Final Fantasy XIII-2 for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

One of the best RPG's I've played in a long time. There is always a sense of epicness while playing and the characters are geourgous. The story keeps you hooked and the combat system has been much improved and you can now capture and level up creatures to fight beside you. Nothing beats fighting a strong creature like some dragon or something and then making it join your team!

The game is -long- fun and difficult. I am a few hours in and already I can feel the difficulty of it all. This game is not only worth a rent it is one that should be added to your collection asap. I love it.

FF XIII was one of the few games that I played for about 30 minutes and immediately sent it back to Gamefly. Let me say though that FF XIII-2 is NOT the same game, so do not fear! The biggest difference is the exploration aspect is back. FF XIII-2 is no longer linear, its much more open to exploration. The maps are much bigger, have more side quests, have "safe areas" with shops and NPCS, and the time travel aspect adds an interesting twist and also allows some replay value for each level. Thats the biggest breath of fresh air. Another cool addition is the ability to capture and train monsters (yes, similar to Pokemon). That gives the player more incentive to grind and really try to capture some cool/powerful monsters. The level up system is much improved and seems much more user friendly. Although you can only play as Serah or Noel, the monster aspect adds some variety to your party and battle tactics. The story is entertaining, but this game really made me realize how cheesy FF games are. Ive played most of the games since FF7, and maybe I just never realized it before, but the cheesy, inspirational music and emotional, sensitive characters really made me blush at some points. Every character cries or is on their period at some point in the game, I couldnt help but roll my eyes at multiple parts. I suppose thats just a typical FF characteristic though. All in all, if youve played FF XIII and hated it, then dont let that sway you from this game because its a complete overhaul of the previous. This is much more classic FF gameplay, classic RPG style for that matter.

This game has great graphics but the gameplay is BORING!!!!. They need to go back to Final Fantasy VII and learn from that...

I tried, but Im not just getting into this game.

Maybe its all fan-base players sticking around from the past generations of Final Fantasy? Dont see why, the games haven't been the same since Squaresoft became SquareEnix.

The Charlies Angels rip off FFX-2 was the beginning of that downhill slide imo and this game is no exception. I got tired of pressing the X button with the occasional L1 to even finish playing this one. Something I've only said once in the entire FF series history over the past 20~25 years. Coincidentally this is the first FF title I didn't get suckered into buying.

So on that note, thank you GameFly.

I had gotten away from playing Final Fantasy since 9, I figured since I had gamefly and no games for a month I would try it out. It did not disappoint, the only reason I gave it a nine instead of a ten is that I have to compare it to previous installments and nothing beats Final Fantasy 7. The third party member being a monster is extremely fun, and almost every monster is able to be captured. Gameplay is pretty linear, there is only one map I have encountered so far that is open at all. The fighting system is very well put together, I just wish I knew how to make the best infused monsters but I suppose practice makes perfect. I just wish they would come out with a Final Fantasy with Materia again, this level up system is nowhere near that system.

its was okay FF, the story line was soso, maybe because i havent played 13-1 yet. and at one point i was willing to sell my soul to make the Moogle shut the ___ up. The battle system was the best part and make the game fun.

Square really took a lot of criticism from FF13 for being so linear, and even though they changed that, they overhauled the battle system and made it like a Digimon/Pokemon game. The story was also the worst clusterfudge, time-travel, space continuum, paradox ridden labyrinth Square has ever produced. It makes zero sense.

My major complaints are that you spend literally 2% actually playing as Lightning…ironic because that’s ALL SQUARE ADVERTISES on just every media outlet I’ve seen ads. You play as Rikku, I mean Serah, a 55lb little girl with pink hair who is Lightning's sister. The other main character who you can switch to if you want, is a guy named Noel. You can only play as these 2 characters the entire game on your team.

The other 3rd member is a monster you collect of your choice. They have the same Ravager, Commando, etc. classes and can also be upgraded and earn new abilities. But you CANNOT control their moves during battle. They operate independently, which makes ZERO sense once again. Square removed all summons and aeons, and give you little monsters to collect and use. The only thing missing is the red Pokemon ball you throw at them.

Otherwise the paradigm battle system is still here, which I enjoy, but strategy is removed from the battle due to having a Digimon monster on your team that you can't control. You can travel through time to visit tons of locations, play mini games, and explore secret side quests. But they don't give you enough 'fragments' to open all the gates in 1 playthrough, so you'll need to do it again to see different areas to unlock.

THE MUSIC IN THE ENTIRE GAME IS AWFUL!!! They tried to make a heavy metal song about riding chocobos...yep.

The worst news is, SPOILER ALERT, the ending for this game may set up for ...no joke... FFXIII-3. Yes, a trilogy for the same group of stale characters. I'm looking forward to their next installment to see if they fix some more of their mistakes.

Milt Drucker

Yes. Square Enix has decided to give us a rpg that isnt a corridor with side missions that actually involve interaction with other characters. What suffers from this though, the story itself. The game is not driven by the story quite as much due to the fact that there isn't a cutscene right around the corner that explains things along the way.

The graphics although for the most part the same as in FF13 are beatiful and will not dissapoint anyone with both the in game graphics and the pre-rendered graphics that the cutscenes have to provide.

The gameplay still involves the paradigm system and the auto-xxx button is still there for people that want to use it. There are 2 difficulties: easy and normal. Why they didn't decide to put in any other difficulties, I'll never know. During boss battles there are also some quick time events, but thats nothing too special.

The game took me 20 hours to beat on the normal difficulty and the story was really dissapointing. I really didn't care about the main characters, Serah and Noel. In addition to the normal ending there are multiple paradox endings and a secret ending that can be seen after aquiring all the fragments in the game.

FF13-2 is worth the rent and for fans of the series you may look into actually buying the game to get the perfectionist ending, I myself will be fine with looking up the the 8 extra endings myself.

For those of you familiar with Final Fantasy 13, you know the one nagging flaw that everyone complains about: it's too linear. The game feels like a RPG version of a modern FPS, walk down a hall, event, walk down another hall, event, etc. etc. Well Square-Enix hear our complaints and and released what the original should have been in XIII-2.
The game uses a slightly modified version of the combat system from XIII, and introduces the monster system into combat. Like any monster combat system, capturing a monster isn't certain, you need to evolve the creature after you get it and so on and so on.
The story is good as well. First, as Lightning, you are thrown into a strange but intense combat with unknown forces for unknown reasons. Then you take over Serah, who is thrown into an improbable situation against insurmountable odds with almost no hope of changing your destiny. Sound familiar? The story is different enough that despite the commonality of the themes, it still feels like a new and fresh story.
For the completionists out there, this title is mostly story related and most of the other achievements can be acquired while completing the "get all ___" achievements. All in all it will take around 80-120 hours of work depending on how you play and your level of insanity.

FFXIII-2 is a great idea, but from the beginning, the game seems to fall a little flat. There are no other party members besides Serah and Noel, but you do meet up with others from the first game. A cool idea instead are the monsters you obtain from crystals which act as your 3rd character. An average game and worth the rent.

A step in the right direction from Square-Enix. I only hope they continue to listen to their fans.

I can only hope for more time travel and paradox fun in XIII-3.

"Thank You" ... square for actually making a game I can get behind. I read a review from a supposed top ten reviewer and completely disagree with what they said. What does Square have to do to make a person like you happy, in fact, Does anything make you happy?? (You know who you are)

I have read reviews by this person for a long time and have yet to agree with them on anything. If he gives a bad review then the game rocks and vice versa. Sounds to me like someone who has too much time to judge and less time to enjoy.

With that being said, here is my review:

Story: If you liked Chrono Trigger, as I did as a teenager back in the day. Then this is a game that will make you hungry and satisfied. With the ability to time travel and reset timezones in case you missed something, I feel as though Square really took into account people's value on time (not a pun). Such an enveloping story makes you really feel as though you can relate to some of the characters. PLEASE BELIEVE ME, THE STORY IS GREAT! 9/10

Graphics: I am not one to emphasize this as game play and story are really all that matters. With that being said, They missed the mark on this a little bit. Very Pixely!7/10

Gameplay: All I can say is Smooth. The transition from FF13 and FF13-2 is identical. The only changes they had were the Linear environments (Still somewhat Linear), the ability to find and upgrade Monsters as your third party member, which I found as a welcome addition, and focus Paradigms, which allow you to have some control over who the monster attacks. 9/10

Overall: The music can be a bit cheesy, but besides the Pixely graphics and sometimes annoying music, I absolutely loved this game from start to finish. Its a definite buy if you like RPG's and worth a rent if RPG's are not really your thing but you want to see what its about. Seriously, the controls are easy for anyone to use and its time for those who left RPG's to come back because it looks like square may be back, For now.

I have to say I've played many RPGs and most of the Final Fantasy Series but this game was an utter disappointment at how lazy this game was made if i had to rate it would be 1/10 for no effort at all, weapons all the same besides color, multiple areas the same besides lighting, plot, gameplay, quest all pointless they should feel ashamed for even selling this game for $60 bucks at most it should have been a 1600 add-on for XIII no more no less most time spent in game { 30% Gameplay / 70% Cinematic }And 100% truly a BAD, NO-RENT, NO BUY Game and on a side note i did give this game a chance i even still have it only thing i found fun is the chocobo racing and that wasn't even that great

I love the FF series, Final Fantasy 7 is one of my favorite games of all time. With that being said, I found myself growing angry the more I played this game. The first hour it felt like there was about 5 minutes of gameply and 100 repeated a clickings. I personally hate the constant switch between characters, I want to focus on the main character and build him/her up. Is my total review fair? No, but i couldn't stomach more than an hour of this game. Being pretty and visually satisfying wasn't enough for me to mess with this movie of a game.

Great graphics but a poor story and a complete lack of customization make this one forgettable final fantasy title.

FFXIII-2 corrects many of the problems of its predecessor. There are now towns, people to talk too, and places to explore. The combat system, a highlight of FFXIII, is further refined, quicker, and exciting. Square has now added a Pokeman-esque monster hunting/training element to the game that is a welcome addition. So why you ask, dear reader, do I rate this game so poorly?

FFXIII-2 contains a plot that is indecipherable, annoying characters, and the worst soundtrack of the series. The game inserts unwelcome quick-time events and a disruptive conversation system that attempts to mimics Bioware's and fails.

Ultimately it was the plot that convinced me to give up and return this game. The game truly has numerous "face/palm" and "cringe" moments. I wanted to like this game but couldn't make myself play it.

One of the reasons I could not stand to play Final Fantasy XIII was because the battles were so godawfully, ridiculously long. This problem was remedied in this installment, but I'm afraid that is really the only praise I can give the game; that it was a significant improvement over FFXIII from a gameplay perspective.

There are a number of great things about FFXIII-2, but the story is definitely not among them. I also had some minor qualms with the battle system and meaninglessly overtuned enemies like Raspatil, but compared to the distinct lack of any story element in the game, it's nothing.

Some people might say "so it's a game where you lost the game for once, boo-hoo. get over it. you wanna fight about it?" But the last time I checked out the generics of a JRPG, it was about cute chicks, saving the world, lots of hair gel, magic, swords, freaky new races, adorable creatures and saving the day.

That is what I expect when I purchase an RPG. I am sure that if a label was pasted on the front of the box saying that the only things contained within were achievements that could be attained while leaving a shoe on my controller while mowing the lawn or by not even playing the game at all, complete and total failure at being a hero, grueling, arduous, patience testing puzzles and the finger for doing all the sidequests in the game... Well, that would have saved me a good couple days of my life.

The game still looks as beautiful as ever and features a unique selection of music.

I just... the story is so bad, it brings the game down so much.

Square Enix wants you to buy their game, for 60$, you get a middle finger at every turn while you play the game and expects you to buy content that should have been in the game in the first place. The audacity, the impudence, the arrogance; it's simply appalling, I am speechless when I think about it.

If you are expecting to play this game and enjoy a story, you will be gravely disappointed.

The story was ok. The game is very girly though. Too much wahh the universe is turning out terribly, we are doing something about it so it is ok to cry about it. Legit ending though (Full ending).

It seems to me ever since playing FFVI (Yes Final Fantasy 6 aka FF3 on SNES) the story lines are getting longer and longer. The two best FF series are 2,3,7,8 because the storylines are not long and not choppy. Final Fantasy X was decent but overall FFXIII and -2 are too long of a story line. Square Enix needs to get back to their old roots of older gaming storylines to keep players going on the replay value. Sadly enough I still play FF3 on SNES and FFVII on PS2 because the storyline is so beautiful it makes me want to play it again and again.

This game... blah... makes me want to quit in middle of the game.

while I was really anxious to play this game for being a continuation of the FFXIII that I loved, this game has gone beyond my expectations being a 160% better than its predecessor, it's highly recommended

Great game

The fall of square's golden goose simply amazes me. Having been in love with this series since the original NES, this feels like a once wonderful relationship gone horribly bad. There is nothing about this title that is enjoyable which should come as no surprise since it's predeccesor was the same (somehow though it manages to be even worse). From the dumb mini game "temporal rift" puzzles to the platforming near the end, it's obvious that the development team has milked this cow dry. I understand that a series needs to evolve, but forwards, not backwards into irrelevancy which is what has happened. All the things I grew to love about the series is absent and has been replaced with either anger or sadness. Why they chose to revisit the world of 13 in the first place is beyond me considering the story was so bad that you built no emotional bond to the characters. I suppose that's why the story in 13-2 makes absolutely no sense. Story aside there is simply nothing here that final fantasy fans are looking for. Square has wrecked the franchise since 12. First 13, then 14 (dear god, should I even mention that abomination), and now this. The best thing that we as fans can do now is not purchase this rubbish so that it might truly be their "FINAL" fantasy.

I played FF 13, I want to get that out in the open right away, and I enjoyed it. I recognize many of the flaws in that game but I liked it none the less, mostly due to the combat system. If like me you enjoyed 13, you will love 13-2. Many of the official reviews have pointed out the game's shortcomings, the story, lack of playing main characters from previous being two of the most prominent that I have seen. The combat is just as fast paced and entertaining as the previous installment and the addition of capturable monsters really takes that even farther. The crystarium is not as clean and simple to navigate this time around but again offers a deeper level to character advancement if you take the time to get into it and realize how it works. The game is very open and there are some things that I would not have found without a guide or FAQ of some sort. So there is definitely plenty to dig into! If you want a game that is deep on mechanics even if it is a little wanting in story you should definitely play this game.

And no you do not have to play FF13 to enjoy this game, having the background knowledge from the previous installment would be nice but they offer a 'beginner's primer' to fill you in. Reading the datalogs also helps to flesh out the story a bit.