Reviews for Square Enix's direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII have been coming in thick and fast
The latest to deliver its verdict is Edge, which wasn't too impressed with Square Enix's latest effort and stuck a 5/10 score on the game.
The mag opens by describing Final Fantasy XIII-2's opening moments: "a battle that is impossible to lose, a helping of QTEs, and some terrifically dull monologues" that are a sign of things to come.
However, the opening is described as "visually astonishing, featuring a gigantic city formed from crystal, monstrous armies clashing, and Lightning's dazzlingly choreographed advance through it all, that it's impossible to look away."
The new twist on the Paradigm and party dynamic, which sees the player capture monsters for use as a third party member, is described as "let down by the lack of space you have for combinations of roles...Both Noel and Serah can learn multiple classes, and alongside your trio of monsters (each of which has a single speciality role) the number of possibilities is huge, but you're always limited to six paradigms in the actual battles."
A larger problem is the lack of a challenge, says Edge. According to the review "even on Normal this is a very easy game indeed... Common enemies are walkovers, and despite often taking a good deal of punishment, bosses are rarely a threat.
"In terms of construction this is still a poky world full of invisible walls and fixed details... Many of the locations are entirely captivating, and FFXIII-2 further demonstrates the talent at work within Square Enix's art divisions." However, "certain areas have had a lot more energy spent on them than others."
Edge concludes by saying Final Fantasy XIII-2 is "a big game, clocking in at about the 40-hour mark, but the lack of challenge in combat combined with the formulaic missions and frequent cutscenes too often make it feel like a sticky trudge.
"Perhaps this is indeed the game Final Fantasy nuts thought they wanted, but surely even they'll be disappointed with the result," it concludes.
Have a look at our Final Fantasy XIII-2 review round-up for all the scores.
Comments
20 comments so far...
corky20 on 30 Jan '12 said:
The Final Fantasy series has just completely lost its way, I stopped playing a couple of games ago. Although I still really enjoyed the content, characters, cut-scenes, graphics etc... the poor battle system has put me off the series. I feel like it's something Square Enix have struggled with and at the moment it's just way too boring and easy which makes it not fun to play.
If they can't create a good battle system in the current form maybe it's time to switch to a real time battle system such what we see in World of Warcraft or even something like Skyrim? < would switching away from the current system annoy too many hardcore FF fans?
It's really the only thing standing in the way of me buying a FF game again and enjoying it, it's something they need to work on. The only other problems would be the game has become a bit too generic with the characters and too futuristic... I would like something a bit more charming like FF7!
Becky4Ever on 30 Jan '12 said:
Edge has long had something against the FINAL FANTASY series. It gave FINAL FANTASY X 6/10 when most other publications scored it 9/10! Personally haven't read it since.
ste hicky on 30 Jan '12 said:
I'd say a 7 (maybe just maybe an 8 if i was in a generous mood) was fair for X in all honesty, the 'straight line' design from Besaid to Zanarkand is pretty much identical to XIII's corridors.
They did give XII a 9 though.
Izo on 30 Jan '12 said:
XII design wise is the most sublime in the series though plus it was very open with high amount of content like an mmo it wasn't very linear, gambits were also a stroke of genius in managing how your party operate.
Blue Odeyssey on 30 Jan '12 said:
Edge just hate JRPGs altogether, they gave Lost Odeyssey (probably the best JRPG this gen) a 7, Valkyria Chronicles a 7, Star Ocean TLH (my personal favourite) a 5, and Magna Carta 2 (another gem!) a 4! This is just my personal opinion but they are s**t when it comes to reviewing JRPGs, they niggle at the smallest things and then downgrade massively on it. I have trouble respecting Edge now as in recent years they've taken a route which aims to just be different for the sake of it. For the record I loved and adored every single one of these titles, would probably give them all 9's if I had to offer a score.
ste hicky on 30 Jan '12 said:
Edge gave Xenoblade the same as Skyrim at the end of last year: 9. http://www.edge-online.com/reviews/xeno ... les-review
This Edge hating JRPG's thing is a myth.
Izo, the only reason XII doesn't score higher with me is cos it was never finished; Matsuno had a breakdown half way through development and Square replaced him with another Director to do the second half and it show's , real shame.
ensabahnur on 30 Jan '12 said:
Sorry when did El Mag start quoting things for CVG review columns?
Are we sure he's talking about FF:XIII-2 and not his living room carpet after one of his legendary hedonistic "game" nights?
Izo on 30 Jan '12 said:
I know but the design he created was still present and was the game's saving grace even if he didn't finish it, the new director just came in and created the story and what not to try and fit into the design hence why the game is a bit here and there at various points.
KK-Headcharge78 on 30 Jan '12 said:
This with big brass knobs on, can understand why some people still love it but I just can't muster any excitement any more, too convoluted, too up it's own ass and too slow to react to it's competitors.
FASELI on 30 Jan '12 said:
Well I think Edge are right to voice their opinion, some of you forget that an Edge 5 isn't a CVG 5. I have purchased plenty of Edge 5s and 6s and had plenty of fun with them. As for FFIX, I think thus far it is the worse one.
El Mag on 30 Jan '12 said:
Definitely would be the carpet.
What happens at game nights stays at game nights.....unless it's herpes, that'll haunt ya.
Budly Moore on 30 Jan '12 said:
I ignored Edge's 5 for FF13, in all honesty, it was overated, I wont ignore this 5.
ste hicky on 30 Jan '12 said:
Live and let live and all that but FFIX the worst FF?
As in FF9? Nah, You got your numerals mixed up didn't ya? (look i'm givin you a get out of jail card here, take it
)
FFIX: one of the best of the series, a love letter to the SNES crowd from Sakaguchi who was never to be directly involved with the series again afterwards and the last truly great FF, they will never be as good again.
Fixed all that for you Faseli.
Don't mention it guy.
panantukan on 31 Jan '12 said:
Seems like it started going downhill shortly after becoming multi-platform...
Could this be the final Final Fantasy?
Phaedros on 31 Jan '12 said:
Well, it started with X then X-2 pretty much sealed it.
SpandexArmstrong on 31 Jan '12 said:
Just yet another causality from the list of once great games beaten to a bloody pulp by the whore that is this gen.....
Release vs.13, & pull your finger out & announce Kingdom f**king Hearts 3. You know, the games fans have been begging you for.
No more sequels that nobody asked for please.
ste hicky on 1 Feb '12 said:
Gotta agree for the most part there.
X's good, don't get me wrong, It's just not top tier.
Far too linear and painfully scripted with a voice cast that makes me ill, apart from Auron. I can empathise wih the old head in X.
It was also built on the storyboards at Square not conceptualised by Sakaguchi. Like FFVIII, It's a 'made to order', 'off the shelf' FF while Sakaguchi worked on FF: Gaiden (IX) and Spirits Within.
Then they gave the MMO's a numeral which both diluted the series and confused fans and I don't know if anyone's noticed but if there's an MMO FF, There's a sequel within a year to the last SP campaign (FFX, FFXI, FFX-2 and FFXIII, FFIV and FFXIII-2 and soon to be 3)
Now? There's no direction anymore and Square badly need someone to get a grip of the series who has a distinct vision for what FF actually is. A la; Sakaguchi (FF, LO, TLS), Matsuno (Vagrant Story, FFXII) or Takahashi (CT, Mana, Xenogears, Xenoblade) and there's the problem. The best candidates for the Job have gone and work elsewhere now.
1st Production Studio are technically proficient, they couldn't write a story to save their lives though.
Put me in charge Square, I'll sort that s**t out.
Izo on 1 Feb '12 said:
Yeah it comes down to no real vision for the series, Sakaguchi always had the concept of a heavily interactive story and penned great stories to go with them, I can't put forward how well a job Horii has done with DQ if Enix was still separate from Square they would of been laughing as DQ has really shown FF how it's done. It's not really the story that 1st P fall short on but how they progress the player through it that's also an issue.
ste hicky on 1 Feb '12 said:
While i'm not the biggest fan of their storytelling and i'd stand by the lack of ability there i'd have to agree about the design Izo.
I almost get the impression now that Square's teams build levels first then try and tie them together with a loose plot. Like so...
Kitase "Right you lot, We've got 2 snow levels, a couple of deserts, a wierd paradoxical warp zone, a castle, an ocean setting, even a final boss fight.... now will someone please tell me why the f**k this is actually happening?"
Toriyama: : "Er, Well boss, i was thinking that the story is secondary to the experience but if you must there's a kingdom hearts reject we found in Nomura's bin and pokemon s**t happens, one of the staff played CT too, really liked it.... especially your parts. Look boss QTE's during the Limit Breaks, that the, er, animals do. Please don't ask about the Moogles voice"
Kitase: "Oh, ok. sounds good. lets do that then...Hit it boys" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEUOOgNzOv4
pulz on 3 Feb '12 said:
Yeah I agree, FF9 was probably my favorite final fantasy , 10 and 7 being other favorites. FF9 had a great story with a lot of plot twists. The combat system was also challenging and fun.