A lot of fans were disappointed when Final Fantasy XIII was released last year. While the presentation looked phenomenal, the game lacked in the gameplay area as there were no towns to explore, and the game was mostly linear. With the direct sequel to XIII coming in less than a year, fans of the FF series will be happy to know that XIII-2 is already a lot better than XIII from what we have played this week at the show floor.
The flaws that fans noted in XIII were mostly fixed while adding some new elements to make XIII-2 more enjoyable than its predecessor. If the battle system of the first game was an annoyance to the fans, they will not be pleased to know that the battle system is left intact. However, the developer of XIII-2 added a cinematic action event to add a little twist into it. At every time the player is about to finish a boss, a Quick Time Event will commence. Simply follow the on screen prompt and the boss will die.
When it comes to the town issues, Square Enix was pleased to tell us that there are towns to visit and a lot of NPCs to interact with. To have a better understanding on an area, players will be talking to a lot of NPCs as they will to give you a brief background on the place. In other words, players will feel that the game is livelier compared to the linear direction of XIII.
In the demo they showed behind closed doors, a new character named Noel was introduced. No further information was revealed about the character except the young boy is carrying two swords and for some reason, Serah and he are on a mission to take Atlas, the machine that humans created in Cocoon. Since what they were showing is a demo, they didn’t reveal as how Atlas was created.
Another worthy addition that Square Enix added in the game is to allow players to have the power to choose. At some point in the game, there will be area where the players will have to choose from different options. Think of these options as an alternative way to play out the story. It’s unconfirmed however if FFXIII-2 will have multiple endings since one of the main features of the game is making decision and facing the consequences the player tackles through the game.
In terms of graphics, it’s pretty much the same as XIII as the engine used on the sequel is the same. The little thing they noted on the graphics is that players can expect to see a lot of special effects. The segment that showcases the special effects that are mentioned was a secret scene they showed behind closed doors where Lightning in a new armor is fighting a Chaos Bahamut while she’s riding Odin. The battle and cinematic action they showed was beyond epic!
The presentation ended with an epic fight of Lightning with Chaos Bahamut. The press including us was enthralled on what FFXIII-2 has to offer and we can say that the new features and improvements that Square Enix revealed this week is a good reason enough to purchase Final Fantasy XIII-2 even though the first game wasn’t all that great.