FFXIII-2 Cover

Final Fantasy 13-2 ( FFXIII-2)

FFXIII-2 is a sequal of the 2010 role playing game (RPG) Final Fantasy XIII. The sequal takes place three years after the event of FFXIII, Lightning the leading character has disappeared into an unknown world, a different dimension. Her sister Serah Farron & a young man named Noal Kreiss attempts to find Lightning, by journeying into different time/dimention known as the time cycle.

Characters

Serah Farron is lightning's younger sister by three years also Snow Villiers's fiancee. Lighning blamed Snow Villiers for failing to protect Serah and initially doesnt agree on their relationship. 

In final fantasy XIII Serah was the first Pulse l'Cie in Cocoon therefore her destiny is one of the games's main plots. In final Fantasy 13-2 she sets off on a journey with  Noel to find her sister, when everyone believes she is dead. 

Noel Kreiss

A young man that came falling out the sky in Valhalla, lightning saved him and gave him a gift to give to Serah, a moogle that transforms into a weapon that aids Serah. Noal time traveled into Serah's villiage after the meteorite strike. He's a bold person thats willing to talk about anything, but he's unwilling to talk about his mysterious past. He carries two swords in battle; 1 great sword & 1 stabbing sword. 

Lightning

Once she took on a whole world to save her young sister Serah, now she's a knight in valhalla, pledged to stand guard of the temple where the Goddess Etro sleeps. Etro has granted Lightning powers that is far beyond human, almost a goddess herself. She will need to use all this power to defend against the chaos that comes before her.

Style of graphics 

In the world of Final Fantasy 13-2,Yoichi Wada uses the 3D CGI (computer generated imagery) in cut scenes to show the detail of graphics in HD quality. Each character shows numerous amount of facial expressions throughout the journey to show users how the characters show their feelings towards each other & events that occur thoughtout the storyline.

Environment (buildings, objects, terrain)

While exploring Final Fantasy, the surroundings such as the buildings, objects & tress are in 3D. The main point of the game is to make the surrounding realistic. Users can interact with characters such as Chocolina, she's one of the main characters you would interact throughout the story of Final Fantasy XIII-2 because she's a shop that enables you to buy weapons, accessories & items. Other people will automatic talks to you when you walk up to them.


Perspective 

When roaming around the world, you can literally see everything. As long you within the Map radios user can go anywhere they want. You can see enter buildings; ride chocobo's; encounter upcoming monsters and more! When you see small circle icon on the floor, the game is telling you, you can press the O button to jump over objects. 


Characters (NPC, Player controlled, enemies) 

  

Playable Characters 

In Final Fantasy , XIII-2 there is only 2 playable characters, they are serah and noel. comparing to Final Fantasy XIII they are around 6 characters you can use, its kinda a downfall that FFXIII-2 has only have 2 playable characters in this game. Users can move a rotational 360 by using the left analog stick & jumping with the O button. Designers done this because they want to give the player more freedom of playing the game.

Cinematic/Cut scenes 

Cut scenes are the heart of the game, designers used lots of cuts scenes because they want the players know about the story line in more detail as playing the game doesnt tell much comparing to cut scenes. This way players can get an understanding the main purpose of the game. Graphics are phenomenal when it comes to cut scenes instead of using standard definition, HD can intrigue the players more and get to see the surrounding & characters are like. 

                                                  




Monsters

There are hundreds of monsters in the Final Fantasy world, from weak to strong from progressing the game. Every monster has its own style of design including 3D design, to make it more real life. artist use their imagination to bring monsters to life with using CGI to enhance the detail of design. The movements of the monsters are more realistic as they use real life animals movements put together with the monsters to bring it to life. 

Feedback 

I will personally give FFXIII-2  8/10 because it mainly repeats when you have to go through the same portal over again to do the same mission more than twice to get the items that you missed while progressing the game, so I think that’s one of the downfalls to the game. It doesn’t get much love compare to FFXIII, on the other hand the story conjure more love, hate & derision more compare to FFXIII which I think it’s a good thing, having a good story line with users experience the feeling towards the game is very important.

This game can be recommended to people who played the other final fantasy games in the past but if people doesn’t like cut scenes and menu fighting, it is not a good idea to purchase this item, people might find it tedious, confusing and annoying. I personally think the game is easy to follow and play due to past experience from final fantasy 13 – I would recommend you to play 13 before playing 13-2! If you’re like me who likes RPG games, this game is for you to play. 

Gameplay

Battle 

Final Fantasy XII-2 has kept the Command Synergy Battle & Paradigm Shift, this means the battle from the previous Final Fantasy XIII are the same. Meaning they can use the following: Commando, Ravenger,Sentinel, Synergist, Sabortor & Medic.In addition FFXIII-2 enables users to use monsters in battle by collecting Monster Crystals in battle. Before engaging to a battle, a new game-play element called the Mog clock enables you to trigger the preemptive Strike when the enemy is striked giving you the advantage over strong monsters.

Roles of Battle 

Ravager – Offensive magic caster who increases the stagger* progress on an enemy; can also do area of effect attacks that damage multiple enemies 

Commando – Melee damage dealer who maintains stagger progress and can launch enemies in the air where they can be infinitely juggled (with proper timing by all party members) 

Sentinel – Tank class, can provoke enemies and withstand large amounts of attacks at reduced damage rate

Medic – A healer that can restore health, raise the death, and remove negative status ailment 

Synergist – A support caster who bestows positive boosts on the party, including increased attack and defensive stats (good to start almost any battle of with one of these for increased efficiency)

Saboteur – The opposite of the Synergist, a Saboteur removes boosts from enemies and can inflict negative ailments as well as deal moderate damage in the process

ATB System 

On the battlefield, final fantasy has continued using the ATB battle system. The blue bar has 6 level, depending on the user level and how far you get through the story the more ATB level you gain, meaning more attacks can be executed and powerful spells can be cast. 

Health Bar ( HP ) 

Each individual character has its own HP. they are the life of the characters, the stronger your characters the more HP you gain, meaning you can withstand strong attacks from enemies. In addition HP can be increased by equipping Accessories, this can enhance battle, especially when you fighting against bosses.   

Rewards

After each monster you defeat, players would earn money(Gil) & Crystolgen points (CP). Money are used to buy weopons, accessories etc from chocolina, in additional CP are used to boost your stats up to make your characters stronger. For example defeating a Bahemouth would get around 500 gil & around 1500CP, on the other hand, if you lucky enough you can earn a monster crystal enables you to use the monster to aid you in battle.

Difficulty

There are two modes, easy and normal. Easy for first timers = Easy enemies and normal is for average/pro's players that knows how to play already.