FINAL FANTASY XIII-2: The First Three Hours

Did FINAL FANTASY XIII really need a sequel? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself ever since the game was revealed back in January of this year. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to preview the game on several occasions, but each time I was left with more questions rather than answers.

That being said, I was recently invited to visit the game again by Square Enix. Much to my surprise, we were allowed to sample a full three hours of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, starting fresh with a new game. My experience was quite tremendous; truly this is the title FINAL FANTASY XIII was meant to be.
The following preview contains many early game spoilers.

It’s no secret that FINAL FANTASY XIII-2’s story is soaked in mystery. The game begins with a beautiful scene highlighted by the technical prowess of Square’s Visual Works Studio. Muted purples and greens clash as an armor-clad Lightning battles a mysterious man named Caius Ballad.

With the ability to transform into Chaos Bahamut, Caius pursues Lightning across the land of Valhalla. Riding atop the familiar Odin, Lightning strikes back with a series of snipes and large scale attacks. Eventually the two make their way into the city, in which a choice-driven QTE battle ensues.

Suddenly, new character Noel Kreiss is seen falling from the heavens. Lightning summons her own Bahamut in an attempt to save him, only to face Caius once again before the game cuts to yet another CG scene.

Seemingly safe for now, Lightning asks the young Noel to search for her sister, Serah. She calls upon a strange moogle; one that has the ability to transform into a large bow. Caius reappears, despite being crushed by Lightning. He’s returned to launch a new attack, but not before she urges Noel to jump into the gate that has appeared within the world.

Episode I begins—FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 is separated into chapters much like its predecessor—although the total has not yet been revealed.

We’re now focused on the game’s main heroine, Serah Farron. Lightning’s sister lies asleep in her New Bodhum home. A disturbance has occurred in the timeline, likely due to Noel’s forthcoming, and as a result, Serah’s clothing has magically altered in appearance.

Without warning, the village is under attack by unknown monsters after the fall of a mysterious meteorite. Familiar faces from team NORA are seen fighting back amongst the fray, but the amount of enemies is almost endless.

Noel appears from above, coming to Serah’s rescue. With no time to panic, Noel hands her the bow, asking that she save her questions for later.

After several battles within the village, Noel tells Serah that he was sent to her by Lightning. He explains that her sister is not dead—she’s alive in the land of Valhalla. Intrigued, Serah agrees to follow this mysterious person, despite interjection from her friends.

And so the real adventure begins. Noel and Serah spend some time exploring the beach of New Bodhum, gathering information which eventually leads them to investigate the meteorite that fell nearby. Throughout New Bodhum, strange things are happening—the meteorite from Valhalla is causing time alterations. Realities are overlapping in Serah’s world.

Suddenly, Cocoon vanishes and the monster Gogmagog appears through an anomaly. By restoring said anomalies, fragments can be obtained—160 in total.
Noel reveals that Cocoon is missing in his era. He tells Serah that he is from 700 years in the future—the last of humanity. He makes a promise to Serah that he can bring her to Lightning. She just has to trust him. It’s revealed that the meteorite is actually a Time Gate, and that Light is waiting on the other side.

While no one seems to remember Lightning, Serah does. Has history changed? In order to find an artifact to access the gate, and an answer, Noel and Serah search New Bodhum, asking the locals, and even chasing a kitten and some children, for help.

Serah discovers that her necklace has been stolen by one such kid. Upon retrieving it, she reminisces of Snow, and how he promised to find Lightning. Before he took off, he gave to her his own necklace, vowing to return.

Making their way back to Serah’s house, she notices that a strange mirror has appeared in her bedroom. Touching it reveals the mysterious artefact they need to change the future. Noel explains to Serah that he just wants a future with people in it.

The two take off again toward the Time Gate, only to once again come face to face with Gogmagog. Pay attention to the music that plays during this battle… it’s interesting.

At this point, chocobos make their appearance in the game. By feeding them gysahl greens, you can coerce them into letting you ride them.

With the gate finally open, Noel and Serah take their departure. They enter the Historia Crux—the time traveling gate—and make their way toward Bresha Ruins in the year 005 AF, or 2 years in the future from their current timeline into Episode 2.

Enter the fight against Paradox Alpha. Two years have passed and Serah and Noel find themselves immediately surrounded by the soldiers in the ruins. They’re forced to surrender, and ultimately locked up. Fortunately, a young girl named Alyssa Zaidelle comes to their rescue, claiming them both to be a part of her research team.

Through her they learn about the anomaly known as Atlas. It seems the monster has been disrupting the ruins, and Noel and Serah have been tasked to find out why. Exploring the rain soaked town leads the two to eventually discover and fight the beast, defeating him by destroying the crystal on his head.

With Bresha restored to daytime splendor, Noel and Serah are free to search for even more artefacts to open more gates.

Episode 3 begins on the other side of the second trip through the Historia Crux. The year is now 300 AF in an autumn themed Sunleth Waterscape. Immediately it seems like something is amiss… a familiar face appears before Serah and Noel…

And unfortunately, my playthrough time was up.

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 introduces a lot of gameplay elements, both old and new. Returning is the largely praised Active Time Battle system from FINAL FANTASY XIII. In addition to making use of Paradigm Shifts, battles will now include elements such as monster allies, cinematic actions, leader switch, and more.

Noel and Serah are the two main playable characters, although Lightning is playable in the beginning of the game, albeit briefly on rails. A monster ally will make up the third slot, and guest characters such as Snow will fight alongside you later on. Guest characters, however, cannot be controlled, nor have their stats upgraded.

Battles can become more difficult by the use of blood damage. Blood damage reduces a character’s max HP for the length of a battle, and can be inflicted upon your party members without notice. Use of the Mog Clock device allows players to time preemptive strikes to gain various bonuses or penalties at the start of a battle.

A new feature called Live Trigger has been added to the game’s cutscenes to keep the action flowing as well, even during story pieces. Live Triggers also give the player choice, which will ultimately lead to different situations and interactions by selecting one of four outcomes. These dialogue choices appear frequently, and will eventually be important for multiple playthroughs.

Unlike its predecessor, XIII-2 gives you the ability to talk to NPC characters and even characters in your party to learn more about the world. For example, Serah will speak to Noel at several points in order to discover more about him. In these situations, you’ll sometimes have more than one dialogue option to choose from. No worries though, as the Datalog feature from XIII is completely intact.

Another unique ability to this sequel is the option to jump. Noel, Serah, and even chocobos can jump across the terrain in order to explore far away areas.

The Crystarium system is open fairly early on in the game. Unlike XIII, there are no level caps. This means you can earn CP and gain skills to your heart’s content. Party Paradigms are also in place, so switching out roles won’t lead to a loss in your set up if you want to alter back and forth.

When the Crystarium expands, it allows for level bonuses. For example, abilities such as COM/RAV(ATK/BLA) boost, unlocking various roles, increase ATB, and increase accessory capacity can be selected once you level up enough. Long gone are the tiers—each character’s Crystarium is in the shape of their weapon and spending CP has been simplified.

Monster allies captured by obtaining crystals have their own Crystarium, although slightly different. Known as the “power of the untamed,” monster allies will form your third party member and can be aligned to various Paradigm roles. Monsters can gain their own abilities, and even equip accessories to gain certain bonuses.

Quests play an important role in FINAL FANTASY XIII-2. By completing various missions from NPCs and story characters, Serah and Noel can uncover more about the world, and in addition discover important items such as artefacts. Artefacts are the keys to time travel—the pass through the gate into the Historia Crux system. One of the main goals to alter the future will inevitably rely on your success in locating these items.

Historia Crux is what makes time travel possible. It’s a compass for navigating time. When new gates are opened, more areas will become unlocked. You have the ability to return to the Historia Crux menu at any time by entering the Pause menu. As such, you’ll also autosave just in case.

Various puzzles will also net you items. Early on, Temporal Rifts areas appear, requiring you collect a number of crystals on a grid in order to escape and obtain fragment items. Those who feel frustrated have the option of giving up, which allows you to return to the previous area.

The game’s equipment system has been completely overhauled from FINAL FANTASY XIII. A traveling shop keeper known as Chocolina now appears in multiple locations throughout the world. She offers a variety of weapons and accessories, for a price.

On the technical side, there’s a lot going on with FINAL FANTASY XIII-2. Long gone are pre-rendered in-engine videos, and in their place are real time cutscenes. This allows for interchangeable character costumes and weapons. CG still exists, but not in the same abundance as FFXIII. Speaking in an interview with producer Yoshinori Kitase, we learned that similar to its predecessor, the PlayStation 3 version of the game will feature “the same specs as FFXIII” or rather clean 1080p video, as well as 7.1 LPCM audio. The team has managed to maintain a similar level of quality despite development time being much shorter.

As for the game’s soundtrack, it’s quite interesting from what I was able to sample so far. A mix of both strings and synth music populates the score. The inclusion of three composers is evident in their different styles, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s an even bigger focus on vocal tracks this time around, including the addition of vocalist ORIGA, among others. A good majority of what I’ve heard so far is especially great, although some of the male vocalizations leave a lot left to be desired.

There’s no doubt that FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 will be loved by some, and disliked by others. A confusing story and so many variables almost guarantee that. After all, it isn’t FINAL FANTASY without some kind of fanbase divide. Regardless, I think the most important question has been answered for me during my brief time with the game: Is it worth playing?

The answer is yes, and I can’t wait until December 15th.


About the Author

Erren Van Duine As a self-professed Final Fantasy fan, Erren created Nova Crystallis in 2009 as a place to collect the latest information on her favorite series. As owner and Editor-in-Chief, she also spends her time as a freelance illustrator.

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