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.
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.