FFXIII-2

[vadre]

This article contains story spoilers for the first hour of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 and the ending of FINAL FANTASY XIII. You have been warned.

Glad you asked! Along with our in-depth look at some of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2's new features and an interview with Motomu Toriyama, we're also showing off some brand new screens that show Lightning in action. How does she fit into the story? Hope you're sitting comfortably, because we're about to tell you.

If you've completed FINAL FANTASY XIII you will know that Lightning manages to save her sister, Serah, from her crystallised form and save the world with the help of her friends. Since then Lightning has left the world of Cocoon and Pulse behind her and become the protector to the Goddess Etro in Valhalla, the land of Chaos.

Through her journey Lightning has become incredibly strong and is currently fighting her own battles in Valhalla, against the mysterious purple-clad character whom you should remember from the initial announcement trailer. Lightning is unable to leave Valhalla and leave Etro at the mercy of the enemy and so she asks Noel for his help.

This is where the game kicks off - with a meteor landing near the home of Serah and the rest of Team NORA, which heralds the arrival of Noel and the opening of paths across time. "Come with me across the boundaries of time", Noel says. "Your sister is waiting".

Little bit more there, nothing major other than suggesting Lightning's asked for Noel to help her or something.

https://member.eu.square-enix.com/en...ning-fit-story

[Nevex]

I guess this means that Noel isn't purple guy, but who knows.

[Insanecyclone]

Come with me across the boundaries of time", Noel says. "Your sister is waiting".

Noel is the Terminator?

[Tyrath]

No he's Kyle Reese. The older guy is the terminator.

[Cichy]

I like finishing my games completely on the first playthrough. Replaying all of if for little new content just isn't appealing. Hopefully it works differently here. The way Tactics Ogre did it was fantastic...

Same here, that was part of the FF charm for me. I like to play through once and get everything and than from time to time play and upgrade my characters further like in FFX where I just kept upgrading the sphere grid.

[Alkar]

This game keeps getting better and better.

[miokomioko]

It appears this release will be completely legit. This is the point where I stop reading about it and looking at pictures or else it's going to feel like ages before I have it in my hot little hands.

[Vincento]

Time aspect seems cool, but as much as I like NG+ I hope it's not like FF4 DS where I have to play through the game several times to even approach decent setups.

Have they confirmed party members - not including monsters - other than Noel and Serah?

[miokomioko]

Have they confirmed party members - not including monsters - other than Noel and Serah?

I believe the only confirmation regarding that is guest characters (some familiar).

[Cichy]

I believe the only confirmation regarding that is guest characters (some familiar).

Yeah, it seems the game will really focus on Noel + Serah + monster for most part. Still the game is looking way good.

[Vincento]

Hmm I wonder what made them decide to do that :/ Even team Noah or whatever would've made decent members.

Anyways, the game looks good otherwise.

[Cichy]

Hmm I wonder what made them decide to do that :/ Even team Noah or whatever would've made decent members.

Anyways, the game looks good otherwise.

It's the fact that players can summon 100+ monsters or something like that.

[Vincento]

Personally, never been a fan of monster party members in any game that isn't pokemon. I would've settled for 3 more party members over 100 monsters lol. Either way, I'll wait and see how it goes before judging.

[Burningthought]

Yeah, it seems the game will really focus on Noel + Serah + monster for most part. Still the game is looking way good.

I'll be a little bit disappointed if they don't add a few more characters, but I guess the premise for FFXIII-2 won't require a huge ensemble. Maybe we'll get to see more of Team Nora instead.

[Ayn]

It's the fact that players can summon 100+ monsters or something like that.

They did this in Symphonia 2 and I wasn't a huge fan of it (even though, given the game's story, it made sense). Even then, you could still use the regular Symphonia cast in your party by the end, just that they had fixed levels.

Maybe they'll do something like that here?

[Spira]

I like the way XIII-2 is shaping up. at first I was worried that the aftermath of Cocoon's fall thing would get old fast, since theres not that much to explore.. but knowing they're adding a time travel aspect, and episodic in terms of area, i think it could make for very interesting possibilities..

I think the Historia Crux basically serves as your gateway, the base point from which all adventures begin. It's really nice that we'll get to go to the time before Cocoons fall. I'd like to hopefully see the history of Cocoon a little, maybe some background on characters from XIII that maybe didnt get enough screentime (I woulda wanted more Jihl) and possibly a chance to interact with the storyline that took place in XIII.. hmm. Another thing interesting would be seeing Oerba back when Vanille and Fang were still living there..

All in all, because of the ability for players to replay each time period, it should make for decent replayability and no unmissables :D
I'm not one who likes to replay my games cos I like to do perfect game, but if replayability can be worked into the same playthrough then i'd much prefer it than new game +.

From what I'm seeing I think certain time period scenarios may be like switch gates for various endings.. and you can easily change it by going back to that time and changing your decision.. maybe.

I also see the possibility of certain time periods opening up only when certain conditions are met.. so there's probably a lot of fun in trying to fully expand the Crux.. at least I hope so.

[Burningthought]

I like the way XIII-2 is shaping up. at first I was worried that the aftermath of Cocoon's fall thing would get old fast, since theres not that much to explore.. but knowing they're adding a time travel aspect, and episodic in terms of area, i think it could make for very interesting possibilities..

I think the Historia Crux basically serves as your gateway, the base point from which all adventures begin. It's really nice that we'll get to go to the time before Cocoons fall. I'd like to hopefully see the history of Cocoon a little, maybe some background on characters from XIII that maybe didnt get enough screentime (I woulda wanted more Jihl) and possibly a chance to interact with the storyline that took place in XIII.. hmm. Another thing interesting would be seeing Oerba back when Vanille and Fang were still living there..

All in all, because of the ability for players to replay each time period, it should make for decent replayability and no unmissables :D
I'm not one who likes to replay my games cos I like to do perfect game, but if replayability can be worked into the same playthrough then i'd much prefer it than new game +.

From what I'm seeing I think certain time period scenarios may be like switch gates for various endings.. and you can easily change it by going back to that time and changing your decision.. maybe.

I also see the possibility of certain time periods opening up only when certain conditions are met.. so there's probably a lot of fun in trying to fully expand the Crux.. at least I hope so.

This, a thousand times this.

I just wonder how linear it will be though. I like the idea of being able to choose how I want the story to progress (exploring areas of interest first, before being forced to explore an area) but i'm not sure if that is how they will set it up.

I hate the idea of multiple endings, I hope there's not 3 shit endings, 1 good ending and 1 perfect ending. I kinda wish there was just one ending, but with all this new openness maybe it will work out.

[Kuya]

about the Historia Crux system.

Can't they name things in a way that isn't totally pretentious and shitty?

[Gokulo]

Seems interesting that some pages refer to it as Historia Cross actually. I wonder which is the "more official" version.

[Kuya]

L'cie. Take a guess.