Final Fantasy XIII-2

 PlayStation 3
User Score
6.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 848 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 457 out of 848
  2. Mixed: 218 out of 848
  3. Negative: 173 out of 848
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  1. dharma
    Feb 4, 2012
    7
    FInal Fantasy used to be the pinnacle of 'next generation' videogame during the PS 1 era.....but something along the way was lost...Square Soft seemed to lose their connection with their own customers. I remember back in the PS1 days, Square was the best game developer there is...Every game that they made were gold, even outside FF! Yes, FF 13 part 1 and 2 looks amazing, but it feelsFInal Fantasy used to be the pinnacle of 'next generation' videogame during the PS 1 era.....but something along the way was lost...Square Soft seemed to lose their connection with their own customers. I remember back in the PS1 days, Square was the best game developer there is...Every game that they made were gold, even outside FF! Yes, FF 13 part 1 and 2 looks amazing, but it feels 'awkward'. They're not immersive...You don't get sucked into the worlds as you used to. There's too much cut scenes. Better yet, learn from the best JRPG of last year, XENOBLADE Chronicles. For now, FF feels like a shadow of its former self… Expand
  2. Wendigo2064
    Feb 2, 2012
    6
    Remember when a new FF game was the talk of the town, a sounding call for all kids to rush to the nearest store and cast their vote prematurely for game of the year? Those days are gone. But FF XIII-2 is an okay game anyway. Better, in fact, than the last eight years of Square Enix's attempts to "update" (or ruin) their games. It won't escape from the scrutiny the series has receivedRemember when a new FF game was the talk of the town, a sounding call for all kids to rush to the nearest store and cast their vote prematurely for game of the year? Those days are gone. But FF XIII-2 is an okay game anyway. Better, in fact, than the last eight years of Square Enix's attempts to "update" (or ruin) their games. It won't escape from the scrutiny the series has received constantly in these years, and a lot of that has to do with the wooden characters. I actually remember when the cast of FF evoked real emotion, and didn't just play off their own stereotypes (the silent cool one, the broody one, the airhead "funny" one). Serah and Noel are just about the worst the series has offered, not helped by the terrible dialogue and the contrived plot, which isn't even worth mocking. So what worked? Well, the battle system and difficulty curve are much better implemented than its predecessor. The game smartly ripped off "pokemon" and "chrono trigger" with the monster collection system and time travel world-altering mechanics. In doing so, the game up and admits that "Final Fantasy" as a unique franchise has died, and square enix doesn't know what it's doing any more. Things like the world map, large cast of interchangeable-but-unique-in-battle characters, rebels against the evil empire distracted by clever side quests... it's all gone for good it seems. Yes, there are side quests, but they boil down to WOW style fetch quests. There are towns of unique NPCs but, since you always know where to go next, there's no motivation to explore these side characters and their trials against killing some specific monster type you've already battled a hundred times. And saving the world? I guess you do... accidentally, as a sort of means to an end of finding that broody Cloud/Cecil build that was Lightning. Yes, this is a return to form for the franchise, and the game feels a bit more like old school JRPG fun. At this point, there are better JRPGs to play, with cleverer plots in place of those frame-rate-destroying HD graphics. Try "Cthulu Saves the World" instead. Hell, even the Pokemon franchise is better than this. But it's a hell of a lot more involving than the last few FF games, and at least the series seems to be getting off the ropes. Here's hoping "Versus" or the yet-to-be-announced FF 15 will be better.… Expand
  3. GigaHz
    Jan 31, 2012
    5
    Is it me, or are the vast majority of the top 10 most helpful reviews written in broken English? I wonder if SE pulled a Bioware and pushed their employees to create accounts for the sake of bringing up the user score. Yes, I'm being ridiculous, but I'm not joking about the poor English. Take a look for yourself.

    As for the game, I couldn't even endure the demo. I've tried to give it a    Is it me, or are the vast majority of the top 10 most helpful reviews written in broken English? I wonder if SE pulled a Bioware and pushed their employees to create accounts for the sake of bringing up the user score. Yes, I'm being ridiculous, but I'm not joking about the poor English. Take a look for yourself.

    As for the game, I couldn't even endure the demo. I've tried to give it a chance (3 to be exact) but I would always end up quitting, mostly due to boredom. I've tried playing the game with and without auto-battle to see if it made a difference but to no avail. Even if you manually input the actions, with such a limited amount of abilities, you end up performing identical or similar move sets. So it seems like the more time efficient method is to select auto-battle. There's also paradigm shifting, but really, it just hot swaps your class. It doesn't make the game any more interesting, varied, or challenging. My impressions of the story were not positive. I'm not a fan of the two main leads. Having recently found out that these two are the only human (playable) main characters in the game I was immediately turned off. For every terrible FF character in recent games, there were usually a handful of other more decent characters to focus your attention on. This game doesn't offer you that luxury and if it was their intention to have you focus on these two characters, they should have taken better care to ensure that their personalities had more depth. Instead, they are bland as bland can be. Completely forgettable. The story segments I experienced were laughably bad. Pretentious, cryptic dialogue returns to give you a sense that the FF13 universe believes its own depth. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the game doesn't have a clue what its talking about at times, or that could be an instance of poor translation/writing. Apparently, the story for the full game is not as strong as previous titles so I take it my impressions were not far off the mark.

    What's worse, this game will sell. People will eat this game up because it's Final Fantasy. That's what bothers me. This game would have been acceptable in 2007, when showing off a systems graphical potential was fresh, but this is 2012. Many recent game releases already exhibit amazing graphical capabilities for severely dated consoles. Graphics are no longer a selling point, but a standard. And while this game does look and sound pretty, it doesn't bring anything else new to the table and it barely refines the source material it has to work with. It's a shame, because the artists and sound designers/musicians could be working on much better projects as opposed to being reduced to another 'phoned in' Final Fantasy title.

    Also, the old fans of Final Fantasy will not just 'move on'. We are the reason why the series got as far as it did in the first place. True fans give praise where it is due and critique on things that are either flawed or dated. They don't just say to themselves "WELL HURP DERP! It's Final Fantasy and made by Square Enix. Therefore, whatever they make I'll have to love and treasure without question". That may be why things got as bad as they are now. I don't know for sure. What I do know is that I was a fan of Final Fantasy and I'm not anymore. The series had its ups and downs, but now I only see downs. With every bold step forward (ff12) comes a cautious step back (ff13 and ff14). I really do hope that the fan base starts to take a hard look at the obvious decline in the quality of SE's recent games and take appropriate action. That is, unless you're perfectly content with slop and mediocrity.    … Expand
  4. Motherfunky
    Jan 31, 2012
    5
    I played this game. i haven't finished it, and i don't intend to. The first 30 minutes of this game are just cut scenes, you can hardly do anything. Heres a list of things i liked: (1)Now you can switch party members(2) The music is ok, not the best FF soundtrack, but better than most games Things I disliked:

    (3)The towns are joke. You can hardly enter any house and theres hardly any NPCs    I played this game. i haven't finished it, and i don't intend to. The first 30 minutes of this game are just cut scenes, you can hardly do anything. Heres a list of things i liked: (1)Now you can switch party members(2) The music is ok, not the best FF soundtrack, but better than most games Things I disliked:

    (3)The towns are joke. You can hardly enter any house and theres hardly any NPCs in them (4) Dialogue is bad and cheesy (5) The battle system is the same, you can still win most battles using libra and auto battle (6) What FF game only lets you control 2 characters? This game does (7) Still no world map, when willSE add the world map back?

    Conclusion: If you play FF solely because of the gameplay (be warned this game is easy as hell), and side quests, and donâ    … Expand
  5. Nednerb
    Jun 1, 2013
    6
    At first thought the idea of time travelling really sprung Chrono Trigger in mind. Unfortunately unlike Chrono Trigger the player doesn't notice any differences in the worlds when certain actions are performed. The story is a spider web of confusion and it isn't until reading all the fragment entries when you actual understand the concept of "changing the future changes the past." TheAt first thought the idea of time travelling really sprung Chrono Trigger in mind. Unfortunately unlike Chrono Trigger the player doesn't notice any differences in the worlds when certain actions are performed. The story is a spider web of confusion and it isn't until reading all the fragment entries when you actual understand the concept of "changing the future changes the past." The story lacked real depth however introduces a new antagonist which for the first time in Final Fantasy history is not looking to destroy the world for some unknown reason. The battle system builds from XIII where the use of roles, weapons and accessories plays a significant part in ensuring a successful victory against the toughest foes. Unfortunately your skills are not exactly tested until downloading the Battle Arena Downloadable Content. This time around there are a significant number of side quests including Chocobo Racing. Don't get your hopes up, there isn't much input to be made in the lack luster mini-game. The soundtrack uses the good tracks from XIII along with some new ones that has an acquired taste. You'll find yourself for the most part farming Feral Crystals with 3% capture rates which makes it rather tedious until you complete the game and unlock Fragment Skills to increase those chances. Experienced RPGers will not find this game challenging including the Downloadable Content against the two toughest enemies in the game. The game is some what enjoyable but nowhere near the quality that has been shown by Square in the past. Mediocre but some what enjoyable.… Expand
  6. awdrifter
    Apr 22, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game ends with the words "To Be Continued". They seriously wants us to pay for an ending?! Just for that alone I would say avoid this game. I spent 30 hours getting through the story hoping for it to be resolved in someway. Whether it's a happy or sad ending I'm prepared to accept it. But no ending? Seriously?! ENDING SPOILER AHEAD

    So Serah dies, I was ok with that. Yeul has said that Serah's existence is a paradox, so I kinda expected her to die. But now it seems all her (the player's) work is in vain. Cocoon still gets destroyed, and the chaos of Valhalla is unleashed into the world. Then what's the point of the story? Why didn't Etro get her heart back from Caius? Anyways. This game was a huge letdown, avoid!    … Expand
  7. PecoTheGreat
    May 2, 2012
    5
    Every person that has played Final Fantasy XIII will have some questions about its story, given that XIII was best at throwing a bunch of information (Fal'Cie,L'Cie,Cieth, etc) at you without really giving an explanation. So, with a sequel that includes time travel, they had all the opportunities to explain the story of XIII in detail. For example, let us fight along Fang and Vanille whenEvery person that has played Final Fantasy XIII will have some questions about its story, given that XIII was best at throwing a bunch of information (Fal'Cie,L'Cie,Cieth, etc) at you without really giving an explanation. So, with a sequel that includes time travel, they had all the opportunities to explain the story of XIII in detail. For example, let us fight along Fang and Vanille when they first attacked Pulse, give us details about Barthandelus and how he developed his plans. Background story about the other villains in the game, about the Purge, about why Cocoon was created in the first place (After all, they completely failed to explain what is bad so bad about Gran Pulse) and how the Fal'cie became so powerful. Instead, they chose to come up with another unappealing and shallow story about a seeress that dies everytime **** happens and another godess more powerful than the Fal'Cie. The time traveling in this game is absolutely meaningless. Collecting little flowers and guide books to take them to another time instead of changing the future and past. I know that this theme is difficult to pull off, but they did a terrible job. Since jumping between different eras is that meaningless in this game, they would have done better to give us a world map and a damn airplane for some FF-feeling. The whole story was build only for one purpose: so they could include Lightning. Which I respect, as she was the best thing about XIII. but the way they achieved this ridiculous. Some parts about the mechanics are quite nice, but what they promised us as "freedom" means needless complexity of even the tiniest bits. The Casino is no fun at all, the slot machine is a joke (most people hooked the controller up with duct tape to get the slot achievement/trophy) chocobo racing is no fun at all. All you have to do is build a perfect chocobo from a guide, let him win all the races and say bye-bye to fun. Fighting is still as good as it was in XIII and graphics are beautiful, but this game is pushing Final Fantasy as we know and love it even further away.… Expand
  8. FIGIOT
    Feb 17, 2012
    6
    I Enjoyed myself with this game. But there were too many things that were a so disappointing. The game was way too easy. The battle system is great, but not when the game is too easy. The story is well....Why are we doing this, why is this happening. It's not explained or its poorly told.
    Serah and Noel aren't much fun, and with a party of only 2 (two!) people there isn't much party    I Enjoyed myself with this game. But there were too many things that were a so disappointing. The game was way too easy. The battle system is great, but not when the game is too easy. The story is well....Why are we doing this, why is this happening. It's not explained or its poorly told.
    Serah and Noel aren't much fun, and with a party of only 2 (two!) people there isn't much party interaction at all. And the Arena I was so looking forward to when this was opening up. Post game it was still closed. Guess what it's DLC! And many other minor things.
    I had fun playing it, but this games goes for the disappointment of 2012.    … Expand
  9. Genero
    Mar 23, 2012
    5
    By fixing some of the flaws people cried about in Final Fantasy XIII, SquareEnix have shown that they're simply not very good at making games. Gone are the linear environments, replaced with open zones and the ability to jump between them. Gone is the lack of NPC interaction, with the various zones now populated with talkative figures. Gone is the dry extra content, now you have series ofBy fixing some of the flaws people cried about in Final Fantasy XIII, SquareEnix have shown that they're simply not very good at making games. Gone are the linear environments, replaced with open zones and the ability to jump between them. Gone is the lack of NPC interaction, with the various zones now populated with talkative figures. Gone is the dry extra content, now you have series of sidequests and collectibles to collect. And yet, it does all this wrong. Let's start with the graphics: they're great. So great, they barely run on the PS3. There is a lot of slowdown, and you'll spend a lot of time watching loading screens. Loading time goes beyond annoying; you'll often not want to use the ability to jump between the somewhat small zones as it means sitting through another load screen. Between those and the extensive cutscenes, I didn't seem to spend much time playing. When I was playing, it wasn't necessarily interesting. The battle system from XIII returns, AI and all, yet it seemed even easier this time. You have two fixed party members joined by a customizable monster companion, but just like the weapon leveling of XIII, monsters are not as interesting as you want them to be. Encounters are handled interestingly; rather than randomly being thrown into battle, you'll randomly be surrounded and have the option of attacking them first or trying to run. Think this means you could just bypass the easy enemies? Nope, it seems the more worthless the enemy the harder it is to simply not bother with. Difficulty is rather uneven thanks to the non-linear progression. Even without the non-linear progression, the story doesn't make much sense. They attempt to tug at your emotions, and might actually do so from time to time, but looking back at the events of the game I find it hard to care about any of the characters or any of the events. I quite liked XIII's story and characters up until the final few chapters, but I can't think of anything positive here. And I hope you loved Lightning, because this game seems to be written with the assumption that the player worships her as much as the creators and in-game characters do. So, after all that complaining, any good points? Well, the game does look pretty when it's not suffering from slowdown, and there is at least a little extra content here to enjoy. However, even after the game ends with a serious cliffhanger, I really don't care to go back to the FFXIII franchise to learn what happens next.… Expand
  10. inktomi
    May 26, 2012
    5
    I would give FFXIII-2 a 5 solely on the graphics and and the ability to "tame" monsters and have them as members of your group. The game is sleek-looking, yet lacking real substance. The storyline is flimsy and uninvolving as the previous installment of FFXIII. If you are looking for a good JRPG with somewhat of the same elements, check out Persona 4 or any of the other Shin MegatenI would give FFXIII-2 a 5 solely on the graphics and and the ability to "tame" monsters and have them as members of your group. The game is sleek-looking, yet lacking real substance. The storyline is flimsy and uninvolving as the previous installment of FFXIII. If you are looking for a good JRPG with somewhat of the same elements, check out Persona 4 or any of the other Shin Megaten Franchise games. The Shin-Ten franchise seems to improve on its gameplay and story elements while the FF franchise is dying a slow and painful death. I feel that this franchise, the Final Fantasy name as a whole, needs an entire rebooting from the top down. Get better writers in please, keep the team that is graphically designing the game because it is beautiful to behold. The music is sub-par screamo emo music that does not seem to fit the action of the game. I would have had it during certain bossfights, yes, but when I am walking on a quiet beach I would have pulled out ambient chill of the previous game. The introduction of certain elements such as chocobos seemed as thrown in and uninvolving. As a questing game, why would you not make it an interesting subplot concerning chocobos? I am not saying to make it a 3 hour drudge like FFXI, but would have rather not just casually thrown in there as "ok, here is your chocobos you asked for!" This game is forgettable at best. If you absolutely have no other game to occupy your time or a diehard fan of the genre and franchise as I am, rent it. I am going to own it one day though, from a clearance rack most likely for $5-$10, which will sit in my collection and gather dust as the past 3 installments of the series.… Expand
  11. amateurdude
    Mar 12, 2012
    5
    They took XIII, improved upon it in many areas, but, it's obvious the game is nothing more than a cash grab. The first warning sign is when you first visit Serendipity (The casino/theme park/relief of the game) and you have attendants telling you certain attractions aren't available yet.

    Yup. DLC. Also, the ending, had the potential of being one of the more memorable endings in a video    They took XIII, improved upon it in many areas, but, it's obvious the game is nothing more than a cash grab. The first warning sign is when you first visit Serendipity (The casino/theme park/relief of the game) and you have attendants telling you certain attractions aren't available yet.

    Yup. DLC.

    Also, the ending, had the potential of being one of the more memorable endings in a video game for quite some years, but it falls flat when you're prompted with a "to be continued.." screen, hinting at further DLC to finish off the story! Heaven forbid you'll have to pay for said dlc.. The long and short of it is, the game feels.. Unfinished, rushed and is devoid of any real charm. Sure you'll get your money's worth, game length clocking in at about 40 hours, but when you're finished with a product, and all you can think of is, "is that it?", something isn't right.    … Expand
  12. homer2324
    Feb 8, 2012
    5
    The production of this game feels cheap. All MONSTERS' models are direct importation from FFXIII minus some basic recoloring. STORY lacks focus, full of plot holes and poorly thought out. Boring COMBAT & LEVELING - little input/thinking is needed - only requiring to smash the X button to win. LACK OF CHALLENGING CONTENT - the only challenge comes in the form of a minigame that is NOTThe production of this game feels cheap. All MONSTERS' models are direct importation from FFXIII minus some basic recoloring. STORY lacks focus, full of plot holes and poorly thought out. Boring COMBAT & LEVELING - little input/thinking is needed - only requiring to smash the X button to win. LACK OF CHALLENGING CONTENT - the only challenge comes in the form of a minigame that is NOT combat related. MUSIC - biggest disappointment... lack of character in all but one or two pieces. CONCLUSION: This game is milking off your fanboyism from previous installments of the series.… Expand
  13. pwnoz
    May 15, 2012
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's a sad day when you realize your favorite game developer/publisher has totally sold out (it probably happened long ago.. but just now realizing). Just finished FF XIII-2 and it just feels like an attempt to make money. The Coliseum claims that you'll be able to fight the strongest monsters when the time is right. I'm reminded of the awesome monster area from FF X only to realize that that it's DLC only. There's an Outfit menu that's presented the entire game only to find it's DLC only. There's the section of the Serendipity that says it's under construction, i.e. DLC. The ending gives no closure, implies everything you've done has failed, and says "To be continued..." Why does it say to be continued? From the director of the game, "the world of FF XIII-2 is going to extend via DLC."

    FF XIII-2 does some things right, but it has a bitter aftertaste that I can't get rid of.    … Expand
  14. R6ex
    Mar 14, 2012
    5
    Boring!

    Ridiculous story and not captivating at all. Combat is no different from FF13 i.e. boring too. Missed the linear story of FF 13. In contrast, FF 13-2 is just made up of a bunch of episodes loosely connected together by travelling through the different eras using time-travelling gates. I wasted 40 hours of my precious time, not to mention money spent. Graphically and    Boring!

    Ridiculous story and not captivating at all. Combat is no different from FF13 i.e. boring too.

    Missed the linear story of FF 13. In contrast, FF 13-2 is just made up of a bunch of episodes loosely connected together by travelling through the different eras using time-travelling gates.

    I wasted 40 hours of my precious time, not to mention money spent.

    Graphically and artistically, FF 13-2 puts GOTY titles like the Mass Effect series to shame. The character models are just beautiful. The scenary is stunning. Too bad, the story is plain garbage.

    Hmmm ... I'm still drooling over the independently flowing strands of hair from Serah and Noel. Not to mention Lightning's naturally flowing feathered-skirt. Can't imagine such beautifully rendered graphics on a last-gen console like the PS3. Bet if this title makes it to the PC, we'll really get life-like characters.

    OBTW, I missed the CGI cutscenes from FF13. The rendered cutscenes in FF13-2 just can't compare.

    Overall, FF series has reached a new low.    … Expand
  15. dumrotten
    Feb 6, 2012
    6
    If you're going into FFXIII-2 thinking SE learned from the complaints about the last game and created a rich, explorable world for this one, you're going to be disappointed. The world of FFXIII-2 is made up of a small handful of areas with nothing really connecting them to each other (think Kingdom Hearts). The ridiculous time travel storyline gives the developer's a convenient excuse toIf you're going into FFXIII-2 thinking SE learned from the complaints about the last game and created a rich, explorable world for this one, you're going to be disappointed. The world of FFXIII-2 is made up of a small handful of areas with nothing really connecting them to each other (think Kingdom Hearts). The ridiculous time travel storyline gives the developer's a convenient excuse to recycle areas with different lighting/weather effects and pass them off as new areas. I have to give them a pass on this, because to my understanding, this game is largely an attempt to make use of the large amount of unused assets created for FFXIII. I think your feelings on FFXIII's battle system will largely determine whether or not you enjoy this game as it is essentially the same aside from the monster collecting. The game still looks and sounds great even if a few of the new musical tracks are truly cringe-worthy (the heavy metal chocobo theme, for example). The music was one of the best things about FFXIII and luckily, all of the most familiar themes from that game make appearances here. They made some rather unfortunate additions to the gameplay, like QTEs and a lot of truly awful puzzle rooms that look like they came straight out of a PS2 game circa 2002. Other than that, this 20-hour sequel if pretty enjoyable. I wouldn't recommend paying full price for it though.… Expand
  16. yayihaveanemail
    Feb 10, 2012
    5
    Not what I expected... in a bad way. I'm writing this review assuming that the reader has played the original to an extent. The game starts out well, but eventually turns into an overall mess as you get farther into the story. The original was so fun to me because of the long engaging story, great characters, and fast and difficult combat. All of these are pretty much missing in the secondNot what I expected... in a bad way. I'm writing this review assuming that the reader has played the original to an extent. The game starts out well, but eventually turns into an overall mess as you get farther into the story. The original was so fun to me because of the long engaging story, great characters, and fast and difficult combat. All of these are pretty much missing in the second series. The story is pretty much a huge failure and didn't hold my interest for a second. I won't give any specific details on what the story is, but let's just say it is not the kind of story I expect from Square Enix. There's a problem that threatens the world, and the characters travel from place to place trying to fix it. That is about all there is to the story. I suppose that's what happens when you try to incorporate an open ended world into an RPG. The characters were so bland that it makes me depressed just watching them talk. If they were only going to give us two characters, at least make them somewhat interesting! One character just goes along with the flow while the other character tries to take the lead but is dumb as a rock. The way the game flows does not satisfy me either. It feels almost tedious to play through the game. I feel like there is no way to do the sidequests without a walkthrough because the quest objectives are so vague, and most of them don't show you where the objective is, leaving you to explore the map over and over again only to find that what you were looking for was in the corner that you accidentally skipped over. There is no way to gauge the difficulty of the side quest you are doing, so sometimes you will end up having side quests that are designed for extremely high leveled characters, while you are only a couple hours into the game. I don't know how many hours I've wasted trying to kill unbeatable monsters. Even part of the main story frustrates me. Having to travel back to all the places I've been before just to pick up an invisible item that takes forever to find is not good game design. I really do appreciate the fact that there are side quests to go to unlike in the original, but it feels like everything I do is a side quest, and I really don't like that feeling. I am at the moment struggling to find motivation to continue with the main story, even though I am on the second to last chapter. All this wouldn't be so bad though if the combat and leveling was fun. Unfortunately though, this game falls short on that aspect too. The leveling system makes it very hard to switch from one playstyle to another if you want to change up your party. Thus, you will probably be using one set of paradigms throughout the whole game, which isn't fun. Raising monsters seemed like a neat idea at first, but I really wish they just put another character in the monster's slot instead. It suffers the same problem as leveling your characters, as it takes a ludicrous amount of resources and grinding to make a monster powerful. The combat is pretty much exactly the same as in the original, but the enemy designs and the way character development pans out pretty much ruins everything. One of the reasons FFXIII was fun was because it was necessary to use every advantage you can possibly gain to defeat your current enemy. It was fun to attempt fitting in synergist buffs with the intense damage that your medic has to heal through, while also trying to keep the enemy chain gauge up. It was fun to adjust to different situations, and having to adjust your entire playstyle for different fights. FFXIII-2 absolutely destroys this. There is no longer a need to adjust to a situation, or to rush to stagger an enemy. There is only a need to have high damage and survive burst damage, which involves a lot of switching to sentinel. The chain gauge can wait. Wound damage would have been a new interesting mechanic, which involves lowering your maximum HP as a fight wears on over time from tougher enemies, but the game provides wound potions for a fairly cheap price, which makes me wonder why they put in wound damage in at all. The game ranges from way too hard to way too easy. There is not an in between. If you try to proceed through the main story without any sidequests at all, you will end up getting your monkey spanked until bananas come out of your ears, but if you do just a couple sidequests, you will end up facerolling any enemies that come your way for all eternity, due to the fact that the game relies so much on just surviving a set amount of burst damage. Overall, I'm pretty much utterly disappointed with this game, but the community kind of brought it on themselves. They whined and whined for a more open world, and Square Enix indeed delivered. Unfortunately, the game just didn't end up being as fun as I thought it would be. It's not an absolutely terrible game though. It's just absolutely terrible for what Square Enix is capable of. I cannot recommend buying this game for it's full price.… Expand
  17. Captiosus
    Feb 7, 2012
    5
    Sometimes we see prominent, successful, people have children only for that child to grow up and be unable to emerge from the shadow of their parents. That, unfortunately, describes the case with this title. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the child of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger but fails to emerge from the shadow of either. The characters are shallow and hard to connect with, the timeSometimes we see prominent, successful, people have children only for that child to grow up and be unable to emerge from the shadow of their parents. That, unfortunately, describes the case with this title. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the child of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger but fails to emerge from the shadow of either. The characters are shallow and hard to connect with, the time aspects of the story aren't very well done and makes the story more confusing than it needs to be, and the combat system - with exception to the inclusion of monster mobs in your party - has changed little from FF13. The one good change has been the ability to change party leaders, especially during combat, because in FF13 the defeat of your party leader was an instant game over - a complaint sounded by many players. Unfortunately the game is ultimately mediocre - just another Final Fantasy title that doesn't really stand out. It's really a shame Sakaguchi wasn''t able to be successful with Mistwalker Studios; I feel had Square Enix had some real competition from their former mastermind, the quality of Final Fantasy would have significantly increased.… Expand
  18. MadResistance
    Feb 7, 2012
    5
    A disapointing attempt at fixing the wrongs of the previous game; Final Fantasy XIII-2 is average in every sense of the word, there are very few areas in which the game truly shines. Note this was written based on approx 30 hours of gameplay.

    Final Fantasy XIII-2's story is a blabbering mess. Very similar to XIII in which the 2 (2!!) main characters have zero motivation for the first 7    A disapointing attempt at fixing the wrongs of the previous game; Final Fantasy XIII-2 is average in every sense of the word, there are very few areas in which the game truly shines. Note this was written based on approx 30 hours of gameplay.

    Final Fantasy XIII-2's story is a blabbering mess. Very similar to XIII in which the 2 (2!!) main characters have zero motivation for the first 7 hours, and the relationship development between the two is very sparse and unenjoyable to experience. The dialogue feels like it was written by monkeys on typewriters; get used to hearing the words paradox over and over and over. Every single problem in the story is reduced down to "A paradox done it". Serah and Noel feel incredibly detached from each other and often simply repeat what the other has said like they were in seperate rooms at the time. Minigames are a little bit different to those of other Final Fantasy games, they are quite frequent, for example in Academia there are a set of quizzes. The quizzes are incredibly frustrating, I'm constantly being asked questions that are almost impossible to know the answer for. Trial and error is not a good way to get these answers when you have to get 8 other questions in order to get to that particular one. Serendipity is NOT the Gold Saucer, it's almost just a game corner in Pokemon. Slots and Chocobo racing are about it, the rest you're going to have to shell out more money to buy as DLC. Oh and don't expect a world map, expect a glorified level select.

    Time travel in this game is done incredibly badly too. Don't ever go in thinking Chrono Trigger style, you're actions in previous era's have almost no effect on other era's, a technique Square had mastered years ago. As said before time travel is not even a good way to describe the Historia Crux, it is just a level select in which 30% are original area's. The rest are reskins or recycled. That's the sad truth. The gameplay is still unimaginative and restrictive. I can only control one character at a time, use auto-battle and paradigm shift and that's about it. The monster catching system is incredibly grinding and gives you access to 3 less paradigms. That restricts you even more. Even on normal difficulty the game is exceptionally easy. There is litterally no more to add it is so similar to XIII. The soundtrack for XIII-2 is terrible, the main battle theme is the only theme I enjoyed but.. a heavy metal chocobo theme, really?

    Gameplay=subpar, story=subpar and characters=subpar. The three things that matter in Final Fantasy and all of them are just terrible. Definitely avoid. Vote with your money and don't let Square Enix cash in on a terrible game like this.    … Expand
  19. atlasshrugged
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    As a (potentially rare) fan of FFXIII, I found myself wound up in the hype for this game. I was aware of all of the potential shortcomings, including reduced team members, a monster recruit system (which sometimes is hit and miss in RPG's), and the potential for a time travelling story to be a complete mess (it's a difficulty topic to approach). Before I launch in, I'd like to say that IAs a (potentially rare) fan of FFXIII, I found myself wound up in the hype for this game. I was aware of all of the potential shortcomings, including reduced team members, a monster recruit system (which sometimes is hit and miss in RPG's), and the potential for a time travelling story to be a complete mess (it's a difficulty topic to approach). Before I launch in, I'd like to say that I sank about 50 hours into this game and got the platinum trophy, so I think I saw most of what it had to offer (except DLC). To be fair, I think the game has some pretty crisp graphics (very similar to FFXIII) and some pretty cool moments in the mid game. I also think Caius is a pretty interesting antagonist, which I've seen echoed in many reviews. However, I think some of the aspects of the game got too simplified. In terms of battles, I found that I only had to be strategic with some of the after game bosses. In the main game, I got interested in trying to complete sidequests and found that I overlevelled VERY quickly, making the rest of the game a breeze. Normally I would say this is my fault, but one of the promises this time was a less linear game, so I think my interest in exploring is justified. The side quests themselves were fairly uninvolved as well. I expected a great deal of time hopping, but only in later quests does this seem to apply. The chrystarium is also redesigned, and I feel for the worse. I do appreciate the strategy of having certain crystals 'worth' more than others, but I found that they severely limited the abilities of the two characters where you would be foolish not to use them in those roles. As such, it seems to just be a matter of "how can I boost this characters best stat" rather than "how can I make an effective character". The monster taming system adds a bit more variety to the battle roles, and while I have seen some people complain about it, I actually did like this system. It also played a lot on resource management since you weren't sure (unless you faq) how good a monster will be, even at high levels. Combine all of the above with the auto-fight option, and you have a very streamlined battle system that might be a bit easy for veterans of the series. Finally, I felt the story was very underwhelming. As I said above, there are some pretty cool set pieces in the mid game, but there are also parts that had me scratching my head. For example (without spoilers), in one time period you thwart a mob of monsters and then in a later time period (same location) your characters feel sorry for them, help them, and then have to beat them down once more. There were a few events in the story that made me feel that the characters were acting inconsistent. I'm also not a fan of how some characters were shoe-horned into the story, with explanation to be provided in DLC. You can make assumptions based on information in the game, but that information is obtained by achieving fragments, which many people may not have the patience to acquire all of them. I'm fine with supplemental DLC, but not to explain portions of the story. In the end, I give it a 6 because despite having an inconsistent story and simple battles, I found myself oddly enjoying many parts of the game. I just think it wasn't a sum greater than it's parts in this case.… Expand
  20. tsenG
    Feb 10, 2012
    5
    i wont write the same has before because metacritic erase my comment, maybe metacritic is fan of FF? or much FFXIII fans crying, whatever, recognize the death of the series, j-pop completely kill the series and its linear story y predictably, epics soundtracks into shi.tty music, the game now have much more less sidequest because is too much linear, travel time epic game?,ja you havei wont write the same has before because metacritic erase my comment, maybe metacritic is fan of FF? or much FFXIII fans crying, whatever, recognize the death of the series, j-pop completely kill the series and its linear story y predictably, epics soundtracks into shi.tty music, the game now have much more less sidequest because is too much linear, travel time epic game?,ja you have Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, and now Square have the same idea as other companies, launch DLC to gain much more money selling **** because they are not capable of delivering a complete game, with all content included and finish the story of the game in the same game and not in DLC or another **** as before, this generation of consoles and users/players kill this.… Expand
  21. ForTheGames
    May 6, 2014
    5
    I have tried multiple times to get into FF13 and it's sequels, but Square Enix is making it hard as hell. The battles are rushed and you get rewarded for beating it as fast as possible. BORING, Final Fantasy is about strategy and good story telling. Neither of those are present in this game. The characters are overly girly and the story is so nonsensical you have to be stupid to enjoy it.I have tried multiple times to get into FF13 and it's sequels, but Square Enix is making it hard as hell. The battles are rushed and you get rewarded for beating it as fast as possible. BORING, Final Fantasy is about strategy and good story telling. Neither of those are present in this game. The characters are overly girly and the story is so nonsensical you have to be stupid to enjoy it. I feel like I should give it a lower score, honestly. What the hell is Square trying to accomplish by releasing 2 terrible sequels on top of a mediocre FF13. If you like pressing auto battle to victory, and dealing with the cheesiest characters in any game. This is for you… Expand
  22. Kai82
    Sep 21, 2014
    6
    An improvement compared to Final Fantasy 13 but still not as good as previous Final Fantasy games. The good things: The graphics are awesome and the soundtrack is fine. They put side quest / side activities in this game (This was a mayor complaint for Final Fantasy 13). You also have some variation at the level up. You can increase some stats more than others and can chose to acquire someAn improvement compared to Final Fantasy 13 but still not as good as previous Final Fantasy games. The good things: The graphics are awesome and the soundtrack is fine. They put side quest / side activities in this game (This was a mayor complaint for Final Fantasy 13). You also have some variation at the level up. You can increase some stats more than others and can chose to acquire some skills earlier. The characters are O.K. Serah and Noel are believable (but made some stupid decisions within the story).
    The bad things: The story still had a decent amount of plot holes and dumb decisions by the main characters. Also it has the least amount of party members for all Final Fantasy games I know. The battle system still lacks direct control. A mayor complaint is the ending. It is so bad that it is only second to Mass Effect 3. I won’t spoil anything here but it makes me feel that I wasted my time. Also you must pay extra money for the real ending (DLC = Downloadable content). This is by far the dumbest thing a publisher can do. Overall this is an O.K game but it will anger many Final Fantasy fans.    … Expand
  23. sanluis20
    Nov 10, 2014
    5
    Hmm, did not like this game. Don't see why people say it's better than FFXIII, since I think the story was better. I can see if you do not like linearity, but then again I am used to playing JRPG's and many of them tend to be linear. Square Enix changed the series to appeal to a western audience, and while that is cool, I did not like it much. The time paradoxes were weird and notHmm, did not like this game. Don't see why people say it's better than FFXIII, since I think the story was better. I can see if you do not like linearity, but then again I am used to playing JRPG's and many of them tend to be linear. Square Enix changed the series to appeal to a western audience, and while that is cool, I did not like it much. The time paradoxes were weird and not interesting. Plus I did not like having Noel randomly throw in there. Game would have made more sense with Snow and Sarah, or just Sarah and another character from the original. I did not like it, but then again a lot of my friends do so try it yourself to be the judge.… Expand
  24. FantasyCritic71
    May 27, 2015
    7
    I went into this game thinking Lightning would have her own story and Serah would have her own story but oh boy was I wrong. I look at the front of my FFXIII-2 Case and I see Lightning there looking beautiful, sexy & badass but then I play the game and discover that you only use Lightning in the beginning of the game and the rest of game is all about Serah. So why is Lightning in the frontI went into this game thinking Lightning would have her own story and Serah would have her own story but oh boy was I wrong. I look at the front of my FFXIII-2 Case and I see Lightning there looking beautiful, sexy & badass but then I play the game and discover that you only use Lightning in the beginning of the game and the rest of game is all about Serah. So why is Lightning in the front cover of the game? You know what just forget the question lets get on with this review of the 2nd game in the XIII Series.

    ~ Story ~

    A girl by name of Serah Farron wakes up 1 day to a change of clothes, a talking moogle that can change into a bow, monsters attacking her vacation home at Bodhum and a mysterious man named Noel who may or may not be her future boyfriend. Noel tells Serah he knows where her sister is and how to save her so she's like "you do?' and he's like "yeah" and off they go into romance I mean to the Time Portal that will lead them to both past & future from there they eventually meet Hope, Snow, Sazh and our Antagonist Caius who is apparently as strong as Lightning is they also meet the depressed little girl named Yeul.

    Overall - Despite the fact that I loved FFXIII's story alot more than this one I still found this one to be somewhat enjoyable.

    ~ Gameplay ~

    Gameplay has improved Paradigm Shifts are faster, the menus still look gorgeous and now you can catch pokemon I mean digimon I mean monsters.

    Allies - Guess what the only 2 characters you use in this game is Noel & Serah excluding that one part with Lightning & that on part with Snow. So throughout most of the game your partners are your Pokemon I mean monsters they will fill in for all your favorite characters just pretend that Sazh, Fang, Vanille, Hope, Lightning & Snow are your monsters.

    Using Pokeballs[Monster Crystals] - In order to catch Monsters in this game you need to 1st defeat the Monsters and then that Monster will leave behind a Monster Crystal take that Monster Crystal and you will have a new ally or Monster for which you can train and use to defeat the 7 Gym Leaders.

    Pokemon[Monsters] Special Attacks - Your Pokemon[I mean monsters] have special powers called Feral Link Abilities. A Feral Link Gauge fills up and once its full your Monster will go insane and unleash a powerful attack you must press the Square Button to use this powerful attack. Some Feral Link Abilities require you to hit a button combo as well, and the effects will be more devastating the faster you complete the combo.

    Cinematic Action - This is 1 of the things I love about this game. Basically you watch for button icons and input the right button commands in the correct sequence and you'll get to see some amazing Cinematic Action Scenes sometimes they'll let you chose what attacks you want to do on the enemy which in my opinion is freaking awesome. I wish this was in all Boss Battles but its not.

    Temporal Rifts - Yes this game has puzzles most of them are in Oerba and you'll be hearing Mog saying "Try something different Kupo" everytime you fail. Most of the puzzles are easy the last few are always the hard ones so watch out for those.

    Mog Throw & Mog Hunt - Some may find Mog annoying girls may find Mog to be cute but I find him to be useful. When Mog is being annoying just throw him toward Treasure Chests and loot all the gold or items inside when Mog is being useless use Mog Hunt to find hidden chests & other hidden goodies. Or if your just pissed off you can just throw Mog for no reason at all they say it helps relieve stress.

    Historia Crux - Another thing I love about this game is traveling through time it feels so awesome to go to these different places and time periods and I get excited everytime I go to the Historia Crux to go to a new place or Time Period plus I love the menu design and the music. Square Enix you crafty little devils.

    Shops - Brief mention shops aren't in save points anymore now you shop with Chocolina a women with an obsession for Chocobos and the only happy person you'll see in this game. She will brighten your atmosphere because this game is darker than the abyss it'll drag you to.

    Bonus Content - There's alot of stuff you can do in this game Missions, Hunting for Fragments, playing games in Serendipity, participating in Chocobo Races and battling in the coliseum[You'll need to purchase DLC for some of the battles here].

    ~ Sound ~

    The OST is absolutely amazing and so is the voice acting.

    ~ Graphics ~

    I expected this game to look identical to XIII but the graphics were downgraded a bit. Regardless the graphics are pretty good.

    ~ Overall ~

    This is an okay game its passable the gameplay has improved but the story has not. And this game is not as linear as FFXIII was you now have more freedom to move around and stuff which I liked about this game. FFXIII-2 was not bad but not my favorite game. I wish there was more places and time periods to explore and also more characters but there's not.    … Expand
  25. HTGamer
    Nov 23, 2016
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. Following complaints about the original, Square Enix released an anti-FFXIII. And as such, the game is uninspired and hopelessly tries to do things differently from its predecessor, but not necessarily much better.

    In contrast to FFXIII, FFXIII-2 offers you more freedom. Gone are the hallways and the linearity, instead being replaced by open maps and freedom of traversal. There are towns to explore, NPCs to talk to, side-quests to undertake, dialogue choices to make, fast travel. There are even collectibles, and your actions can affect the timeline and change the maps (which can be visited in different years and centuries).

    Gameplay is also revised. Now you control a 3-member party consisting of the 2 protagonists (Serah and Noel) and you can add a captured moster to fight by your side. When defeating enemies you will likely catch them (like Pokemon) and recruit them, then you can mix them to produce a better monster. The ATB system returns almost as is from FFXIII.

    Do these changes to the FFXIII formula make the sequel better? Not much. The story is about time travel and paradoxes that have to be resolved, Serah's sister Lightning gives her the task to restore the timeline because she has to personally defend the goddess Etro by an attacker named Caius who in turn wants to destroy Time because he loves a priestess named Yeul. Yeah, reasons. The maps are "meh" despite being open, and graphics are somewhat worse than those of FFXIII. Soundtrack is still great, but voice overs are "meh". Again.

    All in all, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is just an antithesis to FF XIII and nothing more. You can do more things than before, you have freedom, but it still isn't a great JRPG. There isn't a great story, there are no great characters, the combat system is both good and bad. I somewhat liked my time with the game, more than with its predecessor, but I wasn't fully convinced. I won't bother with Lightning Returns, the 3rd FFXIII game. I just hope FF XV will restore the series' reputation.    … Expand
  26. Sitheral
    Jun 14, 2020
    6
    The sequel to 13 fixes some of its problems, it makes paradigm shifts animations quick and introduces non linearty to the story and gameplay. But for everything it does well, its worse in something else. Story is all over the place and really doesnt feel like a good one, you only have two characters to play (well, you can have a sort of pokemon experience here and add one of the monstersThe sequel to 13 fixes some of its problems, it makes paradigm shifts animations quick and introduces non linearty to the story and gameplay. But for everything it does well, its worse in something else. Story is all over the place and really doesnt feel like a good one, you only have two characters to play (well, you can have a sort of pokemon experience here and add one of the monsters to the party), things just too often feel goofy or, even worse, generic, much like in 10-2.… Expand
  27. Duke7312
    Mar 13, 2012
    6
    I really wanted to love this game. I did not play XIII due to the negatives I read about it, and when I heard that many of those were improved in this game I was excited and gave it a try. I have not played a FF game since 9, and my favorite is 3. I am a very old school ff player, as such when done with FFXII-2 I was left wondering what the heck I just played. It was an interesting game,I really wanted to love this game. I did not play XIII due to the negatives I read about it, and when I heard that many of those were improved in this game I was excited and gave it a try. I have not played a FF game since 9, and my favorite is 3. I am a very old school ff player, as such when done with FFXII-2 I was left wondering what the heck I just played. It was an interesting game, with very nice graphics, a bit of a lame storyline, but it was not a Final Fantasy game in it's old school meaning. It had the perception of being a freely travelable world, but I still found it too linear. I found myself missing the old ways of leveling up your characters, and found the new system too basic. I absolutely hated controlling only one character in battle instead of the standard four, and the fact that the easiest thing to do in battle is just keep hitting the auto battle drove me nuts. Overall I felt they had taken the Final Fantasy idea and simplified it to the point where you hardly need any strategy to complete the game. I never had to spend hours leveling to be able to defeat a boss, or collect coins for equipment, and that just doesn't feel right.… Expand
  28. aronshade
    Feb 29, 2012
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. (Ratings are out of 10, where 0 is the worst, 10 is the best)
    - Story:2
    - character rating: 2
    - graphics: 10
    - Sounds: 10
    - Music: 10
    - gameplay:10

    -Where to begin?

    -The good:
    -The graphics are second to none, the sounds are unique, the music is epic, the fighting style is the best i've seen yet.

    -The bad: -No epic weapons like they had from FF13-1, none of the weapons carried over from the previous game, fighting was more of a chore that you had to do over and over, leveling up had no benefit in the game.

    -I liked the idea of puzzles, i really did, however the puzzles they had were boring, not to mention WAY too many.

    -your stuck with 2 characters and a monster when it comes to fighting, I would have preferred a larger HUMAN party, perhaps some of the old cast?

    -The Ugly:
    -They ended the game with the good guys dying!, like what is this, a Korean love story?!?

    -To be continued? you need to download the ending, which means you MIGHT have to pay for it?!? thats like buying a movie from a store, watching it right up till the end, and having to pay to see the ending! ever cheap!

    -ideas for improvement:
    -Remake the 2nd part, cut out the time travel, go along with the fal'cie of pulse being awakened after the death of the coccoon fal'cie, or something! look at FF13-1, it was a really good game (sadly it didn't have HUMAN interaction, a happy reuinion with vanille and her tribe would have made the game perfect) still it had merit.

    -bring back the epic weapon building stuff from FF13-1, bring back puzzles similar to FF-10 where you HAD to use your head and look around, add more groups of people to run into on pulse.

    -If your going to add a second part to a story, re-using the old characters and adding some new ones is generally a good IDEA, it keeps the story fresh and attractive, an example, snow should have been able to follow serah and noel, as well as be usable when fighting. heck why not collect all the old members as you open up time? then have a epic battle at the end and a HAPPY FINISHED ending.

    -There you have it i've said my peace, I hope the dquare Enix dev team read this and learn form it.

    This is Aronshade from Ontario, Canada, Cheers    … Expand
  29. AtmaWeapon
    Jul 23, 2012
    5
    Final Fantasy XIII-2 is yet another installment of the Final Fantasy series that does not live up to its predecessors. Square Enix ought to discard this project and start on a clean slate. Being a large fan of the Final Fantasy series, I am once again disappointed in FFXIII-2's shortcomings.
  30. AntaresH
    Feb 11, 2012
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A short Breakdown of the game (Some Spoilers, i guess):

    Gameplay:

    If you've played FF XIII you may be instantly familiar with the battle mechanics, since they are almost identical with those of its predecessor. New additions are a slightly less linear Crystarium (youre able to level up the roles as you see fit almost from the start), some QTEs during major Battles (almost there a quite few of those) and the need to carefully chose your 3. partymember from a wide variety of monster you can capture (since not all abilities you may know from XIII are avaible for your two mainchars Noel / Serah). Therefore, if you were not fan of FF XIII battle mechanics you may want to consider this before buying. My opinion in general on Combat: its still flashy and fun, however lacks a higher degree of tactics (reading: being too eays) especially in the later party of the game, since most battles boild down to buff /debuff enemy--> attack and heal your team up as needed. As for the exploration: Most areas of the world are less linear, however are heavily recylced during your time travels (Almost all areas are exactly the same in their respective, different time periods besides the occasional colour palette swap from green to blue etc.). Some towns where added, altough youre still restricted to one (this time pretty talkative) shop.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Music:

    Nothing special to say about this one. The soundtracks consists mainly of J-pop with the occasional Final fantasy Main theme which is ever so present, since this tradition was started with "eyes on me" in FF VIII (alltough FF XIII-2's main title may not feel as out of place as Leona Lewis entry in FF XIII, it still has no real connection to the plot at all). Even two heavy Metal tracks made it into the game, which can be heard while riding a particular Chocobo or fighting a certain boss. Although there a some tracks, especially nearing the end, which perfectly fit their respective scenes however most of the soundtrack does very little fuel to the atmosphere and occasionaly feels pretty off.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Story

    If a good Story makes or breaks a game for you, you may want to skip on this one. The main plot lacks a clear goal for the most part, besides jumping from time gate to time gate untill you EVENTUALLY reach Valhalla. The new Antagonist Caius however is, like most side characters, pretty interesting and much more threatening because of his longer screentime as his "predecessor" Barthandelus from FF XIII. Sadly, the same can not be said about Serah and Noel, which for the most part are as single minded and shallow as for example Snow from FF XIII and often do not contribute much to the somewhat lacking plot overall, besides repeating their ambitions and things which were stated 20 secs before over and over again.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    One more thing you might consider before buying this game:

    If you are not a fan of story related DLC, which is essential to the main plot, do NOT buy this game. FF XIII-2 showcases more than one way how DLC should NOT be implemented into a game. Certain Areas like a Colliseum HAVE to be visited during your main Quest, however unlike in FF X you cannot fight a single monster there, without investing some real money for DLC (I wouldnt mind this as much, if there was a real optional Boss like Yiazmat or Ozma. To be honest, theres no true reason for maxing your characters/monsters besides bragging rights, like in earlier entries). Theres even a greyed out spot on your Timeline map, indicating this missing content.
    (Even one of the games in the somewhat empty casino, is described as "Soon avaible as DLC" when asked about the rules). Far worse however is the announced continuation of the MAIN story line (which simply ends with a "to be continued"). Whereas in Dragon Age 2 or Mass effect story DLC added some sidestories, you are now forced to buy the "real" ending as soon at is avaiable. (Sadly the current "ending" suffers from a very bad case of cliffhanger, which at last makes me NOT want to buy future content). -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To conclude this review:

    If youre desperate for a new JRPG (which sadly is still pretty rare this gen, if your not from japan that is ^^) you may want to give this one a shot. Just dont expect too much from it, since the short production span clearly shows.    … Expand
  31. Cell1e
    Mar 31, 2013
    6
    I think this game is an improvement on ff 13. I liked the monsters and levelling them up, there was more elements of exploration and Serah and Noel are simply adorable together. Again a very pretty game, I love the hair blowing in the wind and the movements of the characters. The story had potential but the endings sucked big time, Im not a fan of miserable endings.
    I also hated the    I think this game is an improvement on ff 13. I liked the monsters and levelling them up, there was more elements of exploration and Serah and Noel are simply adorable together. Again a very pretty game, I love the hair blowing in the wind and the movements of the characters. The story had potential but the endings sucked big time, Im not a fan of miserable endings.
    I also hated the ridiculously difficult clock puzzles, what normal person can figure them out? Luckily google saved the day. I hated with a passion the last few end areas especially the Acadamia platforms, playing on normal the monsters there were really challenging as if the whole moving platforms and crap wasnt bad enough. Just a huge time waster if you ask me.
    So for the terrible and pointless endings and awfullly frustrating puzzles and end game boss fights (that went on and on forever) and also those awful grindy battles, man this game is all about the grind! I have to score this game about a 6. Still better than ff13 tho.    … Expand
  32. stitchmouth
    Mar 16, 2013
    5
    I will admit that I'm part of the reason the Final Fantasy series sucks. I keep buying them even knowing they're going down hill, so I admit fault there.

    As this is running the same engine as XII, you'll find the same boring auto-combat system in place as you did in its predecessor. Thankfully, the characters are slightly less annoying, though there are very few of them. You will    I will admit that I'm part of the reason the Final Fantasy series sucks. I keep buying them even knowing they're going down hill, so I admit fault there.

    As this is running the same engine as XII, you'll find the same boring auto-combat system in place as you did in its predecessor. Thankfully, the characters are slightly less annoying, though there are very few of them. You will essentially only have 2 playable characters throughout the entire game. That, combined with the auto-combat and very few item or weapon upgrades, may make those who like to hunt for items in game feel very left out in the cold. It also means a complete lack of variety for most of the game.

    The story isn't abjectly terrible, as you'll find some interesting interactions as you jump to different times and places. Sadly, the story is punctuated with a fairly crap ending.

    Overall, the game has some slightly fun exploration to do, an amazing metal rendition of the chocobo theme, but it doesn't take you the places you want a game to.

    Square has openly admitted the series hasn't been what they wanted of it lately, so we can only hold out hope they do something amazing with the next generation.    … Expand
  33. Rukishou
    Feb 1, 2012
    7
    Much like only a biased hater would give Final Fantasy XIII-2 a 0 rating, only a fanboy would give it a perfect 10. Let's be honest, it is not a bad game and you can definitely enjoy it - if you let yourself - but it's certainly not the highlight of the Final Fantasy franchise.

    Most issues with the first game have been fixed in some way or another and even though, if you look for them,    Much like only a biased hater would give Final Fantasy XIII-2 a 0 rating, only a fanboy would give it a perfect 10. Let's be honest, it is not a bad game and you can definitely enjoy it - if you let yourself - but it's certainly not the highlight of the Final Fantasy franchise.

    Most issues with the first game have been fixed in some way or another and even though, if you look for them, you will find a few new problems, there's nothing game-breaking. I could go through a list but really, all you need to remember is that you cannot trust reviews and that the only way to truly know if a game was worth your time is to play it yourself.

    If you have enjoyed previous installations to the Final Fantasy series, you don't owe it to yourself, but you should definitely give yourself the opportunity to find out if you can't enjoy this one too.    … Expand
  34. Vandral007
    Nov 27, 2012
    7
    Ah Final Fantasy! Easily my favourite game series of all time. Now, I'm not one of the rabid fan boys who has to wipe drool from my mouth whenever Sephiroth's name is mentioned, but I can say I'm a pretty stout defender of the series. I'd go on record to say the Final Fantasy XIII is a very good game. However, after Hironobu Sakaguchi left SquareEnix and the Final Fantasy series, it'sAh Final Fantasy! Easily my favourite game series of all time. Now, I'm not one of the rabid fan boys who has to wipe drool from my mouth whenever Sephiroth's name is mentioned, but I can say I'm a pretty stout defender of the series. I'd go on record to say the Final Fantasy XIII is a very good game. However, after Hironobu Sakaguchi left SquareEnix and the Final Fantasy series, it's hard to deny that the series has lost some of it's magic. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is an admiriable sequel to FFXIII, but there are a lot of issues that nagged at me as I played through the game. Graphically, the game is decent, but am I crazy for thinking the graphics were better in XIII? The music is sorta meh. It's not bad, it's just not particularily mememorable. The biggest problem I have is with the characters. I never grew attatched to Sarah or Noel. Honestly, I hated Sarah until about 3 quarters through the game. Her constant whining and insistence that she needs Lightning or Snow to protect her (after she fights waves of enemies big and small) grates on my nerves. I like Moogles, but I wanted to turn the moogle in this game into a stuffed animal for my daughter. Lastly, the story is serviceable, but not what I've come to expect from a Final Fantasy game. The gameplay has been tweaked to the games benefit. I've seen people complaining that there is only two characters, but the addition of trained monsters opens up a ton of variety as far as party dynamics go. The leveling system is also a massive improvement on the lame system from XIII. The open ended mission structure alleviates a lot of the issues most people had with the linearity of the first game. Overall, FFXIII-2 is a servicable game, but a game that is showing the age of my favourite franchise. Hoping for more from Lightning Returns and the inevitable FFXV.… Expand
  35. terrychelseaxp
    Oct 3, 2012
    6
    FF13-2 is just so-so game with decent graphic, Square-enix put too much effort on graphic design. It rather pay more in story, gameplay, First of all, the story is too complicated i can't fully underrstand. Gameplay is disappointed, you can controlled only 1 out of2 main characters plus a monster, and choose tactic to fight against enemy. And mostly my style of playing is change tactic andFF13-2 is just so-so game with decent graphic, Square-enix put too much effort on graphic design. It rather pay more in story, gameplay, First of all, the story is too complicated i can't fully underrstand. Gameplay is disappointed, you can controlled only 1 out of2 main characters plus a monster, and choose tactic to fight against enemy. And mostly my style of playing is change tactic and then press O O O, again and again. It is no fun, and why don't change it to ARPG while only 1 character you can control. Square-enix is leadership of JRPG, need to bring evolution to rpg gaming. Not just Graphic design, yes i agree that CG is very impressive, so as FF14, but pay more attention to gameplay, and may be online features
    think about you can play with friends through the FF story.    … Expand
  36. logicsense
    Aug 30, 2012
    6
    Decent game but not a some big "no no" for me; 1) The music is not even decent 2) The jumping time system does not make it for me, basically not good enough. 3) Seeing it is the latest console FF game it is barely there in quality (graphics are very good though) when it comes to the game design. I get bored, and I really love the FF series.
  37. boshi
    Feb 1, 2014
    6
    although it tries hard to be even better than it's predecessor, this game just isn't as good. the graphics are once again beautiful, however the story is pretty confusing, and you'll find yourself questioning the logic this game uses at times, and it's all around pretty boring. the same could be said about the two main characters, Serah and Noel, the former who barely has a personality,although it tries hard to be even better than it's predecessor, this game just isn't as good. the graphics are once again beautiful, however the story is pretty confusing, and you'll find yourself questioning the logic this game uses at times, and it's all around pretty boring. the same could be said about the two main characters, Serah and Noel, the former who barely has a personality, and the latter with a personality you probably won't care about. the gameplay is, once again, very good, and paradigm shifts are faster to pull off than in XIII, which is nice. you can capture monsters in battle, as well as several secret ones hidden in the world. despite this, the music isn't great, which is a letdown. the crystarium which is how you upgraded your characters, has gone from a web-like grid, to a linear upgrade system which is a shame. this game is a bit shorter than the previous one, (i finished it around 20 hours earlier than FFXIII), it instead tries to make up for it with multiple endings. i really wanted to like this game, because i loved XIII, but it's just not as good.… Expand
  38. eimajamie
    Nov 4, 2013
    6
    Although this game is a step in the right direction, FFXIII-2 pales in comparison to the older entries of the series. The graphics in this game are absolutely stunning, environments and character models have wonderful attention to detail. Recruiting monsters to fight alongside you is a very addicting game-play feature, though battles often have you constantly pressing the X button with noAlthough this game is a step in the right direction, FFXIII-2 pales in comparison to the older entries of the series. The graphics in this game are absolutely stunning, environments and character models have wonderful attention to detail. Recruiting monsters to fight alongside you is a very addicting game-play feature, though battles often have you constantly pressing the X button with no real need to do anything different, only occasionally switching team formations when a character is hurt. The soundtrack was hit-and-miss, some tracks really immersed you into the game while others were bland and forgettable. The story was the biggest let down in my opinion, one thing that always attracts me to FF games is the amazing character development, as well as meeting a variety of unique supporting characters along the way; FFXIII-2 however, revolves the story around a very sparse and uninteresting cast. Many occurrences throughout the storyline are simply explained with bland outcomes such as "This monster appeared because of a paradox". I also felt the fact you had to pay to fight the games toughest bosses and to retrieve the best weapons was very unappealing considering these things were already included in every other previous Final Fantasy game. Overall this game is definitely an improvement on FFXIII and can prove to be quite addictive, but it will always leave you wishing it gave you that little bit more.… Expand
  39. militarynewb
    Dec 2, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Ehh...I am a pretty big final fantasy franchise lover. More from the FF Tactics FF10 Series. FF12 was pretty good as well. FF13..not so much a fan of, but i won't talk too much smack due to the fact that I never finished the game. Now I did finish FF13-2 a couple days ago. FIRST AND FOREMOST...what is the deal with the "to be continued crapp"... at the end of the game....Secondly... I can't explain it but 13 and 13-2 didn't have that certain "flare" that the early FF games had. I think they need to look at what they did for the earlier games and work off of that..maybe even possibly turn it into a no voice acting, dialog game again, idk, something...anything to get that spark back in the industry...Still overall FF13 2 was not "that bad" of a game..… Expand
  40. Kittencandy
    Feb 7, 2012
    7
    Where FFX-2 closed the open ending of FFX, and took you at least 40 hours to finish, FFXIII-2 took an ending that was slightly open just to tell half a story and leave you completely in the dark and frustrated when reading "to be continued..." right before the credits roll, and it took me about 15 hours to finish. So far it's pretty FF-unworthy. I didn't get lost in the game as I usuallyWhere FFX-2 closed the open ending of FFX, and took you at least 40 hours to finish, FFXIII-2 took an ending that was slightly open just to tell half a story and leave you completely in the dark and frustrated when reading "to be continued..." right before the credits roll, and it took me about 15 hours to finish. So far it's pretty FF-unworthy. I didn't get lost in the game as I usually did with final fantasy installments, like 7, 8 or 10, even though I felt like I was going to when I first put the disc in my ps 3. But soon it started to feel like a mixture of Kingdom Hearts and earlier (ps 1) Final Fantasies.,(partially because for the first time they did something Kingdom Heartsy to it. A movie at the start, then the whole game only cutscenes, and a movie at the end.) Other than that, the good looking, but very tiny worlds you'd run around in, the way it's overly based on side-questing, with a very short main storyline, the storyline itself being extremely thin, almost like it's been thought up by one guy whilst being drunk and instead of filling in the blanks and making a coherent story simply left it like that and turned it into a game, making it feel more like episode 1 of FFXIII the season than a complete game. However, I'm not completely without sympathy for this game. Sure, it has some definite flaws, not to mention the ending which was horrible beyond belief.... But still, I had fun playing, despite all the minuses (at least up till the final sequence), a lot more than I had with FF XIII. I didn't really care about the storyline being kinda lame, and the way they just pointlessly added FF XIII characters into part 2 just to have them in the game... It's only now that I finished it that I'm bummed out about it. So if you don't mind an anti-climax, you'll have fun with this while it lasts… Expand
  41. emeraldweapon
    Jan 31, 2012
    7
    well, i havent played 13-2 yet, and ive only played 13, but this is what i think, lol, the weaknesses in 13 came mostly from the fact that square didnt stay ps3 exclusive, they could have had a game that was twice as big on a single disc, a game like FF needs playstation hardware, plus it would benefit the Playstation cuz exclusive games keep people buying and supporting systems. As farwell, i havent played 13-2 yet, and ive only played 13, but this is what i think, lol, the weaknesses in 13 came mostly from the fact that square didnt stay ps3 exclusive, they could have had a game that was twice as big on a single disc, a game like FF needs playstation hardware, plus it would benefit the Playstation cuz exclusive games keep people buying and supporting systems. As far as XIII-2 my fear is that they still have limited space, so they are just going to try to cram in the things that people compained about without having the feedom to really put there heart into anything. i respect square and think they are doping the best they can, i just think that they should just do what they really want to do in creating a game, just keep it Ps3 exclusive, unless xbox doesnt mind releasing the game on at least 6 discs, lol, but i dont think thats good for munny. if they do this they will make it easier to execute what they want. and remember its their hardcore playstation fanbase that made them so successful, who cares about expanding to xbox, not if its gonna hold back making good games. i will admit though, i think in 13 they did the best thing by at least having great characters and story. btw ff7 rules all other ff, just wanted to throw that out there.… Expand
  42. Singularity
    Feb 1, 2012
    7
    All of these idiots posting 0's for this game, and most other games these days, are really starting to get on my nerves. A 0 is supposed to represent a game that is utterly unplayable due to mechanics or bugs. Stop reviewing games when you've only played less than 20 minutes of it, and keep your fanboydem to yourself. As for FFXIII-2, it's a decent game. It's definitely not the highlightAll of these idiots posting 0's for this game, and most other games these days, are really starting to get on my nerves. A 0 is supposed to represent a game that is utterly unplayable due to mechanics or bugs. Stop reviewing games when you've only played less than 20 minutes of it, and keep your fanboydem to yourself. As for FFXIII-2, it's a decent game. It's definitely not the highlight of the series, and there are some questionable story choices that Square-Enix made, but it's overall a satisfying game. The good: the presentation is fantastic: clean menus, fantastic art-design, even though the graphics themselves are a bit dated, and decent music. The battles are fast and fun, and the whole collecting monsters mechanic is kind of cool (although I would have personally rather seen a full cast of characters). The game is no longer a straight corridor from cutscene to boss to cutscene, offering many diverging paths, distractions, and even small choices, and the game allows you to go back and redo areas. The not so good: the story. It makes very little sense, and I found myself wondering why all of this was happening. There is good emotion at the end, but it's a shame that the rest was bland. Hopefully the ending will be cleaned up in future DLC. The characters were not as good as others in the series: there are only two of them, and they don't really click well. And where is Lightning? She was such a fantastic character, it's almost an insult to give her such a backseat role.… Expand
  43. Egrimm
    Jun 14, 2012
    7
    I was sceptic about this game at the beginning, but it's a good one. I like the idea of time travel and the separation of the game in old-style "level" and the story is nice. The gameplay is the same of FF13 but with only 2 character and a bunch of monsters to party with. Unfortunatly some secret objective are really hard to find and you probably need a guide to reach the 100% completationI was sceptic about this game at the beginning, but it's a good one. I like the idea of time travel and the separation of the game in old-style "level" and the story is nice. The gameplay is the same of FF13 but with only 2 character and a bunch of monsters to party with. Unfortunatly some secret objective are really hard to find and you probably need a guide to reach the 100% completation of this game.… Expand
  44. GrumpyReviewer
    Feb 26, 2012
    7
    I hear people saying this game is so much better than the original 13. But, is it? It makes something different, that's for sure and "improves" on what people criticized in the past. But, if this game is good is because it picked up on what a PHENOMENAL game stopped. XIII-2 is good, fact. But, for me, XIII was way better. It had a more cohesive story, epic, compelling. We actuallyI hear people saying this game is so much better than the original 13. But, is it? It makes something different, that's for sure and "improves" on what people criticized in the past. But, if this game is good is because it picked up on what a PHENOMENAL game stopped. XIII-2 is good, fact. But, for me, XIII was way better. It had a more cohesive story, epic, compelling. We actually understood what was going on. With XIII-2 we have Serah (who is very vanilla) and Noel (who is a better character) and a confusing story that appears not to be going anywhere. I enjoyed XIII-2. But it only made me miss XIII and who good it actually was back in the day.… Expand
  45. Figomor
    Mar 10, 2022
    6
    Just as its predecessor, only slightly above average. Not so linear as FFXIII, but still same boring battles and most importantly I did not care about the characters at all. Graphically it looks amazing for ps3 era,
    but the gameplay is shallow and the story pathetic. I cannot recommend this game to longtime FF fans.
    I am sorry, Square Enix, please, go back to your roots.
  46. Bunny
    Jan 29, 2013
    7
    I enjoyed FF XIII, despite its issues. FF XIII-2 is also an enjoyable game, but I don't think it surpasses its predecessor. I thought Noel was a good character and I enjoyed the mystery of what happened to Lightning. The graphics were colourful and stunning. I also really liked the idea of having tameable monsters in your party. I had some issues with the game however. I was disappointedI enjoyed FF XIII, despite its issues. FF XIII-2 is also an enjoyable game, but I don't think it surpasses its predecessor. I thought Noel was a good character and I enjoyed the mystery of what happened to Lightning. The graphics were colourful and stunning. I also really liked the idea of having tameable monsters in your party. I had some issues with the game however. I was disappointed that there were only two playable characters throughout the game. The biggest disappointment was that there were hardly any exciting or challenging battles in the game - moving forward was heavily related to running around to find fragments while jumping through timelines and solving annoying, repetitive puzzles. Many of the missions are tedious - they require no skill, just time consuming wandering and searching. It's difficult and frustrating to get through the game without a guide. The music was lacklustre (and sometimes downright bad - a nu-metal Chocobo theme? really??). The time travel idea is cool, but honestly, I think it was done as well or better back when "Chrono Trigger" came out.

    That being said, I enjoyed a lot of the game, and exploring the different worlds that are rendered so beautifully. I still enjoy the paradigm shifts in battle. Have fun with it for what it is, but don't expect it to kick XIII's butt.    … Expand
  47. Kurty
    Apr 3, 2012
    7
    Many people hated Final Fantasy XIII, mostly because it was too linear, and there wasn't much to do outside the main story. No town, no NPC to talk to, pretty much nothing at all. I didn't hate that game, but I didn't like it too much either. The game looked really great, the battle system was dynamic and pretty fun, and the story was ok, but I gotta say I didn't feel like playing aroundMany people hated Final Fantasy XIII, mostly because it was too linear, and there wasn't much to do outside the main story. No town, no NPC to talk to, pretty much nothing at all. I didn't hate that game, but I didn't like it too much either. The game looked really great, the battle system was dynamic and pretty fun, and the story was ok, but I gotta say I didn't feel like playing around much after finishing the game.

    Now, SquareEnix released a direct sequel to FFXIII. They wanted to fix the problems that players reported about the first episode, and I guess they did. You now have NPCs to talk to, quests to complete and dozens of things to do. The new game isn't as linear, mostly thanks to the "Time Travel" feature which offers interesting possibilities. The scenario revolves around that system too, requiring you to go back and forth in time in order to solve paradoxes and ultimately save the future, although some things in the story didn't really make sense to me.

    They kept the same battle system, hardly changing anything, except the fact that you may now recruit monsters after defeating them. Those monsters take the place of the 3rd party member and can evolve on their own Crystarium if you give them the right items. Apart from that, the battle system is pretty similar, with the same Active Time Battle gauge, the same jobs (roles - Commando, Ravager, etc), the same strategies (Paradigm Shift), etc. Why change a winning team, anyway? The battles were pretty fun in the first game, and here too.

    The graphics also look as good as before, there's not much to say about them. The environments are however a bit limited : You will be visiting the same zones in different time periods, but ultimately they're the same zones. I also found that the soundtrack wasn't great. The music in some areas (with lyrics) kinda reminded me of NieR, but they were not nearly as good (NieR's soundtrack is exceptionally good though). I gotta say that the "Crazy Chocobo" song is really funny and surprising.

    I'll conclude by saying that this second Final Fantasy XIII is a much better game than its predecessor. It's a pretty fun and interesting game. However, the "To Be Continued..." ending somehow feels like a "rip-off" (I hate DLCs), as Square Enix sold us an obviously unfinished game.    … Expand
  48. LiquidGamer
    Apr 3, 2012
    7
    Even though I am lost in the story throughout the time I played it, I liked it more than XIII. Say what you will but it is hard to give a FF game a bad score since the graphics far surpass most titles out there. I wish it was not a '-2' title, it is good if not better than its predesessor. I like the changes made and the game was worth playing just to see the story through to the end.
  49. ShunOugarden
    Mar 2, 2020
    5
    Well... beatifull with possibility to time-travel.... but this kind of fight is not for me. You choose your action, you WAITING AND then you play it... no !.... a better way is you waiting to play AND THEN you choose your action !!
  50. CiloH
    Nov 26, 2013
    7
    Improvements were made in FF-XIII-2 compared to it's predecessor.

    Improvements: - Not as linear story and arguable better overall - New monster-pet mechanic - Cut-scene prompts/choices - Increased difficulty - Larger areas/worlds The same: - Beautiful CG, character models, and world. - The Soundtrack still good - The combat mechanics still terrible (The dreaded "Auto-battle")    Improvements were made in FF-XIII-2 compared to it's predecessor.

    Improvements:
    - Not as linear story and arguable better overall
    - New monster-pet mechanic
    - Cut-scene prompts/choices
    - Increased difficulty
    - Larger areas/worlds

    The same:
    - Beautiful CG, character models, and world.
    - The Soundtrack still good
    - The combat mechanics still terrible (The dreaded "Auto-battle")
    - Game items are still lackluster. e.g. weapons (just a change in color...seriously?)

    Regressions:
    - Frame-rate drops (especially noticeable during cut-scene prompts)    … Expand
  51. kaizidokiller
    Feb 11, 2014
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. XIII-2 address the issues of XIII, mainly the linear gameplay, but does that make it a better game? Sadly, no. I still love the fast-paced and more action-oriented battle system, it makes every battle more thrilling. The graphics is a technical marvel for seventh gen consoles. FF is known for it's strong story but sadly, the confusing story almost overshadows every good part of the game. All the time travelling nonsense doesn't even make sense. About halfway into the game, I was completely lost. I didn't know what was going on in the story and because of that, I didn't care about any of the characters. I just rushed through the game so that I can get the game's easy, but long, Platinum (because I did so in the first game) but in the end I didn't care that, and I didn't know how, Serah died. I like this game, but it's only worth a rental as I will never play this game again. For fans, you'll get much more enjoyment. For the uninitiated, give the PS1 and 2 FF a go before FFXIII. It's epic!… Expand
  52. AriseAndBe
    Aug 5, 2015
    7
    I like Lightning a lot more than Sarah so of course I'm not going to like this game as much. Noel is one of the blandest characters I've seen in a while so I can't really say much about him, and Hope and his assistant are nothing if not annoying. However, Yeul and Caius I thought were amazing. The story behind them is pretty much what drove me to finish them game.
    It's easy to tell    I like Lightning a lot more than Sarah so of course I'm not going to like this game as much. Noel is one of the blandest characters I've seen in a while so I can't really say much about him, and Hope and his assistant are nothing if not annoying. However, Yeul and Caius I thought were amazing. The story behind them is pretty much what drove me to finish them game.
    It's easy to tell that the budget for this game was less than that of XIII as the presentation is less spectacular, but only by a little bit.
    It was nice to be able to explore a lot more in this game and it was an interesting idea to be able to see the same place during different times.
    The most disappointing thing about this game I reckon was the battle system which felt like a step backwards from the first game. I found that I barely needed to use Sentinel as the battles were a lot easier for the most part. The whole monster capture thing was okay but I would have preferred a third character that you could battle with.    … Expand
  53. Burretploof
    Dec 5, 2016
    7
    I think quite a few people didn't even touch Final Fantasy XIII-2 after the disappointment that XIII was. They probably don't know that the entirely linear gameplay of XIII is gone and has been replaced with a more 'freeform' style of play.

    The game lets you travel through time and allows you to visit several different locations in different time periods. Each area has a number of small    I think quite a few people didn't even touch Final Fantasy XIII-2 after the disappointment that XIII was. They probably don't know that the entirely linear gameplay of XIII is gone and has been replaced with a more 'freeform' style of play.

    The game lets you travel through time and allows you to visit several different locations in different time periods. Each area has a number of small sidequests and most of them even tell a short story, enriching the game's lore.

    Combat and leveling up characters is largely unchanged. You still get to work with Paradigms, Auto-Attack, the Chrystarium and such but Monsters have been added to your team which play different roles. E.g. One monster heals you while another might attack the enemy.

    Unfortunately, the story is 'alright' at best and 'meh' at worst, offering few twists and turns, most of which are rather predictable.

    Still, the game can keep you busy for quite a while and since it's so ridiculously cheap (it's like $5 for a used copy on console), I consider this a must-have if you like JRPGs.    … Expand
  54. BlitZeR_95
    Apr 29, 2018
    6
    There was no need for a sequel since I think the ending of the previous game was a good way to end it. This game time travel can confuse you very easily and through half the game you have no idea what's going on. Again, another game you have to play multiple times to completely understand the story.
  55. Th3StartButton
    Jun 4, 2019
    7
    My first Finak fantasy guess you can't trust my score but like yeah I enjoyed the combat was crisp m8 like yeah really enjoyable
  56. chrisdan23
    Jun 9, 2022
    7
    Nach viel Kritik an ihrem Reboot des Final Fantasy Franchises auf der PS3, hat Square sich durchaus bemüht beim zweiten Ableger im Nova Crystallis Universum alles besser zu machen. Und in vielem ist ihnen das auch hervorragend gelungen. Spannend ist, dass Square sogar so mutig war, das grundlegende Konzept, nämlich das einer zusammenhängenden räumlichen Welt, komplett über den Haufen zuNach viel Kritik an ihrem Reboot des Final Fantasy Franchises auf der PS3, hat Square sich durchaus bemüht beim zweiten Ableger im Nova Crystallis Universum alles besser zu machen. Und in vielem ist ihnen das auch hervorragend gelungen. Spannend ist, dass Square sogar so mutig war, das grundlegende Konzept, nämlich das einer zusammenhängenden räumlichen Welt, komplett über den Haufen zu werfen und einen völlig neuartigen Versuch startet, ihrem RPG Universum Struktur zu geben. Und zwar organisiert sich Final Fantasy XIII-2 nun nicht mehr über Raum, sondern über Zeit. Wir finden in FFXIII-2 also keine typische Worldmap mehr vor, auf der wir uns bewegen können, sondern vielmehr eine Map verschiedener Zeitlinien, verschiedener Events, die in unterschiedlichen Epochen spielen und die ein völlig neues Spielekonzept ermöglichen, das meines Erachtens letztlich auch sehr viel besser zu Setting und Erzählstruktur des hochkomplexen Final Fantasy XIII Universums passt.

    Letztlich steht hinter jedem Event, den wir auf unserer Zeitmap auswählen und bereisen können, ein eigenständiges Level mit einem eigenständigen Areal. Diese Level können nun Städte sein, in denen wir NPCs begegnen und die Story vorantreiben können, oder auch Dungeons, in welchen wir Main-Quests, aber auch Nebenaufgaben angehen. Das spannende an dieser Gameplaymechanik ist, dass wir die selben Schauplätze auch in unterschiedlichen Epochen besuchen können. Beispielsweise in einem post-apokalyptischen Setting und einem friedlichen, wo die Welt noch in Ordnung ist. Der Clou ist nun, dass eine Wechselwirkung zwischen den verschiedene Epochen stattfinden kann. So muss man manchmal erst in einer früheren Zeitlinie Dinge verändern, damit man in einer späteren weiter kommt. Das Spiel funktioniert aber auch umgekehrt. So können wir mit Informationen aus der Zukunft, die wir in der Vergangenheit einsetzen, ganze Zeitlinien gar komplett auslöschen, was wiederum ganz neue Level freischalten kann, mit neuen Inhalten, die uns vielleicht auch näher an unser eigentliches Ziel führen.

    Diese Mechanik ist so einfach wie genial und kommt nicht nur in so ziemlich allen Nebenquests zum Einsatz, sondern ist auch prägendes Instrument um die Geschichte als solche voranzutreiben. Die Möglichkeit der Zeitreise, die uns als Protagonist der Geschichte gegeben ist, wird so nämlich zur grundlegenden Mechanik unserer Kampagne. Letztlich geht es bei FF XIII-2 nämlich darum, die Zeitlinien so zu verändern, dass es gelingt, die nahende Apokalypse, das Grundthema der gesamten Nova Crystallis Trilogie, von Cocoon und Grand Pulse abzuwenden. So weit so spannend.

    Leider kränkelt das an sich durchaus geniale Spielprinzip aber an der Charakterwahl, und auch einigen daraus resultierenden Veränderungen im Kampfsystem. So hat Square die überaus nervige Heulsuse Serah zum Hauptcharakter ihrer Erzählung erkoren, was nur deshalb Sinn ergibt, weil ihre wesentlich coolere Schwester Lightning, Heldin des ersten Teils, in Gestalt einer Art Wächtergöttin eine wesentliche, nur leider nicht spielbare Rolle in der äußerst komplexen Erzählung von FF XIII-2 einnimmt. Serah zur Seite gestellt wird lediglich ein Möchtegernheld namens Noel, der leider aber über das ganze Spiel irgendwie deplatziert wirkt. Dieser und dessen Antagonist Caius, der letztlich auch als Bösewicht des Plots herhalten muss, fungieren ein wenig als der Versuch einer Personalisierung des Apokalypse Themas, das allerdings auf recht vielen Ebenen hantiert, und so beispielsweise auch durch die Interessen der gottähnlichen Fal'Cie und anderer, überzeitlicher Götterwesen bestimmt wird.

    Das Problem ist vor allem, dass die Reduktion auf nunmehr zwei Charaktere das Kampfsystem, das man fast unverändert aus dem Vorgänger übernommen hat, merklich konterkariert und einschränkt. Dessen Stärke war es eigentlich nämlich, die speziellen Fähigkeiten mehrerer Partymitglieder durch geschickte Kombination in Form von Paradigmen Wechseln taktisch ins Spiel zu bringen. Da hilft es auch kaum, dass man Ni No Kuni like nun Monstern einfangen, upgraden und als dritte Streiter in die Party integrieren kann. Mit einer so beschränkten Charakterauswahl spielt sich FFXIII-2 leider lange nicht so abwechslungsreich und taktisch herausfordernd, wie dies noch im ersten Teil der Nova Crystallis Trilogie der Fall war. Alles wirkt einseitiger, aber auch hektischer und weniger berechenbar. Doof.

    Dennoch, mit Final Fantasy XIII-2 hat Square sich wirklich etwas getraut und sicherlich den komplexesten, innovativsten und mit Abstand auch besten Final Fantasy Ableger der PS3 Ära geschaffen. Das tolle Zeitreise-Rollenspiel mit den doofen Charakteren sei daher und trotzdessen, nicht nur Fans des Franchises, sondern jedem Action RPG und JRPG Fan wärmstens empfohlen.    … Expand
  57. storygamer
    Sep 3, 2020
    7
    Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a double-edged sword. I liked it, because I´m a Final Fantasy fan since the PlayStation era and I haven´t ever played a really bad FF. And with this game, you get some beautiful old-school aspects. Nice visuals, classic gameplay and a lot of content. But I miss the challenge of the old games a bit. FF XIII-2 is very good but not great!
  58. BeeSting1
    Jan 1, 2021
    7
    Its a short FF game, but I did not want it to go any longer by the end. The story did not pull me in at all.

    Cons: (Minor con) - Environments such as plants and objects do not interact with your character properly. Small plants do not get bent when you pass by them, instead, there is like an invisible barrier around these objects such that you cannot even touch it. (Moderate con)    Its a short FF game, but I did not want it to go any longer by the end. The story did not pull me in at all.

    Cons:
    (Minor con)
    - Environments such as plants and objects do not interact with your character properly. Small plants do not get bent when you pass by them, instead, there is like an invisible barrier around these objects such that you cannot even touch it.

    (Moderate con)
    - The game speaks of paradoxes and timeline contradictions, but the puzzles the games gives you to solve that will "correct" these anomalies have nothing to do with a paradox. The puzzles are out of place with the story.

    (Major con)
    - Puzzles can get a bit repetitive. One puzzle called "hands of time" requires pen and paper, unless you have phenomenal memory. On top of that, the clock puzzles are more work than actual fun.

    (Major con)
    - Farming is needed for some materials in order to upgrade your monster. You also have to look for the locations, there are no indications of what monsters will drop what materials. You have to remember what the certain type of material the monster dropped, then go back to that area before and farm.

    (Moderate con)
    - Not enough engagement with Final Fantasy 13 old characters.

    (Major con)
    - Loading time when entering different worlds are too long. This loading time kills the incentive to hunt for items in previous worlds. When the game requires you to hunt, it becomes very annoying.

    Pros:
    (Major pro)
    - Graphics are amazing.

    (Major pro)
    - Random monster encounters are well implemented.

    (Major pro)
    - Battle system is quick pace and exciting. This only applies if you enjoyed FF13's battle system.

    (Major pro)
    - Monsters are fun to find and collect, since you are able to upgrade them and have them fight with you.    … Expand
  59. Tidu
    May 23, 2022
    7
    Time travel is almost always a plus for me. The story was more interesting than in XIII and so were the characters. But still it's "just ok". But still a bit better than the first one.
  60. hector_bcn98
    Nov 10, 2022
    7
    Ni hacia falta una secuela del Final Fantasy menos interesante de toda la saga (siendo un gran juego!), pero aquí la tuvimos. Con una protagonista insulsa como el pan sin tomate, no pude completarlo. Por algún motivo, me quedé encallado en un momento de la historia con el mundo abierto y nunca pude salir de ahí. Guías, videos... nada. Pasé, y de Lightning Returns ya ni comprarlo.
  61. THOUSANDEYEKAii
    May 5, 2023
    7
    A decent game I had fun with. Though I feel it shouldn't exist and slightly ruins the story of 13.
  62. aaronnmp96
    Jan 31, 2023
    7
    The gameplay is very good, but it is very slow to start it, and there are few characters

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Best PS3 Game of 2012
9
#9 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2012
10
#10 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 53 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 48 out of 53
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 53
  3. Negative: 0 out of 53
  1. Armchair Empire
    May 4, 2012
    75
    All in all, I enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII-2 – it was a fun RPG game to play, looked spectacular and ate up a significant amount of my free time. It didn't give me everything I wanted out of the experience, but I still had fun.
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  2. Worth Playing
    Mar 15, 2012
    88
    FFXIII-2 earns its score with aplomb, and I'd go so far to call it a sleeper hit. It's a genuinely great-playing game with an imperfect story, though to its credit, it eventually engages and justifies the wait. Its greatest battle now is escaping from the shadow and stigma of its big brother, but you should ignore the anti-hype, take a leap of faith and give it a chance.
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  3. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Mar 4, 2012
    80
    Has made some really solid steps forward in combat but needs a more readily digestible plot to entice newcomers. [March 2012, p68]
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