FF XIII-2: Sazh: Heads or Tails DLC Review
Is the first piece of story DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2 a bet worth taking or should it just fold and go home?
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Players: 1 offline
Publisher: Square Enix
Genres: RPG
Publisher: Square Enix
Genres: RPG
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Developer: Square Enix
MSRP: $59.99
Developer: Square Enix
MSRP: $59.99
The unfolding drama of FINAL FANTASY XIII, released in 2010 and selling six million copies worldwide, continues in FINAL FANTASY XIII-2. Explore a richly developed world featuring both new and familiar faces, and an exciting and highly developed strategic battle system. In this ongoing saga, the future is about to change...
Sage Reviews: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Posted By Bennett The Sage about 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Is it good enough to repair the damage to Square-Enix’s reputation?
Follow me on Twitter at BennettTheSage
Sage Reviews: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Is it good enough to repair the damage to Square-Enix's reputation?
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Review - ZGR
After so many long-time fans loathed Final Fantasy XIII, does the sequel bring enough new to the table to save the series? Daniel checks out Final Fantasy XIII-2!
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Review - ZGR
After so many long-time fans loathed Final Fantasy XIII, does the sequel bring enough new to the table to save the series? Daniel checks out Final Fantasy XIII-2!
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review
Can this followup to the highly divisive Final Fantasy XIII appeal to haters and lovers alike or is it one journey too many in the world of Cocoon and Pulse?
Sage Reviews: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Is it good enough to repair the damage to Square-Enix’s reputation?
Latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer Shows Off Non-Combat Gameplay Elements
For the first time in a while, a Final Fantasy game will be including a number of non-combat gameplay elements and now Blistered Thumbs has a trailer that shows of these very elements to all who are interested.
Latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer Lays Out Time Travel Mechanics
As Final Fantasy XIII-2 enters the final few weeks before its US and UK/EU release, Square Enix has released another in their series of trailers examining the specifics of the game.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Preview
For all the Sturm und Drang surrounding Final Fantasy XIII, the game was both a critical and financial hit, so the decision for Square Enix to choose it as the third FF game to get a direct sequel should not be a surprising one. Now Blistered Thumbs is taking an in-depth look at the game to give you all the information you need in anticipation of its launch.
A Poor Debut for Final Fantasy XIII-2
I doubt this is the end of the franchise, but even I am a bit surprised by the numbers…
Latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer Has Real Character(s)
While some would say that a Final Fantasy game without its characters would be an improvement, fans know just how important these individuals really are. Now the latest trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has arrived and it is all about these characters, new and old alike.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Review - ZGR
After so many long-time fans loathed Final Fantasy XIII, does the sequel bring enough new to the table to save the series? Daniel checks out Final Fantasy XIII-2!
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Review
Can this followup to the highly divisive Final Fantasy XIII appeal to haters and lovers alike or is it one journey too many in the world of Cocoon and Pulse?
Sage Reviews: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Is it good enough to repair the damage to Square-Enix’s reputation?
Latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer Shows Off Non-Combat Gameplay Elements
For the first time in a while, a Final Fantasy game will be including a number of non-combat gameplay elements and now Blistered Thumbs has a trailer that shows of these very elements to all who are interested.
Latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer Lays Out Time Travel Mechanics
As Final Fantasy XIII-2 enters the final few weeks before its US and UK/EU release, Square Enix has released another in their series of trailers examining the specifics of the game.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Preview
For all the Sturm und Drang surrounding Final Fantasy XIII, the game was both a critical and financial hit, so the decision for Square Enix to choose it as the third FF game to get a direct sequel should not be a surprising one. Now Blistered Thumbs is taking an in-depth look at the game to give you all the information you need in anticipation of its launch.
A Poor Debut for Final Fantasy XIII-2
I doubt this is the end of the franchise, but even I am a bit surprised by the numbers…
Latest Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer Has Real Character(s)
While some would say that a Final Fantasy game without its characters would be an improvement, fans know just how important these individuals really are. Now the latest trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2 has arrived and it is all about these characters, new and old alike.
FF XIII-2: Sazh: Heads or Tails DLC Review
Posted By Shaun K. about 2 months, 3 weeks ago
FF XIII-2: Sazh: Heads or Tails DLC Review
Is the first piece of story DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2 a bet worth taking or should it just fold and go home?
| PROS | Features full voice acting, unlocks Sazh in main game |
| CONS | Dull gameplay, terrible story, incredibly short, Chocolina |
| WTF?! | Chocolina gets a staring role in this DLC. WHY SQUARE WHY? |
I have made a name for myself on this site for my love of both Final Fantasy XIII and its follow-up Final Fantasy XIII-2, but even I am not going to try and defend this highly disappointing DLC. Sazh: Heads or Tails is the first major story based additional content for XIII-2 and hopefully it does not represent the level of quality that the remainder of such content currently in the works for the game will represent. This DLC nominally tells the tale of how Sazh and his son Dajh end where they are during the high energy finale of XIII-2’s main story, but for story based content it is amazing how little story, or any content period for that matter, there really is.
Sazh is playing card games for the life of his son but you would not know this from the lackadaisical approach he takes.
After a strange (and of course completely unexplained) phenomena causes the ship Sazh and Dajh are on to crash, the former finds himself in Serendipity, a mysterious casino that apparently exists outside of normal time and space. Serendipity is also the place where souls lost to the vagaries of the time stream end up but unfortunately Sazh finds himself there without Dajh at his side. And so does our brave hero set out to find his son by gathering mystical objects known as Fortune Tokens which are said to be able to change the fate of those who gather enough them. And how does Sazh get these Fortune Tokens you may ask? By playing card games. Yeah…
You read that right, there is no combat of any sort in Heads or Tails and even exploration is kept to the already well worn (and incredibly small) Serendipity locales that those who have played the main quest will be more than familiar with. Even worse, the card games that Sazh is being forced to play in his quest to gather the Fortune Tokens are not of a kind of say Triple Triad (the card mini-game from Final Fantasy VIII which I know I personally wasted an ungodly amount of time on) but instead consists of bog standard poker and an odd variation of War that makes use of a clock face and is really more trouble to explain than it is worth. Now I am about as bad of poker player as you will find, but even I was able to win most hands by simply constantly out bluffing the dumb as mud AI and even losing still nets you at least one fate token (you need thirty in total to beat the DLC). Sure you can theoretically lose all your coins enough time to get a game over but even this is easily avoided with some judicious use of the save feature.
Even the playing cards are generic. Could they not at least feature famous Final Fantasy characters on them?
The DLC does feature one major side quest by which players can gather a good number of additional Fate Tokens. There are just two problems: the side quest, which involves chasing down a number of lost chocobo chicks, is incredibly easy and is centered around *ugh* Chocolina aka the most annoying character to ever appear in a Final Fantasy game. Oh and each chick is named after one of the seven deadly sins for no apparent reason. No, really. Heads or Tails is weird even by the standards of this series. Yet the worst part of the DLC has to be how completely flat the brief story sequences (which are, to its credit, fully voiced) end up falling. Sazh comes across completely uninvolved for a man who previously slew gods to rescue his son the last time he was taken from him. Here Sazh just shrugs and accepts his situation with barely a word and starts playing poker.
Sazh: Heads or Tails could have worked. It could have expanded on the casino and the people trapped in its environs, ripped forever away from their home and lives. It could have taken an adventure game style approach to its concept or developed the personalities of the other players Sazh is going up against, raising the stakes by establishing the lost lives everyone else was playing for. It could have really opened up the casino and added a bunch of new areas. It, in short, could have worked. This can be seen in the DLC’s best part: its ending which actually does a nice job of being dramatic while setting the stage both for the game’s main ending and for the DLC yet to come. If only the rest of this DLC had matched the energy and effort of this one story cinematic, it might have been something worthwhile. As is, Heads or Tails comes across as just cheap and lazy game making at its worse. A quick stopgap while they work on the (hopefully) far more involved DLC featuring Snow and Lightning’s stories respectively.
I know Sazh. I am sad they blew your once chance to star in content of your own as well.
Maybe if Heads or Tails had been free or even the two dollars and fifty cents of the previous Lightning/Amodar coliseum DLC, this would have been content worthy of a purchase. Yet at five dollars it remains woefully overpriced especially since it gives players little in the way of substantial rewards for completing it. True, beating the DLC does allow players to add Sazh to the party in the main game via the XIII-2’s paradigm pack system but this will only be of value to the most hardcore of players. Heck the casino card games introduced in the DLC do not even get added to main game once it is over nor do the casino coins you win (I ended up with over a seven hundred thousand myself) while playing them get added to your main game total. The final nail in the coffin is that Sazh: Heads or Tails can easily be completed, even including the Chocolina side quest, in just under fourty-five minutes. I still believe that the remaining story DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2 can be good additions to the game and wrap up the story in a satisfying manner but only if they are significantly better than this travesty. Final Fantasy XIII-2: Sazh: Heads or Tails is a terrible piece of DLC that only the absolutely most hardcore of fans of the game should even remotely consider buying.
A review copy of this game was purchased by the reviewer for Xbox 360. The reviewer spent approximately 40 minutes playing and completing the game.
3/10
Sage Reviews: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Is it good enough to repair the damage to Square-Enix's reputation?Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Review - ZGR
After so many long-time fans loathed Final Fantasy XIII, does the sequel bring enough new to the table to save the series? Daniel checks out Final Fantasy XIII-2!- May 20, 2012 at 01:46pm
Are you going to review the new Lightning DLC? The Snow DLC was so inconsequential as to not warrant mention. The Lightning one…I want to hear your opinion on it, at least.
- March 03, 2012 at 05:04pm
Ugh. I can’t say I’m surprised.
To be honest, my initial supposition when I heard XIII-2 would be only one disk AND that it was going to feature DLC was “Oh. They ran out of room on the disk and some exec (wisely) wanted to get rid of disk swapping.”
So I’m horrified that S-E’s actually charging for the DLC. Less than an hour? Majorly disappointing. Oh, well. I never really cared for Sazh, so I don’t mind skipping this DLC.
But screwing up a Lightning DLC like this will really flush XIII-2 down the toiletbowl of time. Charging more than $1 an hour will make me feel like my digital crush has become an emo 1-900 number hotline.
- March 03, 2012 at 12:27am
So basically you’re paying $5 to unlock Sazh. Considering all the (bewildering to me) fanboy gushing he’s the focus of, I’m not surprised. Though, I can’t judge people who bought for that reason to harshly, if the game had any replay value what-so-ever, I’d drop $5 to unlock Fang. But, it doesn’t, and she’s not available, so that’s that.
Though, I find great humor in this. One of the huge failings (to me) for FF13-1 was how the party was scattered for the first 97% of the game and doing their own little missions in pairs or single. Now they’ve making you pay for the privilege of watching them faff about solo.
- March 02, 2012 at 11:36pm
40 minutes…I’m not really a stickler for longevity but that should say it all.
- March 02, 2012 at 10:57am
“Chocolina gets a staring role in this DLC. WHY SQUARE WHY?”
It’s like Square hates you man. XD
Poor Sazh, will he ever get the game he so rightly deserves?
- March 02, 2012 at 04:39am
I enjoyed playing texas hold ‘em poker. The betting system made it quite challenging to beat all of the players especially because they obiviously were cheating. One of the players seems to have been programmed to get a flush or straight or something on river quite alot of the time. He had a flush three times in a row, always getting the flush on the river, which seems quite unlikely to happen irl. And it happened quite often. Needed some serious luck to beat the guy. Taking away 10 000 coins from your opponents was really a hassle with the betting system. It’s quite exciting that going all in against an opponent that has 500 coins when you have 30 000 coins can make you loose everything. And going all in is required to make your opponent fold sometimes especially against the guy who always gets a flush with the river. I ended up getting all the 30 token in just one game. Ended up winning only 80 000. Didn’t even get to try the 100 000 bet game. Or the other mini game which seemed quite interesting. And I didn’t find the Chocolina mini game
Have to get back to it. I like Chocolina.Over all I think the dlc was worth the €5. The story was ok, though it’s sad how they wasted Sazh’s potential, and I enjoyed playing poker. And then there’s Chocolina minigame and the other mini game. S-E is ripping us off anyway with €2 clothes and alot more work probably went into this than the Lightning DLC so it’s logical that it costs more. Maybe there’ll be a €10 dlcs with some serious content.
- March 02, 2012 at 03:37am
Nitpick, since I’m apparently the first to notice: Tetra Master is FFIX’s somewhat convoluted card battle game. FFVIII’s global minigame is Triple Triad.
- March 02, 2012 at 02:18am
Well you can’t exactly WTF Chocolina’s appearance in this dlc unless you haven’t read the fragments which suggest she has a connection to Sazh. So it’s pretty obvious to expect that she would be in this dlc.
I will agree with the rest however for a dlc story I to had hoped for more story but the dlc just seems more like a minigame pack with a story tact to it.
I found Chronobind to be an interesting game so for those who enjoy minigames they could prolly enjoy the 5 dollars they get out of it. But ya when it comes down to it only three groups would get it
-Those who want Sazh in their party
-Those who want to play more mini-games
-Hardcore fansThe fanbase being left out in all of this are the ones who wanted story and action. There’s no sense of exploration and again you learn nothing new from this dlc. The DLC was supposedly meant to expand the story as a whole but when we look at Sazh’s arc all we get is some nonsense story with gambling involved. He doesn’t give us anything we didn’t already know from the CS seen in the History Crux we already knew that Sazh would be involved in there for one reason or another.
Hopefully they can pick it up with Lightning though if you noticed there were 2 crux still locked out, now one if you bought Sazh. The other is 100% Valhalla and if it’s anything like the Sazh dlc odds are we will get to fight as Lightning but there will be no leveling involved. Odds are if we control Lightning in battle she’ll have access to the moves she used at the start of 13-2.
I do honestly have to wonder why they thought people would enjoy Sazh’s misadventure, it’s in no way a journey or even an engaging situation it’s just so dull like something you’d see in some cheesy kids cartoon.
I do like your idea though to have Sazh come off as a father mentor for the dead to perhaps help them move on just like in the game with the red orbs. It would have enhanced his character and showed off how he is a responsible father but sadly this seems to further the fact that he’s a pretty bad daddy lol.
Since all the people here are gambling perhaps Sazh could have traveled through the crux found said person and play a minigame designed towards their personality. It’s not like it would be that hard to make multiple minigames ranging from pure luck to skill based. Have it where there are 20 souls to help move on and you only need 10 to be able to get Dajh back but if you get 20 you get a special ending that gives Sazh a bigger role within the whole plot of 13-2. As it stands now the story is pretty much tact on to explain why he was even in the game and that it. it doesn’t feel like much though was truly involved in bringing Sazh into the game. They could have easily just made it a generic airship pilot named Cid.
- March 02, 2012 at 01:45am
I think 3/10 is being generous to be honest. It’s probably the most pathetic DLC I’ve ever seen. The costume downloads were worth more than this to me because at least those were just for fun; this is a waste of time as it adds nothing to the story, absolutely nothing and in fact only serves to damage the character of Sazh; the one character in XIII I genuinely loved and thought was extremely well written.
- March 02, 2012 at 01:42am
Yeah, disappointing doesn’t even sound appropriate. I’m not the biggest fan of Sazh like most people are, but it’s a shame that this had to be so bad.
I have yet to encounter Chocolina in the main game, but is she really as bad as I’ve heard? That’s rather worrisome. Still, I’m enjoying XIII-2 so far, so I the good will (hopefully) outweigh the bad.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Review - ZGR
After so many long-time fans loathed Final Fantasy XIII, does the sequel bring enough new to the table to save the series? Daniel checks out Final Fantasy XIII-2!
Sage Reviews: Final Fantasy XIII-2
Is it good enough to repair the damage to Square-Enix’s reputation?
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Preview
For all the Sturm und Drang surrounding Final Fantasy XIII, the game was both a critical and financial hit, so the decision for Square Enix to choose it as the third FF game to get a direct sequel should not be a surprising one. Now Blistered Thumbs is taking an in-depth look at the game to give you all the information you need in anticipation of its launch.
E3 - Final Fantasy XIII-2
For this interview, Mark “Psychotaku” Fujita gets a hands-on look at the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII-2 game from SquareEnix.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer
ZOMG! The new English announce trailer for Final Fantasy XIII-2. I want your thoughts!
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Video Preview
For all the Sturm und Drang surrounding Final Fantasy XIII, the game was both a critical and financial hit, so the decision for Square Enix to choose it as the third FF game to get a direct sequel should not be a surprising one. Now Blistered Thumbs is taking an in-depth look at the game to give you all the information you need in anticipation of its launch.
I’m not nearly as much of a hater of FFXIII as a lot of other people I know are. But I still think it’s the worst in the series next to X-2. Actually, I might like X-2 more. Grant it, I feel dirty and perverted playing the game, but the combat system is good, and there is a lot of content and variety in the game itself. Places to explore, dungeons to discover, and plenty of quests, but I got NONE of that in XIII.
I don’t actually hate XIII, I’m just unimpressed. Years of waiting only to receive disappointment. The worst thing I can say about a game (Especially an RPG) is that it’s boring, and in XIII 1-2′s case, it’s for certain.
Now grant it, I don’t count XIV (Which is easily the worst thing ever with the FF name on it), but with that POS around, it only serves to make XIII 1-2 look WAY better by comparison.
The real question now is, “Can FF XIII Versus save the franchise?”. From what I’ve seen… by a PS3 now if you don’t have one. Versus is going to be AMAZING!
Final Fantasy versus XIII will probably be good based on the time spent on it (still) and the team doing it (the Kingdom Hearts team from KHI and KHII), which is why the battle system is the way it is.
Too Human and Duke-Nukem Forever rings a Bell?
And introducing: The Makeover Fairy as Chocolina!
It official the sales are poor in the US compared to previous games. Sales week ending Feb 4th 2012
The US
Final Fantasy XIII-2
PS3 425,951
Xbox 152,118
Total 578,069
IN Japan
Final Fantasy VII sold 2.3 million copies in 1st 3 days
Final Fantasy VIII sold 2.5 million copies in 1st 4 days
Final Fantasy IX sold 2 million copies in 1st week
Final Fantasy X sold 1.9 million copies in 1st week
Final Fantasy X-2 sold 2 million copies in 1st week
Final fantasy XII sold 1.7 million copies in its first week
Final Fantasy XIII sold 1.4 million copies in 1st week
Final Fantasy XIII-2 only sold 500,000 in 1st week!!!
I am very pleased to hear this. Maybe now Square-Enix will finally take heed and possibly return to the old-school format.
While I think that 13-2 is a huge improvement from 13, it’s still nowhere near any of the previous games. The main reason I dislike 13-2 is the combat. If I am not given enough time to form strategies, read spell descriptions or even watch the combat animations play out because I have to input new commands as soon as they appear, then I can’t tell what is going on. And worst of all, you have to do things as fast as possible because the loot you gain after combat is based on how fast you win the fight. So most of the time I am randomly swapping between 2 paradigms and occasionally switching to healing one while just hammering autocombat. Sure I am getting good ratings but I am not having fun at all. I feel like I am working on a conveyer belt – inputting commands one after another with boss constantly peeling over and taking notes of my work. Seriously, would pausing the action for the duration of command input been so bad. Granted, there would have been a lot of pausing.
Yeah, I do have panic disorder so it may be the reason I hate this combat. But still.
My biggest problem with FF13 gameplay wise was that the fight system felt far too bloated. It felt like the enemies had gajillions of HP and you could stack several attacks in a row not because the enemies were tougher and you needed to alternate your battle strategy, but because they wanted to create more impressive visuals.
Yes, I pressed auto-battle most of the time. Yes, you can say that maybe I should have tried going into the menus more. But I ask you- what POINT would that have served? Does the game really change that much if I customize my own combos instead of saving time on auto-battle? The offensive spells don’t have any secondary effects that I noticed, so it doesn’t matter if I switch up Firaga with Thundaga- all that matters is what weakness allows the attacks to do the highest number of damage. There’s nothing that really separates the elements from each other save for graphical effect and numerical damage.
TL;DR: the battle system felt bloated for the sake of being bloated and extravagant, but in reality the enemies could have had as much HP as say, FF6 and we could have had the option to just cast a single spell, and it feels like NOTHING would really be fundamentally different about the game. SOME enemies used the stagger system to change things up, but overall it just felt like they could have lowered the overall HP of the enemies and that would have been it. Now, what does this long rant have to do with FFXII-2? Simply that I am more excited about this game because of what LOOKS like it’s a more engaging battle system. Damage that can’t be healed looks like it will add a greater sense of urgency to the fighting, and the addition of monsters, cheap replacement as they are for a talking third party member, at least looks like it will offer some more variety in the battles.
In short- if the sequel can have a more engaging battle system, I shall be mollified. Story? Pssh, it’s Motoru Toriyama: my expectations start at rock-bottom and can only work their way up from there… which is really sad considering it’s a Final Fantasy game.
Sigh i wish i could give this game a chance but i never cared a single bit for any of the 13-1 characters and i doubt i’d care about the 13-2 anymore since their more likely the same bland and annoying characters with a few extras thrown in. A lot like 10-2 i guess. Either way im skipping this one but we all know there will be a 14….but they’ll probably call it 15 since 10-2 was 11 and….(head explodes)
There already is a XIV, although it should’ve been titled ‘Final Fantasy Online II’, just like Final Fantasy XI should’ve been ‘Final Fantasy Online’ (X-2 wasn’t considered XI).
Regardless, I love the characters of both XIII and XIII-2 and I wouldn’t really consider them bland or annoying, since they are rather similar to several different characters in the series (IE: Lightning is similar to Cloud & Squall, Snow is like Tidus and Zell, etc) and I consider Sahz to be awesome and Serah to be very likable.
Personally I like to believe that Square’s decline began when it merged with Enix. What was the first Final Fantasy they made after the merger? Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. Then came plenty of MMORPGS and spinoffs/Kingdom Hearts games. But in my own opinion the greatest flaw with any of these new games is the fact that Nobuo Uematsu is not the chief composer. It is just not the same experience without those great memorable tunes. (remember the victory fanfare?) I know he probably stopped on his own accord and still does little collaborations here and there on Final Fantasy games, but the last song I’ve heard from him was the main theme from Super Smash Bros Brawl. Now that I think of it, maybe one of the reasons Nobuo declined composing for FF games was that he knew they were starting to suck. I know I sound like a hater, and frankly I don’t care. It’s like The Simpsons and Final Fantasy are bound by some sort of cosmic quality string that melts with the polar ice caps.
Maybe its just me, but I haven’t had much problems with the Final Fantasy series. While my favorites are Final Fantasy VI and IV respectively, I still love most of the games in the series, even FFVIII, X, X-2, and XIII. In fact, the ones I don’t like are FFI, II, III, and XII. For the first three, its just preference, but for XII, it was that there was too much open space (and Vaan, I don’t like Vaan).
As for Final Fantasy XIII-2, I love it (I even have the Collector’s Edition), an improvement to XIII in general, since I enjoyed both the story and gameplay, as well as the characters, but didn’t like the linear feeling, though it didn’t really bug me. My only complaint is not being able to control where the character currently as ‘leader’ stood, but its a minor complaint.
Oh, and there’s the song for the Red Chocobo’s, Crazy Chocobo, which is a flippin’ METAL Chocobo song!
Man, the amount of hate that metal Chocobo song got. Square shakes itself from its vapid stupor long enough to remember the Chocobo theme is supposed to be funny and succeeds, fans rage about it destroying tradition and all that is holy. If Square had made FF6 today, they’d endlessly screech that Kefka is the worst thing ever and has destroyed the franchise. “omg they maed a CLOWN teh villain final fatnasy is dead i miss hwen it was smrat -_- and the things he says are funny hwat is this a JOKE???”
Personally I think Square has degraded, but it’s also cultivated an audience that will get angry if it recovers.
An insane clown as the final villain of a video game? HA! Why would anyone do anything as stupid as trying to make a silly clown feel threatening?
Well, I’m off to go play some Arkham Asylum. After that, I think I’ll watch The Dark Knight.
I meant that I love that song..its one of my favorite renditions of the Chocobo Theme and is one of my favorites on the OST I got with the Collector’s Edition.
It has an awesome sound and is hilarious when you think of the context!
The FF franchise (post FF7) has never appealed to me. Aside from the goofy animesque brooding teens must save the world plots, (if I wanted that I’ll watch a shonen thanks) they lack any real role playing. Your path is always linear and the character you play is usually an disinterested (or annoying as fuck) bore.
The reason KOTOR and Fallout 3 were so revolutionary is it brought to life the essence of what a role playing game is and should be. It gave the players the chance to shape a unique and very personal character, kind of like the old school pen and paper games which rpgs are rooted in.
Square has since picked up on this with Deus Ex thankfully. As for FF? Psh. Let it rot. It’s overstayed it’s welcome and it’s time for the “story” to end at last and to create something new.
I begun being a fan after playing Final 8 then i moved to 9 to 10 and for the other ones (Played all except 11) until i finished all the games from 12 to below. I really liked 12 but the history and characters werent the best i had seen but the battle system was really good. In 13 is the total opposite the history is interesting but the system is a total shit (seeing my brother play was enough to notice) so in all i dont care about 13-2 anymore i prefer to play final 10-2 because at least the battle system is enough funny to play.
I’m not trying to undermine the review at all, but I gotta say… the fanboys (or more accurately the haters) of the FF series in the past few iterations have been, well… unreasonable.
Look at 12 and 13 for a great image of this. Final Fantasy 12 comes out and the big complaint with the game was that it was too open-ended… that it was not linear enough. Then 13 comes out and the complaints pull a complete 180 – now the game is too linear… which is only half-true. The game is linear, yes, but only the first half. Then the game opens up…
…but many people didn’t play that far to notice, or just listened to the complaints of mainstream “professional” critics who don’t often tend to play through a game entirely through before banging out a review. Many people simply listen to these reviewers and parrot them instead of trying the game to get their own opinion.
To be honest, I at least give Sage credit for, not only being fair on his reviews, but also somewhat in-depth and not one to just copy the same things everyone else says.
Haters and fanboys? I’ve followed square since final fantasy 1 on the NES. They were my all time favourite 3rd party developer all through growing up. With gems like Chrono trigger, ff4 and 6 (2 and 3 in north america) 7 was awesome, tactics was a master piece and TO THIS DAY.
I still have a bad after taste from square dropping the deuce that was FF8. FF9 tried to go back to its roots while continuing the trend of HORRIBLE character design and childish storylines. The only reason 9 looks as good as it does to some poeple is because it was sandwiched between the 2 biggest shitfests ever to come out of Square at the time, 8 and X.
open endedness was SOOO not the complaint about 12. It’s the fact the game does not require you to be there to play. It plays like an MMORPG except.. by yourself? awesome right? LOL requiring you to only approach enemies and the battle unfolds! without the need for help from you.. the complaint I have is I haven’t had a Final Fantasy game treat me like i’m retarded as much as 12, and I own Mystic Quest!!!! atleast it was interesting. Not the blonde, jonathon taylor thomas looking assholes prancing around in next to no clothes, weilding weapons that look like scrapped Washing machine prototypes.
Our hatred is valid, just because you grew up with the shittiest of the series doesn’t make it worth a shit. I stopped paying square for games. I bought infinite undiscovery, I bought the last remnants, I even bought project sylpheed and guess what they all fucking suck, Final fantasy tactics games on the gba and DS SUCK , Heroes of mana FUCKING SUCKS.
I can’t think of a single release by squaresoft since the ps1 days that was worth playing.
face the music you’re hanging on to a series that continues to shit on your face, and you YES YOU fanboys are eating it up.
The Kingdom Hearts series, The World Ends With You, would like a word with you.
Obviously YOU’RE the one with the problems with certain games. Since the recent Tactic games (while not my cup of tea) were very well received by critics and fans alike.
Last Remnants was a lukewarm game at best with good bits and pieces but overall presenation lacking.
Project Sylpheed isn’t a SE game, its made by SETA. It was published by SE and Microsoft. But since you’re bringing in published games as part of Square Enix’s library then they are a releasing great titles, Batman Arkham Asylum and City, Just Cause 2, Deus Ex:Human Revolution. All amazing games published by SE.
I love how when a game made by one company but published by another its the Developer that gets the credit when its amazing, but when the game does poorly its the publisher that gets the blame.
Now I’m saying SE is on top like it was in the 90s and early 2000′s but to write off an entire company without seeing the rest of the good stuff is very closed minded.
Or maybe the games I just listed aren’t your cup of tea so whatever. Just my opinion.
kingdom hearts you’ve got to be kidding me.. I can see your point in a sense though, square has been dipping into other genres. I’ll admit I thought project sylpheed was a square game, really did but its actually the one i like the best out of all the ones i named in spite of it sucking pretty hard. BUT i do see why kingdom hearts might have fans.
the new DS tactics title was well received? I’m not lying here, i honestly thought after playing it that there was no way anyone would get into it. I never did see much in terms of reviews for the game though , but I just hated it.
All in all, I had meant square games, not published ones, so take sylpheed out of the mix then. I just find square’s art style that they use in all their games disturbing. ESPECIALLY kingdom hearts actually, so kiddy it hurts.
lol
I think the tone they were going for with kingdom hearts was kind of reminiscent of Super mario RPG tying in two franchises into a fun blend, but Square and Disney was like oil and water for me. Not blending at all, two clashing stories trying to have something to do with one another.
I liked how you didn’t jump in to defend Infinite Undiscovery though, I can respect that
you’re right though the rest of those games aren’t my cup of tea,(except batman but i don’t consider that a square game like you had said) In fact the closest thing i’ve seen to Old Squaresoft quality was Blue Dragon on the xbox 360. and it wasnt even a square game. It had Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu, two leading names in final fantasy production. Even had akira toriyama almost the same team that made chrono trigger actually, but not a square game.
anyways sorry to rant again, cuz thats what that was lol So much anger inside of me for that company.. well peace out.
I’m a fan of Kingdom Hearts. I own every game. Yeah it’s a little kiddie, but if you actually pay attention to the series and understand it thoroughly, it’s pretty violent. There is a pretty big body count in that game on the Villain and hero side. It’s story is engrossing and fun to get into, the characters are lovable bits of nostalgia, and the combat system is amazing.
I’m guessing you’ll just make fun now, but KH is actually still GAINING a fan base, while FF is surely dying out. that alone says something. Heck, Birth By Sleep in it’s first week sold almost double FFXIII-2 did in Japan. Globally it shipped over 1.9 million copies in it’s first week, still almost double that of XIII-2.
It’s fine if you don’t like it, but if KH is bad because it’s “Kiddie”, than you might as well add Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Psychonuaghts, and many other classics to that list too. Just because it’s tame doesn’t mean it’s bad, it just means you have different preferences.
“Final fantasy tactics games on the gba and DS SUCK”
I DISAGREE! D:<
Though the DS one I haven't played much of I loved the GBA one. ;-;
I realize this is kind of nitpicky but the first error I noticed with this video, this is not the second direct sequal to the final fantasy franchise.
It’s the 4th. FF X-2, FF4 The After Years, and FF4 Intermission.
I think he meant on a console, the After Years originally came out on cell-phones, not quite sure about Intermission though.
FFXIII-2 is defenetly improvment to right direction compared to FFXIII.
I love how people say SE has fallen from grace. When its honestly not the case. The FF series in recent years has fallen (XIII being a disappointment, and XIV being broken, but getting consistently improved as the months go on.) They still release good games. The Kingdom Hearts series, Dissidia 1 and 2, and The World Ends with You and a few others come to mind. But I guess when people think Square Enix they just solely think FF so I guess that can’t be helped.
Anyways, I wasn’t really interested in XIII-2, actually I was furious because Versus Final Fantasy XIII has yet to be released and it was announced despite being announced with (regular?) XIII at the same time. And yet they were able to complete a new sequel to a very disappointing game? What the HELL!? But hearing this review peaks my interest a bit, even though I at this point I still have yet to beat the first game.
One of my biggest problems with XIII’s story was that it never explained much within the cutscenes, to find out stuff you have to read the journal entries related the various factions of the games. I’m glad to here this story while getting confusing is a bit more stream lined. I’m glad exploration is back.
Overall I’m its better, but I’m still a bit angry Versus XIII isn’t here yet.
I have a poster in my room for ff13 versus.. I Thought the tone of the poster kinda reminded me of Final fantasy 7 for some reason. While not particularily looking forward to it, I was defiitely more interested in seeing what it was all about compared to 13-2…
I really don’t understand how S-E has gotten this insane reputation for quality when every game of theirs I’ve played has been…good JRPGs. Why anyone expects this avatar of awesomeness is beyond me.
Actually, no, it isn’t. It’s fanbase envy. We see Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect get all kinds of fan praise around us and the series we’ve played for so long…struggles. It’s easy to make FF the favorite series to hate. Well, you know what, I don’t care. I liked XIII well enough in spite of the flaws, but I couldn’t play ME because I absolutely despised how it wrapped decisions up in a pretty, predesigned bow of “this or that.” At least XIII removed the illusion of choice.
I don’t care that Serah’s outfit looks like two sheets of printer paper held on with electrical tape. I’ll get this game as soon as my schedule allows.
im glad to hear they took a few steps in the right direction, but if the combat is still just as uninvolving as 13-1, I think ill pass on this one.
keep waiting, waiting… waiting for the battle system to change…
I miss good FF games
What provokes me as a character designer so very, VERY much about these games are how fucking re-used their designs are. Not only does the outfits start now to grow stale and boring and forgettable, and not only do they all have all those uninspired haircuts they ALWAYS use – OH NO. They even re-use the same god damn androgynous overly attractive stale faces over, and over, and over, AND OVER, AND OVER AGAIN!!!!!!! Stop doing this, Square! Good god, stop it!!! No, I do not speak of the game as a whole – it could be bad or great for all I care – but I can not let it slide with how frustratingly uninspired their character designs are growing to get. They’ve kept the same designer for I don’t know how many games now – and obviously, he is NOT talented enough. Get rid of him, and find a good character designer… like one of the designers of the Soul Calibur series. At least they make most of their characters look memorable and unique (I said MOST – I know they have a few uninspired character designs as well).
Thumb me down if you want – I just want to tell how this frustrates me as a character designer. Especially since I know I can do SO much better myself, even though I have way less experience with it.
I seriously stop caring about FF after the insipid snoozefest that was FF8 (I refer you to the lengty Spoony review). That’s 40 hours of my life I won’t be getting back… It’s like after the popularity of FF7 Square started to make these games by commitee based on what’s popular in Japan. And every FF game since then has been a parade of characters that might as well be either an idol singer or a fucking member of L’Arc en Ciel.
In fact the last Square RPG I can say I really enjoy was Vagrant Story (now,that’s a fantasy epic). I don’t have neither the time nor the will to bother with these JRPGs anymore and to all of them all I can say is FUS ROH DA!
The thing about this sequel is that Square has rarely been a company that listens to fans requests, (the exceptions to that rule can be counted on one hand) so the very existence of this game is a quandary. Are they buckling to fan pressure or did they legitimately think that they themselves were heading in the wrong direction? I find the latter very difficult to believe, especially since by most accounts FF13 was a hit game. Square is a company very much in denial, and while they were leading the charge of Japanese fascination back in the day… those days are over. Anime and Manga sales are way down, Japanese franchises are being outsourced to Western developers (with mixed results)… Square I think is still under the illusion that everything is business as usual. It’s unfortunate to see the decline of a once great company, but I think Square-Enix has gotten too big for it’s britches and their decline was inevitable. It’s become painfully obvious that much of the company’s best designers have left and they took their talent with them. I have no idea what the solution is, but I know it doesn’t involve Eidos. It will be interesting to see how FF14 fares on PS3… Why do they bother, bothering Amano to do the artwork for the logos?
btw… There were also sequels and prequels to FF4, FF7 and FF12, (and an Anime sequel to FF5) but I can understand why one wouldn’t want to talk about them (although the Anime was fun).
“so the very existence of this game is a quandary. Are they buckling to fan pressure or did they legitimately think that they themselves were heading in the wrong direction?”
Neither, they didn’t want to recreate a new engine after wasting all their time with 13 then having it not meet expectations. So they reused it. Simple as that. It’s faster and cheaper.
This game is rubbish imo. Good review Sage, though I couldn’t disagree more strongly wrt the music. Man, the music is intolerable.
Woah, Serah, who do you think you are, Britney Spears? Close your legs!
Oh never mind, that’s just Square being gratuitous fan-service Square
Good review and I was really enjoying my time with the game. Until I saw the ending and in all honesty it really killed the game for me (if that is even possible). I don’t want to give away any spoilers but it basically makes all your actions in the game entirely pointless.
Of course again that’s just me I am sure there are some people who really like the ending. But after playing Radiant Historia and seeing the games True ending (which is far easier to get) seeing this ending was very disappointing. I hope you understand.
Man, It’s great to see you back reviewing games, welcome back, Sage. ^^
How would you consider the accessibility of the plot for anybody who has completely passed over the original FFXIII and has no clue what the story of said game was?
Well considering that I barely remembered what happened and FFXIII and I could follow along, I think it’s pretty accessible.
I have to agree with you Sage. XIII-2 does improve quite a lot on its predecessor and I found it less boring and contrived by comparison. I honestly was going to give this game a pass, but I played it anyways and I was surprised by how much more fun I had with this game.
eh, just like the first game I’ll get it eventually when the price drops, plus even if its not really necessary i still feel i should complete the first one, but oh… not looking forward to that.
Solid review. I have the feeling I’m not going to enjoy this game as much as XIII, but I wasn’t exactly singing praises to that game either.
Although, I quibble at the “only the second direct sequel” part. Sure, it’s the second case of them tacking a “2″ on the end, but there are sequels to 12, 4, and 7 as well, though the last might be up for debate.
Still playing through it right now and I have to say, I’m quite pleased with it. As a JRPG fan and a general Final Fantasy fan, this game hearkens back to the earlier days.
Now I feel it should be said, I enjoyed XIII. People can rage at me all they like, but I enjoyed it. I felt the combat system was awesome, and in later stages especially the optional missions, the battles were extremely fast paced – so quite frankly, that argument means nothing to me personally.
I’m disappointed in the fact that some fights have become much easier, but quite frankly, I’m not worried. What people seem to fail to take into account with these two games are the additional content outside of the main scenario. The various side quests and jobs available. XIII had some extremely challenging fights that even I myself ran into a wall against, and honestly, I’ll expect the same out of XIII-2.
One thing of note: This is actually the first true open final fantasy game in quite some time. People seem to neglect to mention the fact that with the exception of two of them, ALL of the previous Final Fantasy games were actually quite linear – only giving the illusion of being open by having a big ass area with NOTHING in it and lots of random monster encounters to grind on. I could do the same thing (run in circles pointlessly) in the ‘lanes’ of FF XIII – the result was the same. 13 Just did away with the illusion and accepted what it truly was without trying to hide it, I suppose most people just didn’t realize the illusion was there in the previous games…it did it’s job well I suppose.
13-2 however, is very much an open game. With the gates providing vast alternative areas to explore at any given time, the story is not only branching, but possesses the unique aspect of offering a high re-playability to a game in the series. That’s something I haven’t seen since the days of SNES when there just wasn’t anything better to do with the time. I have quite a few friends playing this game and so far, we’ve all had vastly different experiences to what we’ve done and where we’ve gone…A very pleasing aspect indeed.
All said at the end of the day – This is a great game. 13 was a good game (though I’m sure people will flame me for this…such wonderful people who can’t stand hearing someone elses opinion!), but this is a G R E A T game.
Remove the Final Fantasy title. Stop trying to drown the industry in the embers of nostalgia for everything new and longing for how things were – so much ‘better’ when everything was ‘new’.
Stop trying to tether the game to it’s predecessors (outside of the related story of 13) when each and every game so far has been a separate entity to itself, and judge it on it’s own merits.
Do that, and you might be surprised at what you see.
Ah yes, the guy who tries to be original by loving FF13, I have something to tell you: Final Fantasy 13 is a final fantasy that is only based on graphics, nothing behind, the story is idiotic and stereotypical with a even more pussy hero than squall or cloud.
Yes because originality has anything to do with an opinion because…?
It’s quite simple, I’m sure you’ll agree. You either like it…Or you don’t. You have a 50/50 chance of being on one side or the other and if you played it, you WILL have an opinion, one way or another. I fail to see your point here.
I’ll have you know I somewhat agree with you on the story. I said I liked the game, not everything about it. For the most part it was okay, though the ending…as well as Hope pretty much killed that for me. The rest of the game was just fine. The combat was well designed, the side quests (missions if you will) ranged from simple to absurdly difficult. The graphics were beautiful and for the most part, the audio was solid.
On a side note: I do have to wonder what a flame on a mild comment in the midst of a more extensive post is doing in this particular thread though…Oh right, because haters wanna hate ^_^
…I feel like I should be slapped for that last line…
no no you’re absolutely right dude, don’t feel bad. Hater’s do wanna hate, me being one of them. Expressing my hatred for the series as of late is the only thing that keeps me sane, because when I try and comprehend how people actually approve and enjoy these games, it makes me question life itself. oh, one thing I will disagree with you on. Theres a 100 percent chance I think this game sucks.
“Stop trying to tether the game to it’s predecessors (outside of the related story of 13) when each and every game so far has been a separate entity to itself, and judge it on it’s own merits.”
This reeks of desperation. No one judges anything purely on what it is. That’s impossible. You judge it based on comparisons to similar things. That’s the reason adjectives and adverbs exist. Say I asked you about FF13s graphics, you’d say they were good, right? Why? Is their an uncontested objective scale of graphical quality based on the amount of polygons in the model? No, you compare it to other games. Also it is a HUGE insult to both FF13 and the rest of the series to say “Oh well ignore the ones that came before it.” If we’re gonna do that, why is it a Final Fantasy game? Cause if we’re to disregard its predecessors, then you’re just being manipulated by Square and they’re slapping that FF logo on it cause they think you’ll buy anything with those words regardless of what it is. Nothing is evaluated in a vacuum.
Oh and I hate this “illusion of non-linearity” argument. It is utter nonsense and a desperate rationalization to make FF13 look better BY COMPARISON GASP! You’re not judging it on its own merits! J’accuse! Oh well. FF6 was linear cause… oh wait.. no it wasn’t. Once you hit the World of Ruin, you had dozens of optional areas and objectives which expanded upon the world, characters, and influenced the ending.
I mean, elaborate, please? FF13-apologists keep throwing this “illusion of non-linearity” crap out there but I’ve never seen someone explain what they mean. The closest thing I’ve heard is that because your actions don’t influence the ending, the game is linear. But is that how you define linear? Purely based on your ability to influence the narrative? You say a big open world doesn’t make non-linearity, just an illusion, but what’s stuff like Skyrim or Fallout then? Would they be the same if they were just a bunch of people lining the walls of a tunnel?
You spoke about your friends having different experiences.. but that applies to any game. Look at FF7.. Did everyone raise the gold chocobo.. did everyone have the Shinra mansion flashback.. did everyone beat the weapons.. did you storm the front door or take the stairs.. did you get Vincent and Yuffie, if you did, did you do Vincent’s story.. did you go to Wutai and climb the pagoda? These are all things that people can find or not find, do or not do. And that’s even getting into the mechanical minutia like party customization. But by your definition, those choices don’t count because… why?
But, I must concede, by my definition (Having optional stuff to do) FF13 is not linear as it has a whopping 3 optional points. 1. The little robot dood. 2. The first chunk of “hunts” 3. The post-story “hunts.” But if it is not a truly linear game, it is about as linear an RPG as one could possibly conceive. But, we’re not arguing opinions now, are we? You’re claiming as matter of fact, not opinion, that the games are or are not linear.
So here’s your homework: Define Linear, Non-linear, and “Illusion of Non-linearity” and provide specific examples of each and show why these examples are not applicable to the other groups. I’m very curious to see how this reads.
“Oh and I hate this “illusion of non-linearity” argument. It is utter nonsense and a desperate rationalization to make FF13 look better BY COMPARISON GASP!”
“I mean, elaborate, please? FF13-apologists keep throwing this “illusion of non-linearity” crap out there but I’ve never seen someone explain what they mean. The closest thing I’ve heard is that because your actions don’t influence the ending, the game is linear. But is that how you define linear? Purely based on your ability to influence the narrative? You say a big open world doesn’t make non-linearity, just an illusion, but what’s stuff like Skyrim or Fallout then? Would they be the same if they were just a bunch of people lining the walls of a tunnel?”
Amen to both of these.
“Illusion of non-linearity” is a meaningless term. The bottom line, if the game gives you the option to explore a map, go places and do things that you might not otherwise have to see or do, or in any way influence the final outcome of the game, then the game is not linear. Case in point: Skyrim. Your actions determine actual outcomes. Fight on the side of the Empire, the Stormcloaks get overthrown. Kill Paarthanax, you get in good with the Blades, but end up despised by the Greybeards.
Ah, but JRPG’s are story-based and never offer such options, right? Oh, wait, yes they have. Like Chrono-Trigger. Decisions you make in the game will change the ending. Kill Magus, or have him join the party. Save the main hero, or kill Lavos without him (yes, that’s right, you can actually finish the game without the main hero – how’s that for non-linear?)
The bottom line: even within the FF franchise, one of the defining characteristics of ALL RPG’s is the ability to explore the game world and to make choices within that game world. The chief complaint about FFXIII is that it denies the player even these most basic aspects of an RPG.
Furthermore, the term “illusion of non-linearity” is a meaningless term. Certain JRPG fans will throw the term around in their meager efforts to claim that FXIII games are no more linear than any other RPG, but they aren’t fooling anyone, least of all anyone who actually does play any other RPG’s. I could always use the term, “illusion of a being a half-way decent game” in reference to FFXIII, but it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter.
I’ll concede that. You are right, you can’t have an opinion without something to compare it to. But the problem with this is back in the day, we really had almost nothing to compare things to and as such, they were graded on a different type of scale than games of today. The feelings achieved in those first time experiences will never be matched in games of today and that there is one of the biggest problems and the reason I said as such before. But you are right, my wording was inaccurate and I do apologize.
One thing I will contest you on is the ‘illusion’ aspect. You did indeed point out some open facets of the games. The problem is all aspects you listed with the exception of one are examples that firmly can be applied in 13. The 2nd half of the game being open in 6 was actually the single greatest experience of open RPG in gaming history, and believe it or not, that is one of my top three games of all time, but much like 13, the first half of the game was a simple line with an open world map, little to do except go to the next point. You had a destination, and very little, if anything outside of that destination that you could do. Could you go places? Yes, but there was never anything there to do aside from random encounters on a big open world map. There were one or two notable exceptions in the world of balance, but few and far between. It wasn’t until later that you had that open access. That is the illusion though. You have this wide open world to walk around on the world map, and for 70% of it, there’s nothing to do except go from point A to point B. That’s why people call it an illusion. It looks open, but very few ever actually are.
Take the area outside Midgar, since this is the example I hear people use most often. It’s open? No. It’s a big wide area in which you can run around and run into random encounters with absolutely nothing there. Instead you run in circles until you go to the next designated destination.
One thing I will strongly disagree that you used though – In no way, shape, OR form do ANY of the extras in these games impact the ending of the game with the exception of VI. Not one of them. ‘Affect the narrative’? No…None of them do. Not in any meaningful way outside of gaining a little extra back-story on the world at large around the characters and in some cases, the characters themselves that you control. No different than the story often provided through the missions of fallen L’cie and the unfolding story of what happened to the world.
But in the future, please calm down. Don’t start putting words into someones mouth because that’s when things become irksome.
Not once did I say ALL previous final fantasy games were linear, only most of them. Ironically enough, the very same two examples you used to shove words into my mouth, were those very same two I was referring to.
Not once did I say those little extras were pointless, only that XIII had extras that had similar overall results.
Even more curious is the fact that in a post with the larger 3/4ths of it being in reference to 13-2, you had to go on a tirade about what I had to say over 13, it’s predecessor.
Oh, and as far as definitions go – I’m going by the general definition. What can you do at any given point in time that has some measure of effect. Treasure, loot, side quests with some form of reward or progression to a side narrative or in some cases, the primary narrative. You know what the definition I’m using is and the snide sarcasm doesn’t particularly make this an enthralling conversation to continue beyond this point. I’ve answered as best I can, and if you’d like to discuss Final Fantasy XIII any more than this, then we’ll have to do so in another thread about said game or you can just msg me personally if you catch me online.
Last time I made the mistake of buying XIII before it became a best seller. This time I’ll wait.
The fact I’m not a hardcore Squenix fan helps me have a more open mind about the game and not judge it on its fandom but rather as a JRPG. I’ll put it on my purchase list but not right away.
Finally started this game despite buying it at release. It’s fun so far, although I have to agree with the lack of feeling involved in the game. I agree that Mog’s voice is bad (That’s supposed to be a boy?), but I like what I’ve played of the game. Apparently it’s significantly shorter than the original, and a quick look through the guide book confirms this, but I’ll try and not let that ruin the game for me. It might even help the pacing, considering how long the original game took to bring the main party together.
Been playing it some and so far I like it. While the beginning is a bit slow the plots picks up its pace soon enough. Let’s hope SE continues down the right path with this series.
On a side note, anyone besides me checked Spoony’s twitter in regards to this game? It seems to be slowly driving him mad, though most of that is associated with Mog (speaking of which, my only complain with Mog so far since he hasn’t started talking yet is his design. I liked the moogle designs where they actually looked like animals instead of toys, IX or XII’s design would have been best)
Good review. Perhaps Square-Enix would have better luck getting out of the hole they have dug if they offered the game at a lower price….say $30-40.
Love this game its like the first one but with monsters fighting on your side.
I just beat it yesterday after watching the football game.
Having played around 20 or so hours of the game I can concur with Sage’s review. Honestly, I think it’s a good game, it’s just not quite “Final Fantasy” good as it were. The series at it’s height was arguably one of if not the best RPG franchise of all time, games like Final Fantasy VI, VII and IX are often regarded as some of the best RPGs that even hold up today.
This on the other hand, is an improvement in many ways over XIII, with minor exceptions, but generally speaking it’s not quite up to the standard of the series. I actually liked XIII to an extent but it was a massive leap back for the series, whilst this is only a step in the right direction; but a step is all I wanted.
Isn’t it sad that we’re saying “Go Square, you’re working on getting back to where you were 16 years ago!” like it’s a good thing?
It’s alright. Better than 13, but still plagued with a number of the mechanical problems 13 had. Though with the dialogue choices and the game not leading me by the nose quite as much, I feel like I’m playing a game rather than watching one.
Still not loving this combat system though. It feels sloppy and ham-handed. Again, better than 13, but going full action or full turn based would be better. They still don’t quite have the hyrbid aspects down, in my opinion at least.
Steps in the right direction, maybe around FF17 Square will have figured this whole RPG thing out.
This Game is not better than 13 at all and you know what is funny every review I seen so far expect for this one says XIII has a better overall story than that of xiii-2. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is game with no vision. I know square tried to fix every problem in Final Fantasy XIII but trying to address every complaint in a game can be a bad thing . A great game is a game that you didn’t know that you wanted and that’s how I felt about the first one . I know the first game was very Linear but people act like you did nothing in the first 20 hours of the first one and that is just not true. In first 20 hours of the first game you got character development unlike this game where there is no character development at all. Noel and Serah stayed the same throughout the entire game. The battles in final fantasy Xiii-2 are much easier than the first one and I feel this game is less challenging than the first one. I do have to admit I do love this game has towns and people that I can talk to and I do love how quickly this game opens up . My problem with this game it doesn’t feel like Square vision. it feels like a collection of improvements in game play.
*Shrug* I found it to be mechanically better and more thoughtfully designed and that was my concern. Not perfect, dear god, no where near perfect, but improved. I can tolerate iffy or nonsensical story and characters if I’m enjoying myself, and the reverse of that, I can tolerate iffy gameplay if I’m invested in the non-mechanical.
With 13, I enjoyed neither and kinda felt insulted by the game as if we were going back to Mystic Quest days and Square thought I was too stupid for anything more complex cause I suffered from roundeye.
Thus, my unsolicited opinion as an outspoken FF13-hater is that I’m finding this one to be more enjoyable. It’s no where near the top of my favorite games ever list, in fact it’s only a few spots above the games I couldn’t even finish and a part of me would rather go play Cthulhu Saves The World again instead of this.
If you disagree with my opinion of “I (Sylveria) am having more fun” please feel free to call your congressmen or member of parliament to complain. I’m sure they will tell you what you can do with that complaint.
The plot reminds me of Chrono Trigger somewhat, except I guess the main villain travels through time too and effs up the continuum.
Game looks appealing enough for me, don’t think I have the budget to buy it though.
I’m contractually obligated to play every final fantasy game so I will get this game eventually just not anytime soon.
Though I’m still not sure if I would like it or not.