Riona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rionaleonhart) wrote2012-03-05 11:31 am
rionaleonhart) wrote2012-03-05 11:31 am
Entry tags:
The Sky Is Glowing.
I have now finished Final Fantasy XIII-2! I've been making notes here and there as I play, so this entry contains bits and pieces from Augusta Tower to the ending cutscene.
What no I don't want Hope to have been killed at the age of twenty-eight! This is a horrible game!
Well, all right, it's not entirely horrible. The Noel-Serah friendship, for one thing, is becoming increasingly endearing. But I am still distressed by Hope's fate!
I'm also not thrilled about the fact that Yeul seems to be dropping dead all over the place. Caius spoke as if Yeul is doomed always to die young. Serah, like Yeul, is having visions. I am concerned about what this might mean.
And, of course, the past was then changed so Hope didn't die young. Hooray! I love that the solution was to get so pissed off at Hope that Serah's yelling went back in time to him.
I SO DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT THE MINIFLAN MUSKETEERS. I'd just been helping the flan and they were all adorable and I was thinking 'I never want to kill a miniflan again', and then oh no you have to. I refused to attack, but alas Noel and Hendrick the Albino Lobo did not.
And then Serah saves the day by shouting at all the miniflan. Amazing!
I yelled 'WHAT WHAT'S GOING ON WHAT' when Caius ran Serah through. And then there was that wonderfully weird dreamlike sequence in New Bodhum! When dream-Lightning asked me to stay, I was startled to find that the game actually gave me a choice. I ended up choosing 'Yes', just because it was so obviously the wrong choice and I was curious. Paradox ending! Serah stays in a dreamworld for ever! She's happy! She forgets Noel! It's vaguely sinister! I thought that was really interesting.
VANILLE AND FANG HI ♥. I was so excited when I was following the voice calling Serah's name and suddenly realised it was Vanille's!
The Dying World, before Serah and Noel are reunited, is so bleak. I suppose perhaps the 'Dying World' name should have tipped me off.
The Vile Peaks! It was really nice to see Lightning's old squadmates, and how much they respect her, and how much they want Serah to find her again. And they named themselves in tribute to her! And they hope she hasn't forgotten them! Awww.
ALSO SAZH. Just a shadow of Sazh, admittedly, but I was still thrilled to see him again. It sounds like the real Sazh might be in Serendipity, though, and I hate Serendipity.
I had no idea the Cinematic Action thing when Caius attacked Serah at the end would be a choice; I thought it was just 'succeed to finish the fight'. I hit Square and realised a split-second later that one button was 'show mercy' and one 'finish him'. I'm glad I hit 'show mercy'. I'm a mercy-shower anyway, but I'd feel particularly bad if I didn't show mercy to Caius, whose motive was ultimately just to end Yeul's suffering.
Through... through destroying all of time, but still. You have to respect a motive like that.
And now the ending! To which I say WHAT
WHAT
WHAT WAS THAT ENDING WHAT
OH MY GOD I'M NOT OKAY WITH THIS
WHAT THE HELL
In conclusion: from a gameplay perspective, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is probably better than XIII. I certainly enjoyed all the exploration.
One negative gameplay point: the lack of any sort of cap in Final Fantasy XIII-2 makes me realise that the Crystarium caps in Final Fantasy XIII, although they may have frustrated me at the time, were actually a really good idea. It forced the player to be strategic. In XIII-2, I overlevelled to the point at which I could use the 'HIT THE THING' strategy with almost invariable success. I didn't even need to bother staggering most enemies. Still, as your characters don't level up automatically, I suppose it's possible to hold back on spending your Crystarium Points if you prefer a challenge.
I feel that XIII-2 is considerably weaker than XIII in terms of character and slightly weaker in terms of plot. It suffers, I believe, from having only two central characters. One of my favourite parts of the game was the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF, when there was a third party member for Noel and Serah to play off; I felt I got to know Noel much better when I saw him clashing with someone.
Although I don't think Serah and Noel are as interesting as the central cast of this game's predecessor, I do really like that they're a boy and a girl travelling together, becoming close friends, with absolutely no romantic implications. Not something we see often enough, I feel!
Overall, I've enjoyed XIII-2, but I don't love it in the way I love XIII due to my weird 'character is more important than gameplay, I don't care if this is supposed to be a game' priorities. This is one hundred per cent my personal opinion. I don't think it's objectively worse than XIII; I think it depends on what you value.
What no I don't want Hope to have been killed at the age of twenty-eight! This is a horrible game!
Well, all right, it's not entirely horrible. The Noel-Serah friendship, for one thing, is becoming increasingly endearing. But I am still distressed by Hope's fate!
I'm also not thrilled about the fact that Yeul seems to be dropping dead all over the place. Caius spoke as if Yeul is doomed always to die young. Serah, like Yeul, is having visions. I am concerned about what this might mean.
And, of course, the past was then changed so Hope didn't die young. Hooray! I love that the solution was to get so pissed off at Hope that Serah's yelling went back in time to him.
I SO DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT THE MINIFLAN MUSKETEERS. I'd just been helping the flan and they were all adorable and I was thinking 'I never want to kill a miniflan again', and then oh no you have to. I refused to attack, but alas Noel and Hendrick the Albino Lobo did not.
And then Serah saves the day by shouting at all the miniflan. Amazing!
I yelled 'WHAT WHAT'S GOING ON WHAT' when Caius ran Serah through. And then there was that wonderfully weird dreamlike sequence in New Bodhum! When dream-Lightning asked me to stay, I was startled to find that the game actually gave me a choice. I ended up choosing 'Yes', just because it was so obviously the wrong choice and I was curious. Paradox ending! Serah stays in a dreamworld for ever! She's happy! She forgets Noel! It's vaguely sinister! I thought that was really interesting.
VANILLE AND FANG HI ♥. I was so excited when I was following the voice calling Serah's name and suddenly realised it was Vanille's!
The Dying World, before Serah and Noel are reunited, is so bleak. I suppose perhaps the 'Dying World' name should have tipped me off.
The Vile Peaks! It was really nice to see Lightning's old squadmates, and how much they respect her, and how much they want Serah to find her again. And they named themselves in tribute to her! And they hope she hasn't forgotten them! Awww.
ALSO SAZH. Just a shadow of Sazh, admittedly, but I was still thrilled to see him again. It sounds like the real Sazh might be in Serendipity, though, and I hate Serendipity.
I had no idea the Cinematic Action thing when Caius attacked Serah at the end would be a choice; I thought it was just 'succeed to finish the fight'. I hit Square and realised a split-second later that one button was 'show mercy' and one 'finish him'. I'm glad I hit 'show mercy'. I'm a mercy-shower anyway, but I'd feel particularly bad if I didn't show mercy to Caius, whose motive was ultimately just to end Yeul's suffering.
Through... through destroying all of time, but still. You have to respect a motive like that.
And now the ending! To which I say WHAT
WHAT
WHAT WAS THAT ENDING WHAT
OH MY GOD I'M NOT OKAY WITH THIS
WHAT THE HELL
In conclusion: from a gameplay perspective, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is probably better than XIII. I certainly enjoyed all the exploration.
One negative gameplay point: the lack of any sort of cap in Final Fantasy XIII-2 makes me realise that the Crystarium caps in Final Fantasy XIII, although they may have frustrated me at the time, were actually a really good idea. It forced the player to be strategic. In XIII-2, I overlevelled to the point at which I could use the 'HIT THE THING' strategy with almost invariable success. I didn't even need to bother staggering most enemies. Still, as your characters don't level up automatically, I suppose it's possible to hold back on spending your Crystarium Points if you prefer a challenge.
I feel that XIII-2 is considerably weaker than XIII in terms of character and slightly weaker in terms of plot. It suffers, I believe, from having only two central characters. One of my favourite parts of the game was the Sunleth Waterscape 300 AF, when there was a third party member for Noel and Serah to play off; I felt I got to know Noel much better when I saw him clashing with someone.
Although I don't think Serah and Noel are as interesting as the central cast of this game's predecessor, I do really like that they're a boy and a girl travelling together, becoming close friends, with absolutely no romantic implications. Not something we see often enough, I feel!
Overall, I've enjoyed XIII-2, but I don't love it in the way I love XIII due to my weird 'character is more important than gameplay, I don't care if this is supposed to be a game' priorities. This is one hundred per cent my personal opinion. I don't think it's objectively worse than XIII; I think it depends on what you value.