's really addition by subtraction. By virtue of not maintaining any of the original main characters as playable, they all contribute in supporting roles. Snow, for example, only appears in one zone, but at least he fights along side Serah and Noel as a guest. Despite my general hatred of him, a bit more interaction with Serah would have at least been interesting. Fang, Vanille, and Sazh get even less screen time, only appearing in cutscenes and not really impacting the plot at all. Thankfully, the one guy who gets plenty of attention is Hope, who has used his experience and intellect to rise to a position of prominence in the new society on Gran Pulse. Hope retains all of the maturity and character development he accrued during XIII, and having him become a major part of the story was more than welcome. Team NORA is also back, annoying and shallow as ever. They have somehow convinced the people of New Bodhum that they are essential to their security, but all they do is run around with machine guns and shoot each other. And that's about it for important returning characters. I could have used some bits about Bartholomew Estheim or Rygdea, but no dice.

Hope actually has a plan, unlike anyone else in this entire Goddamn game.

As for new characters, there are a handful of notables. Foremost is Alyssa, a rising star in the new science-based government, the Academy. She soon becomes Hope's right-hand woman, and is present nearly as much as he is. Haunted by a strange past, and unsure of the future Noel and Serah are working for, she can be moody and unpredictable. She's also quite possessive of Hope, although she usually plays this off as perkiness. In the end, we see her true motivations, but I could have used either more screen time for her or a better explanation of her fate. As it is, her story arc gets lost in the background, which is a little disappointing. We also have Chocolina, the time-traveling prostitute merchant who shows even more skin than Serah. She provides levity to XIII-2, and while the game could certainly use some, her schtick usually falls flat. Finally, playing the role of Serah's weapon/guardian/living stuffed animal, we have Mog. As a character, Mog loves fun, money, and adventuring. After being plucked out of his moogle commune by fate, he embraces his new role as Serah's companion. Overall, I enjoyed Mog's presence in the story. There are a few funny bits with him and it was never too distracting. However, Mog also being able to shape-shift into Serah's weapon is a new development for the series, and seems unnecessary. Are all moogles in this universe shape-shifters? Why haven't more of them popped up in the timeline? And why do they actually say, "Kupo!" instead of just making a kupo noise? These are just a few troubling questions, but like I said, Mog was a pretty enjoyable addition.

Yes, Serah. It is a toy moogle. Also you can count to potato.

So who is our band of misfit heroes fighting against? If you are into high concepts or real life role playing, you may think the nemesis is "an altered past" or "a future that needs saving" or "time itself." But those answers are lame, and this is a Goddamn video game, and I want a bad guy's ass to kick. So we get Caius Ballad, the guardian of the timeline and Noel's old bromance. Originally, Caius was simply a guardian of a young girl, Yuel, the seeress and leader of a tribe called the Farseers. But through bravery, honor, strength, and largeness of sword, Caius gained a shitload of power and became immortal, protecting not only the Yuel from his time, but every seeress after (they're all named Yuel and look exactly the same) for the remainder of the timeline. That is, until Noel's time, when Caius, Noel, and their Yuel are the last three people left alive on Gran Pulse. Overcome with despair and being an emo kid and all, his solution to the problem isn't to fix things, but to destroy both the goddess Etro (who gave him his powers in the first place, way to repay her, dick) and as many people as possible in the past. His thought process is, if enough people die, and there is no goddess to intervene, a malicious power known as "chaos" will consume Gran Pule, creating a world without life, death, or time. Sounds pretty nefarious, right? Like you might want to kill him and stop him from destroying your reality? There is even a precedent for the pupil of the Farseer's guardian killing him and taking his place, so Noel, being that pupil, should be just the guy to do it. Except that given every opportunity to take Caius's life, Noel will not pull the trigger. He simply refuses to kill any human being. Look, Noel, we all get it. You have standards. And I know you used to be boys with Caius. But this guy will literally consume all life as you know it. Could you maybe, just this once, plant one of your flame-swords into his cranium? There is even a terrible plot twist about killing Caius, which I won't spoil for you here. I'll just say that it renders most of the game obsolete. As for his appearance, how can one describe a complete train wreck? He's two parts Sephiroth, one part Cloud, and one part X Japan. (Do a quick Google image search for X Japan. I'll wait.) In other words, he's fucking terrible, so much so that 1UP stole a bit from Something Awful just to make fun of him. Even his voice acting and lines are shit, as Liam O'Brien apparently thought he was in a meeting in 30 Rock with Alec Baldwin and Will Arnett to see who could serve up the deepest, most gravelly speaking voice while still sounding like a total jackass.

"My sword is big. When I cut myself, it cuts deep. Deep as my pain for all of the Yuels I have lost. My pain will curse this world and time itself blah blah blah etc. etc."

Caius does all this for Yuel, a mousy little girl with the power to be infinitely reborn, see the future, and rock a purple skirt with Uggs. Outside of her gift, all of the incarnations of Yuel seem kind of bland. She talks in the monotonous tone of a prophet, I guess because the weight of their words shouldn't need spicing up. Except that nothing Yuel says is all that important or interesting. Caius wants to save her for good after witnessing countless Yuels die in his care. Noel wants to remake the world in a manner that would make his Yuel happy. So she is obviously supposed to be a major part of the plot. But honestly, all she does is show up with Caius, give some vague hints, and die. Even her deaths don't really have much meaning, since she'll just show up again in another time. For a character as central to XIII-2 as Yuel, I couldn't care less about her.

YUEL MAD?

One last bit about the story I feel is important; the ending is a total "fuck you" to the player. When you play an entire game to do something, and then you do it, it's very satisfying. It's why we even bother to play games with three-dimensional characters and a rich story. And that's the case in XIII-2. The player is able to succeed in their goals at the end of the playable portion of the game. Then the final scene for all intents and purposes says, "Congratulations! You did it! Oh wait, here come several way more important problems to fix. When we get around to making it, buy the sequel!" What you're left with is a combination of anger and emptiness that is hard to quantify. I don't mind when an ending is ambiguous or open to interpretation. I don't mind when an ending has some characters get what they want, and others don't, but it all works out for the greater good. I don't mind when an ending is, "and they lived happily ever after!" If the designers have done their job in creating characters you can relate to, you want things to work out for them. What I do mind is an ending that is the cinematic version of punching you right in the gut, and then asking for another $60+ a few years from now. I remember just sitting there, in front of my TV, as I said quietly to myself, "Fuck you, S.E. Fuck. You."

Who am I kidding? I'll probably buy it.

As I said before, even though the game is set up for limitless locations and possibilities, the narrative still feels a little constrictive. But at least the gameplay is fun and interesting. The battle system is once again one of the strongest elements of the game. Even though I didn't care for the "cinematic action" Quick Time Event system, at least it isn't tied into anything particularly important. The rest of the additions to battle, particularly the Paradigm Pack and Paradigm Tuning, are excellent. Also, speaking to NPCs in the various zones is now actually worthwhile, as they open up fragment missions and you can control your responses to certain people through a Live Trigger. This helps to bring back some of the RPG feel that XIII was lacking. In order to advance the story, a player must sometimes enter a certain type of Paradox called a Temporal Rift. They are mini-games which test the player's ability to solve puzzles, and are a welcome diversion from grinding through battles. Since I'm a bit of a nerd, I found the Hands of Time to be particularly fun and challenging.

To paraphrase my fiancée, Serah "can't math."

One thing I won't be touching on in this review is downloadable content (DLC). Since all consoles now have wireless internet capability, producing additions to a game after the release has become standard fare. However, I feel like much of the DLC for XIII-2 was planned as such, with the express purpose of Square Enix charging extra money for it. And here we are, under four months out from the North American release date, and all of the buyable DLC amounts to over $66. If you don't buy any of it, you're essentially getting half of a typical game. If you buy all of it, it's one game for the price of two. And that just doesn't sit well with me.

Finally, we get down to the technical nitty-gritty -- the graphics and sound. Just as in XIII, the Crystal Tools engine produces a beautiful environment. Although there are very few cinematic cutscenes, they are also brilliant. The sound effects are on par, and while some of the voice acting was a bit much, at least there were no disastrous "laughing" or "I'm Captain Basch!" scenes. The score, however, left a lot to be desired. It borrows some of the better tracks from its predecessor, but most of the new ones are either completely forgettable or downright annoying. Many of the new tracks have vocals, something that really irritates me in a video game like this. In my opinion, the purpose of the score is to set the mood for a scene or setting. Now I don't mind one or two of the songs having vocals or a pop feel to them, especially when they are only featured in the opening or closing credits. But here it is so prevalent, it feels like a soundtrack rather than a score. In adding vocals and pop songs to it, Square Enix and composers Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, and Mitsuto Suzuki appear to be more interested in selling records than producing a memorable score.

Imagine watching this screen for hours while some woman screams "TIME! AND! SPACE!" at you.

As you may have gathered from this review, Final Fantasy XIII-2 left a bad taste in my mouth. Unplanned sequels are usually a messy business, and in the rush to produce the continuing adventures of the Farron girls, the details that make most Final Fantasy games great were overlooked. True, I had a moderate amount of fun playing through the game, thanks mostly to the refined battle system. But the story suffers from hackneyed motivations and a poorly developed time-traveling system. Furthermore, none of the characters offer the same appeal or can carry a game by themselves, which Lightning did in Final Fantasy XIII. Add in a score that was hard to listen to, and I won't be revisiting XIII-2 again any time soon. That is, unless they offer all of the downloadable content for free, which will probably happen around the same time Final Fantasy XIII-3 is released.

The Basics		The Rest
Gameplay	9/10	DLC Money Grab	3/10
Characters	5/10	Lightning Quotient	1/10
Story	3/10	Hope Quotient	9/10
Sound	4/10	Execution of Time Travel	2/10
Graphics	9/10	Ending...?	1/10
Score	30/50	Score	16/50
Final Score: 46/100