Final Fantasy XIII-2: Everything You Should Know
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VOICE OVER: Dan
This adventure re-introduces the world and characters of the previous installment, making it a straight-up sequel, which is unusual for this franchise. Taking place three years after the events of the previous adventure, the story follows Lightning's disappearance into an unknown world. While the original game revolved around her battle against fate to save her younger sister Serah, their roles have now been reversed. Here, Serah joins forces with a mysterious young time traveler from 700 years into the future to find her. Join http:///www.WatchMojo.com and today we're filling you in on everything you should know about Final Fantasy XIII-2. Warning: Contains several FF13 spoilers.
Final Fantasy XIII-2: Everything You Should Know
This is the direct sequel to the story that unfolded in 2009’s Final Fantasy XIII. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re filling you in on everything you should know about Final Fantasy XIII-2.
Developed by Square-Enix, as well as Development Division 1 and tri-Ace, XIII-2 picks up where XIII left off. As the title indicates, this adventure uses the world and characters of the previous installment, making it a straight-up sequel, which is unusual for this franchise.
XIII-2 takes place three years after the events of the previous adventure, after Lightning; its heroine disappeared into an unknown world. While the original game revolved around Lightning’s battle against fate to save her younger sister Serah, their roles have now been reversed.
Starting her journey, Serah joins forces with Noel Kreiss, a mysterious young time traveller from 700 years into the future, who has pledged to help her save Lightning, as well as his own race from extinction. Together, they recruit others to help, including a familiar creature named Mog, some new faces, and some old friends from the previous game.
Facing many obstacles and foes, their biggest threat comes from Noel’s former friend and mentor Caius Ballad, an immortal guardian of the timeline. He pursues Noel, seeking an all-out war against those who would tamper with the space-time continuum.
Expanding beyond just being a simple search and rescue mission, the story expands on the crystal theme and belongs to the Fabula Nova Crystallis Collective. The Universe here separates the visible world of the living with the invisible world of the dead, otherwise known as Valhalla. These are controlled by beings with godlike powers, such as the Goddess Etro.
Yes, the worlds of Gran Pulse and Cocoon return. However, players will not only be able to visit old areas, in addition to new ones, but various time periods. These lead to major changes in the environments, allowing the player to see the evolution of familiar cities and places.
In terms of Gameplay, XIII-2 doesn’t suffer from the same mistakes that plagued XIII, namely, its linearity. Here, the story changes depending on where you choose to go in your time-traveling journey.
The game also adds dialogue trees when talking to characters you meet, allowing you to better enjoy your conversations. These selections change every time the game is played.
In terms of exploration, finding new locations is a matter of unlocking gates by collecting artifacts. You will also be rewarded for collecting 160 fragments throughout the game. These are gained by taking on side quests, puzzles and story events. These reward you with Fragment Skills, such as the ability to tweak aspects of the game. For example, you can turn up or down the enemy encounter rate.
There are also many temporal rifts, which present puzzle-like problems in a void between dimensions. Solving these resolve paradoxes happening in the real world. Of course, many of your choices throughout the game contribute to the ending that you will earn.
For battles, XIII-2 uses a variation of the Active Time Battle system, called the Command Synergy Battle System. This makes use of the Paradigm shift structure. Players will also be able to adjust the difficulty of the battles, and take on quick time events called Cinematic Action, which deal higher damage to foes to gain the upper hand. You can even tame monsters and use them as members in battle. Speaking of monsters, they no longer roam the map. Instead, they are randomly generated like classic games in the series.
XIII-2 also features two difficulty modes, Normal and Easy, which can be changed at any time. There is also the option to save the game at any point throughout the story from the main menu.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is available for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. Don’t let its awkward title fool you. This isn’t a mere expansion, and it is already being compared with legendary games like Chrono Trigger, due to being a first rate role-playing game, and for its fantastic use of time travel.
This is the direct sequel to the story that unfolded in 2009’s Final Fantasy XIII. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re filling you in on everything you should know about Final Fantasy XIII-2.
Developed by Square-Enix, as well as Development Division 1 and tri-Ace, XIII-2 picks up where XIII left off. As the title indicates, this adventure uses the world and characters of the previous installment, making it a straight-up sequel, which is unusual for this franchise.
XIII-2 takes place three years after the events of the previous adventure, after Lightning; its heroine disappeared into an unknown world. While the original game revolved around Lightning’s battle against fate to save her younger sister Serah, their roles have now been reversed.
Starting her journey, Serah joins forces with Noel Kreiss, a mysterious young time traveller from 700 years into the future, who has pledged to help her save Lightning, as well as his own race from extinction. Together, they recruit others to help, including a familiar creature named Mog, some new faces, and some old friends from the previous game.
Facing many obstacles and foes, their biggest threat comes from Noel’s former friend and mentor Caius Ballad, an immortal guardian of the timeline. He pursues Noel, seeking an all-out war against those who would tamper with the space-time continuum.
Expanding beyond just being a simple search and rescue mission, the story expands on the crystal theme and belongs to the Fabula Nova Crystallis Collective. The Universe here separates the visible world of the living with the invisible world of the dead, otherwise known as Valhalla. These are controlled by beings with godlike powers, such as the Goddess Etro.
Yes, the worlds of Gran Pulse and Cocoon return. However, players will not only be able to visit old areas, in addition to new ones, but various time periods. These lead to major changes in the environments, allowing the player to see the evolution of familiar cities and places.
In terms of Gameplay, XIII-2 doesn’t suffer from the same mistakes that plagued XIII, namely, its linearity. Here, the story changes depending on where you choose to go in your time-traveling journey.
The game also adds dialogue trees when talking to characters you meet, allowing you to better enjoy your conversations. These selections change every time the game is played.
In terms of exploration, finding new locations is a matter of unlocking gates by collecting artifacts. You will also be rewarded for collecting 160 fragments throughout the game. These are gained by taking on side quests, puzzles and story events. These reward you with Fragment Skills, such as the ability to tweak aspects of the game. For example, you can turn up or down the enemy encounter rate.
There are also many temporal rifts, which present puzzle-like problems in a void between dimensions. Solving these resolve paradoxes happening in the real world. Of course, many of your choices throughout the game contribute to the ending that you will earn.
For battles, XIII-2 uses a variation of the Active Time Battle system, called the Command Synergy Battle System. This makes use of the Paradigm shift structure. Players will also be able to adjust the difficulty of the battles, and take on quick time events called Cinematic Action, which deal higher damage to foes to gain the upper hand. You can even tame monsters and use them as members in battle. Speaking of monsters, they no longer roam the map. Instead, they are randomly generated like classic games in the series.
XIII-2 also features two difficulty modes, Normal and Easy, which can be changed at any time. There is also the option to save the game at any point throughout the story from the main menu.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is available for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. Don’t let its awkward title fool you. This isn’t a mere expansion, and it is already being compared with legendary games like Chrono Trigger, due to being a first rate role-playing game, and for its fantastic use of time travel.
Leo Lazar Jakšić
“Then why wasn't it mentioned in the Time-Traveling Video Games list, buster?”
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