Today I took a comparative look at the demos for the PS3 and the Xbox360 for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Though the game is slated to come out the 31st of January, it gives the player a look on what is new, and what is not, for this sequal. This is the second time Square-Enix has made a sequal to a successful game (Final Fantasy X-2 being the first). But will this game be successful, or suffer the same fate as Final Fantasy X-2? Let us take a look.For this review, I looked at the xbox360 version running from a vga to dvi connection and the ps3 the connection goes from hdmi to dvi, since these are both on computer monitors.
Story wise, the demo lends that Serah, the sister of the hero Lightning from the previous game, is searching for her sister, who has vanished. She travels through time with a boy named Noel from the future. The Primers for the demo did not lend to much information into how much time has passed.
The world screen has changed very little, except that the game is less linear that its predecessor, and now NPC’s appear on the screen as green blips, rather than not at all. You have the ability to jump now over certain objects by pressing B (or Circle on PS3). This enables you to access certain areas of the game. Two other aspects that have been added to this is in the form of your Moogle companion, Mog. When his bobble glows on his head, there is a hidden artefact or treasure in the area, and you can uncover it by pressing A (or X on PS3). This is also the case for finding items not in the correct timeline, and by pressing the Right button (or R1 on PS3), enables you to interact with it. Now because of the changes in the world screen, you can accept missions similar to the crystals in FFXIII. In this demo, multiple people offer the same mission so one cannot miss it. Now onto the battle system.
The battle system has been revamped this time around, possibly due to massive player feedback. Random encounters still occur but you now have a chance to always gain a pre-emptive strike. The Mog Clock appears when monsters appear, and you have the choice to flee or fight. If you choose to fight, you attack them in the encounter circle. As mentioned for the pre-emptive strikes, if you attack the monster with A (or X on PS3), you gain a pre-emptive strike and possible bonuses, if you choose to run into the monster you get a traditional battle, or if the enemy attacks you, then the battle commences, but you do not have the option to retry the battle as you would normally. A twist to the battle system this time around is Wounding. Anyone from the Fighting Game Community can relate to wounding as the same principle as Red Bar. When in battle, if wounded, you loose you max HP and can heal up to a certain point (where the red bar ends). This is only for the battle you are currently in, and will dissapate after the battle is over, or if you use a Wounding Potion during battle to take away this effect.
Now in some of these boss battles, you have a quick time system that reacts to you pressing the buttons on you pad and also your analog stick. If you do these well you get a perfect and a reward for doing so. Lastly, now you earn Gil for fighting in battles, rather than having to farm Platinum Ignots for money to craft weapons.
The Paradigm Shift system is still in place for Final Fantasy XIII-2, but with a twist. Now as your third companion, you can summon monsters to your side, almost like summoning the Eidolins from the previous game. You gain these monsters by fighting them, and at the end of battle, they turn to crystals. You can equip up to 3 monsters, and have them set to the different Shifts. So there is some strat involved in equiping the right monsters for each Shift you have.
The Cystarium is back again, and has not changed much. Now upon reaching certain levels in it, you are able to select bonuses, such as an extra ATB guage or unlocking another role. You also level up your monsters this way, but you gain items for it or purchacing them from the store, and each item relates to each monster grouping. You can also combine monsters to have them gain passive effects from the other monsters, but you are only able to have ten passive abilities. In battle, the computer takes control of them, and they build a limit gauge, depending on the actions done. When it is full, you press your X button (or Square on PS3) to activate it. This usually deals small damage in the beginning of the game, but it is only to guess what can come of it when it gets into late game play.
Graphically, I do not see a difference between the two consoles. Both have amazingly sharp graphics and detail in every aspect. According to certain people, they noticed some lag during the battles on the xbox360, where as I did not. The sound from both are running out the same, and the voice acting, in my opinon, has gotten a bit better, but there is always room for improvement.
Does this demo do a good job in informing the player and giving its expectations? Yes it does, it gives the players just enough to get their pallet wet on what is to come, but it does come down to the individual if they are excited for it. I am personally excited for it, as I enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII, and hopefully this does not disappoint like Final Fantasy X-2 disappointed alot of fans.
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XelNaga | 
Sunday, January 29, 2012| 
