Final Fantasy XIII

Let me get this out of the way: I love Final Fantasy XIII! I'm a gamer who likes to know what to do and when to do it, and I actually love a game that's story driven rather than one that's open-ended and gives you a ton of freedom.

Now, how does XIII-2 rate in my opinion-

The only downside for me is that the story isn't as good as XIII. That's not to say that I don't like, though, and it's definitely not the worst story I've every come across in games.

So, what are the upsides- I love the battle system and collecting monsters is a great idea! The depth of the monster collecting system allows for a ton of customisation through levelling and infusion. Also, the Crystarium System has been updated and, for me, requires a lot more planning than the system required in XIII.

Oh! And, to top it all off, it's a beautiful game with great voice acting.

Overall, XIII-2 is a great game and is one of the best I have ever played. However, I don't think I would recommend it to gamers who don't like XIII. XIII and XIII-2 are very similar games and I can't see it winning over those who aren't fans of XIII.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a great game which combines a fluid battle system, stunning graphics and a unique story to create a very enjoyable experience.

The main reason I found this game so entertaining was the new battle system, which has been hugely improved since the original game. One improvement FFXIII-2 made was the option of adding a monster to your team, each of which can be leveled up with items you find, allowing you to create a variety of possible strategies to suit each fight.

FFXIII-2 is also a beautiful game to look at, with many bright areas and creative monsters. I found this a welcome change from the grey and brown environments I've come to expect from many games.

One of the things this game did very well at was creating a plot which forces the player to think about how each of their actions would affect the not only what was going to happen, but also what had already happened. Without going into to much detail, the story starts with the main characters using time travel to restore the past and fix the future.

In summary, FFXIII-2 improves many aspects of the first game to create a fantastic experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Very good game like the orginal .Bit dissapointed the game isnt finished and is going to be finished using DLC

The game in itself was marvellous, gameplay was really fast, a little disappointed haste doesn't exist which was really hard to get my head around. In more ways this game was an apology for Final Fantasy XIII, it was how the game SHOULD have been (crystarium, battle system was tweaked a little) and it gave you more freedom, like you usually expect from Final Fantasy games. The way how I feel this game was extremely disrespectful from Square-Enix is the fact the game is choppy, very choppy, it must run at about 25fps at some points, it is bearable but extremely annoying. The fact that this is a game for consoles, it shouldn't have this issue as you cannot upgrade your hardware to fix this.

Final Fantasy XIII is by far the worst Japanese RPG I have ever played and I have played some baaaaad Japanese RPGs (I'm looking at you Unlimited Saga) and Final Fantasy XIII-2 is more of the same.

It is not as bad as it's predecessor but in no way is it a good Final Fantasy. The added Jump feature was a nice touch and making Hope an adult with a back bone instead of a pathetically annoying teenage boy helped make the game a little easier to swallow.

With (The Locke-Zack clone) Snow out of the picture Serah (his clearly under age Fiancée) decides to go on an adventure to find him with a Time Travelling random who has nearly no memories of who he is. I mean DAMN FF has had some weird story arcs over the years but this has to take the cake.

The Music is the same crap we had in Final Fantasy XIII. Random J-Pop is NOT an epic sound track! Nobou Uematsu defined what gaming music SHOULD BE and many game composers learned from him… But FF XIII's composer clearly never heard any of the earlier FF Soundtracks as Prelude and Victory Fanfare still have yet to make an appearance. I want to feel like I'm going on an EPIC Fantasy adventure not sitting in my local Manga-Kissa.

The Story is dribble, the music is horrible and the gameplay is non-existent (I'm looking at you Auto-Battle) this game should be skipped. I'm just glad I picked this up on the cheap.

The Fabula Nova Crystal Series still has two more titles Type-0 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII to come out in English (or you could do what I did and order Type-0 in Japanese) and they are much better. I suggest with all my being that you wait for those.

Type-0 is absolutely amazing and I feel this is the road future Final Fantasy(s) should walk down. As the original Music makes a come back and the gameplay is extremely fast and more hack 'n slash.

End Note – Yoko Shimomura (of Kingdom Hearts fame) is the composer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII.