Final Fantasy XIII-2

Square-Enix provided the author with retail copies of Final Fantasy XIII-2 for review purposes. The author completed the main story on normal difficulty in approximately 35 hours using the PS3 version. Brief testing was also conducted on the 360 version.

We run down the English version.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? According to Final Fantasy XIII-2, the chicken went back in time every time it died to give birth to itself again, until somebody shouted at the farmer from the future to not farm chickens in the first place. Are you confused yet? So are we.

It’s a shame that Square Enix’s efforts to improve on FFXIII’s missteps didn’t produce the desirable results. While Square Enix listened to fans and made the genuine attempt from the beginning, many of those ended up hurting the game. While FFXIII-2’s ending hints at yet another XIII game (Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII), I’m finally at a point where I’ve just about had enough of Final Fantasy. If Versus XIII fails to deliver or doesn’t even come out, it’s honestly been a nice ride. Regrettably though, my parting with this once remarkable franchise would be bittersweet at best.

Combat systems have always had a major role in role playing games like the Final Fantasy franchise, but never has the story taken such a back seat to the on-screen action.

Final Fantasy XIII was a pretty terrible RPG, which is to say that while it had beautiful graphics, a decent story and some interesting set pieces, it came up lacking in the sense of exploration, subtlety and invention that previous titles in the series have become known for. Players were presented with a lush world, a myriad of races and a brooding storyline, but then merely tasked with running from beginning to end, without being able to stop and take a look around once in a while. Final Fa...