There are some significant flaws, unfortunately. Some of these are at the game design level, adding interactive segments to normally impressive cutscenes; it’s hard to appreciate them when you’re constantly having to watch for the next ’quicktime event’ button prompt. Being yanked from RPG play to handle various puzzles isn’t particularly fun either, even with attempts to have them make sense within the story. Said plot also occasionally has trouble finding its focus, since its frequent use of time travel means you have a good story that is told in a rather disjointed way. Sometimes it comes together in a way that will leave you excitedly realizing “Oh! So that’s what was going on!,” but in other times it can all but require you to pause the game and re-read various storyline notes left for you in the menu.
While many things have changed, players should go in understanding that the title is apt. This is a sequel in the most direct sense, continuing the story and keeping much of how the game is played. This is still a RPG where you are working toward specific goals and much of your party is played by the AI following your broad policies. You should go in expecting a refinement, not a reinvention, of the ideas used in the previous game. That won’t be to everyone’s liking, and this is definitely not an ’old school’ Final Fantasy, but it is a good-faith effort to address some of the critiques leveled at the original.
Overall, these factors leave Final Fantasy XIII-2 in a good position. It improves upon most of its predecessor’s flaws as a game, while its narrative is still strong despite some occasional rough spots. Fixing the worst of FFXIII’s problems results in something that is fun to play instead of simply observing, so it’s easy to recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the previous game. It’s also worth considering if you liked the original’s premise but resented how constraining it was; players have much more freedom this time around.
This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 version, provided by Square-Enix.
