This is the second installment in the FFXIII Trilogy, and in terms of story I would say this game was an improvement. Below are my overall thoughts on the game.

Pros:
+Better Storyline/Pacing than the first game
+IMO more fun gameplay, overworld map with selectable time periods
+Soundtrack is beautiful as always
+Graphics look really good with the HD mod
+Lightning's Goddess outfit is HOT
+Noel is a dope character
+Time Traveling Shenanigans, perfect for a DC Flash Fan

Cons:
-The PC port is absolute garbage, it is so outdated and you will need to install some mods and the FF13 Fix for maximum enjoyment

-Story has the same confusion and complexity as Kingdom Hearts, using time travel in story telling can demolish all of the momentum. I enjoyed it since I like time travel, but I think they could have eased on that factor.

-Encounter rate can get pretty annoying after a while

Overall, it wasn't that bad... I enjoyed the scenery and the amazing beautiful soundtrack, and the setting was cool too, 7.8/10

Admittedly haven't gotten around to a full replay, so take any comments on the game's structure with a grain of salt, but my recent tour of the super-bosses tells me that's where most of my enjoyment would come from, anyway. Each one manages to extract slightly different focuses from the combat system, but Gilgamesh in particular is genuinely excellent, with his constant use of Vendetta, Pain and Fog during staggers, and eventually Divider warranting consistently focused interaction from the player. My friend Godman has already discussed the basic appeal of this combat system, and that's all still the same here, but XIII-2 gets so much credit for not only its wider amount of great endgame content, but also the abundance of tiny fixes it makes as a whole. Quintessential example of life by a thousand band-aids, but even with all of these new refinements, the balance isn't broken: adjusting the focus of Paradigms is still done outside of combat and is therefore still based around planning. Changing characters mid-battle can be favorable depending on the situation, but Noel and Serah's AI otherwise still behave according to their given setups, and ultimate abilities are now only usable once per fight. Smaller skillsets makes manual menu use in combat more manageable, and they've also been re-organized in a much cleaner fashion (especially for Ravagers). The way that the endgame weapon selection is balanced is a little contentious, but I think it now creates a fundamental decision for each fight: 5 bars with a faster ATB rate, or sacrificing a bit of speed for the full 6.

The monster system is my main focus of suspicion, not for those mechanics themselves (though, after trying the full Goblin Chieftain and Cloudburst setups, I give myself permission to use save edits for any future endeavors), but for the effect they have on Serah and Noel. Gratned, they do have good balance between each other, but especially as far as the Synergist/Saboteur roles are concerned, things are maybe a little too scuffed. Their pool of options is pretty limited, and Serah's AoE debuffs are particularly more situational than Noel's AoE buffs, though even these still have notable trade-offs compared to single-target ones. I think my basic thought is that a monster should be more capable in its given role than either Noel or Serah, but probably not both of them combined. Part of my replay might involve adding in a few more of these classes' skills to them, just to test the waters and see if it breaks things too much...I don't think it should be that bad.

That aside, monsters and the overhauled Crystarium still allow for a bit more flexibility on replays, especially compared to how the original XIII's two-member story arcs put a hard limit on the amount of variety available in the early-game. This is not to mention the way that optional areas and content are dispersed more evenly across the whole romp, and the nonlinearity isn't overwhelming since the focus is on exploring different smaller zones individually as opposed to something larger-scale. In support of this, there are several ways to alter the enemy encounter rate, and later Fragment Skills help you further cut down on bloat, resulting in a relatively lean experience.

The integration of characters and concepts from the original game into the narrative is the weakest aspect for me (my joke is that they designed Lightning's outfit first before figuring out how to make it fit into the story), but Noel, Caius, and Yeul's narrative is still pretty good. Playing on PS3 also led to a handful of performance issues, but otherwise I find XIII-2 such a huge improvement over the original that I'm sometimes tempted to recommend going straight into it if you've ever been curious about the battle system more than anything else.

Não é um jogo perfeito, prefiro o primeiro da trilogia pela coragem, mas esse aqui tá bem longe de ser ruim. O fato da sequência não sustentar as mudanças do primeiro por causa do choro dos acadêmicos do Final Fantasy me incomoda um pouco, eram justamente os elementos cativantes. A sequência deixa alguns de lado e volta a apostar em algumas coisas já consagradas, o que não é de todo ruim.
Mais um jogo divertido que não atingiu o potencial que poderia pois foi feito no momento em que arriscar com jogos já não era mais vantajoso pras empresas. E porque nerd é chato pra caramba.

Technically played on the Steam Deck, which was actually a good experience. A confusing one to gather my thoughts on..by itself, it’s a good game with a unique time travel traversal mechanic and story. The combat is just as fun as the previous game and improved on it. The puzzles and fragment hunting can get pretty annoying but guides fix that issue. I think as a standalone FF game, it would be stronger, but it does feel like an odd filler episode after 13, only because the jump from abandoning the Fal’cie plot/lore and replace it with a time travel story and a new antagonist seemingly out of no where felt jarring. Any connection to previous lore/story in 13 was minimal, to the point it felt like this time travel story could have been in any FF game really. It feels like we aren’t even in the same world of Pulse and Cocoon (beyond visually), mostly abandoning all the main characters from the prior game. It’s not a BAD game by any means, it’s just a weird one that feels really different from the previous game, and not nearly as much focus on characters. It doesn’t feel like a sequel, it feels much more like a spinoff game that takes place in the same world.

Minor lore spoilers: We go from a game where the Fal’cie are desperately trying to open Etro’s gate by destroying Cocoon in order to awaken god, to one where these Fal’cie suddenly lose the motivation to summon their makers/god for no obvious reason (besides maybe losing their control over humans after humans realize they have free will). The person to replace the plot of opening Etro’s Gate to bring about the Chaos and eventual events in LR, now goes to Caius, but his motivations are entirely different and mostly unrelated to any of the lore in the prior game. Etro is the only thing that really ties these two games together loosely, but you have to read about this in data logs and novels, which to me is an indication on the failure of the writers to weave together these games in a more logical way that reveals itself during gameplay. If you have to read content outside of the game to get the full picture, I think that’s a great sign of weakness. Etro is basically the catalyst of all the bad events that take place in both games, but suddenly introducing her seemingly out of no where in 13-2 heightens this disconnect. That being said, the ending was pretty good with an unexpected cliffhanger that had me very intrigued. I liked 13 more for the characters, as their motivations were stronger and more fleshed out, and the overall lore of the Fal’cie/gods. Also, soundtrack is a BANGER as always for this series, probably my favorite game soundtrack ever. Overall, I liked this game, even if it has some strange game design choices and a confusing existence.

I remember jumping on this game right after platinuming FF13, thinking it would be more or less the same. It was hard imagining what a sequel could look like, given how final the ending was for Lightning and friends. I suppose too much was invested into the world building, lore, and canonical history to not explore further.

Taking place immediately after the first game, you play as Lightning’s sister, Serah, on her journey to find Lightning who has gone missing. Fal'Cie, L'Cie and Cie'th are all still around and just as confusing as the first game, although they play a much smaller role in this entry. The similarties between both entries are apparent right as you boot the title screen; everything that was green is now pink, everything that was thin is now bold. One thing I found to be unfortunate is how FF13-2 did not share the same crystalline tone and aesthetic that the first game had. Everything is bolder, fatter, and quicker paced; gone are the sleek menus with animated character portraits. While the game has its own unique appeal with the addition of rock battle OST and faster animations, it’s too unlike the first game for my liking. I guess it’s a matter of expectation.

While Noel's design felt fresh and reminscent of prior Final Fantasy games, the remaining cast felt sparse and unmemorable. Caius on the otherhand, was the perfect villain for a game like ths. It's no surprise that his silhouette is featured on the game's logo; his dark purple appearance strikingly compliments Lightning's softer pink design. Giving the adversary a face, a name, and a goal makes the entire journey feel that much more cohesive.

One of the core gameplay changes would be the removal of a third permanent party member. For the entire game, the only two party members you’ll play as are Serah and Noel (excluding guest characters). The third party member will be a monster that you’re able to recruit during battle. The upside to this is that it diversifies the amount of skills and attacks you can have in your party. The downside is that you’re less likely to get attached to the cast due to its tiny size. Every cutscene and story beat will primarily star Serah and Noel.

The way FF13-2 addressed the first game’s criticism of being too linear was to allow the you to teleport to previous areas, and also allowing you to visit alternate versions of areas that take place in parallel timelines. A neat idea, but given that each alternate area felt far too similar to the original area, it really just felt like you had a handful of areas that you were cycling between.

The vibes of the first game aren't entirely here, going more for a J-Pop ""pink"" aesthetic with Serah's costume mimicking an idol's dress. There is also a less foreboding tone overall, with the lack of a countdown on the character's mortalities. The difficulty was about on par as the first the game, without the massive weapons grind. The platinum trophy also posed very little challenge aside from finishing all the side-quests and hunting down all monsters. An upgrade from FF13 in some ways, and a downgrade in others.

Overall Rating: 80
Personal Difficulty: 40
Trophy Hunting Difficulty: 45

Fixed many of the issues FFXIII had, namely the pacing, linearity, and limitation of controlling only one character in the party. Felt like a more focused RPG experience instead of the weird inbred mashup of RPG and action that FFXIII was. The story was also actually coherent this time (for the most part at least, it’s still a post-FFVII squenix game so, y’know)

Overall, I would recommend people interested in the FFXIII mini-franchise to skip the first one and just start with XIII-2 (based on what I’ve heard, I expect I’ll also end up recommending skipping Lightning Returns but that remains to be seen)

This review/collection of thoughts is just for the main story. I plan to play at least some of the DLC and collect some more fragments, but I'm heading out of town for a week or so tomorrow and want to jot down my thoughts beforehand.

Characters: While the characters and character interactions were a high point for me in the first game, here it's just kind of a "meh" point. Serah doesn't have as much personality as I'd like for a lead. She's not a bad character, but she really doesn't live up to the cast from 13. Noel, on the other hand, has a lot more personality and is an enjoyable lead. My only complaint is that I wish they would have leaned a lot more heavily into his back story. He's a little too normal of a dude for someone with his origin. The main villain is well done. I love how they tied in and developed Hope. The character design/costumes in this game were... not my favorite.

Story: I love time travel stories, and this was no exception. It wasn't a particularly cerebral story, but it stuck to it's premise and delivered something that was a lot of fun. I was never as emotional invested in it as I would have liked, but it kept my curious and delivered some good punches at the end. Definitely has me excited to play the DLC and Lightning Returns when I get back.

Battle: Honestly, a huge step back from FF13 in my eyes. The couple of things that they improved just didn't make up for the missteps. In FF13, the fastest and most effective way to finish battles generally involved the use of saboteurs and synergists. If things got hairy, I needed sentinels (well, only in a few places... ) and medics. Staggering enemies quickly and maximizing stagger damage was important. In 13-2, synergists and saboteurs are immensely less effective (and wouldn't be particularly needed otherwise...), to the point that I essentially didn't touch them. I needed sentinels even less than in the first game, and even many boss fights could be won quickly enough that medics weren't necessary. So, the class coverage went from 5.5/6 to like 2.5/6 in any give battle.

The game was simply too easy. I heard this beforehand, so I purposefully dodged fights regularly to try to stunt my growth. Unfortunately, this wasn't always possible (cie'th city was the worst ugh) and I ended up overpowered regardless. After the bitch of a final boss fight in FF13, sailing right through the final bosses with only a single moment of danger was a big disappointment.

Music: All over the place in the best of ways. The nu-metal screamo-ish themes for some of the bosses and chocobos had me grinning like an idiot. There were vocal themes that had strong Nier/Nier Automata vibes to them, which I absolutely loved. The battle themes ranged from wistful electronica to metal adjacent prog rock with some kickin violins. Honestly, the music is a large part of what bumped this game from 3 stars to 4 stars for me. So damn fun and good

Monsters: My other favorite part of this game. I love collecting and breeding monsters, and I enjoyed the little bit I dabbled in here. I kept myself from going too far down the rabbit hole, due to the aformentioned lack of difficulty, but I'm looking forward to playing with it some more during the post game content. Putting newsboy caps on killer robots was a particular highlight for me. Also, Flanitors cracked me up in FF13, and having them actually be a useful member of my time was double plus good.

Linearity: Exact opposite of FF13. I honestly enjoyed the linearity of 13, but this is a damn time travel game. I had a lot of fun popping in and doing a side quest here and there at different points in history. Grabbing the fragments for lore is fun too, and I'm looking forward to finding more.

Graphics: Big step back from 13, but not bad at all for 2011.

Fun Factor: Here's the thing. The game was just fun. Yeah, I think it was worse in most of the more 'serious' elements as compared to 13. But, I had fun almost every step of the way. There were several moments in the game that had me laughing, and a bunch that had me going "That's rad".

Length: The 25ish hours it took me to beat the main story (plus a couple of side areas) were spot on, and I feel satisfied but eager to do some of the side content. That is exactly what I like to feel when I finish the game. Far too many JRPGs overstay their welcome, and I'm so glad this series doesn't.

Conclusion: One of the most enjoyable Final Fantasy games, and a very solid JRPG in general. I have a feeling the soundtrack will find its way to my regular playlists.

what i love about final fantasy 13 is it's domesticity. it's a story about siblings and parents and children, first fundamentally between it's human characters and then extended allegorically to the relationship between state and subject, god and mortal, creator and creation. this makes for really compelling melodrama in the sort of Hollywood-anime syncretic sense that square strives for while still simultaneously working within the framework of the "jrpg" as an aesthetic mode and being quietly subversive of its tropes of chosen heroes and selfish villainous divinity that final fantasy as a series has dabbled in effectively since FF4 but most pronounced in games like 7 and 10. to kill god is to disobey your parents (and to reject the values instilled into you by the state).

13-2 kind of throws that all away for a much more macro scale narrative. i hated this at first, I paused my playthrough three years ago when Lightning became a champion of a goddess existing beyond time, when what I love about her is that she's Claire Farron, a chuunibyou beat cop at a beach resort town who dooms the world because she hates her future brother-in-law. but after playing type-0 I wanted more fabula nova crystalis and this time, I accepted this game for what it is striving for and was able to enjoy it. but i reject the notion that this is holistically better than FF13, either in narrative or systems. i don't feel like i can put together a cohesive view of the game until I play lightning returns however. so maybe I'll elaborate on why another three years from now.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is an JRPG with a turn-based-ish battle system, it continiues on FF XIII's paradigm shift automatic battle system which has it's good and bad sides, but is implemented massively better in this game, and makes much nicer battles where you feel more in control of your losses and victories. The time-travel theme with slightly less linear progression also fixes the other major problem in FF XIII making this game a bit of a hidden gem, since many probably gave up because of the predecessor. Actually one of the only real problem in the game is that some of the progress is hidden behind hard to find hidden treasures and side quests, so you may end up stuck too often. The story I find was quite good and the graphics and music are amazing as always. The game also had some quick time event stuff but that didn't really matter for me one way or another.

Se curtiu o Final Fantasy XIII e sua história, talvez seja melhor parar por aí e fingir que aquele é o fim da saga. Um dos maiores problemas desse jogo é a história. Não faço ideia do que passava na cabeça dos caras quando escreveram isso, especialmente depois das críticas sobre a confusão do enredo do jogo anterior. Aqui, a confusão é dobrada, porque eles resolveram colocar viagem no tempo, eu só consegui entender a história lá pela metade do jogo. Outra coisa que me deixou chateado foi o fato de praticamente não usarem os personagens do FF13 original, que eram o ponto forte pra mim. Serah até que é legalzinha e o Noel também tem seu charme, mas descartar todos aqueles personagens incríveis foi um tiro no pé, sem falar do mascote que eles adicionaram chamado Mog, que é tão carismático quanto uma porta automática de shopping. O único ponto positivo, na minha opinião, é o vilão, bem mais interessante do que o do FF13 original. Mas tirando isso, a história é uma bagunça cheia de furos (o que era de se esperar com viagens no tempo). As side-quests são podres de ruim, chatas demais e nada intuitivas. E o menu pra acessar os mapas e eras diferentes é uma confusão. A dificuldade não muda muito do 13, a não ser por algumas partes que ficam 300% mais difíceis e você é nocauteado por algum monstro específico (antes do último boss, tem um inimigo superforte que precisei fugir pra não enfrentar, mas o último boss em si foi tranquilo).

Mas chega de reclamar. A jogabilidade continua quase a mesma do jogo anterior, com umas mudanças pequenas que melhoram bastante, especialmente a parte de trocar de líder durante a batalha. Nisso não tenho nada a reclamar, já que curti bastante o combate do FF13. Eles incluíram vários mapas pra explorar, então não é tão linear quanto o anterior, mas ainda assim não é lá muito empolgante. O que salva mesmo é a trilha sonora, que acho melhor que a do FF13, com músicas dos chefes e dos mapas que são pica.

No geral, é tipo um Final Fantasy XIII com uma história pior, mas com essas melhorias não dá pra dizer que é um jogo ruim. Nota 6/10.