CoN 25th Anniversary: 1997-2022
Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo

Posted: 15th January 2012 12:04

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Has anybody else had a chance to fire up the new playable demo for FFXIII-2 (Noel and Serah in the Bresha ruins)? What do you make of it?

It took me some time to warm to it, as it all still feels very FFXIII stylistically, and I was concerned this would be more of the same.

However, I've been pleased to note several improvements from its predecessor:

- there are actual civilians to talk to and interact with, including a real (if bonkers) merchant.
- your party leader can be changed, preventing the unfair game over from the previous game
- sidequests can be picked up from NPCs that run alongside the main story
- the area felt much less linear
- the new gameplay elements that I've got to try (monster capture/development and logic puzzles) are actually pretty enjoyable

That said, I'm still not a fan of the battle system, which remains largely the same. The pace of battles is so fast that it doesn't feel like there's time to really build a strategy, or to choose your next moves. Only being able to control one character is understandable given this pace, but it removes the feeling of strategy control for me. Add to this that the auto-battle feature is too tempting, and the result I've found is that I simply hammer the X button until the battle is over, occasionally flicking a shoulder button for variety if I need to paradigm shift a medic to heal me.

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Post #199023
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Posted: 15th January 2012 13:04

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That's really interesting, Stiltzkin. I had considered picking it up, but I've been on the road and so I figure I'll just wait for the game itself, which I'll probably be getting pretty early. What you said seems to fall in line with some of the early reviews and impressions I've read. I'm certainly excited to play another FF with towns and civilians.

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Posted: 15th January 2012 18:44

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I've played through the demo twice already, and I really like it.
I love XIII's battle system, and the addition of leader switching and the limit break-like Feral Links has made it even better to me.
The world is much improved, feeling less linear and having NPCs to interact with as mentioned above.
Noel and Serah seem okay, but I'm not crazy about Mog.
The main thing I'm disappointed about is randomly spawning enemies, I really liked having the monsters on the field in XII and XIII.
Granted, attacking the monsters to get preemptive strike bonuses is fun.
I've heard bad things about the story, but from a game play perspective I think I'll like XIII-2 overall.

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FF games completed: I (psp), II (psp), III (DS), IV (psp), V (GBA), VI (GBA), VII, VIII, IX, X, XI: Nations-Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, XII, XIII, XIV, XV.
Spin-offs: FFIV: Interlude & The After Years, Crisis Core: FFVII, X-2, XIII-2, Lightning Returns, Type-0 HD, Dissidia, Dissidia 012, and Tactics (original & WotL).
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Posted: 16th January 2012 02:58

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where can I play this demo? I want to play it with my fingers and my mind. If it is available I want to attempt it with all of my potential playables. Let me know where I can do all of this with myself.

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Posted: 16th January 2012 22:19

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I found it on the UK Playstation Store. I just assumed that it must be available elsewhere - we usually get stuff last!

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Posted: 17th January 2012 02:32

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I got mine from the North American PSN store.
There's supposed to be a demo for the Xbox 360 as well, from what I've heard.

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FF games completed: I (psp), II (psp), III (DS), IV (psp), V (GBA), VI (GBA), VII, VIII, IX, X, XI: Nations-Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, XII, XIII, XIV, XV.
Spin-offs: FFIV: Interlude & The After Years, Crisis Core: FFVII, X-2, XIII-2, Lightning Returns, Type-0 HD, Dissidia, Dissidia 012, and Tactics (original & WotL).
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Posted: 17th January 2012 04:33

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Ack, how I wish I had internet at my house so I could give it a shot...

Getting rid of We Cannot Go On Without You and having NPCs to interact with would make XIII-2 just about perfect to me. =^_^=

Well... save for the downside of less Hoperai. : (

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