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FF13-2 [Spoiler-Free Please]

Posted: 18th February 2012 00:07

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Lucky <3
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I wanted to gauge peoples' takes on FF13-2 now that it's been out for at least a couple weeks around the gaming world.

In an effort to keep this open to people who are in the middle of the game or are curious if it's a game they want to buy or not, I'd like to ask that the following spoiler rules are followed:
  • Gameplay spoilers shouldn't be tagged as spoilers unless it's related to something altered by the storyline, like a death altering your battle party or something of that note.
  • All storyline aspects should be spoilered. Please put, outside of spoiler tags, approximately when in the game the instance takes place. So you might have something like
    Episode 2:
    Possible spoilers: highlight to view
    I loved when Noel tripped on his parachute pants.


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So far I'm really enjoying it. The battle system is pretty much a direct port from the original 13, which is good for me as I loved it. The third party slot is a little different, as it's a monster customization slot, but I'm liking it so far. I think I want to have a monster paradigm pack made up entirely of chocobos at some point. Unfortunately I'm finding that the difficulty is waaaay lower than the original so far, as I can get through most battles with just a COM/RAV/RAV setup, occasionally having to switch to my Flanitor Medic who is my favorite monster so far.

As for plot, I'm liking it so far. I'm in the middle of episode 4 so far. It doesn't seem as heavy-handed as FF13 was, but that might just be because I made it through 13 to learn all the terminology. smile.gif

Pretty much throughout the game:
Possible spoilers: highlight to view
The use of PARADOX PARADOX PARADOX is getting a little tiresome, but I imagine this will unfold a bit as I get further in the game.


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Hey, put the cellphone down for a while
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And hey, put the laptop down for a while
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Post #199369
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Posted: 24th February 2012 05:27

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Red Wing Pilot
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Ah, I just noticed this topic.

The first thing that really stood out to me was the music. In some of the first few areas, I was definitely finding myself wondering "what the hell is this?!"....but after a few hours in I was hopelessly entranced into all of the music in this game. It's so fantastic and so wildly different from all the other games I've played. As mentioned in chat numerous times, one of the chocobo themes is just batsh** insane in such a hilarious way!

The battle system on the outside seems pretty much the same as FF13, but I've really found myself doing very little of the same stuff I did in the original. For example, I relied on sab roles fairly heavily and it seemed to pay huge dividends, but here....I don't know, it just doesn't seem as necessary much of the time.

I'm not as far as Neal is yet, but the plot is intriguing so far. I expected from all the hype that Square was going to all but abandon the storyline of the original game, but that's not really the case and I'm relieved that there's some interesting and relevant plot tie-ins that nod the first game.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view
I hope they do more with Oerba, I really do. It was my favorite place in FF13, and I've already seen Oerba in several instances but nothing seems as relevant as it was in the first game. I know it shouldn't make a lot of sense in the plot thus far, and I haven't beaten it, but I hope something more becomes of it and wish you could delve into its past when it was lively. At least the music here is almost as beautiful as it was in the first game.


This post has been edited by TheEvilEye on 24th February 2012 05:37
Post #199458
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Posted: 19th April 2012 17:01

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Cactuar
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I finished FFXIII-2 a little while ago, and finished collecting all the items and monsters and such about a week ago so I'll share some of my thoughts on the game as a whole.

Overall I had a lot of fun with it, but I felt it was a bit too easy.
The monster infusion system looks very involved and interesting, but in practice I only used it to build a racing chocobo.
I found I was able to defeat everything in the game using mediocre monsters I had leveled with whatever materials I had on hand, so there isn't really any motivation to look too deeply into monster building (note that I never bought any DLC, I've heard that the coliseum matches are more difficult and make building monsters more worthwhile).

Saboteurs and Synergists felt less useful here than they were in XIII, at least until the post game.
On the other hand I did find Sentinels more useful during the story of XIII-2 than during the story of XIII, which was nice.

In terms of item collecting, XIII-2 had several abilities which made it less annoying here than in other games, such as the ability to increase encounter rates, increase the odds of rare encounters, and increase the game speed.
I also appreciated that materials needed to be farmed from many different monsters in order to collect all of the equipment, unlike XIII's post game which mostly came down to farming turtles for money.
Due to the easiness of the game there isn't much motivation to bother getting all of this equipment unless you're an item collector like me, but still I thought it was handled well enough.

I found the music alright, and the story entertaining enough though I felt that some things could have been explained better.



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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).
Enjoyed them all.
Post #200091
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Posted: 20th April 2012 07:22

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Crusader
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I played the demo of FFXIII-2,and from what i saw:It was way better than FFXIII.

First of all:

They actually reintroduced the shop system
They put in more exploration
They actually added more depth to the level system
They got rid of some of teh characters,but i hear that hope is still in the game

The bad:

I was kind of annoyed with the quicktime events,but they weren't that bad.

That's pretty much it,so i have more good to say than bad from playing the entire demo.


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Post #200105
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Posted: 13th May 2012 21:50

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Lunarian
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I definitely have some questions about XIII-2. I recently picked up a copy of XIII and was completely ignorant to the game, as I have been engulfed in college work since 2008 and took a really long break from gaming, reading game reviews, etc.

Of course I'm sure you can all guess that I was really surprised to find there were
Possible spoilers: highlight to view
no towns, or real shops. Along with a myriad of other things that were different.


Though my main question is, how much of this is the same, and how much has been changed? I heard all sorts of nasty things about XIII just as I was getting ready to finally buy it, whereas I heard great things about XIII-2... So what's the big difference?

Also,
Possible spoilers: highlight to view
is the game really linear, or did they revert back to giving the player more exploration? All I've done so far in XIII is advance in the story down a one way path..


Please consider that I am only about 20 or so hours into XIII if you attempt to give me anything with plot. I don't want it ruined, though I wouldn't mind being told if an aspect of game play will change for the better.

This post has been edited by Sephiroth on 13th May 2012 21:52

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Post #200276
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Posted: 14th May 2012 01:28

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Cactuar
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XIII-2 is less linear than XIII, and includes more sidequests and optional areas.
There are two real towns, a camp, and several excavation sites with NPCs to interact with and get sidequests from.
There is one merchant called Chocolina that will sell you things throughout your journey.
Instead of a full party of humans, you play as two characters with a "Paradigm Pack" (group of three monsters) in the third member slot.
When setting up Paradigms, you choose a role for the two human characters and select one of the monsters in the paradigm pack to fill the third slot.
The two human characters have access to every role, but don't learn a lot of abilities while the monsters are limited to one role but can learn all abilities for that role and up to 10 passive abilities at once.
Monsters can be leveled and infused with other monsters to learn new abilities.
There is no crystarium cap, and the two human character's stats will vary depending on how you level their roles unlike XIII's more fixed growth.

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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).
Enjoyed them all.
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