Final Fantasy XIII-2 is everything a sequel should be. Square Enix took the best parts about Final Fantasy XIII – battle system and character models – improved upon them and dropped the most troublesome aspects – linear story progression and annoying characters – in order to rework and strengthen the game. While not perfect, Final Fantasy XIII-2 goes a long way to rectify the negativity of the critics and the feelings of hatred brought on by the fans for its predecessor.

The story centers around Serah Farron – once a crystalized l’Cie – saved at the end of the first game and sister of Lightning. Lightning is off defending Valhalla from a sinister figure who is trying to destroy time itself. To aid Serah in fixing all the broken timelines (i.e. paradoxes), Lightning sends Noel – a hunter from 700 years in Serah’s future – and Mog, a cute little moogle. You are tasked with repairing all the paradoxes, crossing time and space, in order to fix the future – which fixes the past, which affects the future, which…you know what I mean.

I really wasn’t kidding when I said Square Enix kept the battle system intact. You once again have a three-party battle team with each member fulfilling one of six roles (Commando – Melee, Ravager – Magic, Sentinel – Tank, Synergist – Buff, Saboteur – DeBuff, Medic – Heals). These roles are combined into a battle strategy known as a Paradigm Shift. Paradigm Shifts are important as you only control either Serah or Noel and these Paradigm Shifts give direction to the party member you haven’t chosen and the party’s third member – a monster of your choosing that Serah has tamed. The battles themselves have increased in pace from the first XIII, thus making properly employed paradigm shifts even more important. Square Enix also expanded the paradigms to include focus – as in all party members focusing on one enemy or spreading the damage wide to include groups of enemies. While not huge changes, everything done to the battle system is an improvement.

Visually, Final Fantasy XIII-2 has its positives and negatives. With the shortened development cycle to deliver a sequel, Square Enix has relied on using a lot of the same environment textures and monster models from the last game. It doesn’t necessarily look bad, per se, but it feels a little dated. On the flip side, the character models are gorgeously detailed. Spinning the camera in for a closer look on Serah and Noel reveals an extreme amount of detail used for everything from facial expressions to weather effects on their persons and clothes. Once, while walking through the living room, my wife actually stopped and said “Wow, that guy [Noel] is beautiful.” Also landing in the beautiful category is the soundtrack. Once again, Square Enix has given its fans a remarkable soundtrack to take you through this odyssey. From beautiful instrumentals for while exploring to epic beats for battling bosses, Final Fantasy XIII-2 delivers an aural experience that would be difficult to rival. Having purchased the Collector’s Edition myself, I am already enjoying the four-disc set in my car.

Where Final Fantasy XIII-2 has made the most improvement is in its story progression. A major complaint of Final Fantasy XIII was that for roughly the first 20 hours, you were linearly progressing down one very long hallway. XIII-2 opens up the progression for you by allowing you to return to the Historia Crux (think: time-traveling HQ) at any time and jump forward or back along the time line. In fact, you are required to do so in order to move the story forward. The developers made excellent use of these strategies to continuously give you the feeling that you’re always in motion. Along with the main quest line, there are many side quests and mini-games you may partake in to keep your adventure fresh. There are “fragments” of time you can (sometimes must) collect. These fragments can open up new features and story to you. You can earn them either by completing side quests or finding them in the wild. Just doing the main story itself, you’ll probably collect 30-35 of these fragments. For completionists like myself, there are 160 fragments in total to collect. Collecting fragments is not just a time waster, collecting certain fragments or certain amounts of fragments can open up new skills you can benefit from – such as discounts at shops and being able to jump farther.

The game is not without its faults. The story is convoluted and even when you think you understand, sometimes you wonder why you spent the time figuring it out. I’m not saying to ignore the story, just don’t kill your brain cells in an attempt to comprehend everything. Another complaint is the load screens. Being able to jump in and out of different timelines using the Historia Crux is great, but your momentum and game play experience are severely hampered when you have to wait for a world to load up. There have been times I decided to stay in a world/time period and try finding something else rather than head out to the Historia Crux and jump to a different time. I should never feel discouraged to continue moving the story along because of a game feature.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a solid entry in the FF franchise and is a significant step forward from its predecessor. It will not replace your favorite FF installment, but with the improved battle system, fantastic soundtrack and solid game play, Final Fantasy XIII-2 should melt even the iciest of FF fans’ hearts.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was released on January 31, 2012 on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I purchased this copy myself and played the game on the PlayStation 3. I completed the game in roughly 43 hours and collected 75/160 fragments.

Related Links:
Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Early Impressions
https://coin-op.tv/?p=4772

Final Fantasy XIII-2 [Commentary] Gameplay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYbIlpBHrOs

Final Fantasy XIII-2 [Commentary] Chocobo Riding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH-L7oPqxrQ

Final Fantasy XIII-2 [Commentary Demo]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvhyklsOIy4