Rated: Teen
Developer: Square Enix, Inc
Publisher:Square Enix Co., Ltd
Price: $60.00
Release Date:Jan 31st, Out Now!
Branching off from the successful, but also heavy criticized Final Fantasy Thirteen. You are placed in the shoes of Serah, this time around. Along side her is the typical confused and heroic sub-protagonist named Noel Kress. The world is changed, and well the story you known from FF13 is intact, but with a twist, lightning is missing (not to be confused with Mario that was missing in some Nintendo games sometime ago.) Serah seeks out answers and uncovers many mysteries in this new installment of the franchise that put Square Enix on the map. The combat is what allot of fans considered, improved and offering a new bag of tricks here and there. Lets break down what is new from the other game.
Rather then being slammed with non-stop cut scenes of story, they have cut back a huge bit for those of short of mind. Instead is brought in quick time events that score you on your timing and rewards you with extra items such as potions, etc. Monster Allys are introduced, with that dragon quest monsters joker feel, or perhaps a fusion of Digi Mon meets Pokemon. Mini games are also introduced into this segment. A Location you unlock named “Serendipity” is a casino that allows you to chocobo race, among Slot machines, and card games. A more open location named “ Archyite Steppe” brings open world into the mix as well for a time line. All of the concerns that allot of Final Fantasy fans had with 13 had been answered non-the-less.
The game has this feeling of Chrono Trigger, and Kingdom Hearts. One part being the time travel, the other part is the young kids dimension leaping. While you can also compare this to Star Ocean. This game feels very fresh in the Square Enix lineup. Graphically the cut scenes feel great. The story over all, presented it self at first very closed up. Then as you explore more time lines every thing unravels. Sadly allot of gamers wont explore every crack of the wall of this large game, and discover all of the nooks and cranny to understand the story is there, the plot is thick, and every character is explained (gotta love those other websites who rush to beat games for that big old deadline).
Closing Thoughts:
My personal feelings of the game is this, the game is great. I never had a problem with Final Fantasy Thirteen, yes it did have too much linearity to a degree, but it was a fun game in the long run. Allot of improvements are in this game such as the combat is very fast, and never bored me to grind out levels to get my characters in high tier. The Monster party member element was clever and offered substance, examples the cosmetic hats or props you may add to the monster is humorous. The fact you can explore the game and try to location all of the items adds hours of extra things to do. The NPCs offering quests to keep you busy is also great. While, its a blend of your typical teen issues jrpg, it was very enjoyable all the way through. The games crafting system which allows you to use monster parts to craft items such as weapons and defensive gear is pretty nice and adds that slight grind to make time pass. With uncanny secrets to uncover I will leave it to you to discover.Very much worth the price in “Gil” I would suggest picking up this game with a fresh mind and heart if you disappeared over the first installment.
I give this game a:
9.0
Great Storyline+
Allot to explore and do+
Improved Partying System +
Great music+
