Reevaluating Final Fantasy XIII-2

[Slacker247]

Played this on release and... really liked it. For me, the major sticking point is the fact it is connected to Lightning/that world. Other than that, I really enjoyed the overall experienced quite a bit! I don't blame anyone skipping it if they didn't enjoy XIII, and Lightning Returns is also not great, but XIII-2? Quite enjoyable, in my opinion.

Also, lack of difficulty doesn't really bother me as much some, this was still a superior game to XIII and LR. The last area has your typical difficulty spike anyway.

 

[ryushe]

The modfix really does wonder to the games, you should give it a try if you're interested in playing the games again. Stable 60 fps is actually doable with the fix, granted your computer is up to the task.

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Yeah, after I replied I read through the thread and saw the fix SirNinja posted, so I'll give that a try later because I'm absolutely interested in playing this. I'm one of the few people who actually liked XIII (it's not amazing, but I enjoyed my time with it), and a weird follow up with time travel and a WILD ending sounds right up my alley.

And to illustrate how bad the PC port is, I got a 6900 XT a few weeks ago and one of the first games I went to re-install was this and even then, I was bouncing between 30-60fps.

 

[FinFunnels]

The modfix really does wonder to the games, you should give it a try if you're interested in playing the games again. Stable 60 fps is actually doable with the fix, granted your computer is up to the task.

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Yeah it ran pretty well for me after I spent a good 30 minutes or so installing various mods and fixes. I recommend following this Steam guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2038838545

Lightning Returns has the best PC port of the trilogy by far, though. Only mod I had to install for that one was the PlayStation buttons mod.

 

[In Amber Clad]

I have a big soft spot for XIII-2. The story is complete nonsense, but the main duo of Serah and Noel are really likeable, and genuinely upbeat in the face of the end of the universe. Peppy jrpg protagonists may not be the freshest idea in the world, but coming from the previous game's fairly dour cast it was a lovely change of pace.

It was a lot easier though, and one of the things I liked about XIII's combat (building up the chain gauge to stagger an enemy, before switching paradigms and going all out attack) was almost gone in the sequel - a lot of the time, the enemy would be dead before you could stagger them.

 

[MrT-Tar]

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is not only "one of the better" numbered Final Fantasy titles in my opinion, but is also one of my favourite JRPGs of the last decade. I'm glad this is a much more common view than it seemed back in 2012.

Both Final Fantasy XIII-2 and The Last Story released in February 2012 (at least here in the UK) and I bought both on release. Beforehand I was far more hyped for The Last Story, due to it being directed by Sakaguchi and having been underwhelmed by Final Fantasy XIII, but I remember surprising myself and in the end slightly preferring Final Fantasy XIII-2 - despite loving both.

 

[FinalArcadia]

It's one of my favorite Final Fantasy games. I think it was even the first game I ever got a Platinum trophy for, I enjoyed it so much. The gameplay was great, it felt much brisker in pace than XIII (though I'm a XIII defender, love that game too), I loved Noel and Serah as the leads.

And the soundtrack... It is one of my favorite soundtracks in gaming. The vocal songs in particular are fantastic. I hope people continue to look back on XIII-2 more fondly as time goes on.

 

[Lemony1984]

It's a great game. Easily one of the better modern Final Fantasy games. It's a pity more people didn't give it a shot because of the reception to XIII.

 

[Astral]

XIII-2 is grossly underrated. It's fantastic and Noel is legitimately a great character. Even Serah is pretty good in this game. The soundtrack is incredible.

 

[timshundo]

I'm thankful for the trilogy and I'm always happy when it gets brought up these days. It deserves more praise than people were willing to give it.

I hope they pop back on square's radar. Remasters... a sequel...!!! 🤭

 

[Wetflix]

I really want a Trilogy release with some enhancements on Switch. Would love to sink in another 250+ hours or so on the go.

 

[Thorzilla]

No need to reevaluate. XII-2 was great and it still is.

 

[Deleted member 56266]

XIII-2 also has one of the BEST OSTs in the series and that's not hyperbole (the whole XIII trilogy had standout music which is the one thing everyone can agree on about it lol)

here's a particular track I feel gets very overlooked but is so good

 

[Deleted member 511]

I loathe FFXIII-2's story and the direction they went with Lightning's character after FFXIII, but Noel and Serah are charming protagonists, Caius is a great villain, the battle system is fun, and the soundtrack is stunning. I'm again reaaaaally not a fan of the story, though, lol.

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Honestly, Lightning's downfall as a character was due to her own creator, Toriyama, openly lusting after her and no one at SE thinking it was a good idea to nip that stuff in the bud and actively went along with it instead.

Q: Is it true you said you wanted Lightning-san's size from a C cup to a D cup?

Nobuhiro Goto (Character Modeling Designer): Toriyama-san said "I want it bigger" so…

Motomu Toriyama (Director): [What a] cop-out! (laughs)

Goto: Yes, it was enlarged.

Q: Was it a C cup until now? Does it even jiggle this time?

Goto: Yes!

Toriyama: It's determined by clothing, like the so-called corrective underwear. (laughs)

Masaru Suzuki (Designer): There's an unreleased costume that exposes the l'Cie scar on her chest. Please think [carefully], is there any other information that should be disclosed? (laughs)

Q: So there were costumes that were rejected?

Goto: I think there are a few designs that were rejected.

Suzuki: If reproducing the outfit proves to be difficult, then I'll consult with the artwork designer as much as possible, but if the costume design slows down to a crawl, it gets scrapped. Dengeki Online's report of the Q&A provides further details:

Q: I heard that the chest Jiggles?

Goto: Yes, her chest jiggles. Since everyone can decide what costume she'll wear, you can make sure it does (laughs). By the way, since Lightning swings her arm when you change her weapon in the menu screen, that's a recommended action for sure-fire jiggling! To see it even better it could be useful to equip a small shield. Look forward to it!

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Source.

Granted it had a lower budget and less dev time, where are you getting that it looked significantly worse? LR sure, but I'd put all the new environments from XIII-2 on par or above XIII's

The other locations are straight from XIII as are most of the monster models.

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Such a visually appealing game. The art direction for XIII and XIII-2 is really nice and allow the game to age really well. I don't want to dunk on XV but it's a lot less appealing to look at despite being the newer game.

 

[Listai]

I really enjoyed FXIII-2 for what it was. I ignored the story and got lost in the lush visuals, great music and fun (if somewhat janky) gameplay systems.

I never got around to LR which I've heard is the best of the lot.

 

[FinFunnels]

I took a lot of screenshots during my XIII-2 playthrough and I've also been doing the same for Lightning Returns.

I'll post a few of my tweets from early game XIII-2 below.

 

[Dragmire]

Source.

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[LR] Lightning Returns Interview - The Girl of your Dreams

This is so funny. And I agree with him. Lightning rocks. By the way: This is a joke. The interview never happened. source: Motomu Toriyama Admits He Wants to Marry Lightning | Play4Real

home.eyesonff.com

Hahaha. Toriyama is an idiot but come on.

Edit: The other source from the event sadly happened. The fact that there's this "enthusiasm" on even the interviewers part as well just disgust me.

 

[Deleted member 511]

[LR] Lightning Returns Interview - The Girl of your Dreams

This is so funny. And I agree with him. Lightning rocks. By the way: This is a joke. The interview never happened. source: Motomu Toriyama Admits He Wants to Marry Lightning | Play4Real

home.eyesonff.com

Hahaha. Toriyama is an idiot but come on.

Edit: The other source from the event sadly happened. The fact that there's this "enthusiasm" on even the interviewers part as well just disgust me.

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I'll edit the first one out then; I've seen it passed around for years though so it's kind of crazy that I'm just now learning it's not real. It was easy to believe considering the comments in the other interview. I don't understand how it was allowed and its super super gross behavior. There were other nasty things that I know were said but I admittedly don't have the energy to dig through the internet to find them.

 

[Brodo Baggins]

I really liked XIII-2, like totally hooked playing every waking minute, but the ending of the story was a total gut punch. The to be continued hook at the end that you had to buy the mediocre Lightning DLC for was total garbage.

 

[Dragmire]

I don't understand how it was allowed and its super super gross behavior.

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Sadly it is not the first time and not just from SE. The visitors even got to ask questions and one of the first ones was about her sides being exposed and no one from SE told them to fuck off.

Anyway not to derail. haha. As much as I love the series, but to me, the freedoms and options offered in the sequels came at the cost of the things I liked about the first game.

 

[Brodo Baggins]

I'm thankful for the trilogy and I'm always happy when it gets brought up these days. It deserves more praise than people were willing to give it.

I hope they pop back on square's radar. Remasters... a sequel...!!! 🤭

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The trilogy is basically already remastered through backwards compatibility on Xbox One X/Series X/S. They are upscaled to 4k, and have auto HDR applied.

 

[timshundo]

The trilogy is basically already remastered through backwards compatibility on Xbox One X/Series X/S. They are upscaled to 4k, and have auto HDR applied.

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I'd want some QOL and graphical upgrades for each of them tho. Faster to unlock all the combat features in XIII, just some general polish for XIII-2 and a complete graphical overhaul of LR to at least bring it up to par with XIII haha.

Again, a guy can dream...

 

[Deleted member 511]

Sadly it is not the first time and not just from SE. The visitors even got to ask questions and one of the first ones was about her sides being exposed and no one from SE told them to fuck off.

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Yuck. Sadly, you're right though. From Cidney in XV to random stuff like them including Tifa's breast size in either the viir ultimania or the world book (can't remember which), SE takes one step forward and two steps back with how they handle female characters.

Anyway, thanks for pointing out the parody interview!

 

[Dragon1893]

Man, the PC version of this game is still a fucking mess. What a shame.

 

[Aeriscloud]

Probably the single most underrated FF game.

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Fact.

 

[plastic love]

XIII-2 is one of the rare games where I loved one of the alternate/paradox endings more than the canon one. For me, the true ending of XIII-2 will always be this:



Mostly because it is SO DUMB, but it is still a better ending than what we got and I was more interested in where that plot thread could have lead. Caius deserves more recognition as a villain, too.

 

[PshycoNinja]

XIII-2 is certainly my favorite of the XIII series of games.

 

[Darkmaigle]

There are many Yules

 

[Hzsn724]

I think it's the weakest of the trilogy because of the story. But monster hunting was fun, and the combat is great. This game is like if Terminator, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy XIII had a baby. Overall it's enjoyable and the platinum trophy was fun to get.

 

[SlickVic]

Yeah it ran pretty well for me after I spent a good 30 minutes or so installing various mods and fixes. I recommend following this Steam guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2038838545

Lightning Returns has the best PC port of the trilogy by far, though. Only mod I had to install for that one was the PlayStation buttons mod.

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Thanks for the info. I'm always tempted to pick up XIII-2 when it's on a Steam sale, but then I see the Steam reviews on the PC port and hold off. It's been a solid decade now since I played XIII, but I remember enjoying it, and always meant to check out the sequels at some point.

 

[PshycoNinja]

I would take Caius over Fandaniel or Zenos any day of the week.

 

[PshycoNinja]

Thanks for the info. I'm always tempted to pick up XIII-2 when it's on a Steam sale, but then I see the Steam reviews on the PC port and hold off. It's been a solid decade now since I played XIII, but I remember enjoying it, and always meant to check out the sequels at some point.

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I got all three for $10 on a sale. Haven't really played them as I am playing them in order and struggling to get through XIII.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I think it's the weakest of the trilogy because of the story.

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I'm sorry but LR's writing is even worse

my next playthrough I'm skipping most scenes

 

[Calliope]

It's been a while since I've played it but I do remember really enjoying it.

Particularly the chemistry between Serah and Noel. I don't care that they didn't end up together, not every duo that hits it off has to, but in LR I recall that Noel barely seemed concerned with what happened to her and I was super disappointed.

 

[Snozz]

It wasn't the sequel I wanted (I think they had ample material to make a part 2 that went deeper into the lore and explored pulse, time travel shenanigans weren't needed), but I did enjoy it for what it was in spite of some pretty awful writing fairly frequently. Caius was a good character, Noel has his moments too.

 

[MrBS]

I absolutely adored XIII-2, got the platinum as a side effect of 100% the game to get the super duper secret ending.

Combat is improved on the original, soundtrack is amazing, the story is nonsensical trash that I loved for the absurdity. From the riduculous retcon right at the beginning of the game to justify the sequel existing at all (because paradox) through to that cliffhanger ending. I will stan that ending forever, I was cheering when it all went to south in the last minute of the game, to end the game on that note, bravo.

 

[julia crawford]

mfw hope becomes the leader of the free world

 

[Nimby]

Probably the only modern FF that I absolutely love. FFVIIR is good enough, absolutely detested FFXV, entry barrier for FFXIV keeps me away.

The whole trilogy needs a remaster.

 

[Deleted member 61002]

mfw hope becomes the leader of the free world

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He really does essentially become Tony Stark x100 building planets and gods and shit out of no where.

 

[FinFunnels]

mfw hope becomes the leader of the free world

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He really does essentially become Tony Stark x100 building planets and gods and shit out of no where.

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I used to like Hope, but right now I'm playing Lightning Returns and he is constantly talking in my goddamn ear over the radio. I shit you not, he'll often finish what he's saying and then the radio will immediately starting beeping again and he'll have MORE dialogue! 😫

 

[Deleted member 61002]

I used to like Hope, but right now I'm playing Lightning Returns and he is constantly talking in my goddamn ear over the radio. I shit you not, he'll often finish what he's saying and then the radio will immediately starting beeping again and he'll have MORE dialogue! 😫

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Oh that never stops. Pretty soon he'll be repeating himself.

 

[BionicDreamer]

I enjoyed it so much more than FFXIII, a real fun experience.

 

[Deleted member 56266]

Another one of my favorite tracks from this game I still listen to.

R.I.P. to Origa (singer).

 

[DJChuy]

I loved everything about XIII-2 aside from the story. God-tier music.

I've been wanting to replay the XIII trilogy since I loved this one and LR, but I have too much of a backlog and not enough time.

 

[Nilson]

I remember this game feeling pretty corridor heavy like FF13? Am I misremembering?

 

[Deleted member 56266]

I remember this game feeling pretty corridor heavy like FF13? Am I misremembering?

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it was less corridor heavy and even besides that the entire structure of the levels was way less linear as in order of areas. Lots of freedom to do stuff whenever

 

[FinFunnels]

I remember this game feeling pretty corridor heavy like FF13? Am I misremembering?

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There's a couple of larger maps, but it's still pretty corridor heavy. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, though.

 

[PAFenix]

This was the first game I platinumed back in 2012, to this day I only have like 3. Love this game.

Biggest improvement was removing the obnoxious paradigm shift animation. For something you do constantly it's extremely cumbersome in XIII, it's the reason I never replay it. XIII-2 though I should replay soon.

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Them fixing the paradigm shift animation was the largest improvement to this game, no joke.

I found the premise more than a little dodgy (save the past by saving the future... okay.) and seriously wish they had opted to resolve the story. Still, I enjoyed Noel and Serah and liked that they had a platonic relationship with no real attempts to pair them up, you don't get that often. I feel that they did well by Hope for the most part, but many other characters' storylines were lacking. And the red chocobo was hilarious.

Jumping at the chance to create a sequel instead of finishing the story like they could have was a bad call for sure, that ending reeked of opportunism.

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Those two were so good together that I almost started to ship them, but as the game progressed further, I fell off it. They were so good as companions only, and you're right, it's something that isn't done often in games. Both Noel and Serah had significant others that they were fighting for.

To me FFXIII is BY FAR AND AWAY the best in the trilogy, but XIII-2 and LR are these weird, atmospheric, fun fanfiction sequels and I love them for that. Though obviously ideally I would've preferred sequels that didn't shit all over the original's story/characters/lore and didn't feel like the most lazily written thing on earth

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I enjoyed the original's story and thought it was the best. I enjoyed the sequels, but yeah, them having to alter the lore in each sequel was very off putting. The games got more fun to play, but the story became more of a mess as they went on. (Well, I preferred XIII-2 to LR in gameplay) Such a strange transition.

 

[lightning16]

I genuinely believe this is the best Final Fantasy game since IX, even with the bad story. I agree with it being an 8.5 type of game. Also the same type of score I'd give to Heavensward and Shadowbringers but for completely different reasons (those games obviously having far better stories but having their own serious issues in exchange). Actually had fun completing as much of this game as I could.

 

[Wilsongt]

I enjoyed XIII-2 quite a bit.

 

[Hzsn724]

I'm sorry but LR's writing is even worse

my next playthrough I'm skipping most scenes

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To each their own. LR just has a better battle system and overall story imo. The ending was perfect. Very fun game to platinum.