As someone who’s never read the proverbial book, ‘but seen the movie,’ ‘Final Fantasy XIII-2’ (XIII-2) for the PS3 packs quite the learning curve in tandem. To elaborate, the furthest I’ve ventured into the Final Fantasy Universe over the past 25 years was said 2001 movie…which – while beautiful – confused the bejeebuz out of me.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the latest iteration of the legendary series produced a similar sensation, a Japanese RPG (JRPG) not for the uninitiated. The ‘2’ at the end declares it a direct sequel from its 2010 older brother, one that Square Enix’s Website is gracious enough to provide the dirty little details on. Vast ignorance and roman numerals later, here we go.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 smacks you upside the head from the get-go, knee deep in battles and plotlines from literal opening screen. From what a poor bloke like me could piece together, the famed City of Cocoon has fallen, with heroine Lightning engaged in an epic struggle against arch-baddy Caius. Time leaper Noel Kreiss appears long enough to be instructed to protect Lightning’s sis, Serah, accompanied by a little fat creature-slash-magical bow. Through the portal goes Noel, in the nick of time to hand off said bow and save Serah’s rear-end. Lots of odd dialog, beautiful cut scenes, and clever battle dynamics ensue.
Via some show-and-baddie-killing tell, Noel tries to convince Serah and friends of the consequences of past, present and future time intersections, likewise to make their way back to Lightning and the City of Valhalla. I’m semi-certain this will all make sense to veterans of the Series. Simultaneously – and at minimum- provide evidence that a schlub like me could jump right in to this complex, soap opera-esque plot.
XIII-2 employs the carryover combat system from its predecessor – Active Time Battle, or ATB – one both real time and unfortunately a bit convoluted. While I enjoyed the dynamic pace of on-the-fly decision making, there’s little-to-no explanation on the benefits of individual attack moves, nor particular character type or overall strategy. An accompanying tutorial attempts to hash out the finer points of XIII-2 ATB, but – at the end of the day – it remains guesswork…with ‘Paradigm Shift,’ dual attacks as the seeming fuzzy-logic path to success. Thankfully there’s Gamefaqs but a couple clicks away for sagely advice. Bless you, Internet friends.
With this being said, XIII-2’s ability to successfully infuse real-time combat into a robust RPG is no small feat. Even with a slew of options and an array of baddies, XIII-2 battle never feels staccato or forced. Add in the ability to pre-attack (from the main roaming screen) also stagger enemies, and – even if one doesn’t always know what the hell he/she is doing – XIII-2 combat never really frustrates. Fail an individual battle and no dramas or worries; XIII-2 offers a quick recycle to try, try and try again. Kick some ass; earn more stars and item drops. From what I could ascertain, chain combos and/or intelligently target individual enemies earns greater star bravado. Back to Gamefaqs I go.
Supporting ATB is a cinematic-based, button press combo dynamic (‘Cinematic Action’), one quite common in action adventure (e.g. ‘God of War’) titles. XIII-2 puts a nice twist on the mechanic, allowing multiple move types and/or choices even in this semi-static mode. Non-combat movement is limited to stale jump plus left analog movement mechanics, but fights are sprinkled about to keep things interesting. Thankfully, Serah can choose – in most instances – to fight or flight, as desired.
Presentation-wise, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is nothing short of brilliant. Games like this are poster children for the ‘video games as art form’ argument. Visuals are simply stunning, as is XIII-2’s magnificent soundtrack. Last, big props are in order to the folks behind user interface, as XIII-2 packs a solid, logical menu plus supporting transitions from roaming to combat sequences.
Moreover – and several hours in – it’s addictively obvious that XIII-2 a game capable of dangerously sucking one in eons at a time. The robustness of individual areas plus strings of capable character dialog point to an experience requiring dozens of hours to even skim the Chocobo surface. Sure, Serah can be a complete dialog doofus at times, her counterparts complete JRPG stereotypes…but the constant threading of action…to exploration…and dialog keeps one coming back for more.
To summarize and in summation, there’s nothing truly earth shattering to warrant a series noob to take the plunge for this iteration. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is shameless in its commitment to existing plotlines and experiences. Final Fantasy veterans, however, should feel at a home with a game meant to literally advance roads and universes previously travelled.
