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Final Fantasy XIII-2 - 5 years later... Do you still think you can ride this Chocobo!

Final-Fantasy-XIII-1600x900.jpg


Listen as you read

She spent years fighting her destiny. With courage in her heart, she faced the false gods who ruled over people for centuries.

Her unfaltering determination changed the world. The gods were vanquished, their plans to massacre the human race destroyed. As Cocoon fell, a single pillar formed, connecting the ravaged world to the one below―Pulse, the underworld. It was the beginning of a new era.
However, she was nowhere to be found. Everyone was convinced she was gone―with the exception of her sister, Serah Farron.

Three years later―

A single meteorite falls from the sky. As spatial distortions are created, bloodthirsty monsters appear, threatening the peaceful existence of the townspeople.

In the midst of this chaos, Serah is rescued by a young man by the name of Noel. A hunter from the future, he appears in front of her with a message.

"Come with me across the boundaries of time," he says. "Your sister is waiting."

She is Lightning—protector of the Goddess who rules the realm of death and chaos. She is Serah's sister, her heroine, her savior.

I need to see my sister again.

Grabbing her weapon, Serah heads out on a journey as she takes her first step into a new, unknown future.

Final Fantasy celebrates it's 30th, VII it's 20th, and today also marks the 5th anniversary of XIII-2( in the US).

Part two of the Lightning Saga or XIII Trilogy!

Join Noel, some monsters, a Moogle, and Serah in a time-traveling "Player Driven" adventure!



Come celebrate and share how this one is your favorite of the three or tell us how great Caius is. Spoilers Welcomed here and for the rest go play it on Steam and then come back.

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Ray Down

Banned
Well it has less Snow and is shorter than 13, so it makes it much better than the one before it just with those 2...those there's more reasons to like this game more.
 
Broke my fucking hip running into this thread. Y'all already know I'm looking to fight anyone that bashes this legendary game.

Yuehl >>>
Noel >>>>>>
CAIUS >>>>>>>>
SERAAAAAAAH >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 

Toth

Member
5 years...wow. I really liked the game but I so wish it had a Hard Mode. It's too easy after Chapter 2.,..
 

kromeo

Member
I enjoyed the game well enough but Serah is a horrible main character and Noel was clearly a Kingdom Hearts design that got mixed into the wrong pile. Think I slightly preferred XIII overall
 
I know the FF13 series is a bit of a joke nowadays, but I actually really liked this game. Ended up buying the Mass Effect costume for Serah and Assassin's Creed costume for Noel.
It's just so much better than the first game.

Still haven't played Lightning Returns though.
 
I liked LR a little more but XIII-2 was such a massive step up from the original IMO. I really liked the gameplay, general aesthetics, music, and thought it had a really neat atmosphere about it all. Same goes for LR. Unpopular opinion though, I get it. But I genuinely enjoyed both sequels a lot.
 
I just went through this for the first time a couple weeks ago. I really enjoyed it! I did a have a couple issues, largely with the difficulty spike that encouraged going back and grinding, as well as the leveling system itself, but overall I thought it was a really enjoyable game.

I was typically much more powerful than story content needed and blazed through that but the very last dungeon I suddenly couldn't beat most of the standard fights and the last boss took me three+ times longer than the goal time set on the fight. But I was too determined not to leave and grind out CP.

Easily my favorite of that trilogy. I liked the concept and gameplay loop of Lightning Returns but trying to play on Normal difficulty made it too punishing to enjoy. Final Fantasy XIII-2 was simply smoother and more likable overall.
 
It's a lotta fun. A big messy variety pack of a game that is kinda trashy in some ways but I still like it. I prefer the balance and production values of the first though and think some of the story elements in XIII-2 are dumb. Caius and Noel's story arc is good. Final bosses are some of my favorite in the FF series. Awesome music themes and visually interesting. Ending is balsy and I wish that one person didn't spoil it being a cliffhanger in the first post of the review thread.

Personally XIII > 2 > LR. But depending on my mood I might prefer 2 over the first.
 

SeanTSC

Member
Best FF game of the Trilogy

Easily. Absolutely LOVED 13-2. One of my favorite FF games to play. Plus it somehow made Hope into a good character (which LR instantly ruined), which is an amazing feat.

Lightning Returns is bottom of the barrel gutter trash though and XIII is just meh. It's a shame that 13-2 was wasted on this underwhelming trilogy.
 

ubercheez

Member
Fantastic game. Loved the monster catching/training, especially since one of the most powerful end-game monsters was this guy:

latest


The mog clock encounter system was an awesome addition that allowed for much better control over engaging/avoiding a fight compared to XIII. I really loved how the environmental music would switch to the "aggressive mix" when the clock was active.

Noel was a great character too; he and Serah played off each other really well.
 

Venfayth

Member
13-2 has one of my favorite OSTs of all time, and it's also the game I've come closest to platting in recent memory. If you can pick it up cheap it's definitely worth a shot.
 
Easily my favorite of that trilogy. I liked the concept and gameplay loop of Lightning Returns but trying to play on Normal difficulty made it too punishing to enjoy. Final Fantasy XIII-2 was simply smoother and more likable overall.

OT: Lightning Returns is designed to be played on Easy Mode the first time around. They should have made that the only option. Sorry you had that experience! Bhunivelze can be so difficult to stagger.
 

Drusyc

Neo Member
Pretty good game for what it's worth. I wish the series had more main characters like Noel. It wasn't until Lightning Returns that they really shat the bed, imo. Although they kind of half assed the multiple endings thing.
 
I preferred a lot of the gameplay tweaks and editions, really liked Serah, Noel and Caius, but the time travelling, somewhat Saturday morning cartoon/monster of the week pacing of the whole thing really bothered me. For that I think I prefer XIII. It didn't help its presentation and production values were worse (I understand why but still).

And I'm gonna say it, but I want Chocolina to become a Gilgamesh type character going forward and appear in other FFs as the same character. Her appearance in World of FF was pretty good.
 

Taruranto

Member
5 years later

What.

I managed to finish this (Unlike FFXIII), but I can't say I liked it a lot, the gameplay quickly got stale and the story was... whatever. I still remember Academia because it was so goddamn awful, however.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
The Heart of Chaos beats in my chest, a manifestation of Etro. Should this heart stop beating, the goddess will die once again.


I know this by heart (no pun intended). Caius was a God.
 
Honestly one of my favorite FF's and I'm super cynical with the series. It has a highly refined and entertaining battle system that suffers from the game overall not being difficult enough (although the super hard DLC bosses more than make up for that). A story that's actually interesting and surprising, characters that don't make me want to stab my eyes repeatedly, and a main villain that has multiple hidden motives. So good.
 

Kuraudo

Banned
Only played it last year after finally beating XIII. Absolutely loved it. Caius is one of the best villains with one of the best themes.
 
Streamlined the XIII gameplay, but also was a massive simplification, not even including the total shitstorm of the plot. I enjoyed the game, but IMO, it's the worst in the trilogy.

XIII was a good game with issues.
XIII-2 resolved some of the issues, but added many more. The plot was a better idea, but worse execution. Caius was the saving grace.
XIII-3 had great gameplay but its plot was ruined by being linked to XIII-2.
 

ZeoVGM

Banned
I will forever stand by XIII and XIII-2 being great games. They are flawed, without question, but I love them both. As I said in another thread, I think XIII became the face of everything that was wrong with Square Enix last gen even though it wasn't deserved.

If XV had come out in 2012 and XVI in 2016 -- as would have happened if they had competent development and planning over the past decade -- we would look at XIII as simply another divisive FF and nothing more.

My biggest disappointment with the XIII trilogy is the direction LR took. After the surprising ending of XIII-2, I had this image in my head of XIII-3 going back to the full party aspect of the original game, bringing back the entire original cast and adding Noel.

I imagined the opening chapter throwing us into the action of a party comprised of Sazh, Noel and Snow rescuing Lightning, then setting off on the adventure to rescue Serah and fix the world.

Nothing about LR ended up looking appealing to me and I hated the time aspect.

I do hope we get a trilogy release on PS4. I'd love to replay the games in 60 FPS with new trophies (and give LR another chance).
 

TheChaos0

Member
Best FF game of the Trilogy

Though LR is not that far behind it.

My biggest disappointment with the XIII trilogy is the direction LR took. After the surprising ending of XIII-2, I had this image in my head of XIII-3 going back to the full party aspect of the original game, bringing back the entire original cast and adding Noel.

I thought they were going to make Noel the main character! But no back to Lightning! I always said the system they used in LR would have worked with party of 3, instead of garments.
 
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