First Impressions of Final Fantasy XIII-2
I pre-ordered the collectors edition of FFXIII-2, which came on its release day. I was pleased, but I couldn't leap straight in; I had an ongoing game of FFXIII I'd started to get myself reminded of the story 'so far'.
So, in terms of what came in the box, as soon as I opened it I was greeted by a holo-image of Lightning's face. Which was actually pretty sweet. They've made her more 'divine' looking, which is a change, considering her military girl look in FFXIII. There's an artwork book with some pretty pictures in it too. The game only comes on one disc, which after FFXIII's three disc affair that left me going "What, Already?!" when it asked me for disc 2, got me slightly worried; they wouldn't charge so much for a game that only lasted 10 hours? Would they?
Before the game starts, there's the intro and on the menu screen there's an option to get someone to tell you the story so far (damn, I didn't need to finish FFXIII after all!) which was pretty neat. It's voice narrated, instead of just text too.
So the game starts, and the first action sequence is beautiful, with a couple of fights using the games battle system that really amazed me, and a little quicktime sequence which, while a QT sequence, at least let me feel involved in what was going on, when I had the choice between the character attacking or using magic.
Gameplay wise, the battle system is much like it used to be, except for a few things: it's easier to get a pre-emptive strike, but they're not as battle deciding as before; Random battles are back; Area's seem geared towards collection and finding everything (which, consequently, will make this a long game); There are monsters you can add to your party who have a single role instead of choice of roles like the PC's; the level up system looks confusing, but is more linear than before (what did you expect from an FF game?); paradigms are more customisable. I'm enjoying the gameplay so far, it's got more than a few little things that add up and make it more fun.
And that is something I can say about the game: It feels more fun. FFXIII was a serious game, millions of lives hung in the balance, the characters were always on edge and tense about their story. Don't take that to mean I didn't appreciate FFXIII's story though, I actually liked it, although I did get the feeling that they didn't get to do anywhere near as much as they wanted to with it. Back to XIII-2 though!
The music is good, and I'm enjoying the soundtrack so far, it feels lively and energetic. The voice acting isn't inspiring any rants yet, either (I'm looking at you, Vanille...)
Finally, a thing I'm really impressed with, that I was impressed with in XIII, is the reminder of the story so far. In XIII it was just a text dialogue while it loaded in the area and stuff, but in this, we get a series of clips from the story so far. I think that is actually really cool. I don't think I've ever seen that in a game before.
The story in FFXIII-2 is weird. I obviously won't say much, because of spoilers, but there's time shenanigans in play. You do get options in dialogue, but I don't think they influence what direction the story goes in, just reactions to the events that have happened.
As a final note, there seem to be people everywhere, which is nice, especially when they all gather around to stare at that cool thing you just did, or the guards start attacking monsters that have popped up.
I'm having fun though, which is good.
So, in terms of what came in the box, as soon as I opened it I was greeted by a holo-image of Lightning's face. Which was actually pretty sweet. They've made her more 'divine' looking, which is a change, considering her military girl look in FFXIII. There's an artwork book with some pretty pictures in it too. The game only comes on one disc, which after FFXIII's three disc affair that left me going "What, Already?!" when it asked me for disc 2, got me slightly worried; they wouldn't charge so much for a game that only lasted 10 hours? Would they?
Before the game starts, there's the intro and on the menu screen there's an option to get someone to tell you the story so far (damn, I didn't need to finish FFXIII after all!) which was pretty neat. It's voice narrated, instead of just text too.
So the game starts, and the first action sequence is beautiful, with a couple of fights using the games battle system that really amazed me, and a little quicktime sequence which, while a QT sequence, at least let me feel involved in what was going on, when I had the choice between the character attacking or using magic.
Gameplay wise, the battle system is much like it used to be, except for a few things: it's easier to get a pre-emptive strike, but they're not as battle deciding as before; Random battles are back; Area's seem geared towards collection and finding everything (which, consequently, will make this a long game); There are monsters you can add to your party who have a single role instead of choice of roles like the PC's; the level up system looks confusing, but is more linear than before (what did you expect from an FF game?); paradigms are more customisable. I'm enjoying the gameplay so far, it's got more than a few little things that add up and make it more fun.
And that is something I can say about the game: It feels more fun. FFXIII was a serious game, millions of lives hung in the balance, the characters were always on edge and tense about their story. Don't take that to mean I didn't appreciate FFXIII's story though, I actually liked it, although I did get the feeling that they didn't get to do anywhere near as much as they wanted to with it. Back to XIII-2 though!
The music is good, and I'm enjoying the soundtrack so far, it feels lively and energetic. The voice acting isn't inspiring any rants yet, either (I'm looking at you, Vanille...)
Finally, a thing I'm really impressed with, that I was impressed with in XIII, is the reminder of the story so far. In XIII it was just a text dialogue while it loaded in the area and stuff, but in this, we get a series of clips from the story so far. I think that is actually really cool. I don't think I've ever seen that in a game before.
The story in FFXIII-2 is weird. I obviously won't say much, because of spoilers, but there's time shenanigans in play. You do get options in dialogue, but I don't think they influence what direction the story goes in, just reactions to the events that have happened.
As a final note, there seem to be people everywhere, which is nice, especially when they all gather around to stare at that cool thing you just did, or the guards start attacking monsters that have popped up.
I'm having fun though, which is good.