Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screens Show New Character, Similar Battle System

[Tom Goldman]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 Screens Show New Character, Similar Battle System

New screens show off Final Fantasy XIII-2's battle system for the first time.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XIII-Playstation-3/dp/B000FQ2DTA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307039321&sr=8-1] would "exceed" the first game in "every way." Going by two new screens, including one of the battle system, it looks pretty much the same to me.

Which is only a bad thing if you didn't like Final Fantasy XIII's battles. One screen shows a battle system that on the surface looks like a replica, with some slight differences, of that seen in Final Fantasy XIII. The ATB bar, chains, and paradigm shifts are all there.

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Square Enix also previously said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107261-Square-Enix-Calls-Final-Fantasy-XIII-2-Dark-and-Mysterious] that the game's battle system would "evolve." The company has announced that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be playable at E3 2011, so any differences will hopefully be unveiled there.

Both screens feature a character named Noel, who Square Enix reveals as an important part of Final Fantasy XIII-2's storyline. A new paragraph describing Final Fantasy XIII-2 reads:


Set a few years after Lightning and the others saved Cocoon, some survivors have decided to start over by rebuilding on Gran Pulse. Lightning, however, is nowhere to be found and thought dead by many, but Serah believes otherwise. When her town is suddenly overrun by monsters, a mysterious man named Noel appears to save her. Together, the two set off to find Lightning...


From Final Fantasy XIII-2's first trailer [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107151-Final-Fantasy-XIII-2-Trailer-Sees-Lightning-Reborn-in-Feathers] we already know that Lightning is indeed alive, but covered in feathers and engaged in a battle with a mysterious swordsman somewhere. The fate of the remaining Final Fantasy XIII crew may not be revealed until E3.

Source: Andriasang [http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/06/03/ffxiii_2_first_screens/]

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[Sky Captanio]

Wasn't the battle system one of the most disliked things about it? And let's hope you don't have to play for 10 hours for it to be good.

 

[Weslebear]

Looks interesting, I really need to get around to finishing the last game before I get involved with this. I was really enjoying the story but I stopped playing when it hit the grindy chapter as I just didn't have the time around then to ever get a good play session in, haven't finished it since.

 

[Arisato-kun]

I enjoyed the battle system and would be fine if it stayed the same.

Also, I love Noel's design.

The only thing about XIII that stopped me dead was all the grinding you HAD to do at the end to finish the game. That caused me to trade it in. here's hoping XIII won't suffer from that issue.

 

[digital warrior]

Oh god the battle system for ff 13 was one of the worst, convoluted, uninvolved battle systems ever. Not that it matters though fanboys will still eat it up and give it a ten just because its Final Fantasy.

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama once Final Fantasy XIII-2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107030-Final-Fantasy-XIII-2-Will-Exceed-Final-Fantasy-XIII] would "exceed" the first game in "every way."

Good to know that you are setting your standards at the level of The Ninth Circle of Hell. Which, by the way, is where I think the person who designed the battle system is headed. Judecca awaits!

Christ, this brings back horrid memories. Oh well, FF fans will by the game no matter what. So I guess I cannot blame them for making something people will want to buy

 

[Weslebear]

Wasn't the battle system one of the most disliked things about it? And let's hope you don't have to play for 10 hours for it to be good.

I would love to know what this 10 hour mark part was? For me the game was amazing all the way through then dipped later.

Apart from chapter 11 being painfully drawn out and just ruining the pacing with a massive grind, the rest of the game was consistently enjoyable and fantastic for me, I have yet to grind past chapter 11 so I can't comment on very endgame alas.

 

[Andronicus]

There was once a time I'd buy a Final Fantasy game on principle, simply because it had Final Fantasy in its title. Final Fantasy XIII made me question that. I'll keep my eye on this sequel, but I'm certainly not about to rush out to preorder it, that's for sure.

 

[yanipheonu]

Wasn't the battle system one of the most disliked things about it? And let's hope you don't have to play for 10 hours for it to be good.

Actually in review, the battle system was pretty critically acclaimed.
Though really, any given RPG is mash fest when you think about it XD At least FFXIII switched it up a bit.

Any case, looking forward to it. XD can't wait to play more!

 

[Disembodied_Dave]

Honestly thought that Noel was Fang in the first screen shot.

 

[LostNumber]

Oh god the battle system for ff 13 was one of the worst, convoluted, uninvolved battle systems ever. Not that it matters though fanboys will still eat it up and give it a ten just because its Final Fantasy.

I actually liked the battle system a lot. You didn't have to choose your abilities, but instead you had to always think one step ahead to choose your paradigm shifts. I found myself far more involved than any other FF in the past.

I'm not saying that it was perfect (or even my favorite system in the series), and FFXIII did have some other major flaws, but don't say that you need to be a fanboy to like it just because you don't.

 

[AbstractStream]

I do not like what Serah is wearing just from looking at it. In her defense, the pic is from the back.
Lightning thought dead? Pffft, please.
I've just become more iffy about this game.

Edit: I forgot to mention one thing...where the heck is Snow? In no means do I want him back screaming "SERAH!" or anything, but wasn't he supposed to protect her or something? So much for the hero xD
[Yes, this is a joke. Don't get all offended people.]

 

[Inkidu]

Square, with twelve you fooled me once. Shame on you. With thirteen you fooled me twice. Shame on me. I'll be damned if you ever, ever fool me with a freaking direct sequel!

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Wasn't the battle system one of the most disliked things about it? And let's hope you don't have to play for 10 hours for it to be good.

Actually in review, the battle system was pretty critically acclaimed.
Though really, any given RPG is mash fest when you think about it XD At least FFXIII switched it up a bit.

Any case, looking forward to it. XD can't wait to play more!

I'd still love something more involved than "Auto Attack x5, Paradigm Shift, Auto Attack x10, Paradigm Shift, repeat."

 

[FinalHeart95]

Actually, the battle system was one of the things I really liked about it. Keeps you on your feet somewhat.

I don't know whether to look forward to this or not. I liked FFXIII, but if FFX-2 is any indication... blegh.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

Could we just get some Versus-XIII news instead?

And I'd like more info on how the battle system is 'evolving'. In that shot it looks like a copy/paste of the old one.

 

[viranimus]

Not real impressed. Honestly the battlesystem was ok and yes tolerable. What killed me was the horrible convuluted and just plain boring story. I would hold hope out for the story to be better this time around but to have a new char who looks interchangeable with about 300 different anime chars, I expect basically nothing.

 

[Jungy 365]

Well, so far most of the comments are anti XIII, so I thought I'd step in to say that, overall I enjoyed XIII. The battle system was of course less engaging than the standard FF framework, but it kept the battle constantly moving, and hey, it's not like it couldn't use a few extra bits, like more elements to keep the player adapting to the battle, but I thought the battle system wasn't as bad as people make it out to be.
No, in my opinion, XIII had two other more glaring flaws than its combat, the first being the introduction to it, where not a single thing about the world is explained to you for some time; there's a line between not being heavy-handed and subtle in your exposition, and not telling us a bloody thing. The combat system also didn't really encourage me until you got paradigms, which got me more interested. Hopefully, since we are already aware of who these people are, they won't start XIII-2 in the same confusing, non-sensical way.
SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH The other flaw for me is the characters. Now, I think there was a lot of potential for these characters, as they all have human flaws (JRPG good looks and natural skill aside), such as Vanille's smiley demeanour, which we learn is all put on by a sense of guilt for the consequences of her previous actions, and Lightning's vicious outbursts being routed in anger at her failure to care for her sister, and finding an outlet for that authorative 'older sister' relationship with Hope. These were ideas for characters with emotional depth and development. However, the way in which they're delivered diminishes the effect, as they're so over the top in their initial faults that it's strikes of bad acting, and Hope's anger towards Snow grew to such a level that it was ridiculous. Bearing a grudge against him for not being able to save his mother? Fine. Constantly blaming him like Snow personally killed her, completely unacknowledging the people actually responsible for her death, and focusing on killing Snow, was just too stupid.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, XIII was actually pretty good, but definitly had some problems with it, and, if they can be measured in their characterisation of these people, pace the opening well, and add a few extra aspects to the battle system, then they could make a great game.

 

[Jungy 365]

Honestly thought that Noel was Fang in the first screen shot.

You too?