FInal Fantasy XIII 2 best XIII in every way and once again proves why Final Fantasy is celebrating 25 years of games.
XIII 2 starts out with you taking the role of Lighting as she fights in a battle against the new enemy Caius. Caius is pretty sweet and so is lightining. The Cinematic actions make things change depending on the buttons you press so there are different ways the cinema can look while you play them out. Noel appears and light sends him with Mog to give to his sister. You then assume the role of Serah and must fight monsters in the newly constructed Bodhum on Pulse. Noel and Serah then investigate a meteor that crashed that is discovered to be a Time gate. They step in and invesigate starting there journey to look for lighting. Final Fantasy XIII 2 has a great story and is very emotional, I will tell you this much it will have you wanting to cry, kill Caius at one point and make you at times want to chuck your control across the room.
XIII 2's biggest feat is listeing to fans feedback, and if your one of those fans complaining about the exploration then clearly you've missed one of the biggest things Final Fantasy has done in the past, I think of vast explorable worlds when I think Final Fantasy and XIII 2 clearly brought tha back. Right from the start he world opens up into quests, such as kill this monster, retrive this item. While these quests can be started some you need to wait to visit the area in a different time period, some you need to wait to go through the crystarium and others can be done right away. Academia is this huge vast city you hit a bit more than 3/4's of the way through the games story. It is huge to explore for those of you who played Final Fantasy XIII will recoginze it with an Eden. Inside there are many quests that can be taken and it might be important to add that these quest ake the form of fragments which collecting all 160 of them is an achievement/ trophy. just to give you an idea there are collecting 100% maps in all time periods and area's. completing the beastiary. Academia also has a trivia about the game's of XIII and XIII 2 for those you who played Final Fantasy IX it will remind you of the Ragtime mouse. Setzer's Dice is also a fragment, a Final Fantasy VI referance.
There was some elements to the battle system changed, one being that you use monsters in battle and they aid the only two characters in the party Noel and Serah. There is the the Feral Link which allows you to use a monsters specific ability in battle. The Cinematic actions in boss fights its a nice cool change in battle as well.
XIII 2 corrected so many things XIII took out the both are good games I agree with what i've year people say about Final Fantasy XIII 2 that it should have been the game released 2 years ago. Square Enix proved to me why I fell in love with the series and why as long as they keep making it I will countiue to play Final Fantasy. 10/10