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Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a hybrid action and turn-based role-playing game and a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. You play as Serah Farron, a sweet and compassionate young woman who travels through time with her friends in order to save her older sister, Lightning, from an eternity of fighting in Valhalla.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Fast-paced combat that mixes action with turn-based systems
Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a cool battle system that combines action with traditional turn-based combat. You have a party of three members -- Serah, Noel, and one monster of your choice -- and you select attacks, spells, and items from a menu as usual, but it's much more fast-paced than you might expect. Attack animations and mid-battle job changes play out in flashy, cinematic sequences that give you a real sense that your hits and spells do some serious damage. Ordering your party members to take actions in fights feels snappy and responsive as well, with your characters zipping around in the battle area as they rush in to use their weapons. All in all, this is a perfect hybrid of action and turn-based combat that looks and feels great.
Pro The Requiem of the Goddess story DLC is evocative and well-done
The Requiem of the Goddess scenario is a must-play. It helps give much-needed context to the base game's ending, while also providing a solid bridge between FFXIII-2 and the follow-up game in the trilogy, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. You play as Lightning as she fights against the main game's primary antagonist, Caius Ballad, while trying to reach out to her younger sister Serah and see her again. After how stilted and soulless Final Fantasy XIII was, this DLC is surprisingly moving, showing Lightning's dedication to protect Serah through the strong bond that they share as sisters. If you can only purchase a single piece of DLC for the game, then this is without a doubt the one you should look into.
Pro No random battle encounters out on the field
If you hate random encounters in RPGs, you don't have to worry about them in Final Fantasy XIII-2. As you explore each zone, the enemies are all visible out on the field. You can go up and attack them to fight battles at your own pace, or go around them if you'd rather not deal with fighting for a while. This helps the game from feeling like a chore or a grind as far as battles go.
Pro Beautiful graphics that hold up well over time
This is a gorgeous game that pushed the limit of the consoles the game first released on in Japan in 2011. Even years later, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is quite pretty by today's standards, with glossy character models, detailed environments, and high-quality visual effects during cutscenes and battles. The pristine look and style will probably stand the test of time for many more years.
Pro Expansive time travel story where your actions have profound effects across different eras
Final Fantasy XIII-2 has a varied and open-ended story that lets you travel freely across time. Playing as Serah Farron, younger sister to FFXIII's main protagonist, Lightning, you search for a way to save Light from her endless fighting in Valhalla. This takes Serah and her two friends, Noel and Mog, across various locations and time periods where you help the populace solve their problems while searching for ways to help Lightning. You have a near-unlimited amount of freedom to choose where you want to go and which quests you'd like to take on.
Along the way, you get to see what happened with the main cast members from the first FFXIII, like Oerba Yun Fang and Oerba Dia Vanille, Hope Estheim, Sazh Katzroy and his son Dajh, and Serah's fiance Snow Villiers. The time travel aspect lets you experience what happens across different eras of time as you affect both the past and the future in any given location, letting you see how your actions play out across several years.
Cons
Con Story ends on a major cliffhanger to set up the third FFXIII game
Depending on how much you care about the characters, the ending can be pretty emotional, yet it also dangles a serious cliffhanger that clearly leads things toward the final game in the trilogy, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. This isn't so bad now that Lightning Returns is out, but at the time before its release, this ending felt like a slap in the face in the way it lacked any sense of closure. So in order to get the full story, you have to play through the trilogy to the end.
Con The auto-battle option makes most fights too easy
In trying to make the battle system as accessible as possible, the devs included an option that lets battles progress automatically, trivializing most fights in the game. Selecting the auto option right at the top of the menu queues up all of the best skills for your character to use at any given time, taking away the strategy of knowing when to buff your party members and debuff your foes, as well as knowing how to target enemy vulnerabilities. The system just does it for you, making battles pretty mindless if all you do is select the auto option.
Aside from the toughest boss battles, you can get away with doing this without engaging with the battle system all that much. It's your choice not to, but this was still a weird option to include.
Con Tons of overpriced cosmetic DLC
Other than the Requiem of the Goddess scenario, the DLC in this game is ridiculous and not at all worth it. They have the nerve to charge quite a bit of money for different costumes for Serah, Noel, and Mog to wear. Most of them are just regular things like bikinis, and others are things like Assassin's Creed tie-ins with the iconic assassin outfits for the characters to wear. Unless you're a diehard Final Fantasy XIII fan who has to have every single thing unlocked, you're better off skipping over these.