I got Final Fantasy XIII-2 from Gamefly. I expected it to be bad based on the complete garbage demo but it turns out to be pretty good. I only have about 8 hours on it but so far it's much better than XIII was. Towns are back as well as a hot chocobo cosplaying merchant. The game is semi-open. You can travel back and forth between time and visit any age you've unlocked. They all have several side quests and you can wipe out the progress you've done there in case you don't like the outcome of your actions and redo it. You've only got 2 human characters and the third character is a monster you've "captured". They brought back random encounters but it is possible to flee 95% of the time before the battle starts so they aren't annoying and way better than the previous system.
It's unfortunate but there's a lot of DLC including character costumes, weapons, optional bosses. The funny part is that there are MASS EFFECT costumes you can buy.
I remember reading somewhere that Square Enix publishes EA Games in Japan so that might be why but don't take my word for it.
I have it for 360, there's only 1 disk. There are still a crap ton of cutscenes but most of them use in game graphics. Despite that the game still looks gorgeous, some of the best graphics on the system. The gameplay is still kinda shallow but the boss fights are pretty challenging and take a fair bit of strategy. I actually consider XIII to be one of the hardest final fantasy games but that was mostly due to the crysterium (level) limit where you were just strong enough to beat the bosses. I am talking about the second half of the game not the first, the game was really easy at first. Anyways there is no crysterium limit from what I've seen so far, when you reach the end it simply expands and gives you a bonus you can pick just as expanding the ATB gauge or increasing your carrying capacity for accessories. So the difficulty depends on how many random encounter battles you decide to do. The story seems pretty solid so far although a bit cheesy at times. Basically you're looking for Lightning who vanished from the world and ended up in a place called Valhalla. I'm not sure if it's the underworld/afterlife or another realm but it's outside the normal space time continuum and you go into this machine the Historia Crux and are searching for the path to Valhalla but keep arriving in random ages. You meet some of the characters from the previous game such as the NORA guys and Hope. Can't believe I'm saying this but the Hope you meet (10 years after the end of FFXIII) is actually kinda cool.
This isn't a review I'm just saying the game is good and worth checking out. They corrected most of the mistakes made by FFXIII but barely anyone (including myself for a long time) didn't even give the game a fair chance.
The game also seems to explore the legacy of the Farseers, the civilization that went extinct after The War of Transgression between Gran Pulse and Cacoon and I have to say it's pretty damn interesting.
Edit: Actually it's not so easy to get away from battles anymore. Although during a battle you can "reset it" which will take you out of the battle but it will still be there trying to catch you and start another battle.
Subject: Final Fantasy XIII-2 ain't bad 
Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:36 pm
