FFXIII-2

[Raen Ryong]

- Beachtown... looks like Bodhum..?

Looks a lot like it, but it's definitely on Pulse. If you freeze the video and look around the minimap, you can see Cocoon in the sky.

[miokomioko]

I mean I welcomed X-2, because it was refresh but I don't even remember what the story was about.

I just remember tits and ass and I'm not saying that to sound trollish. I remember the costume change system, which I liked.

X-2 kinda ruined X for me though..

The problem with FFX-2 was that the story had very little to do with explaining anything from FFX. They just recycled lots of locations, monsters, and had some reoccuring characters.

In FFX-2, they immediately establish that two main factions (New Yevon & Youth League) split after your debunking of the whole Yu Yevon religion in FFX. The entire point of the game is that Yuna is desperately investigating some sphere they found because she thinks it's a recording of Tidus... but... it turns out it's only kinda' Tidus... well... a recording of... Shuyin... which is who Tidus originally was... 1000 years prior... before he died and 1000 years later was inaccurately personified into an annoying pussy Aeon named Tidus. All in all, Yuna finds out she was in love with a watered-down version of the original Blitzball champ, when in actuality, he was murdered trying to get his Summoner girlfriend out of joining the front lines of some war with Bevelle and now has re-manifested, pissed off and wants to end the world.

It was weak as fuck. Apart from the battle/job system which (while very fun) has been mentioned to death by anyone who actually had the patience to play the game.


However, with FFXIII there is plenty left undisclosed at the end of the game that could be brought to light through a sequel. FFX was pretty self-contained, cut and dry by the time it ended which made a sequel stupid (story-wise) considering it didn't really answer any old questions. All that was confirmed was that Wakka knocked Lulu up.

I still wish they would clone X-2's battle/dressphere system into something less gay and paste it into a new title. It was pearls cast before swine for the most part.

[Elcura]

I still wish they would clone X-2's battle/dressphere system into something less gay and paste it into a new title.

I kinda liked the gayness.

[miokomioko]

I don't want to see a "Lady Luck" Sazh/Snow :[

[Alkar]

Honestly I don't think gay is a word I'd use to describe X-2. But I agree that they need to bring a similar system back.
I was hoping XIII-2 had some sort of job system in place but obviously it doesn't. Gotta wait for XV I guess.

[Katlan]

Unless X-2, looks like XIII-2 will be the same exact battle system w/ some modifications (who knows, maybe not). What was good about X-2 was its great combat system and how it took X's system and made it into something new. XIII-2 does not look like it's even trying to do that.

[Kurokikaze]

Unless X-2, looks like XIII-2 will be the same exact battle system w/ some modifications (who knows, maybe not). What was good about X-2 was its great combat system and how it took X's system and made it into something new. XIII-2 does not look like it's even trying to do that.

Yeah man, while I don't like FFX-2's storyline, the complete evolution of the battle system from FFX was great. It was definitely the only thing about the game that was great. ;/

[Eggroll]

I am disappoint. The battle system was the one thing I was hoping they'd make a lot of modifications on.

[miokomioko]

Honestly I don't think gay is a word I'd use to describe X-2.

I mean, as soon as that exact battle system had a male character involved... that would be pretty gay.

[Spira]

never played dress-up with a ken doll before?
X-2 wasn't gay as much as it was camp - and those are 2 different things.

..i liked X-2. I think i'm a minority but it was fun to have a light-hearted FF modern RPG - i mean, FFs have always taken a generally serious streak with a touch of humor on the side, but if you've noticed the trend its pushing towards more and more doom and gloom, so for a (PS2) FF to have more comedy than that was a breath of fresh air.

X-2s story was.. um.. it told history from a different point of view. X only really did flesh out Zanarkands side of the war, so X-2 served to fill us in on Bevelle's side. The new factions seemed rather believable and the real problem of the story was that it was fragmented based on the mission system. If you didn't know which order to do the missions (which you won't unless you use a walkthru) some scenes will not seem to fit in. That was its story's biggest weakness...
But also, there wasn't very much of it - it was mostly a Yuna introspection, which I absolutely loved because you see how she evolves from the somewhat weak willed character in X to what she is in X-2. Also I'm biased because she's my fave character in the entire FF series.

X-2 flipped the battle system on its head to great effect. I'm hoping XIII-2 doesn't do that, because a tweak or two and the CSB system could totally be a whole different monster that's actually fun to play (because lets face it, staggering was a chore and battles in XIII were meant to be mad rushes). I'd hold on to it to see what that will be like...

[miokomioko]

Yikes.

I don't know... I can't say there was any point in X-2 that actually made me laugh. Every bit of dialog that involved Brother was embarrassingly bad. I was actually relieved when the story actually got darker towards the middle and stopped trying to be Final Fantasy: J-Pop Charlie's Angels... which is what deterred most of the people who steered clear from it as I'm pretty sure the average player around these parts isn't a Japanese girl or major weaboo. The battle and dress-sphere system is what kept me playing through that nonsense because it was functionally very fun, aside from my faint hope that I would come across something familiar/nostalgic from FFX besides recycled shit.

never played dress-up with a ken doll before?

Nope, and I assume most players are also guys as well.


Like I mentioned, XIII-2's battle system appears to be just slightly touched-up, but overall the same concept (just like they said it would be), but the game looks like fun for me because a) I actually enjoyed FFXIII, b) It's probably not going to have a worse battle system after the criticisms of XIII, and c) I would like to have some more closure on the story/lore side of things... especially with the possibilities that it may bring some sense into the connections between the other Fabula Nova Crystallis titles. It just looks like they are going to try and cover all of their bases, pleasing some weaboo/pedo's with the Serah action, some girls with the new Pulse native guy, and the boys with the new and improved Valkyrie-style Lightning.

P.S. "Camp" is pretty damn close to "gay." Regardless, we can drop the whole "gay" thing, I only said it because I was suggesting implementing this obviously and intentionally feminine "dress sphere" concept into a standard title where the cast would be coed. Thus, it would have to be made less like playing "dress-up" and be more tactical like Paradigms.

[Hyan]

XIII's combat is not something that really -needs- a lot of modifications imo. X's was just, in a traditional FF way, a bore. So it was good that they changed it.

XIII's needs some polishing for sure, and I hope that's what they've done. A reworking ain't necessary as far as I'm concerned. It was enjoyable.

The story and how it is presented, though... it's their biggest problem right now. I don't think the fanbase really gives a damn about anything else (I can only think of Lost Odyssey to confirm that much), even though they criticize anything and everything.

I loved the shit out of X when I was 12 but can they keep making their stories for that demographic any longer? The folks in their 20's and 30's will probably give up the franchise sooner or later like this.

[Nevex]

It does really seem that SE has listened to the complaints.

Serah not being a mere plot device anymore ? Check.
Less linear maps? Check.
Ability to control the whole party during battles? Check.
A playable male character who has the potential to be better than what we had in the previous game? Check.
Minigames? Check.
Townz? Check.
Moogles? Check.
More interactive battle system? Check.

The potential to please both oldschool and more open-minded fans is there. We'll see how it goes at the E3.

[Spira]

i think its pretty apparent that x2 was deliberately going for the girl power charlies angels thing, which was unprecedented for its time (and rare even now) and the vaj factor isn't that much more than if tidus was the main character, if u know what i'm saying. BUT, perceptions are perceptions.. and the way they poised the title didn't agree with some people, i'll agree to that much.

changing dresspheres was just a way to make job changing into a little more girly affair. it isn't gay because its just watching girls change clothes - it IS however camp because of the way they exaggerate jobs, outfits and the silly lines they utter. male dressup wouldn't need to be toned down either, just gotta change the lines and the style a little. None of the pink flowers and rainbow lights probably. i mean, almost every old school cartoon has male costume transformation - none of that looked gay.. (ok maybe some).

but back to XIII-2, they are intent of retaining the atmosphere of the first game, which I rather like, because the first had a lot of potential for expanding and exploring that similar omgwe'redoomedfuckthefalcie psyche would still be interesting.

X-2 was jarring because the mood set in X was totally destroyed into something different, and the same can be said for Revenant Wings (i refused to touch it because of that, and how ugly the game was). XIII-2 isn't going that way, so I think it will in effect be able to hold its place as a rightfully respected sequel to a titular FF.

also to Hyan, yeah they tried the mature story thing in XII. I loved it for its political intrigue but I think that flew over the heads of most kids whose first FF was X. It was really nice to hear the characters speak as if from a play.. and not a high school drama.

[Serra]

However, with FFXIII there is plenty left undisclosed at the end of the game that could be brought to light through a sequel. FFX was pretty self-contained, cut and dry by the time it ended which made a sequel stupid (story-wise) considering it didn't really answer any old questions. All that was confirmed was that Wakka knocked Lulu up.

X-2 also explained what that scene was with Tidus in the sea at the end of FFX too!

That aside, agree completely that FFXIII left a ton unexplained. I know a lot of people hated the whole no town aspect, but in regards to the story (you're a bunch of criminals against the government), it made sense that the characters stayed away from the cities -- just look what happened to Vanille and Sazh the one time they went to a town. As a result though, the world didn't feel as fleshed out as other FFs and that leaves a ton of possibilities. Honestly, it'll be really interesting to see how the people of Cocoon have managed to adapt to being thrown into Pulse. Admittedly there's nothing to really contrast since you never interacted with people in Cocoon, but in theory there should be some drastic changes.

That was one of the things I was most excited for with X-2. In all these years we've all been playing FFs, we've always saved the world from cataclysms, but have never seen the aftermath. X-2 was the first chance we had to return to see how the people had adjusted to the drastic changes. However, I felt SE failed to truly capitalize on that opportunity. The world was split into two factions, and all the old characters were essentially thrown into one camp or the other.

[Hyan]

also to Hyan, yeah they tried the mature story thing in XII. I loved it for its political intrigue but I think that flew over the heads of most kids whose first FF was X. It was really nice to hear the characters speak as if from a play.. and not a high school drama.

I don't necessarily mean it like that... if the characters were and acted more maturely, for example, that would go a long way. People in their late-20's/early-30's..

Even though LO was almost ruined by those 2 shitty kids the other cast made the game for me.

Something other than the "believe in your heart" crap, y'know?

[Correction]

Kids whose first FF was X don't get to have an opinion about the direction of the franchise.

[Hyan]

At least I'm not blinded by nostalgy.

And lol @ the kid comment. Some of us need to learn a language before we can even play these games.

[Elcura]

I don't necessarily mean it like that... if the characters were and acted more maturely, for example, that would go a long way. People in their late-20's/early-30's..

Even though LO was almost ruined by those 2 shitty kids the other cast made the game for me.

Something other than the "believe in your heart" crap, y'know?

Didn't LO boil down to some friendship and family bullshit in the end?

[Hyan]

Didn't LO boil down to some friendship and family bullshit in the end?

idk actually, the story started getting weak by the 4th disc which made me stop playing, since there's nothing else in that game to keep your attention...