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There has been a short burst of information regarding Final Fantasy XIII-2 in the last week or two, so let's get to it!

First off, there's a version of a previous trailer released this past week with commentary from the game's director, Motomu Toriyama, and producer, Kitase Yoshinori. (Check out the trailer in the second link below.) The duo gave a couple additional hints as well. As already mentioned, Lightning is somehow connected to an afterlife-type world. We now know that Lightning will indeed be playable, and it was also suggested that it is possible to warp into this other world from the living one with Serah and Noel. The staff continues to insist at every opportunity that this sequel will be much darker than the last Final Fantasy sequel (the infamous FFX-2) and even the original FFXIII. New screens provided at the same time reveal a handful of new (and, if I might add, beautiful) landscapes, as well as the image of a destroyed city identified as the once-successful Paddra, the ruins of which are being investigated by various authorities. It would seem that this occurrence is important in the early portion of the game.

This set of news followed on the heels of an interview with Toriyama. The first question in this interview, as one might predict, concerned how the team planned on addressing complaints from the original game. Toriyama replied that the team took their predecessor's criticism very seriously and were working to respond accordingly. He continued to say that the game would not be a completely open map, but that it would "certainly not be linear."

Toriyama explained that the game would feature a mesh of random encounters and visible enemies, which is intended to provide a more realistic atmosphere. Sometimes the player will be able to plan ahead for encounters, but at other times a split-second warning is all the opportunity you'll get. He also explained the thought behind the addition of cinematic action events in battle. When asked if monster hunting would make an appearance in FFXIII-2, Toriyama replied not only that there would be plenty of monster hunting but that it would be accessible from the very start of the game, allowing the player to experience hunting parallel to the main story.

The final question of the interview was one that I found to be particularly interesting. Toriyama was asked what it was that made him and others in the company want to make a sequel. Toriyama denied the suggestion that the sequel was built around the supposedly large amounts of material that was cut from the original FFXIII, saying that none of this material was actually used in the development of FFXIII-2. Rather, Toriyama professed that it was an interest in further delving into the characters of the original game that motivated the team to create another game centered on the world of FFXIII.

I think it's pretty clear that Square Enix is trying to get some additional details on FFXIII-2 out in the air to build interest leading into the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, which should, given the rather-soon Japanese release date, have a lot to say on the topic.

Source: IGN, IGN

Quite frankly I still don't know what L'Cie, Fal'Cie and Cie'th mean, and I've played through XIII twice, the story still doesn't make sense and it probably never will. If I'm playing XIII-2 it will most certainly not be because of the story and characters, I will play it because of the graphics and gameplay, I did enjoy the fast paced team control battle system.

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PS3 tag: TipoDLuffy

"...quite possibly the greatest game ever made"

Quote (SaffireWeapon @ 31st August 2011 20:29)

Quite frankly I still don't know what L'Cie, Fal'Cie and Cie'th mean, and I've played through XIII twice, the story still doesn't make sense and it probably never will. If I'm playing XIII-2 it will most certainly not be because of the story and characters, I will play it because of the graphics and gameplay, I did enjoy the fast paced team control battle system.

It certainly seemed to me that in FFXIII you had to work hard to learn the details of the story. It seemed that the plot material they did have in place was simply unsupported for most of the game; you would get to see a flashback of one of the days leading up to the events of the game, but then it would go entirely unmentioned by the characters. Thus, it seemed like there were two seperate spheres; a plot sphere and a character sphere. The player got bursts of plot and bursts of character, but the characters simply didn't reinforce the plot elements.

I think this is in part because of the format SE sought, ie gradually using flashbacks to fill in the backstory. This is a swell idea and all, but the problem was simply that these flashbacks were too isolated; there was minimal referencing them in the present. Another big reason, I think, was that SE seemed to be working harder than ever before to create a realistic, well-developed cast of characters. Don't get me wrong, I think they succeeded here. The problem, I think, was that SE focused on developing the characters based on the internal conflicts and ties between them moreso than the events in the world around them. We got a lot of personality, in otherwords, but we didn't get a lot of unified purpose. A lot of the plot events seemed shallow, and a lot of the party decisions seemed without base.

For the record: Fal'Cie are the god-like entities that decide the course of Cocoon and Pulse. L'Cie are the chosen messengers of the god-like Fal'Cie, and the human L'Cie are appointed to carry out the various wills of the Fal'Cie. The Cie'th are the failures. If an L'Cie human fails to succeed in his/her task (which is called a Focus), as selected by the Fal'Cie, then that human L'Cie is transformed into a monstrous Cie'th, which attack the party at several times in the game.

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

The newest CoNcast is up! Have a listen!

Quote (SaffireWeapon @ 1st September 2011 00:29)

Quite frankly I still don't know what L'Cie, Fal'Cie and Cie'th mean, and I've played through XIII twice

Loss of respect ensues.

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www.youtube.com/blinje
The victor sacrificed the vanquished to the heavens

This is shaping up to be a day-one purchase for my. I had a blast with FFXIII, no matter how stupid it was (think Horrible Bosses: Stupid but still a blast) and hey, maybe I won't have to purchase it - I'm going to Comic-Con New York, and there, I'll play Word to Your Moogle.

But yeah, if the dialogue in that new trailer is anything to go on, I will cry.

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"When we think there's no hope left, we keep looking until we find some!" - Claire Farron