Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Square's phoenix?

Having played the new Xbox Live demo to death, Mick Fraser takes a look at the major differences between Final Fantasy XIII-2 and its predecessor.

Every now and then something comes along that splits opinion straight down the middle, like Marmite, reality TV or Patrick Kielty. In 2010, Square-Enix released Final Fantasy XIII, the latest title in their hugely popular sci-fi/fantasy saga, and it proceeded to part critics like Moses and the Red Sea. On one side, it was praised for moving in brave new directions regarding the combat, setting and art design, while on the other hand it was widely-criticised for its linearity. Indeed, it was the more linear nature of the plot, particularly in the first 20-odd hours, that caused the biggest stir and incited the loudest arguments, with Gamepro describing it as “a long hallway towards an orange target…”, while CVG defended the simple design by calling it “a clever move”.

Either way, FFXIII turned in a less than stellar performance as far as review scores went, prompting the game’s director Motomu Toriyama and his team to readdress many of the elements they had been so proud of prior to release. Work began almost immediately on a direct sequel, and this time the developers had a very clear picture of what they wanted to achieve – to “exceed Final Fantasy XIII in every aspect”.

The world is beautiful, and unmistakably Final Fantasy.

In all fairness, we didn’t really find the linearity to be a problem; rather it served to streamline the action and better tell the intricate, occasionally complicated story, and made the mid-game switch to exploring a much more open Gran Pulse seem like a huge pay-off. Whichever camp you pitched your tent in, it’s a safe bet that you, like us, were waiting to see just how Square-Enix would respond to so many criticisms aimed at their company spokes-franchise. Would they ignore the naysayers and press on, ever-faithful to their own design ethic (as they have done in the past), or would they open up and listen to the fans, to the critics, to the gamers, and attempt to rectify what many viewed as serious setbacks?

In the interest of proper investigative journalism (ahem), when the demo for Final Fantasy XIII-2 became available for download last week we at Made2Game decided to play it to death while at the same time running through the original. We wanted to see just what Square-Enix have changed and what they’ve left alone in regards to the three most important elements: characters & plot, combat, and level design. Please bear in mind that our opinions on FFXIII-2 are drawn from playing the demo only, and some minor elements are still subject to change before the February 3rd release date. Oh, and FYI, this may contain spoilers…

New boy Noel, protagonist Serah and her pet Moogle share a moment

CHARACTERS & PLOT
While you can only glean so much from a demo, pulling together all the various snippets of info and press releases reveals a decent amount about Final Fantasy XIII-2’s huge story. It takes place around 3 years after the end of the last game, and with Lightning Farron now missing it falls to her sister Serah – newly de-crystallised – to take over as lead protagonist. While small details are missing (unless you’d like to cheat time, space and release dates to import the Japanese version), broad strokes reveal that Serah will head off in search of her vanished sister, and travel through temporal and special rifts to find her. New villain Caius Ballad (shown in this teaser trailer) has strong ties to the Farrons and is in direct conflict with Lightning – wherever she is.

When the demo begins Serah is already in the company of Noel Kreiss, a young time-traveller who fights with a pair of groovy-looking swords. He’s the usual mix of courageous hero and smart-mouthed git that we’re used to seeing in JRPGs, but given that this is Final Fantasy we can expect him to have one hell of a Mysterious Past, especially as he’s ostensibly helping Serah to find Lightning. His motives may or may not be pure, but at this point we can only guess. Though it’s fair to say that we don’t trust any man who uses that much mousse on his hair.

Caius Ballad might look a bit prissy with his purple hair and androgynous features, but he's the new badass.

The third “character” featured in the demo is Serah’s pet Moogle, named Mog. The cuter-than-cute little ball of cuteness is so damned cute that we could happily blast it out of a really cute cannon, but it does serve a purpose in that its time-controlling powers help Serah to cause temporal fluctuations to reveal hidden item chests and solve various puzzles.

An NPC named Alyssa Zaidell also features prominently in the demo, and is responsible for giving Serah the first set of decisions (whether to fight the huge, screen-filling Atlas boss head-on or go and find a hidden control panel to slow him down first). We’re happy to predict she’ll be a party member later on. Other characters from the last game are confirmed to appear in Final Fantasy XIII-2, including cocky hero Snow, whiny emo bitch Hope and father-figure Sasz. Vanille and Yun Fang are also said to be returning, despite their fate at the conclusion of Final Fantasy XIII. An action-packed trailer at the tail end of the demo reveals a lot of shots of the sassy, noble Lightning kicking various arses – and given the Quick Time Event prompts on display, it’s safe to say she’ll be playable at some point, too.

The battle screens are just as vibrant and alive as we've come to expect, and the Paradigm Shift system is surprisingly intuitive once you master it

COMBAT
While largely unchanged, there are a few significant differences between FFXIII-2 and its predecessor where combat is concerned. Although the Active Time Battle (ATB) Gauge returns and does the same basic job of stacking a limited number of actions for your playable character, certain small additions to Final Fantasy XIII-2 make the combat that much more dynamic. For starters, you can now change party leader (and thus controllable character) mid-battle, which in addition to the returning Paradigm Shift allows much tighter control and management during fights.

The Paradigm Shift system itself (which governs the role each character plays in combat – such as Ravager, Medic or Saboteur – and how those roles interact with one another) has seen no meaningful overhauls, but the inclusion of Cinematic Events add the illusion that you’re in control during the many, many cutscenes that Final Fantasy games love so much. Essentially, they’re Quick Time Events that direct the flow of interactive cutscenes – and its hard to believe they weren’t present in FFXIII, such is their hand-in-glove fit with the sequel’s epic boss fights. When this element kicks in during the Atlas boss fight in the demo, it really does add something to the game. The huge, blinking “CINEMATIC EVENT” announcement is a little off-putting, admittedly, but it’s still a solid addition.

Some of FFXIII-2's enemies are characteristically silly, while some of them are huge and monstrous - yet even beasts like this wee fella have their uses in battle.

Perhaps the most significant change is the ability to “tame” monsters (by beating the snot out of them), which can then be added to your party. The “Feral Link” then allows you to use the monster’s unique attacks or magical abilities once you’ve filled the relevant gauge. Once a monster is tamed it’s always available to switch in and out of your party, and you can have several active at once to allow for greater diversity.

Random encounters return, but this time you have a certain amount of time to either attack them or run away by leaving the coloured dome that forms around them. The remaining time is depicted on the Mog Clock, a little circular dial that appears below your active character and counts down until you perform a necessary action. Getting a real-time hit in on a nearby enemy will initiate combat and give you a pre-emptive advantage. Once in combat, the bare bones controls and gameplay remain the same as in Final Fantasy XIII, but the tweaks to character and ability animations are noticeable. Overall, XIII-2’s combat is a real improvement on its predecessor.

Poster-girl Lightning will return - and she'll be just as noble, lethal and pissed-off as ever

LEVEL DESIGN
It’s not linear! That’s the first thing the Final Fantasy XIII-2 demo shouts at you, and something it reinforces throughout its hour-long duration. Immediately dropped into a miniature hub filled with NPCs to chat to, the odd shop in the shape of a rather appealing lass dressed like an over-sexualised orange chocobo (don’t try to imagine it, it’ll only turn out so very wrong in your mind’s eye), and various side-paths and hidden nooks, the first thing you’ll notice is that the size of the world is at least analogous to the previous game. After the initial boss fight, you’ll be sent off to follow the familiar orange blip on the minimap, but now you’re able to jump obstacles yourself (it sounds minor, but it makes a difference when you’re in control) and converse with almost anyone you pass.

While we were given a couple of bona fide sidequests to complete in addition to the central focus of chasing down the rather enormous boss monster, it wasn’t always completely clear what we were supposed to be doing – we actually completed one quest without even realising it! As the demo takes place during Chapter 2, it’s safe to say the inclusion of sidequests so early dispels any worries of an overly-linear nature. And if it doesn’t, then the new “Live Trigger” system should.

Some of these Temporal Rift puzzles will require some serious head-scratching to navigate

At certain points a little symbol will appear in the top corner of the screen indicating that you’re in the process of a Live event, during which time you can make decisions either in gameplay or dialogue that will affect how the game progresses. Some of the changes are small, some large, but they have no effect on the multiple endings – instead, the endings will be affected by the “Historia Crux” system. While not present in the demo, it’s been revealed that there will be an element of time-travel in FFXIII-2 which will allow players a certain amount of choice over how events play out in the game. 'Temporal Rift' puzzles are a by-product of the time-meddling shenanigans, and each is presented as a mini-maze of tiles that collapse as you pass over them, forcing you to think of your route through the rift while you collect silver crystals to repair it.

The short hour (long for a demo, yet barely a sliver compared to the run-time expected from a Final Fantasy title) only revealed so much in terms of story and plot progression, but it was more than enough to confirm that linearity and stifling corridors are largely a thing of the past. It’s safe to say we can expect to see a fair amount of wide open areas later on in the game, and if we’re likely to be side-questing and exploring from as early as the second chapter, it can only be indicative that Square-Enix have listened to fan feedback and attempted to return to the deep, multi-layered RPGing that made the Final Fantasy series so popular in the first place.

Caius clashes with Lightning in the Battle of the Barnets - but joking aside, cutscenes like this one are absolutely stunning
 

Overall, the demo is a showcase for everything that’s changed – and so it needed to be. They might have opted to give us a different chapter, a single mission or even a selection of boss fights as Capcom have in the Asura’s Wrath demo (also made available for download last week) – but instead Square-Enix have faced up to the “problems” of Final Fantasy XIII (problems admittedly inherent with such a drastic change of direction) and addressed each and every one. Until we’ve played the full game we won’t know for sure how much of an improvement FFXIII-2 really is, but given its review scores so far (not counting the no-brainer perfect score from Japanese magazine Famitsu), we’re expecting big things.

The darker tone is evident in the demo, as is the wider, more flexible approach to mission design – and the very fact that Final Fantasy XIII-2 features decisions that can alter the way the storyline plays out is testament again to Square-Enix’s ability to listen to the gamers. Based on our time with the demo and comparisons made to the last instalment in the franchise, Final Fantasy XIII-2 certainly has the potential to surprise a lot of people when it hits the shelves next month.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is developed by Tri-Ace, a division of Square-Enix, and will be available on February 3rd.

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

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