What a great game! They took every criticism I had of the first game and fixed it, of course, in exchange for having a bit of a weaker story. I even got the platinum, since I really enjoyed it!
Starting with the part of the game that really got old for me on the first game: Gameplay. I feel like they fixed every aspect of it that turned the first one into a slog. Now you have MUCH more to do other than walking straight in a hallway and fighting over and over again. Since the context of the game changed to a non-linear story, the game gives you a lot of different areas to explore, a lot of side content, even monster to capture and develop! Even the equipment progression and the crystalium system got much better, they became even more simple, but much more impactful and fun.
Battles also feels much better, you don't get stuck in a cutscene every time you switch paradigms anymore and the unique skills/utilities of your monsters add a nice layer of variability. Speaking of which, monsters are a new feature of the game where you collect and add 3 of them to your composition, each with their own characteristics and developments. Very fun addition, since your party for the entire game consists of only Noel and Serah.
Talking about the story, it is not bad, but also not great. Everything makes sense, it has good beats and scenes. Caius and Yeul are good characters with understandable motivations and objectives. These two new characters and Noel feel like the real focus of the game, which is okay, although I really wished the first crew, mainly Snow and Sazh, were more impactful or at least showed-up more. I can't help but feel like the story was somewhere between Serviceable and good. But it does serve its purpose and helps you to stay engaged.
Talking about negatives, the version for the PC is TERRIBLY PORTED. Normally, it crashes all the time and its pretty much impossible to play the game. It's absolutely mandatory to download a fix and add it to the game files. A real shame they did such a poor job at porting such a good game to PC.
Besides that, the biggest annoyance in the game is how it expects you to find the fragments with NO GUIDANCE AT ALL. It's actually impossible to try and complete all the game's content without a lot of guides.
Also, the last effective world of the game is just really boring, it's a platforming level that really wants to keep you waiting while standing still, just boring.
The ending was also kinda disappointing, the final boss and cutscenes are really good, until the last rendered one that hits you with a "TO BE CONTINUED..." after 50 hours and 20 more to get the secret ending... which is disappointing as well.
I really do recommend this game and I expect the third one to be even better and give a great ending to the series, let's see!
Starting with the part of the game that really got old for me on the first game: Gameplay. I feel like they fixed every aspect of it that turned the first one into a slog. Now you have MUCH more to do other than walking straight in a hallway and fighting over and over again. Since the context of the game changed to a non-linear story, the game gives you a lot of different areas to explore, a lot of side content, even monster to capture and develop! Even the equipment progression and the crystalium system got much better, they became even more simple, but much more impactful and fun.
Battles also feels much better, you don't get stuck in a cutscene every time you switch paradigms anymore and the unique skills/utilities of your monsters add a nice layer of variability. Speaking of which, monsters are a new feature of the game where you collect and add 3 of them to your composition, each with their own characteristics and developments. Very fun addition, since your party for the entire game consists of only Noel and Serah.
Talking about the story, it is not bad, but also not great. Everything makes sense, it has good beats and scenes. Caius and Yeul are good characters with understandable motivations and objectives. These two new characters and Noel feel like the real focus of the game, which is okay, although I really wished the first crew, mainly Snow and Sazh, were more impactful or at least showed-up more. I can't help but feel like the story was somewhere between Serviceable and good. But it does serve its purpose and helps you to stay engaged.
Talking about negatives, the version for the PC is TERRIBLY PORTED. Normally, it crashes all the time and its pretty much impossible to play the game. It's absolutely mandatory to download a fix and add it to the game files. A real shame they did such a poor job at porting such a good game to PC.
Besides that, the biggest annoyance in the game is how it expects you to find the fragments with NO GUIDANCE AT ALL. It's actually impossible to try and complete all the game's content without a lot of guides.
Also, the last effective world of the game is just really boring, it's a platforming level that really wants to keep you waiting while standing still, just boring.
The ending was also kinda disappointing, the final boss and cutscenes are really good, until the last rendered one that hits you with a "TO BE CONTINUED..." after 50 hours and 20 more to get the secret ending... which is disappointing as well.
I really do recommend this game and I expect the third one to be even better and give a great ending to the series, let's see!