Final Fantasy XIII-2 Hands-on

"FFXIII-2 seems to like doing all the work."

 

Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Release Date: January 31, 2012 (US) February 3, 2012 (EU)
Platform(s): PS3, X360
Genre: RPG

 

 

Square Enix once heralded a ballsy move when it created not only its most impressive game back then with Final Fantasy X, but also created one of the strangest sequels ever. Final fantasy X-2 was some sort of elaborate fashion show, which was either loved or hated. Essentially, it wasn’t that much different than the Tactics job mechanic; it was just more defined with lady parts and such. Still, from a franchise that’s already adding numbers to their iterations, it’s strange to make an additional separation within one of those numbers. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (FFXIII-2) is the same deal as before, minus the giant nod towards the cosplay community; or at least, we hope.

 

Blade Runner? Deus Ex? Final Fantasy? Who knows; just enjoy it.


 

Final Fantasy XIII was the HD console generation iteration and a proclamation of unrivaled graphical sensation. The continuation declaration; let’s stop that drivel: It’s still a visually ravishing title, using crisp, bright textures and details over an entire gamma of color palettes. There’s an overabundance of lighting effects, accompanying the merger of fantasy and more futuristic nuances; as is known for the series now. Locales will still open up to wide open, mechanical cities; darker and monochrome techno-dungeons and rocky caverns and mountain areas, for instance. Characters will move fluently throughout it all, being able to interact with many persons of interest. The characters, some recurring, are once more designed with the utmost care and their pristine look shines through flashy outfits and meticulous skin textures. In particular, the cutscenes will once more be eye candy to any graphical fanatic. Those who claim graphics aren’t important, don’t realize the awesome effect a Final Fantasy cutscene can induce towards getting someone immersed into their title.

Further commendation can go to the voice cast, which doesn’t sound as dumb or forced as one would think, but perhaps this is an unjust prejudice. In reality, voices seem fitting to the tone of the game and phrasing seems to be on point in translation. In addition, the background score is rousing during battles and action sequences. In particular, some battles will feature songs with English lyrics, which bridge the gap between the traditional, more oriental roleplay style, to that of a more western culture.

 

 

Battle mechanics follow suit in gapping the 2 sides of the RPG world together, by making some bold moves already known from the predecessor. Players control a leader in a party and can perform set attacks in an Active Time Battle (ATB). This means that combat isn’t halted between selecting action, but rather continues in real time. Once the action gauge is filled, players can choose to perform a set of actions or use items and such, but will oft refer to the “auto battle” option, which speeds up choices. In addition, they can use Paradigm Shift, which changes the party’s classes and in turn affect which attacks and modifiers can be applied in combat. It’s a grueling fast pace, but all options are set to ease players and let the AI do most of the work. And while this is accessible, it’s a question whether or not this is satisfying, especially as a critical part of the control gets relinquished this way. Still, there is still a limited option of manually inputting commands. It’s a bit give and take, but in the end, it feels as if the Paradigm Shift action simplifies combat a tad too much.

There are some additions though. One of those is collecting monsters to aid the party, in a form of Dragon Quest manner. A set of 3 monsters can assist the party and in turn also affects their Paradigm Shifts, as each creature has its own class, just like the party. Each has their own strengths, like Commando being the heavy hitter, Sentinel being a guard and Medic being the obvious healing portion. And just like their human counterparts, the monsters can level up and use a board which heightens their stats.

Leveling is perceived through Crystarium, which is a similar board as Final Fantasy X used with its Sphere Grid. Rather than level up automatically, these Crystogen Points can be distributed towards nodes in a class of choice and increase stats thusly. At given intervals, characters will gain new stats, modifiers or abilities, though the whole is very hard to oversee and thus planning accordingly seems tricky. There is however an indicator which tells what new ability will be learned when, but that’s about it. FFXIII-2 seems to like doing all the work.

 

 

Some more neat additions are Quick Time Events (QTE) during battles or special monster skills. By inputting these, players can unleash powerful attacks or dodge enemies in their given Cinematic Actions. Both visually appealing and well-implemented, these QTE actually have a timer indicating how much time is left to input. Additionally, they wait until the action is completed before proceeding with the animation, rather than obscuring the whole during the cutscene. It really can be that simple to create a stunning presentation in an otherwise haphazard mechanic.

Lastly, Temporal Rifts can open up, which present given puzzle sequences in which characters need to solve a conundrum such as proceeding through a set of falling tiles whilst collecting all crystals. It’s a nice change of pace, breaking away from dungeon exploring, but it isn’t the only one. A Moogle that accompanies the party can sniff out treasure and bring them to the correct timespan, as the game is heavily revolving around time and space and the paradoxes they create. Time gates can be opened up towards new section and times, Chocobos can once more be caught and there are hints of racing them in true Final Fantasy VII glory; there’s a whole mess of things to discover once more; there’s even a reference to some ominous weapon.

 

The best Quick Time Events since Die Hard Arcade.

 

Square Enix is sticking to its guns with the Paradigm Shift scheme, introduces new things and nuances other mechanics, for better or worse. But what’s sure it that this thirteenth and a half iteration will once more be packed with visually entertaining content spanning to the depths of the universe. Fans of the previous game can once more rejoice and people who weren’t too keen can perhaps revise their stance given the new elements. A demo is now available and the full game will hit retail January 31, 2012 in the US and February 3, 2012 in Europe.

 

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)