Incandescent Phoenix

I recently finished the main storyline for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Like its predecessor, there’s more to do after the main story, although not quite as much. I don’t have a lot of time for big RPGs anymore. But for Final Fantasy, I try to make time. FFXIII-2 and FFXIII both caught a fair amount of criticism (for different things). I think more than they deserve. (And I truly hope Elder Scrolls VI will be co-op, so I can play with my wife–otherwise it would take up too much time.)

FFXIII was linear, but that wasn’t a huge problem for me. I enjoyed its tight story and interesting battle mechanics. Aspects of the game were needlessly complex, even convoluted a problem that persists in monster system of FFXIII-2. And, of course, like many JRPGs, some of the character designs were questionable. But I had fun.

And I had almost as much fun with FFXIII-2. I was not a big fan of the monster system, though it had its appeal. I often wished I just had a third real character to customize, rather than dealing with the cumbersome monster collection, advancement, and infusion system. But this system seemed to receive the praise, while FFXIII-2 was criticized for its story.

I actually liked the story. The plot revolves around time travel. I don’t want to totally spoil it, but an immortal time-traveler is disrupting the timeline, creating paradoxes, to correct what he feels is a tragic curse. The voice acting ranges in quality, and sometimes the villain’s voice and lines are over-the-top. But, in the end, I liked him because he was no cardboard nemesis without rhyme or reason. He was one of the more complex and compelling villains the series has ever had.

The game unfolds in a more-or-less nonlinear manner, where the heroes can travel between different locations, in different eras, using the Historia Crux. They play out different adventures, and can even reset and replay aspects of history. Accounting for variable difficulties, they can tackle tasks in a relatively open order. I didn’t love the way the Historia Crux map was set up. It made navigating the time periods a chore, as you were following nodes on a map, not choosing from a list. If you forgot where a node was, you might have to hunt for it.

The actual mechanics of time travel were sometimes questionable, and mostly underutilized (a legitimate criticism reviewers made), though the “change the future change the past” motif was not as nonsensical as some make it sound. It didn’t have the simple elegance of Chrono Trigger’s time travel. On the other hand, it played up more complex themes about free will and fate and whether one should change the future, even if you can.

What really matters, though, is that I had fun almost throughout (a few frustrating sections and tedious mini-games aside). Actually, forget the aside–I kind of hate mini-games, especially when the game makes them compulsory to achieve full completion. Developers can achieve diversity of game play without forcing players to jump through random hoops.

4 out of 5 stars.

Video Games | Comments (0)