FF-XIII-II Impressions?

[Captain Sharp]

So if you've played Final Fantasy 13 and seen the trailers for Final Fantasy 13-2, what are your thoughts on the second in comparison to the first?

Personally, I am somewhat saddened by the new story-line. I don't like the idea of Serah or her new little pal being the main characters, or the hyper samurai style combat sequence in the trailer. I'm not sure why they decided Lightning looks good in armor. I, for one, wish she still had her old clothes. As much as I liked FF-XIII, I don't like the overwhelming Japanese style that goes into it. It's just overdone. I think FF should have a mix of Japanese and western designers. Then we could get good looking designs, non-linear gameplay, and a good story. I still wish they'd remake the combat system to make it more fast paced and give the player more power over his/her own actions in the game. The Sentinel shouldn't do provoke and then mediguard in the middle of the other two characters if they are facing Psycom troops with RPGs. It would be nice at least to be able to maneuver the character during combat rather than stand still and wait several seconds as the ATB gauge fills up, taking all kinds of avoidable attacks for no justified reason.

I think I will buy it when it comes out because it seems at least somewhat interesting.

[The Charmer]

I see your points and must say this much

The trailers are not the final product, I have a friend in Square and Lighting only really gets her armour towards the end.

Or at least that's what I was told many.... Many moons ago

Also, the combat system has been sped up and spread out a little.

I don't know much else at this moment in time.

All I can say is, it can't be any worse than the Chrystal Cronicles series.

[mdk]

Allow me to elaborate. FF13 was bad. Really bad. REEEEEAAALLY bad. I've been playing since PS1 was new and expensive and I could only play when I was at my babysitter's house -- I'm a FF Fan. And FFXIII was so bad, I actually want Square to go under. There needs to be a penalty for making such an awful game, and the penalty needs to be very steep. 13 stripped away all the good parts of the FF series -- the depth, the breadth, the cerebral plots, the deep characters, the intricate combat, the open world, and left nothing but flashy cinematics and a chick version of Cloud Strife. 12 was so good and 13 was so bad.... I don't think I'll ever buy a FF game again, unless it gets some very convincing reviews.

[TP]

Suck, like XIII. Where's the old Final Fantasy at?!?!?!

[Mogtaki]

Square should just stick to producing programmes and music after this point, I mean...the series really has gone down and it doesn't feel like Final Fantasy anymore. It feels like some sort of other game hiding other the tag of another great series.

[Kestrel]

I actually liked FF13... Up until it got to the ending anyway. I mean sure exploration was lacking, but I felt it was a very welcome change not to make everything about the characters really glaring obvious and elaborate them through actions rather than backstories (take note advanced RP'rs.) The story started on a much smaller, personal scale before it went to big world-saving plot (which is where it got bad) which I really, really liked. "Fuck your revenge, we're running away." I mean honestly; so many people would just do that!

Not denying it has it's problems (and 12 is the best 'modern' FF IMO) but the hate it gets is a huge overreaction (and over-appreciation of 7, which was a lot better when we were 12 than it is now)

On 13-2 however, I got a ton of doubts. I don't like Serrah. I don't like the new kid. I don't like some BS over-the-top time-travelling bullshit and I don't want to start over the battle system with a minimum of roles again. I'll prolly check out the demo, but I'm just not excited for it.

[Atlas Graveyard]

These new FF13 games are just so god damn bad. Bring me somthing like 7,8,9,10 the real final fantasy games.

[mdk]

I would kill for another FF12.

[Darkdrago666]

8, 4, and 6 will always be my favourite Final Fnatasy games. 8 since it was the first game of the series I played.

I've played the demo of Final Fantasy XIII-2...yeah, not going to buy it.

whatever happened to XIII Versus?...that did look promising.

[Atlas Graveyard]

Still kicking about but im not a fan of the battle system.