gaming Just got done with the FFXIII-2 demo

[Discordian 6,015]

And everything they say is true. FFXIII-2 improves just about everything. The battle system is relatively the same but it has a few improvements like when the party leader dies the battle isn't over, it switches to the other character. They also add the Monsters which you get by defeating them. You don't get a Monster Crystal every time you defeat a monster but it has a chance of appearing. I dunno if you can collect multiple monster crystals though.

 

The monsters count as your third party member but they only have one role. Like Cait Sith will only be a MED role, Hoplites only have a COM role, etc. You equip three monsters to your team and then equip one of those three monsters to a paradigm. When you switch to a paradigm whatever monster you have comes out when you switch. However, monsters do not count as leaders so you can't switch to them and if both Serah and Noel (pronounced Nol for whatever reason) then the battle is over. Definitely an improvement over the first one.

 

The Crystarium is back, of course, but it's a little different. It doesn't have all the unnecessary long animations and activating a new crystal will give several bonuses to your stats instead of just boosting one stat. Once you get so far you will activate an ability crystal too, of course. What's more, Noel and Serah are not the only ones with Crystariums, the monsters have them as well but they work a little differently. Monsters don't use CP to upgrade, they use items you find and get from battle. These specific items do various things like upgrading just magic, or just attack, or some even upgrade all stats. But they also work on specific types of monsters, like machine or biological monsters will use two different items for the same upgrade. In this sense you can upgrade them however you want so it's not such a straight path as before.

 

Also, you can decorate your monsters. I found two things in the demo to put on monsters and I'm sure there's more as I didn't do the quests that were in the demo as I just wanted to give the game a test run.

 

We didn't get to use the time thingamabob though so can't say much about that but the video at the end of the demo suggested it could be used advantageously.

 

Next up: The level design. Yes, they took out any and all linearity there was before. Of course they still provide you with a map so you aren't likely to get lost but it's a far cry from the hallways that plagued FFXIII. They've even added a jump button, no I kid you not, a jump button so you can possibly expect some minor platforming but not much because the jump isn't exactly spectacular. It's more or less just a quicker way to get characters to jump around than before cuz it doesn't really have any horizontal air to go with, it's mostly a vertical jump.

 

Only thing I can say I don't appreciate about the game is that the characters still move slow as hell and turn awkwardly like in the original.

 

They've added a few new features using Mog, the Moogle that turns into Serah's weapon:

 

1) Mog can sense items that are in a different timespace and when s/he does s/he'll show you and you can press the R1 button (Or likely RB for 360 players) to make it appear in the current timespace for you to obtain it so there's likely to be many hidden items throughout the areas.

 

2) You can't see enemies on the field anymore but when they appear a certain thing called "Mog's Clock" which is a clock that counts down as you are near an enemy. If you press the X button during Clock Mode the character you are controlling will attack, if you hit the enemy it initiates battle. The clock has various phases so if you hit the enemy during that phase it has different effects. Hit it during green and it's like a preemptive strike in FFXIII where Noel will automatically hit the enemy and raise their stagger meter quite a bit (though unlike the original it doesn't always raise it to the top)

 

Now, there's another part of battles that has made an appearance and caused a bit of an uproar: QTEs and timed button sequences. As far as I could tell from the demo the QTEs don't happen unless certain conditions are met and it's not totally random. The boss at the end of the demo only activated it's QTE when you brought it's HP down to 0 so you used the QTE to finish him off. I didn't fail so I don't know what happens if you do, perhaps having to fight the boss more which regenerates some health? Maybe having to refight the boss? I don't know.

 

Timed button sequences happen during the Feral Link attacks the monsters can do. Feral Link has a meter that builds up as the battle goes on, and goes up faster with the use of certain items and chaining bonuses more. When it hits the top you hit a button that activates a special attack based on the monster in use (I don't know if it changes if the monster gets stronger though) and this will activate a timed button sequence like Down then Triangle. They seem to be the same for the same attack every time you do it so Cait Sith will always use Left, Circle while Hoplites will always use Down, Left, Up, Right so you can easily get used to it even if you fail the first few times using it.

 

Now onto something that makes the sprawling map even more useful: The Live Action Events where you can make a choice of what to say or who to ask or something like that (not sure exactly how it works, it only worked once and after I made a choice it didn't let me make another decision)

 

So I had a choice to either go fight the boss as he was or go back to find a machine in the ruins to possibly control the boss. I chose to go back and this, of course, weakened the boss significantly by reducing his health down to a tenth of it's max and it might have even weakened it's attacks too.

 

Also, when I got to that machine something happened...I got sucked into a Temporal Rift where they had a puzzle waiting for me. It seems there will be several different kinds of puzzles in the game but in this particular one you go through a couple stages solving it. You are standing on panels and you have to collect these crystals that are on the other panels. The catch? The panel falls after you stand on it so you have to get all the crystals and get to the exit without blocking yourself in or you have to restart.

 

In the video at the end when they were showcasing the rest of the game they showed minigames too. There are Chocobo Races and a slot machine and who knows what else! They also showed an aerial battle between Lightning and some other guy but I can't tell if it works like regular battles, just in the sky, or if it's something else like maybe actually controlling the thing Lightning is flying on.

 

They've also decided to go with various different kinds of music as well. In some cases they use techno-ish music with lyrics, other times it's rock, others it's orchestrated boss music. The main battle theme itself is more of the rock/techno combination type and it's certainly ten times better than the original FFXIII's music. The music itself seems to be of better quality and not just because of the better variety!

 

Also you actually win Gil from battles instead of having to sell crap to get it. Another thing is that there are actually people to talk to, you can talk to many different people but like FFXII some are only background characters and can't be talked to while others will automatically speak when you approach and yet others are actually the type you interact with.

 

Oh and the shop is no longer just a machine, it's actually a lady wearing an orange-ish chocobo costume who apparently shows up throughout the timeline mysteriously. She's a unique one alright.

 

Overall, I'd say FFXIII-2 is a 100% improvement over FFXIII, and this is coming from someone who actually liked the first one.

 

Bump

Edited January 11, 2012 by Raronoopa

[Kodiak 431]

They have a demo out?!

[Discordian 6,015]

Yes, yes they do.

[Kodiak 431]

Yep, just got through playing it. Everything's sooo much better. The only thing I have to get used to is the new Crystarium. I'm used to seeing what abilities I can obtain already laid out on a table for me. But the leader change has to be the biggest improvement by far.

 

The only thing story-wise that needs clarification is how Serah can use L'cie magic. But I guess the point of a demo is to tease its players. All in all, FFXIII-2's going to be amazing.

[Gummy 725]

TL;DR

 

Played the demo, enjoyed it for the most part. Of course the games been out in Japan for a while and the ending got leaked. What a load of horse shit.

 

 

Just sequel/DLC set up

 

 

[Finesthour 7,287]

I actually loved the demo c:

 

I never played a FF game on the xbox, so it was weird at first.

[Kodiak 431]

I actually loved the demo c:

 

I never played a FF game on the xbox, so it was weird at first.

 

Yeah, FFXIII threw me for a loop with switching paradigms and all, but it was a blast when you got the hang of it.

[Tom 891]

There be a demo?!

Why wasn't I told. I'll have to check it out some other day.

From what I'm reading sounds like it'll be good.

[Brian589 467]

ill admit i hated FF13 then i played the 13 demo on my PS3 and i loved it and will be buying the game it also made me wanna try FF 13 again which i did and i actually enjoy it it also re kindled my spirit for the FF series to give it another try all and all 13 2 is a much better game then 13 from what i played in the demo.

[Discordian 6,015]

Played the demo, enjoyed it for the most part. Of course the games been out in Japan for a while and the ending got leaked. What a load of horse shit.

 

 

Just sequel/DLC set up

 

 

 

I haven't heard about the ending itself but I did hear that it leaves off at "To Be Continued"

[Ele77 30]

I shall be selling FF13 to get this :3

[Brian589 467]

since 13-2 is out tomorrow is anyone getting it ?

[Tom 891]

since 13-2 is out tomorrow is anyone getting it ?

 

What! Why wasn't I aware of this!

 

Oh wait, it's not out until Friday for me... Well on the bright side it won't screw over my exams.

[Kodiak 431]

since 13-2 is out tomorrow is anyone getting it ?

 

Not until the prices drops. I picked up FFXIII for $30 USD; I'm not going over $50 for a video game. lol

[Brian589 467]

Not until the prices drops. I picked up FFXIII for $30 USD; I'm not going over $50 for a video game. lol

 

true 60 bucks is alot of money i wish square would lower there price to at least 40 like NIS did for disagea 4.

[Colon Leftbracket 971]

And everything they say is true. FFXIII-2 improves just about everything. The battle system is relatively the same...

 

That's all I needed to know that I am not buying this one...

 

Thank you!